How Can they Stop the Oil Spill?

[brantc]

You can expand that to all politicians are crooked.

White House Covers Up Menacing Oil "Blob"

"In an exclusive for Oilprice.com, the Wayne Madsen Report (WMR) has learned from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sources that U.S. Navy submarines deployed to the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast have detected what amounts to a frozen oil blob from the oil geyser at the destroyed Deep Horizon off-shore oil rig south of Louisiana. The Navy submarines have trained video cameras on the moving blob, which remains frozen at depths of between 3,000 to 4,000 feet. Because the oil blob is heavier than water, it remains frozen at current depths."


'The White House is officially stating that it does not know where the officially reported 10 miles long by 3 miles wide "plume" is actually located or in what direction it is heading. However, WMR's sources claim the White House is getting real-time reports from Navy submarines as to the blob's location. We have learned that the blob is transiting the Florida Straits between Florida and Cuba, propelled by the Gulf's Loop Current, and that parts of it that is encountering warmer waters are breaking off into smaller tar balls that are now washing ashore in the environmentally-sensitive Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas."

http://oilprice.com/Environment/Oil-Spills/White-House-Covers-Up-Menacing-Oil-Blob.html

"Government sources also report that BP is intent on recovering as much oil as possible from the undersea geyser rather than simply plugging and capping the well, which would then place it off-limits to further drilling. The Corps of Engineers reports that BP is playing a game with Obama, convincing him of the feasibility of "shooting junk" into the subterranean pipe, which would stop up the pipe with a manufactured chemical compound called "MUD." However, WMR has been informed that BP actually intends to shoot cement into the pipe in an attempt to cap the well with the later intention of digging a trench for side drilling from the pipe to recover as much oil as possible."

 

[JihadJane]

Scientists Fault U.S. Response in Assessing Gulf Oil Spill



Tensions between the Obama administration and the scientific community over the gulf oil spill are escalating, with prominent oceanographers accusing the government of failing to conduct an adequate scientific analysis of the damage and of allowing BP to obscure the spill’s true scope.

The scientists assert that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other agencies have been slow to investigate the magnitude of the spill and the damage it is causing in the deep ocean. They are especially concerned about getting a better handle on problems that may be occurring from large plumes of oil droplets that appear to be spreading beneath the ocean surface.

The scientists point out that in the month since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, the government has failed to make public a single test result on water from the deep ocean. And the scientists say the administration has been too reluctant to demand an accurate analysis of how many gallons of oil are flowing into the sea from the gushing oil well.

“It seems baffling that we don’t know how much oil is being spilled,” Sylvia Earle, a famed oceanographer, said Wednesday on Capitol Hill. “It seems baffling that we don’t know where the oil is in the water column.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

Coast Guard Under 'BP's Rules'


A CBS News team was threatened with arrest by Coast Guard officials in the Gulf of Mexico who said they were acting under the authority of British Petroleum.


Rule Britannia, Britannia waives the rules!

 

[The Painter]

Rule Britannia, Britannia waives the rules!

Obama waives the rules

27 waivers granted to oil companies since spill

Since the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig exploded April 20, the Obama administration has granted oil and gas companies at least 27 exemptions from doing in-depth environmental studies of oil exploration and production in the Gulf of Mexico.

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, including U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota, already have called for changes at MMS after news that BP was granted an exemption last year for the Deepwater Horizon site.

 

[dafydd]

I saw a news item yesterday which said they were trying to close the leak by a method involving golf balls.

 

[EHocking]

I saw a news item yesterday which said they were trying to close the leak by a method involving golf balls.

See
http://www.bp.com/genericarticle.do?categoryId=9033657&contentId=7062095

In a video news conference on May 17, BP said that they would not be ready to commence this for another week "or so". Also, they are reconsidering the junk shot approach and may first attempt to pump kill mud without running the junk shot first. I'm dubious that this will work without the wellbore being blocked or more restricted than it is above wehre the choke and kill lines enter the BOP. I would think that the oil and gas flow will just flush this mud straight out of the wellbore. I guess they think that sacrificing 300-400bbls of kill mud to this approach is worth the gamble.

 

[EHocking]

Obama waives the rules

27 waivers granted to oil companies since spill

Reading this article from May 7, I believe that this is what is being discussed.
Go HERE for a list (PDF) of those applications from the Center for Biological Diversity site.

ETA: The BP approval was for a different lease location, but I'm guessing the same type of exemption was sought.

Quote:
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, including U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota, already have called for changes at MMS after news that BP was granted an exemption last year for the Deepwater Horizon site.

See my previous post (#259).
I read it as the application for the Exploration Plan was not required by the MMS to furnish considerations for these sections in the application, since it was covered by BP's Regional Response Plan.

 

[brantc]

This just gets deeper and deeper. I think this is the biggest environmental disaster ever.

"Karl Burkart, writing for Mother Jones, reports numerous, unconfirmed reports of cameras and cell phones being confiscated, scientists with monitoring equipment being turned away, and local reporters blocked from access to public lands impacted by the oil spill.

“But wait,” writes Burkart, “isn’t that a public beach? From my viewpoint, it looks as if the Coast Guard has been given direct orders to protect BP’s PR interests above safety concerns over air and water quality, above the outcries of local governments in need of aid, and (worst of all) above the need for the American public to be informed about what is really going on in the Gulf.”"

 

[macdoc]

You may be correct - can't recall anything tho there have been worse losses of life this certainly is a horror.

Mind you Love Canal was as well.

 

[EHocking]

This just gets deeper and deeper. I think this is the biggest environmental disaster ever.

We're just going to discuss internet rumour now?

"Karl Burkart, writing for Mother Jones, reports numerous, unconfirmed reports ...

“But wait,” writes Burkart, “isn’t that a public beach? From my viewpoint, it looks as if...and (worst of all) above the need for the American public to be informed about what is really going on in the Gulf.”"

I couldn't agree more.
Mr. Burkart help by not misinforming the public.

Since the spill, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has OK'd as many as 26 drilling approvals for BP using the same "categorical exclusions" that eliminated the need for a detailed review of the Deepwater Horizon and the Atlantis

See my previous post for the link to the actual list - Mr.Burkart exaggerates the number by an order of magnitude.

Obviously someone who doesn't let facts stand in the way of a good agenda.

 

[EHocking]

...Coast Guard Under 'BP's Rules'
A CBS News team was threatened with arrest by Coast Guard officials in the Gulf of Mexico who said they were acting under the authority of British Petroleum.
Rule Britannia, Britannia waives the rules!

The USCG response to the allegation.

In part, "The only time anyone would be asked to move from an area would be if there were safety concerns, or they were interfering with response operations. This did occur off South Pass Monday which may have caused the confusion reported by CBS today."

 

[EHocking]

While not on the topic of shutting off the leak, here's a useful document explaining what dispersants are, how they work, the consequence of using (or not) using them on a spill and comparisons to alternatives, such as mechanical removal (skimming).

http://documents.plant.wur.nl/imares/dispersants/08sintef.pdf

The authors of the document are:

Sintef, a Norwegian, purportedly independent, research company,
and,
Alun Lewis, an oil spill consultant of some reputation apparently.


ETA: On that subject, the EPA has today directed BP to find alternatives for two of the dispersant chemicals being used, due to concerns about their toxicity (mostly due to the unprecedented volume being used) and the application of it subsea at the leak source, a technique not applied before.

 

[ectoplasm]

I saw this blog post

If the Top Kill operation does not work the Obama administration should take over the operation from BP and do whatever it takes to stop the flow even if it destroys BP's investment and BP should never be able to drill another well in US waters.

It made me wonder, what could the government do to stop this that BP won't do? The implication is that BP is not doing all that it could, because other methods would jeopardize their investment.

newshoggers

 

[Soapy Sam]

"The Obama Administration"?
I'd like to see Hillary pulling pipe.
They would have to hire a drilling contractor.
Probably the ones BP hired.

 

[AlBell]

"The Obama Administration"?
I'd like to see Hillary pulling pipe.
They would have to hire a drilling contractor.
Probably the ones BP hired.

That, and Halliburton.

 

[brantc]

I saw this blog post

It made me wonder, what could the government do to stop this that BP won't do? The implication is that BP is not doing all that it could, because other methods would jeopardize their investment.

newshoggers

If BP stops this without having to drill a slant hole then they will not be allowed to drill another hole.
So they claim that they cant stop it without drilling a slant hole.

 

[brantc]

We're just going to discuss internet rumour now?

I couldn't agree more.
Mr. Burkart help by not misinforming the public.
See my previous post for the link to the actual list - Mr.Burkart exaggerates the number by an order of magnitude.

Obviously someone who doesn't let facts stand in the way of a good agenda.

Somebody is doing damage control.


Deepwater Horizon survivor describes horrors of blast and escape from rig
"Stephen Davis recounts how he was flung against a wall by explosion and kept at sea on work boat for 40 hours after rescue.
"For Davis, the events of that night, when the rig exploded killing 11 of the 126 crew, was only the beginning of his ordeal. He says he and other survivors were to spend the next 40 hours in isolation – barred from phoning their families – while his lawyers believe Transocean, the owners of the rig, readied its legal defences. Seventeen crew members were seriously injured in the incident."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/20/survivor-deepwater-horizon-gulf-oil-explosion

 

[EHocking]

Somebody is doing damage control.
Deepwater Horizon survivor describes horrors of blast and escape from rig
"Stephen Davis recounts how he was flung against a wall by explosion and kept at sea on work boat for 40 hours after rescue.
"For Davis, the events of that night, when the rig exploded killing 11 of the 126 crew, was only the beginning of his ordeal. He says he and other survivors were to spend the next 40 hours in isolation – barred from phoning their families – while his lawyers believe Transocean, the owners of the rig, readied its legal defences. Seventeen crew members were seriously injured in the incident."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/20/survivor-deepwater-horizon-gulf-oil-explosion

Statement from Transocean on the allegation.

In part, "All decisions aboard the rescue boat were made solely by the Coast Guard, including the length of time crew members were kept at sea, the final destination port and the decision not to allow them use of the satellite phones aboard the boat".

Since none of us know (or can know) the particulars at this point in time, I can't see the point of muddying this thread by discussing internet rumours
There is a thread started over in US Politics for hashing out these sorts of allegations.

Any chance we can stick to the topic in the OP? - "Hopefully leaving politics out of the equation, is there any solution to stopping the well, regardless of cost? "

 

[EHocking]

If BP stops this without having to drill a slant hole then they will not be allowed to drill another hole.
So they claim that they cant stop it without drilling a slant hole.

I don't quite understand what you're saying above.

At the moment two relief wells are being drilled.
The first was spudded on May 2 and the second on May 16.

The top kill option is scheduled to be attempted on Tuesday.
http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/2931/543771/

 

[JihadJane]

Any chance we can stick to the topic in the OP? - "Hopefully leaving politics out of the equation, is there any solution to stopping the well, regardless of cost? "

Leaving politics out of the discussion would be like leaving God out of discussions about Christianity.

 

[EHocking]

Not really, since the point of the OP was merely to try to scientifically analyse the effectiveness of suggested solutions to stopping the well flow.

It was meant as a technical discussion such as is suited to the Science and Technology Forum.

There is a Politics Forum just up the road that has a thread for this subject already.