UK Engineer sets US straight on BP and Gulf oil spill

From: Roy Thomson
Re: Oil leak in the Gulf

Whilst I fully understand the concerns of Americans plus many other people around the world, I think it is time to separate relevant facts from emotion and fiction.

(1) Firstly, BP is an exceptionally caring, reputable company for its employees, the public at large and the environment. I know, I was an engineer with them for over 30 years. They are doing everything possible to stem the leak.

(2) It is my firm conviction that they will meet all reasonable and honest claims by people around the coast who have suffered actual losses.

(3) No matter what idealistic environmentalists say, America needs oil now and in the future. Currently, there is no substitute.

(4)Domestic oil is needed as a counter to Arab oil to avoid blackmail and avoid paying possibly $23/gal. in the future, instead of the present $3/gal. approx.

(5) To those who wish to go back to the cave-dwellers life style, do as you wish, but without oil and coal, no amount of wind or wave power will meet modern energy requirements. When the wind and waves stop, the lights will go out, until nuclear power is available.

(6) Whether you like her or not, Sarah Palin is correct in stating that oil production in water over 1 mile deep is a risky, expensive and dangerous business forced on oil companies by legislation against on-shore and shallow water drilling elsewhere.

(7) Environmental damage to wetlands will recover, as it always does and the loss of birds and a few turtles is sad. However across in the Caribbean, in spite of the natives turning turtles into soup, the silence from tree-huggers is deafening.

(8) The current consumer campaign against BP is foolish. If BP is bankrupted, there will be no compensation payouts and thousands of American fishermen, hoteliers, suppliers, stock-holders, workers and their families will suffer financially.

(9)The current whiff of anti-British propaganda is distasteful. When the American owned Piper Alpha Rig exploded and sank in the North Sea with the loss of 167 British lives, there was no such anti-American feeling or protectionist campaign in Britain . It was put down as a tragic accident and followed by tighter regulation.

(10) BP and Shell (40%) are the only British oil companies operating in the USA as opposed to American oil companies Exxon, Conoco, Chevron, Texaco, Mobil, Amerada, etc operating in the UK & Europe. The balance is clearly in US favour.

(11) Finally, actual detailed responsibility for the failure has not yet been determined. The world’s most experienced deep-sea drilling company, Swiss owned Trans-Ocean, drilled the well for BP, and an American company Cameron, supplied the blow-out preventer and shut off valves. No doubt the technical experts and their lawyers will eventually sort this one out.