5 ms·

Facebook abandons broken drilling equipment under Oregon coast seafloor

67 points by xoxoy 6y ago

agency 6y ago
outline link: https://outline.com/DWN7nS https://outline.com/DWN7nS
Kednicma 6y ago
This is extra-disappointing because Oregon has previously successfully gotten Facebook to cooperate when planning its large infrastructure projects. The Prineville facility was designed with local environmental and labor concerns in mind, but this coastal venture looks disastrous.
- 7952 6y ago
  I don't understand what the actual issue is. The chance of environmental damage seems very low. And probably less than if they put heavy machines onto the beach and coastal zone.
  - s1artibartfast 6y ago
    the chance of environmental damage isn't low, it is zero. The drill site is tiny and the neighbors simply don't like the noise.
    - LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
      Would you like the noise?
  - ncmncm 6y ago
    It seems like everything is already safely disposed of, deep underground.
Simulacra 6y ago
Just like Zuckerburgs trouncing on the rights of native Hawaiians, Facebook has shown a deep, callous disregard to the rights, needs, and concerns of everyone else.
- wow_no 6y ago
  In general Facebook is awful to BIPOC
pintxo 6y ago
Is it normal to drill a 1km hole under the Beach and out to sea to land a trans-ocean cable? I was under the impression you merely digg it into the Beach for 1-2m?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- virtuallynathan 6y ago
  They are commonly drilled out quite a distance with HDD, as the landing point may not be actually at the beach, etc. I have some pictures here of submarine cable landing stations in Hawaii, including the Hawaiki CLS under construction with some HDD being done. https://photos.app.goo.gl/H2Y7K112wcAoSjtN2 https://photos.app.goo.gl/H2Y7K112wcAoSjtN2
smabie 6y ago
Okay so fb has 180 days to remove the equipment. What's the problem?
- snorrah 6y ago
  They won’t
  - snorrah 6y ago
    No, seriously, just go set a reminder to catch up on this story in 6 months. Let’s come discuss this again then.
    - bawolff 6y ago
      They might come to an agreement with regulators to leave the equipment there, however it seems like you're implying that facebook intends to act in blatent contempt of the governments order. That is difficult to imagine. Have they ever done that to the usa gov in the past? (not on a hurr durr media thinks facebook is evil kind of way, but in an actual, here is an order and we intend to ignore it)
      - refulgentis 6y ago
        That's actually the case? Did anyone else here read the article? "Facebook has no plans to retrieve the equipment."
        bawolff 6y ago
        When i read it, i thought it meant - original fb plan: fb leave the equipment in place. Gov didn't like that, so gave them 180 days to either remove it or get approval to leave it there. Now ball is in fb's court on how to respond to government order. To me though this sounds less like - gov wants fb to remove and more like gov wants fb to fill out appropriate paperwork
stevespang 6y ago
Heh, would love to see Greenpeace arrive out in front of Zuck's Hawaiian beach side estate and firehose his beaches with spent drilling fluid . . .
s1artibartfast 6y ago
This appears to be a case of no harm, no foul. There is no environmental damage and no danger to the residents. The residents that didn't want to see a small construction project, the size of a residential lot, will now have to put up with it for another year.
atesti 6y ago
Where exactly are these 6500 gallons of drilling fluid and how would they have been retrieved if the project was succesfull? They are not boring a tunnel... So is there just a quite thin pipe in the ground? is it filled with the fluid? Or is there some storage for the fluid?
- opwieurposiu 6y ago
  The drilling fluid(mud) is both inside the drill pipe and in the annulus between the pipe and the rock. After the drilling is complete, cement grout is pumped into the annular space, replacing the mud. then the mud in the pipe will be replaced with sea water. Then they will pull the fiber optic cable through the pipe. Drill pipe comes in various sizes, probably about 4-8 inch diameter for this job.

67 points by xoxoy 6y ago

outline link: https://outline.com/DWN7nS https://outline.com/DWN7nS

This is extra-disappointing because Oregon has previously successfully gotten Facebook to cooperate when planning its large infrastructure projects. The Prineville facility was designed with local environmental and labor concerns in mind, but this coastal venture looks disastrous.

7952 6y ago
I don't understand what the actual issue is. The chance of environmental damage seems very low. And probably less than if they put heavy machines onto the beach and coastal zone.
- s1artibartfast 6y ago
  the chance of environmental damage isn't low, it is zero. The drill site is tiny and the neighbors simply don't like the noise.
  - LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
    Would you like the noise?
- ncmncm 6y ago
  It seems like everything is already safely disposed of, deep underground.

Simulacra 6y ago

Just like Zuckerburgs trouncing on the rights of native Hawaiians, Facebook has shown a deep, callous disregard to the rights, needs, and concerns of everyone else.

wow_no 6y ago
In general Facebook is awful to BIPOC

pintxo 6y ago

Is it normal to drill a 1km hole under the Beach and out to sea to land a trans-ocean cable? I was under the impression you merely digg it into the Beach for 1-2m?

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
virtuallynathan 6y ago
They are commonly drilled out quite a distance with HDD, as the landing point may not be actually at the beach, etc. I have some pictures here of submarine cable landing stations in Hawaii, including the Hawaiki CLS under construction with some HDD being done. https://photos.app.goo.gl/H2Y7K112wcAoSjtN2 https://photos.app.goo.gl/H2Y7K112wcAoSjtN2

smabie 6y ago

Okay so fb has 180 days to remove the equipment. What's the problem?

snorrah 6y ago
They won’t
- snorrah 6y ago
  No, seriously, just go set a reminder to catch up on this story in 6 months. Let’s come discuss this again then.
  - bawolff 6y ago
    They might come to an agreement with regulators to leave the equipment there, however it seems like you're implying that facebook intends to act in blatent contempt of the governments order. That is difficult to imagine. Have they ever done that to the usa gov in the past? (not on a hurr durr media thinks facebook is evil kind of way, but in an actual, here is an order and we intend to ignore it)
    - refulgentis 6y ago
      That's actually the case? Did anyone else here read the article? "Facebook has no plans to retrieve the equipment."
      - bawolff 6y ago
        When i read it, i thought it meant - original fb plan: fb leave the equipment in place. Gov didn't like that, so gave them 180 days to either remove it or get approval to leave it there. Now ball is in fb's court on how to respond to government order. To me though this sounds less like - gov wants fb to remove and more like gov wants fb to fill out appropriate paperwork

stevespang 6y ago

Heh, would love to see Greenpeace arrive out in front of Zuck's Hawaiian beach side estate and firehose his beaches with spent drilling fluid . . .

s1artibartfast 6y ago

This appears to be a case of no harm, no foul. There is no environmental damage and no danger to the residents. The residents that didn't want to see a small construction project, the size of a residential lot, will now have to put up with it for another year.

atesti 6y ago

Where exactly are these 6500 gallons of drilling fluid and how would they have been retrieved if the project was succesfull? They are not boring a tunnel... So is there just a quite thin pipe in the ground? is it filled with the fluid? Or is there some storage for the fluid?

opwieurposiu 6y ago
The drilling fluid(mud) is both inside the drill pipe and in the annulus between the pipe and the rock. After the drilling is complete, cement grout is pumped into the annular space, replacing the mud. then the mud in the pipe will be replaced with sea water. Then they will pull the fiber optic cable through the pipe. Drill pipe comes in various sizes, probably about 4-8 inch diameter for this job.