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Barack Obama and BP Warn of Risks in Oil Spill 'Open Heart Surgery'
After the failure of a "top kill" effort to stuff the leak with mud and rubbish, BP's managing director, Bob Dudley, stressed the difficulty of a new plan to pipe spurting oil to a ship on the ocean's surface, describing it as highly challenging for engineers who will be asked to perform "the equivalent of open heart surgery on television for everyone".
The under-fire company faced calls from Louisiana lawmakers to make an immediate $1bn investment to protect threatened wetlands and estuaries on the Louisiana coast. The White House's energy tsar, Carol Browner, warned that the giant, rapidly expanding oil slick caused by an explosion on BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig was‚ "probably the biggest environmental disaster we have ever faced".
Since becoming severed from BP's destroyed offshore rig on 30 April, a broken drilling pipe known as a "riser", which carries oil from an underground seam through the ocean floor, has been kinked downwards in the water. BP is deploying diamond-rimmed saws to cut through the pipe below this kink, in the hope that it can create a sufficiently clean break to attach a cap capable of siphoning oil to the ocean's surface, known as a‚ "lower marine riser package".
Experts worry that by removing the bend in the pipe, any remaining resistance to the flow of oil into the ocean will be eliminated. Philip Johnston, an engineering professor at the University of Alabama, said: "This operation is scary for BP.
"When they cut the riser the rate of flow from the well, which is already truly horrific, will get significantly bigger. If they can't then get the cap on, it will make things worse."
BP's chief operating officer Doug Suttles told a press conference on Saturday that he could not guarantee the attempt would work, and even if it did it would only capture "the majority" of the oil. Following the first Gulf war in 2001, a similar capping procedure was used to extinguish the well fires lit by the retreating Iraqi army. However, it has never been attempted 1,500 metres (5,000ft) below sea level.
President Obama admitted that cutting the riser pipe "is not without risk", saying: "That is why it was not activated until other methods had been exhausted."
On the Louisiana shore, dozens of shrimpers, fishermen, holiday-home owners, restaurateurs and hoteliers have filed lawsuits against BP for the damage to their earnings caused by the slick.
Local people expressed fury at the British company's apparent inability to stem the flow. Claude Marquette, a retired doctor in his boat at the fishing port of Venice Marina, said: "It's been a screw-up from day one. Nothing was at the ready and no one was in a position to respond."
Father Gerry Stapleton, a priest at St Patrick's Catholic church in nearby Port Sulphur, said: "Even the government seems powerless and all the experts. If these people can't stop it, then who in the name of God can?"
There is particular acrimony that BP's initial estimate of the leak at 5,000 barrels of oil a day dramatically understated the scale of the flow, which is now put at 12,000 to 19,000 barrels a day. Ed Markey, the Democratic chairman of a congressional energy committee investigating the disaster, said BP was "either lying or they were incompetent".
Speaking on CBS's Face the Nation talkshow, Markey described the leak as criminal‚ and added: "I have no confidence whatsoever in BP."
The waters affected by the spill are among the most sealife-rich around the US. In 2008, commercial fishermen landed 600m kg of finfish and shellfish in the Gulf of Mexico, generating $659m. Oyster fishermen worry that not only the oil but the chemical dispersants used to break up the slick will poison their harvest for months and years to come.
Mary Landrieu, a Democratic senator for Louisiana, said BP should immediately commit $1bn to safeguarding the coastline: "While we may not be able to plug the leaking well right away, there is nothing that should stop us from getting help to the Gulf coast immediately."
Obama ordered government and contractor clean-up resources in areas affected by oil to be tripled.
The Washington Post termed the leak "the well that will not die". Many critics of the response to the crisis have urged the president to put the armed forces in charge, taking over operations from BP.
But Mike Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said that the military did not have the necessary expertise.
"It's really not for us to lead right now because of the technical challenges," said Mullen. "The technical lead for this in our country really is the [oil] industry."
Even if BP succeeds in its latest effort to siphon oil, the operation faces a meteorological hazard in the hurricane season, which starts at the beginning of June. David Summers, a professor of mine engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology, said it would be impossible to leave a containment vessel collecting oil on the open sea if severe weather sweeps into the Gulf.
As it attempts a seal, BP will need to pump large volumes of warm water towards the leak to avoid the formation of ice crystals, which stymied a previous attempted fix. Summers said: "This may be the best option they've got but because they're going to be dragging through the flow of oil as they cut, it's going to be difficult to achieve a smooth, straight cut."
If BP cannot halt the flow, oil will continue to gush until two relief wells are ready to intercept the flow of oil by intersecting with the original bore beneath the ocean floor.
One of these has reached a depth of 3,600 metres (12,000ft), while the other is down to 2,500 metres, but they need to go as far as 5,500 metres before they can tap into the oil, which may not happen until August. By then, the slick on the ocean's surface, estimated at 18m to 40m gallons of oil, could have doubled in size.
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59 Comments so far
Show Allthe principal concern of the US gov't is to ensure BP's property rights.
every other consideration is a distant second.
"Obama ordered government and contractor clean-up resources in areas affected by oil to be tripled."
Response: M$M has repeated attacked critics of Obama's relaxed attitude towards the cleanup and BP and has repeated apologized for Obama by saying nothing else could have been done during the last 40 days. Now that the problem is worsening, apparently now we can do more and dedicate more resources. As another CD commentator stated on a post to another article. Obama has not treated this as a national emergency.
What more could Obama have done? No one in the government has the expertise to cap a gushing oil well - on the ground, much less in deep water. Since the explosion occurred, the only ones who could do anything are trying to do it.
And blaming the media is just as futile as blaming Obama.
The blame should be placed on the people in the Interior Department (including Salazar) who keep issuing permits to do this kind of drilling.
You don't allow, much less promote, as Obama has done, activity that can produce these kinds of problems unless you have some pretty strong guarantees, and not from the industry that profits from the activity, that such problems can be handled promptly, efficiently, and with a minimum of "side effects" ....
And who, precisely, put Salazar in charge?
Wow, sheep, how about for starters getting a independent evaluation of the extent and scope of the leak, and demanding full and complete transparency? Perhaps, get opinions from others in the oil industry, both here and abroad, and even NASA, NOAA, and universities.
Declare a state of emergency and marshal every resource to try to head off damage from the spill. Above all, do NOT leave the criminal in charge of cleaning up the crime scene. Sounds like you're propagating the same message that MSM is. I don't think you'll be herding too many sheep here at CD, if you really believe Obama can't do more than he's already doing.
Obama even allowed BP to disobey the EPA, which told them to switch to a safer dispersant.
Added concern: I keep seeing the "This isn't the main leak" meme pop up, more continuously now. There are some with experience in the industry saying what BP is trying to cap...ain't the main show. The real deal is about five miles away from the "camera" leak...and it's gushing way beyond what we're seeing at this current "leak" site. Which is why...the oil plumes.
They're saying: Oil plumes couldn't be coming from what we're seeing, and with the size of those plumes, there's something much worse going on farther on down.
Why isn't that being investigated? Why is this being ignored?
If the military were to take charge of the situation, their solution would be to bomb the hole closed. The result would be a clean plug to the leak. I understand that the environmental repercussions of such an operation would be limited to the immediate locale – certainly not global, as they now are. But then BP would have to forgo all hope of retrieving any of the oil. The profit incentive, and its ramifications within the American political elite, simply put this practical “solution” off the table.
Quae_sentias_di
You don't know those things. Nuking the hole closed could very possibly fracture the whole sea floor like it did at Bikini Atoll in the Marshals. That island is now unstable and completely fractured. If the Deepwater Horizon strata below the sea floor is weakened, it could blow out into a crude volcano like the mud volcano did in Indonesia caused by the greedy Natural Gas Well techniques used there. That out-of-control volcano started four years ago and is still displacing thousands as we speak:
http://www.phschool.com/science/planetdiary/archive10/volc1030810.html
At the Mississippi 252 site (Deepwater Horizon), it could cause a global extinction event.
And it's ridiculous to suppose that nuclear radiation won't make it into the loop current and make Florida and the Whole Eastern Seaboard radioactive. There's no guarantee it's going to stay "local" as you say, because it's not deep enough. Nuclear sub commanders are taught to head for 20,000 foot deep water, not 4,000 when their reactors malfunction. Oil has now entered the Gulf Stream and it's possible ejecta from the nuke could do the same thing.
But we may have no choice if they can't thread the needle in August with the relief wells.
This is worse than the fictional movie "Armageddon" where the whole world's fate depends on a bunch of roughnecks on an oil rig.....
I pray it works and that it doesn't make matters worst. Sometimes when one feel helpless the only answer is to pray. It can't hurt the situation my praying a novena to St. Jude to give the people working on stopping this river of oil wisdom to know what to do and giving them lady luck so that they will succeed. Sometimes prayer is the only thing one can do.
An equally effective recourse is masturbation.
:)
at least you are sure of a 'satisfactory' result from masturbation.............
Disgusting "comment".
Some defective thinker said: Pray, pray, pray, to a non-existent deity, that they had the audacity to assume everybody else believes in. Then FastEddie made me spurt my coffee on the screen with this:
"An equally effective recourse is masturbation."
Well Eddie,
I suppose if you're a priest in a robe, you can accomplish both at the same time. And since you know there is no god, and you know prayer is just the refuge of the dim-witted or the scoundrel, the two techniques together are probably a great confessional activity. Just ask any alter boy about certain priests you never go into a booth or a baptismal changing room with.
But when you are either in the Transglobal Boardroom or on the victim's beach, you may come to know that only one activity is actively effective: Mass movement of either lobbyists or protestors.
I recommend we all park our cars on the freeway, lock the doors, and walk away so that Barry will get off his ass and do something.
But that's me.
TJ
Chrisy58, don't be discouraged by crude responses to your decency and faith. Thank you for doing what you believe is within your means to do. Hector
From the article: "Experts worry that by removing the bend in the pipe, any remaining resistance to the flow of oil into the ocean will be eliminated."
From christy: "I pray it works and that it doesn't make matters worst."
Why would you worry it might make things worse? Judging by their track record BP feels they know what they are doing, and are merely asking us to believe what they say and not what we are seeing. Typical corporate stuff going on here...
chrisy58, I understand what you say. We also need a new word for prayer for people like me who are not religious. It is what you do in those moments when you feel helpless, tired or confused. You have to stop and feel and gather up your thoughts and internal resources. You ask help in finding what is the right thing to do and for finding the resolve to do it. It is like prayer and it gives strength.
For you ultra-scientific types, you can reduce cortisol, excessive adrenalin and other harmful chemicals in the body by prayer and meditation. It can help fight off disease and works for keeping people going in very difficult situations.
Joe
Sorry, the pressure is not that great at the top unless the BOP squeezed the pipe and restricted the flow. If the pipe is clear than cutting the riser off will make little difference. If the pipe is smashed by the BOP, cutting the top off again will make little difference in the flow. The leaks I see are NOT under great pressure. Remember the oil gushers going over the derrick in the old movies? High pressure leaks are incredibly wicked! They were pumping down the riser so I assume it's not smashed. It is bent over at the top though. That's the view that looks like vertical tears. That's what they will cut off and clamp to; the part where the riser came out.
If they get a good seal on the top riser and the flow out the side valve on the BOP they can get most of it to the ship.
They should of done this to begin with!
The mud was being pumped through the choke manifold and kill lines just above where the BOP is attached to the wellhead, not the riser. However, the failure of the top kill and junk shot does suggest that the crimp (or the partially closed BOP) is not throttling-back the oil flow too much. So, I agree that cutting off the riser might, just might, not increase the flow by very much.
I'm alarmed to discover that Gulf of Mexico sea surface temperatures, especially those temperatures near the spill, have exploded upwards in the last 5 weeks. Before the spill they were (fortuitously) 1 or 2 degrees Celsius below average for this time of year. Now the Gulf has passed 3 degrees Celsius above average in areas near the U.S. shore. Apparently the oil slick has reduced sea surface evaporation, causing the water temperature to spike.
Warning: the Gulf is now locked and loaded and will work in conjunction with a potentially record hurricane season. Worse, it could get much, much hotter in the next two months. Once the oil is gone, the hurricanes come. That's the real news. Sound the alarm. Here's the NOAA link:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/tafb/atl_anom.gif
Here the official info for hurricanes and an oily ocean.
http://escambiacounty.createsend4.com/
t/r/l/ntdklj/iiuhuhdyk/y
Downloads PDF
The actual email address is
http://www.myescambia.com/escambiadisasterresponse/downloads/hurricane%20fact%20sheet_oil.pdf
I read this fact sheet last week. This NOAA document has nothing whatsoever to say about the oil heating up the ocean. This concept of oil heating up the ocean will be new to them, so they won't see it at first, but there's evidence for the phenomenon. Of course a 20 million gallon oil leak is fairly new to all of us, so don't blame NOAA for ignorance.
Don't trust your government poobahs who say things aren't happening. Ask pointed questions, and if the stuffed shirts then brush you off, ask someone else until you get a real answer.
It looks like they may have already begun the cutting operation ....
I took a look at the live feed still available on CD (it is in the "more videos" section). I saw in an earlier view what appeared to be a little white flame coming from the area at the top?, edge? of a pipe in front of a flow of oil.
Don't fall for any of it. It will fail, and so will the next, and the next.
They don't want to cap it. If they cap this gusher now, they can't drill here again. It means a total loss for BP.
BP can't have that, Salaxar won't have that, and Obama can't either.
Pretending to try and fail, or just cut to the chase and make it so bad it's utterly impossible for anyone to stop, then BP has to stay till relief wells are done in three maybe four months (not buying their lies of two months) and whoopee, they get the booty.
When BP discovered this oil field they said they hit a motherload of oil. So, tell me. Does anyone think BP would ever think of abadoning the oil here?
NO F__KING WAY!
Link to discovery of the well:
http://www.creditwritedowns.com/2010/05/how-bps-deepwater-horizon-oil-find-was-originally-reported-in-september-2009.html
Also, Eight days before the blowout, Haliburton bought a company Boots and Coots, specializing in oil industry blowouts. In fact their tel is 1-800-BLOWOUT. How bout that for a coincidence?
People don't understand that oil execs and bankers are not normal in the head.
They are mentally disturbed thugs dressed in fine clothing. But morally and ethically on par with serial killers or child molesters. Nothing, and I mean nothing matters to them except money. If millions of people get sick and die,too bad. Animals suffering amuse them. Destruction of air and water, big deal.
With this in mind and everything that's transpired from day one, people might not find it so easy to shrug off what's really going on here, IMHO.
Both BP and the USG are pulling off an elaborate hoax. I'm incredulous that nobody's DEMANDING outside assistance from all over the world, despite Obama's insistence that BP is the best qualified. Utter horseshit! See, they can't have outside experts because they fear someone could actually succeed in capping the well. It's better for them to let it destroy the nation instead of wealthy shareholders losing money.
For these morally bankrupt rulers, it's a no brainer.
Remember the US did not allow Venezuela to send help after Katrina. If Jesus Christ Himself came to do a miracle, he would be turned away.
"People don't understand that oil execs and bankers are not normal in the head." So true. For example Tony Hayward of BP said: “We’re sorry for the massive disruption it’s caused their lives. There’s no one who wants this over more than I do. I would like my life back!”
His company has done massive damage to the Gulf of Mexico, its wildlife and peoples, through what appears to be complete incompetence and fraud, and he wants "his life back". Give me a flipping break!
No! He said that?
This moron is in charge?
He doesn't even have the sense to sound credible when he's yanking us around.
Don't worry, i haven't "fallen" for any of it, i was merely looking for clarification, out of curiosity, of what was going on in the video ....
Of course BP doesn't want to ruin its well ...
"describing it as highly challenging for engineers who will be asked to perform "the equivalent of open heart surgery on television for everyone"."
Shucks, cardiac surgeons do this all the time, on video. If you are really paying attention to what you're doing, being on camera doing it doesn't matter. More and more surgeons are doing cases with robotic equipment, whose principles are the same as those of the stuff being used here, on subjects considerably more delicate. The distance doesn't matter ....
Aha, I knew that what we needed was a surgeon. Maybe that's the problem, they're using engineers to operate it ....
President Obama admitted that cutting the riser pipe "is not without risk", saying: "That is why it was not activated until other methods had been exhausted."
Well Mr Obama that's their plan whats your plan?
From the deja vu laugh your ass off file:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHmhxpQEGPo&feature=player_embedded
The more things change, the more the MSM help hide the facts...
un effing believable........................
"All the kings horses and all the kings men", about time to quit giving the oil companies rule of the planet, it will be a miracle if we survive this...the burning of the Iraqi wells laid soot across the Himalayas which expedited their snow and glacier melt...and now this poisoning of the seas...what planet exactly, are these guys from, that they can so cavalierly risk ours? STOP driving, SLOW DOWN and enjoy what time we have left and THINK deeply about what, in our culture, lead us to this extinction. We have to break out of our numbness and demand accountability from our leaders and governments to protect the integrity of the earth. Peace out.
"All the kings horses and all the kings men"
Profound application, concerned!
STOP
SLOW DOWN
Wise advice
There is still some time left to learn what we are here to learn.
Peace out to you too.
Ok. Obamageddon has proven incompetence on nearly every issue facing this nation, if not criminal corruption.
This was his last chance.
He should resign or be impeached.
Good Grief. Can he be allowed to continue his destruction?
I am posting this information again for anyone who may have missed it yesterday.The Center For Biological Diversity website also added a few more details and they are suing to stop the Obama administration practice of issuing drilling permits without complete environmental review.
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2010/05/18
Comment and excerpts:
Millions of gallons gushing into the Gulf ? How about millions of barrels ! And this is just the beginning !
Obama is little more than a criminal corporate sock puppet serving the special interests of Big Oil, including the endless occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. Both BP and ExxonMobil now have oil contracts in Iraq made possible by tax subsidized warfare. Afghanistan is the key to the exploitation of Central Asian oil and natural gas for Asian markets. Public war debt for private profit.
But Obomber is also willing to wage an environmental and economic corporate class war against the American people.
No doubt Bush and Cheney put in the Big Oil fix with the MMS, But Obomber has outdone Bush by granting new offshore leases along with the elimination of environmental reviews. And in light of the recent disaster his new plan is only a temporary moratorium. Worse yet, new leases are being approved without improving the environmental review process.
Obama and Salazar should be arrested and held until the rule of law is established as well as impeachment proceedings. BP's assets should also be seized until the Deep Horizon issues are completely resolved.
From: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2010/post-disaster-permits-05-07-2010.html
Center For Biological Diversity
"MMS Approved 27 Gulf Drilling Operations After BP Disaster
26 Were Exempted From Environmental Review, Including Two to BP
Salazar's "Moratorium" on New Drilling Permits Allows Continuation of the Same Flawed
Environmental Exemption Process that Allowed the BP Catastrophe
TUCSON, Ariz.— Even as the BP drilling explosion which killed eleven people continues to gush hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil per day into the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. Department of Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) has continued to exempt dangerous new drilling operations from environmental review. Twenty-seven new offshore drilling projects have been approved since April 20, 2010; twenty-six under the same environmental review exemption used to approve the disastrous BP drilling that is fouling the Gulf and its wildlife.
Under Salazar’s “moratorium”, the environmental review process will continue to be completely undermined in the exact same manner as in the BP oil spill.
Salazar is playing a cynical shell game, making the public think he stopped issuing the faulty approvals that allowed the disastrous BP drilling to occur, when in fact he has given MMS the green light to keep issuing those very same approvals,” said Suckling. “The only thing Salazar has stopped is the final, technical check off which comes long after the environmental review. His media sleight of hand does nothing to fix the broken system that allowed what may be the greatest environmental catastrophe of our generation to occur.”
http://www.gomr.mms.gov/PI/PDFImages/PLANS/29/29
look at the plans, BPs worst case scenario 162,000 barrels.
where did they get 1000 then 5000?
more plans.....substitue /29/29 for /30/30
the 5,000 came from the Oilbama Administration's Jan Lubchenco, who is the Administrator of the NOAA. It has been reported many times as BP's number, or the Coast Guard's number. BP and its best buddy Thad Allen of the Coast Guard, gladly pointed to the 5,000 BPD figure. Now, the outside experts that were saying 70,000 BPD to 100,000 BPD have been politically silenced, as they were brought into the Flow Rate Technical Group, which released the latest larger but still bogus estimate of between 12,000 BPD and 19,000 BPD.
The new estimate would have you believe, that only about 5 gallons per second, to less than 10 gallons per second are coming out, since the breakdown of the original 5,000 BPD was 2.43 gallons per second.
The 2.43 gallons per second was absurd to anyone with eyeballs after seeing the video of the gushing oil, and remember that 2.43 gallons per second estimate (5,000 BPD) would be the total amount all leaks combined.
So by comparison, as we've all seen that oil under high pressure gushing from just one of the leaks, there is no way in hell it is only about 10 gallons per second as the newest estimates from the FRTG would have you believe.
Thad Allen, BP's chief apologist who bragged about having Hayward's cell phone number, and who repeatedly pointed to the 5,000 BPD estimate and scorned the other higher estimates, is the guy who formed the FRTG. I'm sure he has the final word as to what estimates get published as the groups numbers.
I'm sure that the troll chuk_it_levi_strauss will be along very soon accusing me of 'circumstantial ad hominem'.
I wish someone could help me
Saturday, after top kill failed, they no longer showed the
cracked risor but they did have a camera on a big huge
gusher that appeared to be coming from the ocean floor.
I have not seen that gusher again.
Where was that gusher in ref to the BOP?
They have shown the gusher at the end of the risor again.
but the biggest gusher was the one they showed for a while
Saturday and it wasn't attached to anything so where is
the crude coming from that is shown coming from the rizor
that is laying horizonally on the ocean floor
And where is the gusher that was shooting from the ocean
floor?
I am really confused. I know what I saw.
A really huge gusher from the ocean floor, nothing attached
to it, where did it go?, how come the end of the risor gusher is back? these are puzzelments.
Att: Baboon
This http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4whiKQgnp4w&feature=player_embedded
might be an explanation, I dont know.
Baboon:
If nothing at all, I assure you that we have never seen the real gusher.
They're just mocking us with this video.
I ask you. We've got Mr. Two Faced Corporate Back Room Deal in the WH, clearly hoping nobody would notice the millions of gallons of in the Gulf, after a month of this shit and says I want the American people to see what's going on!
Well,I don't know about you, but my bullshit barometer definitely registered.
It's probably some computer animation they created in the Pentagon, is my bet.
Once Obama and the Pentagon agreed to let BP recover the oil no matter what (concerned with shareholders over us), the cover up began.
That meant no outside assistance, BP in total control of the area, info, media, local employees, the whole kit n kaboodle.
Their bigger problem was figuring out how to convince us they might be able to cap it, but in truth having zero intentions of really doing it because by law, capping it meant BP abandoning the well.
Since that was out of the question, they had to buy time for the relief wells, and to do that they had to appear like they exhausted all possibilities in plugging it up but failed, leaving us no other choice but letting it gush out for months and months till the relief wells are done.
Then BP gets their oil. As far as the nation, wildlife, and people, not important to them.
I have been wondering the same thing!
... They are indeed, puzzelments?
...The ocean floor gusher is certainly serious (mainly oil), well worthy of some attention I would have thought, but I also have not seen it since Saturday?
... Maybe they just want to play with their toys to look as though they are doing something and to distract the viewers and have no intention of dealing with the main leak until the relief holes have been drilled? ... The hole in the ocean floor did look to be in a pretty difficult spot after all.
... I am not expecting any forthcoming explanations from either BP or the US government!
If there is any doubt that the Oilbama Administration still seeks to downplay this bloody disaster, the following quote from the article answers it…
The White Houses energy tsar Carol Browner, warned that the giant, rapidly expanding oil slick caused by an explosion on BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig was‚ "probably the biggest environmental disaster we have ever faced".
PROBABLY????????
Also, the article ends in this sentence…
By then, the slick on the ocean's surface, estimated at 18m to 40m gallons of oil, could have doubled in size.
NO MENTION that with the heavy use of dispersants, and because of the depth of release even without dispersants, there may be equal amounts of oil, or more under the surface.
"Obama ordered government and contractor clean-up resources in areas affected by oil to be tripled."
Exactly how long did it take Oilbama to do that?
But he got his off budget war supplemental. The kind of off budget trickery that he condemned Bush for, but adopted as soon as he became a 'war President'.
What we're shown on TV of the undersea wellhead area is edited -- including the alleged live cams. If what you see often doesn't make sense, that's because creating informational confusion is part of BP's PR strategy --not that this will do them any good as more and more crude surfaces and washes ashore.
But oil company execs and engineers, especially BP's, aren't known for thinking rationally or very far ahead. If they were, they would've had a reliable shutoff device in palce before the drilling began, or not drilled at all.
What I wonder about more, is whether this mega disaster will finally cause average USAan's to start sanely thinking ahead, and compel them to create a legitimate government that does likewise.
On blown out wells and gushers on the surface, they put a large heavy valve in place and clamp it to the pipe. The valve is wide open. The difficulty is to sway the valve directly over the gusher so they can lower it onto the pipe. Once it is lined up, the oil is flowing through the open valve and it is lowered or hauled into place and clamped to the pipe.
Once this has been done, the valve is VERY slowly closed to avoid sending a "water hammer" effect back down the well, which could cause a blowout further down the pipe.
Once the valve has closed off the well, then the next step can be taken, either to connect up to the discharge hose to the surface tankers, or to seal the whole thing up.
This procedure does not require micro-metric precision in cutting the end of the pipe, nor does it require threading it onto the pipe. It has been many years since I saw this done, but I dimly recall, now, that they put a collar on the pipe below the break that would then take the valve. That allows the valve opening to be a bit larger than the pipe, further reducing back pressure until the valve is closed.
I'm no oil engineer, but this is the first thing that occurred to me. I couldn't (and can't) figure out why the same technology that works so well on the surface won't work on the sea bottom. The surface operation is done by a bunch of roustabouts at the wellhead. They have all this robotic equipment down there, much stronger than any man, with much dexterity.
C'mon, guys, do something positive for a change. The technology is there; use it!
The people do not matter anymore.
The earth does not matter anymore.
Nature does not matter anymore.
All that matters is getting oil from the ocean floor.
The Bribed Politicians always leave open the back door.
The Biggest Prick then made a hole in the deepest reservoir.
The Black Pimple of death then exploded and spewed
The Biggest Pollutor cannot stop the flow of crude
Getting Beyond Poison into every creature and its food
Such flawed creatures we are, living on dirty technological fuel.
This technology will have to die, as natures resource limits are so cruel.
The last of oil civilization will thrash about in needless squander,
while political failures everywhere, let shareholders have free plunder.
Not one drop of gulf oil will save civilisation for another day.
It will just hasten the passing of our world, evil and gray.
DELUSIONS
We are deluded into thinking Mother Earth is just a thing That she will continue to give us beauty every winter throughout spring.
We are deluded into thinking money will take care of all things wrong. Look at the ocean now and where is the whale's song?
We are deluded into thinking governments will care for us. Powers that be consider NOT the delicate balance begins to rot.
We are deluded into thinking wars are for the common good. In reality those serving have sadly misunderstood.
We are deluded into thinking we can all attain great riches, though many in the real world end up digging ditches.
Please I beg AWAKEN from delusions brought upon us.If not Mother Earth will tire and no longer fortify us.
Perhaps, because of our continuing support for Israeli Atrocities, Allah has sent this Plague of Oil down upon us. Our stiff necked government ignored bin Laden's warning and that has cost us one trillion dollars so far. These are the daze and Mister, we could use a man like Adolph Hitler again!
Regarding the peasants losing their fishing businesses and jobs, why didn't Oilbomba get a mandatory oil slick insurance law passed by now so that these losers would not be leeching off BP and off the public dole after they lose their fishing businesses and jobs. These fishermen are irresponsible for not having bought oil slick insurance from a bailed out mega corporation, and/or Oilbomba is irresponsible for not making this a requirement already, as he did with the health insurance.
If this sounds funny to you, forgive me; I'm only trying to look at this in the way that Oilbomba looks at it: there is a solution to be found for every problem from the very well off executives and engineers of huge, bailed out mega corporations. According to Oilbomba, they have all the answers simply because in general people who have almost all of the money must have all the answers.