What the Oil-Rig Cook Saw: Corruption, Mostly

They should look deep into the payoff scandal especially the consultants , all the under the table money being passed just so a company will use their services whether the equipment is good or not , Most consultants are barely more knowledgable than the tool pusher in most cases the tool pusher knows more about the rig and the operation than the consultant who by some coincidence knew someone who knew someone to get them the job without much downhole experience,I don"t believe they do much background checking on the consultants as far as criminaland drug abuse most never take a urinalise test so there you have it.

I lived in LA for several years, what has happened in the Gulf is no different than
than what the chemical companies have been doing onshore for years. Taking advantage of very good, simple people and paying off the politicians to get out of their way. Louisana has some of the worst pollution, ground water contamination and air , in the country. The chemical and oil companies that line the Mississippi River with large production facilities and refineries don't give a rats a#@ about the people or the enviroment. People like Mr.Peterson are good hard working Americans who deserve to be treated with the same respect we would want afforded any American worker. We should defend and praise this man for having the courage to speak up. Weather you believe him or not "he was there." I would take his word over that of the President of BP any day of the week. Support the Ameican Worker.

my brother works with a guy, who is married to a girl, whose brother's girlfriend's father, used to work with a guy, who worked on an oil rig, who heard a guy telling a man that another guy had said that one of the other shift guys was doing a payoff to the government. (get the point?). By his own admission the cook is just a step above trailer trash. this isn't news. it's a gossip column.

Mr. Peterson is off base when he said that MMS was payed off to ignore the accident that occurred when the pipe crahsed into the living quarters. MMS has nothing to do with that. OSHA or the Coast guard have purview of that. Makes the rest of his recollections suspect.

All those BP violations should have put up a big red flag and Obama's MMS should have caught and made corrections before the explosion and spill. They had a year.

I spoke to a person involved in the cleanup who had just gone to Grand Isle last week. He said it was booming, with all the hotels packed and restaurants & bars filled to capacity. The water was clean and people were fishing everywhere around. We all agreed that when the response effort ends in a short while the locals will be crying again, but for a different reason as things go back to normal.

Can we STOP with this liberal verses conservative stuff! We are all Americans and the world is passing us by as we self-destruct.

We are near the bottom in literacy; our life expectancy is not the best, and our standard of living has decreased over the last TEN YEARS! China is more literate as they produce more engineers, scientist, doctors, and teachers. They are building an infrastructure unmatched in the world while America has wasted three-trillion dollars supporting corrupt governments. We allowed our schools to become embarrassments to what still is the greatest country and economy in the world!

We can not allow corporate America to only focus on cost by shipping jobs over seas. If you want Americans to buy your product you must reciprocate by balancing trade.

Remember this conservatives, independents, and progressives; it matters not the cost of goods if you do not have a job to purchase those goods! Bring manufacturing jobs back home. Our government must level the playing field by not allowing goods into our country where the working conditions, safety, and compensation do not match ours. Additionally, it is illegal for countries to provide financial support to private companies who then sell goods to America below the cost to manufacture those goods. i believe they call that "DUMPING".

I am not sure I agree with the comment about limitations on windmills. I guess that IF we concentrated on that technology as well as other oil free methods of producing electricity we would know what those limitations may be...I do know that the SUN provides more energy in a day than all the oil we consume in a year. Our job should be to maximize what we can capture of that inexhaustible energy. We burn oil to create steam to push electric generators...we can create steam by concentrating sunlight on mirrors that heat water to do the same thing...we can use tides (wave action) to power turbines, we can increase the number of wind powered generators. If demand continues and supplies dwindle won't we have to do that eventually? Let's start now and perhaps in 20 years we'll find that we can make do without (as much) oil...

yahal...What exactly does your statement concerning minorities have to do with this article? Why are you bringing race into it?

Why hire minority workers when there are so many majority workers without jobs? I wouldnt.