By know you all know about the big oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Soon that spill will be the big spill of the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Over the past month, British Petroleum (BP) claimed that they are doing all they can to stop the oil leak. What they are not saying is that they are trying to stop the oil from flowing freely into the environment after they create a pipeline to the surface to transfer the oil from under ground to tankers on the surface. The disaster started when the executives at BP -- not wanting to seal the newly drilled well using safe industry standards just to save money. As a result, we have several workers dead, a missing oil platform, and a massive oil spill. This spill will put hundreds of fisherman out of business, raise seafood prices, and destroy the vacation industry in the northeastern and north central Gulf of Mexico. Let’s not mention the killing of thousands of animals in the area.
About a month ago, the company successfully placed a large dome over the pipeline on the sea floor. This did not work because the water flowing with the oil froze into ice cristals stopping the oil from reaching the ships above. So they removed the dome to try something else. If the objective is to stop the oil spill, why not leave the dome in place?
The company's next effort -- BP plans to use a "top kill" procedure -- the pumping of thick, viscous fluid twice the density of water into the site of the leak to stop the flow so the well can then be sealed with cement. This is after they had robots on the ocean floor place a pipe into the larger pipe that is gushing oil on the ocean floor. They hope to seal the larger pipe around the smaller pipe so that they can transport the oil to the surface. Meanwhile, millions of barrols of oil flows into the environment. The company has missed "deadline after deadline" for a month, claiming that BP is doing all it can to plug the leak.
If the top kill procedure does not work, BP will try to fit a second, smaller containment dome over the ruptured pipe, BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles told CNN's "American Morning." If the second dome does not work, he said, the company would "still have plenty of other options," Suttles said. The company could try a "junk shot," which would involve plugging the well with rubber and other substances, BP Managing Director Robert Dudley said Sunday.
However, a permanent solution could take until August -- the estimated completion date for a relief well, said Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen, the Obama administration's point person in the Gulf.
By the time the runaway well is capped, the amount of oil discharged could be comparable to the total released in the Exxon Valdez environmental disaster 20 years ago, according to the experts and CNN.
Posts
2 comments:
Why were we drilling in the middle of the ocean in the first place? why take that risk? why not drill on land?
Because all the oil found on land is accounted for. The only oil to be found and removed cheaply is in the Sea near land. The Gulf of Mexico oil field is an extension of the Texas Oil Field.
They found all the oil in Texas now they are going after this oil. We are taking the environmental risk. They are only taking financial risk.
Post a Comment