BREAKING NEWS! New York Times- Problem for Containment Dome in Gulf

Wow! Didn't see this one coming [sarcastic]

Read the article HERE

May 8, 2010, 3:44 PM
Problem for Containment Dome in Gulf
By LIZ ROBBINS
4:41 p.m. | Updated Officials for BP on Saturday encountered a significant setback in their efforts to attach a containment dome over a leaking well on the seabed of the Gulf of Mexico, forcing them to move the dome aside while they find another method to cap the crude oil flowing into the Gulf since April 20.

Officials discovered that gas hydrates, ice-like crystals lighter than water, had built up inside the 100-ton metal container. The hydrates threatened to make the dome buoyant, and they also plugged up the top of the dome, preventing it from being effective.

“I wouldn’t say it has failed yet,” Doug Suttles, BP’s chief operating officer, said at a news conference in Robert, La. “What we attempted to do last night hasn’t worked.”

As a consequence, crews had to lift the dome off the well and place it on the seabed.

BP officials said they had anticipated a problem with hydration — but not this soon in the operation. Since last week they had been cautioning that this type of procedure had never before been attempted at 5,000 feet below the surface.

The news on Saturday came as BP has struggled to find any method to stem the majority of the oil, leaking at least 5,000 gallons barrels — roughly 210,000 gallons — per day.

For now, they have put the dome 650 feet to the side of the leaking well, “while we evaluate options,” Mr. Suttles said.

The containment dome was supposed to be the largest-scale method to cap the majority of the oil flow so far. Other efforts continued on Saturday, as BP said that the drilling a relief well, which would be able to collect the oil at one source of the leak, had reached 9,000 feet.

Weather prevented crews from doing a controlled burn of some of the oil, as they had done successfully on Friday, but they were still able to lay protective boom, said Rear Adm. Mary Landry of the Coast Guard.



So what exactly do they plan on doing if this plan fails? The Army Corp of Engineers predict a permanent solution could take as long as 2 years.

[edit on 8-5-2010 by discl0sur3]

[edit on 8-5-2010 by discl0sur3]

reply to post by discl0sur3

So what exactly do they plan on doing if this plan fails? The Army Corp of Engineers predict a permanent solution could take as long as 2 years.

I read somewhere that if it is not contained in 90 days the damage in the gulf and beyond will be irreversible.. 2 years is too long

I don't think they know what they are doing.

Funny how this all happens on weekends. Such horrible news.

You don't actually think they cleaned up the oil here in Alaska do you? It still stains the beaches and rocks. Whole fisheries went under because of them. When you can still go down to the beach in places and dig down, only to find crude? This is epic, and not in a good way, sorry to say it, we're screwed. Sure, they mopped up the top ten percent in AK, but the impact on the economy is still vibrant today. I was there, and am still. No one at any time has come up with a means to take it back out of the environment, though I will say this in hopes that someone, somewhere is listening. There was a certain product, I believe it is still used by ambulance crews to encapsulate human blood. It goes on in powder form, and then foams up once it reacts with oil, blood, forming what looks like a huge chunk of Styrofoam. It worked here, don't know why they aren't using it there? Dispersants contain distillates of petroleum as far as I know, and are just as damaging to the environment as the oil in the water, making it more fluid, losing its surface tension, causing it to migrate farther into the food chain then it would have.. Dry grass, and hay work when pulled in a purse seine, though then you have to burn it, though if hay is empty cellulose, it seems that it could be solubilized.
Again people, what you are seeing is only approximately the top 5% and here, they only reclaimed the top 10% of that. Divers in Alaska found that the crude was present in a good 15-30 foot swath below the surface, and that is for a surface spill. They also found that it was most highly concentrated in the ocean floor, mixed with sediment, and it's still there to the best of my knowledge. Again, we lost whole fisheries! We lost communities! We've lost lives due to exposure! Here's a question, how do we keep the birds which migrated north for the summer, from going back down there and dieing? Exxon has never paid out, and never will, everyone lost interest because the oil sank. But if you pull up a fish here, nine times out of ten it will exhale brown droplets from its gills. The people that eat them suffer from all kinds of problems, food chain people!

reply to post by EliyahuHaNave

Thank you for the post...I don't even know what to say to that actually.
Over a decade since Exxon and almost zero progress in the cleanup effort...this just makes me sick.
If this thing continues for 2 years as some analysts expect, every ocean on our planet is going to be affected!

reply to post by discl0sur3

Is anyone even aware that we have a contingent of Alaska fishermen, and their boats, either heading down there, or already there right now? This is because we know what it takes to get the top 10%, we at least figured out that much, hopefully with the locals help we can figure out how to get 20% there. The Time Bandit is on scene right now and it runs on Hydrogen, uses vegetable oil for hydraulics, try that on.

LISTEN PLEASE! Do not count on the oil company to clean it up, THEY WON'T! It's up to the people to take care of it. The reality is closer to this, BP just murdered generations of wildlife, marine life, shoreline, poisoned water tables, ultimately you will drink it, eat it, and it will have consequences. All they are doing right now is covering up the scene of the crime. They should not be allowed to have any part in the clean up, unless it is in chains. They are criminals of a massive proportion and MUST be held accountable. Don't listen to what they say about how you should clean it up if you are a local. Form a contingent of citizens, get their crap out of your water, and figure out how to deal with it. A Citizens Coalition for Spill Response needs to be formed. Keep the oil company out of the loop, they are the ones who caused the problem, otherwise it will never go away. Those men should be in jail right now, not walking the beaches, or tampering with evidence. Please wake up people, they screwed you, and the longer you let them walk around the longer they will continue to do so. What needs to happen is they need to be arrested, their company sold off and the profits used for the clean up.

Oh my God, I was afraid of this.

Well, we're screwed. The ocean is screwed. 90 days of this...or more? All I can think of is those poor fish, turtles, birds, dolphins, sharks, etc... All the marine life....just screwed.

I think you're right....we can't rely on the freaking oil executives to clean up this mess. Everyone who wants to help just needs to go down there and do their part....cut off our hair, and make hair booms if we have to! Create giant balls of hay, and throw them in the ocean to soak up the oil.

(And the benefit of the hay bales idea is that at night, the oil-soaked hay bales can be lit on the beach for bonfires, to give light to the marine rescue programs!)

Put the freaking oil executives in jail, and let us get to work. All they've done is tell the fishermen to wait....don't do anything, just sign this waiver.

I think Americans have gotten too compliant. We all want to help in the oil cleanup, but we're all being told "sit tight"...we don't need you yet....you're not qualified enough to do the clean up!

Wait, let me get this straight....who are the qualified ones to do the clean up? The idiot oil executives who bribed Obama to exempt them from the double back up pieces of safety equipment?

Give me a break....

You're right...we just all need to go down and start CLEANING....tell the oil executives that they have NO right to keep Americans out of American waters if we want to start on the clean up. We have to go back and start using good old fashioned American ingenuity to clean up this mess. Screw the government, screw the oil executives.....I know we could start to at least try to clean up this mess if we really wanted to.

We are all just way too compliant these days.

Once the spill hits land, I'm going to head on down and do what I can to help the marine life. There are tons of marine rescue organizations, but they all say that unelss you're 'CERTIFIED" to clean up animals, you can't help. Give me a break.... there are way too many regulations in this damn country.



[edit on 8-5-2010 by nikiano]

reply to post by bakadesu


You are so right. On saturday 90% of the sheeple are boozing it up and going to Target/WalMart/IronMan2. I feel bad for the 'regular' people. they are totaly bamboozled at how their delicate reality is being shattered.

This 'cofferdam' had no chance from the beginning. was pure public relations stunt. Was it made to cap the well or drop on the pipe? I saw three diff explanations on the MSM. If it went on the pipe it would cut the pipe. What would prevent it from just sinking into the ocean floor at 100tons?

We just told the Exxon to go screw themselves when they told us that we weren't qualified. We cleaned eagles and otters with dish soap, do what you have to do, but don't wait until it makes landfall. Start securing eggs and roe from shrimp and fish to guarantee their survival. Collect eggs out of nests and hatch them, come on! By the time this make land fall, and hit has in places, it will already be to late. What are they going to do, arrest you for cleaning up their mess????

reply to post by nikiano


I am sorry to inform you but this could threaten the very foundation of our civilization. This could be the event that begins the slow kill off. I say this coldly I know. I am saddened that this is how it might go down: a stinking world suffocating on oil, but we knew it was going happen one way or the other. This came from an angle I never considered...

Everyone I speak to says I am exaggerating the severity of this disaster. I can understand why they think that because there is little or no attention on it any more and estimates are still on the low end of 5000 barrels. I am informed because I come here and read all the articles posted on here on the subject and then some.

The reason they are giving for the Dome not working may not even be the real reason, either. The reason it isn't working is because the chasm the oil is pouring from is just too big for containment. Why else do you think they are stating that it will take two years to permanently fix it? They are telling so many lies, they have lost track already.

The article didn't say anything about it taking 2 years to fix...that was the OP's statements.....where did u get that information from?

Has anyone heard what I said? There is still oil on the beach because of EXXON up here in Alaska! This problem will be here for a long time, and the longer it is allowed to go on, the more area it will inhabit, for a long time!

At best, some Corps of Engineers experts say it could take two years to cement the chasm on the floor of the Gulf.

Link

Originally posted by Goradd
The article didn't say anything about it taking 2 years to fix...that was the OP's statements.....where did u get that information from?

That is a direct quote from the Army Corp of Engineers- Here is the paragraph it was taken from:

"Plans by BP to sink a 4-story containment dome over the oil gushing from a gaping chasm one kilometer below the surface of the Gulf, where the oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded and killed 11 workers on April 20, and reports that one of the leaks has been contained is pure public relations disinformation designed to avoid panic and demands for greater action by the Obama administration, according to FEMA and Corps of Engineers sources. Sources within these agencies say the White House has been resisting releasing any "damaging information" about the oil disaster. They add that if the ocean oil geyser is not stopped within 90 days, there will be irreversible damage to the marine eco-systems of the Gulf of Mexico, north Atlantic Ocean, and beyond. At best, some Corps of Engineers experts say it could take two years to cement the chasm on the floor of the Gulf."

Well, I think I can safely say that we all knew this was going to happen.


What now?

What are the options of plugging up this spill? Is it possible to remote detonate a bomb at the bottom of the ocean to plug up the pipe? Or will this action only make things worse? I mean, they say they are digging a relief well, but how long is that going to take? The oil itself is leaking from the pipe that was attached to the rig itself. From a model that I saw on USATODAY.com, the actual cap to the pipe is somewhere around half a mile further down the way from the leak in the pipe, with a secondary leak that is close to the well head. Is there a way to shut it off at the source? I mean, common, there are enough smart people on ATS that we should be able to put together a solution. I am at a point right now that if this should hit land, I may just volunteer to go down to help in clean up efforts, regardless if I'm "certified" or not.

This is probably the greatest ecological disaster in the history of mankind, and nobody seems to care (the "regular" people). I hate to say it, but this could be the precursor to something much worse.

Anyway, let's start putting our heads together to figure out a solution. Are there any physics/engineering majors here? Anybody that knows about pipe mechanics? I am just a musician, but I want to do my part to help.


Peace be with you.

-truthseeker

Originally posted by EliyahuHaNave
Has anyone heard what I said? There is still oil on the beach because of EXXON up here in Alaska! This problem will be here for a long time, and the longer it is allowed to go on, the more area it will inhabit, for a long time!

I'm listening. So what you're saying is that the govt doesn't give a # and we should do whatever we can for ourselves?

Originally posted by Z.S.P.V.G.
reply to post by bakadesu

 

You are so right. On saturday 90% of the sheeple are boozing it up and going to Target/WalMart/IronMan2.

What's wrong with Iron Man 2?

It rocked my jocks

So now what happens if it accidentally catches on fire? What if a controlled burn goes wrong?

Originally posted by truthseeker1984
Well, I think I can safely say that we all knew this was going to happen.


What now?

What are the options of plugging up this spill? Is it possible to remote detonate a bomb at the bottom of the ocean to plug up the pipe? Or will this action only make things worse? I mean, they say they are digging a relief well, but how long is that going to take? The oil itself is leaking from the pipe that was attached to the rig itself. From a model that I saw on USATODAY.com, the actual cap to the pipe is somewhere around half a mile further down the way from the leak in the pipe, with a secondary leak that is close to the well head. Is there a way to shut it off at the source? I mean, common, there are enough smart people on ATS that we should be able to put together a solution. I am at a point right now that if this should hit land, I may just volunteer to go down to help in clean up efforts, regardless if I'm "certified" or not.

This is probably the greatest ecological disaster in the history of mankind, and nobody seems to care (the "regular" people). I hate to say it, but this could be the precursor to something much worse.

Anyway, let's start putting our heads together to figure out a solution. Are there any physics/engineering majors here? Anybody that knows about pipe mechanics? I am just a musician, but I want to do my part to help.


Peace be with you.

-truthseeker

Very well said, I agree with you 100%. Why isn't this on EVERY HEADLINE on the planet...this is my third thread on this subject in trying to raise awareness and it seems like ET gets MUCH more attention! How does this make sense? The coverup is obvious as is the media blackout...I have a friend who works for Syncrude in Ft.McMurray Alberta who just returned after a 3 week hitch, he hadn't heard a SINGLE word about this, and he works for one of the biggest oil companies in Canada.