If you have been reading all the BP threads I think you are being disingenuous. Everyone except KM blames BP. Hard to lock down one sentence but when everyone discusses blaming BP and never bringing up Transocean or Haliburton or the entire oil industry as possibly being at fault it seems pretty clear.

What sucks is that the media wants it this way because one villain makes a story. If the entire oil industry is the villain it doesn't sell since then the public might have to blame themselves for being so in love with their oil consuming ways. Telling people they have to cut back and get rid of the SUV is just too unpopular.

This mantra of BP being the villain is also what the entire oil industry wants. They want to get back to drilling off shore. Today. The absolute fastest way of doing that is to do what you are all doing. Take the Samson oil testimony (they want to drill too) and blame BP for a freak accident that could have been avoided.

That's what I mean by being led around by the nose. You are listening to the popular media story, the big oil story, the "BP is at fault and no one else especially not the citizens of the United States who have the highest per capita consumption of oil in the world".

These threads are even worse. Some of this carping seems to be "if I can blame BP and Keymaker for the Gulf Oil spill then I am totally blameless. It's just that British arrogance shown by Tony Howard's gaff that is to blame". It is now only when it finally sinks in how well you have been played that some kind of open mind is being imagined and others might be to blame.

[censored] about what happened in the Gulf.Money is his life.

Yeah I see what you mean... so you're saying they've all been taken in by the media - got it, thanks.

km

Which is not to say that BP could be found 100% negligent sometime in the future. I doubt that but as a lawyer would say, the jury is out on the whole thing. What we have right now is pseudo-experts from other oil companies putting all the blame on BP. Way too neat and tidy. There is a reason why that would be a great story. A very convenient story for all involved (except BP.) It smells like all the expert opinion we had abut the tonnage of WMD that Saddam had. I do remember how that one came out.

Well keep telling yourself that if it helps you sleep at night, but that's not exactly the story I interpret.

As you say, a freak accident. By running a lab you're in charge of other people's safety, so you should lawfully have the reasoning to understand how accidents happen - and also understand that *you* are ultimately the one responsible if they do.

There is an entire chain of events leading up to this accident. One link in that chain gets broken, the accident doesn't occur.

If we have an outside vendor in our plant come in to do work on presses, bypass a safety switch and he gets crushed in the press is it the outside company's fault? No, it's our fault and we are responsible because it's our legal obligation to oversee his work. We should have taken the time to make sure the press has no power, all safety checks are in place - even if that means it takes an extra day or two and costs hundreds of thousands of dollars extra in downtime. If they come in, do a half ass job and a bearing later breaks in a roller, shoots out and crushes a plant employee, guess what... it's our fault again. It's our equipment, and we have the legal responsibility to check that work and make sure it's up to code before resuming operations.

In fact, we've rejected outside companies equipment before when they've come to install new machinery for us, because we felt the equipment wasn't in good enough order, or wasn't safe enough to operate in our plant. They don't get to start any work until we inspect what they're going to install it with.

In other words - it's our legal responsibility not only to make sure that 3rd party contractor is doing their work properly, but that they are never put into a position where they would have to take shortcuts.

So, if Haliburton did a crappy job with cement, or rushed it - BP should have *SHUT DOWN OPERATIONS*. If Transocean couldn't handle the drilling, or were rushing, BP should have *SHUT DOWN OPERATIONS*. Likewise, Haliburton or Transocean should have never been under pressure from BP to take shortcuts.

Should we let the rest of the oil industry off the hook? No, of course they should be scrutinized and examined as well. Should we let BP off the hook, because Haliburton or Transocean took a shortcut? No, it's their well and they're bound to oversee those sub contractors do that work correctly.

But how do you come by this expert opinion? Oh, right, you read the internet. You are making my point. Everything else you say in the thread is completely true and completely irrelevant.

We are so certain of things because the media and big business tells us so. A freak accident, lets get back and drill deep. How is this any different than the 99.5% certainty of WMD and the point five was ridiculed. Sometimes the half percent are right. Sometimes big oil is looking out for their interests so they very much want it to be a freak accident. Is that too absurd that Samson oil, Haliburton and the rest of big oil is loving this story and getting out there and cheering. I am not saying they wrote the story but they sure do love it. BP is wrong all by itself in fact it was all Tony's fault and one middle manager on the rig. Hang them and then lets get on with business.

I think I will wait until the facts are known before I swallow your expert opinion. Someday you might actually get one right. This one could be your lucky day.

The Unknown
"As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know."
—Donald Rumsfeld

Don't worry, BP will present the facts when it gets to court.

km

Your shortcuts theory as a test for liability has little merit I'm afraid. People are not required to take all conceivable measures to avoid loss or damage - only reasonable measures.

km

"who are we protecting, what are we hiding here?" The senator's last word on the youtube.

Unbelievable. Don't Republicans ever get embarrassed by how far up their heads are up the asss of big oil?

We don't need no stinking commission to find out what happened at Deep Horizon! MacCentral Forum has already clearly figured out what has happened. Just a series of small mistakes by Tony and a couple people at BP. Let's move on.