Blogs May 12, 2010 at 8:53 am

Gulf of Mexico: Plan B Sounds Pretty Weak Too

Grant Brissey
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Comments

1
The best part is how eager BP is to obstruct a government takeover of the cleanup effort.
Baconcat on May 12, 2010 at 9:00 AM Report this
2
I look forward to how vehicle road traffic for the foreseeable future will be exactly the same for many a day to come.
Telsa Grills on May 12, 2010 at 9:06 AM Report this
3
@2:

Probably, but expect the price of gas to go up at least $0.25 a gallon in the meantime.
COMTE on May 12, 2010 at 9:14 AM Report this
4
"no one could have foreseen" that the blowout preventer would fail, so there was no need for a workable plan b.

it might be that only the relief well will stop this.

8 years of an oilgarchy running our government, raise your hand if you're surprised.
Max Solomon on May 12, 2010 at 9:15 AM Report this
5
@1 BP (and soon Halliburton & Transocean) are desperate for this I'm wagering because if they fuck up again on Plan B and don't resolve this, the government WILL have the mandate to lock down the energy industry so tight that they can't breath. The Republicans won't be able to do a thing politically to defend them when the entire Gulf Coast is black and fouled, and even worse, each day their financial exposure keeps getting worse and worse.

@Grant Plan C is obviously to nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
Joe Szilagyi on May 12, 2010 at 9:23 AM Report this
6
Russia has nuked 5 blown wells. You don't have to do it from orbit. You place a low yield nuclear bomb on the well head. I wonder if it could be done with conventional explosives?
gttim on May 12, 2010 at 10:06 AM Report this
7
@3: Oh boy. A whole quarter. There goes Friday night at the movies.
Telsa Grills on May 12, 2010 at 10:10 AM Report this
8
Plan C is Kal-El flying counterclockwise around the Earth fast enough to turn back time and allow him to prevent Lex Luthor from causing the accident in the first place.
tiktok on May 12, 2010 at 10:11 AM Report this
9
As long as we do nothing to stop driving!! JESUS said we have a right to own cars and trucks and SUV's. IT'S IN THE BIBLE!!!!

And don't argue or I'll blow your brains out with my JESUS PROMISED semi-automatic rifle!!

SHOUT GLORY!!!

(Yeah, nothing will change, did it chance with the Exxon Valdez? That's what I thought)
Cato the Younger Younger on May 12, 2010 at 10:15 AM Report this
10
@5, and what contry are you living in? Corporate America OWNS the government in case you haven't been paying attention!!!
Cato the Younger Younger on May 12, 2010 at 10:16 AM Report this
11
Do we know that footage exists for the source? I would imagine being able to see anything while deep in the ocean surrounded by thousands of gallons of oil would be quite a trick.
Matt the Engineer on May 12, 2010 at 10:47 AM Report this
12
I'm glad Obama is a fierce advocate for clean oceans.
on May 12, 2010 at 10:50 AM Report this
13
This is an epic fuck up and they don't have any fucking idea how they're going to fix it. Who would have guessed?

The sooner we string up a few bankers and oil execs the better off we'll all be.
meowmeowkitty on May 12, 2010 at 11:02 AM Report this
14
@7:

That translates as approximately the cost of an extra gallon or more of gas per tank. Maybe driving habits of have changed in the past few years, but the last time gas went significantly over an average of $3.25 per gallon, consumption dropped dramatically.

So, maybe this will turn out to be a good thing, environmental concerns aside, after all...
COMTE on May 12, 2010 at 11:02 AM Report this
15
The mind-numbing thing is that all the oil we pump from the Gulf of Mexico wouldn't cover what might be called "frivolous driving." In other words, if people stopped driving around looking for a damn parking space to go aimlessly shopping downtown, we'd be more "energy independent."

But since that requires an actual sacrifice on the part of spoiled Americans, it will never happen. Thus greater dependence on ever more expensive and risky extraction schemes.

This is probably just the first act of a tragic saga to be concluded .... when?
emor on May 12, 2010 at 11:22 AM Report this
16
@15, about the time when earth can no long sustain human life (or anything like we are used to).

And keep in mind we're just getting ready to start hurricane season!!
Cato the Younger Younger on May 12, 2010 at 11:57 AM Report this
17
See also: SkyTruth: "BP / Gulf Oil Spill - How Big Is It?", Sunday, May 9, 2010, which begins:

Quite a lot bigger than the estimate being uncritically quoted throughout the media of 210,000 gallons (5,000 barrels) per day. That was the last "official" estimate made by NOAA and accepted by the Coast Guard back on April 29 (see timeline below). Before that, the Coast Guard estimates ranged from 336,000 gallons (8,000 barrels) per day, to zero, to 42,000 gallons (1,000 barrels) per day. None of these estimates has been publicly explained or substantiated. And on May 1, the Coast Guard and NOAA stopped trying to estimate the spill rate, with Admiral Thad Allen saying, "Any exact estimate is probably impossible at this time."

But the media continues to report that oil is leaking into the Gulf at 5,000 barrels per day. At SkyTruth we estimate the spill rate is closer to 1.1 million gallons (26,500 barrels) per day, based on the size of the slick on satellite images and Coast Guard maps, and thickness estimates derived from visual descriptions of the slick. That puts us at a total spill of 21 million gallons so far.

Considering that there are deepwater oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico capable of producing >1.26 million gallons (30,000 barrels) of oil per day under controlled flow rates; and that the oil slick continues to grow in size even though it's been under attack 24/7 by skimmer vessels, burning, chemical dispersants, and natural processes; our estimate seems quite conservative.

Phil M on May 12, 2010 at 12:41 PM Report this
18
Personally, I think BP is getting crucified. 25% of the petrol used is in the Gulf and the oil companies there are taking tremendous financial risk. Only 15% or less wells produce any oil, of that percentage and ongoing operating costs the real margin makes a smaller percentage really profitable. Remember share holders are ultimately on the hook for these expenses. If you hire a contractor to fix your furnace and it blows up do you call the gas company?
on May 12, 2010 at 12:59 PM Report this
19
Plan D is to detonate a nuke down there, as the Russians have been suggesting, since they've done it half a dozen times over the years. Not that THAT won't kill millions of fish across the Caribbean with the sound shockwave. :>(
Damn. Goodbye Gulf Coast. It's been fun knowin' ya. *sigh*
treacle on May 12, 2010 at 3:34 PM Report this
20
Video schmidio. That's good for a WASG, a Wild-Ass Scientific Guess
NOAA asked BP if they could borrow BP's volumetric analysis tool, a handheld measuring device that is inserted via ROV, into the stream of crude which is exiting the wellhead/BOP.
The discharge of material spins a little wheel similar to the sending unit of a speedometer. It is programmed to determine the amount of liquid mineral that is being forced out of the Earth via the stack, by how fast the tool's sending unit wheel rotates.

Unfortunately, the units that can be purchased off of the shelf are not rugged & resilient enough to withstand the intense pressure of being a mile beneath the surface.
I don't know how much they cost but I would imagine they are perty' spendy. But the US government should be able to spring for one.

Since BP is being so gawdamned helpful, I think we should just sieze all of their US assets, & nationalize their corporation.
We could pay down the debt & correct the wayward deficit in much less time.
That's why many foreign countries have nationalized their oil company's.
They got tired of being ripped off by BigOil.
It's our oil, but the multinational oil corporations sell it back to us for one hell of a mark-up.
Gasoline in Venezuela is only 10cents/liter because Chavez nationalized their oil & kicked-out the major independent multinational oil corps.until they would pay a little more for their feedstock. Venezuela has their own national oil company.
on May 18, 2010 at 9:03 AM Report this

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