Explosion on Another Oil Platform in Gulf of Mexico

Ronald Bailey | 9.2.2010 12:14 PM

According to preliminary news reports a non-producing oil platform run by Mariner Energy is burning about 80 miles off the coast of Louisiana in about 2500 feet of water. Platform workers are in the water with one reported as injured.

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J sub D 15 years ago

I think I'll wait for more data before jumping to reaching any conclusions.

I'm sure others won't.
1. DG 15 years ago
  
  This is all the fault of DeregulationBushTeaPartyRatFuckerRepublicanNeoCons. I think that covers all the bases.
  1. creech 15 years ago
    
    You forgot Racist.
    1. Jason 15 years ago
      
      creech, it is redundant with each of the terms.
2. Neu Mejican 15 years ago
  
  JsubD...that is because you are wiser than most. Let's hope it turns out to be a minor incident.
  1. Citizen Nothing 15 years ago
    
    Neu Mejican, the libertarian whisperer.
    "Just calm down, fella. Easy...easy."
    Then BAM, on goes the bridle and saddle.
3. Pro Libertate 15 years ago
  
  ECO-TERROR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  1. sage 15 years ago
    
    Bah. You beat me by one stinking minute. It's because you're on the east coast.
    1. Pro Libertate 15 years ago
      
      I'm on the Gulf, man. I could feel the hate all the way over here.
      1. Ragin Cajun 15 years ago
        
        It's the Army of the Twelve Monkeys, I tell you! They are running around the Gulf Coast, destroying oil rigs and raping frogs!
        
        Pro Libertate 15 years ago
        
        No more frog legs for me.
        
        Abdul 15 years ago
        
        STEVE SMITH LEAVE NO AMPHIBIAN UN-RAPED!
        
        BUT STEVE SMITH NOT THINK TO RAPE INATIMIATE OBJECT! STEVE SMITH START WITH LUMBER MILL THAT DESTROY STEVE SMITH HAIBTAT.
        
        Ken Shultz 15 years ago
        
        I'm gonna have that put on a plaque for my office.
        
        RS 15 years ago
        
        Thank you for the laugh. Needed that.
        
        Ragin Cajun 15 years ago
        
        Just recycling a Warty joke.
  2. JW 15 years ago
    
    They're going to find Wolf Blitzer holding the detontaor.
Joe M 15 years ago

Sounds like it wasn't being used at the time, so no second oil spill at least.
1. Fatty Bolger 15 years ago
  
  Never trust the first report.. but I hope that's right.
  1. Pip 15 years ago
    
    NEW ORLEANS, La. (AP) ? Another oil rig exploded and caught fire Thursday off the Louisiana coast, spreading a mile-long oil sheen in the Gulf of Mexico west of the site of BP's massive spill. All 13 crew members were rescued.
    
    Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill Coklough said the sheen, about 100 feet wide, was spotted near the platform. Firefighting vessels were battling the flames.
    
    Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/09.....z0yP5opsrx
george 15 years ago

what the fuck are these oil platforms made out of? dynamite?
1. wylie 15 years ago
  
  I'm gonna conclude they're made of the same material as automobile gas tanks in films.
John 15 years ago

It is in much shallower water. And if it was shut in, it wasn't over the kind of uber pressure the deep water horizon rig was. No big deal.
Dick Fitzwell 15 years ago

Sounds like a production platform. No drilling going on there.
1. sage 15 years ago
  
  Nice handle.
  
  No homo.
sage 15 years ago

Maybe there's a second Asian eco-warrior on the loose.

WTF? STUPIDITY!
1. Fluffy 15 years ago
  
  Needs more exclamation points.
2. Captain Jame T Kirk 15 years ago
  
  THEY'VE REDUCED THE WHOLE CREW!!!
Ken Shultz 15 years ago

I'd just like to point out beforehand, that if Obama handles this one better than the last, it still won't mean he isn't a shitty president.
Cynicul Fack 15 years ago

The platform owned by Mariner Energy is in about 2,500 feet of water, the Coast Guard said, and was not currently producing

due to the lack of platform workers and massive oil leak resulting from the explosion.
Abdul 15 years ago

I hear they think it's a Mythbuster's episode--testing the myth of whether a government run by Democrats who believe in regulation with the devotion of Hindu fakirs can fuck shit up as bad as Republicans, who want to retun to the Hobbseian state of nature unless your womb or comatose spouse is involved.

But Kari byron shows up in a bikini, so it's pretty cool.
1. Timon19 15 years ago
  
  The episodes while Kari was on maternity leave were nearly unwatchable.
  1. . 15 years ago
    
    Kari
    
    You've all seen this, right?
    
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykhSLNlx3n0
    
    Just making sure.
    1. Abdul 15 years ago
      
      I'll be in my bunk.
    2. Dick Fitzwell 15 years ago
      
      Boner confirmed!
George W. Bush 15 years ago

It's my fault.
Truther 15 years ago

Two months before elections, how convenient! A "rig" catches "fire" in the middle of the ocean surrounded by water - riiigghttt, we're supposed to believe that? Wake up and smell the fascism, sheeple!
1. Abdul 15 years ago
  
  Quiet! Gabe'll hear you.
  1. BakedPenguin 15 years ago
    
    2nd of the month, he's back on his Risperdal.
2. kinnath 15 years ago
  
  But October Surprises are supposed to happen in October.
  1. Truther 15 years ago
    
    That's just what they want you to think!
  2. R C Inquisition 15 years ago
    
    Nooobody expects an October surprise in September.
I am not the government's ATM 15 years ago

I'm sure BHO is already working on the multi-billion dollar slush fund.
Episiarch 15 years ago

I can't wait to find out who the government regulators were fucking (literally) this time. Somebody needs to do a pictorial of "the girls of oil regulation". Maybe there are guys too, but...no homo.
jtuf 15 years ago

OK, two oil rigs explode in one year. This raises a red flag, but I'll wait for evidence of the causes to come in before drawing any conclusions.
1. Truther 15 years ago
  
  Obama becomes President, and almost immediately two rigs explode! What more "evidence" do you need?
  1. Ann Anuddating 15 years ago
    
    Need I point out, additionally, that he is almost always "gulfing"?
    1. Ken Shultz 15 years ago
      
      I don't know about "gulfing", but I do know that he's a smoker.
      
      How many times do we have to tell you, Mr. President? When you see a "No Smoking" sign, that means The President too!
      1. Barack Obama 15 years ago
        
        If the president smokes it, then it's not illegal
        
        sarcasmic 15 years ago
        
        Does that include freebase?
  2. cynical 15 years ago
    
    Sarcastic or not, if I ran a rig I would be secretly setting up monitoring equipment all around it and feeding it out to a secure location.
2. toxic 15 years ago
  
  How many oil rigs explode during a normal year?
  1. Zeb 15 years ago
    
    That is a good question. I have no idea whether this is an unusual event or not.
Lepus 15 years ago

Where was Rahm Emanuel at the time??
1. Ken Shultz 15 years ago
  
  Receiving instructions from the Bilderbergs.
alcoholic anomalous 15 years ago

From a reliable source: "Mariner was not drilling at VR 380. It was a ruptured flow line. Not a blowout. This is a producing platform."
1. Unreliable Source 15 years ago
  
  Ooops! My bad.
Darth Cheney 15 years ago

Anybody seen the Halliburton Hurricane Machine?
I think Georgie took it on a joyride again.
mrMagoo 15 years ago

Ahhh, look at the free market at work.

There's a demand for oil, so we should be able to drill for it anywhere, right?
1. R C Dean 15 years ago
  
  Pretty much, yeah.
  
  Was there supposed to be some sarcasm in there? Because I'm not seeing it.
2. Dick Fitzwell 15 years ago
  
  Where is the free market at work? You're saying that the free market caused this? Uggghhh! That is one of the dumbest things I've ever read. I wish I could unread that. All of us here are now more stupid for having read it.
mrMagoo 15 years ago

You're an idiot, RC Dean.

Hint: Look up 'externalities' on wikipedia and you'll see what the free market can do (like oil spills!). It is hilarious to watch libertarians try to blame this on OVER-regulation though, LOL.
1. Ernie the Bear 15 years ago
  
  I just hope that I can someday be half of whatever kind of "idiot" R C Dean is. Seriously.
????? 14 years ago

thanks

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