The BP Gulf Oil Spill

[cityboi]

What are everyones thoughts on this? President Obama has been criticized for his handling of the oil disaster and not showing enough anger but in all honesty there is nothing the government could really do. Only BP has the capability of plugging that hole and most people think BP should be responsible for everything including the clean up. This is the worst oil spill in US history but there are major concerns that things could get for worse. There are claims that the explosions that started the oil spill may have cause the sea floor to collapse and caused seabed leaks throughout the region. The government is investigating those claims, but if true, the oil will continue to leak into the gulf even if the well is totally capped. That would be a scary situation because nobody could do anything about it and if breaks in the sea floor get worse, the gulf waters could be poisoned for a VERY VERY long time. It has been said the oil could leak for years! Add to the fact the if the oil continues to leak, it eventually makes its way up the east coast seaboard and the North Carolina coastline could look a lot like the gulf coastline today with dead wild life and oil washed up on the beaches. This disaster would also have a major effect on an already fragile economy. Sounds like doomsday stuff.

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2010/06/09/gulf-oil-spill-sea-floor-collapse-seabed-leaks-prevent-bp-capping-2/

[Neo]

It is my opinion that folks want to place blame on some other entity other than our dependence on oil. If we place blame on oil addiction itself then we must blame ourselves for the disaster...and let's face it, we all love our oil.

The Obama administration may be burned at the stake either way on this one. Either he didn't do enough to limit the disaster or that he did too much in it's aftermath by enacting stricter laws and putting in place a better long-term energy plan that doesn't include so much oil dependence.

BP is obviously at fault for this disaster, but how much longer will it be before a similar or even greater disaster occurs? We have absolutely got to stop our need for so much oil else we're going to have to accept the environmental disasters that will occur by not doing so.

[cityboi]

There are somethings we can do like take public transportation but we as citizens are at the mercy of the oil companies. The problem is clearly political. Until our government starts working to replace oil (for energy) with new technologies (solar, wind, fusion, ect) and finally offer incentives for the mass production of electric cars (not hybrids), we are always going to be hooked on oil. The problem is that the oil companies are sleeping in bed with the politicians in Washington in both parties.

[Neo]

It is my opinion that we're better off to rely on private industry to move toward something other than oil. We'll always need oil, that's a constant, but how much is 100% dependent on us, not politicians or any government agency. You and I have the choice of where to live and to have a car or to take public transit. Unfortunately we're in so deep that it will probably take the government to bail us out.

We got ourselves into this mess with the American dream of white picket fences in suburbia driving a big car. We now find ourselves so dependent on this lifestyle that it is hard for us to imagine it any other way. The government didn't create this mess, we did. It's akin to an obese individual that keeps going back to McDonald's. McDonald's didn't make you fat, you did, and McDonald's is still in business because you kept feeding your own addiction. Is it McDonald's fault that you became obese or your own? Obviously there were alternatives all along the way that would have prevented you from becoming so overweight, but you chose to ignore them.

[sean]

good on ya citiboi for calling it the bp oil disaster rather than the gulf coast oil disaster.

a black swan event. the inward reflection by folks is inspiring, i just hope that a potential awakening isn't derailed by mass media distractions and corporate spin. "is anna nicole still dead?"

'at the end of the day', deepwater horizon is a net energy loser. this is entropy illustrated; can our current economic predicament endure such huge energy wastes? we're about to find out. ignore entropy at your own peril.

[cityboi]

"inside" scientists are saying this disaster could end up being much worse. It has been reported that the oil has formed a HUGE bubble under the ocean as wide as 15 miles filled with gas/methane and there is pressure building below the sea floor. They say there is potential for a GREAT explosion which would lead to toxic gas in the air all along the gulf coast and that the explosion could lead to a tsunami headed for Florida! Some scientists believe everything thats happened thus far is only the beginning and a lot of information is being withheld from the public on BP and the government's part.

part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVVionewM0A

part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLeFERm-eAU

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread580651/pg1

worst case scenario

Dr. James P. Wickstrom, D. Litt.

"a super high pressure release of oil from under the earth's crust is between 80,000 to 100,000 barrels per day. The flow of oil and toxic gases is bringing up with it... rocks and sand which causes the flow to create a sandblasting effect on the remaining well head device currently somewhat restricting the flow, as well as the drilled hole itself.

As the well head becomes worn it enlarges the passageway allowing an ever-increasing flow. Even if some device could be placed onto the existing wellhead, it would not be able to shut off the flow, because what remains of the existing wellhead would not be able to contain the pressure.

At some point the drilled hole in the earth will enlarge itself beneath the wellhead to weaken the area the wellhead rests upon. The intense pressure will then push the wellhead off the hole allowing a direct unrestricted flow of oil, etc.. The hole will continue to increase in size allowing more and more oil to rise into the Gulf. After several billion barrels of oil have been released, the pressure within the massive cavity five miles beneath the ocean floor will begin to normalize.

This will allow the water, under the intense pressure at 1 mile deep, to be forced into the hole and the cavity where the oil was. The temperature at that depth is near 400 degrees, possibly more. The water will be vaporized and turned into steam, creating an enormous amount of force, lifting the Gulf floor. It is difficult to know how much water will go down to the core and therefore, its not possible to fully calculate the rise of the floor.

The tsunami wave this will create will be anywhere from 20 to 80 feet high, possibly more. Then the floor will fall into the now vacant chamber. This is how nature will seal the hole. Depending on the height of the tsunami, the ocean debris, oil, and existing structures that will be washed away on shore and inland, will leave the area from 50 to 200 miles inland devoid of life. Even if the debris is cleaned up, the contaminants that will be in the ground and water supply will prohibit re-population of these areas for an unknown number of years."

essentially the worst case scenario would be doomsday for the gulf coast (including the gulf coast line of Florida)

It doesn't surprise me that BP and the government would keep the public in the dark on the potential dangers to prevent panic.

[krazeeboi]

We got ourselves into this mess with the American dream of white picket fences in suburbia driving a big car. We now find ourselves so dependent on this lifestyle that it is hard for us to imagine it any other way. The government didn't create this mess, we did.

[Neo]

Sure, the US government didn't help (I don't believe I ever said that the government did), but private industry went along with it. We had a choice to follow what the government had laid out for us or not.

[cityboi]

well this whole thing is making me furious. But you know sometimes it takes a great disaster to make us wake up.

[Neo]

well this whole thing is making me furious. But you know sometimes it takes a great disaster to make us wake up.

That's unfortunately true, but even then I wonder if America has really woken up by this disaster. In a couple of years most of us will have forgotten it ever happened.

[krazeeboi]

Sure, the US government didn't help (I don't believe I ever said that the government did), but private industry went along with it. We had a choice to follow what the government had laid out for us or not.

[Neo]

Can you not blame the private sector in this case when the government was so heavily subsidizing the set-up, from VA home loans to roads/interstates?

Like I said, the government didn't help matters at all, but we as individuals and employees of private industry ultimately control how these problems arise and how we ultimately control their effects. Just because the government has made junk food so freaking cheap doesn't mean that we should indulge ourselves.

[cityboi]

For those who are criticizing President Obama for not doing more like getting more troops along the gulf, Its not the president's fault. Its the governors who are not deploying more of the national guard to help with the clean up.

"governors are afraid that activating more troops would be politically harmful, charging taxpayers a high cost for duties that won't keep troops busy"

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06/22/gulf-states-national-guard-minimal-role-fighting-oil-spill/

[richyb83]

So sad...I don't think I'll ever forget this..the Gulf of Mexico is one of the sweetest bodies of water on the planet! From the white sandy beaches of the Emerald Coast of NW Florida to the coastal marsh/wetlands like no other in Louisiana...guess you'll have to get your shrimp from China like everything else that comes from there now..

This will be the Federal Government's perfect opportunity to implement the dreaded Cap & Trade tax...you just thought the economy was bad now...

[cityboi]

Big oil wins again.....a judge blocks the offshore drilling moratorium that the Obama administration put in place......... coincidentally the judge that made the decision is heavily invested in oil and drilling including oil companies with a big presence in the gulf

Transocean

KBR Inc (Haliburton)

Chesapeake Energy

Provident Energy

Hercules Offshore Drilling

Parker Drilling

TXCO Reserves

El Paso

EV Energy Partners

ATP Oil & Gas

talk about a conflict of interest. Its not surprising that big oil has people in all kinds of high government positions to protect them. It seems to me that the judge's conflict of interest is grounds for his decision being overturned.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/22/national/main6607071.shtml

[Neo]

I hate that people with ulterior motives get appointed to positions of power. Unfortunately finding someone that doesn't have a conflict of interest in anything is impossible. This seems like an easy case to overturn given the judge's obvious motives.

[cityboi]

ok this is getting bizarre. There are claims of a "media black out" so that the full extent of whats happened is not known. There are claims of people getting threatened that they will be arrested if they take photos of certain areas and the airspace is closed off over the oil spill. This would lead one to believe that things are MUCH worse than whats being shown to the public.

[krazeeboi]

Like I said, the government didn't help matters at all, but we as individuals and employees of private industry ultimately control how these problems arise and how we ultimately control their effects. Just because the government has made junk food so freaking cheap doesn't mean that we should indulge ourselves.

[cityboi]

looks like republican governors are playing politics with this bp disaster. Gov Bobby Jindal is blaming the federal government for not providing more resources......

"We will only be winning this war when we're actually deploying every resource," "They (the federal government) can provide more resources" and "It's clear the resources needed to protect our coast are still not here."

yet Mr Jindal had only deployed just a fracture of the national guards the federal government has authorized and cleary all the authorized national guards need to be deployed. The problem is that the governors are holding out and not deploying troops for political gain cleary to make it appear from the public perception that the Obama administration isnt doing enough. The Federal government is helping the gulf states 100%. Its really sad that politicians are using this diasater for political gain when people's livelihoods are at stake. One man has already committed suicide and families are grieving for the lost of love ones.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/24/eveningnews/main6615414.shtml?tag=stack

[Gusterfell]

Funny, I seem to recall that relief was supposed to be a "state and local' effort the last time there was a disaster in the Gulf region...

These hypocrites should be locked up for putting petty politics ahead of the welfare of their constituents.

[mallguy]

President Obama has been criticized for his handling of the oil disaster and not showing enough anger but in all honesty there is nothing the government could really do. Only BP has the capability of plugging that hole

[Gusterfell]

^If Obama had ordered the military or any other government agency to step in, we all know that the same critics who are now attacking his lack of action would be calling it a socialist takeover of a private corporate issue. He can't win with these people. Whatever he does is by default the worst evil ever perpetrated on the American people, even if it is an idea born in GOP circles, like much of the health care bill. The bottom line is that BP has (or at least told the government they had) the expertise and equipment to deal with this kind of issue. The government does not. Given BP's reassurances, the government wisely let them take the lead in stopping the leak.

55 days after the spill, that's what, last week that Obama first met face-to-face with the CEO of BP? So what? Both are executives with little to no understanding of the nuts and bolts of this sort of operation. More relevant is how many meetings took place between BP's engineers and the appropriate government departmental officials. These meetings have been going on since before the rig sank.

Virtually everyone in the field who isn't playing partisan games has agreed that the government has done anything and everything it realistically can. Any more involvement would get in the way of the people who presumably know what they're doing.

As for this notion that the government is rejecting offers of aid from overseas nations, that it a partisan half-truth. Obama has accepted offers of aid from several countries, and he has indeed rejected offers from other countries of equipment that we already have a surplus of. In many cases these offers were not "aid," but offers to sell us equipment. Why buy equipment we already have enough of, thereby increasing the national debt?

[sean]

hurricane now in the gulf. this could get real, real ugly!