Latest News!Written By Comment Count Comment Last Three May 16, 2010
Chuck Floyd
Who is responsible for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill? It is a combination of industry and government. However, the oil leak must be stopped before it destroys the Gulf and the entire Gulf coast between the U.S. and Mexico. This amount of oil will harm and destroy marine animals and the jobs of thousands.
When oil companies drill in marine locations, they must have the ability to control any unexpected technical issues. If the water is too deep to control technical issues, then they should not drill in those depths. We must be able to control drilling so it does not destroy our natural environments. BP was not ready to control this type oil spill and has not performed well in finding a solution. All oil companies must evaluate their processes and ensure they have technical controls for marine oil rigs. The latest "experiment" using a mile-(1.6-kilometer) long pipe has not worked to capture much of the oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. Engineers hit a snag when they tried to connect two pieces of equipment a mile (1.6 kilometer) below the water's surface. BP PLC chief operating officer Doug Suttles said one piece of equipment, called the framework, had to be brought to the water's surface so that adjustments could be made to where it fits with the long tube that connects to a tanker above. The framework holds a pipe and stopper, and engineers piloting submarine robots will try to use it to plug the massive leak and send the crude through the lengthy pipe to the surface. "The frame shifted, so they were unable to make that connection," said Suttles, who believes the adjustments will make the device work. At least 210,000 gallons (795,000 liters) of oil has been gushing into the Gulf of Mexico since the oil rig exploded April 20 and sank two days later. Eleven people were killed in the blast. A week ago, the company tried to put a massive box over the leak, but icelike crystals formed and BP scrapped that plan. BP is also drilling a relief well that is considered the permanent solution to stopping the leak. It's about halfway done and still months away from being completed. The company also is still considering using a smaller containment dome known as a "top hat," as well as a "junk shot," in which golf balls and rubber would be inserted to try to clog the leak. Meanwhile, BP began spraying undersea dispersants at that leak site and said the chemicals appear to have reduced the amount of surface oil. The federal government must be very proactive in solving this oil spill. Find a solution to the oil spill. -
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May 02, 2010
Chuck Floyd
We do not know much about the gulf oil rig explosion--why it happened and how it is being fixed. We know that 12 days into the oil rig 'accident' events continue to evolve and weather is slowing down efforts to contain things. The Obama administration is not doing a good job at finding the cause or informing the public. Where is the media is finding out the truth of the cause and what is being done to stop the oil leak? Will this event stop all off-shore oil drilling?
There are currently two theories about what happend and we really do not know....does the government know? The first issue: We have heard that a supply ship arrived just before the explosions and it was reported to be manned by all new people, nobody aboard was from the 'usual supply crew'. This purported industry source continues: there were a total of 14 explosions and these could have been cutting charges. Moreover, the shut off valve below the surface (5000 feet down) on the seabed is no longer controllable. Still, lots of disinformation and speculation scampering around the netosphere. Is this why the White House sent in the Department of Homeland Security? The second issue: An engineer of considerable experience says the below. The original estimate was about 5,000 gallons of oil a day spilling into the ocean. Now they're saying 200,000 gallons a day. That's over a million gallons of crude oil a week. The BP platform was drilling for what they call deep oil. They go out where the ocean is about 5,000 feet deep and drill another 30,000 feet into the crust of the earth. This it right on the edge of what human technology can do. Well, this time they hit a pocket of oil at such high pressure that it burst all of their safety valves all the way up to the drilling rig and then caused the rig to explode and sink. Take a moment to grasp the import of that. The pressure behind this oil is so high that it destroyed the maximum effort of human science and engineering to contain it. When the rig sank it flipped over and landed on top of the drill hole some 5,000 feet under the ocean. Now they've got a hole in the ocean floor, 5,000 feet down with a wrecked oil drilling rig sitting on top of is spewing 200,000 barrels of oil a day into the ocean. First they have to get the oil rig off the hole to get at it in order to try to cap it. Do you know the level of effort it will take to move that wrecked oil rig, sitting under 5,000 feet of water? That operation alone would take years and hundreds of millions to accomplish. Then, how do you cap that hole in the muddy ocean floor? If we can't cap that hole will this oil destroy the oceans of the world? So what is the true answer? How will it be fixed? What is the White House doing? -
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