The Rude Pundit: Gulf Oil Spill: It Ain't Like This Never Happened Before

[meegbear]

This is fucked beyond fucked. And the history tells us it's gonna get more and more fucked before we can stop the fucking and, even then, it'll be ages before it's unfucked. Back in 1979, a Mexican oil well blew out two miles under the water in the Bay of Campeche. It was nine months and 138 million gallons before a relief well was completed. You won't be happy to learn that two months after the blowout, oil reached the Texas shore. You'll be less happy to learn that they (really) called their diversion dome a "sombrero" (instead of a, you know, "top hat"). And that they used dispersants. And that, even four months after the blowout, they didn't know exactly how much oil was flowing. Or that Mexican officials ignored some routine safety measures.

A New York Times editorial from April 12, 1980 wondered, "The enduring question is whether a devastating blowout could occur in our own offshore waters...The accident does suggest that blowout-prevention equipment is not designed to handle the worst emergencies." And it pondered, "Could a blowout in American waters be quickly capped and cleaned up?" before sadly concluding that "Most Americans would accept such blowouts to find oilfields are rich as Mexico's."

It's 2010, and the same questions persist. Thirty years and we've learned almost nothing. Yet everything old is new again.

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/

[meegbear]

1. kick

[Radical Activist]

2. Interesting and a little encouraging.

It's good to see that the ocean recovered from the other spills after the damage. The most important thing will be what policies we pursue after the leak is stopped.

[Vinnie From Indy]

5. Who said it had recovered?

Do you have any facts to back up your claim that the ocean in that area is not still effected?

[Radical Activist]

7. It was in one of the linked articles.

I believe the person below was talking specifically about the Texas coast. The article is about a spill that happened 31 years ago. Things re-balance eventually.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/23/1644742/spill-has-perfect-precedence-in.html

``The good side is, between one and three years later, everything was back to normal. It doesn't take long for these sandy beach habitats to replenish themselves.''

[girl gone mad]

11. As someone who spent summers at Texas beaches..

I can tell you that while the ecosystem may have recovered swiftly, everything was not completely back to normal within three years.

And if you would have bothered actually reading what the man said in full, you would have no reason be encouraged.

"While the edges of the region's barrier islands turned black, booms laid across the few entrances to the area's lagoons kept much of the oil out of some of the most fragile ecosystems, he said.

That's far different than the intricate, exposed marshes of Louisiana now in peril from Deepwater Horizon oil."

[Radical Activist]

13. And yet, the areas will still recover

eventually. I read that line and it doesn't contradict what I wrote.

[meow mix]

3. this one seems to be flowing at a much higher rate though

i guess they dont want to start a panic before letting the bad news settle in..
http://pesn.com/2010/05/23/9501654_Gulf_gusher_size/

"It is entirely safe to say that this well has been releasing more oil every day than the Exxon Valdez wreck did. Nobody wants to believe the size of the spill. History will settle the matter beyond all question that my math was probably giving a very low estimate of the well output."

[intheflow]

4. Yes, a much higher rate! The Mexico disaster was "only" 138 million gallons.

After 9 months. This current disaster may be "leaking" 2.5 million gallons a day into the Gulf. BIG difference! If that rate continues, we'll be in the billions of gallons in the Gulf in 9 months.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/05/how-much-oil-has-spilled-in-the-gulf-of-mexico.html

[gratuitous]

6. I like the conclusion

"Most Americans would accept such blowouts to find oilfields as rich as Mexico's." And why would most Americans accept that? Because they're laboring under the mistaken assumption that oil pumped out of American oil field goes to the American market. It does not. It's sold for the highest available price on the world market, and right now I think it's China is paying top dollar for sweet crude.

So all that lovely, lovely crude billowing out into the Gulf of Mexico is really crimping China's market. None of that oil was going to be sold to U.S. refineries anyway. "Drill baby, drill," should have the addedum "and send it to China" for a true picture of what's going on in the world.

[Radical Activist]

9. Just like the coal they want to mine in Alaska wilderness areas.

It isn't for US markets. It's for China.

[Swamp Rat]

8. k&r

[Wednesdays]

10. K&R

:kick:

[Jubal-Waters]

12. they do as they will without repercusion

[SidDithers]

14. One correction...

Ixtoc blew out in 160 feet of water. The well was drilled to 11,000 ft, but the wellhead was only 160 ft down.

Sid

[Scurrilous]

15. Kick

:kick: