Disaster looms as oil slick reaches US coast

[Kenickie]

it is the beginning of waves of incredibly poisonous VoCs that will begin to both slowly and quickly kill most animal life on land as at has been doing in the water. remember that events on land are six weeks behind events at the well head. look at what both the water and air looks like out there: it is pure poison. nothing can live in it. that is what is coming for new orleans. and florida. and alabama. maybe even texas.

dunno man. the family says they've been able to smell oil on some days, on other days, not. and what, this leak has been happening for how many months now? since my birthday or so? its going to take maybe another year to cap the leak, at the rate they are moving...

i never thought katrina would or could do anything like this, although i did think the material devastation would be extreme. in situations like that, you can rebuild.
what we are talking about is the widespread poisoning of all land and water. nothing can live in there. doesn't matter if you want to or not. much more like chernobyl. some people insisted on staying there too. but it was and is uninhabitable.
i hope it's clear how incredibly outraged i am by this and sympathetic to the people whose lives are being destroyed. it is absolutely unbelievable. there are public figures i believe should rot in hell for what they did to make this happen, but i'll refrain from partisan political commentary.
ships will not be allowed to travel in the GoM until the poison is removed. based on valdez, ixtoc, etc., with much less widespread poison-oil mix, that isn't even a goal we can reliably project once the leak is stopped (significant areas around valdez and ixtoc both remain poisoned). and this isn't stopped. from the perspective of land & shore, it's barely begun.

you know that this isn't the first time that Louisiana has had to deal with an oil spill, right? or had entire swaths of their land deemed unfit for humans to live, because of what some awesome person like JP Morgan has done, right?

the specifics are different of course, but i find it kinda lame that you'd rather deem something -expired- and not bother trying to be proactive about it. where's the sense of american ingenuity? drive to protect the homeland?

or maybe that's just me.

 

[yoboy]

BARATARIA BAY, La. – The sand dunes and islands of Barataria Bay, a huge expanse of water and marsh on Louisiana's coast, have become the latest casualty of the environmental disaster spewing from BP's offshore well. And fishermen are bitter.

Oil-caked birds, stranded sea turtles, globs of gooey brown crude on beaches, coated crabs and mats of tar have been found throughout the inlets and mangroves that dot the bay. The oil has coated the water with a rainbow sheen and is threatening the complex web of wetlands, marshes and bayous that make up this ecological and historic treasure.

Everything from crabbing to bait fishing is shutting down, and the anger on the bayou is palpable.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gulf_...lYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA2Z1bGxuYnNwc3Rvcg--

Video of Barataria Estuary: http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/20325030

I only know what i read from LO....

I only wish that these folks would start doling out justice the old fashion way- banding together and burning every single BP station within a 50 mile radius down to the ground then piss on the ashes. The only language that these cocksuckers will ever understand is force.

 

[Unbreakable]

THEODORE, Ala. – In a newly optimistic tone, President Barack Obama promised Monday that "things are going to return to normal" along the stricken Gulf Coast and the region's fouled waters will be in better shape than before the catastrophic BP oil spill. LOL

He declared Gulf seafood safe to eat and said his administration was redoubling inspections and monitoring to make sure it stays that way. And his White House said Monday it had wrested apparent agreement from BP PLC to set up an independent, multibillion-dollar compensation fund for people and businesses suffering from the spill's effects.

more at link
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100614/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_obama

this guy is the funny

 

[Kenickie]

whats so funny about that?

especially this:

And his White House said Monday it had wrested apparent agreement from BP PLC to set up an independent, multibillion-dollar compensation fund for people and businesses suffering from the spill's effects.

 

[aanallein]

ya.. you'd think he'd wait until the spill had been stopped before trying to appease us. with over a million gallons a day spilling i'm not buying anything he's selling..

 

[Unbreakable]

whats so funny about that?

especially this:

And his White House said Monday it had wrested apparent agreement from BP PLC to set up an independent, multibillion-dollar compensation fund for people and businesses suffering from the spill's effects.

Obama is high and talking bullshit.... no not everything will be okay.... Trust me on that... all the Voc's that are in the air will make tons of people sick... if your health has a price... than wait around for the money they will give people....but my health has no price... i would sell what i have and leave....but that is just me.... I understand the whole we are Louisiana we went through alot... but honestly you guys have never been through nothing like this... this Spill is WAY bigger than the last one...and it is in deeper water....they are also using way more chemicals like cortex to cover it up....

 

[yoboy]

And his White House said Monday it had wrested apparent agreement from BP PLC to set up an independent, multibillion-dollar compensation fund for people and businesses suffering from the spill's effects.

If I was a resident of the Gulf Coast, I would not be holding my breath right now and waiting for that check in the mail and I sure as hell would not expect full public disclosure of exactly who will be getting X amount of money.

but maybe I'll be proven wrong...... who knows

 

[Kenickie]

If I was a resident of the Gulf Coast, I would not be holding my breath right now and waiting for that check in the mail and I sure as hell would not expect full public disclosure of exactly who will be getting X amount of money.

but maybe I'll be proven wrong...... who knows

gulf coasters know not to hold their breath

 

[Unbreakable]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evIU5rPut6o&feature=player_embedded
Gulf Coast, Evacuation May Need To Go Further Inland

"One of the questions raised during the interview was what else besides the oil is coming out of the oil gushers? At the beginning of the disaster, it was thought the oil was accompanied by mud only, but now, just as the numbers of the leak have changed, the account of what is flowing into the ocean along with the crude has also changed. It seems the oil leak is not the biggest problem at hand. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) confirmed the existence of multiple plumes on the sea floor and these very plumes are releasing toxic gases that are ultimately the greatest danger for marine and human life. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed NOAA’s findings after carrying out independent tests of the underwater plumes.

According to the EPA report, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s)are being emitted from the bottom of the ocean in amounts never seen before. Below is the transcript of the report where it cites the VOC’s present, the levels at which they are safe for humans, and the amounts that were detected in the studies the EPA performed. The

1. Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) emitted at a rate of 1,200 parts per billion(ppb) into the water and the air afterwards, once it surfaces. Levels considered “safe” for humans round 5-10 ppb;

2. Benzene (C6H6) emitted at a rate of 3,000 ppb. Human “safe” levels are said to be around 0-4 ppb

3. Methylene Chloride or dichloromethane CH2Cl2, emitted at a rate of 3,400 ppb. Human tolerance is established to levels below 61 ppb.

Other gases cited during the interview as being emitted from the spill include vanadium, which according to our research is, in its pure form, a greyish silvery, soft and ductile metal used as an alloy in the manufacturing of cars. According to the Mineral Information Institute, “it is found in magnetite (iron oxide) deposits that are also very rich in the element titanium. It is also found in bauxite (aluminum ore), rocks with high concentrations of phosphorous-containing minerals, and sandstones that have high uranium content.” It has 2 isotopes that occur naturally. One of the isotopes is stable and one is radioactive."

 

[jpgrdnr]

I watched that video with the old man on msnbc and while I'm skeptical if what he says is true and I read something that have backup to his statement...is that they haven't found the hole yet. The other scary side is that that the thing could leak for 30 yrs. The media blackout is suspicious. The hurricane season cometh.

 

[bagochina]

I heard Obama say 'they are going to return the Gulf to a better place than it was before'.

Huh...? I thought he didn't express what he was trying to say in a way you would think a president should. Shaky. I wonder if he has handlers that tell him what kind of body language, etc. to portray? Who knows.

peace.
seedless

 

[SA]

THEODORE, Ala. – In a newly optimistic tone, President Barack Obama promised Monday that "things are going to return to normal" along the stricken Gulf Coast and the region's fouled waters will be in better shape than before the catastrophic BP oil spill. LOL

He declared Gulf seafood safe to eat and said his administration was redoubling inspections and monitoring to make sure it stays that way. And his White House said Monday it had wrested apparent agreement from BP PLC to set up an independent, multibillion-dollar compensation fund for people and businesses suffering from the spill's effects.

more at link
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100614/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_obama

this guy is the funny

and here I thought Monty Python was dead. Hai-larious.

I heard Obama say 'they are going to return the Gulf to a better place than it was before'. I wonder if he has handlers that tell him what kind of body language, etc. to portray? Who knows.

You fink? I can't even remember the last president who spoke from his own voluntary script, rather than from the compulsory one written for him by Corporation A-B-C.

 

[Unbreakable]

It gets even more... Hai-Larious

As countless tar balls washed ashore on a beach along Alabama's Gulf Coast, cleanup workers sat and watched because they didn't have the proper plastic covers to protect their shoes. Elsewhere, a crew using shovels and garden rakes worked for hours on a long stretch of sand that a machine could have cleaned in minutes.

Source:
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100615S/D9GBF9UO0.html

 

[xoqqiy axlotao3al]

Nice summary of real discussions of extent of the damage:

The evidence is growing stronger and stronger that there is substantial damage beneath the sea floor. Indeed, it appears that BP officials themselves have admitted to such damage. This has enormous impacts on both the amount of oil leaking into the Gulf, and the prospects for quickly stopping the leak this summer

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010...l-admits-to-damage-beneath-the-sea-floor.html

Mobile AL scientists asked BP and Coast Guard not to use dispersants underwater, appeals ignored:
http://blog.al.com/live/2010/05/mobile_scientists_warnings_abo.html

Waves of oil begin to hit Mobile-area beaches:
http://blog.al.com/live/2010/06/gulf_beaches_filled_with_waves.html

EPA measurements of air quality along Gulf coast area, showing high levels of particulate matter beginning to build almost to north border of Florida. The point here again being that land is about 5 weeks behind the spill; the edge of the spill has only reached the edge of land for about 1 week so far, and in some cases not even yet.
http://gulfcoast.airnowtech.org/

 

[aanallein]

Aaaaaaand we're fucked.

Fairly obvious that what's happened is this -

The pressure is over 20,000 PSI and probably somewhere around 50,000 PSI which is high enough to shatter the well bore horizontally below the ground level when the top kill was attempted but probably even before that when the BOP tried to activate. This is causing a worst case scenario. The rock formations above the oil formation are developing routes by which oil can migrate to the surface. Given the 20,000+ PSI we're seeing at the well head that means that any attempt to stop the flow just increases the rate at which oil finds new ways out of the reserve.

I'm not an engineer but this seems to me to make the use of conventional or nuclear explosives a non option. If you try to use a nuclear device something like 20,000 feet down adjacent to the original well you could shift enough rock to stop the well but you could also further fracture the rock layers that were in place preventing the oil from coming up. There is no guarantee now that any amount of moved earth will fully contain this thing.


At this point why not just build a mile long steel cylinder that is about 50 feet in diameter and place it over the entire complex on the ocean floor such that it rises above the sea level. Then pump directly from that at the surface. I mean jesus we're about out of options.

 

[Unbreakable]

SAN ANTONIO -- For weeks now, local hospitals have tracked patients with suspicious symptoms coming in from the gulf coast. Doctors are having trouble distinguishing it from the flu.

"What makes it challenging is that patients show up with non-specific symptoms. Headaches, fatigue, problems with memory and concentration, upset stomach," lists Dr. Claudia Miller at UT Health Science Center.

The illness is called "TILT," or Toxicant-Induced Loss of Tolerance. Patients lose tolerance to household products, medication, or even food after being exposed to chemicals, like burning oil, toxic fumes, or dispersants from the spill.

"Things like diesel fuel, exposure to fragrances, cleaning agents that never bothered them before suddenly bother them," adds Dr. Miller.


Video:
http://www.woai.com/mediacenter/[email protected]&navCatId=5


People are getting sick all over.....good luck people.....

 

[xoqqiy axlotao3al]

SAN ANTONIO -- For weeks now, local hospitals have tracked patients with suspicious symptoms coming in from the gulf coast. Doctors are having trouble distinguishing it from the flu.

"What makes it challenging is that patients show up with non-specific symptoms. Headaches, fatigue, problems with memory and concentration, upset stomach," lists Dr. Claudia Miller at UT Health Science Center.

The illness is called "TILT," or Toxicant-Induced Loss of Tolerance. Patients lose tolerance to household products, medication, or even food after being exposed to chemicals, like burning oil, toxic fumes, or dispersants from the spill.

"Things like diesel fuel, exposure to fragrances, cleaning agents that never bothered them before suddenly bother them," adds Dr. Miller.


Video:
http://www.woai.com/mediacenter/[email protected]&navCatId=5


People are getting sick all over.....good luck people.....

oh god. once again, my worst fears exceeded (farther west and sooner)

 

[xoqqiy axlotao3al]

Aaaaaaand we're fucked.

Fairly obvious that what's happened is this -

The pressure is over 20,000 PSI and probably somewhere around 50,000 PSI which is high enough to shatter the well bore horizontally below the ground level when the top kill was attempted but probably even before that when the BOP tried to activate. This is causing a worst case scenario. The rock formations above the oil formation are developing routes by which oil can migrate to the surface. Given the 20,000+ PSI we're seeing at the well head that means that any attempt to stop the flow just increases the rate at which oil finds new ways out of the reserve.

I'm not an engineer but this seems to me to make the use of conventional or nuclear explosives a non option. If you try to use a nuclear device something like 20,000 feet down adjacent to the original well you could shift enough rock to stop the well but you could also further fracture the rock layers that were in place preventing the oil from coming up. There is no guarantee now that any amount of moved earth will fully contain this thing.


At this point why not just build a mile long steel cylinder that is about 50 feet in diameter and place it over the entire complex on the ocean floor such that it rises above the sea level. Then pump directly from that at the surface. I mean jesus we're about out of options.

i believe you have only under-guestimated the worst-case scenario by one factor.

the problem is that it isn't just a complex fracture; the problem is that in the original process at some point an unstable geological formation basically disintegrated. the super-pressurized oil is basically sitting under a pool of slightly heavier "pudding," or at any rate, something that is better characterized as "fluid" rather than "rock." regular explosives would just blow the fluid away, releasing all the oil at once.

nuclear explosives? the heat *might* "cauterize" the wound, but that is not at all, apparently, the kind of experience the soviets have with nukes.

seriously recommended reading for anyone thinking an explosive might help (especially the comments section)

"Nuking the Oil Slick?"
http://anz.theoildrum.com/node/6532

Generate a model of effects of proposed blast on unstable formations of crystalline structures (especially parameters of wave distribution and amplification in subaquatic and aquatic environments).Explosives not a good idea down there.

The Sigsbee Escarpment in the western portion of the Gulf marks the southern limit of salt movement within the basin."

www.csc.noaa.gov/cz/CZ05_Proceedings/pdf files/Dokka.pd
"..Aseismic but protracted interval of strain release
is suggestive of a “slow earthquake” that is not yet complete (period >35 yrs!). Note
also apparent elastic wave generated in area east of fault (amplitude = ~5 cm,
wavelength = ~135 km) during strain release event..."

www.geolsoc.org.uk/.../Salt Tec Abstract Book Main Content.pdf
"The structure of the deep salt has had a major influence on the subsequent evolution of the deepwater
Gulf of Mexico. This seafloor image displays clear structural
evidence of three types of relative displacements between the minibasins: extension, shortening or
strike-slip. Seismics shows that horizontal displacements are located within the salt ridges that
separate basins.

Terra infirma: Understanding salt tectonics ,a Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin,
"Following common usage, we broaden the term “salt” to include all rock bodies composed primarily of halite (NaCl). Salt is mechanically weak and flows like a fluid, even at geologically rapid strain rates. Salt is also relatively incompressible so is less dense than most carbonates and all moderately to fully compacted siliciclastic rocks. Salt's fluid rheology and incompressibility make it inherently unstable under a wide range of geologic conditions..."

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/209266-Asphalt-volcanoes-discovered-in...
"The researchers surmise that such asphalt volcanoes only occur in the Gulf of Mexico, but that they are abundant there, because the conditions required for their formation - deep water, salt diapirs below the seafloor, and the presence of oil deposits - are found only here..."

http://www.imog2007.org/files/Wednesday Posters/Wednesday Petroleum case studies/P237-WE Schubotz.pdf
"The mechanisms leading to asphalt volcanism are not fully understood"

it WILL NOT WORK!!!!

(1) Any molten material would be blasted right through by the oil/gas pressure (like gases from a volcano erupting through a lava pool, or an incompletely dried metal casting mold). This would leave as big or bigger hole, and NO partially blocking BOP in the way --> an even worse leak.

it WILL NOT WORK!!!
(2) The crust will be too thin to resist the pressure.
check this picture from the Trinity Test:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Trinity_Ground_Zero.jpg
the crust is cracked and is only 1 - 2 cm thick.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinitite
That will not withstand water seepage, much less several thousand psi.

(3) Even if the crust was thick enough and magically froze instantly, it still WOULD NOT WORK. The crust would be peeled off the seafloor mud by the well pressure.

There - 3 reasons why this hare-brained "bomb baby bomb" scheme will NOT physically work.

Nevermind the considerable contamination in the seawater.

much better stuff later on too in comments but that's probably enough

 

[Unbreakable]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGxGVGiD3yk&feature=player_embedded

BP Death Clouds Already Onshore...... Benzene-3400ppb & Hyrdrogen Sulfide-1200ppb Toxic Air Alert given.....

The sea floor is leaking oil... it is not just coming from the drilled hole....I wouldn't recommend bombing it... I would assume this would make shit even worse..... and make the drilled hole bigger & even cause some of those seabed leaks to gain in size too..... This might even cause some HUGE waves to hit the shore.....

 

[xoqqiy axlotao3al]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGxGVGiD3yk&feature=player_embedded

BP Death Clouds Already Onshore...... Benzene-3400ppb & Hyrdrogen Sulfide-1200ppb Toxic Air Alert given.....

The sea floor is leaking oil... it is not just coming from the drilled hole....I wouldn't recommend bombing it... I would assume this would make shit even worse..... and make the drilled hole bigger & even cause some of those seabed leaks to gain in size too..... This might even cause some HUGE waves to hit the shore.....

ok, this is a legit news report, and the very last sentence is the worst. an independent scientist whose job is to measure environmental quality deep inland simply says to get out, and she seems to mean now.

my friend, do you think despite everything we have been under-paranoid, and that our estimates of 100-200 miles inland uninhabitability might be off by a factor or two, or ten?