Off Topic · Crap like this sincerely breaks my heart: (page 4)

Allanfan20 wrote:Just the gulf? How about the land and marshes and swamps that oil is hitting, and it's said that it will hit the Atlantic as well. This is a nightmare, and they are now saying August is the earliest they can plug that disgusting hole.

I cannot help but think of this and some of the consequences. I have lived in Florida most of my life. A hurricane could drive oil far onshore. It is plausible to me at least that the result of oil inland filters down into the water table and makes it undrinkable without at least some kind of treatment

there have been un-confirmed reports of some workers being overcome by fumes. These reports were from other workers doing cleanup. I have seen nothing in the news to confirm this and do not really expect to. 3 have died from fumes so far I was told. I did have another report from a separate source that 3 people were life flighted and many others treated for inhalation of the fumes during cleanup. Apparently these people were equipped with resporators but pulled them off for some reason.
I do not have the resources to confirm these reports nor investigate their validity.

more encouraging developments

http://www.yahoo.com/_ylt=AkW4dg.iMTTR_c...

That's real cool TMS. I certainly hope they can get that mission going ASAP.

i think something like this was what Kevin Costner was developing too... an oil skimmer fitted with his centrifuge that could filter millions of gallons of contaminated water of 99% of the oil... we need a fleet of these kinds of ships deployed right away.

TMS wrote:i think something like this was what Kevin Costner was developing too... an oil skimmer fitted with his centrifuge that could filter millions of gallons of contaminated water of 99% of the oil... we need a fleet of these kinds of ships deployed right away.

Yup. I would say start from the perimeter of where all that oil is and work your way in. Work fast, but take your time by making sure nothing is left untouched. Are they still working on that hole???

as far as i know the hole is still gushing oil... i haven't heard any different

TMS wrote:as far as i know the hole is still gushing oil... i haven't heard any different

That's awesome. I'm very happy to hear that.

Allanfan20 wrote:

TMS wrote:as far as i know the hole is still gushing oil... i haven't heard any different

That's awesome. I'm very happy to hear that.

Will be leaking until at least August, last I heard.

[sarcasm]I mean it's really an uncontrollable problem... if throwing garbage on it doesn't work, what will?[/sarcasm] Why we didn't just nuke it, like the Russians did when they had oil spills, I don't understand.

Solace wrote:

Allanfan20 wrote:

TMS wrote:as far as i know the hole is still gushing oil... i haven't heard any different

That's awesome. I'm very happy to hear that.

Will be leaking until at least August, last I heard.

[sarcasm]I mean it's really an uncontrollable problem... if throwing garbage on it doesn't work, what will?[/sarcasm] Why we didn't just nuke it, like the Russians did when they had oil spills, I don't understand.

is that for real or was that part of the joke? Russians nuked leaking oil wells to close them?

TMS wrote:

Solace wrote:

Allanfan20 wrote:

TMS wrote:as far as i know the hole is still gushing oil... i haven't heard any different

That's awesome. I'm very happy to hear that.

Will be leaking until at least August, last I heard.

[sarcasm]I mean it's really an uncontrollable problem... if throwing garbage on it doesn't work, what will?[/sarcasm] Why we didn't just nuke it, like the Russians did when they had oil spills, I don't understand.

is that for real or was that part of the joke? Russians nuked leaking oil wells to close them?

yup they tried it 5 times in th epast. it worked four times for them.

jimimou wrote:

TMS wrote:

Solace wrote:

Allanfan20 wrote:

TMS wrote:as far as i know the hole is still gushing oil... i haven't heard any different

That's awesome. I'm very happy to hear that.

Will be leaking until at least August, last I heard.

[sarcasm]I mean it's really an uncontrollable problem... if throwing garbage on it doesn't work, what will?[/sarcasm] Why we didn't just nuke it, like the Russians did when they had oil spills, I don't understand.

is that for real or was that part of the joke? Russians nuked leaking oil wells to close them?

yup they tried it 5 times in th epast. it worked four times for them.

holy crap, someone get Kim Jong Il on the phone... he's got a couple nukes he's been dying to set off... mine as well earn a little private corporate coin while you're doing it to help a good cause.

jimimou wrote:

TMS wrote:

Solace wrote:

Allanfan20 wrote:

TMS wrote:as far as i know the hole is still gushing oil... i haven't heard any different

That's awesome. I'm very happy to hear that.

Will be leaking until at least August, last I heard.

[sarcasm]I mean it's really an uncontrollable problem... if throwing garbage on it doesn't work, what will?[/sarcasm] Why we didn't just nuke it, like the Russians did when they had oil spills, I don't understand.

is that for real or was that part of the joke? Russians nuked leaking oil wells to close them?

yup they tried it 5 times in th epast. it worked four times for them.

Yeah, not a joke. This has worked in the past. With, relatively minimal environmental damage. Much less environmental damage than what has already happened with the oil. But, I guess our government didn't want to deal with the political fallout of using a nuclear device.

finally! now hopefully this cap will hold & won't cause any further leaks to develop.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100715/ap_o...

TMS wrote:finally! now hopefully this cap will hold & won't cause any further leaks to develop.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100715/ap_o...

They say the cap isn't permanant, but at least we can start cleaning up now. By cleaning up, I mean literally rebuilding that poor ocean before it hits the Atlantic.

This is very encouraging. 75% of the oil is supposedly clean. Lets keep going though!

http://www.aolnews.com/gulf-oil-spill/ar...

BP Says 'Static Kill' Effort Is Plugging Gulf Well
Lauren Frayer

(Aug. 4) -- BP claimed victory today in the fight to permanently seal its runaway Gulf of Mexico oil well, announcing that it's achieved the "desired outcome" by plugging the damaged pipe with heavy mud as part of a "static kill" operation.

In a statement on its website, BP called the move a "significant milestone" but cautioned that the well is now being monitored, and that "further pumping of mud may or may not be required." Relief wells also still need to be used, it said.

"The well pressure is now being controlled by the hydrostatic pressure of the drilling mud, which is the desired outcome of the static kill procedure," it said. BP is coordinating with government officials to determine the next step, which involves assessing whether to inject cement into the well, it said.

BP successfully capped the well in mid-July, three months after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank, killing 11 workers and triggering the world's worst-ever accidental oil spill. Nearly 5 million barrels of oil have spewed into the gulf since then, according to U.S. government estimates. A 150,000-pound containment cap has stanched the oil flow, but the static kill is one of the steps necessary to seal off the well forever.

The government, meanwhile, announced today it believes that only about a quarter of the oil that gushed from BP's blown-out well since April still remains in the gulf or on its shores, and that it's so diluted that it doesn't pose a serious threat.

"It was captured. It was skimmed. It was burned. It was contained. Mother Nature did her part," White House energy adviser Carol Browner told NBC's "Today" show. Her comments are based on a government assessment first reported by The New York Times that shows only three-quarters of the oil has already disappeared. "We've turned an important corner here for people in the Gulf."

Word that most of the oil is already gone coincides with a joint Senate hearing on Capitol Hill today that will focus on the use of chemical dispersants on the oil spill. The Environmental Protection Agency is likely to face questions over the toxicity of some of the chemicals it approved that have been credited with helping to break up the massive oil slick on the gulf's surface, CNN reported.

The static kill began Tuesday afternoon, after a two-hour "injectivity test" to gauge whether the blown-out well could withstand pressure from the procedure. Confident that it would, engineers began pumping heavy mud into the well's cap, to push oil back into its reservoir more than two miles below the water's surface. The process lasted about eight hours and was successful, BP said.

The static kill is similar to another tactic that failed back in May, the so-called "top kill," which BP tried to pull off while thousands of gallons of crude were still spewing out of the damaged well shaft. With the well capped and its flow halted, BP had more confidence in the static kill's chances of success.

For months, BP described the static kill as only half the solution, with the other half being another plugging operation using two nearby relief wells. They would connect to the damaged well under the sea floor, and funnel another batch of heavy drilling fluids and cement to seal the gusher from below as well.

BP officials said Monday that depending on how successful the static kill is, they might not need to pump mud through the relief wells and could use them as a monitoring tool instead. Those comments from BP senior vice president Kent Wells and others raised the possibility that a successful static kill could mark the end of the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

But BP's statement today suggests the relief wells will indeed be used in a so-called "bottom kill" operation, saying an "upcoming relief well operation ... will continue as per plan."

"A relief well remains the ultimate solution to kill and permanently cement the well," it said. Operations on the relief wells were suspended during the static kill maneuver, and now one of the wells has been fitted with its final casing, through which it will make contact with the blown-out well, it said.

Browner also told NBC that she considers it good news that the static kill is working, but that "we remain focused on the relief well."

"Depending upon weather conditions, mid-August is the current estimate of the most likely date by which the first relief well will intercept the Macondo well annulus, and kill and cement operations commence," BP said. That timing is in line with the company's initial estimates for when the relief wells would come online. Last month, officials said the process might move quicker than planned, but then Tropical Storm Bonnie forced engineers to halt progress for a few days, returning to the previous timeline.

Results from the static kill could reveal new clues about the cause of the April 20 blast that erupted into the world's worst-ever accidental oil spill. With heavy mud sealing off the top of the well, engineers will have a better idea of whether there are any leaks in the long pipe-like casing at the well's center, which could bolster suggestions that the casing may have been set improperly by contractors, the Houston Chronicle reported. Such a finding could help BP deflect some blame for the accident, it said.

"We'll know the path of the hydrocarbons when we're done with this," retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the Obama administration's oil spill point man, told reporters Tuesday.