And whose fault is it?
The Wall Street Journal has reported:
Federal regulators learned in a 2004 study that a vital piece of oil-drilling safety equipment may not function in deep-water seas but did nothing to bolster industry requirements … The equipment, called shear rams, is supposed to seal off out-of-control oil and gas wells by pinching the pipe closed and cutting it. In 2004, a study commissioned by the MMS raised significant questions about the ability of rams to cut through the stronger pipes used in deep-water drilling. Those thicker pipes—as well as the shear rams—must withstand the enormous pressures found at 5,000 feet below sea level …
Only three of 14 newly build rigs had blowout preventers that were able to squeeze off and cut the pipe at the water pressure likely to be experienced at the equipment’s maximum water depth, the study noted.
The New York Times has reported:
The federal Minerals Management Service has recorded more than 500 fires on platforms in the gulf since 2006. At least two people have died in gulf platform fires over the last four years, and about 12 more were seriously injured before the accident on the Deepwater Horizon. No accident so far has measurably slowed the rate of discovery and production.
The Los Angeles Times has reported:
After an exploration well is drilled, cement slurry is pumped through a steel pipe or casing and out through a check valve at the bottom of the casing. It then travels up the outside of the pipe, sheathing the part of the pipe surrounded by the oil and gas zone. When the cement hardens, it is supposed to prevent oil or gas from leaking into adjacent zones along the pipe. As the cement sets, the check valve at the end of the casing prevents any material from flowing back up the pipe. The zone is thus isolated until the company is ready to start production. The process is tricky. A 2007 study by the U.S. Minerals Management Service found that cementing was the single most-important factor in 18 of 39 well blowouts in the Gulf of Mexico over a 14-year period.
Central Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 213 Attracts $ 949 Million in High Bids
NEW ORLEANS – Central Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Lease Sale 213, held today in New Orleans, attracted $ 949,265,959 in high bids. The sale was conducted by Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) and had 77 companies submitting 642 bids on 468 tracts comprising over 2.4 million acres offshore Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The sum of all bids received totaled $ 1,300,075,693. “The bidding activity at today’s sale speaks to the future of deepwater Gulf in providing vital energy production for the nation,” said Lars Herbst, MMS Gulf of Mexico regional director. “There was also an increase in interest in shallower waters that offers deep gas potential, which is encouraging.” A total of 151 tracts in water depths less than 656 feet received bids. This represents 32 percent of all tracts receiving bids, an increase of five percent from last year’s Central Gulf lease sale.
The highest bid received on a tract was $ 52,560,000 submitted by Anadarko E & P Company LP and Mariner Energy, Inc. for Walker Ridge, Block 793. Each high bid on a tract will go through an evaluation process within MMS to ensure the public receives fair market value before a lease is awarded.
Sale statistics for Central Sale 213 are posted on the MMS website at
http://www.gomr.mms.gov/homepg/lsesale/213/cgom213.html
Let's look at the federal Code:
TITLE 43 > CHAPTER 29 > SUBCHAPTER III > § 1337 Prev | Next § 1337. Leases, easements, and rights-of-way on the outer Continental Shelf
(4) Requirements
(1) The Secretary shall ensure that any activity under this subsection is carried out in a manner that provides for—
(A) safety;
(B) protection of the environment;
(C) prevention of waste;
(D) conservation of the natural resources of the outer Continental Shelf; (E) coordination with relevant Federal agencies;
(F) protection of national security interests of the United States;
(G) protection of correlative rights in the outer Continental Shelf;
(H) a fair return to the United States for any lease, easement, or right-of-way under this subsection;
(I) prevention of interference with reasonable uses (as determined by the Secretary) of the exclusive economic zone, the high seas, and the territorial seas;
(J) consideration of—
(i) the location of, and any schedule relating to, a lease, easement, or right-of-way for an area of the outer Continental Shelf; and
(ii) any other use of the sea or seabed, including use for a fishery, a sealane, a potential site of a deepwater port, or navigation;
(K) public notice and comment on any proposal submitted for a lease, easement, or right-of-way under this subsection; and
(L) oversight, inspection, research, monitoring, and enforcement relating to a lease, easement, or right-of-way under this subsection.
(5) Lease duration, suspension, and cancellation The Secretary shall provide for the duration, issuance, transfer, renewal, suspension, and cancellation of a lease, easement, or right-of-way under this subsection.
(6) Security The Secretary shall require the holder of a lease, easement, or right-of-way granted under this subsection to—
(A) furnish a surety bond or other form of security, as prescribed by the Secretary;
(B) comply with such other requirements as the Secretary considers necessary to protect the interests of the public and the United States; and
(C) provide for the restoration of the lease, easement, or right-of-way.
(7) Coordination and consultation with affected State and local governments The Secretary shall provide for coordination and consultation with the Governor of any State or the executive of any local government that may be affected by a lease, easement, or right-of-way under this subsection.
(8) Regulations Not later than 270 days after August 8, 2005, the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating, the Secretary of Commerce, heads of other relevant departments and agencies of the Federal Government, and the Governor of any affected State, shall issue any necessary regulations to carry out this subsection.
If it has always been the responsibility of the federal government then 1) government regulation doesn't work and we ought to end failed regulation in exchange for privileges of limited liability or 2) government is inherently corrupt because power corrupts people and we ought to end crony regulation in exchange for privileges of limited liability.
Re: Let's shut it all down
Member #: 43860
Registered: 1/23/2006
Posted:
82
Name:
TDD
Company:
Cable
Occupation:
Slave
Location:
U.S
There are 2 replies to this message
