Offshore Oil : Relief Well Requirement

Canada requires that a relief well be drilled along side new offshore oil wells. BP recently argued that they are not necessary because of all of the other safety measures in place which make a blowout nearly impossible. We now see that "unlikely" scenario unfolding in the gulf. It may be months until the oil well flow is stopped, not weeks under the more safe procedure where a relief well was in place and could be used to kill the well. Here is an excellent report with some background information as reported by Peter Overby on NPR.

Update: NPR's On Point discussed the spill with a variety of guests, including Robert Reich. Reich argues that this is an emergency which requires nationalizing all of BP's resources, not just the ones which are "economically feasible." For example, their entire fleet of tankers could have been deployed near the spill site "vacuuming" the ocean for oil.