Admiral: Gulf Drilling Disaster ‘One of the Most Significant Oil Spills in US History’

[tekisui]

Source; The Raw Story

The Gulf of Mexico oil rig disaster will develop into one of the worst spills in US history if the well is not sealed, the coast guard officer leading the response warned.

British Petroleum, which leases the Deepwater Horizon platform, has been operating four robotic submarines some 1,500 meters (5,000 feet) down on the seabed to try to cap two leaks in the riser pipe that connected the rig to the wellhead.

But the best efforts of the British energy giant have yielded no progress so far, and engineers are frantically constructing a giant dome that could be placed over the leaks as a back-up plan to try and stop the oil spreading.

Time is running out as a huge slick with a 600-mile (965-kilometer) circumference has moved within 21 miles of the ecologically fragile Louisiana coast despite favorable winds. Photos released by U.S. space agency NASA revealed the spread had become so great, it was visible from space.

The US authorities said they were considering a controlled burn of oil captured in inflatable containment booms floating in the gulf to protect the shorelines of Louisiana and other southern states.

"I am going to say right up front: the BP efforts to secure the blowout preventer have not yet been successful," Rear Admiral Mary Landry told a press conference, referring to a 450-tonne machine that could seal the well.

Asked to compare the accident to the notorious 1989 Exxon Valdez oil tanker disaster, Landry declined but said: "If we don't secure the well, yes, this will be one of the most significant oil spills in US history."

more: http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0427/admiral-gulf-drilling-disaster-one-significant-oil-spills-history/

[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[hlthe2b]

2. Such irony, coming as it does on the heels of Obama's announcement

to allow states the latitude to determine more offshore drilling in many areas. I think those who have children (and are rational enough to understand what we have done and are still doing to this planet) must just shudder.

[Are_grits_groceries]

3. She might have to amend that statement to

"This will be one of the most significant oil spills in World history."

By the time they get it capped if they get it capped, there is no telling how much oil will be released. Currents and other factors could carry it Gawd knows where.

[bvar22]

20. If the rig sank on top of the BoPs (most likely),

they will never be able to activate the BoPs (Blow Out Preventers) with a remote submersible.
There will be too much wreckage covering The Stack. There is only a slim possibility that the rig is not on top of the well head.

The only other alternative is to drill a Relief Well, which would take about a month or so....minimum.
(I was a Directional Driller in the Gulf of Mexico a long time ago, and drilled a couple of Relief Wells.)

[dipsydoodle]

4. Exxon Valdez don't count for comparison

because it didn't affect anything important. :sarcasm:

[zeemike]

8. It is apples and oranges.

the tanker spill had a end....when the tanker was empty
this spill could go on for years leaking many tanker fulls of oil.

[Statistical]

13. Unlikely.

The well will be capped. It may take months but it will be capped. There are multiple methods the problem is they take time.

Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million barrels within days. That made any attempt to mitigate the disaster or prevent some of oil from hitting the shores impossible. The speed and quantity of the spill put it into a whole separate league.

[zeemike]

17. Good point. n/t

[lunatica]

5. I hope it is THE most significant oil spill in all of history

The one that broke the camel's back and caused the world to turn away from oil and towards benevolent forms of energy. I truly hope this makes us come face to face with the cost of our addiction. May it be that significant.

Louisiana will be the first to feel it too. Again the victim of man made catastrophies of such major proportions that there may never be a recovery. It's almost as if the mouth of the great Mississippi River is where the life-blood of our nation is being bled out.

[The_Commonist]

6. And here's that NASA photo

[Blue_Tires]

7. chilling to see it in scale...

[zeemike]

9. holey shit

That is going to mess up a bunch of very important estuaries.
God I hope some sanity comes to us over this because it is costly.

[WinkyDink]

10. Coming soon to the Jersey Shore!

[NI4NI]

11. Make Palin clean it up n/t

[SammyWinstonJack]

16. +1

:thumbsup:

[lonestarnot]

19. with a syphon hose!

[safeinOhio]

12. Just prove the BP commercials are correct

We have the resources right here and the technology and know how.

:sarcasm:

[Overseas]

14. K&R. //nt

[piratefish08]

15. drill baby drill! right?

[derby378]

18. More like Spill, Baby, Spill

:headbang:

[adamuu]

24. +1

[mod mom]

21. has anyone asked Bible Spice to comment on this yet?

[autorank]

22. This will dwarf the Exon Valdez, I bet

Thousands of feet below sea level, a well that can't be capped... we're talking about a terrible ecological disaster that will cover the waterfront. Crist is no dummy and he jumped away from offshore drilling in a heartbeat. He knows.

[adamuu]

23. "so large it is visible from space" duh....

That's right up there with "as large as X football fields"