Latest oil containment effort falters

[maddezmom]

Source: Toronto Star

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says BP had a problem with its latest attempt to stop a massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill but is continuing the effort to stick a 1.6-kilometre-long tube into the gusher at the ocean floor.

Salazar offered few details about the snag that occurred early Saturday during a briefing at a bird rescue centre near Fort Jackson. BP PLC technicians have been carefully trying to guide the skinny tube into a leaking oil pipe to siphon crude to the surface. A stopper surrounding the tube would keep oil from leaking into the ocean.

Salazar said the company had to reconfigure its approach but is continuing the work. He said: “They are back down again ... trying to get it inserted.” He wouldn't elaborate.

BP declined to say what the status of the latest effort was. The accident is threatening an ecological and environmental calamity along the U.S. Gulf Coast.



Read more: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/810026--latest-oil-containment-effort-falters?bn=1

[metapunditedgy]

1. All the pressure pushing the oil out will push the siphon tube out as well. n/t

[lunatica]

2. This reminds me of trying to push magnet's polar negatives together

an exercise in futility.

[Thor_MN]

3. If they photoshopped an image of the US public's ass over the leaking pipe

I'm sure they would be able to shove something up it. They have lots of expertise with that.

[IDemo]

4. It's obvious they have the wrong man on the job

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_b2xIEfj2Y

[DCBob]

5. Hardly surprising.. these geniuses have failed on everything they have tried..

I think we need to bring in outside experts to help.

[tomm2thumbs]

6. they are so concerned with capturing the oil, they aren't thinking of real options

a junkie who is desperate to find a vein isn't exactly in a mental position to even notice when their left leg is amputated and bleeding heavily.

BP just wants their 'oil fix'

[Owl]

7. They don't know what the hell they're doing.

"More poisonous dispersants, please."

[Robbien]

12. Oil clean up technologies 'primitive,' experts say

(CNN) -- Oil industry experts said there is no sure-fire way to stop the massive amount of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.

If there were, BP wouldn't still be grasping for a solution.

"That's because pollution cleanup technology is primitive," said Robert Bea, a University of California-Berkeley professor who directs the university's Center for Catastrophic Risk Management. He worked for decades as a risk assessor to oil companies, including BP in the 1990s.

The science of cleaning up oil spills has remained largely the same since the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/13/gulf.no.other.choice/?hpt=Sbin


That what happens when all eyes focus only on the size of the bonus pot.

[yowzayowzayowza]

8. Fuckety, fuck, Fuck, FUCK! n/t

[meow mix]

9. maybe they can build a better robot?

with a giant pair of pincers or something?

[tooeyeten]

10. unplugged

Typical megacorporation, winging it but the profits keep rolling in.

[waronbanks]

11. Note the language...

"to siphon crude to the surface". Notice its not "to try to plug the well". Bastards dont care about the Gulf they just want the fucking oil.

[HughMoran]

13. Due to the high pressure, it's easier to suck and minimize pressure then 'stop' it

and have a huge pressure buildup that would find another weak part of the pipe and blowout there.