The book A Hole in the Bottom of the Sea by Joel Achenbach, Simon & Schuster, NY, 2011 is the engineers side of the story of the BP Oil Gusher in the Gulf Coast. There were many things to learn, some of the lessons were very expensive, but lessons are to be learned. One of the lessons is in most accidents there is usually not one smoking gun. Generally the people are well paid; the crew will be a blend of experienced people who have been through the ringer or many different situations. Also there will be eager, newer people who depend more on technology for the perfect answer but all are just trying to do their jobs. In the case of the BP Oil Gusher, the well exploded and a variety of things that were expected to happen did not happen. It was expected some fail safe procedures would allow for any disaster to happen but the systems would be able to control it. In this this case, since the normal things did not work, engineering solutions had to be figured out which meant working on the bottom of the sea with mechanical devices. The engineers tried many different ideas, through the government – many of the best scientists working for the government were working on possible solutions. In the end, after months of ideas and tries, the well was capped.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, one thing that quickly becomes noticeable is even though the science can be worked on by many, those that have the solution implemented are those that have developed relationships before the disaster happened. When disasters happen both the company and government must reach out to contain and bring things back under control. It is entirely possible to get to know other people in the community through the many conferences and conventions – people need to attend to meet and see if they could work with the person in government or the private sector. Relationships and trust are keys to solving the normal problems which happen. In the case of BP there was for many months an us and them way of thinking. The President of the US put some of the best scientists of the government on the problem, however few had relationships with BP people which meant an us and them situation. Bridges need to be part of the solution before the disasters happen even if it is to understand what policies and procedures the government tends to follow. It is better to work with than against the government.

Working against the government will send the price of shares on a roller coaster because the senior members of government  will comment on what was happening. With the comments, he rest of the world would try to breakdown what is said, to see what that means if there could be money made. If a relationship has been made, the comments can be more helpful.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions