Oil Well Disaster

[Bingo]

Saving nature's unborn from Gulf oil disaster

Port St. Joe, Florida (CNN) -- One by one, with a hand as steady as a surgeon's, Lorna Patrick removes eggs from a sea turtle's nest on a Florida beach. "If it falls, you probably killed the hatchling that's developing inside," said Patrick, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Patrick admits she holds her breath each time she takes an egg out of the sand and places it in the foam cooler. Sand is delicately placed in the cooler between and on top of each egg. Patrick uses the sand from the nest, which is located just a few inches from the beach's surface.

This process is part of an unprecedented sea turtle relocation program. Moving sea turtle nests days before the eggs are to hatch has never been done before. It is also the first time that wildlife experts had to deal with oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. "Shy of letting the hatchlings swim in oil, it's our best alternative," said Sandy MacPherson, the national sea turtle coordinator for the Fish and Wildlife Service. "We're confident if they go into oil they're going to die."

read more - play video:
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/07/09...id=YEiQZoSNpHW

[Bingo]

Day 86


No oil leaking as BP conducts critical pressure tests in Gulf oil well

A highly anticipated test designed to measure pressure within BP's ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well finally began Thursday, and for the first time in nearly three months, oil stopped flowing into the Gulf.

The "well integrity" test could end after one of the six-hour periods, if the results are disappointing. But it could go on for 48 hours. The longer it goes, the better indications are that the well is holding with a custom-made sealing cap.

BP cautioned that the oil cutoff, while welcomed, isn't lilkely to go beyond the 48 hours. Valves are expected to open after that to resume siphoning oil to two ships on the surface, the Q4000 and Helix Producer, as government and BP officials assess the data and decide what to do next. Two more ships are due to join them in coming weeks, bringing containment capacity to 80,000 barrels of oil a day, more than high-end estimates of how much oil had been leaking.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/07/15...id=YEiQZoSNpHW

[Bingo]

So far the new cap is holding. The relief well is now five feet from the ruptured well. Mud could be flowing down the pipe by the end of July.

[Bingo]

Seep detected

[Bingo]

Day 92...oops?

Are the drillers of the relief well off course to intercept? Has three months been wasted? BP officials are now softening us up for a new tactic, or experiment, called a static kill. Why didn't they try this sooner?
read more:



BP tests continue as officials explore new option
By the CNN Wire Staff

"Though the new cap has stopped the incessant flow of oil into the Gulf, government officials and BP have said that the cap on the well is only a temporary fix for the oil disaster that started on April 20. BP officials are still working on the permanent fix, relief wells that are slated to be in place by the end of July.

Officials are also exploring a new tactic called "static kill" to help stop the oil's flow. The "static kill" would involve pumping mud into the well to force oil back into the reservoir below, officials from BP have said, noting that the option could succeed where similar attempts have failed because pressure in the well is lower than expected.
Geologist Arthur Berman said on CNN's "American Morning" on Tuesday that the relative simplicity of a static kill makes it an attractive option for BP.

"I think the reason that they're considering it is because they've yet to intercept the well bore," Berman said. "They're very close, a few feet away with the relief well, as everyone knows. But to actually intersect the 7-inch pipe does involve a bit of technology and accuracy, whereas if they do the static kill through the existing well bore at the top, there's less uncertainty about their ability to actually get the mud into the pipe."

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/07/21...id=YEiQZoSNpHW

[sebberry]

An old battleship is probably the only thing big and heavy enough to stop this damn leak.

Just drop it over the well head and be done with it already.

[Bingo]

Day 97

LONDON (Reuters) – BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward will collect a pay and pension package worth at least 11.8 million pounds ($18.03 million) when he steps down from his role at the company, the Times newspaper reported on Sunday.

The Times said Hayward will be giving up 546,000 share options and a maximum of 2 million shares in the company under a long-term incentive plan, now worth an estimated 8 million pounds.

I wonder if he will get his pay package before those people who have lost their way of life down on the Gulf

[martini]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Day 97

LONDON (Reuters) – BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward will collect a pay and pension package worth at least 11.8 million pounds ($18.03 million) when he steps down from his role at the company, the Times newspaper reported on Sunday.

The Times said Hayward will be giving up 546,000 share options and a maximum of 2 million shares in the company under a long-term incentive plan, now worth an estimated 8 million pounds.

I wonder if he will get his pay package before those people who have lost their way of life down on the Gulf

The victims will not see any compensation. If they do it will be too little too late to be of much value. Clean-up workers are not getting paid, and the relief fund hasn't been 'funded' yet.
Tiny Tony has his life back. His mortgage is already paid off from selling his shares in BP 2 weeks before the explosion.
BP has unleashed IMO a massive act of terrorism.
Corexit might as well be considered a weapon of mass destruction.
And all this time Homeland Security has been worried about bombs at airports.
Gee, anyone heard from Obama lately?

[jklymak]

Originally Posted by sebberry

An old battleship is probably the only thing big and heavy enough to stop this damn leak.

Just drop it over the well head and be done with it already.

If you could actually plug the well with weight they'd have done that a long time ago. You need to have weight that's sealed against more than 7000 psi. The hope behind dumping rocks and mud down the well is not only the weight of the rocks and mud, but their friction against the side of the well bore which will presumably keep everything in place.

[Sparky]

^ I find it hard to believe that people in this business do not already have tried and true emergency procedures and equipment at the ready.

Rocks, mud, tires and the like applied in a trial and error environment seems a little primitive.

If I was in charge of licensing these rigs, they would not get approval to begin drilling until all of the appropriate emergency plans and equipment were in place and approved.

[jklymak]

Well that was apparently a huge problem - the blowout preventers were not being maintained properly and there were other safety concerns. You can put all the regulations in place that you want, but if no one enforces them, shortcuts will be taken.

If all the procedures in place fail, I don't know what you can do except improvise. Given the vast engineering involved just to get down to the seafloor at these depths, perhaps we should reconsider the advisability of deep sea oil drilling.

[Sparky]

^ I agree. They will eventially come up with a solution. All I am saying is that solutions should be engineered and practised before a disaster, not after.

[Bingo]

Meanwhile...back in BC

Michigan spill fuels opposition to Enbridge pipeline

Canada's West Coast have seized on a crude spill in Michigan to escalate their fight against Calgary-based Enbridge Inc., which is behind both projects.

Greenpeace activists Wednesday occupied Enbridge's downtown office in Vancouver in protest of its Northern Gateway Pipeline project. Four Greenpeace protesters chained themselves to the door of the sixth-floor office morning - and used oil from the Gulf of Mexico to scrawl "B.C. Next" onto the glass entrance doors.

Opponents of the Northern Gateway pipeline, which would move oil sands crude from northern Alberta to a port in Kitimat, B.C., and then on to Asia via tankers, are using the Michigan spill to highlight the danger of shipping hydrocarbons using pipes and tankers. On Monday, a section of Enbridge's Lakehead Pipeline system sprung a leak, and the company estimates 19,500 barrels of oil, about three million litres, spilled into Michigan's Kalamazoo River.

The Dogwood Initiative, a Victoria-based lobby group, said the spill is a reminder that it is "ridiculous" to say the Northern Gateway project will be safe.

Read more: http://www.financialpost.com/Fallout...#ixzz0vAzlzkwB

[http]

Originally Posted by Sparky

^ I agree. They will eventially come up with a solution. All I am saying is that solutions should be engineered and practised before a disaster, not after.

No fooling. The list of revealed safety regulations and practices denigrated and ignored has grown beyond my comprehension. But a solution - when? This problem has been known and on the engineer's table for over thrity years, and they've come up with nothing new in that time. Nothing.* In a way, I'm glad, because there haven't been near enough failures for them to get a practical grip on it.

This is the worst case scenario.

*From the evidence so far, they've been guessing at what might work, though the guess of a P.Eng. is not usually something to be dismissed lightly.

[Bingo]

BP used excessive dispersants in Gulf oil spill
By the CNN Wire Staff

Despite a federal directive restricting their use, the Coast Guard routinely granted exemptions, said Rep. Edward J. Markey, chairman of the House Energy and Environment Subcommittee. In May, the Environmental Protection Agency, along with the Coast Guard, ordered the oil giant to stop surface application of the chemicals during the oil spill except in rare occasions, according to a House subcommittee on energy and environment.

"BP carpet bombed the ocean with these chemicals, and the Coast Guard allowed them to do it," Markey said in a statement Saturday. "After we discovered how toxic these chemicals really are, they had no business being spread across the Gulf in this manner."

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/08/01...id=YEiQZoSNpHW

[Bingo]

'Final kill' of damaged Gulf oil well may be at hand

By the CNN Wire Staff

Houston, Texas (CNN) -- A top Obama administration official said Wednesday the oil spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico is "turning a corner," with the "vast majority" of the oil now gone and the procedure to permanently seal BP's crippled well apparently working.
"We definitely are making progress. The oil hasn't been leaking for some time," Carol Browner, director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy, told CNN's "American Morning." "The static kill is going well, but ultimately, it's the relief wells we ordered drilled that will be the 'final kill-kill.' Probably, in the next 10 to 14 days that will be done, but (it was) an important step last night."
"Our scientists and external scientists believe that the vast majority of the oil has now been contained. It's been skimmed. Mother Nature has done its part. It's evaporated. And so, I think we're turning a corner here," Browner added.

For complete coverage of the Gulf Coast Oil Disaster:

http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2010...ll/?hpt=htopic

[victorian fan]

BP Says 'Static Kill' Achieved in Gulf
GUY CHAZAN Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...832640950.html

[martini]

Originally Posted by Bingo

'Final kill' of damaged Gulf oil well may be at hand

By the CNN Wire Staff

Houston, Texas (CNN) -- A top Obama administration official said Wednesday the oil spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico is "turning a corner," with the "vast majority" of the oil now gone and the procedure to permanently seal BP's crippled well apparently working.
"We definitely are making progress. The oil hasn't been leaking for some time," Carol Browner, director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy, told CNN's "American Morning." "The static kill is going well, but ultimately, it's the relief wells we ordered drilled that will be the 'final kill-kill.' Probably, in the next 10 to 14 days that will be done, but (it was) an important step last night."
"Our scientists and external scientists believe that the vast majority of the oil has now been contained. It's been skimmed. Mother Nature has done its part. It's evaporated. And so, I think we're turning a corner here," Browner added.

For complete coverage of the Gulf Coast Oil Disaster:

http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2010...ll/?hpt=htopic

Um...what? Really?

[phx]

Originally Posted by martini

Really?

It seems the environmental impact was exaggerated in some ways.

The oil spill, though bad, only caused comparatively minor damage to the gulf coast.

[martini]

Originally Posted by phx

It seems the environmental impact was exaggerated in some ways.

The oil spill, though bad, only caused comparatively minor damage to the gulf coast.

And you're getting your information from where?
Do you talk to people who live there?
Seems very odd that this spill which dwarfs the Exxon Valdez, seems to be no big deal.

[phx]

It's the flood control on the Mississippi river that is destroying the wetlands there. The oil is almost insignificant in comparison.

[martini]

Originally Posted by phx

It's the flood control on the Mississippi river that is destroying the wetlands there. The oil is almost insignificant in comparison.

What the hell are you talking about?
This does not explain 5 states affected by oil/dispersant laden beaches.
The illegal dumping of oil contaminated sand into local landfills.
The thousands of people sick from chemical poisoning.
The dramatic jump in suicides, domestic abuse and substance abuse.
Have you viewed any of the testimonies from Grand Isle?
What was going to happen if people didn't relocate turtle eggs?
I don't know if you are simply naive or trying to piss me off.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by phx

It's the flood control on the Mississippi river that is destroying the wetlands there. The oil is almost insignificant in comparison.

It is true that the Mississippi wetlands have been destroyed by the flood control, but that does not diminish the impact that the spill has had on the remainder of the Gulf and it's inhabitants. The consequences of this disaster will be far reaching for the oil industry, the wildlife, and the tourist trade.

It ain't over yet.

[martini]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBOWU0ykDZk

[phx]

Originally Posted by martini

I don't know if you are simply naive or trying to piss me off.

No Martini, I am not trying to piss you off or send you into an emo state of mind.

Here, watch this: clicky