Containment Dome Problems at 2010 Oil Spill in Gulf of Mexico
Workers at the 2010 Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico have run into a snag with what they hoped would be a silver bullet at stopping thousands of gallons of crude oil from spilling into the Gulf.
The oil spill, which is dumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil into the Gulf every day, is posing a serious threat to the environment and the economy in the Gulf Coast region. Workers from all over the country have rushed to the site of the spill to try to stop the leak. However, that effort is proving to be a very difficult task.
Coast Guard officials, and officials from British Petroleum (BP,) the company responsible for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, agree that the surest way of stopping the leak is to drill a new relief well to divert oil away from the leak. The problem, however, is that it will take months to drill such a relief well. In the meantime, a variety of efforts are underway to clean-up and contain the oil leak.
The most recent effort, and the one that experts had the most faith in, was to place a giant concrete dome atop the 5,000 foot deep oil leak. Once the concrete dome was in place, workers were hoping to use a large hose to siphon the oil upward to a drilling ship. Experts were cautiously optimistic today, as they began to deploy the giant concrete containment dome.
Unfortunately, however, the first containment dome effort proved to be a failure today. As the containment dome was deployed into the depths of the frigid Gulf of Mexico, ice began to form around the dome, clogging the opening and making the containment dome overly buoyant.
Experts warned that this condition was a possibility all along. According to them, an icy mixture of gas and water known as nitrates, were the biggest threat to the success of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill containment dome effort all along.
The containment workers have not given up on the containment dome effort though. Although they say that it will be at least Monday before a new plan is in place, there are still a few options which could salvage the effort.
This is crazy!
Workers at the 2010 Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico have run into a snag with what they hoped would be a silver bullet at stopping thousands of gallons of crude oil from spilling into the Gulf.
The oil spill, which is dumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil into the Gulf every day, is posing a serious threat to the environment and the economy in the Gulf Coast region. Workers from all over the country have rushed to the site of the spill to try to stop the leak. However, that effort is proving to be a very difficult task.
Coast Guard officials, and officials from British Petroleum (BP,) the company responsible for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, agree that the surest way of stopping the leak is to drill a new relief well to divert oil away from the leak. The problem, however, is that it will take months to drill such a relief well. In the meantime, a variety of efforts are underway to clean-up and contain the oil leak.
The most recent effort, and the one that experts had the most faith in, was to place a giant concrete dome atop the 5,000 foot deep oil leak. Once the concrete dome was in place, workers were hoping to use a large hose to siphon the oil upward to a drilling ship. Experts were cautiously optimistic today, as they began to deploy the giant concrete containment dome.
Unfortunately, however, the first containment dome effort proved to be a failure today. As the containment dome was deployed into the depths of the frigid Gulf of Mexico, ice began to form around the dome, clogging the opening and making the containment dome overly buoyant.
Experts warned that this condition was a possibility all along. According to them, an icy mixture of gas and water known as nitrates, were the biggest threat to the success of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill containment dome effort all along.
The containment workers have not given up on the containment dome effort though. Although they say that it will be at least Monday before a new plan is in place, there are still a few options which could salvage the effort.
This is crazy!
