Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico - Historic Disaster

[bike4miles]

It's about time!

[cfg83]

Neil -

That's great news (crossing fingers). My (low) benchmark is the Mexico/Ixtoc oil spill that RobertSmalls posted. That means I am expecting it to take at *least* 10 months to close. If they can succeed in half that time, that's a win.

CarloSW2

[Phantom]

I hope it holds pressure. Now what is needed is to start cleaning it up. Maybe NASA and the Navy and get some skimming drones out on the shore and in the water to start picking the crap up, but that will not stop the 150X the lethal limit for marine life concentration of top kill that is or at least 1.5weeks ago that was still being dumped in the ocean.

[NeilBlanchard]

There is seepage detected near the BP oil well:

Seepage Detected Near BP Oil Well : NPR

This could be a very bad thing -- seepage can become a flow, and a flow can become a torrent, and that would erode the sea floor and possible cause it to collapse. Or at the very least, it would start leaking from a place that would be impossible to control...

[gone-ot]

...can we collectively say: "...dominos..."

...as they 'fix' one screw-up, they kickover & start initiate screw-up! and the "chain-of-events" has begun.

[cfg83]

Neil -

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

There is seepage detected near the BP oil well:

Seepage Detected Near BP Oil Well : NPR

This could be a very bad thing -- seepage can become a flow, and a flow can become a torrent, and that would erode the sea floor and possible cause it to collapse. Or at the very least, it would start leaking from a place that would be impossible to control...

This article sounds similar to what this Matthew Simmons fellow is saying :

What’s in the Gulf? 1 Capped Well … Or 1000s of Gushers?|Gulf Oil Monitor

If the news seems reassuring, veteran oil industry expert Matthew Simmons isn’t buying it. In fact, his perspective on what’s really happening deep below the ocean’s surface is beyond disturbing: speaking at a forum in Maine this week, Simmons said he believes the real blowout isn’t the one we’ve been watching on BP’s video feeds … ie, the one that’s just been capped. Somewhere, probably six to seven miles away from the leaking riser we’ve all been watching, is the true disaster, he says: a gaping hole in the ocean floor that continues to spew unchecked even now, sending another 120,000 barrels of oil and gas into the Gulf every day.

But Simmons is also scary because he proposes the "nuclear option", aka detonating a nuke at least 10K feet into the well. I can understand the idea of glassifying the rock with a nuke, but I don't think we've ever had any "practice" at doing this, so I'm not very confident that it would work. You know what I mean?

CarloSW2

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by cfg83

Neil -
But Simmons is also scary because he proposes the "nuclear option", aka detonating a nuke at least 10K feet into the well. I can understand the idea of glassifying the rock with a nuke, but I don't think we've ever had any "practice" at doing this, so I'm not very confident that it would work. You know what I mean?

CarloSW2

Lasers can make rock into glass, furthermore the OLD solution to this problem was dumping tens of thousands of tons of rubbish on it, I would guess a megaload of old tires would be easier to melt into a cap than rocks.

[TheMarkofPolo]

**I can't post links yet, but it looks like Tony 'want my life back' Hayward will be stepping down as BP CEO.**

One of the most frustrating things about this oil spill is its origin. The wasteful "Hummer H2 Lifestyle" encourages oil spills.
The suburbia I currently live in (for school only) is an example. In a bicycle/walking friendly town, I could go to a grocery store located not more than 20 minutes away. Instead, 3 major grocery stores are located within 1/4 mile of each other on the other side of town. The town just exudes wastefulness.

Just have to get these folks to realize that the demand for oil spills come with the demand for oil. Then follow the R's in order. Reduce is the fiRst R for a Reason.

OK, OK, I'll get off the soap box.

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by TheMarkofPolo

One of the most frustrating things about this oil spill is its origin. The wasteful "Hummer H2 Lifestyle" encourages oil spills.
The suburbia I currently live in (for school only) is an example. In a bicycle/walking friendly town, I could go to a grocery store located not more than 20 minutes away. Instead, 3 major grocery stores are located within 1/4 mile of each other on the other side of town. The town just exudes wastefulness.

Zoning

What ever happened to sending the kid to the corner store? Now the kid gets in the SUV they got for their birthday, drive 10 miles through cookie cutter dollhouse neighborhoods, then past 5 miles of car dealers, just to get milk.

[gone-ot]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

Now the kid gets in the SUV they got for their birthday, drive 10 miles through cookie cutter dollhouse neighborhoods, then past 5 miles of car dealers, just to get milk.

...which? Utopia or Suburbia or human ant-hills?