Posted on 05/31/2010 2:38:39 PM PDT by omega4179
I have for the longest time been trying to condition and discipline myself to not take seriously anything coming from Dateline NBC, CNN, AP, Reuters, any Times magazine and everyone else. Their reporters will inevitably mess crucial things up-it would take all day to count the things they have gotten wrong on this mess-they don’[t want to make anyone or any company workers they don’t like look good and the ordinary people they find to voice grievances could be paid actors for all we know. One of the silver linings in this hideous cloud is putting the final nail in the coffin on never taking what outsiders say seriously again and learning to believe half or less of what you hear from anyone.
Now that’s funny right there.
CNN actually has a pretty good video of how the cap works and why it is still leaking so much. It’s worth a minute of your time to watch.
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2010/06/04/tsr.foreman.cap.explainer.cnn.html
Well, that is surprising. CNN did do a good job with that explanation. Too bad Spike Lee has not seen that.
Yes, good, thanks, at least that one news guy apparently “gets it”.
That and the CNN video above explains a lot!
Thanks for that video!!!!
Thanks for the video and other explanations guys. Answers a lot of my questions. One of the things I learned is they hope to eventually draw oil from the the BOP through the manifold and then to the surface. This was the same manifold and lines that was used in the failed top kill.
Looks like the capture % is increasing, to me.
There is definitely a lot more “fin” showing now
than there was earlier this morning.
I am still not sure what the purpose of the ‘fins’ are.
Unless it was to help physically locate and position the thing
on the BOP flange in the low-visibility of the oil cloud.
As the leakage continues to decrease, it becomes more obvious
as to why they were so concerned about the level indicator.
At the moment there are two views live at
http://www.jtnog.org/
They both say Scandia Neptune and are two dispersant bots...
One of them has a heading of 135 degrees,
the other one says 52 degrees.
So the first one is is on the North West side looking South East...
and the second one is on the South West side looking North East...
So it seems we are missing the entire 180 degree view of the East side.
Am I right or do I need to drag a compass out?
Think maybe the “environmental disaster” aspect is being hyped just a teeny bit?
Here’s a quote from Reuters:
“Latest figures from the U.S. government on Friday showed 527 birds across the Gulf Coast have been collected dead over a 45-day period, although not all showed signs of oil.”
Imagine a rewrite that says that the spill may be killing as many as a dozen birds a day.
It is the ‘disaster de jour’.
It is bad.
It may get worse.
But it is certainly not the end of the world as we know it.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2528365/posts
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“BP still does not know how much oil the device will collect from the well, which is gushing 12,000 to 19,000 barrels a day...
Some is expected to continue seeping from a seal connecting the cap to the well even if the system can be optimized.”
You have to wonder how many times BP and the Coast Guard will have to say, “it’s SUPPOSED to continue seeping” before the media catches on. They made a big mistake by calling it a “cap”, should have gone the route they did with the RIT. If they’d called it the “Leak Reduction Device” (which is what they’ve said it was from the beginning) they’d have been able to claim success now. “Cap”, on the other hand, sort of implies “stops the flow”.
“It is the ‘disaster de jour’.”
In my youth, I worked for a radio station that specialized in doing attention-getting “headline teases” for the hourly newscast. On one slow news day, the “voice of doom” newscaster found a story on a fire in a local pet emporium. The place was known for having one of the largest ant colony displays. The display, complete with little minature houses, trees, etc, was damaged in the fire.
His tease for that newscast was, “City Burns as Millions Flee, details at 55”.
But yeah, you’re right... a mess... and it’ll take some time to recover. But the planet’s safe... unless the spill produces more “environmentalists” in elective offices.
Answer: Not a cent used in our response communications will be taken away from clean-up, claims or any other efforts to make it right.
about 3 hours ago via web
"Feeding camels is tiresome, yet important task"
:-)
I think the fins are just there to help position the cap. When I first saw it I thought they were clamps, but on a closer examination they don’t appear to be mobile. They just give the ROVs a place to grab.
I thought this one from another thread was kinda funny-both peculiar funny and haha funny :
Summary:
1. Immediate recognition by Congress that this is a “National Emergency” on the scale of a nuclear weapon attack on the US and funding an appropriate “super response” – now! This spill is already totally destroying the Gulf of Mexico as we know it. It requires the formation of a “Super Governmental/Industry Tiger Team” to address and implement both the detonation of a nuclear weapon as well as the mitigation and clean-up of this spill by a fleet of Super Tankers with oily water separators totally outside of any response by BP to date. This problem has totally overwhelmed the limited responses of an oil company such as BP. BP should be totally removed from the scene the responsibility for clean-up belongs with the US Government in making a “WWII-Type Mobilization Response”. This may include mobilizing a fleet of barges being placed as the first “ring of defense” around main well area (perimeter may have to miles in length right now) followed by a fleet of super tankers to start storing/transporting oil and discharge permits granted to discharge the water. Somebody (appointed by Congress) needs to be in charge of the entire response with billions of funding in-place right now to start cutting purchase orders (there is not time for the usual Government Bid System to be effective in a timely manner) for a fleet of tankers and it is not BP.
2. Mobilize a Super Tanker Fleet to start sucking up the large underwater oil plumes located at 3000 to 4000 feet under the sea. These plumes can be easily located by US Navy Sonar. Immediately find the real well head location – compare known GPS locations of where the Drilling Rig should have been drilling to the current GPS location of the BOP.
3. Monitoring what BP is doing is useless at this point as an appropriate Government response and shows a complete lack of understanding from a systems engineering viewpoint of the magnitude of the crisis. The Red Flag in this crisis is going to be that “BP has delayed the heavy mud attempt to seal the well” or at the “Top Kill” will not work and the follow-up “junk shot did not work because this is probably a red herring and not the real location or cause of the massive oil spill.
4. Immediately remove all Mines Mgmt personnel in Louisiana associated with any Gulf Coast platform reviews until and independent audits can be conducted of the all technical decisions and drilling permits issued in the past five years. Revoke all drilling permits issued by this office in past 24 months.
5. BP has totally misrepresented the real nature of this oil spill to Congress. It is possible that the real wellhead outflow is 120,000+ bbls per day and located miles from the BOP location. Congress should immediately send the US Navy to locate the real wellhead location.
6. The use of Corexit 9500 maybe 4X more toxic than oil. It could also be 10X to 20X more poisonous than other dispersants. It could undergo a phase transition to a gaseous state in the warm Gulf waters and result in some type of “toxic rain clouds” over the East Coast. The US Army developed the “best performing” absorbent by the US Corps of Engineers called Oil Sponge (a name trademarked by a company called Phase III and is 100% organic) and is made from renewable resources and there are other much safer dispersants. Oil Sponge is built using a microbial and nutrient package, capable of transforming oil hydrocarbons into a safe bi-product of carbon dioxide and water. There is also AmeriHaz Petroleum Solidifier that encapsulates environmental contaminants making crude oil and other oil like substances easy to retrieve. Both of these products have been ignored by BP and the Government in the clean-up of this fiasco. Why? Has BP trying to hide the magnitude of the spill – absolutely! Contact your Congressman immediately as to why BP has refused to stop the use of this dispersant! It is your grandkids lives that may depend on it.
7. The enormous amounts of natural gas being injected underwater in the Gulf of Mexico from this blow-out contain the carcinogen benzene which is water soluble. It is classified by EPA as a carcinogen at levels of 1 ppm. Is anyone now testing the Gulf waters for benzene levels? Any oil clean-up personnel need to be wearing Hazmat suits. If the water or beach sand smells oily then they may be exposed to benzene levels 20X in excess of safe standards. Nobody needs to be sticking there finger into some oily product on the beaches. There are probably more than 52000 bbls per day of natural gas being released into the Gulf of Mexico which will cause a huge oxygen depletion zone and possible massive fish and shrimp kills.
8. Dr Steven Wereley, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University, has testified before the House Energy and Environmental Committee that 95,000 barrels of oil are currently leaking into the Gulf of Mexico. BP would not have economically spudded this well unless it was flowing in excess of 65,000 barrels per day (and the real answer is closer to 120,000 barrels per day (50X times worse than BP/US Government stated at the outset).
9. The Obama Administration needs to release EPA data on air quality at/near spill sites (both onshore and at the spill site). It is the responsibility of the Obama Administration to require workers to wear respirators. It is dangerous to go near large oil spills which have been sprayed with solvents like Corexit 9500 which the Natural Science Dept of Russia has stated is 4X more toxic than oil itself!? Tell your Congressman you wish to see data on air and water quality on daily basis.
10. According to data from the University of South Florida, the massive oil spill has now entered the Atlantic Loop Current (starting to make its turn around the Southern tip of Florida and towards Miami) and maybe heading up the East Coast. I would expect large plumes of oil may start appearing in spots across the Panhandle and Florida beaches in next 30 to 45 days as these oil plumes gradually rise to the surface (one said to be over 22 miles long and 800+ feet deep!?!).
Bottom Line: We are looking at the worse environmental disaster in human history and it continues to grow and the US Government has failed totally in responding to this epic crisis because of BP and Big Oil political clout and money.
The light end of the oil will be absorbed into the atmospheric system and come down as a toxic chemical bath at some point in the future. Remember that 70% of the oil and natural gas is underwater and chemically destroying the Eastern part of the Gulf of Mexico. Everyone needs to contact their Congressman about mobilizing the National Guard for clean-up and start monitoring water and air quality. We need to get Congress to budget for a fleet of super tankers to start skimmers and remove BP totally from the scene. The US Navy needs to be mobilized to start identifying underwater oil plumes as well as all marine research organizations along the East Coast. The environmental impacts are almost incalculable at this point and everyone on the East Coast is going to be impacted in some manner in next ten years. Do not go near beaches where oil spills are occurring and do not touch any spilled oil with your bare hands. Wear a respirator if involved in any beach clean-up and make sure the benzene levels have been tested in all drinking and bath water.
The US Government needs to take total control with US Navy and mobilize a massive fleet of barges and super tankers with skimmers to start clean-up. We are going to need hundreds of miles of additional rubber boom and another 50,000 to 100,000 people in clean-up.
Everybody in Congress needs to be asking some very hard questions about what is really going on and find out why they have been massively misled on the real magnitude of this oil spill. We need to make sure we know the real source of the wellhead now.
In the end as much as we hate to – we may have to opt for using a “down-hole” nuclear weapon. If the relief well being drilled (not completed until August) does not stop this oil well blow-out expect a tactical nuclear option to be seriously considered in next 90 days. You may hear it is disguised as an “earthquake” some day in the Gulf of Mexico. This option needs to be structured for an immediate Congressional decision to stop the massive wellhead blow-out. You need to know the sub-sea salt topology in detail before exercising such an option.
By: Dr Stephen A Rinehart
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