God Bless Deregulation.(snarK)

Well, no shit. Of course it could take until Christmas -- it may very well keep gushing oil until there is no more oil left in the well.

I figured that out after about the eighth attempt to plug the well failed... The Gulf of Mexico is Dead.

Some say it's foolish to stop offshore drilling just because of BP's one "slip-up." BP's "relief" wells now being dug are tapping into the oil reserve and, like the "capping", seem to have the same real objective of pumping more oil into the coffers of BP.

It seems that BP is not trying to stop the oil flow nearly so much as "capture" it, put it into tankers, sell it, take it to refineries.

Meanwhile the Gulf of Mexico becomes the Gulf of Oil. For what?

BP is not producing oil for us. Oil from our backyard is not less expensive than OPEC oil. The main countries from whom we import oil are:
* Canada
* Mexico
* Saudi Arabia
* Venezuela and
* Nigeria

The US produces about 4.95 million barrels of crude oil each day. The total percentage of US oil that comes from the offshore Gulf of Mexico is just under 32%. In 2008, the United States consumed a total of 7.14 billion barrels of oil (refined petroleum products and biofuels), which was about 23% of total world oil consumption. In 2008, about 57% of the petroleum consumed by the United States was imported from foreign countries.

“Petroleum” includes crude oil and refined petroleum products like gasoline. Most (88%) of the imports were crude oil. About 66% of the crude oil processed in U.S. refineries was imported.

In 2006,1 about 331 million barrels of liquid petroleum gases (LPG) and natural gas liquids (NGL) were used to make plastic products in the plastic materials and resins industry in the United States, equal to about 4.6% of total U.S. petroleum consumption. Of the total, 329 million barrels were used as feedstock and 2 million barrels were consumed as fuel.

Electricity is also used to manufacture plastic materials and resins: in 2006, about 19.2 billion kilowatt-hours, less than 1% of total U.S. electricity consumption. Only about 1.4% of the total U.S. petroleum consumed in 2006 was used to generate electricity.

U.S. refineries produce between 19 and 20 gallons of motor gasoline from one barrel (42 gallons) of crude oil. 46% of our oil consumption is made into gasoline.

Over one-fourth of the crude oil produced in the United States is produced offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. The top crude oil-producing States are:

* Texas
* Alaska
* California
* Louisiana
* North Dakota

The world's biggest oil well, it is said, lies beneath Detroit. US vehicles get an average of only 25 miles per gallon. Dramatically improving this would do more to ease the oil crunch than any likely new discovery. But new measures recently approved by Congress would increase the average only to the 35 mpg already being achieved by China. Europe does better, if not well enough, at 44 mpg. So, what's foolish?

I think it's foolish not to close down all the offshore oil drilling. Where should we drill? Into the auto industry.

Here is an excerpt from "The Gulf Oil Spill and the Case for Socialism" -- by Jerry White
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jun2010/pers-j08.shtml

"... from the beginning the overriding concern of BP executives and the White House has been to conceal from the public the extent of the disaster and protect the revenue and profits of the corporation. Last week, the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS)—which was complicit in ignoring the safety and environmental violations prior to the blast—deliberately distorted the findings of the scientific team commissioned to estimate how much oil was leaking into the Gulf. ...

"The well-paid politicians, journalists and academics have long defended capitalism by claiming that the “market” is the most efficient and rational means of organizing the economy and allocating society’s resources. But the BP disaster has revealed to the world the terrible consequences of the anarchy and unplanned character of capitalism, and its subordination of human life to private profit.

"Like his Republican predecessor in the White House, Obama identifies not with the plight of the victims of this disaster but with the corporate criminals responsible for it. Less than three weeks before the Deepwater Horizon explosion, Obama promoted his plan for the expansion of offshore drilling, telling a North Carolina audience, “oil rigs today generally don’t cause spills. They are technologically very advanced.”

"In fact BP and other oil corporations were totally unprepared for what BP CEO Tony Hayward called “low-probability risk” of a leak one mile below the surface of the ocean. Like the Wall Street banks, the Big Oil companies are not driven by long-term and socially necessary considerations—including preserving the planet. Their overriding concern is ensuring the largest and quickest quarterly results and returns for their shareholders. How else can one explain the haste with which BP sought to wrap up operations on the Deepwater Horizon—ignoring and covering up the warnings of an impending disaster—and move on to the next multi-billion dollar drilling site.

"Even in the midst of the disaster a central focus of the company has been to keep its stock value from falling. BP’s share price actually rose 2.7 per cent on Monday morning, reportedly in response to statements by its Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg late last week that the company executives “fully understand the importance of our dividend to our shareholders.”

"The most logical and necessary response would be to requisition the dividends and all of the productive and financial resources of BP—which made a $17 billion profit last year—to effectively deal with the consequences of the spill and compensate those being devastated by it.

"However, the Obama administration has steadfastly defended the private property and profits of BP, presenting these as sacrosanct and inviolable. In the White House press conference Monday, Admiral Allen said the government had to “work in parallel, in a cooperative manner” with BP to “get things done, because they own the means of access” to the underwater drill site. This was a variation on his comments on May 24, when he said that the government could not push BP aside because the company “owned the means of production.”

"The question is why should a gigantic corporation—whose single-minded goal of augmenting the personal wealth of top executives and big shareholders has produced such a catastrophe—be allowed to maintain control of the means of production? Moreover, why should vast natural resources, such as petroleum and natural gas, “belong” to any private corporation? Instead, the assets of BP should be commandeered in the interests of society as a whole and utilized to address this emergency.

"But the nationalization of the oil industry, no less than the nationalization of the banks, will not be carried out by a government—whether led by the Democrats or Republicans—which is owned lock, stock and barrel by the corporations themselves. The transformation of the energy conglomerates into publicly owned utilities and the establishment of a democratically, planned socialist economy, can only be achieved if the working class takes political power in its own hands."

Click here for the entire article -- http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jun2010/pers-j08.shtml

I hate to say 'I told you so...'

http://www.sadtrombone.com/

I think it's time for another Summer of Love, only this time for keeps. No drugs needed though, just be high on life. It could move the working class.

On another note, I had a conversation with a ph.d. who was complaining about the "Obama administration halting all offshore drilling." First of all, did I miss something that the Obama administration "did?"

... and blaming "environmentalists" that the poor, poor oil company had to drill so deep because they were forced not to turn the beaches into oil rig fronts.

She said, so now, look what those environmentalists did! If it weren't for them, it would be easy to fix the gusher, because it would be right near shore in shallow water.

Her worry? Shutting down offshore drilling will lead to high prices and long lines like in 1973. She also said "there is SO MUCH oil just lying there in Alaska which the environmentalists won't let us touch."

On the one hand, I wondered if we should start celebrating-- I didn't know that "environmentalists" finally wield more power than global oil companies!!!! Wow! I thought they had only managed to stop them temporarily, for now.

I said, well, the environmentalists I know have been saying for DECADES, we need cleaner energy sources, but the oil companies have used their power to block that, to keep us on dirty oil, to prevent rehabbing of vehicles, which many now get 15mpg.... shouldn't the oil that is LEFT be reserved for components of solar panels and geothermal parts i.e.? The environmentalists I know haven't thought that it was a good idea to take the warning of the 1973 oil embargo and turn it into a decision to build bigger homes and drive LESS fuel efficient vehicles. and, have Americans EVER united to CONSERVE ANY natural resources, beyond token gestures? We got some parks but they are under siege by private interests.

Then, this ph.d. scientist poohpoohed the Gulf disaster saying it has been "sensationalized." I said I thought it was being understated as media policy. I said, do we live in different countries? She said "the ocean has AMAZING restorative powers, and this spill is going to be cleaned up-- they are doing amazing things down there-- and white beaches won't stay black for long. She thought the media was trying to make it look worse by showing one oiled bird over and over.

I should have asked her where she got her ph.d. and was it cheap, maybe I can get one too.

This little tidbit needs everyones attention:

"BP is also aware that the relief wells could be as unstable as the original one. Experts admit no one can rule out another blowout such as the one that sent the original rig, Horizon Explorer, to the bottom of the ocean."

Thats right each of the 2 relief wells could blow-out too. this is the first mention of that that I have read in the media, but it is true.

The hottest sea surface temperatures in the entire Atlantic Ocean today are along the Louisiana coast, along the Florida Gulf coast and around the Florida Keys. Not good. The oil sheen apparently acts to heat the sea surface.

Tropical Storm Alex is likely to form in the Atlantic in the next couple of days. A rough hurricane season is forecast.

From my experience, currently it's a real shame that both BP and the government ignores and apparently despises independent inventors.

If the worst case happens and it is Christmas before the oil is stopped, than won't the gulf of Mexico and the wetlands be dead by that time? This is terrible news.

It sounds like the explosion is the worst they have ever seen and that they don't have the know how to stop it. Another question I have is WHY did they give BP permission to drill for oil when there would be no human way possible to stop the vocano of oil that would be caused by an explosion.

Their plan was a joke. They mentioned anaimals not even found in the gulf of Mexico but in the Artic. Didn't a red flag drop as government employees charged with the oversight read their plan? I know I would have felt like they were trying to pull something and that I as an employee for the government must deny their request. This is what happens when we have a corrupted government who for their greed take chances that can destroy the environment for decades and even generations. The health of its workers who are forced to take risks or be fired is also at stake. Men shouldn't have to take jobs that are unsafe or be forced to sign legal documents that are binding without being able to talk to a lawyer or loose your job. I know in AZ another right to work state, it happens all the time. What will those in government have gained who gave BP and other oil companies the pass they needed to drill for oil so deep? They are part of the reason the destruction of the gulf of Mexico and the wetlands is happening, because they took the gold instead of doing their jobs. Everything is dead or dying. What have those corrupted officals gained for their gold coins? They too will feel the effects of their folly for generations to come. It will take years for the gulf to recover.

I wonder if there is so much oil coming out that it will kill the gulf of Mexico and the wetlands to the point of them never coming back to the paradise it was before the explosion? Not to many people have spoken about if we can reach the point of no return for the gulf and the wetlands.

Get out your surfboards and ride the hurricane storm surge waves of crude oil !

Courtesy of BP and Obomber !

So, two BP big shots are going to be in DC... AG Holder, please pass the arrest warrants. If not the illustrious Mr. Holder, the Park Service cops could make the collar. With the celebrity arrests all over the news, the Treasury could quietly seize the US assets of BP, Halliburton, and TransOcean. But then again, we're not living in a perfect world.

Obama has to seize BP,nationalize the oil companies and use the revenue to instigate an alternative energy revolution. If the earth survives the Gulf disaster's spread to every ocean, we will have learned our lesson and been given a second chance. Suggested beach reading for this summer: Kurt Vonnegut's short story, "Ice Nine".

I spent this morning re-reading the history of the Niger Delta from the first complaints against Shell Oil's environmental degradation in 1970 through the "Ogoni Wars" in the mid nineties to the present day. Assurances by oil executives that spills would be cleaned up and the environment restored were identical to the ones we are hearing from BP today. Everything about it, from a government bought and paid for by the oil companies (over 90% of Nigeria's revenue) to eerily familiar statements such as this at a huge rally in 1993:

"The Ogoni people have woken up to find our lands devastated by agents of death called oil companies. Our atmosphere has been totally polluted, our lands degraded, our water contaminated, our trees poisoned, so much so that our flora and fauna have virtually disappeared. We are asking for the restoration of our environment, we are asking for the basic necessities of life... but above all we are asking for the right of self determination so that we can be responsible for our resources and our environment."

By 1995 the leaders of this movement had been hanged and the region descended into a chaos of social degradation, impotent rage, disorganized sabotage and kidnapping of oil company employees that continues to the present time. Imagine the Gulf Coast minus any means of livelihood save working on oil rigs or as thugs to protect oil company property from those who have been robbed of everything natural and clean.

The history of our future has been written many times all over the world, so there is no mystery to it. We're just in denial if we don't look at it and see it coming, like a flock of ugly chickens come home to roost. I had the same thought following 911, that we had finally joined the real world. Welcome to the neighborhood.

Why would a blown relief well release 240,000 BPD, but we are supposed to believe that the high end estimate from Thad Allen's (chief BP ___ sucker) FRTG is 40,000 BPD, from an existing blown out well? It is obvious, there has been a conspiracy between BP and the Oilbama Administration to lowball the BPD estimates, which serves both the Oilbama Administration and BP. Remember, the original estimate of 5,000 BPD was the NOAA's estimate, not BP. BP was of course happy with that estimate. That estimate, broken down per second, was a 2.43 gallons per second, all leaks combined. It took weeks for there to be any serious challenge of those numbers, and it didn't come from any investigative reporter, but finally BP was forced to release the video, and some outside experts stated the obvious. Even after that, NOAA's Jan Lubchenco (BP's Assistant Chief ____ sucker) maintained her 5,000 BPD estimate. Maintained that only 2.43 gallons per second for all leaks combined constituted the big blowout that no one could control.

It is probably 240,000 BPD right now, given that there has been some evidence that the pipe casing was breached either by the blowout, or by the top kill procedure, which would cause oil to be seeping up through the bedrock.

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2010/06/evidence-points-to-destruction-beneath.html

This IS the worst-case scenario.

Hurricanes also pose a problem. The hurricane season in the Gulf began this month, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted it will be "active to very active", with up to 23 named storms and up to 14 hurricanes on the way.
==================================

Current in Jamaica only 40-50 years ago, this little rhyme (well, it rhymes when recited by a Jamaican) shows the effects of climate change more succinctly that any chart. It's about hurricane season:

June - too soon
July - stand by
August - you must
September - remember
October - all over

"The probable outcome is much better..."

What a load of crap. I tried to keep away from this for as long as I could, because I knew from the first week this was going to be BAD. But it's not BAD, it's beyond catastrophic. The sea bed is ruptured (that's where all the giant oil plumes are coming from,) and the idea that a "relief" well is going to fix this....

The only thing they are doing is trying to keep from spreading the panic they know is inevitable. Hurricanes, low cloud cover holding in the VOCs, the INEVITABLE collapse of the economy of the entire Gulf states- every small bank down there will collapse- and that's just for starters.

There is NOTHING good that is going to come out of this. And all this yap about BP paying....they don't have enough money in the entire oil industry to pay for what is happening.

Can we please clarify? The worst-case scenario is not that the well can't be capped until Christmas. The worst-case scenario is that it can't be capped at all, that it spews until it is depleted, perhaps for years and years and years. Even worse: the oil, mixed with toxic dispersants, is lifted up in a hurricane from the Gulf of Oil (formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico) and spread far and wide over the land, possibly over the entire eastern half of the U.S. Crops and livestock die, people get sick and die.

Or this: As a last resort, a decision is made to nuke the well to try to get it to implode in on itself, and that creates bigger problems, such as the release of a giant methane explosion that wipes us all out.

I hate to be such a downer here, but things can get seriously, seriously worse. One thing I'm pretty sure of - this thing will not be "capped" by August. That is BP's estimate, so we automatically should assume it's a lie.

Christmas? What year?

This is sounding like that recording your health insurance company plays back to you every 60 seconds while you're on hold for to find out why your policy has been cancelled without notice. "Our agents are all busy helping other customers...your wait time is now estimated to be..." (And after 30 minutes, the line just goes dead.)

In my most recent nightmare, a BP think tank was studying the Bhopal disaster to figure out how Union Carbide & their successors got out of it. What do you bet the major money interests at BP have already bailed? And are now cashing in on their hedge positions.

As with other catastrophes that have occured, I'm sure we will find out eventually, the company who is responsivable for the oil disaster, and I say Chaney's Halliburton. The Brits wish to investigate the illegal invasion of Iraq, and that has upset the previous Administration.

If this well is not capped it will spew enough oil to kill all of the oceans, the ultimate source of all life. Phytoplankton, for example, in the oceans supply most of the oxygen to the earth. They will die. Atmospheric oxygen will drop precipitously. The oil sheen will overheat the oceans causing massive tropical storms/hurricanes. At the same time so much methane will be released that global warming will run rampant. The planet and most life on it will be destroyed, probably by December 21, 2012. It didn't have to be this way but greed was just such an overwhelming desire that it overcame sanity and intelligent thought. We had a good run but we were so stupid we allowed ourselves to drown in our own excrement.

Engineers solve problems. Why hasn't there been a lot of money given to our best engineering schools, so they could use the "best and brightest" to help solve this problem?

Just like the Exxon-Valdez disaster, the recent BP disaster was planned. We are sitting back and allowing the most criminally insane people to control our planet. These same people (corporations) prevent development of free energy systems, prevent known cancer cures, and are in the process of trying to kill as many of us as possible with contaminants in our air, food, and water. Oil and gas drilling alone will eventually kill all of us by destroying our ground water. We need to understand that the rulers of each government (with few exceptions) are committed to the wholesale destruction of our planet and future generations of humans. Take autism, which is induced by forced vaccination, now affects 1 in 150 children. Do you not see the eventual outcome of this in 20 years? We need to take back our planet from these criminals, take back our media, and organize the brightest minds in in the world to redesign our entire culture based upon recent scientific breakthroughs. Time is running out.