'Not for public': the oil spill may be getting much worse

[DoYouEverWonder]

Exclusive Interview with a Survivor from the Oil Rig Explosion

http://www.marklevinshow.com/Article.asp?id=1790422&spid=32364

Supposedly they verified the survivor's identity. If his story is true, Gaia is to blame for this one.

We have no right to be messing with deep water drilling, if we have no clue what to do when things go seriously wrong.

[barracuda]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/us/02liability.html

The federal government has $1.6 billion in reserve to help mitigate the expanding damage on the Gulf Coast, generated by a tax on oil for use in cases like the Deepwater Horizon spill.

Up to $1 billion could be used to compensate for losses from the accident, as much as half of it for what is sometimes a major category of costs: damage to natural resources like fisheries and other wildlife habitats.

Because of this reserve, called the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, the operators of the offshore rig face no more than $75 million in liability for the damages that might be claimed by individuals, companies or the government, although they are responsible for the cost of containing and cleaning up the spill.

The fund was set up by Congress in 1986 but not financed until after the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Alaska in 1989. In exchange for the limits on liability, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 imposed a tax on oil companies, currently 8 cents for every barrel they produce in this country or import. The tax adds roughly one tenth of a percent to the price of oil. Another source of revenue is fines and civil penalties from companies that spill oil.

[Hugo Farnsworth]

Exclusive Interview with a Survivor from the Oil Rig Explosion

http://www.marklevinshow.com/Article.asp?id=1790422&spid=32364

Supposedly they verified the survivor's identity. If his story is true, Gaia is to blame for this one.

We have no right to be messing with deep water drilling, if we have no clue what to do when things go seriously wrong.

I listened to "James" and he appears to be a technical services hand, and he spoke truthfully and knew what he was talking about. If what he relates is true, then it really was Gaia, and no one is culpable. As I explained in a thread some months ago, in Louisiana, and elsewhere, there are formations that you just CANNOT drill into, and live. This could be one of those. Pray for the guys drilling the relief well.

@DrVolin. On the Ensco51 blowout which occurred almost exactly the same way (although much slower), the well bridged over. When the flow is uncontrolled, this happens pretty often. I would guess 60-70% of the time.

[DoYouEverWonder]

Exclusive Interview with a Survivor from the Oil Rig Explosion

http://www.marklevinshow.com/Article.asp?id=1790422&spid=32364

Supposedly they verified the survivor's identity. If his story is true, Gaia is to blame for this one.

We have no right to be messing with deep water drilling, if we have no clue what to do when things go seriously wrong.

If what he relates is true, then it really was Gaia, and no one is culpable.

I don't think I'd say no one is culpable. There's plenty of culpability to go around. Like not installing that extra remote switch off device because it cost too much money.

[Hugo Farnsworth]

Exclusive Interview with a Survivor from the Oil Rig Explosion

http://www.marklevinshow.com/Article.asp?id=1790422&spid=32364

Supposedly they verified the survivor's identity. If his story is true, Gaia is to blame for this one.

We have no right to be messing with deep water drilling, if we have no clue what to do when things go seriously wrong.

If what he relates is true, then it really was Gaia, and no one is culpable.

I don't think I'd say no one is culpable. There's plenty of culpability to go around. Like not installing that extra remote switch off device because it cost too much money.

Yes, I was upset about that when I read about it--cheap-skate penny-pinching for which BP is so famous. But if "James" is correct in what he stated during his interview, the BOP stack was actuated--it just failed to contain the pressure. According to "James", this stack had been tested just hours earlier. If the stack test was valid, culpability lies in a more subtle area--the casing run itself and the subsequent cementing operation. I think the Ozymandias quote is appropriate here.

[JackRiddler]

I'm willing to entertain anything, but who would benefit over this?

At first blush, my guess is anyone who is a proponent of nationalizing the oil industry.

Monumental catastrophes are great backdrops for Government takeovers.

Right. And why would anyone want that when corporate control works so well?

Oh horrors! Proceeds from this hyperprofitable business might leak into public budgets and unionized government employee pockets, instead of deserving rich people.

Not to mention that this is another complete non-sequitur from Mad Hatter Tea Party Land. Near-guaranteed there will be no call for nationalizing the oil industry, and if one should arise, it will of course be fought tooth and nail... by the hated "socialist" government!

[JackRiddler]

Gaia or not, off-shore drilling raises the probability of something like this happening once or twice in a human generation from almost zero to something closer to a hundred, no?

The ultimate perpetrators here remain those who have fought the inevitable and necessary conversion of the civilization away from hydrocarbon energy and toward renewables tooth-and-nail since the energy crises of the 1970s.

[nathan28]

Gaia or not, off-shore drilling raises the probability of something like this happening once or twice in a human generation from almost zero to something closer to a hundred, no?

The ultimate perpetrators here remain those who have fought the inevitable and necessary conversion of the civilization away from hydrocarbon energy and toward renewables tooth-and-nail since the energy crises of the 1970s.

I'm not that convinced anyone is "fighting" that. I tend to think no one has felt too motivated to shift out of fossil fuels. Car fuel efficiency has stagnated *despite all manner of technological absurdity* for nearly three decades if you rule out the blip caused by CAFE standards--which is good evidence for the good that regulation can do.

OTOH, Who Killed the Electric Car does make the point that GM fought itself, successfully developing a limited-range, popular electric commuter vehicle then funding its own PR against that project without any apparent logic or explanation.

Personally, I really fucking wish they would go back to distributors and carburetors. Yeah, I know, you might have to use a socket wrench and bust a few knuckles, but they're a hell of a lot easier to fix than fucking electronically-controlled ignition. More than that, I fucking wish with my heart of hearts that we could get trains out in the non-super-metro areas. Fucking hell, the G train sucked, but it beats a car any day and a bike in freezing rain, I'll tell you that for free.

But on the third hand, most oil consumption is by industry, not consumers.

And on the fourth hand, this whole Gulf of Texasland thing will probably fix that for sure.

[Percival]

Great pix, thanks. I just forwarded them to some friends of mine in "high places." Let me just say that until I hear or see otherwise, I think BP is fully to blame for this disaster.

I have questioned this since I first heard, now I pretty much have no doubt:

"Although the cause of the explosion was under investigation, many of the more than two dozen lawsuits filed in the wake of the explosion claim it was caused when workers for oil services contractor Halliburton Inc. improperly capped the well — a process known as cementing. Halliburton denied it."

Our good friends at Halliburton at work for us, I thought it was BP and today I see this???

[Percival]

[Percival]

Good read here:

http://www.businessinsider.com/

[Percival]

Expert: Surface area of Gulf oil spill has tripled

VENICE, La. – The surface area of a catastrophic Gulf of Mexico oil spill quickly tripled in size amid growing fears among experts that the slick could become vastly more devastating than it seemed just two days ago.

Frustrated fishermen eager to help contain the spill from a ruptured underwater well had to keep their boats idle Saturday as another day of rough seas kept crews away from the slick, and President Barack Obama planned a Sunday trip to the Gulf Coast.

Documents also emerged showing British Petroleum downplayed the possibility of a catastrophic accident at the offshore rig that exploded.

How far the spill will reach is unknown, but the sheen already has reached into precious shoreline habitat and remains unstopped, raising fears that the ruptured well could be pouring more oil into the Gulf than estimated.

The Coast Guard estimates now that at least 1.6 million gallons of oil have spilled since the April 20 explosion that killed 11 workers. The environmental mess could eclipse the Exxon Valdez disaster, when an oil tanker spilled 11 million gallons off Alaska's shores in 1989.

The slick nearly tripled in just a day or so, growing from a spill the size of Rhode Island to something closer to the size of Puerto Rico, according to images collected from mostly European satellites and analyzed by the University of Miami.

On Thursday, the size of the slick was about 1,150 square miles, but by Friday's end it was in the range of 3,850 square miles, said Hans Graber, executive director of the university's Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing. That suggests the oil has started spilling from the well more quickly, Graber said.

"The spill and the spreading is getting so much faster and expanding much quicker than they estimated," Graber told The Associated Press on Saturday.

Louisiana State University professor Ed Overton, who heads a federal chemical hazard assessment team for oil spills, cautioned that the satellite imagery could be deceiving.

He said satellites can't measure the thickness of the sheen and makes it difficult to judge how much oil is on the water.

Another issue is that the oil slicks are not one giant uniform spill the size of an island. Instead, they are "little globs of oil in an area of big water," Overton said.

Ian R. MacDonald, an oceanography professor at Florida State University, said his examination of Coast Guard charts and satellite images indicated that 8 million to 9 million gallons had already spilled by April 28.

"I hope I'm wrong. I hope there's less oil out there than that. But that's what I get when I apply the numbers," he said.

Alabama's governor said his state was preparing for a worst-case scenario of 150,000 barrels, or more than 6 million gallons per day. At that rate the spill would amount to a Valdez-sized spill every two days, and the situation could last for months.

"I hope they can cap this and we talk about 'remember back when,'" Gov. Bob Riley said late Friday, "but we are taking that worst-case and building barriers against it."

Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry brushed off such fears, saying "I would caution you not to get fixated on an estimate of how much is out there."

"This is highly imprecise, highly imprecise," agreed Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer for exploration and production. "We continue to respond to a much more significant case so that we're prepared for that in the eventuality that the rate is higher."

BP suggested in a 2009 exploration plan and environmental impact analysis for the well that an accident leading to a giant crude oil spill — and serious damage to beaches, fish and mammals — was unlikely, or virtually impossible.

The plan for the Deepwater Horizon well, filed with the federal Minerals Management Service, said repeatedly that it was "unlikely that an accidental surface or subsurface oil spill would occur from the proposed activities."

The company conceded a spill would impact beaches, wildlife refuges and wilderness areas, but argued that "due to the distance to shore (48 miles) and the response capabilities that would be implemented, no significant adverse impacts are expected."

The spill — a slick more than 130 miles long and 70 miles wide — threatens hundreds of species of wildlife, including birds, dolphins, and the fish, shrimp, oysters and crabs that make the Gulf Coast one of the nation's most abundant sources of seafood.

Although the cause of the explosion was under investigation, many of the more than two dozen lawsuits filed in the wake of the explosion claim it was caused when workers for oil services contractor Halliburton Inc. improperly capped the well — a process known as cementing. Halliburton denied it.

The Coast Guard said Saturday it had shut down two offshore platforms and evacuated one of them near the spill as a safety precaution.

Photos: Oil spill off Louisiana coast

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100501/ap_ ... _oil_spill

[2012 Countdown]

Hundreds of fishermen turn out to fight oil spill
Jay Vise Reporting

In Boothville in Plaquemines Parish, several hundred local fishermen turned at the Boothville-Venice School gym to learn more about contributing their time and boats to helping to manage the oil spill.

"About 300 people, maybe more, all local fishermen ... Many of them very angry and upset about what's happening to their livelihood," said CBS News Correspondent Peter King, who attended the event. "Many of them living in great fear that they're going to lose their livelihood completely."

Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said it is common sense to enlist the aid of local fishermen to battle the oil spill.

"They know these waters. They know we can point to the map, they know the depth of the water, they know how to get there without damaging the environment," Nungesser said. "So they�re the best people to do it, and we just thank BP for embracing this and working with us."

For fishermen interested in information on offering their boats for use in fighting the oil spill, click the following link:
http://www.wwl.com/pages/6939492.php?

UPDATE:
"I am sitting here right now tearing them up and putting them in the trash"


BP voids fishermen's cleanup contracts in La., cites legal mix-up
VENICE, La. - David Kinnaird, BP's liaison to Plaquemines Parish, spent Saturday night ripping up the contracts that hundreds of local commercial fishermen had signed to work for BP cleaning up the slick that could wipe out the local seafood industry.

It's not that BP didn't want to hire them. And there is nothing these fishermen would hesitate to do to save the bayous, canals and rivers where they and their families have made a living for generations - except this: Sign a contract with BP saying they will "hold harmless and indemnify … release, waive and forever discharge the BP Exploration and Production, Inc., its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, directors, regular employees, and independent contractors … from all claims and damages" arising from helping to clean up the mess that BP has made.

No one wanted to waive the right to sue BP, but some fishermen, desperate for cash, signed the waiver anyway.

"I shouldn't have signed it," Louie Barthelemy said after leaving a three-hour training course for commercial fishermen interested in a BP cleanup job. Barthelemy was one of hundreds of fishermen who showed up at Boothville Elementary School on Saturday morning for the BP-sponsored class.

Sheriff's deputies parked along the side of the road with their lights flashing to guide the stream of fishermen into the parking lot. Some who signed the contract did not speak English. Others admitted they could barely read or write but needed work and signed without knowing what the contract said.

"I was 8 or 9 years old when I started on a shrimp boat. I quit school. I can barely read or write," said Darrell Moreau, a shrimp boat captain. "Who's going to pay my bills? I got bill collectors calling."

Confusion reigned. About 200 fishermen, many still in their muddy white rubber fishing boots, discussed BP's offer to lease their boats and hire crews to lay booms to retain the slick and prevent it from leaking to their precious bayous.


FULL-
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/bp-vo ... _rss&imw=Y

[Sepka]

Interesting historic information on oil drilling disasters: http://home.versatel.nl/the_sims/rig/index.htm

[crikkett]

Exclusive Interview with a Survivor from the Oil Rig Explosion

http://www.marklevinshow.com/Article.asp?id=1790422&spid=32364

Supposedly they verified the survivor's identity. If his story is true, Gaia is to blame for this one.

We have no right to be messing with deep water drilling, if we have no clue what to do when things go seriously wrong.

I listened to "James" and he appears to be a technical services hand, and he spoke truthfully and knew what he was talking about. If what he relates is true, then it really was Gaia, and no one is culpable. As I explained in a thread some months ago, in Louisiana, and elsewhere, there are formations that you just CANNOT drill into, and live. This could be one of those. Pray for the guys drilling the relief well.

@DrVolin. On the Ensco51 blowout which occurred almost exactly the same way (although much slower), the well bridged over. When the flow is uncontrolled, this happens pretty often. I would guess 60-70% of the time.

If there are formations that you cannot drill into and live, and this is one of those formations, then this is the fault of the people who tried to drill into the formation anyway.

Saying that noone is culpable is not something that I find acceptable.

Gaia isn't at fault when a man walks off a cliff convinced that his wax-and-feather wings will prevent him from falling to his death.