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The Secret, 700-Million-Gallon Oil Fix That Worked — and Might Save the Gulf
Back on May 13, 2010 by Mark Warren

“Pozzi thinks, owing to cost considerations, or because there’s no clear chain of authority by which to get valuable ideas in the right hands. But with BP’s latest four-pronged plan remaining unproven, and estimates of company liability already reaching the tens of billions of dollars (and counting), supertankers start to look like a bargain.”

“The suck-and-salvage technique was developed in desperation across the Arabian Gulf following a spill of mammoth proportions — 700 million gallons — that has until now gone unreported, as Saudi Arabia is a closed society, and its oil company, Saudi Aramco, remains owned by the House of Saud. But in 1993 and into ‘94, with four leaking tankers and two gushing wells, the royal family had an environmental disaster nearly sixty-five times the size of Exxon Valdez on its hands, and it desperately needed a solution. “

“Pozzi, an American engineer then in charge of Saudi Aramco’s east-west pipeline in the technical support and maintenance services division, was part of a team given cart blanche to control the blowout. Pozzi had dealt with numerous spills over the years without using chemicals, and had tried dumping flour into the oil, then scooping the resulting tar balls from the surface. “You ever cooked with flour? Absorbent, right?” Pozzi says. Next, he’d dumped straw into the spills; also highly absorbent, but then you’ve got a lot of straw to clean up. This spill was going to require a much larger, more sustained solution. And fast. “

“That’s when Pozzi and his team came up with the idea of having empty ships park near the Saudi spill and pull the oil off the water. This part of the operation went on for six months, with the mop-up operations lasting for several years more. Pozzi says that 85 percent of the spilled oil was recovered, and it is precisely this strategy that he wants to see deployed in the Gulf of Mexico”

Air & Wealth Management Assoc.

When oil enters the ocean it quickly begins to change and disperse. Though oil is toxic, it becomes less so with time. Winds and waves help spread and disperse the oil. Some oil will evaporate. Some will form into tar balls and sink to the bottom where they may remain for a long time, slowly releasing hydrocarbons into the water. Bacteria in the water attack and digest the oil. If people act quickly after the spill, they can scoop up some of the oil and stop it from causing worse damage to the environment.

Effects on the Food Chain: Each tier of the marine food chain can be affected by an oil spill. Oil floating on the water may contaminate plankton (very small, swimming or floating plants and animals).

The Persian Gulf War: Although the war in the Middle East in the early months of 1991 was brief, it left behind a damaged environment. Huge quantities of oil (2.5 to 4 million barrels) were dumped into the Persian Gulf. It was the largest oil spill in history.Because this oil spill happened during a time of war, clean-up actions were delayed. Efforts were made to protect a few delicate areas. If action could have been taken earlier, less oil would have gotten into the water. Booms and skimmers were set up and used to protect some areas. People from all over the world went to the area to help with the cleanup.

The Exxon Valdez:This was the first large spill in an enclosed, cold body of water. These conditions made clean-up very difficult. The oil slick spread quickly. Chemical dispersants could not be used because the seas were too calm for them to be effective.

The Monongahela River Spill: About a million gallons of oil accidentally spilled into the Monongahela River in Western Pennsylvania when an above-ground oil storage tank collapsed January 2, 1988. In a matter of seconds, a 30 foot wave of heavy oil surged over containment barriers and spilled into the river, threatening the water supplies of more than a million people living downriver. Swift action was necessary to safeguard these water supplies.

http://www.awma.org/enviro_edu/fact_sheets/oil_spills1.html>

May 13--James Cameron, the film director behind ‘Titanic’ and ‘Avatar’, has offered BP the use of a number of his privately owned submarines for help in the oil giant’s efforts to stem the flow of oil in the Gulf of Mexico

May 21st- BP agreed to test Kevin Costner’s avialable vacuum cleaners machines,”said BP spokesman Mark Proegler said. “Of course, they need to meet regulations with respect to discharge.”

With oil washing up on a portion of southeastern Louisiana’s swampy edges, (talk radio) word of Costner’s devices and their potential capabilities has triggered intense lobbying over where they should be stationed first.

High on the list of prospective sites is Plaquemines Parish. “Some people want the machines placed out on the blue ocean where the oil is surfacing. Others want them placed along the coastline.”