Gulf oil disaster

[Wally Hays]

And yet Obama, the smartest guy to ever be president is running around telling everyone this is the wors environmental disaster in history.

[Dana]

...make that the worst environmental disaster in US history.

Despite being in the gulf (and quite huge), Ixtoc 1 was in the Yucatan, more than 500 miles from from US shores. It's impact on US estuaries was far less due to to both dilution and the two months of warning in which there was time to form and implement a mitigation plan. This blunted the environmental effects in the US considerably. Although the damage in Texas was still significant, it's was not nearly what is now expected in LA/MI/AL (no matter what measures are taken.) The barrier islands protecting the TX coast are much more substantial & continous than those in LA/MI too- it was simply easier to protect.

As a single-event type of environmental disaster, it's hard to think of any past incidents in the US that will have the kind of impact that this oil spill will. Killing the grasses that hold the barrier islands together will leave the the inner coastal marshlands set up for the 1-2 punch on gulf storms in years to come. If the coral reefs in FL are impacted things could get very dicey in the Keys over the next few decades too. The Florida Keys are much closer to this spill than Texas is to Ixpoc-I. This party is just getting started.

[Wally Hays]

Betcha that within 5 years nobody will be talking about it and the damage will be nowhere near as bad as they are saying it will.

[Ian Gills]

Betcha in 5 years, you won't be driving F150s because of this and gas will be more expensive too.

It it had happened on foreign shores no one here would care.

When it happens at home, Americans start to sit up and take notice. Not on my doorstep mister.

It is a mixed blessing.

It's American oil, drilled on American shores for American consumers.

American voters will think of Florida wetlands and Louisiana shrimp farmers next time they fill up at the pump.

Whereas they rarely think twice about the polar ice caps or the turmoil in the Middle East.

Don't undersestimate just how much this will change the world. And all because, for once, America's love of oil has affected the lives and livelihoods of Americans directly.

It is an environmental tragedy, but you pays your money and you takes your chances.

Oil is now dead because you cannot fill your car with gas when your neighbor's yard looks like this.



Nothing pisses an American off more than seeing another American suffer.

So y'all better suck it up and start taking the bus.

I know I will be.

[Cookie]

America is always there for all the other countries. We put our lives and money on the line for so many others, which we get so little thanks for, instead a whole lot of criticism. Let's see who helps us.

[Dunbar Plumbing]

This could of been solved 3 days after it happened by positioning a nuclear warhead and sealing it off by explosion. BP and greed doesn't want that because that is a top producing well, and their thinking is, what's a few 100 million more gallons of oil at this point. Seal that well and they'll never get that chance twice.

Now I'm no meteorologist... See More/weather forecaster but everyone is saying the temperature of the water is up, primed for hurricane weather. I don't know if evaporation is possible to bring this into storm systems but already this oil slick is gassing off, otherwise people on shore wouldn't be having health problems already.

Wait till a hurricane approaches that coastline like it has for the past few years.

A 1/2 million dollar valve weighing 462 tons and 40 foot tall, disaster controlled, not avoided. Should of called a plumber.

[Redwood]

It's amazing what a nuke could fix!

So far ending wars seems to be the only application it has been called in for use on...

[clausbelly]

In the beginning, British Petroleum came up with several ideas for stopping the oil leak. All have failed so far, but they are now attempting to plug the hole with assorted garbage. They call it “Operation Top Kill.” I worry about all the families that make their living from the Gulf, the shellfish and the tourist, as well as teh off-shore workers that live with danger every day. I have family that work off shore and many more that work in the petro-chemical industry.

[FloridaOrange]

Betcha that within 5 years nobody will be talking about it and the damage will be nowhere near as bad as they are saying it will.

Easy to say when you live in New England.

This could of been solved 3 days after it happened by positioning a nuclear warhead and sealing it off by explosion.

Really? You want to set off a nuke in the Gulf? It probably wouldn't work (too large) and may even rupture more "shallow" oil reserves, besides it would be trading the environmental consequences of leaking oil with radiating everything in the gulf. All around the gulf are breeding grounds for alot of life, and not just life that lives in the gulf, plenty of species only come into the gulf only to breed.

In the beginning, British Petroleum came up with several ideas for stopping the oil leak. All have failed so far, but they are now attempting to plug the hole with assorted garbage. They call it “Operation Top Kill.” I worry about all the families that make their living from the Gulf, the shellfish and the tourist, as well as teh off-shore workers that live with danger every day. I have family that work off shore and many more that work in the petro-chemical industry.

Top Kill has been called off as a failure......

[Redwood]

They are now cutting off the damaged riser and are going to attempt a "Sharkbite" style valve installation on the fly...
The only problem is that the damaged pipe they are cutting off is kinked so it is restricting the flow.
If BP screws the pooch on this one it will get worse!

Given the amount of messing up BP has done so far I don't have much confidence in success for their latest plan...
It seem the stock market shares the same thoughts as BP has had its share value drop by a third.

Here is a link to a live feed from the BP ROV doing the cutting operation.
To me it like the equivalent of someone trying to cut 6" cast iron pipe with a Dremel tool...
More like a scratch the pipe and bind bind the blade operation.
BP ROV Live Feed

Matt,
I live in New England and I worry about seeing the effects of the oil spill here...
I'm sure that it's effects will at least reach Cape Hatteras...

Frankly I thing they have a snowballs chance in hell of plugging this before the relief wells are drills and even that probably isn't going to connect on the first several attempts. Drilling just isn't that accurate.

The Ixtoc well that they are comparing this to was in only 50 meters of water and this one is in 5,000' of water.
The Ixtoc well took 9 months to cap!

I predict that by late summer most of the Atlantic Coast will be finding tar balls washed up on shore.
Of course they will probably be claimed to not be from the Deepwater Horizon blowout.
I don't think many people realize the magnitude of this disaster.

So much of it has been hidden by the undersea deployment of dispersants and it's effects are unknown.
What we are seeing is the tip of the iceberg.

All I can say is I have snorkeled in the Keys and seen the coral reef...
I'm glad I did!
The people that haven't done it yet and future generations are going to miss the chance.

Wally, while the spill may not make headlines years from now its effects will live on.
In 1969 there was an oil spill in Buzzards Bay, The spill was diesel oil which is much lighter than the crude that BP is spilling.
40 years later on the surface the spill in Buzzards bay is not all that apparent but in the sediment the oil is still there virtually unchanged.
Its effects lingering on...
It just doesn't show up in the post cards...

Oil is dirty business!

[FloridaOrange]

Matt,
I live in New England and I worry about seeing the effects of the oil spill here...
I'm sure that it's effects will at least reach Cape Hatteras...

I didn't intend my comment to everyone living in NE, just the one making slight of this problem. I don't want it to go up the eastern seaboard either, the damage to Chesapeak Bay would be as bad as the damage that's occuring on the LA coast.
The keys definitely worry me, if (maybe when) the reefs are destroyed it will be for generations to come. I've been diving in the keys and it's absolutely incredible down there.
If I see the oil on my doorstep the oil has already made it down to the keys..........


The accident doesn't piss me off so much as the response to it, accidents happen and we live on oil. BP could've done more (maybe) if they weren't intent in the begininning to save the well vs. stopping the oil.

[Redwood]

I didn't intend my comment to everyone living in NE, just the one making slight of this problem. I don't want it to go up the eastern seaboard either, the damage to Chesapeak Bay would be as bad as the damage that's occuring on the LA coast.
The keys definitely worry me, if (maybe when) the reefs are destroyed it will be for generations to come. I've been diving in the keys and it's absolutely incredible down there.
If I see the oil on my doorstep the oil has already made it down to the keys..........

I know that Matt!
I didn't take it that way either...

Most people just don't realize the magnitude of this disaster...

Early on when comparisons were being made to Ixtoc and Admiral Allen of the Coast Guard was saying, "We are in uncharted territory." I had a pretty good Idea of how grim the situation was.

This spill is pretty much destined to be a shoe in for the #2 spot on the worlds worst oil spill list...

If you want to see the effects of a spill of this magnitude you may look at the lingering effects of the Gulf War Oil Spill nearly 20 years later.
The health of people in the region is still affected by it.

[Dunbar Plumbing]

Eas



Really? You want to set off a nuke in the Gulf? It probably wouldn't work (too large) and may even rupture more "shallow" oil reserves, besides it would be trading the environmental consequences of leaking oil with radiating everything in the gulf. All around the gulf are breeding grounds for alot of life, and not just life that lives in the gulf, plenty of species only come into the gulf only to breed.



Top Kill has been called off as a failure......

You should be smart enough by now to comprehend and F-ing understand that nuclear devices come in all levels of design. Not everything is that huge mushroom cloud everyone would think it to be.

We have millions of gallons of oil in the sea and you're worried about some F-ing sea monkeys being harmed?

Understand that thousands of gallons are dumping into the ocean and by the time they fix this F-up it's going to be massive.

A controlled detonation will create enough of a depth into the earth's crust to hopefully pile up the same dense material they drilled through to seal it off.

Nothing has worked so far and people are complaining about ideas to stop it...what a joke.

[Redwood]

"Controlled Detonation" is not usually associated with Nuclear Explosions!

LOL

[FloridaOrange]

I understand (in a layman way) low yield nukes but how about we test those out near your neighborhood first.
Yes I am concerned about the f'n sea monkeys, more importantly all the other things living around and feeding off of them.
This is no joke to me, I don't want my family to get sick and I also would love my daughter to be able to enjoy our water and beaches much the same as I have for many years.