Scream
by
If I hear the analogy of “we don’t shut down the entire airline industry because one plane crashed” again in reference to the deepwater drilling moratorium, I will scream. Or maybe poke someone’s eye out. Or scream WHILE I poke someone’s eye out.
First, it’s not “one plane crashed.” It’s THOUSANDS of planes crashing: one plane every few hundred yards on every stretch of marsh or beach or oyster bed closed because of oil. It’s one plane crashing into each and every fishing boat that’s not working because of the oil. It’s one plane crashing into each home of every fisherman not working. And one plane into each processing plant shut down. It’s one plane crashing into every hotel and beach house on the Gulf Coast that goes unrented this summer.
Second, the moratorium doesn’t “shut down the entire industry,” not by a long shot. The MMS testified in Kenner last week there are over 3,400 platforms under their jurisdiction. That doesn’t count the hundreds, if not thousands, of platforms in state waters. Only 33 are subject to the moratorium. THIRTY-THREE. So over 3,400 platforms quietly pump away and continue to be serviced by an entire industry that is, as stated, so vital to Louisiana. Thousands of workers: roustabouts, pumpers, metermen, safetymen, cooks, seamen and divers and all their support vessels will keep working.
Third, even IF it shut down EVERY ONE of the 3,400 platforms, if the reason it was doing so was to re-inspect them for safety, then all the better. It is undisputed that the MMS and the oil companies were in bed together. Literally. And that may have made for a lot of love making, it didn’t make for safe well drilling. We KNOW that now. So if time is needed to get MMS re-manned with qualified people to assess/inspect the safety of rigs drilling in America, then time they shall have. For the safety of our relatives on those rigs; our coasts; our lives.
Now Garland Robinette continues his shameless ass-kissing of the oil industry by toeing the line that the moratorium will kill Louisiana’s economy. He’s citing an economic impact of $35 million a day, and points out these deepwater drilling vessels are leased at $500,000 a day. Problem is, Louisiana doesn’t see a dime of that money, other than wages paid to the rig workers who live in Louisiana. Transocean, for example, is the largest supplier of these ships. It’s operations are directed out of Houston, but it’s a Swiss (Swiss?!?!) corporation. The move was made just a few years ago for tax purposes. Nice Big Oil move, eh? So they use U.S. workers to drill for U.S. oil but don’t pay the same level of U.S. income tax on their U.S. profits. Big Oil sure is clever, thoughtful and thorough on matters it finds important.
There’s no doubt some companies will see some of their business severely affected. But isn’t the rest of the Gulf Coast entitled to satisfactory answers to the questions regarding these 33 platforms: Other than drilling relief wells, what are your plans in the event of a blowout and your blowout prevention systems don’t work in deepwater situations? Do you have the know-how, materials, machinery and manpower to implement those plans? If discharge resulting from such a blowout can’t be stopped, do you have the know-how, materials, machinery and manpower to keep oil off of gulf coast shores, marshes, and fishing grounds?
Louisiana, you too must start considering an America that is not oil-dependent. Or wallow in decline.
Well-put. That would be a pun if any of this were funny.
.-= Pontchartain Pete´s last blog ..All Saints 2009 =-.
While I agree with your analysis in theory, what you don’t really realize is that the lion share of jobs in the Gulf of Mexico are on drilling platforms. Of 3400 platforms that you are speaking about most of the them are production platforms. These platforms have an operational crew of 2 men, working 12 hours shifts for 7-14 days at a time, at which point they swap with another 2 man crew. They cook their own food, they cleanup their own messes, etc, there is no one else out there. They are brought to the rig on a helicopter and their food is put onto a small boat and delivered to the platform (as well as many others). So if all of them are production, you have maybe 10k men on all of those platforms.
A drilling platform can employ several hundred workers (200-300 on deep water horizon) for years at at time on swing shifts. Normally, the platform would be anchored in place, and directional drilling would happen in various directions creating dozens of wells. There are also dozens of jobs that are associated with this kind of drilling. From the boat crews that send out drill pipe (say 8 per boat) to the shorebase crew that loads the boat (say another 8 per base, per shift or 16) to the drivers delivering pipe (say another 20-30) to the catering companies, etc etc. You get the idea. Each drilling platform, probably directly and indirectly employs 500-1000 people. Sure a lot of the production money goes to Houston and Switzerland, but a lot of the payroll stays here. If you don’t think that matters, ask small town grocery stores, churches, and restaurants how much they depend on it.
So as you can see, these 33 platforms that are ready to go now, and the 30-40 that may be sent out next year, and the year after that. They employ as many people as the other platforms do combined.
Oh, and realistically, if wells go out of service, we may lose 50-100 per year of production. If there are no wells to replace them, then you lose the production workers too.
I am not specifically defending the industry, but I did work as a contractor for them some years ago. There are a lot of hard working people out there. Louisiana is one of the only places left that a person with only a high school education can get a good job. Do I think that we have relied on this industry for too long? Absolutely, they will take off and leave you high and dry in a second, but the problem is is that we have not gone after work to replace this economy. We need a few years to replace that workforce.
Not many people alive today remembers when Louisiana was mainly agricultural. If you want to see what it is (was) like drive up to Northeast Louisiana and see what Tallulah and Lake Providence look like. This is where we may be in a few years if we quit oil cold turkey.
Just my opinion, I have been wrong before, and may be now, but this is defintely something to think about.
Drue, your points are valid. Yes, I understated the “trickle effect” of the impact to Louisiana, and its workers, regarding the 33 wells that have been put on hold. You are absolutely right that many are effected. My point is that to hear the proponents to start those rigs again, you’d think it was ALL 3,400 and not just 33.
We agree. I myself am not ready to give up a life addicted to petroleum. But by degrees, I need to start that shift away. As does Louisiana. But as you say, we need years to get there.
It bothers me greatly that the result of BP’s miserable safety record is shutting down those 33 rigs. But it brought to light the very real potential that there are safety issues present in those other wells, too.
Because we are talking about 33 wells, I see no reason new inspectors can make it their first priority to re-inspect those 33 wells so the safes one (hopefully all 33) can get running as soon as possible. Certainly before NEW wells are given the green light.
BP, and not the government, is what brought the industry to a grinding halt. Now we need to allow what IS NOT broken with that industry to take the lead. And hold BP’s feet to the accountability fire.
Another item that is important and not really spoken much about is the low pay of the inspectors. Most recently I saw an ad for an MMS inspector locally that starts pay at $39k.
http://jobview.usajobs.gov/getjob.aspx?jobid=88345102
Now, mosty people with this level of education and experience can get a better job working for industry. Even if they took this job, they would probably leave for industry within a few years. In the new orleans area few people can own a home with this salary, or even two salaries of this level.
I would propose that we pay our inspectors well, and station one on each of the drilling platforms all the time. This would be after extensive education (6 months or more) on risk management and would could go wrong. Most mud engineers that work for oil companies have to go to school for months before they are allow to work on a platform, do you think that MMS trains their people that much? But if they don’t understand the process as well, then how can they regulate it?
OSHA in the state of Louisiana is so understaffed that they cannot perform routine inspections, they can only investigate fatalities. So whose fault is it really that we don’t have enough oversight? We need to worry more about enforcing what we have on the books.
Additionally, what is the impetus for an underpaid engineer to look for infractions? He goes offshore (on a helicopter I guess) walks around and has lunch then leaves, how long is he actually on the platform? An hour? If he is on the platform all the time, he can see day to day what changes, he can be involved in safety and environmental.
Anyway, all I mean to say is we can’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, it hurts too many people. Can you imagine what would happen if they said cars are unsafe we need to stop making them, sorry Michigan. Or wine causes spousal abuse, sorry California you gotta stop making it. The only difference is, our economy gets hurt, and then so does the entire US, gas goes back up to $4.00 per gallon, which is definitively shown to hurt lower income populations disproportionally.
This is a far more complicated problem than just this spill.
I look at it in two ways:
) so I really can’t say if 6 months is a long time. It just seems so long. That’s a long time for someone to be depending on unemployment benefits, you know?
#1 – Why 6 months? Of course, I don’t know the inner workings of the rigs or anything, nor am I an engineer (but my brother-in-law is, and he works offshore, so I’m going to ask him tomorrow night when I see him
#2 – While it is only 33 rigs that have to halt production, you’re looking at potentially putting over 100,000 support personnel out of work just because of those 33 rigs, and that’s not even counting the 7500 or so people who actually work on those rigs. Then not only that, but you’re looking at the jobs that will be affected at the shipyards. Then to keep the trickle going, you’re looking at the suppliers, the people who make the supplies, the people who transport the supplies… I don’t like thinking about it too much because it makes my head hurt.
Do they need to inspect these rigs? Absolutely! I just hope they know what they’re doing. Start inspecting them NOW. Don’t wait.
I just fear that bureaucratic red tape is going to end up causing even more harm than it already does.
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