I don’t follow the news closely on a daily basis, so if I’m somewhat familiar with it most everyone else will be too. If you’re not for some reason, go to your favorite news network website and it won’t be difficult to find. There have been billions invested in technology to drill into deeper and deeper waters, but there have been relatively little in the way of significant advancements in responding to oil disasters since the 1970′s. And in the case of this large ongoing oil spill in the gulf, the fumbling around and many failed attempts at “capping” the spill seems to indicate that not near enough investment was put into this kind of scenario. I’m stating the obvious of course, but it’s something most of us could agree on.
Before this crisis happened, I remember seeing a lot of highly produced PR advertising from BP. The thrust of the ones I remember was to emphasize their interest in alternative energy sources and clean energy. Here is a British version of the kind of advertisements I remember:
At the time I had no opinion about the British Petroleum company, but I become curious about motives when a very large PR advertisement campaign appears on national television making a case for a company being good when I hadn’t heard of anything bad about it yet. There is nothing at all wrong with responsible investment in good honest PR since ‘relating to the public’ well is essential for a majority of businesses whether there’s a specific budget for it or not. On an individual level, good PR can be in the form of investing in something as little as birthday cards, mowing your own lawn (watch how relations with neighbors deteriorate if you don’t), creating a personal website, or helping someone move; because they are just good things to do regardless of the intentions behind it. But when a company spends a great deal of money on national television PR television advertising for their brand (as opposed to their products or services), I immediately wonder what they are concerned about that warrants such a large investment. I remember Wal-Mart doing a long campaign similar major PR television ad campaigns (how they are good for the community etc.) because of negative publicity they were having as well.
I haven’t seen these British Petroleum advertisements on television since the Oil Spill, so I imagine the strategy is being re-engineered if it hasn’t been already. And while I do find this aspect interesting, I’m not out to make a devil out of oil companies since we’re all dependent on them more than we probably are conscious of.
Be that as it may, fact that the oil spill is STILL gushing unfathomable amounts of oil off our shore every day is the main reason I at least wanted to bring up the topic. My understanding is that oil companies are much more equipped to deal with spills in shallow water than they are in these deeper wells. Regardless, with things like this happening, we’re at least as much of a threat to our own nation than any terrorist bomber-whether foreign or domestic. So out of pure self-interest, it seems that we need to take some things more seriously if this is a broad problem. Since it’s still gushing and there is no immediate end in site, the economic and environmental damage is something we’ll likely be dealing with for a long time one way or another.
Market pressures, political pressures, corruption, conflicts of interest, incompetence (or all of the above) may come into play here. Or is this not an indication of a broader problem but rather an extreme but isolated incident.
In one sense, all this talk is jumping the gun until the oil company can make just one thing happen: Can we put a cap on this gushing well already?
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. Plus that leaves me a day to spend money elsewhere, so yes, there is money to be made on Sunday.
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While this disaster is devastating and will be so for decades to come, why hasn’t anyone bothered to mention BP’s presence in Bonneville County with the states largest wind farm? http://www.bp.com/genericarticle.do?categoryId=9024973&contentId=7062602
Top ↑It’s bad enough we’re letting a foreign company drill for oil in our own backyard but now nobody seems to give a crap about them putting up the largest wind farm in the state which they intend to sell the power to CALIFORNIA?? WTF? Not only have the ruined the gulf coast with this ongoing oil disaster but their using OUR land to harvest OUR wind and the energy generated won’t even stay in this state.
It all makes no sense. I say run BP out of this country (after they clean up their mess of course) and prohibit any other foreign companies from profiting off OUR oil and other energy sources.
I think they’re doing all they can to stop the oil from gushing into the ocean. No one wants this to be taking place. But no one knows how to stop it either. And there are hundreds of people with a product or “cure” they want tried because it would make them famous if they were the cause of the fix – but every attempt costs time and millions of dollars. They have to take things step by step and I believe they’re doing everything they know how to do.
Top ↑Oh my. I feel sorry for the folks who own property near the Goshen North Site where BP is putting up their big wind farm. With the way those foreigners disregard safety regulations it won’t be any time at all before all the networks will have news teams in Bonneville County covering the the unprecedented Goshen North wind spill.
Top ↑In reply to “What the?” (interesting how people refuse to post their names), it is very easy to ignore the broader spectrum of things and shift the blame to “those damn foreign companies” from profiting in our soil. I wonder if “What the?” realizes that American interests are also in other countries. How many American companies are operating in Africa, Asia, South America, etc? I can tell you quite a few “What the?” It is naive to say the least to bash foreign companies when you don’t comprehend the economical aspects of business symbiosis. Kinda, we scratch their backs and they return the same favor. Millions of Americans are employed by foreign companies. We in return do the same by employing foreign human capital. There are mutual benefits here you see. I haven’t studied the above issue of BP selling energy produced here to California to be honest, but it is easy to conjecture that perhaps the State of Idaho is being paid very well for allowing BP to produce wind energy regardless of who they sell it to? The primary beneficiary? That would be you “What the?”
So, blame it on the damn foreigners, the Jews who are conspiring to dominate the world financially, the Masons, and Jane Fonda. Shifting blame is easy, doing your research? Priceless!
Top ↑Look what I found written in some site named bash.org:
Top ↑I love how everyone is blaming Obama for the oil spill..
It’s actually the British.
yeah, you’d think British Petroleum would’ve made that known.
See, Americans dumped English tea into Boston Bay.
The British, after biding their time for 237 years, have struck back.
YOUR MOVE, AMERICA.
…I am so in love with you right now.
What the? appears to have done at least some of their homework. From an article I read awhile back, BP is selling the energy from this wind farm to California.
Top ↑FYI, I don’t post my name because its nobodys business. I think too many people post far too much information about themselves on the internet. Especially on these networking sites. The horror stories you hear on an almost daily basis are a result of such careless actions. Because you post a first and last name doesn’t mean it’s your real name and it doesn’t make your opinion or pov any more or less relevant than anybody elses.
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