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Crews fear oil rig will spill 336,000 gallons a day
HOUSTON CHRONICLE ^ | April 22, 2010, 9:58PM | MATTHEW TRESAUGUE

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 ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events; US: Louisiana; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: deephorz; energy; gulf; oil; oilspill; spill
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To: OBXWanderer
that didnt take long...wonder if the boat loaded with survivors had even tied up yet???

Perhaps this is the new "smart" American economy at work. Manufacturing, oil production, etc. exist not to provide goods and services so much, but work for armies of lawyers, government agencies, ngo's, and various other paper pushers.

61 posted on 04/23/2010 7:01:45 AM PDT by ecomcon
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To: KDD; thackney
Everyone, take a deep breath, and work the problem. No matter that the idiot in the WH, who yammers incessantly,says, we still need serious off-shore drilling.

Hope they don't do the same stupid things that they did on the Exxon Valdez. The state, and the Coast Guard, should have moved on the event, rather than be busy pointing fingers at each other.

Work it as an accident, till anyone has any proofs.
62 posted on 04/23/2010 7:02:54 AM PDT by Issaquahking (Help Sarah Palin! go to - http://www.conservatives4palin.com - You know what to do!)
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To: JoSixChip
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.

bears repeating, since i missed it in a quick reading too...

63 posted on 04/23/2010 7:12:28 AM PDT by Gilbo_3 (Gov is not reason; not eloquent; its force.Like fire,a dangerous servant & master. George Washington)
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To: KDD
Apperas to be a lot of unanswered questions as to what can be expected even if it has stopped flowing at this point.
April 23, 2010

Oil has stopped flowing from Transocean well

The flow of oil appears to have stopped from the undersea well connected to the sunken Transocean Horizon drilling rig, according to a Coast Guard spokesman.

Senior Chief Petty Officer Mike O'Berry said remote controlled submarines have been unable to shut the valves on equipment at the wellhead on the sea floor, but it appears the flow of oil from subsurface reservoirs has stopped on its own.

"This could just be temporary, so we're not letting our guard down," O'Berry said.

There are six oil skimmer vessels on the scene and more ready to be called in should they be needed. Several aircraft were flying over the sheen of oil that had spread from the area yesterday spraying a chemical that breaks up the oil and causes it to sink.

End snip


64 posted on 04/23/2010 7:14:51 AM PDT by deport
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To: JoSixChip
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.

Will have to keep the environazis in check on this one. Natural Oil Seeps in the Gulf of Mexico.
65 posted on 04/23/2010 7:15:41 AM PDT by PA Engineer (Liberate America from the occupation media.)
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To: KDD

any concerns the Deepwater Horizon explosion was a terrorist act?


66 posted on 04/23/2010 7:32:45 AM PDT by DeweyDecimal
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To: SkyPilot

AHHHHH! I should hit the abuse button on that! LOL!!!


67 posted on 04/23/2010 7:33:36 AM PDT by Just A Reader
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To: KDD

“We have the ability to keep it offshore,”

So it`ll “only” kill everything offshore. Wonderful. sarc/


68 posted on 04/23/2010 7:54:40 AM PDT by chessplayer
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To: SWAMPSNIPER; KDD
This is a great time to consider sabotage as a possibility. The timing is very suspicious.

Yeah, this reeks of opportunism. The easiest guess is the BP did it to itself to keep oil prices high. Or the cfr globalists arranged for this to happen for similar reasons. High oil/gasoline prices are also a form of control on the unwashed masses. This might give the enviro-whackos enough to kill offshore drilling but there is still enough oil deep underground on shore right here in the USA (ANWR) to drop the cost of a gallon of gas to about .50 a gallon. IF we can get our ability to refine up to handle a dramatic increase in supplies. That'll be tough. There hasn't been a new refinery built in this country since 1975.

69 posted on 04/23/2010 7:58:24 AM PDT by ExSoldier (Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on dinner. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.)
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To: Blood of Tyrants
They are now saying that it is not leaking.

I hope that is true!

70 posted on 04/23/2010 8:01:22 AM PDT by b4its2late (Bawney Fwank's mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork.)
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To: tommix2
Yeah, the explosion may have killed the driller instantly There is no electronic fail safe that I know of.

There should be at least one more set of BOP controls near the accumulator unit. At least it is that way on land rigs, and I can't see having less redundency offshore.

71 posted on 04/23/2010 8:14:20 AM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: ecomcon
Manufacturing, oil production, etc. exist not to provide goods and services so much, but work for armies of lawyers, government agencies, ngo's, and various other paper pushers.

I know it is rough, but everyone has to do their part to keep those idiots out of government...

72 posted on 04/23/2010 8:21:15 AM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: KDD

[. . .though these days I hear you catch nothing but pups there.]

Any idea if it’s because of over-harvesting or have the fish moved to follow patterns of the bait fish or is it because they lost so much mangrove-type shoreline?


73 posted on 04/23/2010 8:40:38 AM PDT by Brad from Tennessee (A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)
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To: KDD

>> There is a valve to shut the oil off beneath the rig I believe but it seems no one was able to get to it.

Too bad those valves are automated to be normally closed.


74 posted on 04/23/2010 9:02:10 AM PDT by Gene Eric (Your Hope has been redistributed. Here's your Change.)
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To: calex59

Me too.


75 posted on 04/23/2010 9:16:59 AM PDT by jospehm20
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To: SWAMPSNIPER

Exactly what I thought. Perfect for the anti-drilling forces!


76 posted on 04/23/2010 9:19:05 AM PDT by GatorGirl (Eschew Socialism!)
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To: lentulusgracchus
Did I say anything about someone "in the industry"?

America is under attack just as surely as if the enemy was dropping in under parachutes and coming ashore in landing craft.

77 posted on 04/23/2010 9:22:09 AM PDT by SWAMPSNIPER (The Second Amendment, A Matter Of Fact, Not A Matter Of Opinion)
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To: Gene Eric

>> Too bad those valves are automated to be normally closed.

“are not automated”

In other words, a safety valve should automatically close when not signaled to stay open.


78 posted on 04/23/2010 9:52:50 AM PDT by Gene Eric (Your Hope has been redistributed. Here's your Change.)
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To: lentulusgracchus
Rig also had 700,000 gallons of diesel fuel aboard.

I think there is a good chance something other than a blowout occurred. Do we know what jobs the missing 11 were doing at the time? Were the Tool Pusher, driller and floor crew killed?

79 posted on 04/23/2010 10:11:13 AM PDT by TWfromTEXAS (Life is the one choice that pro choicers will not support.)
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To: ExSoldier
Yeah, this reeks of opportunism. The easiest guess is the BP did it to itself to keep oil prices high.

So BP burns down millions of dollars of Transocean property with Transocean watching?? Sorry that's nuts!

80 posted on 04/23/2010 10:30:03 AM PDT by TWfromTEXAS (Life is the one choice that pro choicers will not support.)
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