Solved Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

[derekimo]

I can't see this getting cleaned up anytime soon. They aren't even close to getting it under control.

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Captured by NASA Satellite [PICS]

Gulf of Mexico oil spill 2010: The worst-case scenario | al.com

 

[smarteyeball]

Not good. Not good at all

 

[derekimo]

Yeah I was watching the news and they are just waiting for the onslaught of devastation to hit.
And it just keeps pumping oil into the gulf. Sickening to see it.

 

[smarteyeball]

The fact that there is no simple way to cap the flow and minimize the existing damage is definitely a worry.

This will have long lasting ramifications on all sorts of levels...

 

[NoN]

The highest challenge will be the Mangroves to clean, the oil will glue everywhere deep inside the trees...very bad indeed! Like in Indonesia few years ago.

I will suggest the goverment to pack up the base of the mangrove trees, as it is not too late yet!

 

[Dinesh]

It is caused due to earth's crust displacement. As seen in the movie-2012. Umm... I should stop watching alot of movies.

 

[DreemWarrior]

The fact that there is no simple way to cap the flow and minimize the existing damage is definitely a worry.

This will have long lasting ramifications on all sorts of levels...

Absolutely. I worked offshore oilfield for 7 years, mostly in the same area as this blowout. When it reaches the marshlands of Louisiana, thats it. It will destroy ALL costal commerce such as oyster/ crawfish industry. Not to mention the flora/fauna impact. But accidents like that happen all the time. Just not on this level, and doesnt get the publicity...

 

[MadMaxData]

Seeing things like this make me wanna'

We are destroying God's creation. Just thinking about all that oil going into the Gulf makes me ill.

I worked offshore oilfield for 7 years, mostly in the same area as this blowout.

Now there's a job I could get into. Did you enjoy it? I used to watch a T.V show about deep sea rigging. It was called "Oil, Sweat, and Rigs." Have you ever watched it, Bro? Many of the sites on the show were in the Gulf of Mexico too. It chronicles the work that needed to be done after Katrina reaped havoc on the rigs.

 

[whs]

We can only hope that they will learn somthing from it. I was reading that during the previous administration there was practically no federal supervision at all and they could do what the wanted. Apparently some additional security device (that costs half a million Dollars) could have prevented this. Now they will be paying billions for the damages instead. Sad story - especially for all the animals that will die.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi all
I used to be an Engineer in the Oil Industry long before getting involved with computers.

The Oil industry on the whole has a REASONABLE record in environmental control - a few exceptions such as around Port Harcourt in Nigeria -- but a lot of that is due to sabotage and corrupt governments and of course in N. Canada Sand Basin where sometimes rules aren't always followed as they should be.

So long as governments don't make it easy to create / design alternative fuels then we will search for Oil in more and more inacessible places where accidents will inevitably occur.

However these accidents are as NOTHING compared with what would happen when some ageing Nuclear power stations become "not fit for purpose" -- please don't tell me the lessons of Chernobyl have been forgotten already.

For those who are interested in how this will be fixed : - Forget some of the RUBBISH you see on TV -- here's how it's done now -- we used to use this method for other leaks ages ago in shallower waters anyway.

The leak will be plugged by drilling a new line from another platform horizontally along the sea bed and into the leak where it can be capped. There's no point in designing a huge concrete block (will take over a month) and then try and lower this into the very deep basin in the Gulf of Mexico.

Before all you "Green Party" idealists get up on your soap boxes -- just look at the TOTAL CHAOS caused by a large part of Northern Europe becoming a NO FLY ZONE just for ONE WEEK due to the Volcano. There is NO way we can change the whole travel arrangements of people in the short term -- it will take YEARS and meanwhile we are just going to continue to use Oil.

Of course the people who will suffer are the residents of the effected areas and hopefully they will become adequately compensated (not to forget damage to wild life etc) -- but OIL is a RISKY business - and it really DOES have a reasonably passable record except in a few areas where governments have been somewhat lax in insisting on tight controls.

Past records show however (and I'm NOT making any excuses) that the Earth is a lot more robust than people often realize and however bad it looks now and will be when the pictures of dying birds etc covered with Oil start appearing recovery will be quicker than most people realize

Cheers
jimbo

 

[whs]

it will take YEARS and meanwhile we are just going to continue to use Oil.

True, but we are using too much of it. Cars that do less than 50MpG should be outlawed and a high speed train infrastructure should be developed.

 

[CarlTR6]

it will take YEARS and meanwhile we are just going to continue to use Oil.

True, but we are using too much of it. Cars that do less than 50MpG should be outlawed and a high speed train infrastructure should be developed.

Cars that get 50 mpg plus are small and light. It is proven these cars are not as safe in impacts, even with another small car. They certainly are not as good for interstate/autobahn travel as are larger heavier cars. I for one do not want an econobox.

High speed rail service would be nice; but considering the size of the US, the expenditure would be enormous. It would take 10 to 15 years just to get an environmental impact study done. And the environmentalists would howl if additional road beds had to be constructed.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there

Maybe -- but we are TODAY and that is TOMORROW -- until policies are in place enabling us to get from TODAY to TOMORROW then we are just going to have to live with it.

I'm currently working in the UK at the moment which has possibly the HIGHEST Gasoline price in the world and it still doesn't stop people driving - they NEED their cars. Public transport just isn't appropriate for lightly populated rural areas either. (Fortunately I use LPG which keeps the cost significantly lower).

What DOES suprise me that during their ENTIRE Election campaign the 3 Major Political parties here have rarely mentioned Future Energy developments and how they would be supplied - but you hear such things as "Tax Credits" for Everybody even if they are earning 500,000 GBP a year etc etc.

OK it's THEIR election -- I'm sure the same lack of energy planning requirements would take place in any other country going to the Polls too.

The world has just gone (or is still in) SEVERE RECESSION -- nobody is going to do anything to hinder the fragile recovery taking place just yet.

In any case Trains etc don't just come out of Thin air -- these require HUGE manufacturing plants -- all with Heavy polluting metals etc.

The tracks can disfigure the Landscape severely whilst under construction and where does the Energy come from to power the trains -- You might be able to have a Solar powered train in the Nevada Desert but that's not possible in most of Europe -- and we certainly don't want yet more DANGEROUS Nuclear Power stations.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[MadMaxData]

Before all you "Green Party" idealists get up on your soap boxes --

Having concerns regarding our environment isn't "getting up on a soapbox" at all. I think we can all agree that oil leaking into our oceans is potentially catastrophic. For the most part, I think the tree huggers are rediculous, but this is a different thing altogether. Our oceans support life on earth for every living thing on the planet, in one way or another. We should take our responsibility concerning our oceans serious, don't you think?

 

[Pieloi]

Havn't people died trying to secure deep sea oil rigs ? And other operations ? I remember reading some place, that the technology used in deep sea/sufficient oil rigs needs to be as complex technology wise than that of Space research, probably bull, but perhaps companies should invest more in the technologies which prevent such catastrophes, especially since, you know, a mess up DESTROYS THE EARTHS ENVIRONMENT ?

BP say they have to under control...My reply would be, no they don't.
The clean up is going to cost millions, and since BP and Transocean make billions I'm pretty sure they can fork that out...but they won't so. Dunno, beyond my power, I won't even bother making myself less ignorant, will make me depressed.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704423504575212031417936798.html
Link about the absent "Acoustic safe guard device" from the American/BP rig.

 

[jimbo45]

Before all you "Green Party" idealists get up on your soap boxes --

Having concerns regarding our environment isn't "getting up on a soapbox" at all. I think we can all agree that oil leaking into our oceans is potentially catastrophic. For the most part, I think the tree huggers are rediculous, but this is a different thing altogether. Our oceans support life on earth for every living thing on the planet, in one way or another. We should take our responsibility concerning our oceans serious, don't you think?

Hi there

OF COURSE - BUT until as I've posted - Governments make it reasonable and decently economically viable to use alternative energy we are just going to keep relying on Oil until it really does become impossible to extract any more and OF COURSE oil companies don't want to pollute the environment either -- apart from bad publicity and ENORMOUS costs -- BP is going to have to Pony Up several BILLION DOLLARS on this one BTW.

President OBAMA will ensure of course that BP as the main contractor for the Rig will cough up. Unlike others in the pay of the Oil companies (Ex President Bush springs to mind) I trust OBAMA on this one.

BP WILL pay up you can be sure of that.

I've just seen a perfectly good site for "Bio Fuels" refused planning permission to operate in Lincolnshire UK for no good reason -- area not densly populated, no noise, smell etc etc other than the Local Authority had absolutely no idea how the plant would work and thought it was "a Refinery".

Of course the work was transferred to Holland -- eventually the site will have over 1100 GOOD LONG TERM SKILLED Jobs.


And I still say the record of most Oil Companies is reasonably good with the few exceptions I've posted about earlier in this thread.

For sheer waste and landfill pollution just think what each WALMART store chucks out EVERY DAY.

If Shell wasted even 1/100 of what Walmart does then you really WOULD have a polluted planet.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[MadMaxData]

I agree that more research should be done with bio fuels. But oil is big business, and it seems to me that the governments want to keep it going for that very reason....the revenues. You would think with the technology we have today, that the alternative energy sources would have been discovered already, and implimented. I'm thinking it all boils down to the almighty dollar.

 

[MadMaxData]

High speed rail service would be nice; but considering the size of the US, the expenditure would be enormous.

Not to mention that the U.S needs to address the problems with it's infrastructures. They are erroding away, and need to be fixed before any kind of mass rail service is explored. Our roads, bridges, and underground piping is literally busting at the seems. Have you been watching the Discovery Channel that has documented this big mess? It's quite alarming, Bro. Our roadways are a big part of what made America the great nation it is today. Without them, commerce grinds to a halt.

 

[whs]

The tracks can disfigure the Landscape severely whilst under construction and where does the Energy come from to power the trains

I would say that roads disfigure landscapes just as much if not more. And yes, trains need energy too. But on a per passenger mile they are many times more effivient than cars or planes. And the cost argument I do not buy. That is only a matter of priorities. If a country like France can do it, the US could do it too.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJfDWtbioEM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_efficiency_in_transportation

 

[MadMaxData]

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

Whoa!! That was friggin' AWESOME!