Bad News For Alaska: Shell Abandons Arctic Drilling Plans

[easter bunny]

There seems to be some confusion. I assumed that drilling in Alaskan waters would fall under US jurisdiction. I would agree that Canadian regulations are tighter, and our practices probably a bit better, but the whole system on which everything is built is still fatally flawed.



It's true that if a company screws up badly enough they'll go out of business, which all sounds very final, as if there's some real punishment involved, but in reality the worst that can happen is that their assets get sold and they have to continue operations under a new name. Remember the guy who blew up the town of Lac-Mégantic and killed 47 people because he was too cheap to run a two man crew? He got away scot-free.



And it's back to business as usual. It's the same story every time. The only thing that ever changes is the body count. It's a formula for disaster. It's been proven over and over again and the cause is always the same: greed. In the words of the most recent poster boy for CEO psychopaths: "I like money more than I like people."



It's basically a roll of the dice. We're just lucky Ed Burkhardt is into choo-choo trains and not oil rigs.

The only thing that is fatally flawed is a grown man so ignorant of industry he posts copy pasta crap as proof of anything. Comparing freight trains to offshore rigs would get you laughed at by people in both industries if you were man enough to get a job in either.



Let me school you first on trains. The only reason Lac Megantic happened was because a hog head did not apply the prescribed amount of handbrakes and perform his push pull test. CROR !!2. I know he was likely tired, but it is not that time consuming and it is a $120,000+ per year job. He was punished for doing the same thing when he worked for a class 1 railway. As Hunter Harrison, CEO of CP  pointed out, what is the point of new rules 4.5 and 6 when rules 1, 2 and 3 are not being followed?



Having a conductor and a hog head would not have changed Lac Megantic one iota. A conductor looks after the switching and a hoghead goes forward and backward with the power. Just like the blowout in the gulf, the fault was rules compliance.



Of course, I don't tell have to tell an industry expert like you. For example I'm sure you know what a FREDDY on a train is and what purpose it serves.

I'm not comparing oil rigs and trains. I'm comparing people; people responsible for machinery that can cause huge amounts of destruction if not properly managed. We're never going to get anywhere here because we're both right. There's no question that your knowledge of the industry is better than mine. I can't compete with you there.



My only point is that as long as we have a system that rewards people who cheat we're going to keep having these kinds of accidents no matter how good the rules are. Oh and I looked it up. Freddy is the guy at the back of the train who flashes his rear end at people. =P

[Romero]

A $7 billion exploration for nothing. Economic woes. A billion-dollar budget gap. "We need to do it as quickly as possible". Open up one of the last pristine refuges on Earth.



I thought peak oil was a myth? What happened to all the oil wealth?



It's gone. Oil and gas are limited resources and they're gone within mere decades. Opening up ANWR is like trying to finish the last sip of drink with a straw.

[Anonymous]

I'm not comparing oil rigs and trains. I'm comparing people; people responsible for machinery that can cause huge amounts of destruction if not properly managed. We're never going to get anywhere here because we're both right. There's no question that your knowledge of the industry is better than mine. I can't compete with you there.



My only point is that as long as we have a system that rewards people who cheat we're going to keep having these kinds of accidents no matter how good the rules are. Oh and I looked it up. Freddy is the guy at the back of the train who flashes his rear end at people. =P

We do NOT have a system that rewards cheaters. Industry IS properly managed. The exact opposite is true. Mistakes mean huge financial costs, plus a total loss of face in the eyes of the public, investors and customers. Contractors for class 1 railways like CN and CP will not cut corners when it comes to safety if they want work. It's really that simple. In fact A&B, came close to losing permanently a lucrative contract with CN when it was discovered they had a crew performing work deemed unsafe and a violation of CROR. It was a minor violation for the overall public, but that's how seriously CN along with Transport Canada took it. That's how industry works, but if someone has never worked in industry and knows nothing of how it works, but insists something is true that is totally false then I guess I am wasting my time.

[Anonymous]

A $7 billion exploration for nothing. Economic woes. A billion-dollar budget gap. "We need to do it as quickly as possible". Open up one of the last pristine refuges on Earth.



I thought peak oil was a myth? What happened to all the oil wealth?



It's gone. Oil and gas are limited resources and they're gone within mere decades. Opening up ANWR is like trying to finish the last sip of drink with a straw.

It wasn't for nothing dude. It doesn't make sense right now that's all.



In case you haven't heard the US still buys oil from OPEC which is completely unacceptable considering they have untapped resources within their own borders and from a reliable neighbour like Canada. Besides, the worse thing anyone could do for the environment is to hand over industry to countries that don't give a shit about people let alone the environment.

[Frood]

A $7 billion exploration for nothing. Economic woes. A billion-dollar budget gap. "We need to do it as quickly as possible". Open up one of the last pristine refuges on Earth.



I thought peak oil was a myth? What happened to all the oil wealth?



It's gone. Oil and gas are limited resources and they're gone within mere decades. Opening up ANWR is like trying to finish the last sip of drink with a straw.

It wasn't for nothing dude. It doesn't make sense right now that's all.



In case you haven't heard the US still buys oil from OPEC which is completely unacceptable considering they have untapped resources within their own borders and from a reliable neighbour like Canada. Besides, the worse thing anyone could do for the environment is to hand over industry to countries that don't give a shit about people let alone the environment.

The US will use up the resources of others before they tap into their own.

[Anonymous]

A $7 billion exploration for nothing. Economic woes. A billion-dollar budget gap. "We need to do it as quickly as possible". Open up one of the last pristine refuges on Earth.



I thought peak oil was a myth? What happened to all the oil wealth?



It's gone. Oil and gas are limited resources and they're gone within mere decades. Opening up ANWR is like trying to finish the last sip of drink with a straw.

It wasn't for nothing dude. It doesn't make sense right now that's all.



In case you haven't heard the US still buys oil from OPEC which is completely unacceptable considering they have untapped resources within their own borders and from a reliable neighbour like Canada. Besides, the worse thing anyone could do for the environment is to hand over industry to countries that don't give a shit about people let alone the environment.

The US will use up the resources of others before they tap into their own.

No mr, that is not the reason they are buying foreign oil over their own or ours. Too many idiotic ladyboys like homoero and easter bunny care so much about the environment they would rather see countries that don't care about the environment be the producer. That's a minor reason though. The real reason is the same reason low skill manufacturing is overseas.....it's cheaper.

[Frood]

It's ma'am, and price isn't the underlying factor. It's future supply. The US is hoarding and expending other peoples resources first.