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Louisiana Gulf Rig Spewing 1,000 Barrels (42,000 gallons) of Oil per Day
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana – Robotic submarines are on Monday racing to stop oil from a sunken rig streaming into the Gulf of Mexico, as BP warned that sealing the seabed leaks could take three months if the operation fails.
In this image released by the US Coast Guard (USCG), response boats work to clean up oil where the Deepwater Horizon oil rig sank on April 22. Crude oil is spewing from a sunken oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, leaving a massive slick covering an area of 400 square miles (1,035 square kilometers), officials said on Sunday.… Read more »
(AFP/USCG/Elizabeth Bordelon) The British
energy giant -- which leases the stricken Deepwater Horizon
semi-submersible platform -- is desperately trying to prevent a massive
slick from growing and spreading to Louisiana's ecologically fragile
coast.
Satellite images on Sunday showed the slick had spread by 50 percent in a day to cover an area of 600 square miles (1,550 square kilometers), although officials said almost all the oil was just a thin veneer on the sea's surface.
BP has dispatched a flotilla of skimming vessels to mop up oil from the rig, which sank on Thursday while still ablaze, almost two days after a massive explosion that left 11 workers missing and presumed dead.
The crucial operations, though, are being conducted by four underwater vehicles almost a mile below on the seabed, where the riser that connects the wellhead to the rig is spewing out an estimated 42,000 gallons of oil a day.
"Those operations are ongoing. I know they have been working overnight but I don't know the progress that has been made," Bill Salvin, a spokesman at the joint information center set up to deal with the spill, told AFP.
Experts say that using the robotic vehicles to activate the blowout preventer -- a giant 450-tonne, 50-foot high machine near the wellhead that could effectively cap the well -- is a longshot.
"It has not been done before, but we have the world's best experts working to make it happen," admitted BP executive Doug Suttles.
Richard Metcalf, a mechanical engineer at the pro-industry Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Association told AFP: "Essentially, they're trying to put a cork in a bottle of champagne."
Aware that the effort could well fail, BP is also preparing to drill relief wells that would permanently shut off the oil flow by injecting a special sealant into the wellhead -- but this would take much longer.
"It is possible that it could take two to three months for a relief well to be drilled," said Salvin, adding that a "worst case scenario" could see them "lose total control of the well" and oil leaking at a much quicker rate.
The spokesman told AFP that it should be clear by Tuesday morning if the remotely-operated submarines would be able to activate the blowout preventer and stop the two leaks in the riser.
The US coast guard, which conducted two overflights of the slick on Saturday and Sunday to assess the extent of the pollution, have described it as a "very serious spill."
Five aircraft and 32 spill response vessels -- skimmers, tugs, barges and recovery boats -- have been trying to mop up the slick but efforts were hampered over the weekend by winds and high seas.
So far, the slick is not threatening the coast of Louisiana, more than 40 miles away, where it could endanger ecologically fragile wetlands that are a paradise for rare waterfowl and other wildlife.
"In the trajectory analysis we don't see any impact to any shoreline within the next three days," Charlie Henry, scientific support coordinator of the US government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), told journalists on Sunday.
Environmentalists have sounded the alarm about the threat to Louisiana and experts say the spill has the potential to be the worst seen in the United States since the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil tanker disaster.
That spill, considered one of the worst-ever man-made disasters, poured nearly 11 million gallons of crude into Alaska's Prince William Sound, devastating some 750 miles of its once pristine shores.
Meanwhile, there was still no news of 11 Deepwater Horizon crew members missing since Tuesday's spectacular blast which shot balls of flame into the night sky.
The US coast guard aborted a massive air and sea search for the missing workers on Friday.
Investigations are ongoing into the cause of the accident.
BP officials have said they believe it was a blowout, caused when pressure control systems fail and oil shoots uncontrolled to the surface.
21 Comments so far
Show AllA guy like Thom Hartmann calls Obama a "genuis" for advocating that the Eastern Seaboard of the US gets a blank check for the oil industry as Obama opens this pristin eco system to drilling calling it "safe." Well, as crude pumps out of an uncapped well in the Gulf rest assured it will wipe out this beautiful eco system and destroy it for years if not generations to come; in light of the spill, Obama retorted that nothing has changed and drilling will be the norm for his Administration.
More change we can believe in.
Let the herd line up for 2010: your choice of brand is Bush or Bush light. Drink up, sheeple.
another blot on the seascape...............
sparse crowds of individuals, isolated, catatonic...
storm-battered, poisoned...
lost at sea within, lifeless land without...
We demand energy...and they just give it to us. The oil companies are not the bad guys- they give us what we all want- cheap gas, plastic crap, new cell phones every year, new computers, air travel, new clothes, new appliances, new cars, toys, soccer balls, cosmetics, beverages in plastic bottles, you name it- its either made out of oil or made with energy from oil.
If there is anyone to blame, it is everyone who accepts this consumer mad culture as normal.
That's called supply side economics. They sell us the crap they want, not the stuff we REALLY want.
The Common Dreams headline states that the oil spill is "growing" by 1,000 barrels a day, which unfortunately can be interpreted the same as the outright propaganda headline to the AFP article that says
Louisiana Gulf Rig Spewing 1000 Barrels a Day
However, down in the article, it says it is "spewing out an estimated 42,000 gallons of oil a day".
Nowhere in the article is there even a mention of 1,000 anything.
Great deception for AFP to do for British Petroleum, that AFP doesn't even fully name. First they say the British oil giant, and then say BP.
This tripped me up too. There are 42 gallons in a barrel of oil. That is why they are saying 1K barrels of oil per day which equals 42K gallons.
The question remains: What government agency was responsible for regulating this (and other) oil well platforms. How many safety violations have been lodged against BP for this site or others?
Also, what is the sum of the campaign contributions that BP and other oil companies donated to Barry during the past few years? There's something rotten in the state of Amerikkka, to paraphrase someone much smarter than I.
Remember, the Exxon Valdez disaster was caused by negligence and greed by the oil companies. They didn't bother to set up and maintain the mandated spill recovery equipment, their attempts to clean the spill were lackadaisical and usually only went on when the "press" was there to cover it. A huge penalty was assessed on Exxon, which was promptly appealed. The strategy, as one Exxon exec said, was to stall until all or most of the claimants were dead. The final judgment was a much reduced fine and damages. The area is still a disaster and, if one were to dig deeply enough, we would probably find out that We the Taxpayer probably paid most of it.
The same thing pertains to our nuclear policy. No insurance company will touch a nuclear reactor; too high a risk; so We the People will insure the plants at our expense. If there is an accident, "we" will pay "us" for damages and the nuclear profiteers can concentrate on building even more time bombs to be insured by us.
Until we can, somehow, take the profit out of greed and power, the wars, the exploitation, the social ills will continue to escalate. Somehow, I don't see that happening in the Obamanation.
What is it with BP? Don't forget their Alaska pipeline "accident" in 2006 due to their negligence of maintenance, and last month's refinery explosion in Texas City.
I don't get Obama either and his pursuit of offshore drilling. You'd think he would know by now that oil companies cannot be trusted with the environment, but then again, I never got Obama once the primaries were over. His rhetoric changed, and I knew he'd say one thing and mean another, as long as his career would allow.
First we learned that there was an explosion on an oil rig in the gulf of mexico and that 11 workers were saved, then we learned that the 11 men were missing and not found, then we learned that the rig had collapsed but no oil was leaking, then we learned that oil was leaking and now at a rate of 1000 barrels a day which is what we should 'learn'.
Now we learn that the heros of the day are going to plug the leaking hole but if that fails a 'special sealant' will be injected to stop the leak.
I myself believe we will learn that that the gulf of mexico will turn into the biggest toxic waste site on earth and that those off shore drilling rigs are not even close to being a safe way of oil companies 'helping the people on earth live a better and faster lifestyle' that we learned that we deserve because of incompetent jerks like bp and the rest of them.
Oh, one last thing and it is what we have NOT LEARNED and that is how this explosion happened in the first place. Surely, an oil company wouldn't sabotage their own source of income, would they? Even if it is bp, that got eisenhower to use the cia to overthrow the iranian government in 1953, so bp could command those oil fields? But it sure seems to take an extra ordinary explosion to ignite pure petroleum.
I hate to think what the gas prices will be when I drive down the road tomorrow.
It's a shame that our economy is this desperate for oil. I have to wonder if raising those gas prices to $5/gallon would have raised the leaking awareness sooner. I need to revisit those algae infested lakes back in the Far East, particularly India where I can also meet some scientists specializing in algae to see what they have to say in person about algal oil in place of drilling from the gulf.
One more reason in the already Mount Everest of evidence against the fossil fuel/plastic/chemical industries' existence. Wake up humanity. Stop the insanity.
Come on, this is completely invented. Everyone knows there is no oil leaking to the surface. It was just an exploratory rig with a little gasoline and diesel aboard. It wasn't drilling or pumping, was it?
Come, you folks get upset with picayune stuff like this, how are you going to handle drilling with nuclear warheads?
Drill, baby, drill. That's the Obama/Palin Plan.
Not a dime's worth of difference.
Just like the politician; we voted.
While walking down the street one day a "Member of Congress" is tragically hit by a truck and dies.
His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.
'Welcome to heaven,' says St. Peter. 'Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you.'
'No problem, just let me in, 'says the man.
'Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity'.
'Really, I've made up my mind. I want to be in heaven,' says the politician.
'I'm sorry, but we have our rules.'
And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.
Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people.
They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and champagne.
Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly & nice guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time to go.
Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises....
The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him.
'Now it's time to visit heaven.'
So, 24 hours pass with the politician joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.
'Well, then, you've spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity'.
The politician reflects for a minute, then he answers: 'Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell. '
So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell.
Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage.
He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above.
The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder. 'I don't understand, 'stammers the politician'. Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable.
What happened? '
The devil looks at him, smiles and says, ' Yesterday we were campaigning.. ...
Today you voted.'
It is off topic, but it is was good. Such poetic justice!
New Mexico wind "rig" fails, spews... um...
Nevada solar plant fails, spews... welllll...
How much energy is extracted from one hole in the ground, including everything from exploration costs to drilling, transportation, refining, etc., etc., and how much energy is extracted from the wind by one windmill? Theoretically, the oil is finite. Theoretically, the wind is not. The cost to build one windmill cannot possibly equal the cost of one oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. But, hey, that's just my uninformed opinion.
Talk about Karma. Just a month after Obama commits us to new off shore drilling. Mother Nature is giving Obama the old Moe Howard two finger eye poke! Serves him right.
I don't think Obama is getting the punishment. The sea animals are the ones suffering and soon we will be punished with higher gas prices but not the culprits, Big Oil and Washington. :-(