Good!

BP: Mile-long tube sucking oil away from Gulf well

Today I can put a smile on my face. They have done something good. Now to stop the rest of the leaks and to get this cleaned up!

I have many doubts

BP confident latest try to capture oil will work

I have several thoughts about this article.

1. One is that they have failed so far to contain the leak. They have made promise after promise that this would be solved, yet have failed to do so. They are promising that this new method of containing the leak will do the job. But they are having difficulty doing so because some adjustments needed to be made to the equipment.

2. BP must want to collect the oil, because that is what they do to make money. If they could do something to shut off the flow of oil, rather than collect it, they probably would not do so, because it would prevent them from making a profit, which they must do according to law.

3. Even if the new pipe within a pipe idea works, there will still be a massive oil spill. There is a bent pipe from which it is flowing. This sounds to me like a more difficult problem than they have been alluding to. The flow of oil into the ocean will only be slowed, not stopped.

4. All of the methods proposed to 'stop', which is really to REDUCE the leak are all experimental.

5. They are using dispersants to 'clear up' the oil. But this is also very bad because petroleum is basically toxic waste to begin with. What you are doing by using dispersants is only to defer the problem. This only spreads the toxic waste out, it dilutes the petroleum. The petroleum does not magically become less toxic by dissolving it in soap. But it does give the illusion that the toxic waste has 'poof' vanished. Same amount of toxins spread out wider, because it is not clumping together. Oil will clump together if left alone eventually, it will stick to itself. The tar balls which where found on the sea shore at the beginning of this mess were there from previous oil spills and leaks. The Gulf of Mexico is how petroleum gets into this country via Houston.

MAD!

Who Pays?

The Price and Who Pays: Updates From the Gulf

Who is going to pay for this mess?

Bad Modification

Oil spill: BP had wrong diagram to close blowout preventer

What a snafu! The mechanism failed because of modifications which were not documented?

Methane Hydrates

Methane hydrate threatens more than the oil-spill cleanup

Methane Hydrate is a fact of life when drilling for oil so deep under the ocean. It is a major technical challenge. It is a part of this whole puzzle.

Bring In The Eggheads

Obama Sends Bomb, Mars Experts to Fix BP Oil Spill

My friend the other day, suggested that maybe the government ought to involve NASA because they are the smartest people on the earth. Well, somebody has thought of this, because here is an article stating that some high level well connected and brilliant scientists are being brought in to consult. Good Luck!

Pictures From The Gulf - A Disaster Unfolds

Disaster unfolds slowly in the Gulf of Mexico

Here are some high resolution color photographs of the Gulf Coast Oil Disaster. Take a look!