Obama administration proposes offshore drilling from Georgia to Virginia

[SavannahLife]

Originally Posted by pink caddy

Big oil and gas HAS paid in the past. Penalties are AFTER the fact. What prevents them from happening again?

Pink do you mean what prevents spills from happening again? Or penalties? The the first, not much, or rather, not enough, with present government. Despite people saying Obama is a socialist Kenyan he is pretty conservative if you go past rhetoric. Plus he's outweighed vastly by conservatives in the other two branches. Like the US Rep. that apologized to BP for the USA holding them accountable for the spill. Joe Barton: the Republican who apologised to BP | Richard Adams | US news | The Guardian The second, well, lobbyists. Will shield anyone from penalties. Companies generally don't pay, and/or don't pay enough, for large damage of externalities they cause. Us taxpayers do. Whether it's oil, drinking water contamination, the banking system...the profit is privatized. The burdens are socialized. I guess you could call that half of a free market. Little slap on the wrist penalties are costs of doing business they probably pass on to us anyway.

At the least, we could set up a fund up front for cleanups. (coming from corporate profits, not from taxpayers, somehow prevent costs being passed on, not sure how though). Then, we could use a market-based approach and reward companies. every year there is no major safety or environmental incident, we could lower the surcharge rate they have to pay into the fund, by a certain amount. And eventually even bring it back to zero, once the fund is full enough! At least until it needs to be used. The Superfund actually worked well. Until it stopped getting funded... Superfund - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Now you and I pay for it as taxpayers.

[pink caddy]

Originally Posted by SavannahLife

Pink do you mean what prevents spills from happening again?

Yes. Forget the money penalties.

[bellhead]

Originally Posted by pink caddy

Yes. Forget the money penalties.

Of which Oil companies pay pennies on the dollars... IF a big IF is if BP pays more than pennies on their record fine for destroying the gulf.

[gentlearts]

You lost me at Obama administration proposes.

[ellie]

Originally Posted by gentlearts

You lost me at Obama administration proposes.

I thought Republicans were all about drilling, but no... If the black guy proposes it they're universally opposed. He's a genius, isn't he?

[gentlearts]

Originally Posted by ellie

I thought Republicans were all about drilling, but no... If the black guy proposes it they're universally opposed. He's a genius, isn't he?

We remain suspicious at the motives of the Obama administration being against the Keystone Pipeline and drilling in vast Alaska, but now, all of a sudden they are for offshore drilling in the Atlantic. A less than straight forward motive, perhaps? Anyway, thankfully, he'll be gone soon.

[ellie]

Keystone is not for American use. The Arctic should remain off limits. He's betting there's not enough oil in the Atlantic to do anything but waste time.

[pink caddy]

Originally Posted by ellie

He's betting there's not enough oil in the Atlantic to do anything but waste time.

Of course. In that way he can dance on two sides of the double edge knife he hopes all will like his ballet. Lol as he can't dance to anything but a waltz with violins playing.