Heads Up! Offshore Oil Rig SPILLING 42,000 Gal of OIL PER DAY ... NO FIX IN SIGHT (LINK)

[Blackhatjack]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/24/oil-rig-deepwater-horizon_0_n_550849.html

Oil Rig, Deepwater Horizon, Leaking Into Gulf Of Mexico

"NEW ORLEANS — The Coast Guard discovered Saturday that oil is leaking from the damaged well that fed a massive rig that exploded this week off Louisiana's coast, while bad weather halted efforts to clean up the mess that threatens the area's fragile marine ecosystem.

For days, the Coast Guard has said no oil appeared to be escaping from the well head on the ocean floor. Rear Adm. Mary Landry said the leak was a new discovery but could have begun when the rig sank on Thursday, two days after the initial explosion.

"We thought what we were dealing with as of yesterday was a surface residual (oil) from the mobile offshore drilling unit," Landry said. "In addition to that is oil emanating from the well. It is a big change from yesterday ... This is a very serious spill, absolutely."

Coast Guard and company officials estimate that as much as 1,000 barrels – or 42,000 gallons – of oil is leaking each day after studying information from remotely operated vehicles and the size of the oil slick surrounding the blast site. The rainbow-colored sheen of oil stretched 20 miles by 20 miles on Saturday – about 25 times larger than it appeared to be a day earlier, Landry said.
By comparison, Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons in Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989 – the worst oil spill in U.S. history."

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All the Atlantic States who stand to have offshore oil drilling imposed by the Federal Government need look no further than the Gulf where the offshore oil drilling rig exploded and is now belching oil at the rate of 42,000 Gallons per day.

For the paltry amount of oil that such rigs could produce off the shores of North Carolina's Outer Banks and protected sounds and estuaries, we could have the same kind of disaster.

And counting the negative impact on Tourism, which supports thousands of jobs and supports our State and local economies, the losses would certainly outweigh the gains for everyone except THE OIL COMPANIES.

[onehandle]

1. An oil company exec on The Ed Show a few days ago was saying that offshore drilling was 'safe.'

His description made it sound like current technology was nearly magical. And that this sort of thing would never happen.

Ed was skeptical. So was I.

[malaise]

11. It was all spin

lies, deception, obfuscation. Now it's barely getting a mention - forget the eleven dead folks - forget the environmental mess...M$Greedia have tornadoes to cover.

[gleaner]

18. It happened in California ...

when offshore drilling was allowed here. The oil companies had said it would be "safe" here as well. There was more than one really catastrophic accident. You don't want oil drilling off your coast if you want to be able to use your beaches, protect your sea life and the fragile ecologies which depend on the ocean for their survival.

What else would the oil companies say? All they care about is the profit. The people who have to live with the consequences of their recklessness can go stuff a sock in it as far as they are concerned.

[Motown_Johnny]

2. Happy Earth Day

:sarcasm:

[MadHound]

3. But hey, let's go ahead an open up offshore drilling,

What could possibly go wrong:eyes:

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

5. Actually this could be just what is needed

to shut them up. The Prez could now say,'based on this incident I think everyone would agree that offshore drilling is not worth it. Therefore I rescind the decision to open up offshore drilling'
Couldn't he? :shrug:

[MadHound]

6. He could, but the question is will he?

Somehow I doubt that will happen, sadly.

[janet118]

13. Gee, all we need now is a major nuke accident . . .

and maybe we'll finally get on the safe energy train. Forty years of nuclear waste is being stored onsite at many of the nuclear power sites in this country and we are talking about building new nukes with no solution to waste problem. First coal, then oil, will nukes be next? Disclaimer: nuclear waste leaking into ground water in Vermont was immediate enough. Any illness and/or deaths caused will be years away and will be impossible to tie to nuclear accident.

[flyarm]

17. as reeprted in Fla ..he already said just the opposite! as did his spokespersons! eom

[SidDithers]

4. K&R...

thanks for the update on the changing information.

Sid

[Karmadillo]

7. Can't make an unlimited energy omelet without breaking a few ecosystems.

Surely corporate profit outweighs sissy concerns like the protecting the environment and learning to live within limits.

[drm604]

8. K&R

This is disgusting. I hope that at least we can learn something from this and realize that it's not worth it.

When you consider the potential economic impact of this disaster, offshore drilling doesn't make sense even from a purely economic viewpoint.

[Blackhatjack]

10. Exactly! Unless the economic profits of oil companies trump those of the rest of us...

It all comes down to "who does the government serve?"

The People? Or Those who shovel huge amounts of $$ to our elected representatives to insure their own selfish profits?

[mod mom]

9. Let it be a lesson to all other coastal states-NO drill baby drill!

[Vinca]

12. Drill, baby, drill.

:banghead:

[Blackhatjack]

14. How much capital costs of the offshore drill rig will customers have to cough up?

Everyone knows that when energy companies build nuke plants, coal fired plants, or offshore drill rigs, the capital costs are always passed on to the customer bases on an amortized basis.

Here the offshore drill rig has been completely destroyed. Makes you wonder if the same capital cost allocation will result in the customers paying for TWO(2) offshore drill rigs?

[Rex]

15. Holy Hell! They said there were no more leaks!

Good thing they found the leaks...man this is going to be a real mess.

[NeoGreen]

16. Equates to ~1/2 gallon per second...

...and unless there is a lot of damaged steel from the platform in the way they should be able to close it off quickly, I hope.

It is bad, but seemingly not a huge volume of flow. I wonder how much the pressure from the water column is holding the oil back.

[drm604]

19. I hope that your'e right and that they can close it off quickly.

Do you have experience with this sort of thing? You sound knowledgeable.

[NeoGreen]

20. I have a MA in Geology and work as an...

... environmental hydrogeologist (when employed) and do a lot of contamination/remediation work, so I was interested in determining just how big a leak at 42,000 gal/day would be.

I'm not a petroleum geo, but unless the depth or other factors cause difficulties, it would seem to me that ~1/2 gal/second should be fairly easy to fix. However, I must say that I am way out of my area of expertise, and having 5000 ft of water column above you is a lot.

Either way, I hope this gets fixed as fast as possible. This disaster has already had an enormous human cost, given the missing workers, we do not need to add to an environmental cost too.


edited two typos

[SidDithers]

21. It's a low flow spill because the 5000m of pipe are kinked like a garden hose...

Hopefully, underwater robotics can engage the blowout preventer and shut down the leak, without having to drill another well to relieve the pressure.

Sid

[Hubert Flottz]

22. How's that Drilly Baby Drilly thing going in the green greasy Gulf?

If that sight down there makes you sick, come here and look what they've done to our mountains.