Coast Guard: Offshore oil rig explodes in Gulf of Mexico west of BP oil spill site

Published: Thursday, September 02, 2010, 10:39 AM Updated: Thursday, September 02, 2010, 10:52 AM

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The Coast Guard is responding to a report of a rig on fire "and people in the water'' in the Gulf of Mexico south of Vermillion Bay, authorities said.
Petty Officer Casey Ranel told nola.com the rig is around 80 miles south of Vermillion Bay and that a helicopter earlier today reported that it was in fire "and that there was smoke and there were people in the water.''

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The Coast Guard told CNN 12 people went overboard with one missing. Rescue attempts are underway. Reports indicate the rig wasn't producing at the time of the accident.

Five helicopters, two airplanes and four boats are en route from Coast Guard stations in New Orleans and Houston, Ranel said.
She said the rig, Vermillion Oil Rig 380, is owned by Mariner Energy.
Vermillion Oil Rig 360 is a gas and oil rig in 450 feet of water in South Timbalier Block 316, according to company records.

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/09/seco...explosion.html

misleading thread title (for now)

If this incident results in another major oil spill I think it should be crystal clear that many of the oil companies who are involved in off-shore drilling operations can not do so without seriously jeopardizing the entire ecosystem for hundreds and thousands of miles surrounding their operations.

No, I don't know what the solution is. Government regulatory agencies end up getting in bed with the industries they're supposed to regulate; the stringent safeguards and controls the companies themselves create or either never implemented or ignored, independent environmental entities/agencies have no standing with the big oil corporations nor government support to hold these companies accountable to ensure this shit DOESN'T happen.

But somehow, some fucking body somewhere had better get a handle on this shit. Otherwise we'll have a giant oil slick where the Gulf of Mexico used to be, the morans in Washington will ban all off-shore drilling and we'll see prices of $12 per gallon at the gas pumps.

I think I would be in favor of shutting down and heavily fineing any company which is responsible for any further oil spills, and possible huge fines and long prison terms for all those directly responsible for the spill, from CEO's and upper management to the supervisors and workers on these rigs who are responsible for the day-to-day maintenace and up-keep/adherence to safety regulations to prevent this.

Asked about concerns regarding oil leaks or pollution, Colclough said "there are reports the rig was not actively producing any product, so we don't know if there's any risk of pollution."

 

Originally Posted by SpankyHamm

I think we need to threaten these companies with hardcore jail time for their workers but also their CEO's when there is a preventable failure that results in catastrophic oil spills.

That will work out about as well as Obamas health care plan...

 

Originally Posted by SpankyHamm

If you want these companies to accept additional financial risk, they will do one of two things - increase what they are charging or get out of business. And either way - oil and gas prices will increase.

I think we need to threaten these companies with hardcore jail time for their workers but also their CEO's when there is a preventable failure that results in catastrophic oil spills. These CEO's have plenty of money to start with. Take away their income and it means nothing really. Take away their freedom, and I think you'd have a lot more safety initiatives in that company.

These companies would only be incurring increased financial risk IF they continued to be lax/irresponsible in the way they conducted their drilling operations. If they cleaned up their act and became more pro-active at all levels of safety and preventitive measures, they would have virtually zero increased financial risk. In fact, they would be looking at far less financial risk because they would no longer have to fear financial liabilities from running unsafe, slip-shod operations.

When are the citizens of this country gonna get it? This is just the latest obv govt conspiracy! Swat teams sent out to all the oil rigs shorty after the BP rig "accident" and just after the finally plug that hole we now have this new "accident" on a well that's not even in production.

Wake up, sheeple!!!