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Obama Holds BP Responsible for Oil Spill
According to a report by Voice of China's "Global Chinese Broadcasting Network" at 12:15, attention was paid to the explosion accident on the US drilling platform. The oil leak caused serious environmental pollution.The explosion occurred late at night on April 20, local time. The drilling platform where the explosion occurred was the Deepwater Horizon platform located about 82 kilometers southeast of Venice, Louisiana. When the explosion occurred, a total of 126 staff members were working on the platform. Seven people were seriously injured in the explosion and 11 others were missing. The remaining personnel escaped safely. At present, the local government has sent planes and ships to launch search operations in the Gulf of Mexico, hoping to find traces of survivors.
This is the news on the day of the explosion. The "Deepwater Horizon" drilling platform sank into the Gulf of Mexico on April 22, about 36 hours after the explosion. The oil well at the bottom of the drilling platform has been leaking oil since April 24. The U.S. Coast Guard estimates that the oil well leaks 5,000 barrels of crude oil per day, causing a great impact on the environment. Part of the leaked crude oil has washed up on the southern coast of the United States, threatening the ecological environment of coastal areas. The area from Louisiana to Florida has become a high-risk area. Harbor staff lowered the oil barrier into the sea, hoping to prevent oil from washing ashore; animal rescuers were dispatched to help save the birds. The oil could endanger shipping on the Mississippi River and ports in the Gulf of Mexico. Now is the shrimp fishing season, but fishermen in Louisiana have to suspend going to sea and wait for news. They don’t know when shrimp can be resumed. Their livelihoods are greatly affected. Since an offshore oil rig explosion occurred in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, an estimated 800,000 liters of crude oil have been spewed out every day. The spread has been much faster than expected in recent days, which may indicate an increase in the amount of crude oil spewed from oil wells.
U.S. President Obama inspected the damage caused by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico yesterday in Louisiana. After listening to reports from all parties, he said: BP, which leased the leaking crude oil drilling platform, was responsible for the disaster and must "pay" for the disaster relief operations. Next, let’s connect with commentator Du Ping.
Moderator: What do you think of the seriousness of this accident?
Du Ping: It may be difficult for experts to judge how serious it is because the oil is still erupting, like a volcanic eruption. How to describe it? In the past, many oil spills occurred from ships and oil tankers, and the oil was gone in a few hours or days and flowed into the sea. The current oil spill situation is that it may continue for several months. If it cannot be controlled and the oil wellhead cannot be capped, it will erupt for several months, and it will not end until its energy has been emitted. For the United States, and for all other past experts, this is beyond the scope of their knowledge and experience.
Moderator: Without any lessons learned from the past, it is indeed very troublesome to operate. How many plans should be adopted to plug the big hole and stop the pollution?
Du Ping: One plan currently under way is to use a remote-controlled robot, like the one walking on the moon, to put the robot under the seabed and use its ability to cover the wellhead. So far, it has not been successful. The first is that the water is too deep. The other is that the energy and vibration emitted from the wellhead are difficult to control, so the robot cannot do it.
There are two other plans under consideration. One is to dig another wellhead next to the current oil well, and then use oil pipes to pump out the oil to reduce the eruption force of the current oil well. The other one is unprecedented and very bold - build a large copper box several meters high, then drop it to the bottom of the sea and cover the oil well. After covering it, it is transported to another oil tanker through an oil pipe. These are the next two plans they are currently imagining. No one is sure whether they will succeed, because all the experts have never done this in such deep water, and the success coefficient is difficult to say.
Moderator: It sounds very complicated from a technical perspective, and it’s hard to say whether it will be successful. From a policy perspective, tapping local oil has always been an important part of the U.S. energy strategy. Despite opposition from environmental protection groups, U.S. President Obama announced on March 31 that he would expand offshore oil and gas exploration on the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico. Less than a month has passed since the troubling oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. What impact do you think this incident will have on U.S. energy strategy?
Du Ping: Since taking office, the Obama administration has always believed that first of all, the United States must reduce its dependence on oil from the Middle East or other overseas oil, and must make strategic adjustments. The first aspect is to exploit oil in coastal areas, especially offshore areas; the other aspect is to reduce the use of oil and natural gas and develop new energy sources. Last month I took a step forward. Due to opposition from environmental groups and other social forces, the U.S. government has not decided to drill for oil in offshore areas. However, the Obama administration has decided and approved several projects to drill in these areas.
Now that such an incident has occurred, this strategy has encountered some obstacles. The Obama administration has decided to temporarily shelve several recently approved projects. I believe that even after the oil spill is resolved, it may be difficult to resume the decision to exploit oil in offshore areas, which will have the following impacts on the Obama administration: First, it was originally intended to reduce dependence on overseas oil; It is possible that oil imports from overseas regions will continue. Second, the goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions may be accelerated, including an increase in investment projects in new energy development. In other words, we can refer to some of China's successful experiences in this area and then increase investment in this area. But the problem that the Obama administration may encounter is the budget issue. In addition, this incident is also a relatively big blow to the Republican Party. The reason why BP is able to exploit oil in the offshore areas of the United States is that under the strong lobbying of the Republican Party, BP also made a lot of investments in the Labor Party. After such an event occurs, the Republican Party may explore oil in offshore areas or develop the country's local oil energy. Got a lot of obstacles. The Obama administration may make some new adjustments and consultations after the incident is over. The specific situation may need to be observed for some time, because the BP oil spill cannot be solved immediately. The biggest task now is to solve the pollution problem.
Moderator: If, as we just said, BP can "pay" for disaster relief operations, then who will pay for environmental pollution? Are there any new directions to consider? What suggestions do you have?
Du Ping: On the one hand, in the short term, it still needs to exploit oil or import oil. On the other hand, it may now turn its attention to China. It’s not about importing energy from China, but referring to China’s current path and methods of mining new energy, because now China’s new energy includes environmentally friendly energy, wind power, and solar power, which are quite advanced in the world, and even many technologies among the exports. The Obama administration also appreciates this aspect of China, not just China, but also Germany, and several other countries, but there are only a few. The Obama administration attaches great importance to this, and may increase the development of new energy in the United States in this regard.
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