BP Fails in Latest Bid to Cap Gulf Oil Leak Amid Liability Concerns (Tube Insertion Fails)

[tekisui]

Source: McClatchy

MIAMI — BP failed Saturday to thread a mile-long tube into the broken pipe spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico, but officials said efforts to break up the oil underwater seemed to be working.

The Environmental Protection Agency gave BP the go-ahead on Saturday to use dispersants, chemicals that break the oil into small droplets and keep it from rising to the surface.

"It appears that the application of the subsea dispersant is actually working," BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said. "The oil in the vicinity of the well is diminished from previous observations."

At least 210,000 gallons of oil have been gushing into the Gulf each day since the Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20, and some independent scientists think the leak may be 10 times that bad.

Late Friday, technicians tried to stop the leak by guiding a six-inch-wide tube with a rubber stopper into the broken undersea pipe. But they had trouble connecting the tube to an oil tanker on the surface, and had to return the contraption to the surface.

"The challenge here is working with 5,000 feet of water," Suttles said.

BP hasn't given up on the tube strategy yet. Suttles said they will try it again late Saturday.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/15/94228/bps-latest-bid-to-cap-gulf-oil.html#ixzz0o4RdohrR

[aquart]

1. I thought we pre-absolved them of liability except for $75 measly million?

[dipsydoodle]

5. That may well be the case

but BP have already said they will cover ALL reasonable costs which means they are effectively ignoring that cap themsleves and will act in good faith. The key word is actually "reasonable". You can regard that as a legal expression for "don't take the piss". Your courts have a reputation for awarding airy fairy punitive damages. I reckon any such damage awards would cause the barrier to go up and the cases become just as protracted as the Exxon Valdez issue - 20 years or so to resolve.

[aquart]

7. "Don't take the piss" means........? In what language?

[Newest Reality]

2. Sadly,

tube insertion has failed for me at times, too. When you are ready to spew, that's ultimately important, as any self-respecting geyser knows. And I was not, (even though I would like to think it) dealing with anything close to that long in something anywhere near as wide as the Gulf of Mexico, (though some might be considered close in a hyperbolic and more humorous sense). Getting the contraptions to the surface has also proved problematic from time to time and can take the joy out of the experience.

I will not give up on the tube strategy either. I understand how they feel. Though I have dealt with some water, 5,000 feet of it boggles my mind and certainly makes tube insertion problematic sometimes, though I hear some like it that way.

One way or another, we must plug this leak or I am sure it will interfere with our television viewing and that is a certain catastrophe of untold proportions. I mean, FSM forbid that we are unable to watch reality as it is created for us. amirite? Perish the thought that this potential extinction event in the making might curtail our incessant oneupmanship and sacrosanct right to profit-taking!

GO USA! Non-negotiable way of life from sea to DYING sea!

[Skittles]

3. was your first paragraph meant to sound kinky?

:7

[Newest Reality]

4. Well,

I have learned to leave the interpretation to the judgment and eye of the beholder. I don't really want to impose any values on anyone and trust that their own ideas and filters will help them to determine the nature and value of my opinions.

However, I can duly and humbly apologize in advance to those who have interpreted my perspective in a way that leads them to the conclusion that my intention was to convey a kinky or lewd concept.

I am not sure and I don't want to debate it either way, but you could be right. I trust you to decide that in a way that is conducive and supporting to your own self-interests and better judgment. Honestly, who am I to interfere with that or decide how you should take things?

[RC]

6. Good analogy. Maybe they should take some of that doggy hair they are collecting for the oil leak

and put some around the leaking hole. Can't hurt.

I really don't understand the problem, it lubed and wet enough.