Posted on 05/30/2010 7:36:09 PM PDT by Bigtigermike
WASHINGTON — If the growing oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico isn't contained soon — and the latest efforts suggest that's unlikely — then the damage to the fragile region will intensify over the coming summer months as changing currents and the potential for hurricanes complicate the containment and cleanup efforts.
"It's all lose, lose, lose here," said Rick Steiner, a retired University of Alaska marine scientist who's familiar with both the current Gulf oil spill and the Exxon Valdez disaster two decades ago.
"The failure of the top kill really magnified this disaster exponentially," he said. "I think there's a realistic probability that this enormous amount of oil will keep coming out for a couple months. This disaster just got enormously worse."
As the federal government and BP try yet another strategy to curb the flow of oil from the blown well a mile below the surface of the Gulf — one that could increase the flow of oil by as much as 20 percent — scientists anticipate a range of disastrous effects, only some of which are well understood.
The damage to the shorelines of Gulf states such as Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida is literally only the surface of the problem: The damage to the sea floor could be extensive, and oil could also devastate marine life between the Gulf floor and its surface, as well as in coastal areas far from the leaking wellhead.
Steiner, the Alaska scientist, said that while the shoreline has gotten the most attention, the damage from oil plumes under the Gulf's surface would be extensive.
"A lot of this oil has yet to surface, and so it's formed these huge sub-surface plumes," he said
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/30/1656217_p2/gulf-oil-spill-this-disaster-just.html#ixzz0pTFMrrbS
(Excerpt) Read more at miamiherald.com ...
Obama insisted he was in complete control when it looked like the problem was going to be fixed. Let’s not let the DNC Media pretend that didn’t happen.
If “Top Kill” made things worse, it’s because that’s what Obama ordered BP to do.
The massive obstruction of state efforts to protect the coastling by the feds is the real story here. They wanted an ecological disaster, and they made sure they got one, even if they had to stomp on Louisiana to make it happen.
As far as stopping the leak, Top Kill was a dubious solution from the beginning, due to the massive pressure and multiple outlets of the oil and gas. That’s why the Russians have had good success with nuking similiar problems from underneath - not from the top. The bomb is placed deep into a side shaft drilled down next to the leaking well shaft. When it blows, it crushes the earth sideways against the leaking shaft and smashes it shut. There’s is virtually no release of radiation, and the complete, permanent shutdown of the leak happens within an hour.
Me too Bean. I can’t believe I sat for hours reading all that stuff because I have no brain at all for Engineering. I can pick a lock with a hair pin, but that’s about the extent of my mechanical knowledge.
upstreamonline is good as well. Plus they both have a bunch of very good links.
We better be asking why the feds are holding up clean up and the oil company brought in fake crew for Obama’s photo op,
Thank you Captain Hyperbole.
Ixtoc I was an exploratory oil well being drilled by the semi-submersible platform Sedco 135F in the Bay of Campeche of the Gulf of Mexico, about 100 km (62 mi) northwest of Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche in waters 50 m (160 ft) deep. On 3 June 1979, the well suffered a blowout resulting in the third largest oil spill and the second largest accidental spill in history.
In the initial stages of the spill, an estimated 30,000 barrels of oil per day were flowing from the well. In July 1979, the pumping of mud into the well reduced the flow to 20,000 barrels per day, and early in August the pumping of nearly 100,000 steel, iron, and lead balls into the well reduced the flow to 10,000 barrels per day. PEMEX claimed that half of the released oil burned when it reached the surface, a third of it evaporated, and the rest was contained or dispersed. Mexican authorities also drilled two relief wells into the main well to lower the pressure of the blowout, however the oil continued to flow for three months following the completion of the first relief well.
PEMEX contracted Conair Aviation to spray the chemical dispersant Corexit 9527 on the oil. A total of 493 aerial missions were flown, treating 1,100 square miles of oil slick. Dispersants were not used in the U.S. area of the spill because of the dispersant's inability to treat weathered oil. Eventually the on-scene coordinator (OSC) requested that Mexico stop using dispersants north of 25°N. In Texas, an emphasis was placed on coastal countermeasures protecting the bays and lagoons formed by the Barrier Islands. Impacts of oil to the Barrier Island beaches were ranked as second in importance to protecting inlets to the bays and lagoons. This was done with the placement of skimmers and booms. Efforts were concentrated on the Brazos-Santiago Pass, Port Mansfield Channel, Aransas Pass, and Cedar Bayou which during the course of the spill was sealed with sand. Economically and environmentally sensitive barrier island beaches were cleaned daily. Laborers used rakes and shovels to clean beaches rather than heavier equipment which removed too much sand. Ultimately, 71,500 barrels of oil impacted 162 miles of U.S. beaches, and over 10,000 cubic yards of oiled material were removed.
In the next nine months, experts and divers including Red Adair were brought in to contain and cap the oil well. An average of approximately ten thousand to thirty thousand barrels per day were discharged into the Gulf until it was finally capped on 23 March 1980, nearly 10 months later.
Why cant they put some uptake hoses loosely over the spewing oil and suck away some of this stuff before it get all spread out? Drop a cage with many fittings for additional hoses that run to different tankers. At least they could minimize the spill by half or more this way.
Drop a cage with many fittings for additional hoses that run to different tankers. At least they could minimize the spill by half or more this way.
That was the first attempt. Remember the containment dome attempt. The hydrates froze and wouldn’t allow the liquid to be pulled up through the pipes.
Only thing I can come up with as to why they are not doing the nuke option is that BP spent gazillions on drilling that super duper longass deepass hole and aren’t yet ready to give up on salvaging it.
It is a least a billion times worse than Exxon Valdez!!
It will be much worse than the Valdez but not sure it is even approaching your hype as of yet. The Valdez isn’t that large of an event in the scale of major oil spills/blowouts.
what do mean this is by design? Are you suggesting BP is intentionally letting the oil flow?
It’s so cold down there that ice crystals form. The oil turns into a gooey cold frozen malt until it rises up high enough to thaw out. They already tried your idea. it didn’t work because the gooey malt clogged everything up.
“not to mention the inherent problems with nuking the ocean. “
And those are??? We did it with several times, and the French and Russians in nuclear tests. What was the “inherent problems with nuking the ocean” that were caused??
Just would like to know your facts that would show these inherent problems and what they might be.
Thanks
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