$500K device may have prevented oil spill

Orlando Independent Examiner ^ | May 2, 2010 | Gregory Patin

[mtnwmn]

Yes, that's correct...a device that costs one half million dollars may have prevented what is on track to become the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

The device is called an acoustic trigger (aka. acoustic switch, actuator). It is a remote-controlled device deployed off oil rigs that sends acoustic impulses through the water, triggering an underwater valve or explosives to shut down the well even if the rig is catastrophically damaged or abandoned.

All offshore rigs have one main switch to shut off the flow of oil by closing a valve located on the ocean floor. There is also supposed to be a backup called a “dead man,” that will shut down the well in the event of a catastrophe on the rig.

Apparently neither of these devices worked on the Deepwater Horizon rig operated by British Petroleum (BP). The crew members who would have been closest to the shutoff switch are among those missing and presumed dead. If the rig was equipped with an acoustic trigger, it would have been a last resort option and could have been activated from a remote location.

[mtnwmn]

This piece is obviously a dem talking point....if you “search” the article’s topic you get the same article over and over again. I want to know what part is true, and what part is fiction. Did Cheney have this secret meeting, etc.?

[Brilliant]

This is an enforcement issue, though. It’s already illegal for a felon to possess a gun. The question is whether you’re going to enforce that law. I say we should.

[Jean S]

This piece is obviously a dem talking point....if you “search” the article’s topic you get the same article over and over again. I want to know what part is true, and what part is fiction. Did Cheney have this secret meeting, etc.?

You posted this to find out if Cheney was involved in a secret meeting?

B.S.

You're trolling.

[Brilliant]

Ooops... sorry man. You mentioned gun control while I was posting on the “gun control” thread. I mixed up my threads. Yeah, I agree with you. I’m not trying to accomplish anything here other than to point out that government doesn’t work. So more government is not going to work better.

It’s sort of like financial reform. We’ve had financial regulation in this country since the 1930’s. If they haven’t made it work by now, then they aren’t going to fix it with more of the same.

[tubebender]

Lots of would-a, could-a, should-a going on here...

[BOBTHENAILER]

How dare BP go and fix something that Broke Insane Yomama and his gov’t rocket scientists were gettin’ ready to show us their expertise on.

[antivenom]

Root Cause of theis accident...is that the FEDS had control of the WHOLE process...from beginning to failure...

THEY leased the area to BP, BP was to prepare certain paperwork...the feds waived it, along with many many MANY more drillers.

NOW start asking YOURSELF and your friends...”what about the Chinese and Russian drillers” in the GoM...

WHO did “THEY” payoff??? Have they been THOROUGHLY checked for “good BOP systems” that have redundant backup????

ME THINKS...

NO...HELL NO...

BP has many years of experience in the North Sea and GoM...Chinese and Russians...don’t!!!

[VastRWCon]

Its not an “oil spill”... I wish people would stop calling it that. Nothing was spilled, natural oil is leaking from a yes a man made oil well, but what is leaking is natural oil not man made oil like from a refinary. If a tanker sank and cracked in half, and refined oil spilled, then yes that would be an oil spill. Just sayin...

[mtnwmn]

You’re delusional.

[Jean S]

No, I am calling you out on your reason for posting this tripe.

[demkicker]

Lots of would-a, could-a, should-a going on here...

True, but I'm still stunned that any and all off shore drilling companies don't have a remedy in place for a worst case scenario such as this.

[The Wizard]

the only thing this government does is work for the socialists

[FreePaul]

...a remedy in place for a worst case scenario...

When the "drilling companies" come up with this remedy I hope that they share it with the aircraft/airline companies, mining operations, stock market and any others who occasionally have something like a worst case scenario.

[TigersEye]

$500K device MAY have prevented oil spill

May is the key word. The cause of the failure is still unknown so any talk of how it could have been prevented is pure speculation.

[mainsail that]

Examiner is a bunch of people writing whatever to get page views.

[Cyclone59]

BP is not an American headquarted in the US, it is in London. So, I am surprised that a non-US company gets to drill but ours don’t. And even further, how does a foreign corporation get to donate to a presidential campaign?

[ltc8k6]

Yep. The device itself failed.

[TigersEye]

I don't know. I thought it was treason to take campaign contributions from foreign sources but ever since Clintoon got away with taking cash from China the practice seems to have grown.

A country that doesn't hang or shoot its traitors ends up ruled by them.

[TigersEye]

I know. Some Examiner articles are good though. This one is just repeating the same template the MSM outlets are pushing.

[deport]

Lots of specualtion as to possible problems or causes for the disaster...

Gulf of Mexico oil spill caused by string of human, mechanical errors: reports

A cascade of human and mechanical failures likely caused last month's deadly offshore rig explosion and an undersea oil gusher that could be the worst U.S. environmental disaster, according to data gathered by congressional investigators and reviewed by experts.

• According to information from BP, Transocean, and rig contractor Halliburton Co gathered by investigators from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, rig workers pressed ahead to put the finishing touches on the well despite potentially alarming test results that signaled a buildup of gas pressure deep in the well's reservoir.

• And on the ocean floor, a 450-ton series of valves and pipes called a blowout preventer -- meant to be the last line of defense in the event of a blowout -- was disabled after being significantly modified.

• On the Deepwater Horizon, three of those systems -- the blowout preventer, the metal casing within the well and the cement that held it in place -- all likely failed, according to testimony from company officials and data gathered by investigators from the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

• Earlier in the day, well pressure tests showed an imbalance between the drill pipe and kill and choke lines running from the drill deck to the blowout preventer. The pressure in the drill pipe was 1,400 pounds per square inch (PSI), while the choke and kill lines read zero PSI, Waxman said.

• "They knew there was something wrong because the pressure in the kill and choke lines was not correct," Nagarajaiah said. "That should have alerted them." But according to Waxman, workers performed additional tests and at 8 p.m. CDT "company officials determined that the additional results justified ending the test and proceeding with well operations." "I'm a little shocked that they proceeded at that point," said Philip Johnson, a petroleum engineering professor at the University of Alabama. "It sounds like they never got an adequate low pressure test and someone decided to go ahead and displace the mud," Johnson said. "That sounds like a pretty serious mistake."

• Once the well exploded in a green flash, rig workers tried to activate the blowout preventer on the ocean floor, designed as a fail-safe to choke off the well.

• But officials from Cameron International Corp, which manufactured the device, told committee staff that a key hydraulic system meant to supply emergency power was disabled.

• And another key device component designed to clamp down around the drill pipe and seal any leak -- known as a variable bore ram -- had been replaced by a useless test ram, according to Representative Bart Stupak, chairman of the the Energy and Commerce Committee's investigations subcommittee.