Does the federal government have the skill set or expertise to fix the oil spill?

[Cant trust em]

BP doesn't seem to know what they're doing.

Could the US take on a role in constructing some kind of solution to the geyser in the gulf?

I know that the Army Corps of Engineers can do some amazing things, but this is pretty specialized work. Could they take this on?

[WeDidIt]

1. No, they don't

That should change now, though. The Oil companies, though required by law to be prepared, have demonstrated they are in no way prepared for such a fiasco.

Now, a federal level oil spill rapid response team needs to be formed, needs to train, and needs to do it all on the dime of the oil companies.

Next time, the Feds should handle it.

The tough part will be getting it through Congress.

[LeftyFingerPop]

2. I can't imagine that they do.

But they certainly have the skill set to mobilize the right people from other oil services companies to stop the gusher.

BP really has no incentive....75 million? So what. Potentially 10 billion? So what. They are richer than God, and since Exxon is still thriving, their reputation will not be harmed to the point where they are driven out of business.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. I trust BP and other industry engineers over the Army Corp of Engineers.

I have zero confidence in BP execs. But I don't distrust their engineers. The inability to staunch the flow is due to the severity of the problem, IMO, not incompetence.

[katzenjammers]

18. I'm an engineer in a related field and I mostly agree with you, but

as the bean counters are obviously trying to mitigate their corporate losses, which is their job, but any claims that their actions are deliberately either refusing to work on the problem or silencing their own engineers is just stupid. There was certainly some gambling on how to maximize profits
which is the way every business operates but no way would even the topcats ever want the negative publicity they've already gotten even to end up with a high production well. They might be amoral, but they're not idiots.

[CoffeeCat]

4. You live in "that world" where...

...a big, greedy, sickening corporation makes a mistake--and someone
comes in and makes it all better.

Well, see--the world has changed right under our noses. We now live
in a new world where bribed politicians allow big, greed, sickening
corporations to operate in any fashion they choose. So what if they're
engaging in operations, so dangerous, that there is virtually no fix
for the damage! Those corporations paid for the freedom to destroy
anything and everything they want, regardless of who it kills or the
destruction it leaves.

"That world", the world that makes sense, in which "We The
People" run a democracy, is gone.

[liberal N proud]

5. No but someone in the Federal Government should be leading this effort

Someone needs to be telling BP and their contractors who the fuck is in charge here.

[texastoast]

8. Wouldn't it have been nice if we had a plan in place before this?

Because I'm not sure anyone knows what the fuck to do.

[C_Lawyer09]

34. And the bummer is, this was a big deal during the Carter admin.

We were extremely proactive at that time, and then energy independence languished. All the agencies that provide big time knowledge, obersight, and regulation have been systematically gutted since 1980. Read the Thomas Franks book, "The Wrecking Crew" for some good and interesting back story. Constant privatization has slowly but surely put the Feds at the mercy of the corporations. The federal govt. has succumbed to group think on a large scale, and over reliance on the same 'ol experts. Look what happened when the DOS instituted the debaathification process in Iraq. Made millions of new enemies overnight.

Realistically we are facing so many crisis right now that I don't think we are ready or equipped to respond adequately too one. I guarantee there are many braniacs, probably eccentrics out there whom have some awesome engineering ideas/expertise that will never be heard. Why? Because BP execs and many beholden govt. officials prefer a leak proof echo chamber regardless of the tragic damage. The only truth I believe in now, is that environmental challenges in the future will become our number one concern. They are coming. We can be ready or not.

[moondust]

6. Apparently not.

In the past few weeks someone(?) in the administration admitted that the gov't does not have that kind of expertise and/or equipment, at least not for deep water drilling. It might have been Napolitano.

[eShirl]

7. maybe we need something like NASA but for the oceans

[Poiuyt]

36. Actually, NASA does research earth science

Research Flights Take NASA Scientists Over Gulf Oil Spill

A team from NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA, made research flights over the Gulf of Mexico this week to help investigate potential uses of satellites for monitoring the thickness and dispersal of oil spills and the oil¹s impact on marine life.

The flights were part of a NASA-wide mobilization of its remote-sensing assets to help assess and research the spread and impact of the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill. Langley's King Air B-200, outfitted with two sensing instruments, flew Monday and Tuesday over the oil slick created by the explosion of a drilling rig nearly three weeks ago.

Data gathered during the flights will underpin a new effort to use satellite data to enhance monitoring and detection of oil spills. Other measurements taken during the flights could be used to observe the ecological impact of the oil spill by observing the density of phytoplankton – critical in the marine food chain – in Gulf waters.

more-

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/hsrl-oilspill.html

I know this wasn't what you meant, but at least they're involved.

[Webster Green]

9. Yes.

Lots of people other than BP understand what's going on here.

Our military certainly has the capacity to plug the damn thing, if they were ordered to do so.

It's likely that only companies like BP have the equipment necessary and the experience to make repairs that would preserve the capability to continue tapping the oil reserve, but if that was not a concern, the thing could be stopped using more drastic measures.

What is happening now is unacceptable. This is fucking bullshit, and BP should be nationalized and destroyed.

[lib2DaBone]

10. ... the Feds are stretched beyond breaking point...

with two wars escalating in the mideast, the DNC push for another war in Iran, relief effort in Haiti and a treasury that is bankrupt...

All it will take is another 8.0 Earthquake in the U.S. , and we are on our own... the calvary isn't coming... because all our resources have been shipped offshore.

[Webster Green]

11. It would not take many people to accomplish.

A group of specialists sink an explosive device just big enough to seal the hole, and be done with it.

[phleshdef]

12. Yea, lets just blow it up, what could possibly go wrong?!!

[Webster Green]

13. Not much actually.

There's two and a half miles of rock between the sea floor and the oil reservoir. It would not be that difficult to seal it off at the sea floor.

The problem is that they aren't interested in sealing it off. They want to get the oil.

[katzenjammers]

20. That's nonsense. If that were their only criterion, they would have plugged and plumbed it already.

If it wouldn't be 'that difficult', perhaps you should share your expertise with someone who can utilize it?

:eyes:

[Webster Green]

22. Sure no problem. I'm ready to go.

You don't think a properly sized and properly placed explosive charge could crush that pipe and put enough debris on top of it to seal it up? I disagree.

If we could build a Saturn 5 over 40 years ago, we can seal that fucking hole today. What's happened to American ingenuity?

[katzenjammers]

24. So you have it all figured out and yet you sit in your chair telling DU what a genius you are

instead of proposing your magic solution to ...BP or the EPA or to your congressman, to the President or to the Coast Guard or Martha Stewart. Nice priorities.

[Webster Green]

26. How do you know I haven't?

Don't get your knickers in a twist. I have contacted several agencies, and the White House, and a group called Innocentive that's looking for solutions.

Please don't assume to know what I have or haven't done. How the fuck would you know? Brainstorming is always good. If I'm wrong, oh well.

What's your idea? Give up and gnash your teeth?

[phleshdef]

33. Horse shit.

Use your brain for a minute. If its the oil they were interested in, plugging it up would ensure that the oil stays where it is instead of being unleashed into the ocean. Plugging it up wouldn't stop them from redrilling for it again (given offshore drilling doesn't get banned because of all this). Add that to the fact that they are losing a lot more money by not plugging it up and what you are alluding too makes absolutely no sense.

[katzenjammers]

19. Who will indemnify them? Lloyds of London? Fat fucking chance.

Yeah, let's just make the hole BIGGER

[Webster Green]

29. Don't be such a drama queen.

Like I said, there's two and a half miles of rock between the sea floor and the reservoir.

It could be sealed with explosives. It's actually been done before. I'm not nuts.

[katzenjammers]

31. Well, I may be a drama queen but I'm also an engineer with a lot of experience in drilling deep

holes in the upper layers of the lithosphere and I'm pretty sure that precipitous activation of high explosives in or around a vertical fracture isn't the most intelligent way to fix the problem. I never said you were nuts, you're just wrong.

[Webster Green]

37. Yeah, well I'll show you.

I'll snorkle down there with a couple sticks of dynamite in my teeth, and take care of this real quick.

I'll need bus fare to get down there though.

[katzenjammers]

42. HAHAHA....point to you!

:D

[moondust]

14. Chris Matthews covered this topic on Hardball today.

In the first half hour of the program he spoke with a woman from National Geographic who explained very well who has the resources to deal with this kind of thing and who does not. The U.S. government does not.

[dems_rightnow]

15. Who did she say does?

BP?

[moondust]

16. Japan, France, China, and Russia.

Apparently those governments have some deep water capabilities.

She said basically the oil industry has the most advanced equipment and expertise in the U.S.

[Canuckistanian]

40. Well, we know Russia's solution

Russian paper suggests ‘nuclear explosion’ could cap gulf oil geyser
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0504/russian-paper-suggests-nuclear-explosion-cut-gulf-oil-geyser/

[Webster Green]

17. The US Navy deep sub Alvin could likely do the job.

It would need to be outfitted with the right tools for the job. The thing can dive to 15,000 feet.

I could show them what to do, and I'm certainly no expert. What's solely lacking here is a little common sense.

This is bullshit! :wtf:

[moondust]

21. I'd recommend that you watch the Hardball clip when available. n/t

[Webster Green]

23. I will, thanks.

I got rid of my TeeVee, so I'll look for it online.

Hardball and similar corporate propaganda programs are the reason I ditched the tube though.

[4 t 4]

25. if they did

wouldn't they have done it by now? just saying.

[Webster Green]

27. Probably not. It makes too much sense.

What you're seeing now is a bunch of self-serving assholes engaged in a huge clusterfuck.

[katzenjammers]

32. A major worldwide corporation with the goal of eviscerating itself?

Maybe you shouldn't smoke that stuff.

[BeFree]

35. heh

What we have is a company that is ruining the gulf, and what do they say?

"No big deal"

They are going down. They know they are going down and they don't care. If they cared they wouldn't have made this mistake. They don't care about the gulf, they never did.

They are eviscerating BP.

The sums of money that it will take to fix this problem are more than BP can ever afford. In a year, there will not be a BP. BP is going down and going down by its own hand.

[moondust]

41. Here's the link.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/ns/msnbc_tv-hardball_with_chris_matthews#37262847

Sylvia Earle, oceanographer, comes on at 4:35.

She does mention the Alvin once but doesn't elaborate and doesn't sound too optimistic about dealing with this thing.

[SidDithers]

28. We need Dirk Pitt, Al Giordino...

And the folks from NUMA.

Sid

[Recovered Repug]

38. They'd only get involved if this was part of a plan

for world domination.

[gravity]

30. The government would hire the same engineers working on it now

but they will be the ones paying the bills and taking the blame.

[Canuckistanian]

39. No, but they can find out who IS

There are hundreds of specialty oil service companies out there. I think I read about a few who specialized in just this sort of thing.

BP made the mess. They're going to pay for it. But there's no earthly reason why THEY get to try and solve the problem.

[Karenina]

43. Does the federal government have the skill set or expertise to fix the oil spill?

NO.

Does the federal government have the skill set or expertise to fix the systemically entrenched, financial "Killer Bee Colony" from collapsing the global economy?

NO.