• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

BP Is Burning Sea Turtles Alive, Gulf Captain Says

Catz Part Deux

Catz Part Deux

Banned
DP Veteran
Joined
May 19, 2009
Messages
28,721
Reaction score
6,738
Location
Redneck Riviera
Gender
Female
Political Leaning
Moderate
FOXNews.com - BP Is Burning Sea Turtles Alive, Gulf Captain Says

Captain Mike Ellis said in an interview posted on You Tube that the boats were conducting controlled burns to get rid of the oil.

"They drag a boom between two shrimp boats, and whatever gets caught between the two boats, they circle it up and catch it on fire. Once the turtles are in there, they can’t get out," Ellis said.

Ellis said he had to cut short his three-week trip rescuing the turtles because BP quit allowing him access to rescue turtles before the burns.

"They're pretty much keeping us from doing what we need to do out there," Ellis said.

Other reports corroborate Captain Ellis' claims. A report in the Los Angeles Times described "burn fields" of 500 square miles in which 16 controlled burns will take place in one day.

"When the weather is calm and the sea is placid, ships trailing fireproof booms corral the black oil, the coated seaweed and whatever may be caught in it, and torch it ... " the report said.

Ellis said most of the turtles he saw were Kemps Ridley turtles, a critically endangered species. Harming or killing one would bring stiff civil and criminal penalties and fines of up to $50,000 against BP.
Click to expand...

BP: "If you don't see us killing them, it didn't happen."

Seriously, WTF?
 
earthworm said:
Many, a great many new rules and regulations will be necessary, to protect our people, our animals, our sea life, and our environment.
Do not expect any help/support at all from the Republicans nor BP(of course).
Give Tony Heyward a straw and a toothbrush to clean up the mess, a good lifetime job for him...
Click to expand...
I'm fairly certain that the Republicans aren't the ones on duty right now. does this mean we can't expect any help from the Democrats, either, since this is happening on their watch? I'm guessing that we're thoroughly ****ed down here on the gulf.
 
BP also eats kittens and lynches purple-polka-dotted people.
 
Okay, I find the idea appalling, but really... what are they to do? The cleanup effort is going to incur some casualties.
 
Catz Part Deux said:
They should track the animals they kill and pay the relevant fines.
Click to expand...

What do the fines help? They're meant as a deterrent. It's not as if they are hunting these animals for profit. They're trying to clean up a mess that would likely have killed those same animals if they did NOT clean it up.

Look, I know BP screwed the pooch, but let's at least try to be fair.
 
Catz Part Deux said:
They should track the animals they kill and pay the relevant fines.
Click to expand...

To whom? I don't really think BP have a choice - if they let Ellis and Co. continue to take their time and rescue the turtles...then BP won't get anything done at the end of the day. The oil'll just spread more and well, more marine animals die. And then Ellis and Co. will come onto the news again and berate BP for not doing enough to control the oil spread. So it's a viscous cycle really...what people can do is to take such reports with a pinch of salt.
 
Catz Part Deux said:
So, this is acceptable to you?
Click to expand...

Given the circumstances, I tend to be more worried about the beaches and the welfare of the affected citizenry than a few turtles, yes.
 
Catz Part Deux said:
So, this is acceptable to you?
Click to expand...
Yes.

Now you're turn. Why the hell would BP want to burn turtles? I know corporations are evil, but please, please, please don't tell me that satan just randomly appears on Tony Hayward's shoulder to give him money each time he is mean to a poor sea critter.
 
They are making turtle soup and not letting me have any of it? Damn, just damn! :mrgreen:
 
Poor turtles :(
 
DarkWizard12 said:
Yes.

Now you're turn. Why the hell would BP want to burn turtles? I know corporations are evil, but please, please, please don't tell me that satan just randomly appears on Tony Hayward's shoulder to give him money each time he is mean to a poor sea critter.
Click to expand...

Let me ask you this. Are there more measures they can take to preserve as much sea life as possible?
 
Catz Part Deux said:
They should track the animals they kill and pay the relevant fines.
Click to expand...

Pay fines for doing what you insist they they are supposed to do?

While we're at it, let's fine the shrimpers who own the boats.

What are they supposed to do? Waste time picking up turtles that are going to probably die, anyway?
 
Middleground said:
Let me ask you this. Are there more measures they can take to preserve as much sea life as possible?
Click to expand...

Sure there are...harness the spill. The bigger the spill gets, the more animals that are going to die. If we spend precious time trying to save a few turtles and take time from arresting the spill, we've in affect, killed even more marine animals than we've saved.

If we hadn't been so worried about the environment, then perhaps this spill wouldn't be as wide spread as it is.

Anyone hear that the sand berms were put on hold again? Seems the Coast Gaurd, or whoever didn't like where the sand was coming from.
 
apdst said:
Anyone hear that the sand berms were put on hold again? Seems the Coast Gaurd, or whoever didn't like where the sand was coming from.
Click to expand...

Sand berms have the potential to make things worse.
 
Middleground said:
Let me ask you this. Are there more measures they can take to preserve as much sea life as possible?
Click to expand...

Yes there is, it called doing everything you can to minimize the impact of the oil leak.
In this instance it involves burning the oil, there will be some casualties but that's life.
 
the berms jindal was raving about will take nine months to build and the hurricane will destroy them in one night.
 
bp needs to pull itself up by it's bootstraps.
 
Middleground said:
Let me ask you this. Are there more measures they can take to preserve as much sea life as possible?
Click to expand...
I wouldn't know, I'm not knowledgeable of such measures and their impact, what measures would you contend?

But please answer mine, what benefit does BP get from this? If there is no apparant motive, are we not left to one conclusion, it's not deliberate? It's just an accident. Would every individual in those boats be THAT heartless to burn turtles for no reason at all other than pure entertainment? Or is it likely they have something else in mind: Just doing their jobs and cleaning up the oil, they wouldn't have a clue that the turtles are endangered and they could be fined.
 
One aspect that supports Catz is that the fine is not something BP can delay payments on utilizing its the normal method. BP, like Exxon is going to appeal for decades the true payment on this disaster. At the same time is going to line up relatively cheap credit against its annual net cash flow. Effectively, it is going to use the principle of time value of money to reduce the actual payments to something rather trivial for the size of the firm. By fining them through the endangered species act, BP cannot utilize the tried and true avoidance method to evade timely payments.

I fully realize how BP is going to avoid paying the bank on this and fining them for killing turtles is a way to at least minimize that and actually make them financially regret this screw up.

As I've said elsewhere on this forum, the only problem BP has in the future regarding this mess is getting future licenses from a Democratic Congress. Actual payments won't be a problem for them in the slightest. Still to pay a $1 billion in fines, they need to kill 20,000 turtles at $50k a pop. That's a lot of turtles.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom