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"...and at least 6,500 gallons of drilling fluid" feels considerably more significant than the "drill bit" in another comment.

by Fomite 4y ago

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
kcb 4y ago
That's like a small swimming pools worth of whatever it is. Feels pretty insignificant.
- Gasp0de 4y ago
  If it's mineral oil based that would be enough to destroy a few ecosystems I think
  - albrewer 4y ago
    Didn't read the article but from what I understand drilling fluid for environmentally sensitive areas tends to be water with bentonite clay and a small amount of thickener like barium sulfate or calcium carbonate (i.e. seashells) in it.
  - jonas21 4y ago
    The independent analysis [1] concluded that "there are currently no adverse environmental, scenic, recreational, or economic impacts resulting from the drill break or presence of Remaining Materials 50 to 70 feet below the sea floor, nor is there a reasonably conceived scenario (e.g. earthquake, tsunami, long-term coastal erosion) that would expose the Remaining Materials to the surrounding environment and result in future impacts." The drilling fluid is in a borehole ~60 feet underground, and has hardened into a solid (as it's designed to do when not under the mechanical stress of drilling). It's mostly water and clay, with a few additives, all of which are below their ecotoxicity threshold concentrations, even at full concentration in the borehole. And if the drilling fluid ever entered the ocean (which it won't), it would be diluted such that "concentrations of the drilling mud additives and their chemical constituents would be orders of magnitude below ecotoxicity threshold concentrations (and therefore non-hazardous to natural resources) and undetectable". [1] https://oregoncoastalliance.org/documents_20/edge-cable/06_FacebookHazardsAnalysis_reTDMDrillAccidentSept2020.pdf https://oregoncoastalliance.org/documents_20/edge-cable/06_F...

"...and at least 6,500 gallons of drilling fluid" feels considerably more significant than the "drill bit" in another comment.

by Fomite 4y ago

"...and at least 6,500 gallons of drilling fluid" feels considerably more significant than the "drill bit" in another comment.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

kcb 4y ago

That's like a small swimming pools worth of whatever it is. Feels pretty insignificant.

Gasp0de 4y ago
If it's mineral oil based that would be enough to destroy a few ecosystems I think
- albrewer 4y ago
  Didn't read the article but from what I understand drilling fluid for environmentally sensitive areas tends to be water with bentonite clay and a small amount of thickener like barium sulfate or calcium carbonate (i.e. seashells) in it.
- jonas21 4y ago
  The independent analysis [1] concluded that "there are currently no adverse environmental, scenic, recreational, or economic impacts resulting from the drill break or presence of Remaining Materials 50 to 70 feet below the sea floor, nor is there a reasonably conceived scenario (e.g. earthquake, tsunami, long-term coastal erosion) that would expose the Remaining Materials to the surrounding environment and result in future impacts." The drilling fluid is in a borehole ~60 feet underground, and has hardened into a solid (as it's designed to do when not under the mechanical stress of drilling). It's mostly water and clay, with a few additives, all of which are below their ecotoxicity threshold concentrations, even at full concentration in the borehole. And if the drilling fluid ever entered the ocean (which it won't), it would be diluted such that "concentrations of the drilling mud additives and their chemical constituents would be orders of magnitude below ecotoxicity threshold concentrations (and therefore non-hazardous to natural resources) and undetectable". [1] https://oregoncoastalliance.org/documents_20/edge-cable/06_FacebookHazardsAnalysis_reTDMDrillAccidentSept2020.pdf https://oregoncoastalliance.org/documents_20/edge-cable/06_F...