Judge Blocks Deep-Water Drilling Moratorium – NYTimes.com.
US District Judge Martin Feldman overturned the Presidents order to suspend all offshore drilling at depths over 500 feet. Of course you have the oil industry and all supporting industries cheering this along with everyone who is or will be employed by one of these companies and I can see how this helps economically.
At the same time with what is still happening more than a mile below the ocean surface in the Gulf you have to wonder if the rigs out there are as safe as a deep water drilling rig can be. Deepwater Horizon was supposed to be safe but as the days pass more and more information is surfacing about the conditions aboard the rig. Is this happening elsewhere as well? I don’t think we’ll get an answer to that until something else tragic happens.
I’m prone to believing that the disaster that happened in April is resultant of industry deregulation. The idea that an industry will self-regulate properly in a capitalistic society is insane. A company wants to make money. The more money it makes by any means possible, the happier the shareholders are.
So who or what is going to keep it all in check? What is keeping the workers safe? I don’t think anyone has an answer to that right now. Someone better come up with one or we’ll be having more problems in the future.
Very well expressed! And ditto on all of those points.. I understand the boon to the economy but I can’t justify the risk in my own mind. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out with Deepwater Horizon in the next few months.