200,000 Gallons A Day

[Lady's Human]

1) What, praytell, are the good professor's experiences in oil platform technology and engineering? A professor of risk management is, in reality, a professor of statistics with a fancy title.

2) in many, many articles about this disaster, it is repeated time and time again that the blowoff valves have a lousy success rate.

3) Who holds extremely large amounts of oil company stock, yet is theoretically a grade a environmentalist? Enough stock in oil companies to have a say at a board meeting? Follow the money..........and it's not all Republicans. Does the name Al Gore ring a bell?

[kokopup]

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=524_1273510578

[lizbud]

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=524_1273510578

Thanks for the video. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

[cassiesmom]

Couple of stupid questions...

Could they burn the oil off the surface of the water, or would the smoke be toxic?

Could they use anything to physically scoop it up out of the water? How can it be kept (if at all) from reaching the shore?

[Karen]

They have been doing some controlled burns when weather permits. The smoke is bad, but not as harmful as the oil reaching estuaries.

There are boom to try to keep it from reaching the coast, but the spill is so huge that everyone is going to have to be hyper vigilant. I think there may be some efforts to siphon or scoop up some of it from the surface as well. Most important, too, is stopping the flow!

[Catty1]

I also heard on radio today about oil-eating bacteria being present in the slick below the water.

A friend of mine works in such a place in Calgary - yes, there are bacteria that will transform oil into harmless stuff. Let's hope it spreads fast!

bacteria story: http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencein...ulf-beach.html

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/0...leak-tube.html

Tube diverts some leaking oil
Last Updated: Sunday, May 16, 2010 | 10:32 PM ET
CBC News

Engineers began to siphon oil leaking from a damaged well deep beneath the Gulf of Mexico to a vessel on the surface Sunday, but the company in charge of the operation said it's too early to know how much of the fuel is being recovered.

Oil leaking from a damaged undersea well could be seen earlier this month blending into a light sheen as it moved through the currents in the Gulf of Mexico. BP Plc said its engineers began to siphon the oil leaking from the well to a vessel on the surface Sunday.Oil leaking from a damaged undersea well could be seen earlier this month blending into a light sheen as it moved through the currents in the Gulf of Mexico. BP Plc said its engineers began to siphon the oil leaking from the well to a vessel on the surface Sunday. (Dave Martin/Associated Press)BP Plc said its Riser Insertion Tube Tool, or RITT, remained attached for about four hours after it was installed Saturday before it became dislodged. Workers then secured it in place again Sunday morning.

Kent Wells, BP's senior vice-president for exploration and production, told reporters the amount of fuel being drawn was gradually increasing, but it would take several days to measure.

He said the nitrogen, oil and gas being collected cannot be accurately measured until it is separated.

The tube was threaded inside a riser pipe where oil has been gushing for the past 24 days. Massive amounts began leaking two days after the rig Deepwater Horizon sank following an explosion and fire that killed 11 on April 20.

BP said engineers will spend the next seven to 10 days preparing to plug the leak. They want to pump in debris, or "junk shot," to clog the well's blowout preventer, before adding mud and cement.

Previous attempts to stop the leak by using a 90-tonne steel and concrete container failed after an ice-like slushy mixture clogged the opening in its roof.

However, BP said its smaller version of the box, dubbed the "top hat," is "ready to go if needed on the sea floor" to stop the leak, which has spilled millions of litres of oil into the Gulf, threatening sea life, commercial fishing and the coastal tourist industry from Louisiana to Florida.

The permanent solution of completing a relief well is still months away.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/0...#ixzz0o9utzahb

[lizbud]

Did anyone happen to see CBS 60 Minutes last night? They interviewed
one of the survivors of the oil rig explosion. It sounded like the experience
was like hell on earth.If you get a chance to see the interview, please do.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/...n6490197.shtml