Here's Why They Can't Plug That Gulf Oil Leak

[MNeagle]

http://www.businessinsider.com/



The Times-Picayune put together an excellent infographic of what's happening a mile below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. It illustrates why everyone's having such a hard time plugging the leak.




Read more: Link to Article (http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-heres-why-they-cant-plug-that-gulf-oil-leak-infographic-2010-5#ixzz0mh5B4MRl)




EDIT: Changed long link to named link to prevent forum page scrolling to the right. -Gaillo

[MNeagle]

Now Even The New York Times Hints That The Oil Spill Is Obama's Katrina


Last night news broke that Obama would finally visit the Gulf to inspect the carnage and response to the oil spill. It's still not clear when he'll make it, though it will be sometime in the next 48 hours.

We pointed out Thursday night that this story was becoming Obama's Katrina, an epic disaster that went on way too long before The White House got involved, and started marshal ling Federal resources, most notably the DHS.

And now others are starting to get the same sense.

Fox News called The President out on his slow response yesterday (but that's Fox, and you'd expect them to take such a shot). Rush Limbaugh has been making similar noises. What you wouldn't expect is to read this in a New York Times editorial this morning:

A White House as politically attuned as this one should have been conscious of two obvious historical lessons. One was the Exxon Valdez, where a late and lame response by both industry and the federal government all but destroyed one of the country’s richest fishing grounds and ended up costing billions of dollars. The other was President George W. Bush’s hapless response to Hurricane Katrina.

Now we have another disaster in more or less the same neck of the woods, and it takes the administration more than a week to really get moving.

Surprising words, though if this were a GOP administration the tenor of the criticism would be 10x harsher -- that we're sure of.

Read the whole thing >



Read more: Link to Article (http://www.businessinsider.com/now-even-the-new-york-times-hints-that-the-oil-spill-is-obamas-katrina-2010-5#ixzz0mgyMQyQN)


EDIT: Changed long link to named link to prevent forum page scrolling to the right. -Gaillo

[MNeagle]

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_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill

[Cebu_4_2]

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???

[MNeagle]

Cost of seafood is going to skyrocket first, then followed by other meats. Hubby mentioned a restrauranteur who's seafood costs already went up.

[Ponce]

I can see now the "domino" affect in motion........will this be the excuse needed to raise the price of oil hence the price of everything else???

Remember that 96% of everthing now days is based on oil and its byproducts.

[I am me, I am free]

Think of it as merely an opportunity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjMTNPXYu-Y&feature=related

[Chibioz]

It is hard to quantify the exact level of impact that this oil leak disaster is going to have have on the economy and environment. However it does appear to be very serious.

I am blown away that an oil leak of this magnitude would even occur. If they are not able to seal it off soon, it will be much worse than a fully loaded oil tanker taking a big spill. In the Exxon Valdez spill, roughly 10.8 million gallons of oil was spilled in Alaska's Prince William Sound. If the estimated leak rates of 210,000 gallons per day are accurate, it will take roughly 50 days for this oil leak to leak out an equal amount of oil, however many more people in the gulf region are going to impacted than were impacted in the Alaskan oil spill.

Truly a disaster.

Is this the next false flag? I don't know. They are certainly capable of it.

[I am me, I am free]

The USG agency NOAA has already had that April 28 report on the potential for this spew to go "an order of magnitude higher" (meaning 10x as much) to 50,000 barrels a day. That would be a Valdez size spill about every 5 days.

[Publico Pro Se]

Publico Pro Se's investing tip of the day: Buy as much as possible Dawn Dish Detergent.

[Rebel Yarr]

SWAT teams checking other rigs in area? South Korea built and financed rig? Sabotage? NK involved? wtf?!?!

Many pages of hits on google for "north korea oil rig"

Yes, we all know who Sorcha Faal is...so take it for what it's worth....


http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1367.htm

May 1, 2010

US Orders Blackout Over North Korean Torpedoing Of Gulf Of Mexico Oil Rig

By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers

A grim report circulating in the Kremlin today written by Russia’s Northern Fleet is reporting that the United States has ordered a complete media blackout over North Korea’s torpedoing of the giant Deepwater Horizon oil platform owned by the World’s largest offshore drilling contractor Transocean that was built and financed by South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., that has caused great loss of life, untold billions in economic damage to the South Korean economy, and an environmental catastrophe to the United States.

Most important to understand about this latest attack by North Korea against its South Korean enemy is that under the existing “laws of war” it was a permissible action as they remain in a state of war against each other due to South Korea’s refusal to sign the 1953 Armistice ending the Korean War.

To the attack itself, these reports continue, the North Korean “cargo vessel” Dai Hong Dan believed to be staffed by 17th Sniper Corps “suicide” troops left Cuba’s Empresa Terminales Mambisas de La Habana (Port of Havana) on April 18th whereupon it “severely deviated” from its intended course for Venezuela’s Puerto Cabello bringing it to within 209 kilometers (130 miles) of the Deepwater Horizon oil platform which was located 80 kilometers (50 miles) off the coast of the US State of Louisiana where it launched an SSC Sang-o Class Mini Submarine (Yugo class) estimated to have an operational range of 321 kilometers (200 miles).

On the night of April 20th the North Korean Mini Submarine manned by these “suicidal” 17th Sniper Corps soldiers attacked the Deepwater Horizon with what are believed to be 2 incendiary torpedoes causing a massive explosion and resulting in 11 workers on this giant oil rig being killed outright. Barely 48 hours later, on April 22nd , this North Korean Mini Submarine committed its final atrocity by exploding itself directly beneath the Deepwater Horizon causing this $1 Billion oil rig to sink beneath the seas and marking 2010’s celebration of Earth Day with one of the largest environmental catastrophes our World has ever seen.

To the reason for North Korea attacking the Deepwater Horizon, these reports say, was to present US President Obama with an “impossible dilemma” prior to the opening of the United Nations Review Conference of the Parties to the Treat on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) set to begin May 3rd in New York.

This “impossible dilemma” facing Obama is indeed real as the decision he is faced with is either to allow the continuation of this massive oil leak catastrophe to continue for months, or immediately stop it by the only known and proven means possible, the detonation of a thermonuclear device.

Russian Navy atomic experts in these reports state that should Obama choose the “nuclear option” the most viable weapon at his disposal is the United States B83 (Mk-83) strategic thermonuclear bomb having a variable yield (Low Kiloton Range to 1,200 Kilotons) which with its 12 foot length and 18 inch diameter, and weighing just over 2,400 pounds, is readily able to be deployed and detonated by a remote controlled mini-sub.

Should Obama choose the “nuclear option” it appears that he would be supported by the International Court of Justice who on July 8, 1996 issued an advisory opinion on the use of nuclear weapons stating that they could not conclude definitively on these weapons use in “extreme circumstances” or “self defense”.

On the other hand, if Obama chooses the “nuclear option” it would leave the UN’s nuclear conference in shambles with every Nation in the World having oil rigs off their coasts demanding an equal right to atomic weapons to protect their environment from catastrophes too, including Iran.

To whatever decision Obama makes it remains a fact that with each passing hour this environmental catastrophe grows worse. And even though Obama has ordered military SWAT teams to protect other oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico from any further attack, and further ordered that all drilling in the Gulf of Mexico be immediately stopped, this massive oil spill has already reached the shores of America and with high waves and more bad weather forecast the likelihood of it being stopped from destroying thousands of miles of US coastland and wildlife appears unstoppable.

And not just to the environmental catastrophe that is unfolding the only devastation to be wrecked upon the United States and South Korea by this North Korean attack as the economic liabilities associated with this disaster are estimated by these Russian reports to be between $500 Billion to $1.5 Trillion, and which only a declaration of this disaster being an “act of war” would free some the World’s largest corporations from bankruptcy.

Important to note too in all of these events was that this was the second attack by North Korea on its South Korean enemy, and US ally, in a month as we had reported on in our March 28th report titled “Obama Orders ‘Immediate Stand-down’ After Deadly North Korean Attack” and which to date neither the Americans or South Korea have retaliated for and giving one senior North Korean party leader the courage to openly state that the North Korean military took “gratifying revenge” on South Korea.

And for those believing that things couldn’t get worse, they couldn’t be more mistaken as new reports coming from Japanese military sources are stating that North Korea is preparing for new launches of its 1,300 kilometer (807 miles) intermediate range ballistic “Rodong” missile which Russian Space Forces experts state is able to “deploy and detonate” an atomic electromagnetic pulse (EMP) device, and which if detonated high in the atmosphere could effectively destroy the American economy for years, if not decades, to come.

[Rebel Yarr]

Rush Limbaugh....whoa....

transcript - http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_042910/content/01125113.guest.html


Link to Article (http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/The-Alternative-Non-Truther-Reading-of-Rushs-Oil-Rig-Rant-92598964.html)

The Alternative, Non-Truther Reading of Rush's Oil-Rig Rant
By: Mary Katharine Ham
Weekly Standard
05/01/10 8:52 PM EDT
Along the North Shore south of Venice, Louisiana. (AP/Gay)

Several bloggers are calling Rush Limbaugh the equivalent of a 9/11 Truther for alleging on his radio show that the oil-rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico was an inside job perhaps perpetrated by the Obama administration.

I didn't listen to the show, so I don't have the full context, but judging from the transcript of the segment, there's pretty clearly a different, more reasonable conclusion one can draw from it. It's Occam's Razor time.

Ezra Klein and Kevin Drum say Limbaugh is accusing the Obama administration of blowing up the rig based on this paragraph. James Joyner is more circumspect, but comes to a similar conclusion:

Read more at the Washington Examiner: Link to Article (http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/The-Alternative-Non-Truther-Reading-of-Rushs-Oil-Rig-Rant-92598964.html#ixzz0mjJ4ImCC)



EDIT: Changed long link to named link to prevent forum page scrolling to the right. -Gaillo

[Rebel Yarr]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/29/national/main6444311.shtml

Mr. Obama said SWAT teams were being dispatched to the Gulf to investigate oil rigs and said his administration is now working to determine the cause of the disaster.

[Rebel Yarr]

Infowars jumping in....

http://www.infowars.com/obama-sends-swat-teams-to-gulf-oil-rigs/

What in the hell is going on?

Is the White House about to manufacture a ‘crisis’ over an oil spill with the ultimate aim of seizing all the oil rigs in the Gulf? Swat teams are under the domain of law enforcement agencies, what do they know about drilling activities?

OR…

Do they suspect that this is an act of eco- terrorism? Consider who would benefit politically from an oil spill in the Gulf…the environmental left.

Stay tuned, something is up.

[Horn]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/29/national/main6444311.shtml

Mr. Obama said SWAT teams were being dispatched to the Gulf to investigate oil rigs and said his administration is now working to determine the cause of the disaster.


SWAT teams to investigate?

Is something wrong with that picture?

[vacuum]

I can see now the "domino" affect in motion........will this be the excuse needed to raise the price of oil hence the price of everything else???

Remember that 96% of everthing now days is based on oil and its byproducts.

Good point. The more I think about it, the more this seems like it could be a power play. Both economic excuses as well as environmental control.

It could also be a move by another country (see the Korean article below).

[old steel]

Talked to a friend who is in the oil business who has managed a lot of rigs he said this whole deal was a giant fubr from the get go, totally mismanaged.

Never should have put out the fire let it burn while you figure out how to close the valve on the gulf floor.

Now someone will probably have to give up their life to go down there and close it off manually.

[Horn]

Never should have put out the fire let it burn while you figure out how to close the valve on the gulf floor.


Well that makes too much common sense, wonder if that news will see the light of day.

But SWAT, between this and the NYC thing somebody is paranoid big time bout sumtin.

[EE_]

No mention of hurricane season coming and what it could do, take the oil inland.
Could this be a full blow out?
This could be an epic disaster!

[Serpo]

Never should have put out the fire let it burn while you figure out how to close the valve on the gulf floor.


Well that makes too much common sense, wonder if that news will see the light of day.

But SWAT, between this and the NYC thing somebody is paranoid big time bout sumtin.



Swat the heck can swat do on an oil rig

[EE_]

It's a shame this has happened with such a strong recovery under way. :oo-->
Is this Wall Street positive?
Gold positive?
Oil positive?
Or should I be filling the gasoline storage tanks right now?

[k-os]

No mention of hurricane season coming and what it could do, take the oil inland.
Could this be a full blow out?
This could be an epic disaster!


And if the solution was to burn it now, the mass of oil is enormous. It would certainly make the surface temperatures rise (if even slightly) in the Gulf of Mexico, which is exactly what feeds and speeds up hurricanes.

I think this spill will be much more devastating than just the gas, fishing, wildlife and tourism. I think we're going to have shipping issues as well, which will raise the prices of everything.

[willie pete]

No mention of hurricane season coming and what it could do, take the oil inland.
Could this be a full blow out?
This could be an epic disaster!


If it blows the oil inland to shore, which is what IS going to happen, there will be a new theme song for the Gulf.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PemiwMS6Shk

[JDRock]

the ny suv "bomb" was DESIGNED to be found- lights flashing car left running...WHY? to DIVERT attention from the obvious the gulf rig was blown by foul play.