The Gulf Oil Nightmare
 

Six weeks into this disaster, and still no good solutions. The latest news is that about 1000 barrels a day are being captured, a fraction of the total flow. I am very concerned for those of you living in the region, this is looking to become a truly catastrophic situation. I came across this earlier, not sure of the veracity of the info being read here, but sounds plausibly horrifying...

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It is disgraceful that after this long the oils leak has not been contained. The ecological effects will be felt for years to come...truly very sad

funny how we can help other countries and no one wants to say hey let us send u some aid this also affects overseas eventually

why is everyone saying this is out fault, the oil rig is owned and mannaged by a british owned company.

True swiftneed, but heren lies the rub: (taken from this RCGroups thread- http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1237334)


"With BP currently in charge of the clean up efforts, it does look very grim indeed, some good points have been made in this thread regarding what the goverment and other 3rd party companies (could) do but cant due to the people in charge. I can name atleast 100 volunteers ready to go to the gulf to help with animal rehabilitation, all with HAZMAT training and some avian veterinary experience. but BP wont accept many volunteers, just the ones they approve of, the ones who keep their mouth shut."

And this, http://fieldnotes.msnbc.msn.com/_new...a-not-gestures

Thanks for posting this Red, I had a thread I made a few weeks ago on this, but I deleted it....

Another sick fact about the situation is that good honest 'Goldman & Sachs' put 'shorts' on TransOcean before the rig went down, for billions. Haliburton was involved, buying 'Boots & Coots International Well Control' 8 days BEFORE, and other foul play going on. They made a PRETTY penny. We should just round them all up and put them in a fenced in area to starve. That, or just hang up far and square.

Like WTF guys.

I truly am disgusted that BP hasn't fixed this yet and they have turned down the help of many people. James Cameron offered his expertise in ddep water expolration and they turned him away. I hope they get this fixed soon and then I hope BP goes belly up after they do what is humanly possible to clean up everything and pay the people whose way of life has been ruined. I beleive that if you are going to have an off shore oil rig like this there should be multiple plans in place of what to do when something like this happens.

But multiple plans in place would cut into the bottom line... :sarcastic:

Yeah, there is evidence this was done deliberately. Might be soon to call it a deepwater 9-11, but many of us know about the puts before 9-11. However before this becomes a conspiracy thread, I want to talk about the potential impact, the deed's been done.

No comment:whistle:

Epic disaster no doubt, and the only thing BP has managed to do right is cut the pipe and make the leak worse. Hopefully this Jimmy Hat works.

IDK about the vid tho, sounds a bit apocalyptic bullshitty.
This is going to be bad no doubt, but tsunamis seems a bit OTT.

As a brit i do have to add that the well was owned by BP but the rig, construction and failsafe were all US companies...

I'm sure the drilling followed all standard failsafe measures - In this instance the failsafe didn't do its job...

Its a right frigging mess no doubt but i do believe that they are throwing everything they possibly can at this.

In terms of BP blocking volunteers I thats bull - the cleanup is being paid by BP not managed by BP - All decisions are now approved by the US gov.

Good joke, but what's the punch line?

I can see a collapse happening after a period time for sure, the ocean is pushing down on the oil with extreme pressures, the oil comes out, something has to give.

Given that it's in US waters it doesn't matter who owns what, it automatically becomes a US problem

Interesting list of possibilities discussed in the video, at the extreme end of outcomes but good stories need some excitement I guess

I sure hope something gives. Some of my family is starting to suffer. This oil spill is going to ruin South Louisiana for many many many years to come.

It's just disgusting to know that so many ideas are being throw out there and little are being used a possible solutions! It's disgusting that there are so many levels of wasted command that makes clean up nearly impossible. Gov. Bobby Jindal had to get on live TV begging for the damn funds to get some barrier islands built, which these islands are known to protect coastline from the oil and help for hurricane protection. They requested action on this for weeks until they got the ok to do it. Plaquemines Parish Pres. Nungesser is fighting the same thing. Asking for help and receiving none! Disgusting!

You know there was a group of scientists/geologists that came up with the most feasible way to seal the leak, a nuclear bomb. After all they have detonated nukes in the ocean before anyways, so why not use one for this?!

I said this from day 2... Blow it up! Saddam blew up every well in the middle east and shut the oil flows off in 3 days! How? He blew the wells up! But scientists are worried about the earth shifting and causing more cracks for the oil to leak....

However what they aren't reminding you of is that BP made $6,000,000,000 off this one well last year. The clean up efforts will be a fraction of that well. BP is being greedy and is paying to keep the well open! What I want to know is who is getting the kick backs from BP on this disaster cause me and 2 million other people in South LA would love to kick some arse!

Judging by all the continuing health issues in places like the Marshall Islands I can't see southern USA going with that idea...it would make a great TV spectacle though. I'm sure they could work a Survivor series into it somehow!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Baker_Edit.jpg

And they caught fire. It was a different application of explosives that was required to momentarily starve the subsequent fires of oxygen that then allowed contractors to cap the wells so production could resume

thermal bareks will have just as big of an efect as a small nuke, the problem is how much damage would they do to the echo system

Aside from stopping the source, to clean up the oil on the surface they can (and could have!) used hay or hair, or anything of the sort.. absorbs every last drop of oil from water.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5SxX2EntEo

I think it is ironic the guy in the opening video is worried about the ecology in the GULF and the FISH while SMOKING A CIGARETTE!:lol:

I am going to Panama City next weekend to see the beaches for myself!!

Sadam blew the wells up and set them on fire to destroy the oil production and let the oil burn / leak...

The US engineers then used explosives to put out the fire - It starves the fire of oxygen allowing them to cap the wells.

I didn't think that this well was in production it was still being drilled so not sure how they made $6bn from a well that wasn't in production...

6,000,000,000
 

Yea I believe the $6 billion figure was actually $61 billion and was the profits BP made last year as a company. At any rate yes the well is owned by BP, who hired a US contractor to run the rig, drill the well, and get it into production. Regardless the owner is responsible for the disaster, but pointing fingers is going to solve nothing. From all reports there have been litterally thousands of offers to help resolve both the clean up efforts, and the stopping of oil flowing from the well. BP has turned down all of them and insists that it has this problem well under control and does not want any help from outside sources regardless of who they are muttling up their efforts and delaying the outcome. From everything we can see on FOX, CNN, BBC, and all the rest it sure does not look under control to me:whistle:. Up to now the US Gov has been watching from the passenger seat trying to let BP do what it says it is capable of doing, and that is getting this disaster under control. From my perspective this one well is going to put a huge dent into BP as a company. BP is huge, but no company can suffer from losses in the billions and still remain a mainstream player in any markets for very long. BP is already working on contingency plans to lawyer up and hiding its liquid assets in the hopes of riding the storm and popping out on the other side squeeky clean just like all the rest of the big money makers would do.

Our planet is bleeding and hopefully someone will figure out how to get it to stop soon, before it becomes a worldwide disaster. From all accounts this well holds billions of barrels of crude which has the capacity to strew oil over most of the planets oceans within a year or so. Once again we need to stop with the polotically correct crap and get everyone involved in this who can help get it stopped. Its never too late, but every day that this well leaks more oil things are looking very grim in deed. This man made disaster may for sure make some spiecies of animals sea, air, and land extinct. What a freakin mess...:diablo:

I bet alot of Gov's start putting more money into solar, wind, and hydro power research programs after this plays out.:yes:

I did a co-op for british petroleum in texas...all i can say :neutral: :surprised:

Thats because the facts dont help dramatize the story........

Hope this statement was being sarcastic, not complete, or me not taking it right because I'm sorry to say thats one of the most assanine things I've heard! The whole world should be trying to help because this will have an effect on the entire planet, not just the US. The US has always gone out of their way to help other countries in need, even when their problem isn't affecting us. Where were these countries to help us after 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Andrew, the floods in Tennesee or any other catastrophe we have? It's time for the whole planet to come together to solve this because it's already spreading and will soon be affecting all of earth's inhabitants!

All the technology we posess and this can't be stopped ?
I hope BP gets this remedied soon, the entire gulf and every living thing in it as well as the shore lines for thousands of miles are doomed. Truely sad to see and watch this.

It was in response to the suggestion that because it's BP (British Petroleum) the UK should clean it up. As I understand it, there have been several offers to assist batted away...

Sometimes those countries "in need" may have preferred the US didn't come and "help" :lol:

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Good stuff Red.

However, I do agree that Alex Jones speaks alot of truth, I don't fully trust him anymore just from things he has said and done... I feel suspicious of him. For instance, how on earth did he get into Bohemian Grove without the security catching him? :neutral:

I don't neccessarily trust any of them. But I did try to give a small cross section of varying perspectives and persuasions. I must have watched 50 videos yesterday (no RC- weather was crap!) and we have people from across the board saying more or less the same thing, that's the frightening thing. Knowing there are simple methods available to abate this mess, (such as the hay method you posted, and oil-eating microbes, etc.) it's hard to draw any other conclusion than they are letting this happen.

Another spectacular example for the world of our "disaster response" capabilities. They say now that around 10,000 barrels are being corraled with the cap. That doesn't change the fact that hundreds of millions of gallons (or much more) have already made it into the ecosystem and that only a percentage of it will ever be cleaned up. If you are inclined, you can fnd lots more info about how Obama has been one of BP's major recipients, how SWAT teams were sent to rigs in the area, how other nation's offers for help have been refused, and so on.

Absolutely sickening.

Comming out.
 

Some of the truth is slowly leaking out, and according to actual estimates the real level of the disaster is much worse than first reported(SURPRIZE). Considering that now BP is estimating that 500,000 to 1,000,000 gallons of oil has been leaking from the well each day. Multiply that average by what, 40 days there is already 20 to 40 million gallons of oil floating somewhere in the Gulf, that will eventually come a shore.

The only real solution for even begining to clean this mess up is to skim it off the top of the surface as it shows up with huge skimmer ships, and burn what is left. AND until they get this leak stopped it will do very little to stop the damage because we can not keep up with the amount of oil being released every day.

The real kicker here is that this dispersant that they have been spraying all over the oil only does one thing. It helps to sink the oil below the surface. What does that mean? Well if you have been watching the news they keep mentioning that there are plumes floating just below the surface. The dispersant does just that. It keeps it out of sight for a while and then eventually it comes back to the surface at a later date, giving everyone the ellusion that it is not all that bad up front. You can try an experiment in your own sink. Put some oil in a sink full of water, and squirt some Dawn onto the surface. Leave it and watch what happens.

I haven't seen all the news coverage on this and I haven't heard all the proposed ideas that have been deemed unlikely to work. So I don't know just how possible this idea is or why they haven't tried it yet. I know they can weld underwater as well as cut metal. I'm aware they have cut the pipe back so I would hope they cut back to a good solid piece so that any further repairs would be strong. Why can't they slide a pice over the pipe, new piece would have an ID just slightly larger than the OD of the current pipe. The new larger diameter piece could be pre-fitted with a valve that is left open for the time being, this way the preasure of the oil wouldn't prevent the pice from being slid over it. With the new piece slid over and the valve open, weld the pieces together. Once they are certain that the weld is solid, close the valve and then put a permanent cap on it!

To me this seems logical and should work.

Keep in mind
 

Keep in mind that this is about 5,000 feet down under great pressure where no diver can go, and that the pressure of the oil and natural gas are also leaking out under greater pressure. There is no easy way to fix this.

Pressure is the problem. Not sure the exact depth, but it's around 5000 feet. The pressure at that depth is over 2200 psi.

I don't know what effect an arc would have on combustible sludge, even without air oxygen present. Also the shape of the severed tube is not one you could just slip another pipe over, there are extraneous fittings, tubes, etc. I'm sure there are other logistical problems they are dealing with that don't get media discussion as well.

This is why wellheads are supposed to have the acoustic switch/ blowout preventers that DICK Cheney helped the industry bypass, this should have never happened.

Forgot that part!

From a news story- "Smith estimated the oil was gushing out at a rate of 10,000 pounds per square inch, with the aim of the operation being to apply enough pressure to force "it back down into the reservoir" far below the seabed."

I'm not too sure of what to think of this, or what to say. It's a catastrophe right now but it seems the worst is yet to come. I don't know what to think anymore or what to believe from all the lies and half truths given by government officials or the billions of dollar profits company head honchos. Who is to blame? Seems like a lot of organizations and industries are at fault. Government officials for allowing deep water drilling and not making the acoustic switch mandatory, BP for their greed and not giving a damn for the world in general, Haliburton for bad cementing and so on...

I don't know who to blame for the fact that this hasn't been fixed yet. Everything gets pretty complicated a mile down under water. We have the technology to make an awful mess but we're still not smart enough to know how to clean it up.