Meanwhile BP is doing the only thing that is absolutely sure to work, which is drilling the relief wells. And not just one, but two of them. All the other ‘fixes’ are just ‘hey, wonder if this will work’ type things, just to pass the time while the relief wells are being drilled.
Truthfully, all these ‘I got the answers, but BP’s too cheap to do it’ guys are just seeking media time. I guarantee all their ideas have been considered, and dismissed not because of cost, but due to their being ineffective ideas. Because if it did work, you've got tens of millions of gallons of oil just sitting there for the taking - why not just go collect that free money yourself if BP’s too cheap to do it. And heck, make the feds pay you at the same time too.
You've got a point, but who says the feds would let you? Where are you going to refine the oil, and would the EPA allow you to discharge the water? Probably not.
This situation cries for leadership and we have none.
What you said is true. Oil pouring out of a gash in the hull of a tanker vessel is quite different than an atomized oil/water jet a mile down. Also, supertankers are designed for storage and transport. They are hardly optimized skimming vessels.
Some enterprising salvager can make a killing...if he had the right equipment.
The Saudi spill was bigger than this one, and supertankers can go anywhere. Functionally, regarding sucking up oil, the two spills are extremely similiar. You think there weren't massive spill areas or drifting underwater pools of oil in Suadi? Why not? On the whole, Saudi proves this method works.
I guarantee all their ideas have been considered, and dismissed not because of cost, but due to their being ineffective ideas. Because if it did work, you've got tens of millions of gallons of oil just sitting there for the taking - why not just go collect that free money yourself if BP’s too cheap to do it.
I guarantee you, you shouldn't be guaranteeing anything. Why not just go collect the oil? Because the Feds won't let you. Why won't the Feds let you? Because this gives them an ideal political crisis to 1) attack drilling; 2) attack burning oil at all; 3) push cap and tax; 4) give a rallying cry to environmentalists to get out and vote Democrat.
So am I saying the Democrats would actually blow up an oil well and potentially destroy the entire Gulf of Mexico and all of the Gulf shoreline ecosystems just for... votes?
Of course they would - and they wouldn't lose any sleep over it, either.
Keep it contained rather than disperse it and use it. Maybe it's impossible, but I have great faith in the ingenuity of people when a profit motive is involved and government gets out of the way.
At this point, anything is better than nothing. I don’t care if it’s a couple of guys in a rowboat with a bucket and a cup. Deploy everything in the arsenal and then deploy everything that isn’t.