'Cheap' oil is costing us plenty
Robert C. Faulkner Jr. ("Don't Blame BP," June 9 letters), like many Americans, doesn't get it. He thinks that allowing oil companies unlimited access to U.S. oil reserves will result in lower fuel costs ... but his is a false economy.
He thinks that the limitations on oil exploration caused BP's failure. That's patently false, as it's already been revealed that BP, Halliburton and the rig operator violated best practices in their push to convert this well into production, ignoring all good sense in pressing ahead despite failures of the blowout protector's annular, extremely high well pressures and the exceedingly deep, and remote, location of the one device that could have saved the day.
Jacques Cousteau said long ago that working deep under the sea is as difficult as working in space. In space, for manned missions, NASA and others have worked out plans, implemented redundancies and disaster scenarios in order to assure for a safe mission. Had BP done this, at minimum, this failure would have been contained long ago, with little damage to the environment, and possibly without loss of life.
Mr. Faulkner says, "Let them do the job they know how to do." Doesn't he realize that, from what we've seen so far, BP didn't have a clue, and now the rest of us will be paying for BP's failures, and not just at the gas pump, for years to come? Cheap oil, indeed.
BOB HABERKOST
Ross
He thinks that the limitations on oil exploration caused BP's failure. That's patently false, as it's already been revealed that BP, Halliburton and the rig operator violated best practices in their push to convert this well into production, ignoring all good sense in pressing ahead despite failures of the blowout protector's annular, extremely high well pressures and the exceedingly deep, and remote, location of the one device that could have saved the day.
Jacques Cousteau said long ago that working deep under the sea is as difficult as working in space. In space, for manned missions, NASA and others have worked out plans, implemented redundancies and disaster scenarios in order to assure for a safe mission. Had BP done this, at minimum, this failure would have been contained long ago, with little damage to the environment, and possibly without loss of life.
Mr. Faulkner says, "Let them do the job they know how to do." Doesn't he realize that, from what we've seen so far, BP didn't have a clue, and now the rest of us will be paying for BP's failures, and not just at the gas pump, for years to come? Cheap oil, indeed.
BOB HABERKOST
Ross