Plumbing The Depths

So, BP CEO Tony Hayward says “I’m sorry”, to residents of the gulf states, whose lives and livelihoods are pretty well screwed up by BP’s inability to stop the massive oil leak.  (To say nothing of the immense environmental damage, which will be felt for years, if not decades)  If I were a betting man,  I’d wager ten bucks that in a few months, Hayward will resign. Of course, this is “big corporation” stuff we’re talking, so he’ll head out the door with, what shall we say, twenty million in severance?  Fifty maybe?  Oh, what the heck, let’s make it an even hundred million. Can’t imagine where I’d get an idea like that though.

There are times when “I’m sorry”, just doesn’t cut it. This is one of those times. 

I will be the first to say that I know nothing about deep sea oil drilling, or off shore oil platforms. It’s not an area that has ever interested me. But you know, it seems to me that when you’re designing a system of pipes to handle some massive amount of a substance that is quite toxic, such as oil, or something that is highly explosive, such as natural gas, you want to have a system of valves in place, so that if there is some kind of failure, you can,,,, turn it off from the closest valve. Does that make sense?  The plumbing in most american households has such valves, to turn off the water. Ditto if you live in a building with gas. There’s always a way to turn it off.

Just a thought. Anyone care to weigh in with some ideas?