BP prepres for next ‘fix,‘ oil may spill into Gulf til August

For BP, the weekend brought the end of the top kill and the start of the next try, dubbed the lower marine riser package.

BP Managing Director Bob Dudley said, “Slice off the top of that riser with a clean surface. And then drop over this containment. It will be a four to seven day operation.“

And even then, if it works, the company admits it won’t be a tight enough seal to stop all the oil, leaving the relief wells in August as the most likely end to the gusher.

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At this point, we are talking about more than a few Exxon Vadez-sized spills. By August, this will truly become an environmental catastrophe. The irony here is that all of this could have been prevented, had BP installed a half million dollar piece of equipment that would have kept this from happening. But love of money trumped that practical consideration.

As a result, when it comes to the idea of regulating the oil companies, I would say that the answer now is a no-brainer. "Business as usual" can never happen unless a whole lot of trust is earned, and BP has forever lost any trust it might have previously earned, which would have been a drop in the bucket of what it probably needed.

Regulation? Sometimes we do need it. The proof of that lies out there in the Gulf.

Article is here.

Regulation is generally needed.

Not just regulation for regulations sack but effective and enforced regulation