Meanwhile 4,000+ other wells sit in the gulf, all built to the same "safety" requirements as this one. Any bets as to when the next one will go?It's important to understand that this is a brand new well. I don't think there's too much risk with a well that's been operating for a while. But new wells do have this risk.
What I don't get is this.. it would be very easy to plug if when making the well, they would make a small chamber first, then have a rubber plug stored at the side of the chamber, then if it needs to be plugged, the rubber just moves to the center and the pressure of oil will push it in the pipe and plug it.They have something like that. They're called blowout preventers. As we all know, they have one on this well. Apparently the batteries in the (undersea) control panel were dead. Fun times. The BOP uses metal instead of rubber, though. They call the part the actually stops oil pincers. As in the transocean guy said "that's what the pincers are for" when BP demanded they swap mud with seawater ahead of schedule before this thing blew.
Now Louisiana governor and Republican hack Bobby Jindal, who was so vocal early on in criticizing the administration for not taking drastic enough steps in the early days after the spill, is calling for President Obama to cancel the recently announced six month moratorium on further deep sea drilling off the coast of Louisiana.The government, and everyone else, really has only one way to prevent blowouts. And that's to prevent drilling in the first place.
Really his dilemma is just a micro version of that facing all of us. We know that we probably shouldn't drill for deepwater oil considering the difficulty of dealing with catastrophic events like this, but so much of our oil comes from deepwater (and much more will in the future) that we have no choice. As oil prices continue to rise, we'll be pushed more and more into doing things that we know are bad ideas.I don't know maybe a little fucking self control? Seriously, we have alternatives to oil, alternatives that would be cheaper if the government seriously invested in them. But because our government is infested with oil company lobbyists, it doesn't happen.
I'd love to know how many viable plans BP et-al have rejected because they'd permanently seal the well ruining any possibility of making money off of this.Top Kill would have permanently sealed the well. So would the "Junk Shot" The relief well would permanently seal the well too. And this was just a 'discovery' well, to fully develop the oil field would (I think) take many wells.
The advantage over the BOP is that BOP is huge and complex, 3 stories high (iirc), it already failed in '79 in a similar circumstance because it has to cut the pipe. Where as the "plug" would just have to be pushed slightly to the center and then the flow of oil would push it to plug the pipeYes, the BOP is complicated, because it exists in the real world. If your thing was going to exist in the real world, it would also be complicated. The bop "simply" cuts the flow of oil using metal pincers. your thing "Simply" puts a rubber stopper in place. But in practice you would have to have some mechanism to push the rubber in place. How would it work? Why would it be less failable then the mechanism in the BOP that moves the pincers? The only real difference is the use of rubber instead of metal, which is probably a bad idea.
delmoi: it's not simple to cut a pipe while at the same time not letting oil to seep or leak out. This caused a problem in 1979 because the drill head was in the pipe when it was being cut. Actually, that means that the plug would not work as well - it needs the pipe to be clear obviously. That might be the reason (or one of) why it's not used. However, if the drill is out, the construction of the plug is much simplerI don't think these things are designed to leak no oil, just not very much. Anyway, the point I am trying to make here is that what you've described is not any different, in practice, from what a BOP is supposed to do. The reason they have to cut the pipe is because the BOP failed. If your thing failed then they would have to cut the pipe too (assuming junk shot, top kill, etc didn't work) There's no reason to think what you've described would work any better then a BOP.
When I'm cleaning oil off of beaches and washing seabirds, I prefer that the oil not be radioactive, thanks.It wouldn't make it much more toxic then it already is. And anyway, it wouldn't make the oil that had already leaked radio active.
Still having trouble visualizing the scale of this mess? Overlay the spill onto your hometown
"the department's Minerals Management Service (MMS) [gave] BP's lease at Deepwater Horizon a 'categorical exclusion' from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) on April 6, 2009."That was last year. A couple months into the Obama administration. How much blame should get get for approving this drilling and exempting them from an environmental plan? I think the answer should be some.
Still, in an interview, Gibbs said Obama doesn’t see the need for a theatrical display of concern.-- Bloomberg
“If the president thought getting mad and yelling would plug the hole, he’d do it on top of the White House,” he said. “He understands we’ll all be judged by our response and our recovery efforts, not on whether he’s been a good method actor.”
Still, in an interview, Gibbs said Obama doesn’t see the need for a theatrical display of concern.-- Bloomberg"
“If the president thought getting mad and yelling would plug the hole, he’d do it on top of the White House,” he said. “He understands we’ll all be judged by our response and our recovery efforts, not on whether he’s been a good method actor.”
Obama 'Fancy Pants': Fox & Friends Criticizes President For Oil Spill Outfit (w/ video).posted by ericb at 2:21 PM on June 4, 2010
It’s hard to take in the breathtaking irony of the right holding Obama responsible for the oil well disaster. You’ve been accusing him of being a socialist: clearly a word whose meaning you don’t understand. Socialism is the state ownership of the means of production. If Obama were a socialist and pursuing socialist policies, the state would own the well. He’s not a socialist. The state does not own the well. BP owns the well. That is what you want. This is what you got. This is what you say you like. Until it doesn’t work for you. Then you want the government you hate and hobble to “fix it.” Infants.posted by kirkaracha at 7:11 PM on June 4, 2010 [2 favorites]
Well, this is exactly what I have been worried about, ever since they claimed a rupture disk or other loss of pressure downwell was responsible for the failure of the top kill, especially since it seems unlikely that a rupture disk alone could cause that much loss of pressure. But, I am not an expert on this.Anybody got a clear explanation of any of this? Would the scenario Nelson is describing mean that even the relief wells won't necessarily do the trick? Is the whole damn oil field going to end up in the Gulf or what?
Joye said she did not think the extra microbial activity would be significant enough to create additional dead zones in the gulf, because microbes need nutrients that do not exist in high enough concentrations at depth. But she cautions that the environmental implications are unknown.-- New Scientist
Lubchenco said that oil was found in "very low concentrations" in the range of less than 0.5 parts per million. NOAA tested samples from three collection sites, confirming the presence of subsea oil 40 nautical miles northeast of the well. She said samples from a site 42 nautical miles northeast were inconclusive and that samples from a site 142 miles southeast "were not consistent with the oil spill."-- NYT
"It is clear Tony has made remarks that have upset people," Svanberg tells Sky News. "This has now turned into a reputation matter, financial and political and that is why you will now see more of me."This isn't about "reputation" you goddamned assholes. This is about the fucking OIL that is spewing in the Gulf and toxifying the environment. This is about the destruction of the local economies. This is about news that shows your company has continually violated rules, much more than many other oil companies (other nasty, evil companies like Shell, even)...
"BP will raise $10 billion this year selling assets, [Chief Financial Officer Byron] Grote said in his call with investors, concentrating on oil and gas fields that aren’t central to the company’s business."*Their assets (current/liquid and fixed) are still and will continue to be substantial.
"On top of the roughly $2.6-billion a quarter it should save in dividend payments, the company has said it would generate over $30-billion from operations this year. It also has massive credit lines.However, the immediate impact: As BP Staggers, Pension Funds Skid.
That should also give the company the support it needs to hold out for a good price for its assets despite the pressure to sell them."
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posted by mygoditsbob at 11:05 AM on June 3, 2010 [15 favorites]