CSPAN Siobhan Hughes, Dow Jones Newswires, Senior Energy Writer talks about the BP oil disaster

Someone posted a link to this in the ROV thread. I thought it was a very good, in-depth discussion of many of the logistic of the entire spill, from BP to the former MMS, the American public, the Federal Gov't, rig workers, etc. It's all fairly redundant information for anyone who's been keeping abreast, but a great overview nonetheless.

The process of regulating these industries is obviously a difficult, complicated process that no one has ever paid any attention to. People will need to get very actively involved in every step of the process if we are ever going to see this change.

A great primer for anyone just diving into this.

Siobhan Hughes goes over the details of BP’s internal report on the Deepwater Horizon explosion and the reaction from Washington and Wall Street. There are currently multiple on-going investigations in the oil spill. The presidential commission investigating the explosion plans to present its own findings in early November

www.c-span.org...

27:00 lol

Seriously, this is an incredibly informative interview/call in show for anyone interested int eh actual logistics of what CAN be done about BP/Transocean/Halliburton, etc.

Did I not put enough ALL CAPPS in the title? Or is empowering, informative conversation not as fun as hand-wringing self-victimization?

Originally posted by justadood
The process of regulating these industries is obviously a difficult, complicated process that no one has ever paid any attention to. People will need to get very actively involved in every step of the process if we are ever going to see this change.

No, regulating industries is not difficult, nor is it complicated. The problem lies in the fact that it is more lucrative for regulators to be corrupt than it is for them to do their jobs correctly.

Risk / Benefit. The risk of being found out to be corrupt has to outweigh the benefit of not being found out. If found to be corrupt, the severity of the punishment has to outweigh the benefit of the corruption. How many federal regulators in the BP GOM fiasco have been sentenced to prison? How many have even been fired? Of those fired, how many now have jobs in the oil industry?

Added: Everyday people do not have time to get actively involved in every step of the process. Everyday people have jobs and families - responsibilities. That is why we have regulators in the first place. Don't ask me to do a job that I'm paying someone else to do. If they're not doing their job, then GET RID OF THEM.

The root problem here is the regulators themselves. The federal government in it's current structure is not capable.

Originally posted by Iamonlyhuman

Originally posted by justadood
The process of regulating these industries is obviously a difficult, complicated process that no one has ever paid any attention to. People will need to get very actively involved in every step of the process if we are ever going to see this change.

No, regulating industries is not difficult, nor is it complicated. The problem lies in the fact that it is more lucrative for regulators to be corrupt than it is for them to do their jobs correctly.



Risk / Benefit. The risk of being found out to be corrupt has to outweigh the benefit of not being found out. If found to be corrupt, the severity of the punishment has to outweigh the benefit of the corruption. How many federal regulators in the BP GOM fiasco have been sentenced to prison? How many have even been fired? Of those fired, how many now have jobs in the oil industry?

Added: Everyday people do not have time to get actively involved in every step of the process. Everyday people have jobs and families - responsibilities. That is why we have regulators in the first place. Don't ask me to do a job that I'm paying someone else to do. If they're not doing their job, then GET RID OF THEM.

The root problem here is the regulators themselves. The federal government in it's current structure is not capable.

edit on 17/9/2010 by Iamonlyhuman because: (no reason given)

Well, that's why i say it is difficult. The reality of regulating an industry as large and powerful and deeply embedded as anything in "Big Energy" is 'difficult' because money and power is very corrupt, and these issues involve a lot of both.

The reality is that our current government, in it's current structure, is ONLY capable if the PEOPLE are involved. As long as we sit back and merely complain about corruption, it will continue.

Howe many of US knew a damn things about the former MMS before that 'former' distinction was made? I sure didn't.

How many people who are having their lives directly affected by this STILL want to see more offshore drilling and dont want to take the time to deal with regulation? Many Gulf residents are EAGER to get the economy back up, and that means jobs, and that means oil rigs.

So yes, weighing all these issues is 'difficult'. Much easier than the armchair politics of political theory, for sure.