Louisiana Oil Spill 2010 PHOTOS: Gulf Of Mexico Disaster Unfolds

1sickpuppy II · Jun 20, 2010

Could this tip the scale and bring the world to a new ice age faster?

boundThunter · Jun 20, 2010

As oil spews in Gulf, BP chief attends yacht race
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It is Day 61
of the oil leak disaster
in the Gulf,
and BP Chief Tony Hayward
would rather be yachting.

He is attending a yacht race,
I guess thats why
he wanted his life back.

Actually,
Tony Hayward might
not have his life back
There seems to be
some disagreement
in the corporate ranks
on whether Hayward is
still in charge or not.

BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said on Friday that Bob Dudley would be in charge of the disaster response from here on in. But another BP person- Robert Wine- said today that Tony Hayward is indeed still in charge and will be "until the leak is capped." It seems that BP can't even get it's corporate announcements correct.

One of BP's minority partners in the Deepwater Horizon operation -Anadarko Petroleum, has called BP's actions "reckless" and they think that BP might be guilty of "gross negligence." I would agree with that because of what some current and former BP employees have revealed about this operation and what some of BP's own internal documents say. When your own engineers are telling you not to do things the way you want to do them because of safety reasons and a very good chance of well failure, and eleven people die and this disaster that didn't have to happen has caused the worst environmental damage by oil in history, then yes, I think there is a pretty good chance this could be ruled "gross negligence."

Here is some great news. Philip Johnson, a professor of petroleum at University of Alabama said that if BP's efforts fail, then this uncontrolled leak could go on for two years and maybe more. Some scientists and engineers have been saying that BP will be lucky if they drill to the right spot. They also say there is a very good chance that the relief wells could fail and if that happens, there is no way to stop the leak.

I said yesterday and still think that the seabed might have been ruptured by BP when they were injecting the heavy m&d. This is only my opinion. Looking at the live feed all week made me think this. Before, it was only leaking around the most recent cap installed, but if you look at the live feed, you can tell it is leaking from a lot of different areas.

Looking at today's live feed of the leak is making me wonder if BP changed camera angles to make it not look as bad. But, if you look real close at today's live feed, you can see a lot of oil in the background that is leaking but not well lit. I would not be surprised if BP is trying some camera tricks. again, my opinion. Take a look at it and judge for yourself.

Now I do have some positive news for you. Eleven year old Olivia Bouler has raised more than $110,000 to help The National Audubon Society rescue some more birds covered in oil. Olivia has been making a series of paintings to sell for the cause. She lives in Islip, New York, but her father grew up in Orange Beach, Alabama. She also often visits her grandparents who live in Louisiana. It is nice to report something positive like that. Thank you Olivia Bouler for doing something real nice to help save more wildlife.

Watchman · Jun 23, 2010

Watchman · Jun 27, 2010

Watchman · Jun 29, 2010

27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" width="480" height="418" id="VideoPlayerLg46971"><param name="movie" value="http://g4tv.com/lv3/46971" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed src="http://g4tv.com/lv3/46971" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" name="VideoPlayer" width="480" height="382" allowScriptAccess="always" allowFullScreen="true" /></object><div style="margin:0;text-align:center;width:480px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;color:#FF9B00;"><a href="http://g4tv.com/games/reviews/" style="color:#FF9B00;" target="_blank">Game Reviews</a> - <a href="http://g4tv.com/e32010" style="color:#FF9B00;" target="_blank">E3 2010</a> - <a href="http://g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/exclusives/index.html" style="color:#FF9B00;" target="_blank">AOTS Exclusive</a></div>

numero uno · Jun 29, 2010

boundThunter said:
How much oil was it leaking a day ?

Estimates from the preliminaries suggested 1000 barrels perday,(they were joking) to 5000 barrels perday and newly revised to 40,000 barrels perday and still mounting...

All in all, BP is trying to wrangle itself out of responsibilty and it has its minnions, the eco-warrior inc. to do its dirty jobs by not speaking the truth.

MSMs' on this subject varied so much with the alternate news sites, on reading between the lines, most all those ecowarriors have been silenced by the mighty dollars. Yes, They have been bought as everything has its prices and the amounts the BP is willing to fork out to cover this disaster are staggering. How about 10B Sterling Pounds and a "stay out of jail ticket?"

Only after the magnitude of the disaster became evident did Obama order Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano to declare the oil disaster a “national security issue.” Although the Coast Guard and FEMA are part of her department, Napolitano’s actual reasoning for invoking national security, according to Madsen, was merely to block media coverage of the immensity of the disaster that is unfolding for the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean and their coastlines.

spare me Obama and the US govt hypocrisy. It's only because it is BP and NOT an american company like Exxon or Standard oil that they whacked its chairman on the inquiry(televised live) and humilate him like a schoolboy naad make him look like an idiot. How come in Exxon Valdez incident they did not do the same to Exxon president??? Double standard and pure Obama crap. anyway if you look at it america have never champion green issues and they are the worst polluters on earth(see UN report) with gas guzzling SUV and all the airplanes they fly. That's why although always say they support green issues, they refuse to sign the Kyoto protocol all these years. This is perfect retribution. wake up and stop being cry babies.

Watchman · Jul 1, 2010

Watchman · Jul 1, 2010

Methane in Gulf "astonishingly high": U.S. scientist
Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO
Tue Jun 22, 2010 6:58pm EDT
Related News

CHICAGO (Reuters) - As much as 1 million times the normal level of methane gas has been found in some regions near the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, enough to potentially deplete oxygen and create a dead zone, U.S. scientists said on Tuesday.

Science | Green Business

Texas A&M University oceanography professor John Kessler, just back from a 10-day research expedition near the BP Plc oil spill in the gulf, says methane gas levels in some areas are "astonishingly high."
Kessler's crew took measurements of both surface and deep water within a 5-mile (8 kilometer) radius of BP's broken wellhead.
"There is an incredible amount of methane in there," Kessler told reporters in a telephone briefing.
In some areas, the crew of 12 scientists found concentrations that were 100,000 times higher than normal.
"We saw them approach a million times above background concentrations" in some areas, Kessler said.
The scientists were looking for signs that the methane gas had depleted levels of oxygen dissolved in the water needed to sustain marine life.
"At some locations, we saw depletions of up to 30 percent of oxygen based on its natural concentration in the waters. At other places, we saw no depletion of oxygen in the waters. We need to determine why that is," he told the briefing.
Methane occurs naturally in sea water, but high concentrations can encourage the growth of microbes that gobble up oxygen needed by marine life.
Kessler said oxygen depletions have not reached a critical level yet, but the oil is still spilling into the Gulf, now at a rate of as much as 60,000 barrels a day, according to U.S. government estimates.
"What is it going to look like two months down the road, six months down the road, two years down the road?" he asked.
Methane, a natural gas, dissolves in seawater and some scientists think measuring methane could give a more accurate picture of the extent of the oil spill.
Kessler said his team has taken those measurements, and is hoping to have an estimate soon.
"Give us about a week and we should have some preliminary numbers on that," he said.

Watchman · Jul 7, 2010

Watchman · Jul 10, 2010

Could The Oil Spill Be Stopped This Month?

BP is setting a new goal of having the well plugged by July 27th. This is also the day BP meets with it’s investor’s to discuss 2nd quarter earnings. Part of me goes “huh?”, and part of me thinks it makes sense, money wise. I guess
money can do both good and bad and in this case it is motivating expediency…..sad but good?
I don’t know but the sooner the better with ending this disaster.

Here’s some other links about more about this deadline…
online.wsj.com…
newsfeed.time.com…

UPDATE: BP had a 7 hour meeting to discuss back up plans and evaluated previous mistakes as well as what risks are involved now.

At Wednesday’s trip to the spill site, Mr. Dudley and Adm. Allen evaluated a prospect for controlling the spill—a newly designed cap to replace the leaky one currently directing oil to ships on the surface.

The risk: removing the old cap could exacerbate the spill in the short run.

At the administration’s prodding, BP created a new device called an “autonomous subsea dispersant system.” Environmental Protection Agency head Lisa Jackson told BP to create such a capability to monitor and measure chemicals used underwater to break up the oil. The large volume of dispersants used has concerned scientists and some government officials.

In recent days, the company has installed new battery-powered equipment on the ocean floor that will inject dispersant into the flowing well. Typically, the dispersants are controlled by ships on the surface, but they may have to move if storms hit.

kirby · Jul 11, 2010

A new and less well known asymmetric threat has surfaced in the Gulf of Mexico oil gusher. Methane or CH4 gas is being released in vast quantities in the Gulf waters. Seismic data shows huge pools of methane gas at the location immediately below and around the damaged "Macondo" oil well. Methane is a colourless, odourless and highly flammable substance which forms a major component in natural gas. This is the same gas that blew the top off Deepwater Horizon and killed 11 people. The "flow team" of the US Geological Survey estimates that 2,900 cubic feet of natural gas, which primarily contains methane, is being released into the Gulf waters with every barrel of oil. The constant flow of over 50,000 barrels of crude oil places the total daily amount of natural gas at over 145 million cubic feet. So far, over 8 billion cubic feet may have been released, making it one of the most vigorous methane eruptions in modern human history. If the estimates of 100,000 barrels a day -- that have emerged from a BP internal document -- are true, then the estimates for methane gas release might have to be doubled.

According to geologists, the first signs that the methane may burst its way through the bottom of the ocean would be manifest via fissures or cracks appearing on the ocean floor near the path of least resistance, ie, the damaged well head. Evidence of fissures opening up on the seabed have been captured by the robotic midget submarines working to repair and contain the ruptured well. Smaller, independent plumes have also appeared outside the nearby radius of the bore hole. When reviewing video tapes of the live BP feeds, one can see in the tapes of mid-June that there is oil spewing up from visible fissions. Geologists are pointing to new fissures and cracks that are appearing on the ocean floor.

A methane bubble this large -- if able to escape from under the ocean floor through fissures, cracks and fault areas -- is likely to cause a gas explosion. With the emerging evidence of fissures, the tacit fear now is this: the methane bubble may rupture the seabed and may then erupt with an explosion within the Gulf of Mexico waters. The bubble is likely to explode upwards propelled by more than 50,000 psi of pressure, bursting through the cracks and fissures of the sea floor, fracturing and rupturing miles of ocean bottom with a single extreme explosion.

This could either produces the finest looking sprays of water a la gigantic fountain or a tsunami is coming acalling. Knock, knock...

kirby · Jul 12, 2010

BP’s Deepwater Horizon well gushing oil at full force BP’s Deepwater Horizon well gushing oil at full force after the faulty containment cap was removed by engineers. Photograph: Reuters

BP's Deepwater Horizon well was gushing oil at full force into the Gulf of Mexico as engineers began a high-stakes operation to remove a leaking cap, and install a more effective containment system.

The success of the operation is critical for BP and the White House, which pushed the oil company to switch its containment systems.

Barack Obama faces an additional drama tomorrow when a presidential commission appointed to determine the causes of the disaster holds its first public hearing in New Orleans. Oil industry advocates have accused the commission of bias.

Ghostly images from BP's deep-sea cameras showed robot arms executing the first stage of an anticipated week-long operation: lifting off a flange that had been attached to the well by six 24kg (52lb) bolts. "Everything is starting to come together," Kent Wells, a senior BP vice-president, said.

If all goes well, the switch to a tighter cap will allow the collection of all the crude oil spewing into the Gulf. The process could take three to six days.

But until then the containment effort that had been collecting some 15,000 barrels a day is suspended. The well is releasing 60,000 barrels of oil a day, and the leak that started in April has become America's worst environmental disaster.

Wells said it was impossible to guarantee success. "We have tried to work out as many of the bugs as we can," he said. "The challenge will come with something unexpected."

As operations continued, members of the presidential commission fanned out across the Gulf, meeting local people to offer assurances about their mission.

The commission is charged with determining the causes of the disaster and reviewing industry safety standards and government regulations. William Reilly, the commission's co-chair, who led the Environmental Protection Agency under President George Bush Sr, said he also wants to look at the response to the spill.

"Why were some of the decisions made with respect to both regulation and to immediate response?" he asked. "They look irregular to the casual observer."

The commission is to hold its first public hearings tomorrow, when it will hear from Coast Guard officials and BP executives about the progress of the clean-up effort.

But its members have already come under attack from the oil industry and supporters of offshore drilling.

The Wall Street Journal and the New Orleans Times-Picayune have accused Obama of stacking the seven-member commission with environmentalists rather than petroleum engineers.

"The president weighted the group with experts who appear more qualified to deal with the spill's effects than with its causes," the Times-Picayune said.

The Senate has also sought to undercut the authority of Obama's commission, with the energy and national resources committee voting to create a separate congressional investigation.

But Don Boesch, a marine science professor at the University of Maryland and a commission member, dismissed suggestions of bias. He said the commission would be focused on determining the causes of the disaster and making policy recommendations – not weighing in on the future of offshore drilling.

"Drilling is going to be a big part of the economic base of this region as well as the US energy supply for some time to come. We recognise that," he said. "It is the president and the Congress that makes those decisions about where we do offshore and gas development."

He also rejected the argument that the commission needed more petroleum engineers, noting that it had a former Shell executive as a scientific adviser.

"We are not mechanics who lift up the hood and try and figure out the details of the machinery," he said. "We are looking at the whole car and seeing how to make it run better." The operation now under way on the ocean floor will involve installing a cap weighing about 70 tonnes above the well. The cap will eventually allow three or four vessels to hook up and begin collecting oil through flexible hoses. The equipment can be disconnected much more readily than now, an important consideration in hurricane season.

The stronger seal could also help preparations for what is seen as the ultimate solution to the gusher in the Gulf – smothering it by pumping in heavy drilling fluid from a relief well.

Watchman · Jan 23, 2011

Louisiana Oil Spill 2010 PHOTOS: Gulf Of Mexico Disaster Unfolds

1sickpuppy II

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