GOM Oil Spill - BP Stops Oil Leak

[jasons2k]

The reports keep on getting worse and worse it seems; this is truly devastating.

I can't speak to the 'national coverage' of this, but I can tell you that it's consistently THE top news story here in the Houston area (altho shared today by the airline merger). No doubt, it's the talk of the town around here since we are so closely aligned with the petro industry.

Many offshore workers are based right here along with the headquarters for BP Americas -- after all, Houston is the "energy capital of the world".

Not only are we sad to see the spill and its impacts, there is a LOT of concern in the Houston area about how this will affect the region's economy. First the NASA cuts, then the demise of Continental Airlines, and now this spill. A triple whammy -- all within a month.

Of course, that pales in comparison to the environmental impacts that we may be faced with from the spill itself. That's the foremost concern of course. Nevertheless, there is a lot of worry now that this will shut down any offshore exploration in the near term, which will deal yet another blow to the local economy.

[jasons2k]

My Aunt in Dunedin just sent me this:

================ BREAKING NEWS ========================

TBO.com News Alert: Florida's state of emergency due to the oil spill now includes Bay area counties, freeing up aid in case oil hits ourshores. More at http://www.tbo.com

[Tom8]

Florida can be good place in the next days to catch drifting oil

[Dionne]

For some strange reason I was sitting here.....reading all the numbers flowing in.....and one thing came to mind. The Lord's Prayer. I have not used prayer in a long time. Heck....BP said they would welcome all help.

[attallaman]

I was watching Fox Cable News and the network did a report from Venice, LA where BP was asking local area fishermen to sign up to help in the cleanup but the fishermen were being asked to sign a form which contained wording in the document in legalease terms that the fishermen who agreed to sign the form would not be able to sue BP for future damages. The reporter for Fox said many of the fishermen had trouble understanding the BP document, some of the fishermen according to the reporter with Fox couldn't even read.

[attallaman]

What is the latest on the oil slick threat? Does the oil slick still pose a threat to LA and MS and AL or is the threat now shifting towards FL? That was also discussed on Fox News, that the oil slick could threaten the W. Coast of FL, head toward the Keys, pass below the tip of FL and head towards the E. Coast of US. Has anyone else heard or read similar discussions?

[gtalum]

I'd say it's far too early to tell where the slick may make landfall, and that's why nobody's really making any projections beyond 24 hours.

[Tom8]

.

[Dionne]

I'd say it's far too early to tell where the slick may make landfall, and that's why nobody's really making any projections beyond 24 hours.

I don't think landfall matters any longer. Landfall has already happened. The heavy crude is next.

You ever watch fire ants on a mound when ya kick it....????

That is what is happening in the gulf.

[jasons2k]

I was watching Fox Cable News and the network did a report from Venice, LA where BP was asking local area fishermen to sign up to help in the cleanup but the fishermen were being asked to sign a form which contained wording in the document in legalease terms that the fishermen who agreed to sign the form would not be able to sue BP for future damages. The reporter for Fox said many of the fishermen had trouble understanding the BP document, some of the fishermen according to the reporter with Fox couldn't even read.

I didn't see the story (I'm at work)..so this is just a theory....

But it seems, from what you are posting is that:
- BP is seeking volunteers from the locals to help with the cleanup
- If you sign-up to volunteer - you have to sign a consent form releasing BP from any damages in case something happens to you while helping with the cleanup (i.e., you fall and slip and then sue BP for that)

If that is indeed the case - that's pretty normal/standard course of business for any type of volunteer work in a potentially hazardous environment. That in itself isn't anything sinister.

Furthermore, the fact that some non-lawyers (in this case, the fishermen) can't understand all the legalese of a contract also isn't suprising, shocking, or newsworthy.

Now the leak itself and what ensued afterwards -- that's a whole different issue ---

[attallaman]

Here's the reporter from Fox who reported the story, still searching for the video. He was on Studio B with Shepard Smith.

http://www.foxnews.com/bios/talent/jonathan-hunt/

[attallaman]

Interesting article recently posted on Fox10TV.com out of Mobile, AL.

http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/gulf_oi ... n-24-hours

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

So will this be another Chernobyl?

PureEnergySystems.com > News > May 2, 2010

Mother of all gushers could kill Earth's oceans
Imagine a pipe 5 feet wide spewing crude oil like a fire hose from what could be the planets' largest, high-pressure oil and gas reserve. With the best technology available to man, the Deepwater Horizon rig popped a hole into that reserve and was overwhelmed. If this isn't contained, it could poison all the oceans of the world.

"Well if you say the fire hose has a 70,000 psi pump on the other end yes! No comparison here. The volume out rises geometrically with pressure. Its a squares function. Two times the pressure is 4 times the push. The Alaska pipeline is 4 feet in diameter and pushes with a lot less pressure. This situation in the Gulf of Mexico is stunning dangerous." -- Paul Noel (May 2, 2010)

Last night we received the following text in an email, author not identified. I passed it by Paul Noel, who is an expert in the field. His response follows thereafter. In calculating the gallons required to kill the oceans, remember that oil goes to the surface, where life is concentrated.

The Oil Mess

[...].

The original estimate was about 5,000 gallons of oil a day spilling into the ocean. Now they're saying 200,000 gallons a day. That's over a million gallons of crude oil a week!

I'm engineer with 25 years of experience. I've worked on some big projects with big machines. Maybe that's why this mess is so clear to me.

First, the BP platform was drilling for what they call deep oil. They go out where the ocean is about 5,000 feet deep and drill another 30,000 feet into the crust of the earth. This it right on the edge of what human technology can do. Well, this time they hit a pocket of oil at such high pressure that it burst all of their safety valves all the way up to the drilling rig and then caused the rig to explode and sink. Take a moment to grasp the import of that. The pressure behind this oil is so high that it destroyed the maximum effort of human science to contain it.

When the rig sank it flipped over and landed on top of the drill hole some 5,000 feet under the ocean.

Now they've got a hole in the ocean floor, 5,000 feet down with a wrecked oil drilling rig sitting on top of is spewing 200,000 barrels of oil a day into the ocean. Take a moment and consider that, will you!

First they have to get the oil rig off the hole to get at it in order to try to cap it. Do you know the level of effort it will take to move that wrecked oil rig, sitting under 5,000 feet of water? That operation alone would take years and hundreds of millions to accomplish. Then, how do you cap that hole in the muddy ocean floor? There just is no way. No way.

The only piece of human technology that might address this is a nuclear bomb. I'm not kidding. If they put a nuke down there in the right spot it might seal up the hole. Nothing short of that will work. [See Paul Noel's ideas above.]

If we can't cap that hole that oil is going to destroy the oceans of the world. It only takes one quart of motor oil to make 250,000 gallons of ocean water toxic to wildlife. Are you starting to get the magnitude of this?

We're so used to our politicians creating false crises to forward their criminal agendas that we aren't recognizing that we're staring straight into possibly the greatest disaster mankind will ever see. Imagine what happens if that oil keeps flowing until it destroys all life in the oceans of this planet. Who knows how big of a reservoir of oil is down there.

Not to mention that the oceans are critical to maintaining the proper oxygen level in the atmosphere for human life.

We're humped. Unless God steps in and fixes this. No human can. You can be sure of that.

PureEnergySystems.com > News > May 2, 2010

edited to say I have my doubts it will kill all the oceans of the world but, like Chernobyl affecting a rather large area in Europe, I'm pretty sure the effects will be the same for the Gulf of Mexico.

.

[Stephanie]

The reports keep on getting worse and worse it seems; this is truly devastating.

I can't speak to the 'national coverage' of this, but I can tell you that it's consistently THE top news story here in the Houston area (altho shared today by the airline merger). No doubt, it's the talk of the town around here since we are so closely aligned with the petro industry.

Many offshore workers are based right here along with the headquarters for BP Americas -- after all, Houston is the "energy capital of the world".

Not only are we sad to see the spill and its impacts, there is a LOT of concern in the Houston area about how this will affect the region's economy. First the NASA cuts, then the demise of Continental Airlines, and now this spill. A triple whammy -- all within a month.

Of course, that pales in comparison to the environmental impacts that we may be faced with from the spill itself. That's the foremost concern of course. Nevertheless, there is a lot of worry now that this will shut down any offshore exploration in the near term, which will deal yet another blow to the local economy.

It's been on the new 'round the clock up my way. Everyone is talking about it and worrying about it.

[Stephanie]

Maybe this will serve as a warning and prevent the path of preparing to drill all around the coastline of the u.s. from moving blindly and politically ahead. The timing screams 'stop the insanity' of 'drill baby drill'.

Okay, we got the point of the political slogan. Let's leave the politics out of this and focus more on the tragedy.

[WeatherLovingDoc]

Spill proposed to be bigger in size than the state of Florida? An interesting day's work:

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2010/05/03/nasa-satellite-images-show-gulf-oil-spill-larger-florida/

[thetruesms]

Spill proposed to be bigger in size than the state of Florida? An interesting day's work:

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2010/05/03/nasa-satellite-images-show-gulf-oil-spill-larger-florida/

[img]http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/5336/gulfoilspillmap05032010.jpg[img]

I think he needs to work on his satellite interpretation a little more. It looks like he's confusing what may be sediment with oil. Honestly, I don't know enough about it to accurately comment on what it may be, either I have to admit that I do not like that he uses an opaque mask to highlight the contaminated area. Smacks of being purposely misleading to me.

What I do know, is that I found another MODIS image from 2004 showing the same characteristics of what he deems "oil"
http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gall ... 55.1km.jpg

[KWT]

Certainly is a huge amount of oil to be spilling out, amazing they tried to cover thier mistakes by claiming 'only' 5000 gallons was leaking a day, I'm pretty sure they must have had a good idea right from the start the actual extent, but that sort of news is easier to break in in stages of course.

[WeatherLovingDoc]

Good points, truesms. He does post a Google Earth with a transparent NASA overlay as he saw it in the frame above the one I copied. Frankly, I've never looked at many satellite pictures, but his concept looked interesting enough to share.

[thetruesms]

Good points, truesms. He does post a Google Earth with a transparent NASA overlay as he saw it in the frame above the one I copied. Frankly, I've never looked at many satellite pictures, but his concept looked interesting enough to share.

Yeah, that was what helped me pick out an appropriate pre-spill shot. I don't think he was purposely trying to obfuscate things, but seeing just the opaque one at first struck me as a little off, and prompted me to investigate further. Although given enough time, unfavorable winds and currents, and I suppose we could see something like that. If it is sediment, it had to come from somewhere, right?