Oil in the Gulf

Well beneath sunken rig U.S. has serious oil leak | Reuters

 

we, as a people, need to figure out a better way to do things. we cant keep moving oil over our oceans so insecurely. this incident, plus others in recent weeks, has really made me angry

 

damn. hope this gets cleaned up.

we need to go nuclear already...

 

I just caught a quick bit on CNN that mentioned the coast guard's new idea to get rid of the oil, since they can't catch all of what's ending up in the water each day.

The idea? Light the oil on fire.

Didn't they just put out a giant fire on the rig to begin with? What kind of impact will a giant fire across a large section of the Gulf have on the life there?

 

It will burn off the oil on the surface to prevent it from accumulating on the beaches and inter tidal zones which would have the worst effect on humans and animal life.

 

Yeah, but won't the mass amount of CO2 released into the area, and the large amount of evaporation, also cause problems of their own? Not to mention the other byproducts of combustion. Nitrous oxides, sulfur oxide....

 

yeah, but human mentality and how clean up crews make decisions on how the public will see it. If its burned off into the atmosphere it will be forgotten about. If its on the beaches and intertidal zones killing off animals there, people will have a much adverse reaction to it.. People forget what they dont have to see on a day to day basis, its the nature of our beings. Sad but true.

 

42,000 gallon los PER DAY...this will leave tragic imprints for a very, very, very long time.

very sad...and very true.

 

It makes me sick to my stomach! They are saying it will be at least two months before another well can be drilled so the leaking one can be capped off. All attempts by robotic sub to shut the valve ahead of the break have been an epic failure and it sounds like they've basically given up trying. I say we grab the top CEO of the company that owns the rig, give him a deep dive suit, instructions on how to turn a valve and a limited supply of air.

 

yeah, I love how they can't shut off the valve that is "supposed" to be a fail safe in the event of, well, failure. hmmmm, looks like some solid planning.... This one is going down in history.