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From what I've read, the leaks are occurring from the remains of the drill pipe/casing. That was 5000-ft long, vertical, and connected the Deepwater Horizon to

From what I've read, the leaks are occurring from the remains of the drill pipe/casing. That was 5000-ft long, vertical, and connected the Deepwater Horizon to the blowout preventer on the sea bed. As the rig sunk, the pipe detached and tumbled/bent/kinked. Those kinks are where the leaks are. How much was leaking on day one, and how much is leaking now, may well be different. IMHO (and I'm not in the industry, but here goes) the solution of least regret is to not try to stop the flow at the sea bed (at least not right now today). The better solution (and a complicated one) is to cut that pipe, try to connect a new (non-kinked) pipe, and take everything that well shaft is sending at the surface. Separate the stranded gas and flare it off, then dump the remainder into as many tankers/barges as are necessary and haul it to shore for processing. What I am suggesting is costly, but I'd be willing to bet that most of the pieces to do this are currently available. Forget about trying to stop the flow, instead take the flow and do something with it (other than dumping it into the Gulf).

jacquesm 16y ago
I get it that your ideas are presented with good intent, but since you preface your idea with 'I'm not in the industry' I'm guessing that all those bright minds that are in the industry and that have studied this stuff for a long long time have discarded that particular idea on its lack of merits long ago, or they're working on it right now. It's pretty rare that an outsider with knowledge gleaned from the (very much dumbed down) media will come up with a solution in a case like this. The problem with being an outsider is that if you think of a 5000 feet long pipe as a simple straw that you're going to cut off somewhere and attach something new to while it is merrily arcing it's way around the ocean based on the exit force of the oil escaping from it that simply grasping it might require the development of a bunch of new tech and attaching a new chunk of pipe to it (assuming no significant leaks below the point where you've picked it up) is probably not that simple either at the depth we're talking about. It could be quite a while before they manage to do that, so I'm guessing their first priority is to get the outflow under control, everything else is of much lower priority. Deep sea stuff is very difficult, and a mile of standing water is a heck of a challenge. Kudos for creative thinking though :)

jacquesm 16y ago

I get it that your ideas are presented with good intent, but since you preface your idea with 'I'm not in the industry' I'm guessing that all those bright minds that are in the industry and that have studied this stuff for a long long time have discarded that particular idea on its lack of merits long ago, or they're working on it right now. It's pretty rare that an outsider with knowledge gleaned from the (very much dumbed down) media will come up with a solution in a case like this. The problem with being an outsider is that if you think of a 5000 feet long pipe as a simple straw that you're going to cut off somewhere and attach something new to while it is merrily arcing it's way around the ocean based on the exit force of the oil escaping from it that simply grasping it might require the development of a bunch of new tech and attaching a new chunk of pipe to it (assuming no significant leaks below the point where you've picked it up) is probably not that simple either at the depth we're talking about. It could be quite a while before they manage to do that, so I'm guessing their first priority is to get the outflow under control, everything else is of much lower priority. Deep sea stuff is very difficult, and a mile of standing water is a heck of a challenge. Kudos for creative thinking though :)