This Oil spill in the Gulf sounds like it could be an economic catstrophe

• j_crazy

  

  For those that care:
  
  http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/site/2931/
  
  it's not gloom and doom filled, but it's as up to date as anything you'll se on CNN.
  
  The cofferdam is in the water!!! hope this works, BP needs something to hang their hat on at this point.
• j_crazy

  

  For those that care:
  
  the top kill has just started.
• ptown_trojans_1

  

  Hopefully it works.
• IggyPride00

  

  ptown_trojans_1 wrote: Hopefully it works.

  Ain't that the truth. This thing is spinning out of control down there and there doesn't seem to be anything anyone can do to stop it if this fails.
• cbus4life

  Got my fingers crossed, i don't even know what the next option is at this point...
• j_crazy

  

  cbus4life wrote: Got my fingers crossed, i don't even know what the next option is at this point...

  at this point, i don't think BP does either.
• ptown_trojans_1

  

  j_crazy wrote:

  cbus4life wrote: Got my fingers crossed, i don't even know what the next option is at this point...

  at this point, i don't think BP does either.

  Something called the junk shot right?
  After that, I have no idea.
  
  Although, I was watching NBC Nightly News, and I'm no expert, but a former oil Exec called for BP and the U.S. to use a fleet of Supertankers to skim off the oil and water from the spill. The 7 or 8 tankers would soak up oil and water, dump the oil in containers and the water in the sea. Is that even an option?
• cbus4life

  J_Crazy, you obviously know more than i do...but is there a good chance that this succeeds?
• cbus4life

  P.S.
  
  I think this whole problem could be solved by buying every Shamwow in the world and just soaking it up.
  
  
• j_crazy

  

  ptown_trojans_1 wrote:

  j_crazy wrote:

  cbus4life wrote: Got my fingers crossed, i don't even know what the next option is at this point...

  at this point, i don't think BP does either.

  Something called the junk shot right?
  After that, I have no idea.
  
  Although, I was watching NBC Nightly News, and I'm no expert, but a former oil Exec called for BP and the U.S. to use a fleet of Supertankers to skim off the oil and water from the spill. The 7 or 8 tankers would soak up oil and water, dump the oil in containers and the water in the sea. Is that even an option?

  the junk shot is like the last step in this thing. what i mean is, they will try the top kill, if it looks like it will work, they'll push forward, if it doesn't look good, they will try the junk shot before shutting down and breaking off of the BOP.
• j_crazy

  

  cbus4life wrote: J_Crazy, you obviously know more than i do...but is there a good chance that this succeeds?

  they're saying 60-70%.
  
  I'm optimistic it will work, but nothing else on this BOP has worked so you have to weigh that.
  
  part of me thinks they know something and are keeping it from us. like they know the BOP will function enough to allow this to work, but they'd rather overdeliver so they low balled the success predictions.
• IggyPride00

  

  If this doesn't work it might be time to consider a strategic nuclear bomb down there.
  
  It is highly risky, but has been done other places successfully. The idea being that ultimately the hole would cave in on itself and that would stop the leak.
  
  I am not sure the Gulf can handle another 2-3 months until a relief well "might" be done at the rate it is going as that is a massive gusher down there.
• ptown_trojans_1

  

  IggyPride00 wrote: If this doesn't work it might be time to consider a strategic nuclear bomb down there.
  
  It is highly risky, but has been done other places successfully. The idea being that ultimately the hole would cave in on itself and that would stop the leak.
  
  I am not sure the Gulf can handle another 2-3 months until a relief well "might" be done at the rate it is going as that is a massive gusher down there.

  Umm, no. The political costs for a tactical nuclear weapon outweigh the benefits. (Strategic would be too large) The U.S. would get crucified by the international community. Also, the NPT Review Conference is ending in New York, way to end it, with the U.S. setting off a nuke.
  
  Besides, I'm sure there are other options besides that. And, if we were going to use it, I'd like to be 99% sure it would work. Otherwise, crossing that threshold would be too costly.
• j_crazy

  

  IggyPride00 wrote: If this doesn't work it might be time to consider a strategic nuclear bomb down there.
  
  It is highly risky, but has been done other places successfully. The idea being that ultimately the hole would cave in on itself and that would stop the leak.
  
  I am not sure the Gulf can handle another 2-3 months until a relief well "might" be done at the rate it is going as that is a massive gusher down there.

  impossible.
  
  and typically they use dynamite, not nukes.
  
  
  BTW I'm 99% sure that would work assuming they could get into the wellbore. they've got so much spaghetti looking riser laying all mangled on the seafloor that it'd be almost impossible to get it downhole. I'm not sure if cutting the riser at the BOP is a safe enough option to warrant trying that to kill this bitch.
• IggyPride00

  

  impossible.

  I know the Russians accomplished it 4 times successfully out of 5 tries. BP most likely wouldn't go for it though.
• sleeper

  

  The pictures are really depressing but I hope the government doesn't act irrationally(like a lot of people are) and absolutely punish BP and cut off at future drilling.
  
  Also, I still don't understand this whole "top kill" thing. Why wasn't this tried earlier? What is it?
• IggyPride00

  

  absolutely punish BP

  If there is even a hint they cut any corners on safety stuff or whatever protocol should be done in terms of inspection they are toast, and rightfully so. Accidents happen, but if this could have been prevented in any way it turns out then they deserve whatever comes their way as this is an unmitigated disaster.
  
  When you look at the total economic impact long term on the region from the damage done by this spill it is tremendous and will be felt for decades to come most likely.
• majorspark

  

  IggyPride00 wrote:

  absolutely punish BP

  If there is even a hint they cut any corners on safety stuff or whatever protocol should be done in terms of inspection they are toast, and rightfully so. Accidents happen, but if this could have been prevented in any way it turns out then they deserve whatever comes their way as this is an unmitigated disaster.
  
  When you look at the total economic impact long term on the region from the damage done by this spill it is tremendous and will be felt for decades to come most likely.

  And if there is even a hint government regulators were in bed with them screwing this thing up, they and the leadership that allowed it should be toast as well. From the top to the bottom.
  
  If it is just an accident and all rules are followed then I hope no one attempts to make political hay out of this and constructively finds ways to prevent a repeated accident. But that is wishful thinking. Hay is already being cut, there just waiting to dry and bail it.
• IggyPride00

  

  And if there is even a hint government regulators were in bed with them screwing this thing up, they and the leadership that allowed it should be toast as well. From the top to the bottom.

  I agree whole heartedly. Get rid of any and everyone who neglected their regulatory authority.
• j_crazy

  

  sleeper wrote: The pictures are really depressing but I hope the government doesn't act irrationally(like a lot of people are) and absolutely punish BP

  Depending on what happened (and what the government finds) I don't agree with this. If it truly was the result of something they did that was negligent, the government should make an example out of them. FWIW they don't exaclty have a reputation for being an "environmentally sound oil company". They're like a rabid wolf in the pack as far as I'm concerned, pretty soon they're gonna kill the rest of us.
  

  sleeper wrote:and cut off at future drilling

  I would be whole heartedly against this unless there is absolutely no way to stop the oil without a relief well and they can't find ANY cause for the explosion.
  

  sleeper wrote:Also, I still don't understand this whole "top kill" thing. Why wasn't this tried earlier? What is it?

  essentially the BOP has choke and kill lines on it and while drilling they are in use. when the rig burnt they lost functionality and a lot of work had to be done to get them able to be used again. as far as why this is a last ditch effort, if they fuck something up, it could be catastrophic and make things much worse. also if the leak is coming up the backside (i.e. not through the pipe, and they really don't know that at this point) this is not as effective as the top hat and cofferdam would have been.
• j_crazy

  

  majorspark wrote:

  IggyPride00 wrote:

  absolutely punish BP

  If there is even a hint they cut any corners on safety stuff or whatever protocol should be done in terms of inspection they are toast, and rightfully so. Accidents happen, but if this could have been prevented in any way it turns out then they deserve whatever comes their way as this is an unmitigated disaster.
  
  When you look at the total economic impact long term on the region from the damage done by this spill it is tremendous and will be felt for decades to come most likely.

  And if there is even a hint government regulators were in bed with them screwing this thing up, they and the leadership that allowed it should be toast as well. From the top to the bottom.
  
  If it is just an accident and all rules are followed then I hope no one attempts to make political hay out of this and constructively finds ways to prevent a repeated accident. But that is wishful thinking. Hay is already being cut, there just waiting to dry and bail it.

  I can tell you now the MMS doesn't have smart enough people working for them to know if what was going on out there was inherently unsafe or not. like it or not I make a lot more money working for an oil company than i could at the MMS, so the bottom 5% of my class had no other option than to take a job there (or with halliburton, and I'm not knocking halliburton because after 2 years with them you know more than you ever can learn in college, but you work your ass off during that 2 years, so the lazy "bottom 5%" take the easy job with government regulating agencies) while the better people (not necessarily lumping myself in with them) had options.
• Paladin

  Its soon going to be Hurricane season and the first one to come thru will devastate the area by dispersing oil evrywhere and many miles inland. Kiss the fishing industry and tourism on the beach towns good bye. And expect the states involved to suffer as well with lower tax collections. Add in the problems with diseases/illnesses with the pollution and the Gulf will be a wasteland for a decade & probably far more.
• derek bomar

  

  yay for capped liabilities!
• sleeper

  

  Why not just try and light the shit on fire? Sure it would be a huge burn, but it'd take care of the oil? Or would this not work?
• j_crazy

  

  sleeper wrote: Why not just try and light the shit on fire? Sure it would be a huge burn, but it'd take care of the oil? Or would this not work?

  that would work, but there is more underneath the water.