Oil Spill

[Twilight Shadow]

Just wondering about opinions about  the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico by Louisiana.

[Twilight Shadow]

Well I do not think that clogging the pipe with mud will work. It will work temporarily but will get pushed out and the oil will keep leaking out.

[windhound]

According to a survivor’s account... blowout preventer...was punctured in the weeks before the blast but nothing was done to fix it.

http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1662156&cid=32317106

Apparently BP continued operations after the BOP was damaged.  They should be held entirely responsible.
But so far they have been working on it, so I can't fault them toooo much.
http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1662156&cid=32317082 sums up the stoppage plans pretty well

It sucks.  But poo happens
This is one of the deepest blowouts ever, if not -the- deepest. 

The thing that bothers me most is the armchair experts that think they know better than industry experts with years and years of experience

[Twilight Shadow]

Yeah but if the gov't comes in to assist the experts about the pipe or whatever it is, they could lend in the newest technology to decrease or stop the leak too.

[windhound]

lol.
BP -is- the newest technology. 
The oil companies employ -the- experts in this area, the problem is that they're in uncharted territory.  The relief well is the sure fix, but that takes time (3 months ish).  There's a few unproven things to try while that happens, and they're trying them.

The government is helpless.  The only thing they can do is launch 'investigations' on an oil rig they called exceptional just last year.  The experts, the people who know what they're doing, they work for the oil companies.  From what I've heard there hasn't been any advise from any other companies, BP is doing what they can.

[Twilight Shadow]

From what I heard all their backup plans have failed for when this happens this is why it is taking so long. What source do you use to learn this knowledge or do you work in that type of field.

[windhound]

There were two safegaurds in place, as per federal regulations.  The BOP (blowout preventer) and the concrete reinforcement.  One report claims the BOP was damaged prior to the blowout, its pretty much a given the concrete failed.

Read - http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1662156&cid=32317370 both comments
Important bit -

Even if the equipment to do all this is available on site ready to go you could not move that rapidly. For example with the "Top Kill" BP is having to carefully X-Ray the existing valve structure at a depth of 1 mile using robot subs to determine if the structure can withstand the pressure of pumping mud through the system. They have working on determining the risks of this process for at least two weeks. Just rushing ahead without careful consideration of the side effects could do a hell of a lot more harm than good.

The BP well is the deepest well to ever blow out. It is not surprising that there is difficulty getting it under control. In fact things are moving far more quickly than in the case of the IXTOC-1 blowout which was also in the Gulf but at a depth of only 165 ft. That took nearly 10 months to cap. Total oil released by IXTOC-1 was about 3,000,000 barrels.

There are zero tested plans for wells at this depth.  The cap they tried originally probably would have been fine in shallower waters, but in the deeper water they had ice buildup faster than predicted (simplified).  The pipe they tried next to syphon off some of the oil did work, just not  as much as they'd hoped.  The mud cap is, at the moment, going as planned.   They'll know if it works in a couple days.

Again, the only for-sure method is the relief well -- drain the oil pocket, no more leaks.  But drilling a new well takes time. 

The government is typically useless in a crisis.  It can throw money at it and hope it goes away, and do investigations when its over, but suggesting the US Government can deal with an oil spill is kinda silly.  If they could do something they would have by now.  Its been a month and the stoppage efforts are still entirely handled by BP.  The US Government would have seized control of the operation (in the name of National Security) if they thought they could do a better job, but they cant so they sit back and try to look like they're doing something.

My info comes from talk radio (NPR and a local station), Slashdot, and various online news sites (mainly BBC). 
I'm an Electrical Engineer, I can appreciate and understand many of the various methods suggested and tried. 

[Shadow]

Well I do not think that clogging the pipe with mud will work. It will work temporarily but will get pushed out and the oil will keep leaking out.

BBC News - 'Top kill' method 'slows BP oil leak' in Gulf of Mexico

Looks like mud might do the job after all ^_^

But yes, like windy said, I can sympathize a little bit with BP in that they really are working on something that has never been done before, and these things take time. And if you compare to previous leaks, they are actually moving with impressive speed on this one if they are already close to capping it off. (The last comparable one that I came across took 10 months to stop). I think it was stupidity and negligence that led to this situation in the first place, so my sympathy is limited, however BP is being quite good about the whole thing in that they are not trying to dodge responsibility for the disaster and are tackling it head on despite the cost. So they have my respect for that, if not for the fact that the situation happened at all.

[Truth]

http://www.hulu.com/watch/149644/saturday-night-live-bp-oil-spill-cold-open#x-4,cClips,1,0

[Firetooth]

Can I just say, even though I agree people are being too harsh on BP, they have acted too slowly and used some strange methods...

[moderated]

Firetooth posted this hilarious video, but it has swearing. So if you're a child, please ask you parents before playing this video

BP Spills Coffee

[/moderated]

[Wisey]

Hmmmm.  I live away from the spill, but it's hurting the nation in a lot of places.  Some of my relatives came over and said that their neighbors were going to have a barbecue.  See, they love seafood.  And .. a pound of shrimp costs twenty dollars.  I feel so sorry for the people around the area of the spill -- the coasts don't look all that attractive now, from what I've seen.

Hopefully they'll be able to stop the oil spill.  Until then .. I wonder how many scientists it takes to come up with one working plan  ::)