# The Obama BP/Energy Speech - A Failed Opportunity **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 16, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374 "2010-06-16T00:37:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/101 "2010-06-19T10:45:03Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > If you’re referring to the Jones Act that is a US law that applies to ships. This was a system that attaches to a ship and it was airlifted over from the Netherlands. The reason it was first rejected is because it sucks up both oil and water and returns the water which is still contaminated. Somehow the EPA couldn’t grasp the logic of pulling over 80% of the oil out of the water. [The Coast Guard is doing the same](http://abcnews.go.com/WN/bp-oil-spill-gov-bobby-jindals-wishes-crude/story?id=10946379) thing with oil sucking barges as we speak. The link isn’t very informative because it talks of a need to make sure there are life vests and fire extinguishers on board which would take 2 minutes to verify. Sounds like a boat certification issue to me. You’d think in an emergency situation like this we could expedite it or just issue waivers using a little common sense. Thanks for your response. I have a better understanding of the situation now. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/102 "2010-06-19T14:21:37Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > And (more than likely) BP’s lawyers will insist that the money be taken as a credit against income taxes..so the US taxpayers will actually be paying!:mad: What does that even mean? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/103 "2010-06-19T15:12:46Z")
> [@Digital\_Stimulus](#): > > What does that even mean? 😕 They can write the cost of cleanup as a business loss. How do you dispute the costs that BP will dream up? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/104 "2010-06-19T15:18:16Z")
> [@Digital\_Stimulus](#): > > What does that even mean? 😕 It means that once one is angry about something, it is possibly to _stay_ angry if a person keeps a sufficiently malleable view of what it was that lead to the anger in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/105 "2010-06-19T16:05:13Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > They can write the cost of cleanup as a business loss. How do you dispute the costs that BP will dream up? And? I don’t dispute that BP will claim costs (duh), and I also assume that some of them may very well push the bounds of decorum. What does that have to do with taxpayer money? More to the point of the post to which I responded, please draw a direct connection from the money placed into escrow by BP to “US taxpayer paying”. > [@Squink](#): > > It means that once one is angry about something, it is possibly to _stay_ angry if a person keeps a sufficiently malleable view of what it was that lead to the anger in the first place. Well, based on past performance, I assume that **ralph124c** is just being a douche…but I have to admit that it’s possible that I’m just being dense. But at this point, I can’t make head nor tail of his post…it just seems like a string of semi-related words summing to nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/106 "2010-06-19T16:06:48Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > They can write the cost of cleanup as a business loss. How do you dispute the costs that BP will dream up? Just so you know, there is a significant difference between a tax write-off and a tax credit. Otherwise, I’m struggling to wrap my brain around the idea of making them pay taxes on the cost of the clean-up. They will have to justify the cost just like they justify the cost of everything else they write off. This is not some new thing that BP just now invented. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374/107 "2010-06-19T16:12:17Z")
> [@Digital\_Stimulus](#): > > What does that have to do with taxpayer money?. If you parse it right, it means that Barton apologized to BP because Obama forced them to take a twenty billion dollar tax write-off. See what I mean about being malleable in your anger? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-obama-bp-energy-speech-a-failed-opportunity/543374.md?page=5)