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BP finally stops oil spewing from Gulf gusher
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- mindcrime 16y agoWell, obviously it sucks that it took so long, and so much damage has been done, but nonetheless... this is great news, if true. Let's just hope that this new cap holds up until the relief wells are finished and things are truly under control. Wonder how long the cleanup process will take? Can something of this magnitude even ever be completely cleaned up?
- mrfish 16y agoI think it can. But the damages are too late to prevent.
- thetrumanshow 16y agoI was under the distinct impression that this was only a test to gather data, and even if things go well, the cap is coming back off in 48 hours or less.
- shaddi 16y agoIf everything goes well, they (Adm. Allen) announced they would be leaving the cap in place. Only if things go wrong will they reopen the seals. Even if they need to reopen it, the plan is to capture the oil into ships using pipes connected to this new cap. Edit: I can't remember the source for this; I believe I heard it on the Diane Rehm show yesterday. If I can find the source I'll update.
- thetrumanshow 16y agohttp://www.cnn.com/2010/US/07/15/gulf.oil.disaster/index.html?hpt=C1 http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/07/15/gulf.oil.disaster/index.htm... "BP cautioned that the oil cutoff, while welcomed, won't go beyond the 48 hours." Yeah, you're right... it did go on to say that 'valves' will be opened and oil would be siphoned off. I didn't realize there were going to be pipes either. :)
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- uxp 16y agoThinking from an engineer's perspective, this cap has effectively shut off oil flow from the wellhead. We've heard before, that the pressure of the oil spewing from the wellhead is very high. Possibly the reason that this well has had so much trouble to begin with. So the longer this cap prevents oil from leaking out, the longer there is a possibility for the pressure to cause damage to the cap and start the cycle all over again. It seems like a very responsible thing to open up some valves on the cap and collect some oil to reduce the pressure on the cap.
- Psyonic 16y ago"Can something of this magnitude even ever be completely cleaned up?" Likely no. Certainly improvements can and will be made, but there will be irreversible damage, at least on a human timescale.
- ams6110 16y agoCrude oil is a natural substance. It leaks out of the earth all over the place. This is obviously an extreme case, but I think that with time, the environment will absorb this and return to some sort of normalcy.
- ericd 16y agoOn a long enough timescale, most things can be handled by the environment. That timescale may extend past the human timescale in many instances, which is generally viewed as unacceptable.
- code_duck 16y agoThere is never going to be a return to normalcy for this area. It has already been under relentless pressure from human activities, to the point where we have a dead zone the size of Rhode Island floating around near this area already due to criminally irresponsible over-use of agricultural chemicals. Way too much pollution has already been coming out of Houston and New Orleans for a long time. BP wasn't satisfied dumping millions of gallons of oil into the water, they also felt it was necessary to dump hundreds of thousands of gallons of unnecessarily toxic dispersant chemicals into the water, mainly for cosmetic PR purposes. Louisiana's marshes are already in serious physical decline from the change in water flow and silt buildup caused by hydrologic engineering in the area. As far as something being natural, that has little to do with it's ability to destroy ecosystems. Sure, many synthetic chemicals are worse, but don't we have plenty of examples of very harmful natural phenomena? Radiation is natural, for instance. Perhaps you'd like to absorb a couple thousand rems, and see if the naturalness makes a difference in your return to normalcy. Or drink a big glass of oil, why not! It's natural! Several thousand dolphins, sea turtles, jellyfish, fish, sting rays, eels and octopi surely gave that a try recently.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- fletchowns 16y agoI don't know about calling it great news...it's just not more bad news.
- motters 16y agoNot before time.
- gnok 16y agoThis is not entirely true. The seal in place is considered temporary until a pressure test can be completed. This is expected to be completed within the next 48 hours. If that test is not successful, then this seal comes straight off and the leak resumes.
- chrisa 16y agoMore information about the test from Bloomberg: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-07-15/bp-halts-gulf-of-mexico-leak-starts-pressure-test.html http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-07-15/bp-halts-gulf-of...
- necubi 16y agoNot exactly. The new tight-fitting cap is there to stay, but they may re-open the valves which are presently preventing oil from escaping if the well is determined to be insufficiently sound. In that case, the new cap will still allow them to collect all the oil, preventing any from leaking. That may take a week or so until they can get more collection ships, though.
- gnok 16y agoMy bad; I had misread the other story. Thanks for the correction..
- CoachRufus87 16y agoi'd like a 2nd opinion from a 3rd party, just to be sure.
- simonw 16y agoThird paragraph: > "Finally!" said Renee Brown, a school guidance counselor visiting Pensacola Beach, Fla., from London, Ky. "Honestly, I'm surprised that they haven't been able to do something sooner, though." Seems like an odd choice for the first quote in the article. Shouldn't they have chosen someone obviously qualified to comment?
- jorgem 16y agoMost people think it's just a long pipe going down there, and you can put your thumb in it.
- timmaah 16y agoMost people think they should have this "cap" on stand-by on every drilling rig out there.
- lsc 16y agoand considering the massive risk to other people's property, I'm not sure that's unreasonable. Obviously, they'd need to cost it out, but I mean, they appear to take some pretty massive risks with other people's property. I guess if the reparations from BP are fair, the right thing should happen (e.g. they should keep those domes on hand if that is cheaper than paying out the reparations every 10 years or however often this sort of thing seems to happen.)
- jeza 16y agoSurely most people would think they should actually make shutoff valves that actually work. Though clearly a lot more needs to be invested in disaster prevention.
- fr0sty 16y agoThey do, in theory. The Blow-Out-Preventer, basically an automatic cap, it installed in-line on every well currently being drilled. Yes, it failed but there is no guarantee that "this cap" will succeed in the case of another BOP failure.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- joubert 16y agogreat news if the oil leak is finally stopped, however, i will really miss the quips from @bpglobalpr
- tvon 16y agoWell, it's not as if the disaster is over.
- Tichy 16y agoOne week after the moratorium on offshore oil drilling has been rejected. Coincidence? I've heard the theory that with the relief well approach, BP would have been able to continue getting the oil. With the threat of the moratorium, the relief well would have been the only way to continue getting the oil. Maybe it is too much paranoia, but ever since I heard that theory, I can't completely shake the feeling that there might have been something to it.
- jmg 16y agoprobably too much paranoia.
- ck2 16y agoExcept there are probably dozens of little leaks all over the pipes from the failure event. That's what they kept arguing why the couldn't just close the top, it would make all the little leaks into big leaks. So basically they've just shut off the one that was getting the most attention. Geez the amount of wildlife they have killed - no-one will go to prison and it's practically the crime of the century.
- whatajoke 16y ago> Geez the amount of wildlife they have killed - no-one will go to prison and it's practically the crime of the century. The Iraq invasion by USA happened in this very century.
- ck2 16y agoVery good point. I can't believe I've fallen for the lack of that in the news cycle. Going to war is like a different, almost underground part of society now.
- sliverstorm 16y agoIt's just hard to sustain public interest when it isn't getting particularly worse, isn't getting particularly better, isn't going away, and we are not in imminent danger. If we felt threatened and outraged like we did in past wars, people would be hanging on every word out of the news.
- gloob 16y agoSo did 9/11, for that matter, which probably outranks the BP thing in many people's minds.
- DaemonXI 16y agoPhew. Now I can go buy BP gas again.
- jeb 16y agoLet's look at the positive parts of this: 1. All oil companies are going to upgrade their safety standards 2. A lot of new knowledge on how to seal oil leaks has been brought into the world. This knowledge will have various applications, and if a bigger leak happens again, then there will be more preparation
- justin_hancock 16y agoI find it all rather sad. BP has committed an appalling act of negligence however the parties operating the rig and the company that provided the Blow Out Preventer (Trans Ocean and Halliburton) still seem to be avoiding the worst of the flack. They are culpable too, yet the administration chooses to ignore it. This has been a marvellous political tool for them. Wonder if Dow Chemical has fixed the issues in Bhopal yet?
- monos 16y agoUS was lucky that it was such a big spill. ~ 15.000 barrels per year spill in nigeria since 50 years. won't fix. (half of what deepwater spilled per day). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_issues_in_the_Niger_Delta#Oil_spills http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_issues_in_the_Nig...
- dedward 16y agoAnyone notice the BP or whoever spokespeople deliberately referring to it as "Hydrocarbon release" rather than "Oil volcano" or "oil spill" now? "uncontrolled hydrocarbon emission" and things like that..... that MUST be a deliberate PR move.
- adolph 16y agoThe terminology is more correct, even if it sounds more weasel-y. If they said "oil spill" then someone would be complaining about them being inaccurate and ignoring all the other hydrocarbons that come out of the well, like natural gas.