Hint: BP wasn’t drilling in 5,000 ft because it was cheap, fun or emotionally fulfilling.
Vladimir
RedState.com
4/30/2010
The answer is, because we demanded it, you and I.
“It” being a reasonably inexpensive, plentiful and secure supply of petroleum products, gasoline in particular. We don’t like gas lines or $8.00 per gallon. We really don’t like gas lines and $8.00 per gallon.
(And “we” includes every American, with the possible exception of St. Ed Begley, Jr. )
We also decided that we didn’t want it to come from our own back yards. It shouldn’t mess up our postcard views from 30 story condo developments. We also decided we didn’t want it to interfere with the nesting season of the sage grouse or the mating habits of the pronghorn antelope.
We want gasoline to be as reliable as electricity, and we don’t want to give any thought to where it comes from.
In order to satisfy our demand, large multinational oil companies must find oil in large fields, capable of producing at high rates of flow. Most of the producing basins in the U.S. are so mature, so “picked over”, that the odds of finding a new, world class discovery comparable to those in the Middle East or Africa, are very, very low.
Operating in the developing world has its special risks. Many oilfields and much of the infrastructure that has been developed by Western companies has been expropriated by local regimes in places like Saudi Arabia, Libya, Venezuela, and most recently, Ecuador.
The political risk is less in the U.S., where (at least historically) there has been respect for contracts, land title and the rule of law.
The article continues at RedState.com
See also at The Daily Caller:
Rig had history of spills, fires before big one
and All Hands On Deck: Fishermen receive training to clean up oil spill
UPDATE from FoxNews.com: British Petroleum Didn’t Plan for Major Oil Spill
