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Disaster looms as oil slick reaches US coast

GenericMind said:
I'd agree except, as we've seen with the meltdown of the financial markets because of the greedy banks, the world can be brought choking to its knees because of a select few and even that isn't enough to force any change in the way we do things.

We're a country with the attention span of a 6-year-old. Nobody will care about oil spills, oil-covered birds or fish, or anyone in th Gulf in 6 months.
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Too true. And unfortunately, it's not just your country.
 
BP's sole objective here is production. Translated - controlling the flow, not stopping it.

BP controls the "stopping of the spill" operations, as well as news flow (and ROV cams). If this were any other situation - a war, a government policy, or a retail corporation bamboozling the people - we would have seen two clear factions here duking it out about what is really going on and what is allowed to be "seen" as going on. Here, instead, we have everyone being led by the nose, back and forth, by the main "wrongdoer" and anyone who dares say anything different about the possible true and infinitely more dire nature of the situation is relegated to the woowoo fringe. [Funny how that happens with anything to do with oil, medicine or banking. Even more funny how that happens on a fringe forum (surely Bluelight and the like are not mainstream, by today's standards). Certain "fringe" are even more closed minded to other "fringe" than the mainstream, it would seem. Go figure.]

The only way they'll cap this is if they are forced to. Most likely, the way to stop the leak is what the Russians suggested on day 2 - small, tactical nuke (or similar explosive solution), detonated at depth, cauterizing the well shut by turning the surrounding rock into glass.

Until then, we'll probably keep seeing the back and forth bickering between the government and BP about whether to seal the leak or not and how. If you believe even this to be a genuine discourse, then you've been watching too much Idol and Big Brother.

And the oil leaked on.

Same as it ever was.

Same as it ever was...
 
I agree.

Like I mentioned several pages back, you cannot convince me for one second that BP is doing anything out of the kindness of their hearts. ALL of their actions have, up to this day, been attempts at salvaging the oil, not stopping it.

---

As for my "pessoptimism", Actually I wasn't talking about an area the size of Lousiana. I was hoping for something much bigger - in fact that methane stuff got me excited for a bit. People need a very large clamity to wake up and start feeling icky about oil, and hey if it means I get to die with the disaster, I gladly would.
 
From Etrade just now:

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- BP PLC said Monday it is continuing its well integrity test of the capping system now in place over the source of the worst oil leak in U.S. history. BP said the Macondo well remains shut, "with no oil flowing into the Gulf." In its 9:30 a.m. Central time update, BP said the well pressure now measures about 6,800 pounds per square inch and that it "continues to slowly increase." Earlier in the day, BP said the well pressure measured 6,792 pounds per square inch. When BP began the test late last week, it said it hoped for well pressure of 6,000 to 8,000 pounds per square inch once the cap was shut, to measure the strength of the system
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The US government has ordered oil giant BP to offer a plan for opening the capped oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, after a seep was found threatening to leak into the bedrock.

"I direct you to provide me a written procedure for opening the choke valve as quickly as possible without damaging the well should hydrocarbon seepage near the well head be confirmed," AFP quoted US Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen as saying in a letter to BP chief managing director Bob Dudley on Sunday.

The order came after reports of a methane seep detected at a distance from the well and undetermined anomalies at the well head.

The authority also ordered BP to report on a "detected seep" and other "anomalies" near the oil well as experts monitor the seabed for cracks.

"Given the current observations from the test, including the detected seep a distance from the well and undetermined anomalies at the well head, monitoring of the seabed is of paramount importance during the test period," the official added.

Experts say this could mean more leaks are being sprung.

The Coast Guard admiral has given the energy corporate 24 hours to provide a new method without damaging the well but BP says three days are needed to start the process.

The well was capped just three days ago after it spewed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf for almost three months.

The firm was hoping the cap could stay in place until relief wells stop the leak but there are fears now that oil may begin leaking into the bedrock around the well.

Scientists are now puzzled as to why the pressure measured at the well cap is lower than expected. They fear the worst case scenario -- oil leaking into the bedrock surrounding the well, making the seabed unstable.

The oil spill has been described as the worst environmental disaster in the US history. It began after BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20th, killing 11 workers.
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http://geosciences.tamu.edu/kessler/
 
BP researchers are claiming the seep a few KM away is a natural occurrence(of course). I believe them, not because I think they wouldn't lie, but because it makes the most sense.

The methane leaking around one of the cap valves is a different story, however. That's obviously not natural. Still, they's saying it's inconsequential. I guess we'll see.
 
I'm leaning towards it being a natural seep as well.

I find it implausible that oil is leaking up at a 45 degree angle from the base of the well. If the leak's farther up the bore hole, the angle has to be much greater. That doesn't make sense to me.
 
Escher's Waterfall said:
I wouldn't bet on that.

Imagine if the area around BP's well was so polluted that an area the size of New Jersey was almost totally devoid of life.

Would people care?

I guarantee they will not. How do I know this? Because the Gulf of Mexico has such a dead zone due to fertilizer runoff from the Mississippi River causing algae blooms and a collapse of oxygen levels in the water. Woopsie. It even affects what would be a decent shrimping ground.

If we went with ethanol-based fuels to wean ourselves off of oil, the problem would be worse.
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well, you are the first person to point out to me ALL THE TIME (katrina threads, darling?) that the Gulf Coast has undergone WAY WORSE over the course of JP Morgan raping the wetlands and what not that an area larger than the state of new jersey has already been fucked beyond belief/destroyed? I don't know if people will care anymore than they cared about Katrina when it happened - an immense interest, and a quick waning period when people don't care anymore. but if this has as far reaching effects as they say it will, i think people will care for a long long time. but who knows. i'm biased, as i'm a dirty coaster.
 
Milktoasters is the state to the east, dear.

We eat lefse and speak like Sarah Palin here.

(Seriously, I didn't realize that Palin has an accent to most Americans, she sounds normal to me. Note, "sounds". Not saying her words are normal. But then again, we have crazy lady in the Senate, so Palin doesn't sound that insane either.)
 
Off-topic:

Palin has an accent to my ears, and I am a native West-Coaster who's been told that he has something like the neutral Midwestern accent.

ebola
 
i'm disgusted with myself. been pretty busy this last week, when i clicked into ce&p and saw this thread, i realised that i had actually forgotten about the spill.

wtf impacto geez. :X
 
rant*N*rave said:
^Ha, I haven't even heard about that one. What a shock...
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Kalamazoo County officials declared a state of emergency Tuesday afternoon as more than 800,000 gallons of oil released into a creek began making its way downstream in the Kalamazoo River.

“I just came from Fort Custer and you can smell it now,” Kalamazoo County Undersheriff Pali Matyas said. “... It’s all rolling downhill and there are a lot of complications.”

Matyas said police, local fire departments and local hazardous-materials companies are working to set up booms to trap the crude oil but workers are not able to use their trucks to remove oil from the water because high water levels have made the areas inaccessible to the vehicles.

“We’re racing against time here too because the weather is supposed to get pretty bad tomorrow,” Matyas said.

County officials said they began an emergency response at about 6 p.m. Monday after news spread that a 30-inch oil pipeline in Marshall sprung a leak and released oil into the Talmadge Creek, which feeds into the Kalamazoo River. Houston-based Enbridge Energy Partners said the pipeline has been shut down but that did not happen before more than 800,000 gallons flowed into the creek.

Oil Spill Kalamazoo RIver gooseView full sizeThe Associated PressA Canada Goose covered in some oil walks near the Kalamazoo River in Battle Creek
Kalamazoo County officials said Tuesday that local health officials are monitoring the oil spill and advised residents to avoid all contact with water from the Kalamazoo River “until further notice,” according to a news release issued just after 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

“All surface water activities, including swimming, wading, fishing and boating/canoeing/kayaking, should cease,” officials said in the news release. “Additionally, due to the fumes associated with a crude oil spill, people are warned to avoid (spending) time in the immediate area around the river. This order will remain in effect until further investigation indicates that risk has been minimized.”

Said Matyas: “We’re throwing everything we have at it.”

Source:
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2010/07/state_of_emergency_declared_as.html
 
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