Mikk, you did not have to mention it, for that was the implication.
According to you, greed is the problem. Yet you the people elect
Govts with far less competence, as the evidence shows.

The fact is that we the consumer want oil for our cars and energy
to drive our computers. Exxon Valdez was not caused by complicated
technology, but once again by flawed judgement and complacency.
Planes crash all the time, for the very same reasons, ie pilot error.
So do cars, drunk drivers or whatever.

We know that indeed there are nuclear power plants operating safely
and oil is being drilled at even far greater depths then this one,
most of the time without hitch.

Perhaps we need a new technology focus. Perhaps NASA should stop
fooling around with missions to Mars etc and focus their expertise
on us doing what do do on this planet, more safely. If we are
going to drill at these depths, we need to have thought it through.
It's not as if the technology is beyond us.

Yabby
I thought you lot didnt trust the scientists. Now you want them to come up with new technology to keep the big oil companies raping the planet.
No technology will repair the coasts that are being fouled. No technology will repair Chernobyl. No technology will bring back the people killed at Bhopal.
Technology IS coming up with new and ever more efficient sustainable ways to get our energy but you dont seem to notice that.
Some oil, minerals etc must be seen as just too much trouble to be worth getting and I think this spill goes a long way to proving that. Have a look at the Niger delta and tell me oil companies give a s%&t.
Have a look at the filth and destruction from Canadias tar sands.

We have been lucky. Imagine this spill in Bass Strait or the Timor sea.

I stand with the residents of the Gulf Coast whose lives have been destroyed by this company and its reckless, penny pinching greed.

Oops Mikk, Chernobyl was caused by Govt, you the people.

Given that pipelines in the Niger delta are regularly tapped
into by the public, I'm sure its a mess. For when company
represantives go out in the field, they are shot at by
locals demanding money, as their Federal Govt won't give them
a fair share. Miners caught in political conflict, it happens
all the time.

You the consumer want oil for your car, you drive demand.
Stop driving, there won't be a need for drilling. Its your choice.

Obama has rightly called a 6 month stop to deep sea drilling,
until there is some clarity. But those screaming loudest against
his ban are in fact 20'000 Gulf Coast locals who depend on those
30 deep sea rigs for a living.

Your hatred of corporations is a little too evident Mikk, all
passion and no reason is not going to do it for you.

*These greed driven miscreants cannot be trusted with our environment and wellbeing.*
mikk,
Greed is not the motor for driving these oversupply industries, it's one of the links in the chain. Stupidity is the motor. How many more examples do we need before there is a majority of those who can see. Once we have that we can follow democratic guidelines. At this stage we need as a minority, force these morons to pull up. By morons I mean those intelligent educated people who always come up with better & brighter ideas for more growth, better health, better education, higher productivity.... the list goes on. I have yet to witness one of those intelligent people put forward & endorse curbing the greed driven Harvey Norman type miscreant consumers.

Just saw on Tele that BP spent $50 million on a TV apology. if that ain't the clearest example to-date of how out of touch these people are with reality I'll have crude oil for breakfast.
I mean there are people who are losing income because of this accident so why on earth aren't they getting a slice of those 50 mills ?

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority lists 14 ‘major’ oil spills since 1990. Australia could have been a lucky country but it’s always been run by second rate people (the dancing boys of pollutant industries) while the Australian community remains asleep at the wheel.

Filthy old tubs which fly the flags of convenience (including the heinous live export industry) continue to infiltrate and contaminate our shores. And why not when:

1. POPs: Australia remains a large part of the persistent organic pollutant problem (dioxins and furans), but definitely not part of the solution. Australia, together with the US and Canada, has obstructed all international negotiations in a bid to make sure they never had to change any legislation or policy.

2: The Precautionary Principle: Australia fought against the Precautionary Principle in every UNEP discussion in an attempt to weaken its impact.

3. The Basel Convention: Australia rejected developing countries when they called for the Basel Convention to ban all exports of hazardous waste from rich to poorer nations.

When the Basel Ban was introduced, Australia refused to accept the consensus decisions of the international community. Fortunately, the ban amendment was adopted, although not without a serious struggle while Australia and the US plotted to use the World Trade Organisation to rule against the ban.

4. The Stockholm Convention: Australia, the US and Canada tried to make sure that they had no real obligations under the Stockholm Convention, but that developing countries did.

5. The London Convention: Australia (again with the US and especially Canada) tried to stop the international community from phasing out the dumping of industrial wastes at sea.

Australia was the only country in the world to submit a rejection of the phase out of industrial waste dumping. This move was made to allow an Australian mining company to continue dumping industrial waste beyond the phase out date.

And last year a secret aerial surveillance conducted in Perth, revealed 60 companies illegally dumping oil and toxic chemicals on land and in waterways yet only three companies were fined $250 for dumping oil which coated 800 metres of Bickley Brook.