Gulf coast oil spill

[ZenGum]

The top kill has been declared to have failed. Bugger.
I think we're up to plan H now (notably similar to preparation H) which is a sea floor riser containment thing. I don't know how that differs from the top hat thing was tried earlier.
The relief well is the only reliable solution. That is still a long way off. I kind of wonder if all the other attempts are expected to fail but are being done to maintain the appearance of doing something.

[classicman]

I've been wondering the same thing. All this is window dressing till the only viable solution is completed.
I really don't understand why they can put a smaller tube inside, yet cannot put a larger pipe over it.

[ZenGum]

Guessing at the physics here. A small pipe inserted inside the main pipe with a tight seal would maintain the pressure, allowing extraction. A big containment dome allows the spill to burst from the pipe. The spill is part natural gas. As the gas gets released from the pipe, it undergoes pressure drop, thus expanding and cooling substantially. This cooling causes some hydrocarbons in the spill to freeze. These frozen bits clog up the containment dome, so additional oil or gas is forced out into the open sea again. I think that was what went wrong with the Top Hat and similar strategies.

[classicman]

Wasn't the top hat a funnel shape though? Does that matter?

[HungLikeJesus]

Was ZenGum's post full of innuendo, or is that just me?

[ZenGum]

now that you mention it ...

[classicman]

BP accused of staging cleanup photo-op

http://www.cnn.com/video/#

The extra workers were brought in for Friday only, at a rate of $12 an hour, officials told WDSU. They were mostly from Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes.
Jefferson Parish Councilman Chris Roberts didn’t buy into the cleanup effort.
"They must think we're all fools," he said.
Roberts called BP's efforts "shameful."
"The level of cleanup and cooperation from BP in the last week in no way compares to the effort shown on the island today," Roberts said. "This is a total shame that a mockery has been made of this visit by the executives of BP."
During a visit Friday to Louisiana, Obama toured a beach where tar balls are washing ashore and attended a briefing at a Coast Guard station in Grand Isle.
Roberts said that since oil started coming ashore in Grand Isle last week, no more than a dozen workers hired by BP have been seen on the beaches in the area, until Friday when the president arrived.
"I've heard estimates of 300-500 people there today," Roberts said. "They were given T-shirts and pants and handed a shovel and taken to the beach."
BP said that despite no notice of the added forces beforehand, the workers were scheduled.
"We moved in considerably more people to fight the battle where the oil is," said BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles.
BP's local contractor also said it was no stunt.

"So, just to be clear, there are allegations this was just a dog and pony show for the president. So you're saying this was nothing more than a sheer coincidence that the president shows up and all the workers come out in force on the same day?" asked WDSU I-Team reporter Travers Mackel.

"Yes, absolutely a sheer coincidence," said BP contractor Donald Nalty.
Roberts and people living on the island said Obama left and the work stopped.
"You should also recognize that these people are working out in the hot sun. They are starting early and ending early, and leaving their location in the afternoon is not unusual," Suttles said. "It's not associated with the president arriving."
Roberts said he doubts BP's intentions.
"BP has not been forthcoming with anyone so far, from the state, local or federal level, and it's shameful that would try and orchestrate this effort to try and prove they are on their game," he said.

[classicman]

Pelosi blames Bush administration for BP oil spill.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., blamed the Bush administration for any lack of oversight leading up to the Gulf oil spill. The Obama administration, on the other hand, is blameless.

From Talk Radio News Service:

“Many of the people appointed in the Bush administration are still burrowed in the agencies that are supposed to oversee the [oil] industry,” Pelosi said when asked if Democrats could have prevented or mitigated the crisis by keeping a closer watch on the industry.

Added the Speaker, “the cozy relationships between the Bush administration’s agency leadership and the industry is clear…I’ve heard no complaints from my members about the way the president has handled it,” Pelosi stated.

On Friday, the Washington Examiner requested that Speaker Pelosi’s office release the list of Bush appointees to whom she was referring. We’ll let you know when we hear back.

link

[lookout123]

I think this happened because george bush hates black people.

[Flint]

Originally Posted by lookout123

I think this happened because--

I'ma let you finish, but George Bush had the best hates black people OF ALL TIME.

[SamIam]

I guess black people and fishermen will continue to be hated at least until August - that's the earliest they think they can get a second well built. No one seems to have much confidence in the sea floor riser containment thing. From sea to shining sea, anyone?

[HungLikeJesus]

Couldn't the residents just make money collecting the oil off the water and re-selling it? It's probably worth more than seafood.

Look, free oil!

[Urbane Guerrilla]

What seemed to have stymied the silo-type container placed atop the blowout sounded like the formation of methyl-hydrate crystals inside, which blocked the flow, and they had no way of clearing them out.

[Pete Zicato]

Pictures from the gulf coast.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/201...na_shores.html

[classicman]

Wow - heartbreaking images.
I still cannot fathom that there is nothing we can do to contain this flow. Don't other countries, NASA, the Navy ... someone have something that can help? I'm just appalled that there is so much talk and apparently so little action taking place.

Perhaps this comment from that link has a good idea...

lets give as many unemployed people jobs here, and get this cleaned up as fast as possible I'm sure you could easily quickly hire able bodied, unemployed people who are used to physical work (construction work etc), and let them make a basic dollar, and also let them help
it'd be relatively inexpensive, and in most photographs shown I don't see hundreds on the beaches cleaning up in each area
you need a lot of people there are a lot of people available
give them a quick clean-up course, and get them out there now

At the very least I would think that having as many able-bodied people there to help with the cleanup would be a good thing. Why is no one coordinating this effort?
I've heard/read a few things about the corps of engineers not allowing LA to dredge and attempt to protect the wildlife. They need to do studies first. WTF? Could it really be any worse than whats happening?