Gulf Oil Spill

[echoes]

Looks like this spill from BP's rig is going to get worse once it hits land tomorrow. This is not a good thing for Our economy, hands down. Especially is you are invested in BP....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100429/...ill_military_2

Navy sends equipment to help with Gulf oil spill

By ANNE FLAHERTY and ANNE GEARAN, Associated Press Writers Anne Flaherty And Anne Gearan, Associated Press Writers – 1 hr 10 mins ago
WASHINGTON – The Navy sent equipment to help with cleanup of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the Pentagon said Thursday it stands ready to expand its response to the disaster.

Navy spokesman Lt. Myers Vasquez said Thursday that 66,000 feet of inflatable boom and seven skimming systems were on their way to the Navy base in Gulfport, Miss. The help is being provided under an existing pollution cleanup agreement between the Navy and Coast Guard.

The Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida is in use as a staging area for more booms, recovery barges, tractor trailers, pumps and other related equipment used by Coast Guard contractors, Vasquez said.
He was unaware of any military personnel who might be sent to help with the cleanup.

The White House has asked the Defense Department to discuss possible additional requests. Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said the military is assessing how it might help and what resources could be deployed. He did not say how long that might take.

"There is a full-blown effort within this department to try to find the kinds of things that could be helpful," Morrell said.
He said the federal response is far wider than the Pentagon and should involve a close partnership with the energy industry. For example, he said, industrial research on submersible vehicles that can operate at great depth outpaces the military's.

Morrell said the focus of military efforts now is on helping to contain the spill at sea, but that the Pentagon would be ready to offer other kinds of help should the spill reach shore. He would not speculate on what that additional assistance might include, but one possibility would be an influx of U.S. troops to help with shoreline cleanup.

Holly

[incarcerated]

There is a new dimension to this story:
http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/...7&postcount=12

and:
http://content.usatoday.com/communit...in-oil-slick/1

....Here are Obama's full comments, which came before a ceremony honoring the National Teacher of the Year:

Welcome to the Rose Garden. This is an extraordinary occasion, a beautiful day -- appropriately so. So I hate to intrude on it, but before we begin I do want to speak briefly to the American people about the recent BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

I've been receiving frequent briefings from members of my Cabinet and White House staff, including an update last night on the additional breach and another update this morning. And while BP is ultimately responsible for funding the cost of response and cleanup operations, my administration will continue to use every single available resource at our disposal, including potentially the Department of Defense, to address the incident.

Earlier today, DHS Secretary Napolitano announced that this incident is of national significance and the Department of Interior has announced that they will be sending SWAT teams to the Gulf to inspect all platforms and rigs. And I have ordered the Secretaries of Interior and Homeland Security as well as Administrator Lisa Jackson of the Environmental Protection Agency to visit the site on Friday to ensure that BP and the entire U.S. government is doing everything possible, not just to respond to this incident, but also to determine its cause. And I've been in contact with all the governors of the states that may be affected by this accident.

Now, earlier this week, Secretaries Napolitano and Salazar laid out the next steps for a thorough investigation into what precipitated this event. I am sure there may be a few science teachers here who have been following this issue closely with their classes, and if you guys have any suggestions, please let us know.



See also:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-...nt-rose-garden

[Paslode]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/f.../9055973/print

Second drilling rig overturns in Louisiana

* Reuters, Friday April 30 2010

HOUSTON, April 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. Coast Guard said Friday it was responding to another oil drilling rig accident near Morgan City, Louisiana.
A "mobile inland drilling unit" overturned in the Charenton navigational channel south of U.S. Highway 90 near Morgan City, the Coast Guard said in a statement.
There were no reports of injuries, the Coast Guard said. The floating shallow-water rig was not immediately identified and the importance of the channel was not clear.
The vessel has a 20,000-gallon diesel fuel capacity, but the Coast Guard, citing officials on the scene, said there was no fuel leaking.
As a precaution, 500 feet of oil spill containment boom was deployed around the rig and an additional 500 feet were being brought in, the Coast Guard said in its statement. (Reporting by Bruce Nichols)


* guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2010

This keeps up and $10 a gallon won't be far away

[Paslode]

Originally Posted by Brush Okie

So is there some speculation that this is not an accident but sabatage?

DOI SWAT Teams inspecting rigs........weird.

From the Huff Post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0..._n_559221.html

MORGAN CITY, La. (AP / Huffington Post)— Officials say an oil drilling rig on its way to a scrap yard has overturned in Louisiana.

No injuries have been reported. The overturned rig is unrelated to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that threatens the coast's fragile ecosystem.

The Coast Guard said Friday that the rig, called a mobile inland drilling unit, overturned about 80 miles west-southwest of New Orleans.

It can carry about 20,000 gallons of diesel fuel, but Coast Guard officials did not know how much fuel was on board. Coast Guard investigators say no fuel leaks have been found.

About 500 feet of boom has been set up around the rig to contain any fuel that might leak as a precaution.

Tina Moore, the owner of T. Moore Services, which owned the rig, says it was being transported to a demolition and scrap yard. She says the rig was mounted on a barge.

The Coast Guard has put out the following press release on the incident.

MORGAN CITY, La. -- The Coast Guard is responding Friday to an overturned mobile inland drilling unit (MIDU) in the Charenton navigational canal south of Highway 90.

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by Brush Okie

So is there some speculation that this is not an accident but sabatage?

I had exactly the same question.

Interesting timing, is it not?

TR

[akv]

If sabotage is suspected, no disrespect to DOI SWAT teams, but why send them to oil rigs/maritime operations over Navy or Coast Guard elements?

[incarcerated]

Originally Posted by Brush Okie

So is there some speculation that this is not an accident but sabatage?

Of course not. These things probably blow up all the time. It’s a dangerous occupation. Didn’t you see John Wayne in “The Hellfighters”?

[PSM]

Originally Posted by akv

no disrespect to DOI SWAT teams

Dept. of Interior has SWAT? Why? Authorized where?

[Sigaba]

And then he said:

I am sure there may be a few science teachers here who have been following this issue closely with their classes, and if you guys have any suggestions, please let us know.

Amateur hour continues.

[akv]

This might be a misnomer I went to the DOI site, they do have SWOT (Strength Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats) analysis teams, but contrary to some of the right wing blogs I don't yet believe this is Obama trying to nationalize oil...

[Paslode]

I have no idea what the Euro Times is, possibly Infowars Euro Style.....but it is out there. I'll at least give it an A+ for imagination.

http://www.eutimes.net/2010/05/us-or...oil-rig/print/

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

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.

[JumpinJoe1010]

Originally Posted by Brush Okie

So is there some speculation that this is not an accident but sabatage?

The thing that strikes me odd about this situation. One, the spark on an oil rig is very carefully controlled. Smoking is only allowed in places which will not ignite gas if present, and it is always assumed there will be gas. Welding would only be allowed if the well was closed off. Two, the blow out preventer was not activated. On land wells, most are hydraulic, but, with these being in the ocean, there should of been an automatic switch for closing off the output.

It is very curious because oil companies have been taking these measures to prevent this occasion, but, I may be wearing a tinfoil hat?

[dr. mabuse]

*

[Ambush Master]

Originally Posted by dr. mabuse

JumpinJoe1010, correct if they're doing it right on the rig.

Interesting info for the pot bangers on oil leaks.

http://www8.nationalacademies.org/on...RecordID=10388

Between their estimates and NOAA, 47 to 60 millions barrels of oil seep from the ocean floor naturally. 85% of human oil pollution in the ocean if from land runoff (~ 29 mil/year).

"...exploration and extraction are responsible for only 3 percent of the petroleum that enters the sea..." ( National Academy of Sciences, see link above ).

So in summary, if my rough calculations are o.k., if the high estimate of 5,000 gallons a day leakage is accurate, the Deepwater Horizon rig would have to leak nonstop for 9400 days or 25.75 years to equal 1 year of natural seepage from the earth.

Still a seriously huge mess.

Don't think it's "Gallons"!!! It's 5K BARRELS per day!! Which equals 210,000 Gallons!!!

[Dad]

BP does NOT have a good record for safety or compliance with regulations. Article from the Houston Chronicle today. Interesting fact, about 3500 working rigs in the gulf and I think around 70 more being drilled.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...n/6984598.html