on being Beyond Petroleum

Congratulations to the boffins and roughnecks at BP, who two days ago pulled off a feat comparable to those space epics in which brave Americans ride a rocket to head off an asteroid or some such threat to civilization. Did you watch the robot gently nudge the valve handle shut? That there was nobody inside the tiny submarine, and that it was happening two miles below the surface of the water, was all but impossible to grasp. Mr. Obama will no doubt take credit (he is edging in that direction: "We won't be done until we actually know that we killed the well"), but if BP pulls this off, it's entirely due to the fact that there are still competent oil workers at the company that famously launched a campaign to brand itself as Beyond Petroleum. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford