"I have no idea what an uncontrolled release could be"

[phantom power]

The worst-case scenario for the broken and leaking well gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico would be the loss of the wellhead currently restricting the flow to 5,000 barrels -- or 210,000 gallons per day.

If the wellhead is lost, oil could leave the well at a much greater rate, perhaps up to 150,000 barrels -- or more than 6 million gallons per day -- based on government data showing daily production at another deepwater Gulf well.

By comparison, the Exxon Valdez spill was 11 million gallons total. The Gulf spill could end up dumping the equivalent of 4 Exxon Valdez spills per week.

"Typically, a very good well in the Gulf can produce 30,000 barrels a day, but that's under control. I have no idea what an uncontrolled release could be," said Stephen Sears, chairman of the petroleum engineering department at Louisiana State University.

[aquart]

1. Aghast.

We allowed them to drill without a way to PREVENT THIS?

[phantom power]

2. Well, they had a prevention measure. But it isn't working as expected.

People are upset because they had a plan A, but no plan B whatsoever.

[phantom power]

3. "Kinks in the piping created as the rig sank to the seafloor may be all that is preventing...

the Deepwater Horizon well from releasing its maximum flow."

Oh fuck.

[Statistical]

4. Yeah that isn't good.

I mean kinks = lower flow rate but it also means lots of pressure.

If the wellhead can't handle the increased pressure it could rupture and then we are talking about a whole lot of oil.

A lot can go wrong in the 2-3 months to drill a relief well.

[jtuck004]

5. Exactly. Those "kinks" means the materials in the riser

are stretched, which makes them weaker, and, as you said, creates pressure points in these weaker places. They will be moved around by currents, thumped into by submersibles, wreckage from the platform might be on it - and if the blowout preventer is not able to shut off the flow, there will be 2 to 3 months of buffeting, which could weaken them considerably. I would think that really opens the window for more damage. And I am not sure anyone, anywhere has the resources to contain such a flow.

[truedelphi]

6. Back in the day of the Exxon Valdez, Rolling Stone sent out a

Reporter to survey the damage.

The reporter went up to Alaska, and reported on how clumsy and almost pointless any American response to an American oil spill happens to be.

Then he wrote out an entire description of how the officials in Scotland cleaned up a similar-sized oil spill. Their work there was done quickly and efficiently, with state of the art equipment no one here has ever bothered to purchase.

Now decades later, we will probably soon be reading the same story, though it will have a different location, again probably from Rolling Stone.

I believe in offshore oil drilling, and I believe in nuclear power, but only oil drilling in Europe, and nuke power in France.

In this country, there is just too much greed and stupidity. And that stupidity also entails not learning from our mistakes in the past.