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Monday, May 31, 2010

BP Oil Spill – Desperate times and desperate measures


The Daily News, Galveston County – Seafood wholesalers feeling the effects: http://galvestondailynews.com/story/157506

Officials – Oil Spill May Last Months: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2011994867_oil31.html

Deepwater Horizon response: http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/site/2931/

Updates from The New York Times at these links: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/us/31spill.html?hp
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/us/31cleanup.html?hp

This article is by Clifford Krauss, John M. Broder and Jackie Calmes.


Published: May 30, 2010

HOUSTON — The Obama administration scrambled to respond on Sunday after the failure of the latest effort to kill the gushing oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. But administration officials acknowledged the possibility that tens of thousands of gallons of oil might continue pouring out until August, when two relief wells are scheduled to be completed.

“We are prepared for the worst,” said Carol M. Browner, President Obama’s climate change and energy policy adviser. “We have been prepared from the beginning.”

Even as the White House sought to demonstrate that it was taking a more direct hand in trying to solve the problem, senior officials acknowledged that the new technique BP will use to try to cap the leak — severing the riser pipe and placing a containment dome over the cut riser — could temporarily result in as much as 20 percent more oil flowing into the water during the three days to a week before the new device could be in place.

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Terra Imagery from NASA shows a sheen of oil offshore of Port Arthur, near Beaumont Texas.
There's a strong likelihood that black area is weathered oil below the water's surface coming ashore on barrier islands southwest of Galveston, Texas. –
Sat May 29, 2010 at 04:33:11 PM PDT


"We don't know how to stop this," an oil industry expert Matthew Simmons told the National Geographic today. He strongly doubted temporary efforts such as the "junk shot" to plug the well, calling it "a joke." Simmons said that the oil could flow until the reservoir is depleted.
Thu May 13, 2010 at 06:46:22 PM PDT

Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser and La. Gov. Bobby Jindal tour through the Roseau Grasses that mark the coastline of Southeast Louisiana at Pass a Loutre at the mouth of the Mississippi River where oil has washed ashore, Wednesday, May 19, 2010.



Overlaid satellite imagery of BP oil slick better shows its true size.


An eddy spinning off of the Loop current captured spilled oil at the end of last week then pulled it into the Loop current.
Mon May 17, 2010 at 09:43:11 AM PDT

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Obama administration is really making a bad situation worse by threatening BP with criminal prosecution. If provoked, BP could just pull out and there wouldn’t be a damn thing the White House could do about it. The Government has no ability to plug the leak except with a nuke. If costs rise enough and BP thinks bankruptcy is possible due to litigation and sanctions, it could happen. The picking up of tar balls on the beach and the much belated bluster by Obama is frankly, laughable.

Ralph said...

Anonymous is the reason we have the oil devastation in the first place. He and his anti-democracy, pro-corporate totalitarian ideology shows how being afraid of confronting corporations because of their money is a direct cause of America's decline and lack of intelligent solutions to our problems.

As long as US citizens like Anonymous give our politicians the right to sell out to irresponsible corporations, there will always be oil disasters, poisoned children, recessions, increasing unemployment and a growing lower middle class.

The right wing indignation of Anonymous is cowardice.

Sensible Capitalist said...

This oil disaster is the last nail in the coffin for the coming double dip recession. We are seeing it now with stock market volatility. Finally, much needed heightened government regulation - a result of years of Congressional cowardice of being afraid to bite the corporate hands that feeds them - will result in higher costs and lower profits for many of the S&P 500 stocks (this is a good thing).

It is my hope that BP will go bankrupt and then Americans will have to pay for their lazy corporate co-dependency and have to pay for the oil clean-up with higher taxes and lower stock prices and retirement account values.

Only through further economic punishment will Americans finally wake up to the fact that the corporations are killing our country, not the government. If this oil spill doesn't do it, we will end up just like another struggling colonial power in the English channel.

To make matters worse, we now have Miranda rights trashed, foreigners can be harassed, Obama's silence legitimizes piracy in international waters, and popular right wing politicians hope that businesses can once again refuse service to African-Americans.

The moral decency of our country is in severe decline. Adults are a lost cause. Only our children can save America from becoming a total failed economic state.

Anonymous said...

Here are 11 good reasons for crinimal prosecution.
DEEPWATER HORIZON VICTIMS
Jason C. Anderson, 35, Midfield, Texas, father of two.
Aaron Dale Burkeen, 37, Philadelphia, Miss., married, father of two (14-year-old daughter Aryn and 6-year-old son Timothy), died four days before his 38th birthday.
Donald Clark, 49, Newellton, La., married to Sheila Clark.
Stephen Ray Curtis, 39, Georgetown, La., married and had two teenagers. Taught his son to hunt and play baseball and was active in his church.
Roy Wyatt Kemp, 27, Jonesville, La., married to Courtney Kemp.
Karl D. Kleppinger Jr., 38, Natchez, Miss., U.S. Army veteran of Operation Desert Storm, enjoyed NASCAR and cooking barbecue. Married with one son, Aaron.
Gordon L. Jones, 28, Baton Rouge. Wife Michelle Jones was nine months pregnant with their second son when he died.
Keith Blair Manuel, 56, Gonzales, La., father of three (Kelli Taquino, Jessica Manchester and Ashley Jo Manuel). Engaged to Melinda Becnel. Had season tickets to Louisiana State University baseball and football games.
Dewey A. Revette, 48, State Line, Miss., married with two daughters. Had been with Transocean for 29 years.
Shane M. Roshto, 22, Liberty, Miss., married to Natalie Roshto, father of 3-year-old Blain Michael.
Adam Weise, 24, Yorktown, Texas. During time off, the former high school football star spent time with his girlfriend, hunted deer and fished from his boat.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for putting this tragedy in perspective. Your post coaxed a tear for these tired old eyes and in a small way, I feel the grief of the families. It’s certainly worth more than a bunch of oily pelicans and tar stained salt grass.

Those poor families however, will not be served any relief from a criminal investigation at this time. Right now, we need relief for the living and I’m afraid that the administration’s push for a criminal investigation is nothing more than a PR stunt that will do no one any good. I have no love for BP or own one share in any of the targeted companies. The federal Government can’t solve this; it needs to be solved by the people skilled in this type of repair.

There has been some talk about the possibility of sealing the well by detonating a small tactical nuke at the base of the well, thereby fusing the sand and pipe to plug the well. I hear it has been done at least 6 times by the Russians. This procedure may be secretly in the works right now, but I have my doubts.