Posted on 06/18/2010 5:41:00 AM PDT by numberonepal
It is an overlooked danger in oil spill crisis: The crude gushing from the well contains vast amounts of natural gas that could pose a serious threat to the Gulf of Mexico's fragile ecosystem.
The oil emanating from the seafloor contains about 40 percent methane, compared with about 5 percent found in typical oil deposits...
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
The russians used a nuke because the drilling techniques back then could only get them “close” to the bad well - maybe 100 feet? 500 feet? They used a nuke to scramble the rocks up (I wonder if they would also turn to one big glob of hardened glass?) to block off the bad well. Turn the whole cubic half mile (or whatever) into one big mass of cement/glass.
With today’s technology we can get right next to the bad casing, and even cut into the bad casing and inject the mud and cement to block it off. Just doing what had kept the oil and gas down in the hole while they were drilling, until the BP guy told them to pump out the heavy mud with light sea water.
The russkies used a nuke because it was the best technology at the time. We have better now.
“One of the stimulus jobs was to extend the runway to allow a 747 enough room to land and take off. It’s called pre planning.”
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Yeah, just checked it out on Google Earth. You can even see the union label stamped in the concrete at the east end...
:0)
Haven't you ever heard of PEAK oil? s/
0.00047 ppm is the recognition threshold, the concentration at which 50% of humans can detect the characteristic odor of hydrogen sulfide,[12] normally described as resembling "a rotten egg".
Less than 10 ppm has an exposure limit of 8 hours per day. 10–20 ppm is the borderline concentration for eye irritation.
50–100 ppm leads to eye damage.
At 100–150 ppm the olfactory nerve is paralyzed after a few inhalations, and the sense of smell disappears, often together with awareness of danger.[13][14]
320–530 ppm leads to pulmonary edema with the possibility of death.
530–1000 ppm causes strong stimulation of the central nervous system and rapid breathing, leading to loss of breathing.
800 ppm is the lethal concentration for 50% of humans for 5 minutes exposure (LC50).
Concentrations over 1000 ppm cause immediate collapse with loss of breathing, even after inhalation of a single breath.
Nasty stuff, not to mess with, but seldom found in high enough concentrations to kill you outside of enclosed spaces, gas plants, and (sour) oil production locations. In an airspace as large as the Gulf, it is highly unlikely that there is sufficient H2S in any offshore well to present a hazard to anyone on land. The H2S if present will dissipate before the oil gets to shore.
THere is a solution to that in the works, too. With Cap and Trade, people will hunt for tarballs to burn to keep warm this winter...
The EPA has stated on their site that there is enough to cause eye irritation, nausea and headache along with a ‘rotten egg’ smell.
I will try to find the link on the PPM.
There is a pipe on the New Madrid Fault?
Sorry, but in salt water, it doesn't work that way. Instead of oxygen, you get chlorine.
You're joking of course, but google up "asphalt volcano". You're in for a surprise!!!
And I had heard how release of mass amounts of methane creates dead zones, and how the hydrogen sulfides contained within could lead to explosions and extinctions if it is released near a fault line, or something like that. Looking at asphalt volcanoes found, it looks like nature is either a complete idiot or slitting its wrists, figuratively spaking.
I used to produce similar results with pickled eggs and draft beer...
Not belittling your concern, mind you. If it is dangerous, it is.
Now a deep water oil well blows out and efforts to contain it are extremely difficult in these conditions, compaired to shallow water conditions.
BP starts to use dispersants to help break and dissolve some of the oil, and the enviro whacks don't want to use the dispersant because it will make sperm whales impotant.
Now an enviro whack is bichin about methane coming from the well and it's going to cause a "dead zone".
Guess that enviro whack haven't been watching the videos of the well, but that area is already dead. Every now and then, a morey eel will swim by.
Try ‘mud volcano’, too.
BTW, your FRName reminds me of one thing I actually miss about MA -- Calamari!
One tiny restaurant we frequented frequently had calamari sauteed with Italian peppers -- served over linguini. When they had it on their "Specials of the day" board, I never bothered asking for a menu... YUM!!! "-)
ah yes....and let the evacuations begin.../s
Cool. Makes me think that Gold was probably right.
What??....and drive the price of gas down a dollar? why would we use our own resources in our own back yard
(maybe God has a strange sense of humor....kinda saying...
“USE IT....OR LOSE IT!”
I was reading over at the oildrum, that they are flaring (burning off) 25 MILLION cubic feet of gas A DAY!
That seems incredible to me. I realize that the oil is the primary concern, but if millions of cubic feet of gas are making it to the surface, why can’t they capture that as well?
And if you end up fracturing the seabed even more than it already is?
You’ve seen videos of underground tests out in Nevada, right? Amazing how the earth ripples out from the epicenter much the same way water does when you toss in a rock. Sure it could be possible to fuse the area near the epicenter, but what about further out from there?
I read somewhere, the they believe that the drilling mud had fracture some of the “fragile” rock. Drilling mud!
Because they'd have to compress it?
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