Top kill and relief well

[nadinbrzezinski]

well in the interview with Tweety Gibbs mentioned the relief well... which tweety ignored.

I think the feds are coming up the sad reality that the standard way to stop these things IS a relief well...

I know that ain't popular, but that is realism setting in...

I don't like it... you think there is damage, just wait... but I will not be too surprised if the top kill, whenever they do it, fails.

[Ruby the Liberal]

1. This has probably been asked and answered many times, but if this oil field

is under so much pressure, aren't they worried about poking new holes into it?

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. What the relief well does

is that it reduces the pressure allowing them to cap it.

Either that or wait for the field to empty...

Think about it this way... if you have a hose with a hole on it, and you drill a second hole on it, that you can control the other one still gushes, but with far less pressure.

That allows you to cap it.

[Ruby the Liberal]

3. I get the concept, but this was not a working well

Don't they have to drill and then create a working well (sourced to the top of the water for collection) in order to relieve the pressure?

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. This is exactly what happened wtih the PEMEX well

so they have to set a working well to help relief the pressure enough so they can cap it.

That one took nine months...

[Ruby the Liberal]

5. Oh crimeny.

Thanks for explaining.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. It don't make me any happier either

but that is the way it is...

On the bright side, when Ixtoc one went there were the same kind of dire warnings.

Yes there was a LOT of damage... but after a LOT of cleanup, and it was expensive... the fisheries did recover after ten years, and the turtles that were in the endangered list, were moved, lock stock and barrel by the Navy.

I can just hope we have a similar result here...

I suspect things will not be as dire as we all fear, given history.

[Ruby the Liberal]

7. Thanks for the positive vibes on this.

Rec'd you, but the BP patrol must have been right behind me. :eyes:

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. It is the they are not doing a thing patrol

:-)

[Beetwasher]

9. Yeah, Reading About Ixtoc Gives Me Some Hope That This Won't Be As Bad As Worst Case Scenario

It will be bad enough, but not "end of the world".

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. yeah the end of the world scenario is out there

that said, we are in the midst of the great sixth mass extinction... and yes Humans have a hand in that. But it did not start when this gusher went off.

That is a whole different discussion though and one that a lot of the locals have a problem with.

[Ruby the Liberal]

11. That has been in the back of my mind as well

I have been to Cancun (1990s) and never knew about Ixtoc until this well blew. If it was that life altering, I would think we would have seen/heard about how it "used to be 15 years ago".

Any glimmer of hope at this point.