EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

what is really happening down there on the coast.   all i know is what the news reports.   how is this going to affect the lives of the people on the coast , the ecosystem and sea food ?

As if the spill wasn't bad enough... stop drilling so unemployment can go up, gas prices go up, and business sales down. rolleyes

Obamas thinking "" o well its just the south""

Don't really know how it is affecting the seafood industry, but they say it is. I know out here working in the Gulf they have almost completely shut it down. I think the last count is 33 deepwater rigs down. We are shut down right now trying to get all of our BOP equipment reinspected. Most all the businesses that sell or inspect well control equipment should be doing pretty good. Lots of lives have been cahnged because of this.
All I can say is don't belive half of what you here on the news. They know nothing about the oilfield. It really ticks me off when I here them talking about all this going on and if you know anything about the oilfield you know they don't what they are talking about. Yes this has had an enviromental impact and will take a long time to recover. But this is no reason to shut the gulf down completely. It will be worse on everyone if they continue to keep the gulf shut down from drilling. My personnel opinion is that I have no doubt BP is doing everything in their power to get this well stopped and to clean up this mess. Everyone complaining needs to come on down to the beaches and marshes and help clean up. If they keep harrasing BP for money they will file bankruptsy and no one will get money. My biggest concern is that people will be getting money that is not supposed to be. Which is just like stealing. Well I am just rambling on here. I could talk about this all day I guess because I work out here and it just strikes home for me. All JMO

Hillbilly, I couldn't agree with you more. My husband works for Saipem, formally known as Sonsub, and it is definately taking it's toll on them as well. The company handles boats that are equipped with ROV's, and my hubby is senior supervisor for one. With all that Obama is doing they have demobed 2 of the 3 boats, and are working on a bunch of layoffs. Sad Sad deal. Heard a quote from the president that siad he "is shutting down the gulf for the safety and good of the men that work out there." Well, all I can say is "don't do us any favors Mr. Unless you are going to pay our mortgages and buy our groceries." GGGRRR

I hope and pray you guys down there all get to get back to work soon, my dad was a driller his whole life and in the early 80's things got bad around here we lost everything and although we recovered he was never the same man again. My hopes and prayers are with ya'll, good to know first hand whats going on & please keep us updated. Good post Craig

u know alot of the problem... is that they havent stopped the leak...why cant they stop it....if they would just get it stoped alot of angry people would shut up.... just do what ever it takes to stop the leak....and alot of people will be happy.. or will at least shut up,,,,,  JUST STOP THE DAM LEAK.....  IT DONT MATTER AT THIS POINT WHO DOES IT... JUST DO IT ALREADY

You got to realize what you are saying you can't just go out and stop the leak overnight or in a month. It is lots of things you have to do. People need to realize this. They didn't drill the well that is blowing overnight so how do people expect them to drill another to stop the one from blowing overnight. With that said though they are geting closer. I am hoping it will be stopped in a couple more weeks. Hopefully.

They are saying they will be capturing 90% in the next week or two.

 the president has had 1 to many bananas. as long as he hets what he wants and screws the working people out of the lives and money and he keeps getting paid with our tax money, why should he care.

I see our president had time for a white sox game!!If I was president I do beleave I would be down here on all my free time trying to pull people together!! A good leader can controll the situation!! When people see the leader jump inn with both feet the people will jump inn and help!! 4 years to serve this country and every time I see him he is playing!! Our good american troops would get run off for playing during there 4 years of service!! Think troops for what you do!!!

Hell I think I'm going to run for president!!  ;D

Gottagettem, I understand your frustration, however, like Hillbilly said, it took DWH a little over a month to drill the well, so it is unreasonable and impossible to ask them to be able to get another well tapped into that one any faster than that. AND, I have every confidence that BP is doing everything it can to get the problem fixed, but having constant criticism, and nagging about the way they do things and how they handle situations doesn't help and only makes it harder on them. Right now there is a mixture of to many chiefs and not enough indians, and a whole lot of people who want to b*tch, moan and complain, but are to good/afraid to get their hands actually dirty. JMO

One last note, for those of you who say that we shouldn't have been drilling, and that if the companies/guys had been more careful then the explosion never would have happened, do you realize that prior to the DWH tragedy there had been 1 million manned hours under their belt with no accidents or hiccups? The guys go through rigorous training and testing yearly, as well as run drills once a week, every week. The safety of the men is number 1, and everyone knows it.

What has made me more mad than the leak is not taking the help that other countries have offered... not approving the things that the governors want to do to protect their coast lines... and all the other BS that can be contolled. Its not surprising though... the more mess it makes... the easier it is to push for other energy sources. >:(

I agree he should have took the help from other countries.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/national_world&id=7513179

he should take all the help he can get... u think it would make it a little easier to clean up with help..... but no .... we dont need help..... i know it takes time to stop leaks ... it just dont get done  when u say so .. but  after u tried  to stop it .. so many times.. and with no success.... then just ask for help...... or just step aside.....and just pay the bill for someone else to fix ur f@@k up..... but by all means just get it stopped and  stop refusiing blame and help.....  with bp doing this ... it is hurting the other companys.... bye giving the whole industry a bad rep....and. making it tougher for them to do their jobs......maybe its just me .. but that company is making it worse on other companys...... and our president's actions speaks for his words... i bet they wont be saying four more years for him......he sucks.. he hasnt done number 2 what he said he was going to do......but hay thats just my opinion...who am i really?

They should have had them big skimmer boats out there a month ago and they still don't have them. Cause they want let them come over. As far as the other things BP has tried to kill the well from the top. I knew they wasn't going to work. I think it ws just something they could say they was doing just to pacify the media and the people.

(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c214/Brute23/Smileys/icon__clap.gif) Finally some one with some sense.

to me that sounds like sum body is $$$$ paying a judge $$$$$...to many loop holes in this country..... money under the table.....dont get me wrong ... everybody needs to work and make money.....money is the rout to all evil.. but we all want sum......jmo

Guys you would be pissed off to no end if you knew the BS politics going on with this clean up.  I got knee deep in this crap a couple weeks ago when several clients where asked to help with the clean up effort by providing massive amounts of labor.  One company was providing 700 workers and the other was asked to provide 1000.  They secured the proper insurance policies for a project like this, developed SOP's and safety guidelines, and started to line up the workers.  Just when they were ready to go the feds stepped in a said "Whoa!  Where's all the union help?  This isn't moving one step further until the unions get a shot at providing some workers."   Two weeks later not a single person that my clients have lined up to help has been allowed the step foot a beach and you can thank your president and his cronies for that.

Craig, I have a friend who lives down there in New Orleans. She said morale is bad, people are panicked, and that the poor fishermen are running scared. This moratorium on drilling is just adding insult to injury. Accidents happen, get in there, clean it up, and continue on but learn something from it. I'm so sick of this administration and their crapola I could just spit. Gov Jindall wanted to build some temporary burms to help catch the oil before it hit the marshland, but was stopped by the feds because Obama said it didn't mesh with their plans.

I was approached by a group of DEMOCRATS at the courthouse yesterday with "Impeach Obama" signs and a poster that showed Obama with Hitler's mustache. Even his own party is sick of him.

Cheers
M

I don't really have anything to add here that hasn't already been said and I don't work in the industry which leaves me with very little insight but stories like Cull Buck's is the reason why big govmnt is bad in my book.  What have they done that is positive in this situation?  They have only made things worse.  I know it would have looked bad for the gov and the potus to turn the other way but think of how much more could have been accomplished by this point had they just stayed out of it....

Unions are the same reason they didn't accept the help from the other countries. Obama had very strong union support when he ran. He is more worried about a re-election than clean up.

I live on the coast in Pass Christian, MS. Things at this point are not all that bad for most part. Anyone who has huslted is involved in the vessel of oppritunity program. This(at least in the short term) has allowed many folks to make much more than there previous salary. There is also plenty of beach cleanup work to be found, all this and we don't have any oil here yet. I don't know how I'll feel about it in the future, we'll have to wait and see. They say the oil cound hit the beach this weekend :(.  I agree it doesn't help anyone to stop drilling or see BP go under. I don't make my livin on the water or in tourism, so it's just my 2cents.

Got this from another oilfield wife friend of mine and thought I would pass it on. It was written by an oilfield working man.

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AMERICANS FOR OFFSHORE DRILLING: PATRIOTIC RESISTANCE:



I am dependent on Ultra-Deepwater Drilling for my income. The shutdown of Ultra-Deepwater Drilling is an unfair attack on the petroleum industry. British Petroleum Americas (B.P.) failure to perform their drilling operation in a safe manner is your issue. We as an industry are aware of the many B.P. failures on the Transocean Deepwater Horizon. The 11 Men that lost their lives are our brothers. Unsafe well practices by B.P. must be investigated. The root cause is a failure to resolve a poor primary cement job. B.P. had knowledge that the primary cement job had failed; their continued operation was unsafe. As the operator the men on the Deepwater Horizon trusted that B.P. would work safe. Federal government shares cause for allowing B.P. to continue to operate in the United States. B.P. has numerous safety failures and violation of Federal and industry standards.

As Ultra-Deepwater Drillers we demand safety at our work sites. Exploration Drilling is dangerous work. Each day we confront danger by using safe work practices. These work practices are a standard for our industry that we as workers demand. Government only steps in when they can make profit from our labor. Government safety standards require bribes by corporate raiders who also steal our labor.

When we die in helicopters there are no memorials. When we burn to death there is no green peace outrage. If we drown in frigid waters there is no Presidential visit with our families. When we lose a leg, arm, hand or foot government does not shut down for a single second. Media does not visit men that cannot stand straight because of failed backs from the heavy lifting required in our jobs. We shut down operations when someone is hurt. We perform safety stand downs to prove our work can continue forward safely. We pre task each operation to ensure safety. We observe each other as a natural part of our work to keep each other safe. Government does not keep me or my workmates safe we do it because we care about each other. We know what a wife goes through when a husband is lost. We have raised children of lost work mates. We are brothers. We are Teams of men that provide oil and gas to America.

Oil field workers hear the garbage of those who don’t have a clue what our families deal with each day. When we miss the first steps of our children do you care? When we leave women to take care of a household by their selves do you care? Our loved ones die and we are on a rig hundreds of miles away do you care? Hurricanes enter the gulf and we are stuck offshore do you care? When we see friends burn to death do you care? When we are clear that a company has killed our fellow workers do you care?

Environmentalists, Politicians and Corporate fat cats have never produced one single barrel of oil. You regulate my labor. You tax my labor. You steal the blood of good men Standards for my labor require me to pass test (urine test, breath test, HUET) before I am allowed on the job site. Yet you give my dollars to those who are never tested. You feed America our bloods labor. What can any of you produce that is of value to this nation? Each of you is a parasite on the backs of Americans and workers. You fly around the globe on jets fueled by our labor. You drive your armed motorcades on fuel that we provide you. Your natural gas heaters are fueled with our blood. When you talk about alternative energy you slap our face for all we have given you. You are Al Gore whining pigs at a plastic trough that we provided you. You are Hollywood millionaires that don’t provide anything of value. Scream about clean energy while driving and flying around the globe.

Each person in government that allowed the President to shut down Ultra-Deepwater Exploration failed working men in women. B.P. will never meet the needs of our families. Lawyers with law firms will turn this case into a class action law suit that will line their pockets. Blood money paid for by Oil Workers. We have just given 11 brothers to the effort of providing a nation with oil and gas. Politicians now repay us with unemployment. I am a proud American Oil Worker. I am not proud of the thieves that are destructing the American Oil Workers way of life. Shame on Politicians and those you work with.

When you shut down our work you only bring pain to the innocent. You need to understand we are not union workers with a hand out. We have invented and built an industry that provides America with tools for independence. Oil Workers understand pain, we learn from every mistake that spills a drop of our blood. When you hurt one of us; we will bring pain to your political dream world. Wake up Washington when you shut down our rigs you solve nothing. You are creating a burden on hard working men and women. We will not allow your destruction of our work efforts. Your lies about caring for our safety are wasted words. We know more about safety then the corporate giant B.P. Your efforts should be to control B.P. and their created oil spill. While America screams at the environmental cost, remember your liability. Not one Oil Worker gave B.P. permission to drill. Not one Oil Worker overlooked the B.P. failures of the past. The men on the Deepwater Horizon knew something was wrong. Failed negative test were a clear indication that the drilling fluid should not be displaced. B.P. knew they failed to bump their cement plug on the casing cement job. It should be investigated how much they over displaced the cement. B.P. made the decision not run a cement bond log. Each of you must look at real facts Blow Out Preventers are well named; they are not Blow Out Stoppers. Follow safety practices that don’t allow blow-outs. B.P. allowed this blow-out to take place.

Stopping the blow out in deep water is the lesson we are all watching. How did B.P. fail to turn back with key indications that the well was flowing? All the signs were given; concerns were raised by members of the Horizon crews. B.P. acted with an arrogant disregard for human life and safety. B.P. deserves punishment for their disregard. We have already started implementing testing to verify we will not have another Horizon incident. We have cried at the loss of our brothers. Shame is not ours. America may hate us and what we do; because we are painted as bad men. After 20 years of success the speculation that we are men with no concern for our environment is out of line. We are not the millionaire C.E.O.’s that we work for. We are men with families that trust us to earn a living at a dangerous job. Each hitch offshore we work to return all crew members to their loved ones. Every man that does this work cares about his nation. Your failure to allow us to make America energy independent is recorded for history to judge. You have sold out your nation; not the Ultra-Deepwater Drill Crews.

Trust that we will not stand-by idle as you destroy our work. We are not some union wimps that rely on government assistance. You keep us out of work for 6 months; watch the power that will join the Tea Party Movement. We are men that shaped and built this industry with blood and sweat. We will engineer a massive shut down of your permit to wreck lives. Someone should investigate who is making profit on this spill. Check the ties to the Obama Administration.