Is anyone really surprised that Danny Williams has even more questions after getting a full briefing than he had when he first heard about a booster landing in the Atlantic Ocean?
Now he's talking about problems with "something that big" hitting the seabed or changing wave patterns. I saw the scrum clips for myself on CTV NewsNet so I know exactly what the man said. Here's the script version of their story, just for good measure.
For those who want another script version, here's the Canadian Press account. Note that some Canadian officials were excluded from a portion of the briefing. Pretty simple stuff actually - that bit of the briefing likely contained highly classified information that some of the Canadians weren't cleared to receive. Here's another reason why the provincial government here needs to have someone working on public security full-time who is also cleared to at least Level III, commonly called Top Secret. It's also why it is useless to send a university professor from MUN's engineering school to participate in a meeting where classified information may be discussed. But that's actually one of the substantive issues here that is being ignored in what seems to evolving into our own version of Space Cowboys.
Butt look it is actually pretty simple. And I have to say: "Danny, my son, look, how many times do we have to explain it to you?"
1. Nothing "that big" is hitting anything. The booster rocket will disintegrate and shower down bits and pieces over a huge piece of ocean. Even if for some reason an entire section of missile comes down intact, the odds of it hitting the platforms or doing any substantive damage are astronomically small. If you want a 100% guarantee, I guess you won't be flying anywhere any time soon on a commercial airliner, or for that matter walking outside the door of your house to go to work.
2. By the time any of this rocket lands on the seabed, it will be slowed down and distributed around by ocean currents. Go sue White Star Line for the frickin Titanic, bye. It had a bigger impact than this thing will ever have.
3. As for the ocean currents stuff, I think it is time for Jon Lien and Dave Suzuki to do an intervention here. Holy crap, Batman, this is just foolish.
4. The Hibernia platform is being moved and the Terra Nova and White Rose FPSOs are being towed 30-50 miles off positions because that's what the oil company lawyers and insurance companies want to do. But it is the oil companies who are making that decision, not Danny Williams. That's why the Monday meeting is so interesting - the companies have already taken their decisions; what's left to discuss except maybe legal action.
5. As for cost, expect that the companies will file suit in US courts to recover their costs and damages from the US Air Force. Maybe Danny will do the same, join their suit or hop up and down until Ottawa files some sort of protest.
At the end of it all, though, the Premier doesn't have to jump up and down to get answers. All the information he needs is readily available and has been since the start of this whole affair. The Premier just has to accept what he is being told by various experts. If he doesn't want to accept that information or if he wants to set arbitrary and totally impossible objectives, then that's his call.
My question about all this is resolving down to this: why is Danny Williams talking about this? Who is he representing? What exactly does he want to get out of it?