Oil Spill in the Gulf

Don't be suprized if feds find some funny stuff (just like WMD in Iraq) to cover BP's butt.

Duengeon master wrote:

jpete wrote:It would seem to me that there should have been a "dead man valve" or some thing like it on the well pipe for just this instance. Of all the government regulations it seems odd that there isn't something like this.

And even if it wasn't mandated, I'd think the oil companies would do it to protect against the inevitable lawsuits.

I guess since the Valdez lawsuits have been tied up in court for eternity, there isn't much incentive to do it.

Doesn't that make the idea of sabotage seem more real? B P is a huge company. Do you think they don't know what happened to Exxon from the Valdez accident or the company that had the spill off the coast of Spain? Do you think they are willing to risk millions of dollars and fines not to mention the bad press from cutting corners? However, if they did cut corners to save a buck then shame on them they deserve what ever punishment they get!!!!!!!!!!

That's the thing. Exxon hasn't suffered a bit. They just pay to tie everything up in court. I don't think they paid anything in fines yet. As far as bad press, I don't see a wholesale boycott of Exxon/Mobil stations.

It doesn`t matter either way, they will all just raise the price of gas to make more profit. Its my understanding that this well wasn`t even producing yet, thats why it was still the drilling rig that caught fire. From what I read after the drilling is all done then that rig moves on & either a pumping platform replaces it or the well is somehow tied into others.

Somewhere I read that in most other locations in the world where they have these rigs a special fitting is required.This valve is the first item at ocean bottom sand level.Somehow it monitors flow and electronically slams shut when excessive predetermined flow levels are detected. They are not mandatory off shore in U.S. waters.The article said they cost one half million dollars each. Can't find the article but a half million dollars looks like chump change at this point. I keep thinking the US Navy has something that can effectively operate at that crushing depth. To me this is a national emergency and I don't care how secret it may be,if we have it now is the time to use it period. There are no winners with this one.

jpete wrote:It would seem to me that there should have been a "dead man valve" or some thing like it on the well pipe for just this instance.

From what I have read, there IS a dead-man valve but it didn't work.

ken wrote:I was reading of putting a dome over the hole 5,000 ft down. Could take couple weeks get in done. Maybe in the future it would be reguired to have in place just as a preventive thing.

I read that for some leaks they put a gigantic box over the well head, to capture the oil, then pipe it to a surface ship that processes the oil. The article said a box is currently under construction, but there are a lot of ways that it might fail to work. Another proposed solution is to drill a second well to intersect the first, then pump in concrete or whatever to plug up the oil flow. But that would take months.

They said the remote control type valve that Norway & Brazil use is untested in real life but up until now so was the set up they had that didn`t work, seemed that they were banking on the dead man which possibly no one ever got to activate & the deep sea robots. So now they know some things that don`t always work I guess its back to the drawing board.

My first reaction was "Why are they putting the fire out? As soon as it's out we have oil headed for land". My second reaction was "They should a dome with a big weight to put over it and capture the most of it." So...Yup, the fire was no more than out & they're thinking of burning? How come I can think faster than they can? I'm not even in the oil business. Now the dome.....they are building one & it'll take 10 to 14 days to complete. Oh DUH! How come there wasn't one already built, waiting, just in case? And, yes, I heard the in Europe they have half million dollar an air pressure activated safety on each well....yet we choose not to do that? It sure seems the oil companies have cut corners to save money knowing that WE will pay. *sigh*
I did a bit of research. There is only one manned sub on Earth that can go that deep. The Russians own it...it's shell is pure titanium! Our best subs are only good to around 3,000 feet. So, unmanned it all they can use for this project. I'm not sure what, if anything, the Russian sub could do even if it went there. I'm guessing it's such a mess that a sub can't get close enough to do anything. Humans can not dive at that depth.

rberq wrote:

jpete wrote:It would seem to me that there should have been a "dead man valve" or some thing like it on the well pipe for just this instance.

From what I have read, there IS a dead-man valve but it didn't work.

ken wrote:I was reading of putting a dome over the hole 5,000 ft down. Could take couple weeks get in done. Maybe in the future it would be reguired to have in place just as a preventive thing.

I read that for some leaks they put a gigantic box over the well head, to capture the oil, then pipe it to a surface ship that processes the oil. The article said a box is currently under construction, but there are a lot of ways that it might fail to work. Another proposed solution is to drill a second well to intersect the first, then pump in concrete or whatever to plug up the oil flow. But that would take months.

CNN said that failsafe devices are mandatory in other countries but not required here. Sounds par for the course.......

Freddy,
Alvin is good to over 14,000 feet...
Operated by WHOI just a hop skip down the road...
http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=8422
http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=8422&tid=282&cid=53066
But it is in Cali right now...
You might have mixed feet and meters but you would still be off...
There is a few unmanned subs thatcan do that depth...
And the US holds the record for deepest manned free dive...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathyscaphe_Trieste

I heard if you get a pinhole in the hull of a sub at that depth the water stream will cut you in half. Too much going on these days. It amazed me when they shot the gas line right under the street here, let alone what they will have to do to stop this spill. What if it was sabotage and what if Obama was behind it.

Now I'm all uptight and full of liberal guilt, or maybe it's just guilt. I put my AC in today and felt guilty that I used electricity to feel comfortable. Then I bought gas and felt sick that it's approaching $3.00 a gallon. I pulled in behind a Korean in a minivan. There was a big sign on the back of the guys minivan that said,
"The greatest accomplishment in life is getting up from failure." I yelled at the guy, Hey! Hey! I like that! He didn't know what I was talking about, just gave him the thumbs up. Weird how things like that come along sometimes.

CapeCoaler wrote:You might have mixed feet and meters

Naaaaa, I had forgotten about Alvin. The mistake was reading "The deepest-diving large, military-style submarine......" and after that they made it seem that nothing could go deeper other than a bathysphere.....Maybe it was correct as Alvin's human compartment is a sphere, but that article could have mentioned! When I said humans can not dive at that depth, I meant out in the open, like scuba dives or similar. For sure when kept at surface pressure humans can go to any depth. (I've always found it strange that no human has ever gone back to the Mariana trench since the one and only manned dive in 1960. Need some cash? In January 2010, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Trieste descent, the X Prize Foundation announced a $10 million prize for the first privately funded craft to make two repeat manned descents.)

"CNN said that failsafe devices are mandatory in other countries but not required here. Sounds par for the course"

I'm sure they will be mandtory after this. Just like new oil ships need 2 hulls after Exxon's nightmare.

Yeah, you can't smoke in Bars anymore, yet no emergency valve is mandatory by foreign companies operating offshore of the U.S. ??? WTF??? Apparently, EVERYBODY in charge in this country has their head up their ass............

Freddy wrote:I've always found it strange that no human has ever gone back to the Mariana trench since the one and only manned dive in 1960

Are you nuts? Haven't you read the book? There's a MONSTER living there!
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariana_Trench says the 1960 divers found fish living at the bottom. Why is it the fish can stand the pressure and we can't? After all, we are mostly water, and water is essentially non-compressible. Or could we stand the pressure, but it would be inconvenient taking seven years to come back up so as not to decompress too fast?

Any lottery on when we see $4.00 DIESEL? How about $4.00 gasoline? How about $25.00/lb shrimp?

This containment and oil recovery is like watching a 'Monkey having intimate relations with a football'.
It would be funny if it wasn't so damned catastrophic for the entire gulf area, all the wildlife and economic disruptions.

I was stationed at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, so I know the area well, and many of the folks that live and work there.
Lately if it weren't for bad luck, they would have no luck at all!

....sure hope BP will 'Man-UP' and take some responsibility here. I know the economic realities are horrendous, but the risk is already assumed; do the right thing!