Pretty sad that nature will be harmed because of our dependency on oil.

But will there ever be a way to totally prevent these kind of incidents?

Great. Another oil spill. This time its at the beach I go to

I live a couple hours from Sarina. Dead smack in the middle of southern Ontario. To hear of a oil spill around here really gets the emotions going. I will wait for the visible oil on the shorelines before i can relate to the gulfs residents.

If these places are going to keep letting it spill out all over the place, they should drop the price to their customers a bunch.

All the carelessness lately, world wide....

this is totally speculation here but these oily incidents seem a little too close together if you catch my drift. I do hereby declare shenanigans.

Originally posted by jacktherer
this is totally speculation here but these oily incidents seem a little too close together if you catch my drift. I do hereby declare shenanigans.

I do hereby agree with you..

just a little "too much" " too often" lately..

Obama started pushing Cap and Trade again this morning in a speech. Tried to tie the Gulf spill to Global Warming again. Even threw the Republicans a bone in the form of speaking out against Capital Gains taxes (yeah sure). Said that we were in danger of China cornering the Green Energy market (double yeah sure).

Is it truly a coincidence at the same time that this leak happens and a Tug Boat hits a well head? I think not.

Odd how his speech this morning is not even being discussed here. Or is it?

My question is.. How much oil can humanity keep spilling in our waterways before "enough is enough" kicks in?

man , this is getting so badd....

Good grief... If you folks knew how many miles of pipeline bisect the North American continent and how old some of them are you would be posting all kinds of hand wringing.

I would be very surprised if the leak wasn't identified by their SCADA Center within an hour or less of it occuring. A line the size of that one is monitored 24/7. Once a leak develops shut-in is initiated. You can't instantaneously stop the flow if a leak is discovered. If you do pressures in the line will surge (due to the momentum of the fluid in the line) and catastrophic failure would be possible. The line will have automated block valves at strategic locations that will be closed once the flow rate is ramped down to zero. Even so, the line will have pressure between the block valves and continued leakage is going to occur. At least until the pressure declines to zero.

There are all kinds of things that corrode pipelines. Most are unseen. Some can be determined by the use of "smart pigs" but the smart pig operation cannot be performed during normal operations. If I remember right they are required to run a smart pig once every 5 years (might be 10). Corrosion can come from internal sources (like organisms that eat oil and then excrete a substance that is corrosive to steel) or external (galvanic corrosion). Pipelines that were laid in 1914 are still in service. The alternative (which isn't even viable) would be to truck every barrel. That would decrease safety and increase the potential for environmental disaster by orders of magnitude.

[edit on 7/31/2010 by Mike6158]