"Drill, baby, Drill" (and fuck the environment)

[Flopper]

Haven't seen this thread in a while. Some new thoughts have come to mind.

First, How does drilling hurt the working class? Since when is having productive jobs and energy for more jobs bad?

Second, You do realize that drilling and environmental protection are not mutually exclusive, right?

I agree that drilling and environmental protection do not have to be mutually exclusive, but regulation and protection of the wells is needed. Something that isn't mentioned much is the danger we face from terrorist attacks on offshore drilling. The Deepwater Horizon spread oil over the an area the size of Kentucky and took 100 days to bring under control and will cost billions to clean up. Suppose a terrorist attack hit 5 wells in the Gulf. The Gulf is not that big a place. The prospect of turning the Gulf of Mexico into a dead sea is truly frightening.

 

[Wry Catcher]

Haven't seen this thread in a while. Some new thoughts have come to mind.

First, How does drilling hurt the working class? Since when is having productive jobs and energy for more jobs bad?

Second, You do realize that drilling and environmental protection are not mutually exclusive, right?

I agree that drilling and environmental protection do not have to be mutually exclusive, but regulation and protection of the wells is needed. Something that isn't mentioned much is the danger we face from terrorist attacks on offshore drilling. The Deepwater Horizon spread oil over the an area the size of Kentucky and took 100 days to bring under control and will cost billions to clean up. Suppose a terrorist attack hit 5 wells in the Gulf. The Gulf is not that big a place. The prospect of turning the Gulf of Mexico into a dead sea is truly frightening.

Good point, though giving ideas to terrorists may not be the best practice.

 

[Mr. H.]

Has anyone looked at the processes involved in getting a permit to drill a hole in the ground for oil and/or natural gas, and the rules and regulations involved? Then if the well is completed and produced a whole new set of regs kicks in. Here's what the Illinois DNR rules look like:

PART 240 THE ILLINOIS OIL AND GAS ACT : Sections Listing

The entire Code is several hundred pages long.

 

[Flopper]

Has anyone looked at the processes involved in getting a permit to drill a hole in the ground for oil and/or natural gas, and the rules and regulations involved? Then if the well is completed and produced a whole new set of regs kicks in. Here's what the Illinois DNR rules look like:

PART 240 THE ILLINOIS OIL AND GAS ACT : Sections Listing

The entire Code is several hundred pages long.

Yes, I have. Every state has a lot of rules and permits. There are good reason for most of the rules. The actual drilling of a well is pretty straight forward but the paper work can be a nightmare. Slant drilling can steal oil from adjacent properties. Pollution of ground water is a real concern since many wells are on farm and ranch land. One of the things that makes all the paper work complicated is there are royalty interests of those that own the mineral rights. Then there are easements to consider. The people that own the land are usually not the people who own the mineral rights. The people that drill well are often not the people that buy the oil or gas from well. The people that drill the well many not be the operator of the well. It's really a complicated business. The paper process and the regulations can be a nightmare, however as I said most of the regulations are needed. Most everybody in the oil business have an attorney that specialize in drilling and distribution.

 

[Charles_Main]

Yes, studies have shown that oil rigs prevent a lot of oil that NATURALLY seeps from the earth from seeping because it was being collected by drilling. Is there an accident every 10-20 years? Yes, indeed. Show me one industrialized sector of our society that doesn't have really bad accidents???? .

Stop trying to use Logic to arguw with the Un logical