Posted on 04/23/2010 12:50:45 AM PDT by KDD
A drilling rig that burned for more than a day before sinking Thursday has fouled Gulf of Mexico waters with a potentially major spill of crude oil, officials said. The collapse of the oil rig could disgorge up to 336,000 gallons of crude a day into waters about 40 miles off the Louisiana coast. U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said the sunken rig, the Deepwater Horizon, increased the threat for environmental damage, which previously appeared minimal. With new challenges from the collapsed rig, a growing assemblage of cleanup crews began to work in the area, hoping to stop the oil before the spill were to reach the shore.
Meteorologists predicted a change in the Gulf's current today that would push the oil toward the Louisiana and Mississippi coastlines. But Landry said the spill isn't expected to reach the coast. “We have the ability to keep it offshore,” she said. BP, the oil company that leased the offshore rig, said it had mobilized four aircraft that can spread chemicals to break up the oil and 32 vessels that can recover more than 171,000 barrels of oil a day from the surface. BP officials also expected to have a million feet of boom in place to help contain the spill by today. “We have contingency plans in place to respond to any anticipated situation, and the full resources of BP are being mobilized to implement those plans,” said David Rainey, vice president of Gulf exploration for BP. Even then, federal and BP officials said it wasn't clear whether oil was flowing from the well after the platform sank because they didn't know what was happening underwater.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
There goes ANY chance of additional rigs offshore in the US. The envirowackos and Obama administration will use this as an excuse to not allow ANY drilling or exploration.
from my limited experience, worked oilfield boats, there should be a wellhead on the bottom..Mississippi Canyon block 252 is about 815 fathoms...just under 5000 foot....wellhead was put there by an ROV, should be a valve on it......which could be closed by an ROV...question is where is the rig in relation to the wellhead?
that didnt take long...wonder if the boat loaded with survivors had even tied up yet???
Just wait and see how O uses this to kill the exploration he just OK’d.
So much for expanding off-shore drilling.
This is just the thing 0 has been waiting for. He can now shut down ALL off-shore activities because they are not safe nor are they environmentally sound.
“Notice the spill is measured in gallons for effect and the cleanup is measured in barrels.”
Saw that. For greater effect, the scribblers at the Chronicle could’ve wrote: “ The collapse of the oil rig could disgorge up to 43,008,000 ounces of crude a day into waters...”
“The timing is very suspicious.”
What you said, bro!
There can be no doubt about it. It is sabotage for earth day.
Envirowackos must be put away for ever.
the right wing equivalent of this leftist sabotage would be to thoroughly sand the mechanisms of the Huston chronicle’s presses.
Actually it just might. You see be forced to drill in deep water is the complicating matter to this "accident." The fact that the clean-up is complicated due to deep water is an unintended consequence.
Gosh, do you think this disaster will make The 0ne change his mind about offshore drilling?
They are now saying that it is not leaking.
no shiite sherlock, start in the white house, then china, russia, iran and venezuela
Notice the spill is measured in gallons for effect and the cleanup is measured in barrels. They have capacity to clean-up almost 3x what is being spilled. They will get on top of this quick enough. The loss of life is the tragedy.
I still can’t tell that the leak is from the well. In fact, the story suggests the spill is of the diesel fuel stored aboard the drilling machine, and not from an uncapped well. It said there were 2.6 million gallons of diesel on the platform, and that it was only getting 8000 barrels a day from the well it was working on.
So if they are seeing a leak of 330,000 gallons, that sounds like the diesel is leaking, not the well.
I have to agree with some other posts on this thread, stating that is highly unlikely. But isn't it so ironic and disgusting, that with this group of thugs in DC, such a suspicion, ever so quickly, comes to mind?
That’s gonna cause a helluva lot of environmental damage.
BP, the oil company that leased the offshore rig, said it had mobilized four aircraft that can spread chemicals to break up the oil and 32 vessels that can recover more than 171,000 barrels of oil a day from the surface. BP officials also expected to have a million feet of boom in place to help contain the spill by today.
This sound suspicious to me next you’ll hear the administration needs to take over all drilling platforms.
Whatever trivial exercise of earth worship you may have witnessed or been compelled to participate in at the workplace, just got dwarfed, like, a million-fold by this.
I’m not cheering this, per se, but, OH THE IRONY.
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