Test Burn In Gulf Starts

[babylonsister]

Crews try setting fire to oil leaking in Gulf
AP

By CAIN BURDEAU AND BRETT MARTEL, Associated Press Writers


OVER THE GULF OF MEXICO – It's a hellish scene: Giant sheets of flame racing across the Gulf of Mexico as thick, black smoke billows high into the sky.

This, though, is no Hollywood action movie. It's the real-life plan to be deployed just 20 miles from the Gulf Coast in a last-ditch effort to burn up an oil spill before it could wash ashore and wreak environmental havoc.

The Coast Guard late Wednesday afternoon started a test burn of an area about 30 miles east of the delta of the Mississippi River to see how the technique was working. Crews planned to use hand-held flares to set fire to sections of the massive spill. Crews turned to the plan after failing to stop a 1,000-barrel-a-day leak at the spot where a deepwater oil platform exploded and sank.

A 500-foot boom was to be used to corral several thousand gallons of the thickest oil on the surface, which will then be towed to a more remote area, set on fire, and allowed to burn for about an hour.

If the hourlong test burn was successful, rig operator BP PLC was expected to continue the oil fires as long as the weather cooperated. The burns were not expected to be done at night.

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100428/ap_on_bi_ge/us_louisiana_oil_rig_explosion

[XemaSab]

1. Right in the middle of spring migration

x(

[Duer 157099]

2. I hope there are plenty of cameras running

The Discovery Channel probably already has a crew on site. This will make a fascinating documentary.

[spanone]

3. i guess there was no contingency plan. oil never leaks.

[malaise]

6. Spill baby Spill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuhGU4ZquaM

[Feron]

4. May not do much good at this point.

NOLA forecast is 20% chance of rain tomorrow night followed by 30% or more through next Wednesday. Wind is supposed to pick up as well.

This is just a disaster.

[Canuckistanian]

5. It's a futile exercise

According to an expert I heard on NPR, only 3% of the surface area of the oil can be burned off like this. Only emulsified oil can be burned in this process and only at the thickest parts.

He said that coastal areas should be prepared for an inevitable environmental disaster.

[onethatcares]

7. a 500 ft boom on a miles long slick

we may as well piss on it and hope it disperses.

Maybe the Incas are right and we'll just wipe ourselves out in a couple of years.

[Strelnikov_]

8. "Amid several of the thicker streaks, four gray whales could be seen swimming, . .

and one of them appeared to be rolling and curling as if struggling or disoriented. It was not clear if the whale was in danger."

Goodbye Mr. Whale.

You were sacrificed so humans could drive their living rooms on four wheels to the fast food shack three blocks away.




Your sacrifice will resonate through history. Or not.