Rachel Maddow Interviews Bob Cavnar About the New Explosion in the Gulf.
|
Tweet this story! Support our efforts for a sustainable world.
|
|
Yesterday at 9am an explosion was recorded on an oil rig about 80 miles west of the Deepwater Horizon rig.
From Bob Cavnar’s blog:
Update: Mariner says the platform was in production at the time of the fire producing 1,400 barrels per day and about 9 million cubic feet of gas. All 13 workers were picked up out of the water and 10 are reportedly being treated at a hospital in Houma, Louisiana. There were apparently 7 wells producing to this platform, which also served as a pipeline hub transporting oil and gas to the beach. The emergency shut-in system worked, and the fire was put out.
Even though this incident was contained with a successful shut in, having yet another incident in the Gulf this close to the Deepwater Horizon disaster is Simply. Not. Good. Mariner is a well run company and has a good reputation, so, obviously, this was something of an anomaly. The problem, though, is that when you string a bunch of anomalies together, you get a trend. This accident also highlights just how dangerous this business can be, with dire consequences should even the smallest thing go wrong. This is a shallow water platform, one of the many that the industry said were safe and should not be subject to any regulatory reform. Obviously, that argument just went out the window. If there ended up being little or no spill, that will be a very good fact, but the heat (no pun intended) just got turned up on the industry.
We’ll keep following.
Cavnar appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show last night to explain the significance of this new explosion.
Bob Cavnar is the author of Disaster on the Horizon, coming out this October!
