Man, I know the spin put on this by the WH press briefings is supposed to be positive, but when they say "We have HUNDREDS of these things out there!" instead of thinking "Oh yeah, this was a weird incident and not showing a symptomatic problem of off-shore drilling" I'm thinking "HOLY SHIT THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF THESE OUT THERE AND JUST THIS ONE BURNING DOWN WILL FUCK THINGS UP ROYALLY"
Sort of reminds you of the warehouse scene of "Raiders of the Lost Ark," doesn't it?
I'm beginning to think that before any other deep water wells are allowed, companies will have to have a dome built and ready to drop in case of a blowout. Had there been one ready to go, this would have been a different situation. Also, a second blowout preventer might now be required (though it doesn't seem like anyone has any idea why the one on DH failed in the first place).
In a sense that makes the timing of this accident lucky. If a whole slew of new wells will be drilled, their design will be better.
Yes. Which, of course, is par for the course of human history--design improvements often come because of failures. Hopefully, that will indeed be the case here.
lonelyahavaCall me Ahava ~~She/Her~~Move to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
edited May 2010
Also, you guys should go check out Rachel maddow's show tonight.
Very good. Especially her segment with the boat captain. He's a young(ish) guy, about my age (late 20's early to mid 30's), and he's talking about the impact on his life, and the coastline and everything.
The whole argument about the government not being there from the first moment is easily debunked considering the first actions when the damn thing went up in flames was that the coast guard were FIRST ON THE SCENE to rescue the workers and keep tabs on just how badly things were fucked up from the start.
If i'm not mistaken, the Coast Guard is GOVERNMENT IN ACTION.
Every time I see this bullshit about the lack of a response, it makes me hope that some democrat, possibly Alan Grayson, calls them out for hating on our local enforcement and rescue officers since they obviously think they aren't worth mentioning or recognizing for doing their damn job.
Also, you guys should go check out Rachel maddow's show tonight.
Very good. Especially her segment with the boat captain. He's a young(ish) guy, about my age (late 20's early to mid 30's), and he's talking about the impact on his life, and the coastline and everything.
It's.... heart-breaking.
Is there a way to watch it online?
Arrath on
0
Options
lonelyahavaCall me Ahava ~~She/Her~~Move to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
Also, you guys should go check out Rachel maddow's show tonight.
Very good. Especially her segment with the boat captain. He's a young(ish) guy, about my age (late 20's early to mid 30's), and he's talking about the impact on his life, and the coastline and everything.
What are the chances that any new required design improvements that many other countries probably already require will be met with extreme resistance by the Republican party?
What are the chances that any new required design improvements that many other countries probably already require will be met with extreme resistance by the Republican party?
Vegas has taken that one off the board.
enlightenedbum on
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
Gulf of Mexico oil spill or not, Sarah Palin on Saturday defended offshore drilling as an essential component of U.S. energy security.
Speaking to a crowd of mostly Republicans at the Independence Events Center, the former Alaska governor called the oil spill "very tragic" but added: "I want our country to be able to trust the oil industry."
She said the U.S. must wean itself from foreign oil in order to be truly free.
Gulf of Mexico oil spill or not, Sarah Palin on Saturday defended offshore drilling as an essential component of U.S. energy security.
Speaking to a crowd of mostly Republicans at the Independence Events Center, the former Alaska governor called the oil spill "very tragic" but added: "I want our country to be able to trust the oil industry."
She said the U.S. must wean itself from foreign oil in order to be truly free.
Could they set the rigs up so that if there's a catastrophic failure, they sink on to the well and plug it up?
Too much pressure, I would expect.
A 35,000 ton rig wouldn't be enough weight? O:
There are a couple of factors to consider in this scenario. The average new well runs at about 12,000 psi. Drilling rigs like Deepwater Horizon are floating rigs that drill through a flexible tube (seriously amazing technology when you think about it). Thus, even if you could manage to have a floating rig collapse where you wanted it to in 5,000 feet of water, the pressure of the escaping oil would shove it away as it approached. It's not really a workable solution for any depth, but particularly not in 5,000ft of water.
As an example of the pressure here, they are building these huge tanks to deal with the two leaks left (the major ones). They're huge (I believe about 10 stories high), and they'll be dropped down over the leaks--5,000 feet down. They'll have lines attached, and the oil will fill the tanks and then ascend up the lines into tankers. All by itself. It's an incredible amount of pressure.
It really looks like the best future response will be to fabricate a number more of these tanks, and then have them at the ready for any company to use in the unlikely even that this does occur again. Had the tanks been ready beforehand, this would have been a far different scenario, essentially.
I hope the these collection domes work, but they have a few difficult factors working against them. They've only been deployed in relatively shallow water before for one thing. I don't think they've ever done this with ROVs and if that's the case I think it's likely the ROVs weren't designed with this sort of operation in mind. Maybe they are fine for it though, I don't know. Finally the riser pipe is snaking along the sea floor like a gigantic slow motion garden hose. Weather is also a factor. Lately it hasn't been so hot, maybe it'll be clear in time for deployment. Maybe not. We tend to get a lot of rain and wind this time of year. This operation, which I think is absolutely necessary to attempt, doesn't sound like a sure shot to me at all. Every time I read about it, it's always delivered with qualifying statements and a caveat of "we have no idea if this will work."
But yeah, they really should have shit like this on hand before the fact.
yeah, i get the feeling obama's beating his head against a wall right now over this whole thing
it's really going to cock up whatever agenda he had scheduled for the rest of the year
"This is all Obama's fault!"
"You were the ones clamoring for it. Why should I listen to anything you have to say at this point? Your ideas are toxic."
Oh my god guys, Obama hired the eco terrorists to bomb the rid so it would collapse so we could blame him so it would mess up his schedule so he could tell us our ideas are toxic!*
*rush next week
Speaking of batshit insane conspiracy theories, I saw someone trying to blame the spill on a secret North Korean miniature submarine suicide mission today. I laughed and laughed.
edit: to the person saying don't worry about storm surge because we can't control it... one can still make contingency plans and such to reduce the impact of such an event. Just ignoring the possibility isn't an answer.
yeah, i get the feeling obama's beating his head against a wall right now over this whole thing
it's really going to cock up whatever agenda he had scheduled for the rest of the year
"This is all Obama's fault!"
"You were the ones clamoring for it. Why should I listen to anything you have to say at this point? Your ideas are toxic."
Oh my god guys, Obama hired the eco terrorists to bomb the rid so it would collapse so we could blame him so it would mess up his schedule so he could tell us our ideas are toxic!*
*rush next week
Sadly, I was in the waiting room of a orthopedic clinic on Friday with my husband, watching some of the footage about the spill on FoxNews. My husband, in a fit of mischievous goosery, turns to me and says in a stage whisper "Ya know, it's funny how this happens just when Obama's starting to come around about oil drilling. This is just a little too convenient." A lot of the elderly patients and their family members were looking our way by the time he finished.
He did not immediately die from my irate glare, but when I told him I'd know who to thank when my right-wing conspiracy theory believing coworkers started going on about this Monday, he snickered.
yeah, i get the feeling obama's beating his head against a wall right now over this whole thing
it's really going to cock up whatever agenda he had scheduled for the rest of the year
"This is all Obama's fault!"
"You were the ones clamoring for it. Why should I listen to anything you have to say at this point? Your ideas are toxic."
Oh my god guys, Obama hired the eco terrorists to bomb the rid so it would collapse so we could blame him so it would mess up his schedule so he could tell us our ideas are toxic!*
*rush next week
Sadly, I was in the waiting room of a orthopedic clinic on Friday with my husband, watching some of the footage about the spill on FoxNews. My husband, in a fit of mischievous goosery, turns to me and says in a stage whisper "Ya know, it's funny how this happens just when Obama's starting to come around about oil drilling. This is just a little too convenient." A lot of the elderly patients and their family members were looking our way by the time he finished.
He did not immediately die from my irate glare, but when I told him I'd know who to thank when my right-wing conspiracy theory believing coworkers started going on about this Monday, he snickered.
He should have finished up by talking about the mind control drugs Obama has been putting in prune juice and denture cream.
yeah, i get the feeling obama's beating his head against a wall right now over this whole thing
it's really going to cock up whatever agenda he had scheduled for the rest of the year
"This is all Obama's fault!"
"You were the ones clamoring for it. Why should I listen to anything you have to say at this point? Your ideas are toxic."
Oh my god guys, Obama hired the eco terrorists to bomb the rid so it would collapse so we could blame him so it would mess up his schedule so he could tell us our ideas are toxic!*
*rush next week
Sadly, I was in the waiting room of a orthopedic clinic on Friday with my husband, watching some of the footage about the spill on FoxNews. My husband, in a fit of mischievous goosery, turns to me and says in a stage whisper "Ya know, it's funny how this happens just when Obama's starting to come around about oil drilling. This is just a little too convenient." A lot of the elderly patients and their family members were looking our way by the time he finished.
He did not immediately die from my irate glare, but when I told him I'd know who to thank when my right-wing conspiracy theory believing coworkers started going on about this Monday, he snickered.
He should have finished up by talking about the mind control drugs Obama has been putting in prune juice and denture cream.
And the subliminal messages during Matlock.
RedTide on
RedTide#1907 on Battle.net
Come Overwatch with meeeee
0
Options
DrakeEdgelord TrashBelow the ecliptic plane.Registered Userregular
edited May 2010
So far it's a slow news day on this locally. Reports of petroleum smells in coastal parts of Mississippi and Alabama now. Some reports of dead fish and birds in Alabama today, but no big kills (so far anyway). The usual griping and finger pointing. It is kind of fucked up that with all the offshore drilling in the Gulf there wasn't a single Fireboom anywhere on the Gulf Coast.
AegisFear My DanceOvershot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered Userregular
edited May 2010
Since it was mentioned previously regarding that Act that limited liability to $75 million: Linky
A trio of Democratic Senators are introducing legislation on Monday that would dramatically raise the amount of money that oil companies like BP would have to pay in economic damages in an event of a spill.
Authored by New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, and co-signed by fellow Garden Stater
Sen. Frank Lautenberg and Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, the (craftily-titled) "Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act" would raise the economic damages liability cap for offshore oil spills from $75 million to $10 billion.
The impetus for the legislation were reports that surfaced over the weekend that British Petroleum, the company responsible for the disastrous spill in the Gulf Coast, would face limited responsibility for covering costs beyond cleanup and containment.
The oil company, in addition to others, pays money into the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund -- a kind of rainy day piggy bank for handling the immediate costs of dealing with disasters. Under the charter of the federal law that created the $1.6 billion fund, however, operators of the offshore rig face no more than $75 million in liability for non-cleanup and containment damages. And in a region like the Gulf Coast the cost to local industry of a massive oil spill can easily skyrocket well beyond that total.
...
In addition to forcing oil-spillers to cover the costs of economic recovery, the legislation would require companies like BP to spend future revenues on cleanup and containment costs that exceed the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund's $1.6 billion. It would also eliminate the $1 billion cap on individual claims against the fund and allow community responders to access the fund for "preparation and mitigation up front."
Though I wonder the extent to which this could get passed.
Man, I know the spin put on this by the WH press briefings is supposed to be positive, but when they say "We have HUNDREDS of these things out there!" instead of thinking "Oh yeah, this was a weird incident and not showing a symptomatic problem of off-shore drilling" I'm thinking "HOLY SHIT THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF THESE OUT THERE AND JUST THIS ONE BURNING DOWN WILL FUCK THINGS UP ROYALLY"
Pretty much what I'm thinking when I read the comments on the NYT Krugman piece about shutting down and improving our current wells, and a large chunk of the posters were saying "We shouldn't shut them all down just because one blew up".
I hate to sound whiny and selfish about this situation, but damn this fucks up my plans to take Lily to the beach this summer. Hopefully the nightmare scenario in which currents carry the oil around the Florida Keys and up the east coast of Florida doesn't happen.
8 days... Excuse me, the Federal Government was told, by BP, that it would not be that bad of a spill.
That thing is hilarious. It's like they took all the staging and showmanship of the WWE and tried to make it into a political commentary. Are you sure that's not some sort of Poe's Law troll? Thanks for linking that. Watching that truly made me feel better about myself.
Man, I know the spin put on this by the WH press briefings is supposed to be positive, but when they say "We have HUNDREDS of these things out there!" instead of thinking "Oh yeah, this was a weird incident and not showing a symptomatic problem of off-shore drilling" I'm thinking "HOLY SHIT THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF THESE OUT THERE AND JUST THIS ONE BURNING DOWN WILL FUCK THINGS UP ROYALLY"
This is literally my thoughts- though not as sensationalist (which is surprising to those that know me)
what i mean is I am not all OMFG WE ARE GONNA DIEZ, but more like "well, I knew this was going to happen soon, and the fact that when ONE of these goes down like that there is a huge disaster does not make me feel too good about the other ones out there, nor does it make me excited to install more of these things."
8 days... Excuse me, the Federal Government was told, by BP, that it would not be that bad of a spill.
That thing is hilarious. It's like they took all the staging and showmanship of the WWE and tried to make it into a political commentary. Are you sure that's not some sort of Poe's Law troll? Thanks for linking that. Watching that truly made me feel better about myself.
Dude, brah... totally all of the above dude. It's sucks, totally whatever... drill baby, drill. Gotta get conservative. Gotta get GTL, brah. Totally.
8 days... Excuse me, the Federal Government was told, by BP, that it would not be that bad of a spill.
That thing is hilarious. It's like they took all the staging and showmanship of the WWE and tried to make it into a political commentary. Are you sure that's not some sort of Poe's Law troll? Thanks for linking that. Watching that truly made me feel better about myself.
I can't watch more than 2 minutes, so could someone tell me if at any time he crushes a beer can on his head? This is like what would happen if The Situation decided he wanted to get into political commentary.
Well, for 24 hours BP told them there was no problem, so the Feds focused on finding the missing workers.
"Well Obama just said something about it!"
Which sucks. He should have said something sooner. But Obama doesn't need to say anything, necessarily. Shortly after the collapse of the oil platform, BP either figured out they had a huge problem on their hand, and the Feds immediately began laying thousands of feet of oil booms.
Sheep on
0
Options
DrakeEdgelord TrashBelow the ecliptic plane.Registered Userregular
edited May 2010
A current NOAA projection is pointing towards the possibility of the spill spreading to the west.
New Captain Planet episode: Super villain blows up oil rigs around the world and turns the oceans into an oily soup.
Jephery on
}
"Orkses never lose a battle. If we win we win, if we die we die fightin so it don't count. If we runs for it we don't die neither, cos we can come back for annuver go, see!".
New Captain Planet episode: Super villain blows up oil rigs around the world and turns the oceans into an oily soup.
Wait, aside from Bizarro Captain Planet, weren't the other villains basically just poachers and fat cat CEOs who were profiting from polluting? Destroying oil rigs seems counter productive if that's the case.
New Captain Planet episode: Super villain blows up oil rigs around the world and turns the oceans into an oily soup.
Wait, aside from Bizarro Captain Planet, weren't the other villains basically just poachers and fat cat CEOs who were profiting from polluting? Destroying oil rigs seems counter productive if that's the case.
As I recall there were two CEOs, a poacher, an anti-Gaea, an amoral scientist, a rat man, animated nuclear waste, and maybe one or two others.
enlightenedbum on
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
New Captain Planet episode: Super villain blows up oil rigs around the world and turns the oceans into an oily soup.
Wait, aside from Bizarro Captain Planet, weren't the other villains basically just poachers and fat cat CEOs who were profiting from polluting? Destroying oil rigs seems counter productive if that's the case.
As I recall there were two CEOs, a poacher, an anti-Gaea, an amoral scientist, a rat man, animated nuclear waste, and maybe one or two others.
You remember far more about the show than I do. I just remember that there was a dude named Lutan Plunder.
Well, for 24 hours BP told them there was no problem, so the Feds focused on finding the missing workers.
"Well Obama just said something about it!"
Which sucks. He should have said something sooner. But Obama doesn't need to say anything, necessarily. Shortly after the collapse of the oil platform, BP either figured out they had a huge problem on their hand, and the Feds immediately began laying thousands of feet of oil booms.
I'm not really sure what the Feds could have done at that stage. The fire was being dealt with--it's not like they could have done something to prevent the platform from sinking.
Posts
Sort of reminds you of the warehouse scene of "Raiders of the Lost Ark," doesn't it?
This guy makes me rage.
8 days... Excuse me, the Federal Government was told, by BP, that it would not be that bad of a spill.
3DSFF: 5026-4429-6577
Yes. Which, of course, is par for the course of human history--design improvements often come because of failures. Hopefully, that will indeed be the case here.
wish list
Steam wishlist
Etsy wishlist
Very good. Especially her segment with the boat captain. He's a young(ish) guy, about my age (late 20's early to mid 30's), and he's talking about the impact on his life, and the coastline and everything.
It's.... heart-breaking.
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
If i'm not mistaken, the Coast Guard is GOVERNMENT IN ACTION.
Every time I see this bullshit about the lack of a response, it makes me hope that some democrat, possibly Alan Grayson, calls them out for hating on our local enforcement and rescue officers since they obviously think they aren't worth mentioning or recognizing for doing their damn job.
PSN: HooverFanPA
Steam: HooverFan
Is there a way to watch it online?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/
Try heading there, it's on the left hand side of the options. "Fisherman fears for way of life"
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
Vegas has taken that one off the board.
Moose-loving morons.
I was going to say Moose-Stepping Morons, just to draw parallels and paraphrase a favorite movie of mine, but it didn't quite roll off the tongue.
I hope the these collection domes work, but they have a few difficult factors working against them. They've only been deployed in relatively shallow water before for one thing. I don't think they've ever done this with ROVs and if that's the case I think it's likely the ROVs weren't designed with this sort of operation in mind. Maybe they are fine for it though, I don't know. Finally the riser pipe is snaking along the sea floor like a gigantic slow motion garden hose. Weather is also a factor. Lately it hasn't been so hot, maybe it'll be clear in time for deployment. Maybe not. We tend to get a lot of rain and wind this time of year. This operation, which I think is absolutely necessary to attempt, doesn't sound like a sure shot to me at all. Every time I read about it, it's always delivered with qualifying statements and a caveat of "we have no idea if this will work."
But yeah, they really should have shit like this on hand before the fact.
Speaking of batshit insane conspiracy theories, I saw someone trying to blame the spill on a secret North Korean miniature submarine suicide mission today. I laughed and laughed.
edit: to the person saying don't worry about storm surge because we can't control it... one can still make contingency plans and such to reduce the impact of such an event. Just ignoring the possibility isn't an answer.
There is obviously a new Super Stealth North Korean sub prowling the oceans of the world.m
PSN: Corbius
Is this article available online? I'd need a good laugh right about now.
I ran across it a few days ago and in a fit of black humor posted it in here. So remember, you asked for this.
Your daily (over)dose of goddamn crazy.
He did not immediately die from my irate glare, but when I told him I'd know who to thank when my right-wing conspiracy theory believing coworkers started going on about this Monday, he snickered.
He should have finished up by talking about the mind control drugs Obama has been putting in prune juice and denture cream.
And the subliminal messages during Matlock.
Come Overwatch with meeeee
Though I wonder the extent to which this could get passed.
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
Pretty much what I'm thinking when I read the comments on the NYT Krugman piece about shutting down and improving our current wells, and a large chunk of the posters were saying "We shouldn't shut them all down just because one blew up".
That thing is hilarious. It's like they took all the staging and showmanship of the WWE and tried to make it into a political commentary. Are you sure that's not some sort of Poe's Law troll? Thanks for linking that. Watching that truly made me feel better about myself.
This is literally my thoughts- though not as sensationalist (which is surprising to those that know me)
what i mean is I am not all OMFG WE ARE GONNA DIEZ, but more like "well, I knew this was going to happen soon, and the fact that when ONE of these goes down like that there is a huge disaster does not make me feel too good about the other ones out there, nor does it make me excited to install more of these things."
Dude, brah... totally all of the above dude. It's sucks, totally whatever... drill baby, drill. Gotta get conservative. Gotta get GTL, brah. Totally.
Dude.
I can't watch more than 2 minutes, so could someone tell me if at any time he crushes a beer can on his head? This is like what would happen if The Situation decided he wanted to get into political commentary.
"The Feds were acting slow."
Well, for 24 hours BP told them there was no problem, so the Feds focused on finding the missing workers.
"Well Obama just said something about it!"
Which sucks. He should have said something sooner. But Obama doesn't need to say anything, necessarily. Shortly after the collapse of the oil platform, BP either figured out they had a huge problem on their hand, and the Feds immediately began laying thousands of feet of oil booms.
Full Size.
Steam - Talon Valdez :Blizz - Talonious#1860 : Xbox Live & LoL - Talonious Monk @TaloniousMonk Hail Satan
"Orkses never lose a battle. If we win we win, if we die we die fightin so it don't count. If we runs for it we don't die neither, cos we can come back for annuver go, see!".
And Ted Turner is murdered.
That show is all kinds of fucked up.
Wait, aside from Bizarro Captain Planet, weren't the other villains basically just poachers and fat cat CEOs who were profiting from polluting? Destroying oil rigs seems counter productive if that's the case.
As I recall there were two CEOs, a poacher, an anti-Gaea, an amoral scientist, a rat man, animated nuclear waste, and maybe one or two others.
You remember far more about the show than I do. I just remember that there was a dude named Lutan Plunder.
I'm not really sure what the Feds could have done at that stage. The fire was being dealt with--it's not like they could have done something to prevent the platform from sinking.