[QUOTE=BLISTERS;35157]As for technological improvements : I wish the industry would apply some of its marvelous and amazing technology to safety and spill minimization at the source, in situ, such as, living quarters firewalls, bulk heads, life-boats, and BOP (ex: downhole BOPs) design, spill clean up contraptions.[/QUOTE]
Exactly. The industry has got away with putting too much of its R and D budget into production and not enough into safe production. Ixtoc should have been a wakeup call that a lot more money needed to be spent to finding ways to contain or kill underwater blowouts quickly.
If the industry and regulators had put enough time and money into contingencies for deepwater blowouts, we’d all be debating why a semi-obscure platform known as Deeptwater Horizon burned and sank rather than discussing a four month long disaster that will have permanent consequences for the GOM and the people living near it.