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some pretty pictures:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...am.html?ref=us
people need to know no one not even the great president has ever tested things to stop a leak like this and they need to take a freaking chill pill and let the engineer people brainstorm and come up with a solution
some pretty pictures:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...am.html?ref=us
"I hate to say it, but what I'm seeing now in the Gulf ain't nothing new. The toxic releases, the lies, the cover-ups, the skimping on safety, the nonexistent do ents, the "swinging door" with regulators, the deaths. Same ole same ole.
What is new is the massive nature of the oil gusher and the fact that it can't be covered up because it's ongoing and being videoed. This elephant can't be swept under the carpet, but I'm sure if BP could, BP would."
http://www.grist.org/article/2010-05...ts-/PALL/print
... duped
Last edited by boutons_deux; 06-01-2010 at 10:13 AM.
The problem with this particular radical solution is that if it fails you not only have oil leaking, but you have made that oil highly radioactive.
In the event of a failure of this plan, and you have highly radioactive oil floating around, what is your proposal for cleaning THAT up?
How then do you deal with radioactive oil washing up on beaches?
... says a member of the party that has been blocking the current administrations appointments at every opportunity just to score trival political points.
The pressure at that depth minimizes the size of the nuclear explosion. The heat probably fuses the area.
Scientists warn of unseen deepwater oil disaster
NEW ORLEANS – Independent scientists and government officials say there's a disaster we can't see in the Gulf of Mexico's mysterious depths, the ruin of a world inhabited by enormous sperm whales and tiny, invisible plankton.
Researchers have said they have found at least two massive underwater plumes of what appears to be oil, each hundreds of feet deep and stretching for miles. Yet the chief executive of BP PLC — which has for weeks downplayed everything from the amount of oil spewing into the Gulf to the environmental impact — said there is "no evidence" that huge amounts of oil are suspended undersea.
BP CEO Tony Hayward said the oil naturally gravitates to the surface — and any oil below was just making its way up. However, researchers say the disaster in waters where light doesn't shine through could ripple across the food chain.
"Every fish and invertebrate contacting the oil is probably dying. I have no doubt about that," said Prosanta Chakrabarty, a Louisiana State University fish biologist.
On the surface, a 24-hour camera fixed on the spewing, blown-out well and the images of dead, oil-soaked birds have been evidence of the calamity. At least 20 million gallons of oil and possibly 43 million gallons have spilled since the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded and sank in April.
That has far eclipsed the 11 million gallons released during the Exxon Valdez spill off Alaska's coast in 1989. But there is no camera to capture what happens in the rest of the vast Gulf, which sprawls across 600,000 square miles and reaches more than 14,000 feet at its deepest point.
Every night, the denizens of the deep make forays to shallower depths to eat — and be eaten by — other fish, according to marine scientists who describe it as the largest migration on earth.
In turn, several species closest to the surface — including red snapper, shrimp and menhaden — help drive the Gulf Coast fishing industry. Others such as marlin, cobia and yellowfin tuna sit atop the food chain and are chased by the Gulf's charter fishing fleet.
Many of those species are now in their annual spawning seasons. Eggs exposed to oil would quickly perish. Those that survived to hatch could starve if the plankton at the base of the food chain suffer. Larger fish are more resilient, but not immune to the toxic effects of oil.
The Gulf's largest spill was in 1979, when the Ixtoc I platform off Mexico's Yucatan peninsula blew up and released 140 million gallons of oil. But that was in relatively shallow waters — about 160 feet deep — and much of the oil stayed on the surface where it broke down and became less toxic by the time it reached the Texas coast.
But last week, a team from the University of South Florida reported a plume was headed toward the continental shelf off the Alabama coastline, waters thick with fish and other marine life.
The researchers said oil in the plumes had dissolved into the water, possibly a result of chemical dispersants used to break up the spill. That makes it more dangerous to fish larvae and creatures that are filter feeders.
Responding to Hayward's assertion, one researcher noted that scientists from several different universities have come to similar conclusions about the plumes after doing separate testing.
No major fish kills have been reported, but federal officials said the impacts could take years to unfold.
"This is just a giant experiment going on and we're trying to understand scientifically what this means," said Roger Helm, a senior official with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
In 2009, LSU's Chakrabarty discovered two new species of bottom-dwelling pancake batfish about 30 miles off the Louisiana coastline — right in line with the pathway of the spill caused when the Deepwater Horizon burned and sank April 24.
By the time an article in the Journal of Fish Biology detailing the discovery appears in the August edition, Chakrabarty said, the two species — which pull themselves along the seafloor with feet-like fins — could be gone or in serious decline.
"There are species out there that haven't been described, and they're going to disappear," he said.
Recent discoveries of endangered sea turtles soaked in oil and 22 dolphins found dead in the spill zone only hint at the scope of a potential calamity that could last years and unravel the Gulf's food web.
Concerns about damage to the fishery already is turning away potential customers for charter boat captains such as Troy Wetzel of Venice. To get to waters unaffected by the spill, Wetzel said he would have to take his boat 100 miles or more into the Gulf — jacking up his fuel costs to where only the wealthiest clients could afford to go fishing.
Significant amounts of crude oil seep naturally from thousands of small rifts in the Gulf's floor — as much as two Exxon Valdez spills every year, according to a 2000 report from government and academic researchers. Microbes that live in the water break down the oil.
The number of microbes that grow in response to the more concentrated BP spill could tip that system out of balance, LSU oceanographer Mark Benfield said.
Too many microbes in the sea could suck oxygen from the water, creating an uninhabitable hypoxic area, or "dead zone."
Preliminary evidence of increased hypoxia in the Gulf was seen during an early May cruise aboard the R/V Pelican, carrying researchers from the University of Georgia, the University of Mississippi and the University of Southern Mississippi.
An estimated 910,000 gallons of dispersants — enough to fill more than 100 tanker trucks — are contributing a new toxin to the mix. Containing petroleum distillates and propylene glycol, the dispersants' effects on marine life are still unknown.
What is known is that by breaking down oil into smaller droplets, dispersants reduce the oil's buoyancy, slowing or stalling the crude's rise to the surface and making it harder to track the spill.
Dispersing the oil lower into the water column protects beaches, but also keeps it in cooler waters where oil does not break down as fast. That could prolong the oil's potential to poison fish, said Larry McKinney, director of the Harte Research Ins ute at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
"There's a school of thought that says we've made it worse because of the dispersants," he said.
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If this stuff gets in the Atlantic.. yikes.
We have already had our first tropical storm of the season. Anybody want to imagine what a hurricaine running through the giant surface slick would do?
yikes.
By the by BP's stock took a drubbing again.
the explosion could aslo "frack" around the fused part, allowing the reservoir to gush out many cracks.
real scientists are leftist pussies, crybabies, Chicken Littles.
Repug "scientists" are badass mofo's who say nothing can hurt the earth. Drill, Baby, Drill
BP Hires Former Cheney Aide to Head P.R./Lying Efforts
http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/...lying-efforts/
========
the lying about BP's "PR problem" is well under way, and their 1000s of lawyers are certainly plotting how to keep BP from financial responsiblity, just like Exxon took 20 years to under-payoff Valdez victims.
I think there is easily a more than 50% chance the oil will at some point be affected by a tropical cyclone of some strength considering the way this season is shaping up (probably the most active since the infamous 2005 Katrina season).
Dr. Jeff Masters has made several blog posts about the interactions we could see but I haven't read the latest one.
So, what we need is a really strong hurricane in the gulf to accelerate the biodegradation process?
That would seem to be one of the effects, yes. A fortunate happenstance, balanced on the other hand by the real possibility of the storm pushing oil towards the shore and/or up on land farther in.
Meh. It will either happen or it won't, and there is nothing to do about it.
Where's Global Warming when you need it?That would seem to be one of the effects, yes. A fortunate happenstance, balanced on the other hand by the real possibility of the storm pushing oil towards the shore and/or up on land farther in.
Meh. It will either happen or it won't, and there is nothing to do about it.
i live in miami florida
are you guys ing crazy
we do not want a hurricane down here. nobody wants one.
they wreak havoc on economies and destroy property. even kill people. they are not fun experiences.
having the sound of high speed wind "whistling" all around your house and pieces of metal and random flying past your window is not fun.
last time a hurricane was down here, a metal tool shed was FLYING down my street and hit a tree and then wrapped around it. no ing joke.
thankfully, installed new impact resistance windows, but still.
TX Gov Perry, who has direct line to God, said the BP blowout was an Act of God, so it's "Christian" logical that another Act of God, a hurricane, cancel out the first Act.
Drill baby Drill!
More like...DRIVE BABY DRIVE.....
Me so hate oil....
Drill Baby, Drill! Spill Baby, Spill. Now, clean it the fock up!May 30, 2010 — Deregulation is the real (underlying) reason / cause behind the US oil spill by British Petroleum (BP) in 2010 off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico. Deregulation coupled with lax government oversight (lackies appointed by Cheney at the helm) lead to the omission of key safety features and protocols, a free pass for drilling licenses, emphasis on profit over safety, and absolutely NO PLAN for containment of blowouts.
For example, George W Bush and Cheney helped block a 2002/03 Bill that would have required the use of acoustic switches to activate the blowout preventer (BOP). When the rig blew up, they had to MANUALLY activate the switch by sending robotic submersibles. This was all but impossible since the rig was in flames and the priority was putting it out and saving lives; this was easily foreseen.
In addition, BP did not want to lose an oil well (by activating the BOP); this would have cost them future profit in addition to the costs for exploration and preparation of the well. Eventually the rig collapsed and sank to the ocean floor. Because the rig was STILL ATTACHED to the well head / BOP, it bent or damaged the BOP making it unusable. Again, this is something that could have been foreseen; i.e. the need to activate the BOP immediately in the case of catastrophic rig failure, to avoid potential damage to the BOP. Profit wins over safety; BP must avoid activating the BOP at all costs.
An acoustic switch would have allowed them to IMMEDIATELY stop the well head (activate the BOP) as soon as the explosion happened. The BOP would not have been at risk for failure (due to rig collapsing); but, the lack of a remote switch and need to save the well (for profit and avoidance of loss) meant that they delayed trying to activate it. By that time the damage to the BOP had been done.
Lastly, all of the post-blowout efforts have been focused on SAVING the well; i.e. it was only after more than a month before BP attempted the TOPKILL method, which would have sealed the well. Attempts before that were about slowing the flow of oil or collecting it. Why did BP not try the TOPKILL method right away?
Part 1 - Riser pipe shear successful
....you can watch the action live here...
http://www.deepwaterbp.com/
...Next step is the diamond wire saw at the BOP,
The same people who did the inside job on the WTC are responsible.
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