Australian Politics Forum - Gulf seafood deformities alarm scientists

BatteriesNotIncluded

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people died for this!

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Re: Gulf seafood deformities alarm scientists
Reply #15 - May 11^th, 2012 at 2:46pm

mantra wrote on May 8^th, 2012 at 8:26pm:

muso wrote on May 7^th, 2012 at 8:30am:

Yes, you don't spill that amount of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico with no consequences.

The Gulf of Mexico is a bit warmer than Alaska, so at least it will clean itself up quicker (biodegradation) but they are going to be left with this legacy for a decade or so.

Regarding mercury in fish. That has been a problem for years. Pregnant women and others should avoid canned fish where you don't know anything about the origins of the fish. It's not usually a problem unless you eat fish every day.

As a rule of thumb, the bigger and older the fish, the greater the mercury content. It's also mainly a problem for large pelagic fish. I've remember seeing a batch of enormous frozen tuna in Kenya when I worked there around 1980, and I knew straight away that they would fail the EC Mercury standard. It's a situation that hasn't got any worse, but it hasn't got any better either.

The situation would certainly be a lot worse than it was 30 years ago. The global population has doubled. Oil drilling would have increased tenfold at least and as a consequence there are hundreds, possibly thousands more disasters.

There are no solutions as governments are complicit in allowing such prolific exploration and transport of oil. People will pay anything for it and it keeps the economy ticking over.

Growth economies are by definitions bubbles!

This century will experience massive change if we keep tapping the resourcefulness button in the wrong fashion!!

"TREAT EVERY MOVE AS IF IT WERE GOLD-DUST", SAID MORPHY!

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*Sure....they're anti competitive as any subsidised job is. It wouldn't be there without the tax payer. Very damned difficult for a brainwashed collectivist to understand that I know.... (swaggy) *

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muso Gold Member Offline Posts: 13151 Gladstone, Queensland Gender:	Re: Gulf seafood deformities alarm scientists Reply #16 - May 12^th, 2012 at 8:15am MOTR wrote on May 10^th, 2012 at 7:28pm: muso wrote on May 10^th, 2012 at 11:06am: I'll have a go on the weekend Only If you have the time, Muso. Weekends are precious. Perhaps I'll wait until I've finished reading it
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muso

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Re: Gulf seafood deformities alarm scientists
Reply #17 - Jun 2^nd, 2012 at 8:42pm

OK, nothing particularly new here. It came down to relaxed safety standards, normalisation of warning signs by both BP and contractors, and "groupthink" where anybody daring to speak out was shouted down. They even had protectors of the groupthink.

Too much financial pressure on getting the work done at the cost of safety. Probably the most dangerous attitude was the assumption that it was totally safe unless proven otherwise.

It reminded me of the Challenger Space Shuttle accident, in that there were people within Halliburton who were sounding the alarm, but the pressure associated with the value of the contract prevented such dissentors from getting a voice. Their views were suppressed by management.

What surprised me was the extent to which safety systems had diminished to that of mere lip-service and rubber-stamping. For example they carried out a critical test to determine if the well pressure vessel was intact. However, no definitive guidance was designed or provided for interpretation of data derived from the negative tests or prescribed the corrective action required if the negative tests did not provide assurance that the well pressure vessel was intact. Perhaps the most damning evidence was that the drilling crew had not received any formal training in performing this critical test. Effectively the test was meaningless.

This failed defense along with fundamental flaws in the process was one of the main causes of the Macondo blowout, but there was a number of other causes just as bad, for example the failure to leave well drilling liner overlaps uncemented. There were about 20 separate procedural failures that contributed to the disaster.

Anfrew Hopkins was one of the main investigators of the incident, and is a masterful writer on the subject of industrial accidents.

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« Last Edit: Jun 2^nd, 2012 at 8:51pm by muso »

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jay82

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Re: Gulf seafood deformities alarm scientists
Reply #18 - Jun 13^th, 2012 at 9:30pm

Its cause of the pollutants dumped into the sea right? sad how our meaness is harming the sea creatures. Just yesterday i heard on the news that sea food is a blessing, if you feed the babies seafood in the 1st year of their birth its a cure against future chances of developing polio and some other illnesses.

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mantra

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Re: Gulf seafood deformities alarm scientists
Reply #19 - Jun 14^th, 2012 at 3:50pm

muso wrote on Jun 2^nd, 2012 at 8:42pm:

OK, nothing particularly new here. It came down to relaxed safety standards, normalisation of warning signs by both BP and contractors, and "groupthink" where anybody daring to speak out was shouted down. They even had protectors of the groupthink.

Too much financial pressure on getting the work done at the cost of safety. Probably the most dangerous attitude was the assumption that it was totally safe unless proven otherwise.

It reminded me of the Challenger Space Shuttle accident, in that there were people within Halliburton who were sounding the alarm, but the pressure associated with the value of the contract prevented such dissentors from getting a voice. Their views were suppressed by management.

What surprised me was the extent to which safety systems had diminished to that of mere lip-service and rubber-stamping. For example they carried out a critical test to determine if the well pressure vessel was intact. However, no definitive guidance was designed or provided for interpretation of data derived from the negative tests or prescribed the corrective action required if the negative tests did not provide assurance that the well pressure vessel was intact. Perhaps the most damning evidence was that the drilling crew had not received any formal training in performing this critical test. Effectively the test was meaningless.

This failed defense along with fundamental flaws in the process was one of the main causes of the Macondo blowout, but there was a number of other causes just as bad, for example the failure to leave well drilling liner overlaps uncemented. There were about 20 separate procedural failures that contributed to the disaster.

This lack of regulation is common globally. Who cares about the destruction when there's a few bucks to be made.

Nothing is regulated anymore - yet these spills and accidents cause more environmental damage than smog.

We need a pollution tax - not a carbon tax and the revenue invested in more government regulation of heavy industry where some cash would be recouped by penalties.

The current fines are miniscule compared to the profits.

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muso

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Re: Gulf seafood deformities alarm scientists
Reply #20 - Jul 31^st, 2012 at 11:15am

Here's another good summary of the causes of the disaster:

http://www.sia.org.au/browse.aspx?ContentID=a-look-behind-the-gulf-of-mexico-dis...

Hopefully non SIA members can see this ok. The Engineers on board reported to production, so group-think took precedence and production pressures were more important to them than defects in the design process.

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