A Disaster Of Mega Proportions Brewing In Gulf

[TripleDigitRide]

In ironic twist, BP finalist for pollution prevention award – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

[Guest jackdm3]

I don't know. Sorry for going on about it. I just know what's going to happen and I feel so bad for the people.QUOTE]

Don't be sorry. Despite the circumstances, I'm glad to get jolted out of relatively-jibberjabber that we usually engage in here.

[Oh Shoot]

..

All my in-laws live there and still wonder if it's safe to harvest clams.

Hell, we can't eat fish from half the habitat in our own state.

Nobody much seems to bemoan that fact.

- OS

[Guest KarlS]

Hmmm.. BP a finalist for pollution prevention? That article kind of reminds me of a Nobel Peace Prize winner who did nothing.

the Delta is already America's toilet outlet, amazing to me the fecundity still found there. Or was....

And this one will be seen and felt by far more Americans than the one in Alaska.

I wondered how the oil would effect the Delta. There is alot of mud and silt.

For sure on the amount of people this will affect.

[Guest KarlS]

Hell, we can't eat fish from half the habitat in our own state.

Nobody much seems to bemoan that fact.

- OS

Yes here up north we have that problem also, and I love fish.

As far as the in-laws and the clams go...They are all native Alaskans (Aleuts) who depend upon the sea for subsistence and very survival. Aside from clams there were mussels, badarki, and sea cucumber. Hell they ate critters I didn't even know where edible. They taught me alot though.

[Guest oldsmobile98]

Don't be sorry. Despite the circumstances, I'm glad to get jolted out of relatively-jibberjabber that we usually engage in here.

Yeah. I apologize. Shouldn't be making light of it. Edited my earlier post.

[Oh Shoot]

Yes here up north we have that problem also, and I love fish.

...there were mussels,,,,

When I was a kid there were still mussel fisheries on the TN river where I fished below Watts Bar Dam. TN used to harvest most of the mussels in the entire US, first for buttons, later for sale to Japan for oyster pearl implants. Now we have numerous extinct species, and over 40 species endangered. I think the only commercial fishery left is on Kentucky Lake.

- OS

[Mike.357]

will any of this oil get sucked out to sea by the Gulf Stream?

[Oh Shoot]

will any of this oil get sucked out to sea by the Gulf Stream?

Dunno.

Certainly haven't heard it mentioned by any of the "experts" so far.

- OS

[Daniel]

NPR this morning said that you can still go to the exxon valdez site and dig 12 inches into the sand and it will fill with oil.

[kb4ns]

How effective are those "oil booms" they are spreading out in the water? I know nothing about them, but seeing them on the TV, they don't look like they would do too much.

[mikegideon]

They won't hang around with nothing to eat.

They particularly like politicians, though.

And lawyers.

- OS

Some will just head up the rivers. They don't mind fresh water

[mikegideon]

How effective are those "oil booms" they are spreading out in the water? I know nothing about them, but seeing them on the TV, they don't look like they would do too much.

Effective in real calm seas, but it hasn't been calm. Oil was washing over the booms

[dariks]

Ok, serious question here....

I know they have already set some of the oil ablaze out in the ocean to try and burn some of it off. Although, I am wondering why they didn't do that sooner.

If the oil is going to sink into the ground 12"-24" after it washes ashore, as another poster mentioned, then why don't they set that ablaze as well? That way a lot of it burns off before it has time to sink into the ground.

[Oh Shoot]

Ok, serious question here....

I know they have already set some of the oil ablaze out in the ocean to try and burn some of it off. Although, I am wondering why they didn't do that sooner.

If the oil is going to sink into the ground 12"-24" after it washes ashore, as another poster mentioned, then why don't they set that ablaze as well? That way a lot of it burns off before it has time to sink into the ground.

Whole burn thing is pretty tricky. Has to be concentrated enough.

It's not like a uniform concentration of oil is going to come into shore and just sit there in neatly combustible concentrations.

Also, a helluva lot of this, maybe even most of it, isn't coming into a neat line on "beaches", it's coming into marshland, bayous, bays, cays, sounds, shoal areas, whatever. Water that goes from 20 feet to 6 inches in a matter of feet. All changing constantly with tides.

A freaking nightmare.

- OS

[Guest jackdm3]

Misplaced panic shown on TV showing our country's on fire? They don't wanna see fire just as how they don't want to see you kill a deer for population control. "Because it's for our own good" probably won't cut it.

[gregintenn]

This ain't gonna help gas prices is it? I plan to take a cruise ship from Alabama to Mexico next month. Do you think this oil spill would affect that type of thing?

[Oh Shoot]

They were talking about the submersibles down there still trying to trip the cutoff mechanism, whatever exactly it is.

Says they are proceeding as carefully as possible, since they could break the whole wellhead or whatever it is apart and create a gusher with many magnitudes of flow WORSE than is happening right now.

I had impression it was already flowing at max, but not so.

Fingers crossed on this new little tidbit, eh?

- OS

[Guest KarlS]

OS

I was under the same impression also. Wow that's scary.

Watching Admiral Allan from CG right now. First defense is robotic sub closing valve. There has been zero success to this point. Second is to attack oil at site with burns and dispersants? I thought if you dispersed it you couldn't burn it. Dispersants aren't the healthiest of chemicals either.

The third remedy was drilling a relief well beside the existing well. They need to drill down a total of 18k feet and could take months!

This ain't gonna help gas prices is it? I plan to take a cruise ship from Alabama to Mexico next month. Do you think this oil spill would affect that type of thing?

IMO they look for things like this to raise gas prices. As posted earlier there have already been some hikes.

As far as your cruise....I doubt it. If it's a cruise ship you're taking they may change destinations. As soon as they see the possibility of their big white cruise ship becoming a black gooey mess they'll be steaming out for cleaner ports.

Every charter boat and fishing boat operator will be dumping their itinerary and heading for the potential millions they will earn working in cleanup.

During the Exxon Valdez spill charter boats and fishing boats made a killing. The operator that was assigned to transport my crew daily did nothing but pick us up and dropped us off at directed locations made 1.7 million that year. Then he was able to join class action to recover operational losses. Nice cake for transporting and drinking coffee.

The fishing just shut down. The skippers were all offered jobs to replace losses. The salmon and herring seiners started out running oil booms and corraling oil and seaweed in the tidelines. The boats were a mess. Most skippers got rid of their boats after Exxon packed it up and left. They all ended up with beautiful new boats and new gear only to find out that fishing sucked after the spill.

The world that relied on Alaskas wild salmon stocks suddenly turned to farm raised fish. What fish was caught people didn't want "tainted" fish so the price tanked. It was so bad that boats never left the dock and eventually they sold out. The wild salmon market has not recovered to this day. My wifes family who had relied on fishing for their livelihood suddenly had nothing.

One of the best gigs out there was the oily wildlife pickup. They were contracting skiffs at a rate of $485 a day plus wages. Anyone that had an open aluminum 16 ft boat with a running outboard was doing pretty well if you were lucky enough to know someone to get the job.

[9teeneleven]

Some of the comments in this thread are simply stunning. Can someone please explain to me how these "enviroweenies" could manage to bugger up the multiple levels of failsafes that are 5,000 ft below the surface when you need robots to go cause the pressure is so intense?

I can't even begin to go into how depressing it is for my faith in the American people when I read comments saying that the sad thing is that this will take pressure off Obama because we will be distracted by the gulf. The implications of this are truly devastating.

The buck stops with BP on this one, and yet most refuse to see this as evidence of what it is, the best reason why we should be cautious about drilling for oil on our own coasts. Our oil dependancy is an addiction and one that is destroying America across the board.

[TripleDigitRide]

NASA - NASA Satellite Imagery Keeping Eye on the Gulf Oil Spill

[mikegideon]

Some of the comments in this thread are simply stunning. Can someone please explain to me how these "enviroweenies" could manage to bugger up the multiple levels of failsafes that are 5,000 ft below the surface when you need robots to go cause the pressure is so intense?

I can't even begin to go into how depressing it is for my faith in the American people when I read comments saying that the sad thing is that this will take pressure off Obama because we will be distracted by the gulf. The implications of this are truly devastating.

The buck stops with BP on this one, and yet most refuse to see this as evidence of what it is, the best reason why we should be cautious about drilling for oil on our own coasts. Our oil dependancy is an addiction and one that is destroying America across the board.

We need the thing that strikes fear into the hearts of most of my TGO brothers. That industry needs to be regulated to the point that the proper failsafes are in place, and properly tested on a routine basis... the same way we regulate nukes. We have seen time and again, that industry won't do the right thing without oversight.

BP and the rig owner screwed the pooch again, and it will cost them. problem is, it will cost all of us too.

[kb4ns]

Effective in real calm seas, but it hasn't been calm. Oil was washing over the booms

Kinda what I figured. Sad

[mikegideon]

Kinda what I figured. Sad

The Gulf has 3-5 foot seas on a fairly regular basis. It would take one helluva boom.

[mikegideon]

NPR this morning said that you can still go to the exxon valdez site and dig 12 inches into the sand and it will fill with oil.

But that can't be...

PolitiFact | Rush Limbaugh says Alaska's Prince William Sound is now pristine