Oil spill may derail the US climate and energy bill - is this the ultimate irony?

The real irony of it all may come later. Whenever they get new legislation , maybe not for a couple of years,approval of off-shore drilling will find its way back in. After all the furor dies down.

And for Dolphin314, this wasn't supposed to happen to begin with...the backup safety mechanisms didn't work.

I find it sad you take the name of a wonderful species, dolphins...when literal thousands of them are threaten by this catastrophe..how many will die from the toxic efeffects the oil spill.

"defense in depth" is a ridicules concept when applied here, it sounds like you're making war on the environment..that its the enemy...the only "defense in depth" we need is against the rampage greed of the oil corp.s

use that technical know-how to develop alternative renewable, clean energy sources

relying on a limited, polluting, cancer causing energy source does not seem like a smart thing to do when you talk about risk manegment

Thought I would throw my hat in the ring by saying, the reason they spend so much on cosmetic surgery is the doctors charge way too much, and they wouldn't need cosmetic surgery if society wasn't so judgmental on how people look. We as a society have created this problem along with many others, and when you talk about how much you have given and boast about it, you have just got your reward as Christianity teaches, so no I would not follow in your footsteps, that is sin according to the Bible. On a reality sense I can tell if the rich or well to do helped the poor and needy, we would all just be mediocre, and that's just like communism, something I'm not to crazy about, but wait you didn't say the poor would have to work we would just give it to them and help them out. I think we already do this, its called social assistance and our taxes cover that cost along with producing jobs for social workers. So we are already giving to the poor, we just are not boasting about the good we are doing. Real charity comes from the heart and is not measured by the media and what others think, it is done in secret so you do not humiliate the needy or crown the giver.

Yeah, the political process is getting pretty ugly. No question about that. Don't forget about the worst coal mining explosion in over thirty years either. It is really the coal mining industry who is in the cross hairs of this bill. Most of the bill dealt with electricity, not oil. Reducing our dependence on foreign oil is no easy task, but reducing our dependence on coal is. Nuclear power, expansion of natural gas, solar and wind power, that stuff really hurts the coal mining industry. Liberals hate coal, because it pollutes the environment. The liberals hate coal so much, they were willing to expand off shore oil drilling. Heating oil represents about 1% of the electricity used in this country.

Plus, companies like BP, Exxon Mobile, and Chevron are massive companies who operate all over the world. Even if we were able to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, the worldwide oil market is only getting bigger. The major players in the oil industry are a lot more scared of this oil spill, than they are of the energy bill. The energy bill may have been good for them.

It is indeed ironic, but not at all surprising! Why look for anything other than a Political Solution to a Politicized Issue? You asked for a political and ideological debate about global wealth distribution...well you have a political and ideologically driven response.

Maybe when widely debated and accepted science is forthcoming on climate change and a course of action is widely agreed upon OUTSIDE of political bodies such as the IPCC then a real solution might arise.

Dana the world is doing it just to spite you.

Drilling could be made a lot safer by having 5 way reudundancy on the wellhead plugger systems, so if the first three systems fail you've got two left to try.

The wellhead sealers are costly but not hugely compared to the cost of locating the field, and refining the oil.

Putting in a five way system would be what's called defense in depth, like we do at nuclear power plants.

In a class 9 accident there are at least five ways to get to natural core cooling mode. The first three didn't work at Three Mile Island, but the last two did.

Defense in depth could raise the price of gasoline.

Conservation would increase.

Global warming would slow just a bit.

Push for that -- Dana -- big megaphone guy.

We want drill baby drill but defense in depth 5 way wellhead sealing redundancy.

We also need a system that allows sea vacuuming. It's a ship with a big funnel and a vacuum on the bow. It goes fast. It vacuums up the oil, like a hostess does at a party when someone spills a bottle of wine on the carpet. She comes running out and vaccums it up.

In this case, 20 ships like that could have turned a huge oil spill into a fairly small oil spill.

Those ships can be refuelled and re-crewed and replenished at sea. They can operate at high intensity for weeks on end. It's like a dustpan on the bow and it comes to a point so the vacuumed oil goes into tanks on the ships. Rough seas would impede these ships, but real quick response would make them effective in most cases. Sea vacuumers could be carried on larger ships, like LST's which could make 60 knots getting to an accident site. A few of these emergency response ships for each each major field being explored or pumped and you've got risk mitigation, or risk management. Or at least you are doing something, which is better than a bunch of bigwig cabinet members sucking their thumbs while listening to another Obama speech.

Action, you see?

The Republicans will not gain seats in the upcoming election. The tea partiers do not represent the majority.

Right up there with saying C&T will promote job growth. Meaning your looking at it with your eyes wide open but politicians are a different breed without logic.

"In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way."

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/in_polit...

BP shares lost 7% yesterday.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/29/...

Now there is a sale on BP so that management can consolidate control.

Loses? Consider that Bernarke http://www.rense.com/general68/newa.htm

is now printing money http://www.fightbacknews.org/2009/02/federal-reser...

without authorization and giving it away to foreigners without any audit at all.

http://usawatchdog.com/bernanke-admits-printing-1-...

So, they could well have made deals with interests who do wish to jettison the energy bill. http://www.rense.com/general88/cap.htm

Consider how, despite all the simple and cheap safeguards, the insanity that this is actually happening. http://www.newsinferno.com/archives/19959

Ah, but you, unlike FDR, do not believe in conspiracy theories.

that's what happens. it is time to move on from depending on oil..

dunno about 'the ultimate irony' but it makes a good conspiracy theory :-(