Oil rig spilling 13,000 gallons per hour...

[SidDithers]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/23/us/23rig.html

Search continues for missing oil rig workers

Stanley Murray of Monterey, La., said his son Chad, an electrician, had made it off the rig just in time. A neighbor, Mr. Murray said, did not. “My son had just walked off the drill floor,” he said.

He said his son told him that the 11 missing workers could not have survived the explosion. “The 11 that’s missing, they won’t find them,” Mr. Murray said.

Coast Guard rescue teams searched the area by boat throughout the night, then resumed the air search, by plane and helicopter, on Thursday morning.

The explosion occurred Tuesday night, and on Wednesday afternoon crews were still fighting the fire, which was largely contained to the rig but in photographs provided by the Coast Guard appeared to be shooting enormous plumes of flame into the air. Rear Adm. Mary Landry, the commander of the Coast Guard’s Eighth District, estimated that 13,000 gallons of crude were pouring out per hour.

Officials said the pollution was considered minimal so far because most of the oil and gas was being burned up in the fire. “But that does have the potential to change,” said David Rainey, the vice president in charge of the Gulf of Mexico exploration for BP, which is leasing the rig.

Photo credit: Gerald Herbert/AP, seen at CSM link below


CSM story here:
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0422/Amid-search-for-Deepwater-Horizon-oil-rig-survivors-What-happened

Amid search for Deepwater Horizon oil rig survivors: What happened?

Despite the Deepwater Horizon oil rig's state-of-the-art equipment, drilling in the deep blue is still a roughneck's job – a combustible mix of big machines and highly flammable materials.

The Transocean Deepwater Horizon oil rig is one of the most advanced engineering feats in the world, having drilled deeper than any other waterborne platform. But when the massive fifth-generation rig exploded late Tuesday night, injuring 17 workers and leaving 11 still missing, the accident proved even the most modern deepwater platforms are not immune to an age-old danger of tapping the earth: what roughnecks call, simply, blowout.

Sid

[Subdivisions]

1. That area of the Gulf is pretty much dead already anyway. That's the

price we pay for having the fuel to run down to the corner store for a Coke and a bag of chips.

[Robb]

2. And frankly

....to create the Coke and the bag for the chips. :(

[amborin]

18. +10

[Javaman]

44. And the sneakers, jeans, underwear, t-shirt we wear to get there...

and the money we use to pay for it. And the A/C unit that cools the store (it's not powered by oil, but it was made with plastic parts), and the floor tile and the cash register and the lights themselves, etc, etc, etc, etc...

two things that run our society: fossil fuels and HFCS.

And, you can't get HFCS without fossil fuels.

the circular firing squad of the great american disconnect.

[Newest Reality]

4. And also ...

the price we pay for everything we call modern life. Oil is the blood that courses through our day from food to medicine and from plastic to fuel. Some people are a bit shocked when it dawns on them, in a bigger picture, the impact and necessity of fossil fuel, especially when they can find little that does not depend on entirely upon it.

Around you all, except perhaps from some handmade artifacts here and there, is the evidence that, the black crude is the form and function of your current existence. As its availability declines, so does modern life. The transition will be very, very hard, but the outcome may be better.

[Subdivisions]

7. 'As its availability declines, so does modern life.'

And anyone reading this should take note that production of oil is already in decline, cheap oil is already gone, the decline is terminal and irreversible, and this plain and simple fact is reponsible, together with bankster greed and fraud, for the current world economic situation.

[Javaman]

45. This should be shouted across the land, but alas...

it's not.

I love the people who slam peak oil. They usually don't have a clue as to what they are talking about.

They don't know it's about meeting demand, they don't know it's about the easy stuff being gone, they don't know that china's oil use increases 5% year on year.

I just heard a really fascinating fact: 20-30 years ago, 95% of the worlds 3rd world countries didn't use oil. Now, only 5 3rd world countries don't use oil.

We are speeding headlong into a brick wall.

As things get worse and worse, oil corps will cut more and more corners to squeeze out more oil and make more money. As a result, more of the types of accidents like the one in the gulf will become more common.

two rules of thumb I keep in the back of my mind. 1)be able to bike at least 10 miles without a problem 2) be able to walk at least 5 miles without a problem.

[merh]

40. Excuse me?

I don't believe you are correct. Could you provide something to back up your ascertain?

There is plenty of fishing and shrimping that goes on in the Venice area.




That area of the Gulf is not dead and the parts of the Gulf to the north of it are not dead and many of the miles of shore consists of the white beaches used by the tourists who come to Mississippi. With this economy the area cannot afford to lose any tourists. It is still rebuilding after Katrina. It is hardly dead though.

[Subdivisions]

42. Looks like I was off by only a few miles...

The Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone, made infamous most memorably by Dr. Sylvia Earle, is located along the coastal waters of Louisianna.

The Gulf of Mexico dead zone is an area of hypoxic (link to USGS definition) (less than 2 ppm dissolved oxygen) waters at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Its area varies in size, but can cover up to 6,000-7,000 square miles. The zone occurs between the inner and mid-continental shelf in the northern Gulf of Mexico, beginning at the Mississippi River delta and extending westward to the upper Texas coast.

...snip...

http://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/topics/deadzone/



Though I may have been mistaken by a few miles, my commentary on our indifference to the damage we cause in our pursuit of oil, and a Coke and chips (or any other comparative wasted of energy resources), stands. Admittedly, I'm as guilty as anyone. But I try to eliminate as much of my wasteful use of energy as I can.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. And Obama proposes to open up the Atlantic to oil leasing.

With its history of hurricanes.

How long before any or all of the rigs are subject damage like this with oil released into the ocean?

[bananas]

5. Very unpopular with moveon members during the State of the Union

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/01/28/nukes-oil-coal-sotu/

Jan 28th, 2010 at 2:40 pm

Demoralizing His Supporters, Obama Calls Nukes, Coal, And Oil Drilling ‘Clean Energy Jobs’

<snip>

About 12,000 MoveOn members participated in a “live online dial-test of President Obama’s State of the Union speech.” While Obama’s mentions of clean energy innovation were some of his most popular moments, his paean to polluters was by far his worst moment with progressive activists:



Nukes, oil, and coal just aren’t clean. If Obama really is committed to “tough decisions,” he’ll take on the coal companies who are tearing up the Appalachian mountains, the nuclear companies who want taxpayers to take all the risk for accidents and waste, and the oil companies who are burning up the planet for their own profit. And that’s something the people who put him into office could support.

And now, another serious design flaw discovered in the AP-1000,
good thing we haven't started building these yet:

http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/04/21/448017/environmental-groups-oppose-nuclear.html

Environmental groups oppose nuclear reactor design
Wed, Apr 21, 2010 02:26 PM

A coalition of environmental groups are asking federal regulators to suspend their review of proposed nuclear plants because they claim that a leading reactor design has defects.

The 12 groups, including Durham-based NC Warn, today asked three federal agencies to suspend consideration of Westinghouse's AP1000 reactor. The design flaws could lead to radiation leaks from corrosion holes, the groups contend.

<snip>

"Environmental groups holding press conferences against nuclear plants are not surprising to us," said Westinghouse spokesman Vaughn Gilbert.

<snip>

http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/04/new-safety-issues-documented-with-nuclear-reactors-planned-for-southeast.html

New safety issues documented with nuclear reactors planned for Southeast
Serious safety concerns continue to mount for the AP1000, a new type of nuclear reactor proposed for power plant sites across the Southeast.

A report released yesterday warns that the design of the Westinghouse reactor makes it particularly vulnerable to through-wall corrosion -- already a widespread problem with existing commercial reactors -- and thus the possibility of leaking radiation in the event of an accident. The report was commissioned by the AP1000 Oversight Group, which involves more than a dozen nuclear watchdog organizations.

"The potential consequences of a radiation release to the environment from a small hole or crack in the AP1000 containment are significant," according to the report by Arnold Gundersen, a nuclear engineer with Fairewinds Associates of Burlington, Vt. and a former senior executive in the nuclear power industry.

His concerns about the reactor's design are supported by Rudolf Hausler, a corrosion engineer with NACE International, a Houston-based organization devoted to the study of corrosion. Hausler states in an affidavit attached to the report that he agrees with Gundersen's assessment "in its entirety."

The groups behind the report -- which include the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, Friends of the Earth and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy -- are calling on the Obama administration to suspend the licensing process for the AP1000 reactors as well as consideration for taxpayer-backed construction loans. They also urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the NRC's Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards to launch an investigation into the design flaw.

<snip>

[Subdivisions]

8. I'm placing my bets that there will NEVER be any meaningful production of

crude oil along the Atlantic coast. By the time any great amount of oil can be produced in the Atlantic (with perhaps an exception of Florida), the cost of going after that oil will be prohibitive. The relevant term to understand here is EROEI or EROI. Look it up.

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. I bet the spring shrimp ecology will be affected

As will the next harvest by the fishers,....... one of the best shrimps on the planet BTW.
The Gulf is a precious ecosystem that feeds many besides just humans.
I worked on a fishing boat one spring to early summer in the Gulf in my youth.

The Southern or Gulf State Governors and legislature are doing so much damage to the areas water ecosystem, including rivers, bayous, water tables. estuaries and the ocean itself you can see it from space. Such short sightedness, in the search for oil.


Oil drilling is a risky business on land, I knew a few riggers who worked on those rigs.
They had a tough shift with three weeks on and one week off.... Generally good guys, I hope
the best for the missing and their love ones



Bad News on Earth Day

[Shell Beau]

9. Yeah, the Gulf shrimp are good. I guess we'll see how this impacts

the fishing business.

[Ichingcarpenter]

21. Shrimp can handle a lot of toxins

Unfortunately the toxins become exponential in the higher food chain

[Shell Beau]

22. They are the roaches of the sea. But yeah, they are the food

for many others. x(

[Ichingcarpenter]

23. Right now I've been getting Greenland shrimp

Small but tasty until they get polluted too

[Shell Beau]

24. I live near the Gulf, so that is about the only kind of shrimp I eat.

May not be for long though!!!

[Ichingcarpenter]

27. I fished for red fish back then

Which one of the best eating fish on the gulf, but now the toxins are too high and should be avoided
The heavy metals in the gulf are like DDT was to the american bald eagles close demise

Just do a google on red fish

[Shell Beau]

10. This is just so sad. I would hope they could find the bodies (if

they are in fact dead), so the families can have closure. But that seems impossible.

[Bozita]

11. CNN reporting the oil rig just sank

more info after the break

[SidDithers]

19. Yup. It's up on their website...

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/22/oil.rig.explosion/index.html?hpt=T1

An oil rig that was burning in the Gulf of Mexico for more than a day after an explosion has sunk, the U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday.

Lt. Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesau of the Coast Guard announced this latest development as an aerial search resumed for 11 workers who have been missing since the explosion on the rig Tuesday night off the Louisiana coast.

Crude oil was leaking from the rig at the rate of about 8,000 barrels per day, Coast Guard Petty Officer Ashley Butler said. The Coast Guard also is preparing for possible leaks of up to 700,000 gallons of diesel fuel but can do little to protect the environment until the fire is out, Butler said.

An investigation was under way to determine what caused the blast about 10 p.m. Tuesday aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig.

Sid

[gratuitous]

12. Pump prices jump

Or am I getting a couple of days ahead of the story?

[SoCalDem]

15. that's the "B" side of drill baby drill.. n.t

:(

[Ichingcarpenter]

20. I followed it during the volcano and the loss of fights

I'm on my itouch now, so it would nice if others could pull up the data

[Ichingcarpenter]

13. Who on Earth would vote this down?

On Earth Day?

Nevermind

[Soylent Brice]

16. i was thinking the same thing. i just recced it with no change at all.

fucked up.

[redqueen]

31. K&R

back up to 5 now

[AuntPatsy]

14. My sympathies go out to those men and thier families hurt by this tragic accident

[taught_me_patience]

17. but... but... but.. I thought oil rigs were good for the environment

and accidents don't happen anymore.

:sarcasm:

who the fuck unrecced this?

[KG]

25. gee, i was told it was so safe, drilling off the FL coast was no big deal.

:eyes:

[BrightKnight]

32. In Texas I have tar remover for my skin and boat.

The last time I put my boat in the Gulf I had to spend a day scrubbing it clean. I have a dedicated tar stained swim suit. I the past it was impossible to walk the beach or get in the water without getting covered in the stuff. The situation has improved but obviously the threat remains.

I hope that they can get this spill stopped and cleaned up quickly.

[Rex]

26. My grandmother just told me her friend has a son missing on that rig.

:(

[arcadian]

28. HAPPY EARTH DAY!!!!

[L0oniX]

33. +1

[BrklynLiberal]

29. Oboy. Now all the "DRill Baby Drill" Blue states can look forward to this off their coasts.

:sarcasm:

[malaise]

30. No live coverage of this one

I wonder why?????

[Mythbuster]

34. Ditto!!! What's up with the media coverage???

This pending major ecological disaster is only 40 miles out. One would think that there would be tons of live and archived footage of this spewing Behemoth!

[malaise]

38. ABC News covered it a few minutes ago

and mentioned the imminent ecological disaster

[Mythbuster]

39. One would think

that with the enormous potential this has for being a record setting environmental catastrophe, that they would all be on the story like flies on a turd. I'm always amazed by how controlled the media as a whole is... just like the lack of follow up and in depth reporting of the Austin IRS building suicide pilot. They never did thoroughly report on that incident. Maybe I'm just missing all of the "real" reporting because I refuse to watch Faux News. :smoke:

[Rex]

35. Earth Day Cover Up Conspiracy?

[Blue_Tires]

47. +1

[spanone]

36. yep, that offshore drilling thing is really inspirational

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[tomm2thumbs]

37. that's gonna join up with that island of plastic and make a nice toxic mess for eons

we are so good at polluting now that we're going to kill this earth in half the time recent scientists ever thought possible.

we should be so proud

[Merchant Marine]

41. Major spill response is being mobilized

"Release date: 22 April 2010

BP today activated an extensive oil spill response in the US Gulf of Mexico following the fire and subsequent sinking of the Transocean Deepwater Horizon drilling rig 130 miles south-east of New Orleans.
BP is assisting Transocean in an assessment of the well and subsea blow out preventer with remotely operated vehicles.

BP has also initiated a plan for the drilling of a relief well, if required. A nearby drilling rig will be used to drill the well. The rig is available to begin activity immediately.
BP has mobilized a flotilla of vessels and resources that includes:
significant mechanical recovery capacity;
32 spill response vessels including a large storage barge;
skimming capacity of more than 171,000 barrels per day, with more available if needed;
offshore storage capacity of 122,000 barrels and additional 175,000 barrels available and on standby;
supplies of more than 100,000 gallons of dispersants and four aircraft ready to spray dispersant to the spill, and the pre-approval of the US Coast Guard to use them;
500,000 feet of boom increasing to 1,000,000 feet of boom by day’s end;
pre-planned forecasting of 48-hour spill trajectory which indicates spilled oil will remain well offshore during that period;
pre-planned staging of resources for protection of environmentally sensitive areas.

"We are determined to do everything in our power to contain this oil spill and resolve the situation as rapidly, safely and effectively as possible," said Group Chief Executive Tony Hayward. "We have assembled and are now deploying world-class facilities, resources and expertise, and can call on more if needed. There should be no doubt of our resolve to limit the escape of oil and protect the marine and coastal environments from its effects."

As part of its planning and approval requirement prior to offshore activity, the area was evaluated for use of dispersants and the plans approved by the US Coast Guard which has now given the go-ahead for their use."

[SidDithers]

43. A million feet of boom?...

Jesus on a pogo stick, that's a lot of boom.

Thankfully, it appears that the site is no longer leaking.

http://amfix.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/23/coast-guard-no-crude-oil-leaks-in-gulf-rig-accident/

Sid

[Merchant Marine]

46. Sounds like the ROVs were able to manually close the riser...

[Hutzpa]

48. This should be debunked

as the Rear Admiral Mary Landry has stated when she got interviewed that there is no oil spillage,
this is the problem with journalist that don't fact check but live on creating fear.




http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/23/admiralsearch-continues-for-missing-rig-workers-no-oil-leaking-yet/

Landry said there's no crude oil leak at this time from the crude head or the risers adjacent to it, but if there is leakage, crews will be geared to respond.

"We have a one mile by five-mile rainbow sheen and crude oil mix that we've been actively skimming. That is leftover residual from the incident yesterday," she said, referring to the rig sinking.







:banghead:

[greencharlie]

49. disgusting...

as if our oceans and reefs needed any MORE stress...

BTW, nuclear power plants don't leak OIL!!!!!!!!!

[BrightKnight]

50. The DU dirty coal lobby does not want to hear that.

Millions of tons of radioactive, heavy metal bearing, toxic coal ash is just a cost of doing business. Acid rain and millions of tons of CO2 are not really hurting anything important. Mountain top removal can be ignored. Mercury contaminated fish can usually be eaten in moderation. Respiratory illness is just culling the heard...