Question by wildlife_den: What is the current state of of the Gulf Oil spill?
First they tried to shut off the blowout preventer and it failed, then they tried to top kill it and it failed.
The last thing I heard about was them trying to saw the pipe and funnel the oil up to ships or something but supposedly even that did very little.
Now it is June 18, and I’ve heard little to nothing about the spill in the past whole week. Nothing on TV, nothing online, it’s not even in any of the “popular searches” It’s like a total media blackout while they debate money and fault in court
Meanwhile the oil is now reporting to be gushing almost 3 million gallons a day (25 or 30 times BP’s original estimates)
Did they manage to get the well capped? or do they have another plan to stop it? or have they decided to just let it flow indefinitely?
This breaks my heart, why isn’t stopping the well the number one priority? Now I heard Obama is refusing/turning away help!
Best answer:
Answer by Paul’s Alias 2
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He is secretly sending the oil to his native Kenya to supply the radical Muslim movement there.
Give your answer to this question below!
4 Responses
President Obama isn’t refusing or turning away help. That’s a myth perpetrated by people like Sarah Palin.
http://climateprogress.org/2010/06/17/palin-claims-that-netherlands-and-norway-can%e2%80%99t-get-their-calls-returned-on-the-oil-spill/
The latest news is that BP successfully managed to cap and collect some of the oil. BP will have the capacity to capture about 28,000 barrels of oil a day from the leak by “some time early next week”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100617/pl_afp/usoilpollutionenvironmentcontain_20100617151417
Which is less than half of what’s leaking, but it’s certainly better than nothing. This is sort of a stopgap measure as they contine drilling relief wells, which are fortunately ahead of schedule, but is still looking like mid-August before it will likely stop the flow.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/17/gulf.relief.wells/index.html?section=cnn_latest
Stopping the blowout most certainly is the top priority. Some politicians are attacking President Obama for talking about energy legislation before the blowout is sealed. I don’t see what one thing has to do with the other. The President, Navy, Coast Guard, BP, etc. are doing all they can to stop the flow. There’s no reason why we can’t also try to develop an energy plan to move us away from oil dependence and prevent this sort of thing from happening in the future. Personally I can chew gum and walk at the same time. Maybe some politicians can’t, including one of my own Senators, Diane Feinstein, who needs to stop being such a dope.
*edit* “I’m curious as to why Dana got 2 down votes as he explained the current situation perfectly.”
A number of deniers on this site automatically give me thumbs down no matter what I say. Sometime I should write an answer attacking the IPCC, Hansen, Mann, and Gore and see what happens. My favorite example – 14 thumbs down for simply defining ‘AGW’.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AnojDKcEWpV9FNe5TXK1wYHty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080604131705AAXQN9s
its part of the plan for cap and trade,,,they will let it run until the government gets its hands in our pockets
I’m curious as to why Dana got 2 down votes as he explained the current situation perfectly.
The blowout will probably be controlled when one or both relief wells are at TD. I would doubt that the wells will be able to “control” the runaway well prior to the end of September. You have to reach TD and cut a window in the casing (7 inch) at each entry point of the wellbore. It may actually require cutting through two or more strings of casing, based on what I have seen of the problem zones versus the casing shoe of the previous 9 7/8 casing string.
The current well cannot be controlled since it would appear that both the casing side and the annulus side of the casing are flowing from two zones simultaneously, with two different flowing pressures (the shallower one is higher pressure and this is big trouble. There is no way to seal the annulus at the ocean bottom, so in essence there is an open loop, like a straw in an open glass, but the glass keeps producing its own water and you can’t drink fast enough. The diversion techniques that they are using now will help reduce the oil, but the current well seems to be a useless appendage without the 2 new wells to control the old well. The relief wells will not actually “relieve” pressure as many seem to think, they will merely allow the controls that the current well lacks.
As far as aid and Obama…those are issues for the Politics Section. He is doing what he can, while he can. About the only thing more he could do is mandate the release of all Confidential Information, including Seismic and Well Logs and Drilling and Completion Reports, so that others could help find a solution (if there is one) to help with the current well. I do actually like what he is doing with the Damages Fund, which is a benefit to both BP and the US people in my opinion. Otherwise Damages will include Punitive Damages which absolutely will bankrupt BP.
EDIT: @ Jeff M The answer to your question would appear to be that people in here don’t like to read factual information. I also got thumbs down for merely reflecting the facts. I wish people would argue the facts as opposed to not liking the message!