The Oil Spill

[Night61]

i want to know how the oil spill in the gulf will affect you?
your hobby? or your life?

 

[chesterscot]

the only way i see it affecting me is the constant news coverage
to those who it is affecting I hope a swift resoloution is found

regards scot

 

[Ryefish]

me and a few friends wanted to fly out and help the animals that are being washed up but i dont have a passport

 

[Mikaila31]

Well it is very sad. And another reminder why we need to get off fossil fuels. Its now considered the worst oil spill in US history. Something that should not happen in this age. I know its easy to second guess things, but BP really fell on this. The fact it happened in the first place, people died, information was very inaccurate at first, they are suppose to have the equipment and knowledge to fix disasters like this. Yet its been a month and it is still leaking oil. I personally hope BP does not recover from this disaster. The coast is going to see very heavy damage from this. It will most likely take decades to recover. On top of the ecosystem you have property damage, and a lot of people have lost their livelyhoods/jobs since these waters are already unsafe to harvest from. To recover the ecosystem it will need heavy limits set on catches as well.

 

[mattlee]

it is indeed very sad that all that wildlife and coastline is being destroyed. why didnt they fit a shut off valve or something similar.....? or is that just too simple? maybe too cost effective initially but how much has it cost already with no effect

also i bet fuel prices will rise again

 

[chrisbassist]

I certainly do not hope bp don't recover.

To start with, how many people do they employ in the uk? How many people in the us? How many in Italy? How many in Greece? That would be millions of people losing their jobs. How do you think that would affect the worlds economy?

The problem with bigger companies like this, is at an inspection of a piece of equipment they can be told something is faulty, but as long as the equipment is still doing it's job, it's not worth the money to fix bits. That's what happened here. Hopefully this will make them think twice next time they get informed about a minor fault. And actually fix it before it becomes a problem.

As for fuel prices. I'm not sure bp have the power to do that. They can't price themselves too far above shell. They may well have to just swallow the loss. It's actually rather shocking how little money they actually make on petrol anyway. At the current prices, they only make around 2p per litre. Thei money comes from crude oil... Unfortunately this accident with the crude oil, will no doubt affect the retail/pump side of the business, with spending cuts, no pay rises, running on less staff. Meaning some people may well end up earning less than the year before when you take into account inflation. But that's still better than those millions of people losing their jobs. Sure some of their places are fairly small and don't have too many employees (they only employ around 300 people in Italy) but the failure of the business would be catastrophic for other countries where more are employed.

Not to mention that if they go out of business, as a consumer, you will be severly limited to where you can buy fuel. Bp currently supply fuel to sainsburys, themselves, other supermarkets, and also some of the smaller name garages. You may find all the places near you are shut and suddenly you have a 20 mile drive to get more fuel.

it is indeed very sad that all that wildlife and coastline is being destroyed. why didnt they fit a shut off valve or something similar.....? or is that just too simple? maybe too cost effective initially but how much has it cost already with no effect

also i bet fuel prices will rise again

Oh, it's that valve, the one to stop things like this happening that failed. That's the bit that broke.

 

[loraxchick]

i personally am boycotting every bit of BP and it's subsidiaries. just like i do exxon. yes oil spills happen. everyday in fact! but to let it go for over a month leaking billions of gallons....that's just NOT right. they knew there was a problem. they were requested to install a specific piece of equipment and they ignored it for thier bottom line, which is so much more in the black than can be imagined. An entire ecosystem is now on the line. a very delicate one at that. it is important not only to nesting and migratory birds, but all that sealife!!! not to mention the tourism in the gulf-who wants to swim and go to beaches covered in tar? the fishermen are another story. and the poor men that died. all for a single piece of rig. tragic! and they are not stepping up to their responsibilities (there are VERY strict rules on the books now for this type of thing after Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska.).
theyd better do SOMETHING...ANYTHING....and fast! delayed too much as it is.
as an envirnmentalist and humanitarian, take your responsibility for what has and is currently happening. and simply burning the oil off is not the answer. Fix it. and clean up your mess. I am not paying for your stupidity BP.
id better stop. i really am very angry over this whole thing (ive seen the Valdez aftermath a decade after...and it is a sad sad sight-this is a more fragile area. makes me so sad).
*sigh
delacate topic for me. sorry if i am a bit too pasionate, but hits a little too close to home and what i stand for.
cheers

 

[kribensis12]

It's tragic, yes. I think that BP will go under, or if not, suffer heavy monetary losses. Not just that, the enviromental loss is staggering. I think both President Obama and BP could be doing a better job at handling this. That's all I am going to say on this.

 

[demasonisrule]

Obama could do a better job handling a lot of things. Not only will fuel prices go up, but so will sea food prices.

 

[Night61]

what as fish keepers can we do to help restore the eco system that's being destroyed

 

[chrisbassist]

You could get massive SW tanks and breed the fish found in that area to replace the ones killed. But it's all or nothing so you don't upset the balance.

I didn't touch too much on the environmental aspect since I knew everyone else would. I haven't checked any thing in the last few days but weren't they plugging the leak? It was working last I heard... Did that fail?

Even if it worked there is a lot of cleaning up to do.

For those boycotting BP: would you LIKE them to run out of money, have the business fail and stop clearing things up?

I'm not condoning what has happened, it is disgusting. But I think the issue needs a sense of balance. Just think about potential outcomes of things like this. Like bp stopping, suddenly things get worse. Good luck completely boycotting bp fuel, the amount of people they supply is insane. Plus if they go under, fuel prices will go up. At least in the uk. Since it'll only leave one major supplier, shell. And what happens when you have the monopoly on something? That's right you can charge what you like. And I'm sure they're fed up of tiny profits (and with the amount of drive offs petrol stations get, probably in fact making a loss on fuel) so the price will go up. It'll hit £1.50 and they will realise that people are still paying it, because they have to. So it'll go up more. Then again, and again.

So guys, take a deep breath. Calm down and just think about the consequences of what you're saying.

I for one wouldn't be able to come on here if bp went under. Firstly, it would mean
my wife losing her job. So we'd cancel Internet, phones etc because we wouldn't be able to pay for them. The closest fuel not supplied by bp, is about 15 miles away. But we're lucky, we wouldn't lose our home. We would still get some food on the table until one of us finds a new job. Millions of others wouldn't be so lucky.

 

[Lawrence]

GO OIL!!! GO BP!!! FINALLY ANOTHER NEWS COVERAGE BESIDES WARS!!!
(not happy all the animals die and lives at stake(businesses) or the fact that tourism is hard hit)

 

[chesterscot]

I know many of you know this but I just wanted to sayu to those who dont that BP is not british lol
like british gas it is owned by overseas conglomerates

scot

 

[loraxchick]

BP wont "go under"-this spill will cost a pretty penny for them to clean up, but they will be safe in their operation. one out of hundreds of oil wells. the oil buis is one of the few whose profits are at record highs right now. and people will "forget" about this in no time-once it is not on the news 24/7 (as it is here in the states), and folks will go back to using their products as before this disater.
it just drives the point that so many large companies are irresponsible and only look after their bottom line. hopefully other companies learn by their mistake(although doubful).
by boycotting, im just using my choice (and money)to make a "vote" that i dont like what this company stands for. the anger will pass for most and will go back to supporting big buisness. i generally steer clear of them (like walmarts,conagra, etc) as it hurts the little guys in the long run.
i could write a thesis on my feelings and fact ofthe matter. but i just limit my response. something needs to be done. and fast.
and once the leak is fixed, oil "cleaned up" you watch-the company will not stick around to fix what damage has been done. that will be up to the American people to pay for. in tax money and the livlihood of hundreds of thousands of gulf-state residents. not to mention all that fragile ecosystem potentially destroyed (shrimp industry in US-ptoentially gone! and we will be forced to get our shrimp from huge farms in say., thailand..further supporting the machine of big buisness).
its just a sad sad thing that happened and we are only now just hitting the iceburg. makes me very angry to say the least.
i will also reserve any comments on how the government is handling this situation...thats for another time/place.
cheers

 

[chrisbassist]

the boycotting thing, is fair enough, and I completely understand your point of view, the fact that they let it happen to start with is disgusting, the fact it still isn't sorted is disgusting.

My question though, is how far do you take it?

the petrol stations you see are the least profitable part of BPs business. if it wasn't for the garages selling other bits and pieces, the garages may well actually cost more money to run than they make. the real money in a BP forecourt, is made from selling snacks, drinks, and other similar bits, not from the fuel. and even that, is around 1% of BPs profits.

most of the money is made from crude oil. now thats also the part of the business which has caused the incident.

so when you're buying food which has some plastic packaging, do you follow the trail to see who drilled for the oil which produced the packaging?

your fishtank, if it's made from acrylic, who drilled for the oil which made the acrylic?

dvd cases?
all the plastic parts of the computer you're using?
the plastic parts of your TV?
the window frames in your house?

when you go to a restaurant do you ask about the suppliers and find out who provided the oil used to make the packaging everything was shipped to the restaurant in?

this is going too far for most people, yet it's the only way to make any big impact on BP as a company. boycotting the stores is as far as most people will go. the most the could possibly achieve is BP deciding it's not worth running stores. which would leave all the people working in them without jobs, it would leave consumers with less places to buy bits and fuel, and the company would carry on happilyh drilling for oil, without anything changing at the level where it matters.

just something for you to think about.