Oil leak in Gulf is 5 times worse now. 210K gallons a day leaking into the Gulf.

[BigRedChief]

Not intended to be a political thread so please keep that out of here. This is going to be an enviornmental disaster for the coasts. Oil leak in Gulf may be 5 times worse than feared By the CNN Wire Staff STORY HIGHLIGHTS Oil spill has increased to as much as 5,000 barrels a day, Coast Guard official says Third underwater oil leak has been located; two other leaks found days after April 20 blast Coast Guard: Controlled attempt to burn off part of the spill successful BP Group exec focuses blame on rig owner Transocean Ltd. New Orleans, Louisiana (CNN) -- The estimated amount of oil leaking from a sunken rig in the Gulf of Mexico has increased to as much as 5,000 barrels a day -- five times more than what was originally believed, a Coast Guard official said. Rear Adm. Mary Landry told reporters late Wednesday that the increased estimate is based on analysis from the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "This is not an exact science when you estimate the amount of oil," Landry said, noting there are a lot of variables in calculating the rate of the spill. "However, NOAA is telling me now that they prefer we use the 5,000 barrels [210,000 gallons] a day as an estimate of what has actually leaked from this well and will continue to leak until BP secures the source." Some 250,000 gallons of oily water has been collected from the scene, she said. BP is the owner of the well, while Transocean Ltd. owns and operates the rig. Additionally, a third underwater oil leak has been located in the pipeline that connected the rig to the oil well, said Doug Suttles, chief operating officer for BP, who joined Landry at a news conference. Two other leaks were located within a few days of the April 20 explosion. The cause of the explosion remains under investigation, and search efforts have been halted for 11 workers missing after the blast. "I do not disagree with the admiral's estimate that it could be 5,000 barrels a day -- it's clearly within the range of uncertainty," Suttles said. Landry said President Obama was briefed on the latest development from the spill site. "The president urged out of an abundance of caution and, mindful of the new information, that BP must position resources to continue to aggressively confront this incident," Landry said. "That said, BP has always planned and anticipated for a much larger spill. We have urged BP to leverage additional assets to help lead the response to an oil spill incident for which they are responsible." Military planners on Wednesday night began examining options to provide assistance to the Coast Guard in cleaning up the spill, said James Graybeal, a spokesman for U.S. Northern Command in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Northern Command is responsible for coordinating and providing military assistance inside the United States. While the specifics of the assistance have yet to be determined, some of the ways the military could help would be putting a ship in the Gulf of Mexico to support and resupply other vessels in the region or providing aircraft to help map the spill. The head of BP Group told CNN's Brian Todd in an exclusive interview Wednesday that the accident could have been prevented, and he focused blame on rig owner Transocean. CEO Tony Hayward said that Transocean's blowout preventer failed to operate before the explosion. A blowout preventer is a large valve at the top of a well, and activating it will stop the flow of oil. The valve may be closed during drilling if underground pressure drives up oil or natural gas, threatening the rig. "That is the ultimate fail-safe mechanism," Hayward said. "And for whatever reason -- and we don't understand that yet, but we clearly will as a consequence of both our investigation and federal investigations -- it failed to operate. "And that is the key issue here, the failure of the Transocean BOP," Hayward said, describing the valve as "an integral part of the drilling rig" A Transocean spokesman on Wednesday declined to respond to Hayward's comments in the CNN interview, citing pending litigation against both companies. However, Transocean Vice President Adrian Rose has said its oil rig had no indication of problems before the explosion. Asked whether the accident could have prevented, Hayward said, "All accidents can be prevented -- there's no doubt about that." At least one of the victims' families has filed a lawsuit against BP and Transocean, accusing BP specifically of negligence. "The responsibility for safety on the drilling rig is with Transocean," Hayward added. "It is their rig, their equipment, their people, their systems, their safety processes." He insisted that, despite reports to the contrary, BP has not resisted attempts at tightening safety regulations. "We welcome tighter safety regulations. But we'd like them to be applied in a way that makes them practically impermeable." Before the explosion, Hayward had announced a "significant" discovery of at least 50 million barrels of oil. "Of course, all of that is completely irrelevant in the context of what we're now dealing with," he said. A controlled attempt to burn off part of the spill was successful Wednesday, Landry said. The burnoff is part of the effort to prevent the spread of oil from an underwater well that was broken open when the drill rig Deepwater Horizon blew up and sank last week. BP and the Coast Guard corralled part of the oil slick using a 500-foot, specially designed boom, and then set it ablaze. The flames were expected to destroy between 50 percent to 90 percent of the oil in that section, and winds were expected to blow the resulting cloud of smoke and soot out to sea, Lt. Cmdr. Matt Moorlag, a Coast Guard spokesman, said before the burn. "It's a historically proven technique, and it has multiple preventative safety measures in place to ensure that that burn area remains controlled," Moorlag said. The slick stretched about 100 miles across the north-central gulf Wednesday afternoon and had advanced to within 16 miles of the mouth of the Mississippi River, the U.S. Coast Guard reported. The oil spill has the potential to become one of the worst in U.S. history, Landry said earlier. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said the slick, which is about 30 miles wide at some points, was expected to hit the state's southeastern shoreline later this week. Jindal said the state has asked for 55,000 feet of booms to keep oil away from the marshy, environmentally delicate coast that's rich in shellfish and wildlife. "We want to approach this situation the same way we would approach a hurricane or other natural disaster," he said. "We think it's best to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst." The slick left many who draw their living from the water and coastal wetlands "watching and praying," said Tony Fernandez, owner of the Breton Sound Marina near Hopedale, Louisiana. "For the most part, what we're doing is mostly waiting," Fernandez said. "There's not much that laypeople can do with this." Most of the slick is a thin sheen on the water's surface. About 3 percent of it is a heavy, pudding-like crude oil. Efforts already are under way to position boom material around sensitive ecological areas. Five staging areas have been set up on land, stretching from Venice, Louisiana, to Pensacola, Florida. "If it reaches the shoreline, ourselves and the Coast Guard ... will deal with it," BP's Hayward said. "And we will clean it up, if we get to that position." CNN's Barbara Starr contributed to this report.

Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/29/lou...ex.html?hpt=T1

[Delano]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Its a good thing to get our military involved. Its no longer just a one company issue. The Feds have to take over. Get all the military, goverment resources out and down there to help. And just send the bill to BP to pay.

Sounds like a tax write-off!!!

[gblowfish]

The Feds will blame BP, BP will blame the leasing agent Transocean, Transocean will blame God (or an act of God), the lawyers will drag this thing out for years, gasoline will double in costs.

Oil companies get rich.
Lawyers get rich.
Politicians get uncapped political contributions from PACs representing big oil and the bar association....

Ultimately some guy wearing a hard hat will go to jail for six months, and fines will be less than what these guys profit in a half hour.

Middle class pays out the ass for seafood and gasoline.

Ain't Democracy groovy?

[NewChief]

Originally Posted by NewPhin

We now know where Donger has been.

I called it on post #19.

[Hydrae]

Originally Posted by oldandslow

You are quite literally full of shit.

I know you could care less about the coastline of Miss, Ala, and quite possibly Fl. or about the birds and aquatic life that lives there. Not to mention the humans.

210,000 bpd...with really no way to stop it except to drill a relief well that will take 90 days to finish. And in waters so deep the tech is a bit dicey.

I know you are in bed with big oil, but they ****** up here. Period. And yes, it will hurt us all.

Try 210,000 gallons per day, not barrels. Still a huge number but not as large as you are stating.

Also, just for the sake of comparisons, the article posted later mentions that if this is not capped until they can drill another hole it will spill 4.2 million gallons into the Gulf. Valdez dumped 11 million gallons in Alaska. So this is bad for sure but far from the worst we have seen.

[BigRedChief]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/04/29...er-delta-soon/
Edge of Oil Spill to Reach Mississippi River Delta Soon

NEW ORLEANS -- A federal official says the leading edge of a massive [COLOR=blue! important][COLOR=blue! important]oil [COLOR=blue! important]spill[/color][/color][/color] in the Gulf of Mexico is expected to reach the Mississippi River delta by Thursday night.
National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration spokesman Charles Henry says as of this morning, part of the slick is about 3 miles from the Louisiana shore.

Officials say they will do everything they can't not to disrupt river traffic.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal announced that BP PLC has agreed to allow local fishermen to assist in the expected cleanup. Under the agreement, shrimpers and fishermen could be contracted by BP to help.

BP operated the rig that exploded and sank 50 miles offshore last week and is directing the cleanup and trying to stop the leak from a blown-out underwater well

[BigRedChief]

Tracking the oil spill
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/29/int...ex.html?hpt=T2

[oldandslow]

Originally Posted by Hydrae

Try 210,000 gallons per day, not barrels. Still a huge number but not as large as you are stating.

Also, just for the sake of comparisons, the article posted later mentions that if this is not capped until they can drill another hole it will spill 4.2 million gallons into the Gulf. Valdez dumped 11 million gallons in Alaska. So this is bad for sure but far from the worst we have seen.

my bad. I stand corrected.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Hydrae

Try 210,000 gallons per day, not barrels. Still a huge number but not as large as you are stating.

Also, just for the sake of comparisons, the article posted later mentions that if this is not capped until they can drill another hole it will spill 4.2 million gallons into the Gulf. Valdez dumped 11 million gallons in Alaska. So this is bad for sure but far from the worst we have seen.

Top 10 worst oil spills

Oil spills can pollute the air and water and alter the ecosystem for years
By Remy Melina
LiveScience
updated 12:45 p.m. CT, Thurs., April 29, 2010



The oil gushing from the well where the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and sank is now spreading through the Gulf of Mexico. Oil spills can kill wildlife, pollute the air and water, and alter the ecosystem for years to come. Many of us think of the Exxon Valdez oil spill as a particularly bad one, but with about 42,800 tons of oil spilled, it doesn't rank as one of the 10 worst ever.
Here are some of the worst oil spills in history:

The Odyssey: 132,000 tons
In November 1988, the American-owned oil tanker Odyssey split in two 700 miles off the coast of Nova Scotia. The tanker spewed about 132,000 tons of crude oil into the sea and caught fire as it sank, setting the spill aflame. Because of hazardous weather conditions, the Canadian Coast Guard could not immediately reach the spill, and much of the oil burned.

The Haven: 145,000 tons
A violent explosion aboard the Cyprus-based tanker the Haven killed six members of the crew and spilled 145,000 tons of oil off the coast of Italy in April 1991. About 70 percent of the oil burned in the ensuing fire. In most oil spills, oil remains near the surface of the water, but in this spill some of it sank. Oil from the Haven was later found in ocean beds at depths of up to 1,640 feet (500 meters).

The Amoco Cadiz: 223,000 tons
Stormy weather drove the Amoco Cadiz Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) aground on the Portsall Rocks, a 90-foot deep outcrop off the coast of Brittany, France, in 1978. The ship split in two and quickly sank before its 1,604,500 barrels of oil load could be pumped from the wreck.

Castillo de Bellver: 252,000 tons
In August 1983, a fire aboard the Castillo de Bellver led to an explosion that caused the tanker to break in two. Oil spilled into the sea 24 miles off the coast of Cape Town, marking the largest spill to date in South Africa. Luckily, the oil caused minimal environmental damage as the direction of the wind moved the oil slick offshore, where it dissipated naturally.

ABT Summer: 260,000 tons
ABT Summer tanker, traveling from Iran to Rotterdam, leaked oil and caught on fire about 700 miles off the Angolan coast in 1991. The disaster killed five of the 32 crew members on board.

Nowruz oil field: 260,000 tons
During the first Gulf War, a tanker collided with a platform on Feb. 10, 1983, spilling approximately 1,500 barrels each day, until the platform was attacked by Iraqi planes in March and the slick caught fire. The Nowruz oil field was not immediately capped, because the field was located in the middle of the Iran/Iraq war zone. The well was finally capped by Iran in September of that year – an effort that resulted in the deaths of 11 people.

Fergana Valley: 285,000 tons
The Fergana Valley, one of Central Asia's most densely populated agricultural and industrial areas, was the site of the largest inland oil spills in history in 1992.


Atlantic Empress/Aegean Captain: 287,000 tons
In July 1979, a Greek oil tanker called the Atlantic Empress collided with another ship,the Aegean Captain, during a tropical storm off of the island of Tobago in the Caribbean Sea. The Atlantic Empress disaster killed 26 crew members and is the largest ship-based oil spill.

Ixtoc I oil well: 454,000 tons
The Ixtoc I oil well exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in June 1979. The oil drilling platform then caught fire and collapsed, rupturing valves and making it difficult for rescue personnel to control the damage. The spill continued until March 1980.

Gulf War oil spill: 1,360,000-1,500,000 tons
The worst oil spill in history, the Gulf War oil spill spewed an estimated 8 million barrels of oil into the Persian Gulf after Iraqi forces opened valves of oil wells and pipelines as they retreated from Kuwait in 1991. The oil slick reached a maximum size of 101 miles by 42 miles and was five inches thick.
© 2010 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36852827/ns/us_news-environment/

[vailpass]

Oil spills are the cost of doing business. Anyone who drives a car or uses any petroleum products implicitly accepts oil spills as a risk they are willing to take.

Throw Pelosi on the slick, she's a big enough rag to absorb it.

[CoMoChief]

This is all GWB's fault.

[Param]

Originally Posted by vailpass

Oil spills are the cost of doing business.

That is the way I look at it.

[InChiefsHeaven]

Good thing BP makes all those obscene profits...otherwise they wouldn't have the cash to clean this up...

[BigRedChief]

non political please. This is the lounge, not DC.

[Ugly Duck]

Originally Posted by vailpass

Anyone who drives a car or uses any petroleum products implicitly accepts oil spills as a risk they are willing to take.

But we'd rather have the oil spills on Saudi desert sand than on our beaches. We don't have enough off our coasts to sustain us anyway. Lets spill in their back yard instead of ours until we go alternative.

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by Ugly Duck

But we'd rather have the oil spills on Saudi desert sand than on our beaches. We don't have enough off our coasts to sustain us anyway. Lets spill in their back yard instead of ours until we go alternative.

Good point Duck, that's the best case scenario. What are millions of acres of desert if not a gigantic kittly litter box?
And what do people throw on oil puddles in their driveway?
Exactly.