Top Kill has failed according to BP

[tommywho70x]

here's my stupid question of the day: do we have the ability to send live divers that deep yet?

it seems a lot of the failures have an element of robotic control to them.

suit a crew up and set them on it.

 

[SFC Ollie]

here's my stupid question of the day: do we have the ability to send live divers that deep yet?

it seems a lot of the failures have an element of robotic control to them.

suit a crew up and set them on it.

I don't know if they can go that deep. Any deep sea divers out there?

 

[dilloduck]

I highly doubt it and you wouldn't get me anywhere near the current that has to be created by that gusher.

 

[boedicca]

here's my stupid question of the day: do we have the ability to send live divers that deep yet?

it seems a lot of the failures have an element of robotic control to them.

suit a crew up and set them on it.

Set them on it? You think that sitting on the leak will plug it up?

That sounds like an Obama Plan to Plug the Hole.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Why don't Libs form their own country? They won't need or use oil so they can live in the Sahara or on the Moon. Why do they keep insist on trying to inflict their stupid fucking "ideas" on to the rest of us?

 

[boedicca]

Because they don't want to pay for their own stupid ideas. They want somebody else to pay for them, and then take the blame for the inevitable disaster which arises.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Giving up: It's the best idea Libs have

 

[rdean]

something? what something?

this is why so many of us were opposed to drilling in the first place.

you don't do things that you can't fix.

What do you mean "What Something".

SOMETHING!

It's part of that conservative "common sense" they are always going on about. Who needs "science"? They have "common sense" and they have figured out the solution - "Something".

Now if we could just get this valuable information to the government.

Didn't the right wingers say they were secretly "monitoring" the board? Well there you go. Now they have the answer, "Something".

Hey dumb ass, are you some kind of drilling expert? I know I'm not. Don't know jack shit about it. So yes I am fully qualified to say that someone needs to do something. I don't pretend to know what I'm talking about like so many people do.

I learned from my Grandfather. " I know enough about everything to know that I know everything about nothing."

Don't well yourself short.

You also know, "Something", and that is "equal" to my "plug it up".

 

[Avatar4321]

'nother question. I'm not an engineer so maybe this isn't feasible. But why are we trying to plug the leak? Why not just make it so that the leak is leaking back to the oil platform and thus allowing us to actually use the oil and not have it end up in the ocean?

 

[NYcarbineer]

All these conservatives who have always said everything would be better if the government would just get out of the way, now crying come back government!! come back!!

Don't say we didn't tell you so, idiots.

 

[boedicca]

If the government hadn't forced oil companies into deep water drilling by forbidding permits for on land or shallow water exploration and drilling, we wouldn't be facing this mess right now.

 

[tommywho70x]

here's my stupid question of the day: do we have the ability to send live divers that deep yet?

it seems a lot of the failures have an element of robotic control to them.

suit a crew up and set them on it.

Set them on it? You think that sitting on the leak will plug it up?

That sounds like an Obama Plan to Plug the Hole.

that's not quite what i had in mind.

my point is that human hands are going to do a better job than robots and my question is whether hard hat diving technology has advanced to where we can even send people that deep.

 

[xsited1]

Top Kill is now a Failure - Should the government take charge?

The government has been in charge since day 1. Don't you remember Obama's press conference?

The American people should know that from the moment this disaster began, the federal government has been in charge of the response effort.
Barack Obama May 27, 2010

There 'ya go.

 

[NYcarbineer]

If the government hadn't forced oil companies into deep water drilling by forbidding permits for on land or shallow water exploration and drilling, we wouldn't be facing this mess right now.

You, my friend, are a retard.

 

[boedicca]

here's my stupid question of the day: do we have the ability to send live divers that deep yet?

it seems a lot of the failures have an element of robotic control to them.

suit a crew up and set them on it.

Set them on it? You think that sitting on the leak will plug it up?

That sounds like an Obama Plan to Plug the Hole.

that's not quite what i had in mind.

my point is that human hands are going to do a better job than robots and my question is whether hard hat diving technology has advanced to where we can even send people that deep.

It's over a mile deep. The pressure from the water combined with the force of the escaping oil has got to be incredibly dangerous.

I know, let's send in Bill Clinton. He's the Obama Admin's Fixer Guy these days.

 

[NYcarbineer]

And while we're at it, where in the sam fucking hill did they come up with the '70% chance of success' number for the topkill? Given that they have no past data, plugging wells at that depth...

Maddow's piece the other night - That was Then, This is Then - really nailed it.

 

[rdean]

'nother question. I'm not an engineer so maybe this isn't feasible. But why are we trying to plug the leak? Why not just make it so that the leak is leaking back to the oil platform and thus allowing us to actually use the oil and not have it end up in the ocean?

That's what they were trying to do with that dome thingy.

Now I'm not a physicist, but I suspect these are some of the issues.

First, think of a straw, blow liquid through it. It's small and short and squirts quite easily. Now try to blow water through a 25 foot garden hose. Now, imagine a hose a mile straight down. Imagine the difficulty of moving a mile of water, not just side to side, but from down to straight up.

Now, imagine that the well is actually 2 and a half MILES further down straight through solid rock which has been drilled through. Oil is lighter than water. All that pressure of land and a mile of water is squeezing it out. Like an enormous zit.

So someone says, "Why not stick a tube down there and suck up all that oil. Use the pressure of the oil gushing out to force it up into the tube.

Ah, but a tube made out of what? What could take the pressure? Especially with that amount of oil? Maybe a carbon composite? Maybe, but no one has ever made one that big.

Well how about using a giant vacuum to suck it up? Except there aren't any that big.

So how do that stop it?

Well, from the very little I've read, they drill small "controlled" tubes along the length of the well and pump in some kind of sealant, concrete or something similar.

Now, it is was up to me and considering the depth, the amount of water, the current, I might set off a small nuclear explosion. The radiation would be spread though the water and disperse and it would probably seal the well long enough to put a meaningful cap in place.

Of course, that's just my idea. The amount of radiation, the size of the explosion, they can be calculated. Beside, there is so much contamination now, what's a little more compared to lots more?

But I don't know, I'm not a physicist. Just a regular guy looking at the possibilities of something I admit I know very little about.

 

[HUGGY]

If the government hadn't forced oil companies into deep water drilling by forbidding permits for on land or shallow water exploration and drilling, we wouldn't be facing this mess right now.

How does one "force" an oil company like BP to drill anywhere it does not want to?

 

[Zoom-boing]

BP is working on constructing relief wells to siphon off/redirect the oil but these won't be in place until August. Since the top kill has failed they are going to try another method,

Efforts will now focus on severing the damaged riser pipes that lay crumpled on the ocean floor, then installing a containment device that could capture the leaking oil and syphon it to the surface.

BP and the Coast Guard said it would take four to seven days before the contraption -- dubbed the "Lower Marine Riser Package," or LMRP -- can be put in place.

'Top Kill' Fails to Stop Gulf Oil Leak : Discovery News


While the leak needs to be stopped asap, the following paints a less dire picture of the long-term effects of the crude.

Until the leaks are contained, he believes it is impossible to determine what the environmental or economic impact will be. "When the media talks about a lot of dead fish, you have to ask what size fish. Little fish the size of your finger don't have the mobility, and they'll die. Bigger fish will recognize the problem and get out of there." He said there will be much bigger problems if oil reaches the wetlands. "A lot of animals and birds will die, and sediments will last a long time."

Dr. Walter Starck, of Townsville, Australia, paints a different picture. Starck holds a Ph.D. in biological oceanography and is a marine biologist who specializes in coral reefs and fisheries. He maintains that the media overplays oil spills' effect on wildlife. "The popular image of dead and dying birds and mammals covered in sticky oil is a relatively brief event, and as sad as it may be at the time, their populations soon recover."

He points out crude oil is an organic substance, and natural leaks are normal. Though spills caused by humans are much more concentrated and cause a temporary mess, they are also more short-lived and do not wreak the amount of environmental damage mainstream media reports claim. "The volatile components largely evaporate within a few days, and much of the heavier residue is broken down by microbial action over a few months. The heaviest residue accumulates sediment particles and sinks to the bottom where it mixes with further sediment and ends up no more harmful than pieces of the bitumen used for roads."

Starck contends that clean-up efforts from past oil spills have "only increased environmental damage and delayed natural recovery." The dispersants injected into leaking oil to prevent it from surfacing are "far more damaging to marine life" than crude alone, mixing with it to form a toxic sludge. "Their only real purpose is cosmetic and PR at the expense of the environment."

While O'Brien calls this a "singular" and "catastrophic" event, Starck remains reserved. "Right now it's a big thing. In a year or two it will become a past irritant no longer of concern." He uses a vivid analogy to support this claim, describing the largest oil spill in history during the first Persian Gulf War. In 1991, between 6 and 8 million tons of oil spilled into a shallow reef area, but nothing was done about it since workers had to deal with area oil well fires. "Follow-up studies found that within 4 months, most of the oil had been degraded naturally, and within 4 years even the most heavily affected areas had largely or completely recovered." He predicts a 95 percent recovery for the Gulf states within about four years.

Starck is also less critical of the three companies involved, calling it a major loss for them. "You can be sure they are doing everything possible, and no one else in the world is better equipped and qualified to do this job. Criticizing them is beyond moronic." He says it is "beyond stupid" to impose fines and increase liability "for a useless cleanup charade," fines which only serve to punish the end consumer who ultimately has to pay for increased production costs.

Instead, his criticism is directed at federal involvement. "The best thing the government can do is to stay out of the way, let the companies take the lead and render assistance if requested. Having a bunch of bureaucrats meddling in this is a recipe for another Katrina."

What's the Problem with the Gulf Oil Leak?

 

[tommywho70x]

Set them on it? You think that sitting on the leak will plug it up?

That sounds like an Obama Plan to Plug the Hole.

that's not quite what i had in mind.

my point is that human hands are going to do a better job than robots and my question is whether hard hat diving technology has advanced to where we can even send people that deep.

It's over a mile deep. The pressure from the water combined with the force of the escaping oil has got to be incredibly dangerous.

I know, let's send in Bill Clinton. He's the Obama Admin's Fixer Guy these days.

it is, but if they have pressure suits that can protect astronauts from the near vacuum of space, something similar might work at that depth. i've been away from that technology for almost 30 years now so i really have no idea how deep they are able to go nowadays.