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New Setback in Attempt to Contain Gulf Oil Spill

13 points by jfi 16y ago

MWinther 16y ago
This doesn't seem to be the ideal backdrop for more offshore drilling.
- ars 16y ago
  It's not, but historically things like this are pretty rare. If anything I'd be more in favor of offshore drilling, not less. After a disaster like this people will learn from it. (Just as they have from every previous disaster.) So offshore drilling is likely to become even safer.
  - timr 16y ago
    "It's not, but historically things like this are pretty rare." That's false. Drilling-related spills are quite common: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/09/weekinreview/09marsh.html http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/09/weekinreview/0... "Oil regularly spills into Gulf waters....Oil companies reported that drilling platforms alone dumped nearly 50,000 barrels of oil, or more than two million gallons, into U.S. Gulf waters from 1996 through last year."
    - nitrogen 16y ago
      If you interpret "like this" to mean on the same order of magnitude, then yes, they are rare. 50000 barrels of oil total over 14 years is the standard. This is 5000 to 50000 barrels per day. I'm not saying that it's okay to spill any amount of oil, but the present spill should be viewed in its proper perspective as an uncommon event.
      - timr 16y ago
        How did I know that was going to be the comeback? Of course an event of this magnitude is rare. The point is not that massive oil spills are common, but that it's pretty common for drilling to lead to spills. The parent comment was that he'd be more in favor of drilling now that this has happened, as if it were a situation where we'd made the one big mistake, and now drilling is going to be safer. The reality is that drilling leads to a lot of damage in general, regardless of how rarely these major spills occur.
  - MWinther 16y ago
    Actually, I was thinking more of the public's attitude towards offshore drilling, really. Recollection bias will make it seem to be more common than it actually is, and more people will frown upon it. From a purely rational standpoint, you're right. People won't see that as long as nothing goes wrong, though. It would be good to see responsible parties informing the public of what they've learned, and how this sort of thing will be avoided in the future.
- nitrogen 16y ago
  Perhaps, but I oppose using worst-case scenarios to argue against a technology (it's somewhat akin to saying that all nuclear power is bad because Chernobyl was bad). Instead, I prefer to focus on how bad the average-case scenario is: respiratory problems, smog, potential for devastating climate change, etc.

13 points by jfi 16y ago

MWinther 16y ago

This doesn't seem to be the ideal backdrop for more offshore drilling.

ars 16y ago
It's not, but historically things like this are pretty rare. If anything I'd be more in favor of offshore drilling, not less. After a disaster like this people will learn from it. (Just as they have from every previous disaster.) So offshore drilling is likely to become even safer.
- timr 16y ago
  "It's not, but historically things like this are pretty rare." That's false. Drilling-related spills are quite common: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/09/weekinreview/09marsh.html http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/09/weekinreview/0... "Oil regularly spills into Gulf waters....Oil companies reported that drilling platforms alone dumped nearly 50,000 barrels of oil, or more than two million gallons, into U.S. Gulf waters from 1996 through last year."
  - nitrogen 16y ago
    If you interpret "like this" to mean on the same order of magnitude, then yes, they are rare. 50000 barrels of oil total over 14 years is the standard. This is 5000 to 50000 barrels per day. I'm not saying that it's okay to spill any amount of oil, but the present spill should be viewed in its proper perspective as an uncommon event.
    - timr 16y ago
      How did I know that was going to be the comeback? Of course an event of this magnitude is rare. The point is not that massive oil spills are common, but that it's pretty common for drilling to lead to spills. The parent comment was that he'd be more in favor of drilling now that this has happened, as if it were a situation where we'd made the one big mistake, and now drilling is going to be safer. The reality is that drilling leads to a lot of damage in general, regardless of how rarely these major spills occur.
- MWinther 16y ago
  Actually, I was thinking more of the public's attitude towards offshore drilling, really. Recollection bias will make it seem to be more common than it actually is, and more people will frown upon it. From a purely rational standpoint, you're right. People won't see that as long as nothing goes wrong, though. It would be good to see responsible parties informing the public of what they've learned, and how this sort of thing will be avoided in the future.
nitrogen 16y ago
Perhaps, but I oppose using worst-case scenarios to argue against a technology (it's somewhat akin to saying that all nuclear power is bad because Chernobyl was bad). Instead, I prefer to focus on how bad the average-case scenario is: respiratory problems, smog, potential for devastating climate change, etc.