Acoustic Switch

The WSJ reports today that the use of an acoustic switch while not required by the US may have prevented the blowout now slinging oil toward the fragile ecosystems in South Louisiana and Alabama. An acoustic switch is another layer of safety that has never been tested but is in common use in the North Sea. Obviously the primary switch isn't going to work and it is impossible to tell if an acoustic switch would have worked. For the savings of $500,000 by not having the acoustic switch, we now have a multi-billion dollar disaster occurring.

The oil industry is going to catch hell and off-shore drilling may be at risk because of $500,000. We recall thousands of cribs because 13 children have died in them but we don't have brains enough to mandate a third level of well safety. Oh, there will be a lot of Congressional hearings on this disaster for the usual theatrics but it's tough to fix a bad haircut or an entire Southern coast of the US covered with oil.