*LATEST!* "Top Kill" is failing....Next the "Junk Shot" with rubber balls...

[KoKo]

Friday, May 28, 2010
Guest Post: “Top Kill” Has Failed

→ Washington’s Blog/Ed Harrison

Here’s the scoop: BP’s attempt to stop the oil spill using the “Top Kill” method has failed.

How do I know?

Well, as the New York Times notes:

BP officials, who along with government officials created the impression early in the day that the strategy was working, disclosed later that they had stopped pumping the night before when engineers saw that too much of the drilling fluid was escaping along with the oil.

Indeed, BP stopped pumping “mud” for more than 16 hours (the material gushing out of the leaking riser didn’t stop during that time).

Basically, BP has failed in trying to drive enough “mud” down the well to provide enough weight to tamp down the oil gushing out. It didn’t work.

Indeed, BP’s “re-starting” Top Kill really means that Top Kill Version 1.0 was tried and failed, and now BP will try Top Kill Version 2.0 – adding “junk” to the mix.

Unless BP can get very lucky and plug the holes with miscellaneous junk, Top Kill 2.0 won’t be any more effective than Operation Sombrero.

As the Guardian explains:

Doug Suttles, BP’s chief operating officer, insisted that the operation was going to plan, but admitted: “What we do know is that we have not yet stopped the flow.”

He said BP engineers would soon use additional materials to try to plug the well, suggesting heavy mud deployed so far would not work on its own.

More at:
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/05/guest-post-top-kill-has-failed.html

[babylonsister]

1. I dunno, but posts like this sound like they're rooting for failure. What's

up with that?

[KoKo]

5. Read the whole post at the site. Apparently the Guardian has

excellent reporting. No one is rooting for failure...we want BP to tell the truth so that we are informed. I saw CG Commander Allen on MSNBC this a.m. and he was waffling about whether the "Top Kill" was working.

This info seems to be up to date.

[AnArmyVeteran]

15. The Guardian is better than any of America's media companies...

The Guardian exposed every corrupt act committed by Bush & Cheney when the US press had their collective heads up their asses. Not one member of the US media ever asked Bush even the simplest question to stop the Iraq War, like "Mr. President, how in goddamned hell could Iraq attack the US when it has no navy, no real air force, and a missile system with a 500 mile range with 5% accuracy?".

The media is a complete joke. It's corporate owned and all they care about is making money. Investigative journalism is virtually a dead profession.

[tekisui]

7. I think part of it is that we have been given so much mis-information

and lies from BP, that we are extremely skeptical of anything they do at this point.

[babylonsister]

9. Could also be the CAPS and !! Seems to sensationalize something

that should be taken more seriously.

And yes, I'm in a less-than-trusting mood where bp is concerned. They're so intent on covering their ass, they seem to forget what their real mission should be. :grr:

[Hosnon]

12. There does seem to be a disturbing undercurrent that has developed. nt.

[patrice]

21. Agreed. And though they will swear otherwise, that alone could affect the outcome. Not that I

want to silence these folks, but that EVERYONE (unlike James Carville) ***NEEDS*** to be aware of who the various rhetorical operatives are and what their potential objectives might be, before they commit their support one way or the other. THAT is the uncharted territory we have entered on this annd other issues.

[Kahuna]

14. You too? Because I get the same impression. nt

[SidDithers]

17. Agreed...nt

Sid

[time_has_come]

20. So, no CAPS or a poster is "rooting for failure"?

Can we use exclamation points?

Everyone reacts differently to a catastrophe of this magnitude. Caps do not denote a lack of seriousness, in my view, they show emphasis. The leak has got this poster excited, perhaps in a similar way to how a burning building would get the people inside quite excited.

Accusing his post of sounding like he's "rooting for failure" is to insult him on the deepest level based upon your subjective impressions.

What if I said posts like yours sound like they're trying to disrupt and undermine DU by creating a rift? Fair?

[Urban Prairie]

2. Might want to edit your topic title from Top Hat to Top Kill n/t

[Statistical]

4. I would also remove the "latest".

Top Kill 2.0 "Even Junkier Junk" began 12 hours ago. So it is hardly the "latest" news.

[tekisui]

3. I can't believe the officials who tell us the leak has stopped, when

the video clearly shows it hasn't. Finally, it is confirmed.

[rocktivity]

6. Last night, Keith Olbermann's guest compared the situation

to putting a man on the moon without a plan to get him back to earth.

:(
rocktivity

[NNN0LHI]

10. Which leads me to believe that guest must read DU

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=8414020

NNN0LHI (1000+ posts) Wed May-26-10 05:18 PM

Response to Original message

11. I admit the propaganda was working on me

They had me believing they could do it safely.

I had no idea that they were drilling a mile and more beneath the ocean though. And to top it off without the kind of equipment already available to fix a blowout at that depth quickly. Be like going to the moon before figuring out how you are going to get back.

Doesn't make sense.

Don

[rocktivity]

13. LOL!!! However, "the kind of equipment to fix a blowout at that depth quickly"

doesn't seem to exist. This project was greenlighted without it, and THAT'S the real crime here.

:headbang:
rocktivity

[90-percent]

22. Keith's guest last night

I think that was Dr. Micheo Kaku, one of the best TV physicists I've ever seen. He's got a neat show on Discovery Science and everything I know about string theory I got from Dr. Kaku.

One question I have is whether all available resources have been thrown at this spill already?

But, all you have to do is peruse DU for the last 5 weeks and DU readers and posters and links come up with plenty of possibilities that have been done before elsewhere in similar circumstances.

I think Mike Papintonio and Thom Hartmann have discussed this on some posted vids? For example - there was some spill in the middle east oceans 30 years ago and they got "sucker" oil boats to siphon up the oil?

What about other oil companies? Don't they have stuff that could help? Do other countries have stuff that could help?

Isn't there stuff out there other countries or companies or militaries have done to fix this bad deal up better than what has been done so far?

Is the world really throwing all we have as a civilization against this thing yet? Don't all people of earth agree that this situation calls for a WARTIME EFFORT with Wartime allocation of resources?

It does seem like a lot of dithering is going on and BP sure behaves like it answers to no one, including the full force of the US Government? The continued use of BP's "brand X" dispersant is one example of criminal defiance of the EPA/U.S. government. Doesn't the stuff they're using work real good to get the oil to sink, but will kill life at the bottom of the ocean, resulting in a dead gulf devoid of life? Shouldn't they be using more ecologically friendly dispersant's that won't turn the gulf into a dead sea so quickly?

-90% Jimmy

[BootinUp]

8. Prediction: the junk will blow through the BOP

like shit through a goose.

[BootinUp]

23. This video recorded this morning

may show what happened to the junk shot, basically it went through the system I think. Found this at The Oil Drum.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AadjMspXMAA

And now it appears they are proceeding to the next plan as the ROV appear to be preparing to install the top hat.

[bullwinkle428]

11. On NPR this AM, BP was pulling a "Pee-Wee Herman"; i.e.,

"We meant to do that!" with regards to stopping the pumping efforts.

[Xicano]

16. What about injecting this stuff into the well?

Watch to at least 2min's 23sec's into the video. Maybe enough of this stuff will be enough stoppage force to allow cement to be poured and seal the well for good. Just a thought since I remember using this stuff back when I was a aerospace student at Northrup University.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA7RocP92cQ#t=0m50s

[customerserviceguy]

18. It's all a dog and pony show

just to kill time until the relief wells can finally do the job. It mollifies the "Do something!" crowd, while creating drama on Internet TV for a lot of people.

[SidDithers]

19. Oil Flow Is Stemmed, but Could Resume, Official Says...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/us/29spill.html?hp

The blogger uses the NY Times. Let's see what the NY Times is saying now.

By injecting solid objects as well as heavy drilling fluid into the stricken well leaking oil into the Gulf of Mexico overnight, engineers appeared to have stemmed the flow of oil, , Adm. Thad W. Allen of the Coast Guard, the leader of the government effort, said on Friday morning. But he stressed that the next 12 to 18 hours will be “very critical” in permanently stanching what is already the worst oil spill in United States history.

Admiral Allen, who spoke on ABC’s Good Morning America, said the biggest challenge will be to sustain the “top kill” effort, which involves pumping material into the well to counteract the upward pressure of the gushing oil so that the well can be sealed.“They’ve been able to push the hydrocarbons and the oil down with the mud,” he said, referring to the heavy drilling fluid. “The real challenge is to put enough mud into the well to keep the pressure where they can put a cement plug over the top.”

The top kill effort has proceeded in fits and starts. BP officials, who along with government officials created the impression early on Thursday that the strategy was working, disclosed later that they had stopped pumping the night before when engineers saw that too much of the drilling fluid was escaping along with the oil.

Sid

[HuckleB]

24. Old Eddy is just engaging in bar stool discussion.

This is not worth the time of day.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

25. enriched uranium is pretty heavy. Maybe they'll try using it next

[Catherina]

26. Rec'd when you first posted this but to no avail n/t