Maybe I Have Been I the dark.......

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perchin

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But I had no Idea that there was a 75 million dollar cap on what an oil company has to pay for an oil spill :evil: :evil: Sometimes I hate hearing the news on the way in to work..... So we know what's going on right now, and I would safely bet that it's far exceeding 75 million in damages, clean up efferts, hmmmmm just stopping the freakin leak!!!!!

sorry for the rant, and not trying for any politics here, just what is right and wrong.
 
The money issue has a very simple solution. We need to freeze all BP assets under US control and any others we can get other nations to lock down. $75 million is nothing more than a bad joke and if we allow them to, BP's legal team will figure out a way to get the assets out before we can seize them. This is going to cost tens of BILLIONS to get it done correctly.

It would seem to me that there is a pretty straight forward way to get a large amount of the oil out of the water at a relatively inexpensive cost. They say that there are no super tankers equipped to get the oil out of the water and that's why they are not being used. If BP brought in a convoy of super tankers and used dredge barges as tenders to suck up both oil & some water and fill the tankers with the slop to be separated on shore. Those dredge barges move an enormous volume of water and would make what the skimmers are picking up look like nothing.

Am I the only one who sees this as a viable option ??
 
DocWatson said:
It would seem to me that there is a pretty straight forward way to get a large amount of the oil out of the water at a relatively inexpensive cost. They say that there are no super tankers equipped to get the oil out of the water and that's why they are not being used. If BP brought in a convoy of super tankers and used dredge barges as tenders to suck up both oil & some water and fill the tankers with the slop to be separated on shore. Those dredge barges move an enormous volume of water and would make what the skimmers are picking up look like nothing.

Am I the only one who sees this as a viable option ??

To me that just seems obvious Doc. Had they not used the disbursement the oil, I assume, would have pretty have stayed together in larger blogs. Like you said, just line up a bunch of tankers and start loading them up. The oil has to be refined anyway so what's a little salt water. They already ship oil in those things so it's not like they would have to figure out how to get the stuff in/out of the tankers.... too obvious I guess.
 
I'm taking another position here - just because big brother can't have his cake and eat it too.

The Governement charges a spill tax on EACH barrel of oil pumped. This tax was 8 cents a gallon - at just about 5,000,000 barrels a day production in the US alone, that's $146 million dollars a year supposedly taxed and held as spill cleanup funds. Who knows what they do with this money, but they've been collecting it for years. If they charge a spill tax, it doesn't seem right that BP (who has paid this tax religeously) should be required to pay for every dime of the cleanup. Isn't this double taxation?

Big brother just voted to raise this tax by 400% - or over HALF A BILLION dollars a year in cleanup funds.

BP's interest in stopping the leak is only financial- oil lost to the sea is not $ in their pocket. Now they also have a PR nightmare on their hands because of their foolishness.

Just a tax guy with an opinion...
 
wasilvers said:
The Governement charges a spill tax on EACH barrel of oil pumped.

Really??? That's interesting. I have some ideas about where that tax money went... but that topic comes veeeeery close to being a political discussion which Jim doesn't like and I think we should stay clear of.

Huh... never heard of the spill tax. I guess something that came about after the Valdez mess.
 
Well, the State of Maine charges $10 for a sticker that is required on every motor powered boat on any inland waters, called a milfoil sticker, the money is supposed to go for prevention and eradication of invasive aquatic plants. BUT, if they catch you with plants on your boat you still get fined. PLUS, what really ticks me off is that canoes, kayaks, anything without a motor doesn't have to have the sticker.

Rant off :x
 
hossthehermit said:
Well, the State of Maine charges $10 for a sticker that is required on every motor powered boat on any inland waters, called a milfoil sticker, the money is supposed to go for prevention and eradication of invasive aquatic plants. BUT, if they catch you with plants on your boat you still get fined. PLUS, what really ticks me off is that canoes, kayaks, anything without a motor doesn't have to have the sticker.

Rant off :x

Hey, I paid $20 for that sticker! :-k
 
A whole hour and no flames? Jim runs a tight ship!

Sorry, I just thought I'd add another perspective on the whole thing. I don't know what I think should happen. Should they be penalized for messing up - yes. Should they be shut down because of it, probably not. Without getting political, I think all would agree we don't need Obama Oil to go along with Obama Motors. :shock:

BP said that if there was a catastrophic leak, the well could spew 100,000 barrels a day into to the gulf. The gov't tells us it's only 5,000 barrels a day. Even at 5,000 barrels a day at current prices, they are losing revenue of $375,000 a day in oil alone - or $18 million dollars so far. That doesn't include anything for the extra ships and work to try to plug the leak. YIKES!
 
wasilvers said:
A whole hour and no flames? Jim runs a tight ship!
BalancingGoodEvil.gif
:LOL2:
 
wasilvers said:
I'm taking another position here - just because big brother can't have his cake and eat it too.

The Governement charges a spill tax on EACH barrel of oil pumped. This tax was 8 cents a gallon - at just about 5,000,000 barrels a day production in the US alone, that's $146 million dollars a year supposedly taxed and held as spill cleanup funds. Who knows what they do with this money, but they've been collecting it for years. If they charge a spill tax, it doesn't seem right that BP (who has paid this tax religeously) should be required to pay for every dime of the cleanup. Isn't this double taxation?

Big brother just voted to raise this tax by 400% - or over HALF A BILLION dollars a year in cleanup funds.

BP's interest in stopping the leak is only financial- oil lost to the sea is not $ in their pocket. Now they also have a PR nightmare on their hands because of their foolishness.

Just a tax guy with an opinion...
If what BP is being charged were a tax, I'd probably agree with you,IF this mess falls under the definition in that tax statute of the word "spill".

But they are being fined for negligence and deliberately sidestepping or bending safety regulations for financial gain. They gambled.... we lost, they have to pay and pay and pay and pay until it's clear to all the oil companies that we will not tolerat this any longer and that it is not worth the risk. Even if we have to bankrupt a couple of them in the process to make a point. Big business should not be permitted to influence government. It's a recipe for disaster because their interests and missions are diametrically opposed.

Just an old hippie with an opinion. :wink:
Hippie.gif
 
DocWatson said:
wasilvers said:
I'm taking another position here - just because big brother can't have his cake and eat it too.

The Governement charges a spill tax on EACH barrel of oil pumped. This tax was 8 cents a gallon - at just about 5,000,000 barrels a day production in the US alone, that's $146 million dollars a year supposedly taxed and held as spill cleanup funds. Who knows what they do with this money, but they've been collecting it for years. If they charge a spill tax, it doesn't seem right that BP (who has paid this tax religeously) should be required to pay for every dime of the cleanup. Isn't this double taxation?

Big brother just voted to raise this tax by 400% - or over HALF A BILLION dollars a year in cleanup funds.

BP's interest in stopping the leak is only financial- oil lost to the sea is not $ in their pocket. Now they also have a PR nightmare on their hands because of their foolishness.

Just a tax guy with an opinion...
If what BP is being charged were a tax, I'd probably agree with you,IF this mess falls under the definition in that tax statute of the word "spill".

But they are being fined for negligence and deliberately sidestepping or bending safety regulations for financial gain. They gambled.... we lost, they have to pay and pay and pay and pay until it's clear to all the oil companies that we will not tolerat this any longer and that it is not worth the risk. Even if we have to bankrupt a couple of them in the process to make a point. Big business should not be permitted to influence government. It's a recipe for disaster because their interests and missions are diametrically opposed.

Just an old hippie with an opinion. :wink:
Hippie.gif

AMEN to that!!!!!!!!!!!! =D>
 
Personally, I am tired of hearing about the big oil machine and the government mismanagement of the whole thing. Here's my opinion as a business owner.

If I was involved in a situation that everyday cost me a similar % of dollars, got me an immeasurable amount of bad press, my stock was dropping and had everyone focused on what I did, I would: Do everything in my power to mediate the situation, fix the problem, and get back to business as usual as soon as possible. I think that all the people involved in it are probably doing exactly that. They are trying everything in the book. The thing is this isn't a quick fix for something like this.

My heart goes out to all those impacted by it, but the phrase "Don't cry over spilled milk" comes to mind. It happened. We can't take it back. So lets stop it, fix it, and move on and do the best we can.

The back and forth blame game is getting old. And as far as business influencing government goes, its been happening as long as there has been government. As long as there are greedy businesses, there will be greedy politicians getting paid.
 
DocWatson said:
they have to pay and pay and pay and pay until it's clear to all the oil companies that we will not tolerat this any longer and that it is not worth the risk. Even if we have to bankrupt a couple of them in the process to make a point.

True, unfortunately paying the fines will just come out of our pockets. The other guys will get on board and raise prices right along with BP.

I'm such a pessimist. :cry:
 
Nevillizer said:
Personally, I am tired of hearing about the big oil machine and the government mismanagement of the whole thing. Here's my opinion as a business owner.

If I was involved in a situation that everyday cost me a similar % of dollars, got me an immeasurable amount of bad press, my stock was dropping and had everyone focused on what I did, I would: Do everything in my power to mediate the situation, fix the problem, and get back to business as usual as soon as possible. I think that all the people involved in it are probably doing exactly that. They are trying everything in the book. The thing is this isn't a quick fix for something like this.

My heart goes out to all those impacted by it, but the phrase "Don't cry over spilled milk" comes to mind. It happened. We can't take it back. So lets stop it, fix it, and move on and do the best we can.

The back and forth blame game is getting old. And as far as business influencing government goes, its been happening as long as there has been government. As long as there are greedy businesses, there will be greedy politicians getting paid.


and if your buisness could have the same effects on our great fishing, enviornments well being, and could effect millions of people. And you did not take the proper saftey steps, nor have an emergency plan of action in place in the event of this........ Than you should by all means be expected to do everything in your power to mediate the situation.... and if that means it costs you more than 75 million, too bad. Our family are also business owners..... I just meant that IT DON'T SEEM RIGHT TO BE ABLE TO CAP ACCOUNTABILITY.
 
wasilvers said:
True, unfortunately paying the fines will just come out of our pockets. The other guys will get on board and raise prices right along with BP.

And you don't think this will happen regardless? But I guess we can all blame ObamaOil for that, cause BushOil was so much better. :USA1:
 

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