Leaked report: Government fears Deepwater Horizon well could become unchecked gusher

[TalkingDog]

I cannot vouch for the veracity of this story. There is no link to a document, or I would have placed it in the Latest Breaking News.

It could be a bid to sell papers, it could be fear mongering. That is certainly not my intent. But if it is true; God help us all.

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/04/deepwater_horizon_secret_memo.html

"The following is not public," reads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Emergency Ops document dated April 28. "Two additional release points were found today. If the riser pipe deteriorates further, the flow could become unchecked resulting in a release volume an order of magnitude higher than previously thought."

snip

The Press-Register obtained the emergency report from a government official. The White House, NOAA, the Coast Guard and BP Plc did not immediately return calls for comment made early this morning.





If anyone out there has a sense of how these things are written or structured, give this a look and advise whether it is "like" something that would be written

[FarCenter]

1. At 5000 feet of sea water, the oil is coming out against a pressure of over a ton per square inch

Wonder what the oil pressure is?

[Wednesdays]

10. Whoa.

[Brother Buzz]

16. 6000 to 11,000 PSI are encountered in gnarly situations.

Can you say blow-out? 3000 PSI is workable pressure.

[lonestarnot]

17. Couple that with additional darkness created by the spew

[lazarus]

2. my wife

does government work and reads lots of those docs, and says this sounds legit. Scary stuff.

[librechik]

3. this has been released as news, now

the bad leak is at the well head itself, and the leak is under the ocean floor. Nobody seems to know how to fix that one, since the fix ("cementing") seems to (probably) have caused the explosion that lit up the rig last week, killing 11.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Press Register would likely NOT print that unless they had a good source.

AND
the amount of gallons released, plus the number of "holes" in the broken pipe, has been
revised upwards for the last week, so I really find this new info. believable.
I don't think initially there was a good estimate of the scope of the problem, for valid reasons./

I do think as more information and findings have developed, the size of the disaster is
becoming better known.

I checked the news feeds, the story is being picked up but all are quoting the Press Register
right now.

This may be our petroleum Chernobyl.

[SoCalDem]

9. One big difference. the continued leaking will send the mess EVERYWHERE

for a very long time... The places near to Chernobyl were evacuated, and are now ghost towns.

Can't do that with a constantly moving body of water:(

[arcadian]

5. Those people down there in Louisiana

are gonna get fucked again.

[nashville_brook]

6. link has been removed - does anyone have a cache?

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. I have a cache..how do I show it to you?

I just put onto a pdf file and I have it open in a window.

try this:

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/04/deepwater_horizon_secret_memo.html

[nashville_brook]

13. a screen shot usually works -- on windows it's alt + print scrn

on mac, i think it's apple+shift+3


you could also print a PDF if you have a full version of acrobat.

[flyarm]

7. That info was released yesterday in Fla..that the leak is 3x what they originally reported

and much much more oil has leaked than reported before.
And there does not seem to be any relief for months to come..4 months to drill in other plsces to cut off the oil..and that was before they knew of the new leaks!

[spanone]

11. why not? there are consequences for our insatiable consumption. we may never learn.

or we may learn the very hard way....the dead gulf.

[TalkingDog]

12. Now a 2nd platform has tipped over.

http://www.care2.com/causes/environment/blog/breaking-second-oil-rig-overturns-in-lousiana-contaminating-inland-waters/

Even as the oil slick from the ruined Deepwater Horizon creeps onto the Lousiana shoreline, Reuters is reporting that another offshore drilling rig has overturned- this time among the inland waters near Morgan City, LA.

[spanone]

14. pssst. government....IT ALREADY IS.

[Dr.Phool]

15. Could they stick Sarah Palins head in there to plug it?

At least all of that empty space would suck up some of the oil.

Then, maybe try Rush Limbaughs ass.

[lonestarnot]

18. Put the whole fucking pile in there!

[GoCubsGo]

21. Sarah's head is probably too big. Besides...

With all that pressure, that brainless, empty noggin of hers might collapse. Rush's fat ass is nice and doughy. It would seal that hole up without any leaks.

[dixiegrrrrl]

23. OK...THAT's funny. Serisly.

[DRoseDARs]

22. You don't plug a broken fire hydrant with a wiffle ball. n/t

[Are_grits_groceries]

19. I didn't need no stinking report.

Common sense tells me that the oil will keep flowing as long as there is any underneath and it can't be capped or whatever. More leaks will make it faster.

If the structure begins to weaken around the leaks, then the holes will get much bigger, faster. The oil spill will too.

Imagine the pipe into your toilet breaking and the water couldn't be stopped. Gah!

[Ron Green]

20. I've wondered about this very scenario. They poke a hole in a huge reservoir of oil beneath the sea

and then cannot plug it up, so the oil spews out until the pressure is no greater than the weight of the water. I don't think it takes a genius to imagine such a thing, so why in the hell didn't they have some smarter people doing this, or maybe some ethical people watching the ones doing it?