Report: Cell Phone Photo Helped Plug BP Well

[RamboLiberal]

Source: CBS News/AP

A single picture from a cell phone camera may have saved the Gulf of Mexico from a few more weeks; if not months; of oil gushing from the BP well.

A new study from the presidential oil spill commission describes the behind-the-scenes, excruciating tension and mistakes behind the three-month effort to cap the busted well. New details include the story of a lone scientist working from a cell phone photo who saved the day by convincing the U.S. government that a cap it considered removing was actually working as designed.

The cap that eventually stopped the oil from flowing was almost pulled a day or so after it was installed in mid-July because pressure readings looked high. BP wanted the cap to remain and the well to stay shut, but government science advisers were firm and near unanimous in wanting the cap removed because of fear of bigger, more catastrophic spill, the report said. One scientist took a cell phone picture and e-mailed it to a government researcher in California for advice.

Just using that cell phone photo, Paul Hsieh, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist, created a model for what was happening under the cap. He was convinced that the containment cap wouldn't blow. He got more data, which bolstered his case. He persuaded the other scientists to wait a bit.


Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/11/22/national/main7079331.shtml?tag=stack

[truthisfreedom]

1. A scientist saved the day. Go figure.

Yay for that.

[Nihil]

4. One good USGS scientist vs. shitloads of "government science advisers" (sic)

If the government's "science advisors" had managed to get their way
the Gulf would be in a hell of a worse situation.

Fortunately, a genuine scientist managed to get past the political
appointees & lobbyists in time.

Close call.

[jberryhill]

2. I thought Fox News said Joe the Plumber fixed it /nt

[WhiteTara]

3. me too

good to see the truth. I hate them.