Mother of all Gushers - (Discussion Only Thread)

[SpoonMan]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/us/14oil.html?src=me

"Two weeks ago, the government put out a round estimate of the size of the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico: 5,000 barrels a day. Repeated endlessly in news reports, it has become conventional wisdom.
But scientists and environmental groups are raising sharp questions about that estimate, declaring that the leak must be far larger. They also criticize BP for refusing to use well-known scientific techniques that would give a more precise figure.

The criticism escalated on Thursday, a day after the release of a video that showed a huge black plume of oil gushing from the broken well at a seemingly high rate. BP has repeatedly claimed that measuring the plume would be impossible.
The figure of 5,000 barrels a day was hastily produced by government scientists in Seattle. It appears to have been calculated using a method that is specifically not recommended for major oil spills.

Ian R. MacDonald, an oceanographer at Florida State University who is an expert in the analysis of oil slicks, said he had made his own rough calculations using satellite imagery. They suggested that the leak could “easily be four or five times” the government estimate, he said.
“The government has a responsibility to get good numbers,” Dr. MacDonald said. “If it’s beyond their technical capability, the whole world is ready to help them.”

Scientists said that the size of the spill was directly related to the amount of damage it would do in the ocean and onshore, and that calculating it accurately was important for that reason.

BP has repeatedly said that its highest priority is stopping the leak, not measuring it. “There’s just no way to measure it,” Kent Wells, a BP senior vice president, said in a recent briefing.

Yet for decades, specialists have used a technique that is almost tailor-made for the problem. With undersea gear that resembles the ultrasound machines in medical offices, they measure the flow rate from hot-water vents on the ocean floor. Scientists said that such equipment could be tuned to allow for accurate measurement of oil and gas flowing from the well. "

[stardustaquarion]

I think your article is on the spot SpoonMan, I have found similar sort of comments on the internet. The amount of oil they are reporting does not add up to the extent of the spillage so far
Thank you

[Swanny]

This is a world problem why aren't the governments of the world working together to fix it?????

[Gita]

UNBELIEVABLE

‘ Oil spill is a drop in the ocean’

Heard on Sky news this morning that the boss of BP, Chief Executive Tony Hayward has claimed the oil spill in Gulf of Mexico is relatively tiny compared to the size of the ocean. In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, the idiot said, “The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume”.

[Ruis]

Here is what the pipe looks like

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=rlPPFcy-3Vo

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/04...-What-happened
Kinks in the piping created as the rig sank to the seafloor may be all that is preventing the Deepwater Horizon well from releasing its maximum flow. BP is now drilling a relief well as the ultimate fix. The company said Thursday that process would take up to 3 months.

Sand is an integral part of the formations that hold oil under the Gulf. That sand, carried in the oil as it shoots through the piping, is blamed for the ongoing erosion described by BP
http://crossedcrocodiles.wordpress.c...-can-go-wrong/

Industry news:
http://www.drillingahead.com/forum/t...ater-horizon-1
http://fabiusmaximus.wordpress.com/2010/05/05/gulf-2

/

There are many other sources and information on what happened, how the pipe will most likely be stopped, and what reprecussions may follow. But what fun is fact finding and showing sources with the chance to predict the end of the world and a nuclear strike.

[Gita]

Quote

US Senate Begins Oil Spill Cover-Up

by Tom Eley

On Tuesday, the US senate began hearings into the Deepwater Horizon disaster, which took the lives of 11 workers in an April 20 explosion and has since poured millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, threatening the region with an environmental and economic catastrophe.

Appearing before the Energy and Natural Resources Committee in the morning and the Environmental and Public Health Committee in the afternoon were executives from the three corporations implicated in the disaster: Lamar McKay, president of the US operations of BP, which owned the oil and the drill site; Steven Newman, president of Transocean, the contractor that owned the rig and employed most of its workers; and Tim Probert, an executive with Halliburton, which contracted for the work of cementing the rig’s wellhead one mile beneath ocean’s surface.

The hearing resembled a falling out among thieves, with multi-millionaire executives—who, until April 20, had collaborated in thwarting basic safety and environmental considerations—each blaming the other for the explosion.

McKay of BP blamed Transocean. “Transocean owned the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and its equipment, including the blowout preventer,” he said. “Transocean’s blowout preventer failed to operate.” Newman flatly denied that the blowout preventer was responsible for the disaster, shifting blame to BP, which he said controlled the operation, and Halliburton, which was responsible for the cementing around the well cap. “The one thing we know with certainty is that on the evening of April 20 there was a sudden, catastrophic failure of the cement, the casing, or both,” Newman said. Probert of Halliburton pushed back, indicating that BP and Transocean had moved forward operations before cementing was adequately set.

There was, in fact, some harmony between the accounts offered by the executives of Halliburton and Transocean, both of whom appeared to suggest that BP ordered the skipping of a usual step in offshore drilling—the placing of a cement plug inside the well to hold explosive gases in place. That this step was passed over was corroborated by two workers on the rig, who spoke to the Wall Street Journal on condition of anonymity. The workers also told the Journal that BP first cleared the decision with the US Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS). Both BP and the MMS refused comment to the Journal.

Robert Bea, a University of California at Berkeley engineering professor, has gathered testimony from Deepwater Horizon survivors that indicates the rig was hit by major bursts of natural gas, promoting fears of an explosion just weeks before the April 20 blast, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. This raised concerns about whether mud at the well head should be replaced by much lighter seawater prior to installation of a concrete plug. The decision to proceed won out, according to information gathered by Bea.

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Continued here.

[Gita]

Quote

Chemical Contamination in Gulf of Mexico
‘Unprecedented’ Use of Subsea Dispersant to Combat BP Oil Disaster

by Rady Ananda


On May 12, the Deepwater Horizon Incident Unified Command held a media advisory regarding the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, which began on April 20th. Officials advised that subsea dispersants, the effects of which are widely unknown, are being used for the first time.

EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson and Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, NOAA, opened the call with brief statements focused on the use of dispersants, chemical agents used to break up the oil.

Surface and subsea dispersants, chemical agents used to break up the oil, are being used. The use of “subsea dispersants is unprecedented,” reported Lisa Jackson.

As the Deepwater Horizon oil platform is located 48 miles offshore, most of the dispersants that have been used are no closer than 30 miles to the shoreline. The subsea dispersants are used at 10 meters and deeper.

Officials monitoring the subsea results reported that the first two tests were inconclusive. Logistical problems in obtaining samples down to 5,000 feet prevented proper sampling. A third test is underway, with some samples already in the labs at Louisiana State University.

The tests involve satellite and airplane imaging, and chemical, biological and atmospheric sampling. Temperature, salinity, and particle size in situ and above surface are also being monitored.

Subsea dispersants require much less in volume than do surface ones, but the effects of their use are still widely unknown. Authorities are taking an “adaptive monitoring approach,” meaning they modify the monitoring requirements as the test proceeds.

“This is no silver bullet,” warned Jackson. “Dispersants are the lesser harm.” The response team is also skimming the surface of oil and burning it, she reported.

Chemical dispersants can be highly toxic and some have been banned by the EPA and in the UK. A particularly toxic one, known as 9527, has been used, but officials were unable to provide the exact amount. Another dispersant, 9500, is the modified and safer version. Jackson roughly estimated that between the two, they’ve used each equally, but did not provide the total figure.

Jackson did say that 500,000 gallons are already staged and another 805,000 gallons of dispersant have been ordered.

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Continued here.

[Gita]

Quote

Wayne Madsen: The Cover-up - BP's Crude Politics and the Looming Environmental Mega-Disaster

WMR has been informed by sources in the US Army Corps of Engineers, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and Florida Department of Environmental Protection that the Obama White House and British Petroleum (BP), which pumped $71,000 into Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign -- more than John McCain or Hillary Clinton--, are covering up the magnitude of the volcanic-level oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and working together to limit BP's liability for damage caused by what can be called a "mega-disaster."

Obama and his senior White House staff, as well as Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, are working with BP's chief executive officer Tony Hayward on legislation that would raise the cap on liability for damage claims from those affected by the oil disaster from $75 million to $10 billion. However, WMR's federal and Gulf state sources are reporting the disaster has the real potential cost of at least $1 trillion. Critics of the deal being worked out between Obama and Hayward point out that $10 billion is a mere drop in the bucket for a trillion dollar disaster but also note that BP, if its assets were nationalized, could fetch almost a trillion dollars for compensation purposes. There is talk in some government circles, including FEMA, of the need to nationalize BP in order to compensate those who will ultimately be affected by the worst oil disaster in the history of the world.

Plans by BP to sink a 4-story containment dome over the oil gushing from a gaping chasm one kilometer below the surface of the Gulf, where the oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded and killed 11 workers on April 20, and reports that one of the leaks has been contained is pure public relations disinformation designed to avoid panic and demands for greater action by the Obama administration, according to FEMA and Corps of Engineers sources. Sources within these agencies say the White House has been resisting releasing any "damaging information" about the oil disaster. They add that if the ocean oil geyser is not stopped within 90 days, there will be irreversible damage to the marine eco-systems of the Gulf of Mexico, north Atlantic Ocean, and beyond. At best, some Corps of Engineers experts say it could take two years to cement the chasm on the floor of the Gulf.

Only after the magnitude of the disaster became evident did Obama order Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to declare the oil disaster a "national security issue." Although the Coast Guard and FEMA are part of her department, Napolitano's actual reasoning for invoking national security was to block media coverage of the immensity of the disaster that is unfolding for the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean and their coastlines.

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Continued here.

[Kulapops]

It's not another problem-reaction-solution is it?? But for what....?

[Gita]

Posted by Kulapops (here)
It's not another problem-reaction-solution is it?? But for what....?

Posted by Gita (here)
Whether an accident or actions of psychopaths, the fact remains that this disaster for humankind and animal kingdom is one step towards their perverted one world government. The expense of all this will no doubt fall on the people (tax payers) which obviously is not good for the already failing economy. Collapse of the dollar comes to mind leading to one world currency and one world government. It seems there’s nothing these ‘people’ won't do to achieve their goals.

http://www.cumber.com/commentary.aspx?file=050210.asp

.............................

[Kulapops]

Hmm... Interesting Gita...

Still, I can't help feeling that these plans by these 'evil minions' are a lot like the Bond Villain's. Why do they go such a long way around?

Just shoot Bond when you get the chance, don't start into a monologue about what you're going to do to the world...just do it!

K

[Gita]

They just like the drama Kula. It feeds their ego just fine! I wouldn’t even try to figure out why they do the things they do – their minds work completely different to ours. It’s a bit like paedophiles – they do what they do and the rest of us can never fathom why?

Also check out this link Kula - it may help you to understand their ways a bit better!

https://projectavalon.net/forum4/show...ll=1#post18243

[stardustaquarion]

Posted by Swanny (here)
This is a world problem why aren't the governments of the world working together to fix it?????

My take of the situation is that BP will have to pay for it and they are wrangling about that. Obama has asked the congress to increase the limit of liability, it comes down to money at the end! It is just so stupid!

[Mauree]

It looks to me like these Oil 'chiefs' Don't have the foggiest idea how to fix this massive oil leak?

[Eric J (Viking)]

Just recieved this....

Dear friends,

A horrific oil spill is spreading through the Gulf of Mexico. Yet U.S. law-makers still plan to ramp up offshore oil drilling. Let's send a global outcry to President Obama and Congress urging them to overturn offshore drilling expansion -- sign the petition, it will be delivered to the White House:

We've all seen the outrageous images: a monstrous oil spill is gushing as much as 2,500,000 gallons of crude a day into the Gulf of Mexico.

Before the spill, U.S. President Obama and Congressional leaders were planning to ramp up offshore drilling. Now, with the spill, the politics have shifted -- and an opportunity has opened for the world's biggest historical climate polluter to shift away from oil and towards climate-safe energy sources.

At a moment like this, when leaders are making up their minds, the world's voices can help tip the balance. Sign the petition urging the U.S. to stop offshore drilling and invest instead in clean renewable energy -- the signatures will be delivered to the White House in Washington DC when we reach 500,000! Click to sign on now and spread the word:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/stop_off...drilling_3/?vl

This disaster is expected to be catastrophic for the land and people in the gulf. The oil has already reached land, contaminating wildlife sanctuaries. Authorities are so concerned about the impacts of more oil reaching land that they are prefer to set the gulf on fire, burning as much of the oil as possible.

Meanwhile, the fossil fuel industry is raking in windfall profits. BP, which operated the sunken rig, more than doubled its first quarter profits in 2010 to $5.65 billion.

For years, the world has waited for the U.S. to step up on climate. But with the carbon lobby's strangle-hold on Washington, we’ve had more drilling in place of stronger investment in cleaner, safer energy sources. It’s time to for a change -- Senator Bill Nelson of Florida has already introduced legislation to repeal plans to expand offshore drilling. Let's back him up with an outpouring of global public outrage. Sign the petition calling on President Obama and Congress to end offshore drilling, and take the US and the world to clean energy future:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/stop_off...drilling_3/?vl

With Hope,

Ben, Iain, Alice, David, and the Avaaz team

SOURCES:

"Gulf Oil Spill Presents Political Challenges," Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?hpid=topnews

"Gulf oil spill washes up on political shores," BBC:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8665312.stm

"Black storm rising," The Economist:

http://www.economist.com/displayStor...ry_id=16059982

"Recovery still incomplete after Exxon Valdez," NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/us/06alaska.html

"Fly your sea turtle flag high: a slippery stew of shrimp, oil, and sea turtles," Huffington Post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wallac..._b_563773.html

"How much oil has leaked into the Gulf of Mexico?," PBS (source of 2.5 million gallons per day outward estimate):

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/...of-mexico.html

-------

viking

[SpoonMan]

U.S. Representative Edward Markey said he is concerned BP's well in the Gulf of Mexico may be leaking as much as 70,000 barrels of oil a day, compared with previous estimates of 5,000 barrels.


AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! <--That was as positive as I can be right now.

[stardustaquarion]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=d-RrBgb7tGM

money, money, money please Boycot BP until they fix this!

[bluestflame]

aren't oil fires toxic? how would they contain the smoke , rather try to contain the oil i rekon

[stardustaquarion]

Is this what tptb does not want us to see?

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=6X-nXvBh7UQ

This has so many toxic chemicals that we will all feel the effects sooner or later. I am no expert here info from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke

[bluestflame]

ah so that's why the really good effective respirators are so expensive so only the wealthy can afford to buy them ?