Showing posts with label Deepwater Horizon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deepwater Horizon. Show all posts

Friday, February 28, 2014

Deepwater and media hype...




Roughly four years ago I stood at the 2010 Shad Planking handing out information and discussing with people the need for the United States to Drill for more oil here within the United States. There still remains solid reasons and benefits for us to pursue this option to secure our energy future and to improve the economy but the focus and discussions have changed...

The tent was busy and even with it being located away from the main aisle of the Planking event, there was good traffic and interest as well as a wind power booth not far away. Interesting how the focus has changed since then and there was little if any talk of "Fracking" for Natural Gas back then. In that short time Natural Gas use has increased considerably and many electric generation plants have changed from Coal to NatGas to make their electricity. A by-product of this change has been the reduction of CO2 gas which many claim is the reason for "Global Warming" and then "Global Climate Change". Our President has been quick to note the reduction of CO2 but fails to mention it is due to the increased use of Natural Gas via "Fracking" and the mainstream media is willing to avoid asking him the hard questions as they should....

Ironically during this event several of us were monitoring news reports of a offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico that had a explosion and was still on fire. The "Deepwater Horizon" incident was to become a major environmental, political, and technological incident, regarding deep water drilling for oil and natural gas. Reports now put it at over 210 million gallons of oil released into the Gulf waters over several weeks and several attempts to "cap" the well.
 

Without a doubt the Deepwater Horizon incident was major and resulted in a detrimental impact to the environment but not anywhere near what the media predicted during and since. A U.S. Government report estimated the total discharge at 4.9 million barrels (210 million US gal) but that went into a substantial volume of water which diluted it greatly. The impressive thing is how “Mother Nature” took control of this “disaster” and repaired herself.


The Deepwater Horizon oil provided a new source of nutrients in the deepest waters," explained Hazen, who is with the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. "With more food present in the water, there was a population explosion among those bacteria already adapted to using oil as a food source. It was surprising how fast they consumed the oil. In some locations, it took only one day for them to reduce a gallon of oil to a half gallon. In others, the half-life for a given quantity of spilled oil was 6 days. This data suggests that a great potential for intrinsic bioremediation of oil plumes exists in the deep sea and other environs in the Gulf of Mexico."

 Oil-eating bacteria are natural inhabitants of the Gulf because of the constant supply of food. Scientists know that there are more than 600 different areas where oil oozes from rocks underlying the Gulf of Mexico. These oil seeps, much like underwater springs, release 560,000-1.4 million barrels of oil annually, according to the National Research Council.
"The bottom line from this research may be that the Gulf of Mexico is more resilient and better able to recover from oil spills than anyone thought," Hazen said. "It shows that we may not need the kinds of heroic measures proposed after the Deepwater Horizon spill, like adding nutrients to speed up the growth of bacteria that breakdown oil, or using genetically engineered bacteria. The Gulf has a broad base of natural bacteria, and they respond to the presence of oil by multiplying quite rapidly."
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Gulf of Mexico has greater-than-believed ability to self-cleanse oil spills
It is also evident that the Deepwater Horizon incident did considerable damage to the local economies along the Gulf coasts and States. Many vacations were canceled as well as industries experienced substantial damages. Owners of the Deepwater Horizon project (BP petroleum) is continuing to payout a total estimated at $42.2 billion in damages.
But one can only imagine the negative influence on this incident that the mainstream media caused with it's reporting practices. We all know that the media portrays the worst case scenario for in this day and age that is what sells the best in the media. Think back to all the dire reports and predictions during that period and compare them to what you hear now. I recall hearing a story of sport fishing guides returning to the docks after a productive day of fishing in the Gulf only to find the NEWS media not interested in how the day of fishing went only to flock to the boat that returned with oil samples brought back in mason jars.
When living in Key West back in September 1998 we had hurricane Georges come through town at a category three and did some damage to electric service and flooding, but the most damage came from the reporting by the mainstream media. I recall getting phone calls and friends looking to see if we were still alive after they saw the reports coming out of the Keys. Turns out everybody was watching the same NEWS video coming out of downtown Key West where there was a large tree toppled in the street and the NEWS casters used this for a backdrop for their video shoots. If people on the “Mainland” only knew that if the camera man was to pan in either direction they would have seen the crowds of locals standing on the curb in shorts, tee-shirts, flip-flops, and drinking beer while watching the Newscast.... Found this piece in the wikipedia account of the hurricane incident...
"Due to lack of law enforcement, those who stayed in Key West went through red lights, double-parked, and disobeyed traffic laws. Long-time Florida Keys citizens noted the solitude of the time and enjoyed the island for how it once was, rather than the large crowds of tourists"



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Monday, May 30, 2011

"Worst Oil Spill ever"... Where did the oil go?....


“It cannot be repeated often enough,” says Louisiana marine biologist Jerald Horst. Crude oil is a natural substance; it’s biodegradable. It’s a feast for microbes. And these consumed most of it from the BP spill.” The horrid black goo that leaked into the Gulf of Mexico from the BP spill last year is certainly toxic - but so are broccoli, beer and salt. It all depends on the dosage. In fact, that horrid black goo has spilled naturally into the Gulf for millenniums - at the rate of two Exxon Valdez spills annually".

FONTOVA: From worst disaster to biggest embarrassment
Environmentalists and the press demolished their credibility hyping the BP oil spill
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The Washington Times has an interesting article regarding how the massive amounts of oil from the Gulf "disaster" and where it has gone...
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"Not all these gushers lie below the Gulf, however. In fact, one of Mother Earth’s biggest “spills” is off Southern California’s coast at Coal Oil Point, not far from the homes of “environmental activists” Leonardo DiCaprio, Charlie Sheen, Barbra Streisand, Brad Pitt, Ed Begley Jr. and many, many others of their ilk. This spill gushes an estimated 3,000 gallons of crude oil daily into the waters off Malibu beach. Yet none of the above “activists” appears overly agitated over this “disaster.”
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“Ah,” you ask, “but what about that poisonous chemical used as a dispersant for the oil?”

You probably ingested traces of this poisonous chemical compound with last night’s dinner, and other traces probably coat your pots, pans, cups, spoons and forks right now. Some people call the dispersant Corexit 9500 - and some call it soap. Essentially, it’s Dawn dishwashing detergent.

“Dispersants are not very toxic,” explains Robert Dickey, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Gulf Coast Seafood Laboratory. “They are detergents and solvents, and they become rapidly diluted. One square mile of seawater one foot deep is 200 million gallons. We added 1.8 million gallons in the whole Gulf.”

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Made in China, owned by Italy, Operated by Spain, and will be drilling 40 miles off Key West...

The Key West paper reports that Cuba will be drilling offshore of the Florida Keys sometime next Summer as we sit idle due to the Obama moratorium on offshore drilling...

By next summer, a huge semi-submersible oil rig is expected to be stationed about 40 to 50 miles from Key West for deepwater drilling to explore for oil in the Straits of Florida.

The rig is part of a vast international business operation. The vessel was made in China, it’s owned by the Italian oil company Eni SpA, and it will be operated by Repsol, Spain’s oil and natural gas firm, which is also leasing the area known as the Jaguey from Cuba to look for oil.





And now the Obama administration is striving to raise taxes on Oil & Natural Gas operations who already pay an enormous tax rates when you look at it...

This week, the American Energy Alliance issued a new report quantifying the dire impacts of proposals aimed at hiking taxes on oil and natural gas companies.

As reported over at the energy tomorrow site...


Americans overwhelmingly oppose raising taxes on America's oil and natural gas industry, and most believe higher taxes could kill jobs. According to a survey commissioned by API and conducted by Harris Interactive, 62 percent opposed an increase in taxes on the industry, and 60 percent said it could destroy jobs.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

The Obama Equation...

(a) (y) - k = x (oil allowed to leak into the Gulf)

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Now it has been a few years since high school algebra class with Mrs. Resnick, but if I remember correctly it is possible to calculate a unknown result if you are able to find and use other known factors of the equation...

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Let us take the Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico as an example...

Let us also take a look at the "Obama factors" in this equation...

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The Deepwater Horizon incident is an unfortunate accident that has resulted in 13 members of the Deepwater Horizon rig being killed as well as large damages to the coastal environments and economies. This will be a event that will take decades to know the actual costs to communities, individuals, economies, wildlife, and direction the country takes towards energy independence...

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There has already been much written about how this event will highlight the evils of fossil fuels, their effects on the environment, global warming, and how the country must switch to "renewable" or "alternative" forms of energy to save the world...

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With that there has also been much written about the 40+ years since the last large oil spill like this type and the impressive track record during this time. Also how efficient and productive oil and Natural gas is compared to many of the "alternative" forms of energy and how Oil\Gas has powered and continues to power the worlds economies....

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There has also been much written about how BP is at fault and how BP must pay for the whole incident clean-up and damages to the environment and working communities. In fact the Secretary of the Interior has stated that they (obama administration) must keep "their boot on the throat" of BP to ensure they stop the leaking well and Pay for Everything...

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It is also apparent that the Obama administration took its time in initially responding to this incident. But let us also look at other algebraic factors we can incorporate into the "Obama equation" to determine the amount of oil allowed to leak into the gulf as the result of the administrations inept handling of this incident...

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a = flow rate at well head

y = actual days allowed to leak

k = amount of oil skimmed off surface by ships

b = amount of oil burned off by using fire booms

d = days it took to get the fire booms to the site since the fedgov

did not have them as required by their own law

q = number of days that the Obama admin refused foreign offers of help

j = the Jones act that Obama refused to suspend thus keeping foreign ships from helping

h = number of hours wasted by Fedgov incompetence and infighting

f = results of the Fedgov in actually doing anything that stopped the leak

bs = Obama's visits to the Gulf and actual action to stop the physical leak

r = days it took the Obama admin before they even acknowledged the incident

m = jobs and production lost due to the Obama admins moritorium on offshore drilling

c = concerts held to aid the coastal communites effected by the spill

w = the number of times that Obama blames this whole thing on George W. Bush

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The Science of the Oil Spill in the Gulf...


There is a audio Podcast over at the Energy Tomorrow site where they have a conversation with Dr. David Vaughan from the Mote Marine Lab regarding the oil in the Gulf and its movement..
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I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Vaughan during my last trip to the Keys and it was a pleasure to talk with a knowledgeable person regarding the oil spill who did not have a political, environmental, or industry "spin" to the topic...
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Friday, July 09, 2010

Jimmy Buffett... Stick with what you know, Music!...


Jimmy, do us all a favor and do what you do best... Music & singing....
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Can't blame you much during the Obama campaign when you came out supporting the "Change" that Obama was promising, for many of you who have made it BIG in showbiz and the music industry have done that possibly out of guilt, but why do you still support this President after what you have seen in the last 18 months?...
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In fact now you come out with this attack on President Bush regarding the oil spill in the gulf while disregarding Obama's inept actions and mis-direction...
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"To me it was more about eight years of bad policy before (Obama) got there that let this happen. It was Dracula running the blood bank in terms of oil and leases," he said. "I think that has more to do with it than how the president reacted to it."
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Dracula running the "blood bank"?
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Was it not the Obama administration running the show for 17 months before this happened?
Is it o.k. to take credit for good things that happened during the previous administration but yet blame bad things on the prior President?
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The next bad thing that happens will also be Bush's fault?
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Why has not Obama suspend the Jones act and allowing foreign countries to use the skimmers and other equipment they offered days after the incident?
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Is it the Labor Unions keeping Obama from suspending the Jones act?
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How much oil and precious wetlands could have been recovered\protected if Obama had acted right away?
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Thanks for doing the concert to help the people effected by the spill, but how much of the expenses will your taxguys write off from the show as a charitable donation?
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You may not take any $$$ directly from the concert, t-shirts, Live CD's, posters, programs, but what will be the value of the "face time" and publicity that your "image" will gain?
or will that be considered as a "in-kind" donation towards Obama's next election fund?....
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Your marketing guys have done you well and I am sure you will do well from this concert in the end as well. In fact you might be able to raise the price of the "Cheeseburger in Paradise" in Key West past the $10 it already is...
.You have done some great music (old stuff) in the past and please get back to doing some more but when doing your concert howbout ask some of the above questions regarding the current President?...
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Six years I lived in Key West but never saw you down there but I was asked by many tourists where you were during that time... Another great function of your marketing guys....
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Monday, June 28, 2010

Florida Keys visit and response to Oil Spill...


Took a ride down to the Florida Keys and Key West to visit with friends and visit the town I lived in for 6+ years while working on a Sportfishing boat and taking some marine biology classes...
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Nice to get back to the Keys and stop by several familiar places discovered over the years. I was also interested to see how the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was effecting the area and the residents of the Keys and other "mainland" communities...
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One thing I learned while living in Key West and the Florida Keys is that these people are not quick to panic when a possible disaster may be heading their way. During several hurricanes I observed many locals helping each other prepare for possible disasters and damages. It was good to see this same attitude regarding the possible shift of oil towards the Keys and other coast towns.
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I had the opportunity to stay with friends and visit with sportfishing Captains that I weathered several of the storms with and had the opportunity to sit and talk with many of them. In fact I was able to sit in on the weekly radio show "This week in fishing" with Captains Jim Sharpe and Mike Weinhofer who had Marine Scientist David Vaughn from the Mote Marine Lab as the guest speaker.
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It was a great opportunity to sit and talk with Vaughn and to get a straight scientific viewpoint from a local resident without any political, environmental, or skewed spin to it...
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Here is a video that local sportfishing guide Jose Wejebe did with Vaughn regarding the oil spill situation and appears on the Spanish Fly website...
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Jose Wejebe speaks with scientists from Mote marine laboratory who have been deploying AUVs (Autonomous Underwater Vehicles) into the loop current to assess the present situation with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in regards to South Florida and the Florida Keys.

It was good to see that the locals once again are not in a panic or standing around waiting for the government to come to the rescue. Many have become pro-active in their stance and are preparing for whatever may come their way. The businesses are starting to see a decline in visitors and future bookings are down without there being any actual oil found in the Keys or offshore of the gulf coast as of yet. Water is still crystal clear and the fishing is still great with a fishing story of a monster Tarpon being caught to be posted soon here on this site...

Thursday, June 17, 2010

President Obama's management skills...


Byron York recalls how Obama claims to be able to manage "Large Systems" and provide good support...

It’s not mentioned much now, but in the late summer of 2008, a major hurricane, Gustav, was in the Gulf of Mexico and headed toward New Orleans, threatening a replay of the disastrous Katrina experience. On September 1, 2008, Barack Obama, fresh from his Roman-colonnade speech on the final night of the Democratic convention in Denver, talked to CNN’s Anderson Cooper about Gustav and the Gulf. The question: As president, could he handle an emergency like that? Obama pointed to the size of his campaign and its multi-million dollar budget as evidence of his executive abilities. “Our ability to manage large systems and to execute, I think, has been made clear over the last couple of years,” Obama said. That executive ability, he added, indicates the degree to which we can provide the kinds of support and good service that the American people expect.”.
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2 months before the President even took the time to meet with the CEO of BP...
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Still we are not using the oil skimming ships and technology by the Dutch in days after the Deepwater Horizon incident...
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The President sent Lawyers within days but yet ships, personnel, and technology options were ignored...
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The list goes on...
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Saturday, June 12, 2010

Oil Spill Status in the Florida Keys.... by Jose Wejebe...


Found this video by Jose Wejebe who hooked up with Mote Marine Lab to talk about the efforts to monitor the oil spill in the Gulf and it's progress towards the Florida Keys...
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Jose has fished for many years in the Keys and has had a sportfishing show for years and one of the top guides in the area...
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Mote Marine Lab has done alot of research in the Keys and I had the opportunity to do several Shark research trips with their staff and video is here...
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Wednesday, June 02, 2010

"Nuge" gets it right...


Uncle Ted has a great piece in the Washington Times...

With the possible exception of the tobacco industry, no industry is held in more contempt and scorn than big oil. This is strangely foolish in that tobacco has been proved to cause cancer and has no beneficial use whatsoever, whereas oil literally fuels the American dream. Another clear example of the disconnect that brought us President Barack Hussein Obama.

When gas prices go up, Americans condemn big oil for making profits. When catastrophes happen, such as the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Americans demand that big oil be severely fined, demand more government oversight of the industry by a proven incompetent Fedzilla and demand that more safety features be implemented to prevent another oil spill while expecting gas prices to stay low.

BP and other energy companies are not evil enterprises that are out to rape the environment. They are in business to make a profit and provide us affordable energy while taking prudent measures to protect the environment. Consumer demand drives production, pure and simple. No one escapes guilt from this guaranteed cause and effect.

The facts about green energy are in, and they are uglier than an oil spill in your living room. All the wind, sun and hydro energy currently provide us with about 5 percent of our energy needs. That's all the energy they are going to provide for many years to come. At this point, green energy is a fool's game that will not provide us with meaningful energy that our energy-gluttonous, unsophisticated society requires.

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

UVA says NO to Cuccinelli... But this is why we should be able to see the data...


UVA University of Virginia has now come back saying that they will not release the data compiled by Prof. Mann, while using taxpayer funded grant money, to come up with his famous "Hockey Stick" theory for Global Warming...
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Seems that 810 of the other scientist, who I venture to guess live on a depend on taxpayer funded grants, have gotten together to urge UVA not to release the data to the Attorney General who is investigating if any fraud is involved...
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ICECAP has some great info on why UVA and Mann should release the data for all to see and review to justify the claims of Global Warming as related to the data...
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Mann is the former UVA professor, whose “hockey stick” temperature chart was used to promote claims that “sudden” and “unprecedented” manmade global warming “threatens” human civilization and Earth itself. The hockey stick was first broken by climatologists Willie Soon and Sallie Baliunas, who demonstrated that a Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age were clearly reflected in historic data across the globe, but redacted by Mann. Analysts Steve McIntyre and Ross McKitrick later showed that Mann’s computer program generated hockey-stick patterns regardless of what numbers were fed into it - even random telephone numbers; that explained why the global warming and cooling of the last millennium magically disappeared in Mann’s “temperature reconstruction.”

Simple... Show us the data if there is nothing to hide... The taxpayers paid for it...

This behavior certainly gives Cuccinelli “probable cause” for launching an investigation. As the AG notes, “The same legal standards for fraud apply to the academic setting that apply elsewhere. The same rule of law, the same objective fact-finding process, will take place.” Some witch hunt...

Grants are BIG BUSINESS and at many levels...

Work by Mann and other alarmist scientists is not merely some theoretical exercise that can be permitted to “play itself out” over many years, if and when the “academic arena” gets around to it. These assertions of climate crisis are being used right now by Congress, states, courts and the Environmental Protection Agency to justify draconian restrictions on energy use and greenhouse emissions. They would shackle our freedoms and civil rights and hammer our jobs, economy, health, welfare and living standards...
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Obama now has his Attorney General Eric Holder in the Gulf claiming that they will sue and punish any company that they determine causing the Deepwater Horizon incident. Think maybe he will get the Department of Justice looking at Mann, UVA, and the "Gang"?...
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Sunday, May 30, 2010

After "Top-Kill"...


The "Top-Kill" eefort has been called off due to poor results and they are moving onto the Low Marine Riser Package...
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Energy Tomorrow blog has a good description of this procedure...
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Thursday, May 27, 2010

"Top Kill" procedure in use...


The Energy Tomorrow site has more information and links regarding the Top-Kill procedure now being used...
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Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Tar Balls found in Key West...


The "Oil Drum" blog has info on the Tar-Balls that are starting to wash up on shore in Key West near Fort Zach. I will be in the Keys coming up in June and will be looking to see how this spill effects the Keys and coastline...
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NOT from the Deepwater Horizon as reported here....
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Monday, May 17, 2010

Obama: "I Will Not Tolerate More Finger-Pointing".... Wait a minute.....


In a "Pure Political Movement", President Obama has said he is tired of all of the "Finger-Pointing" that is going on with the Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico and their is plenty of responsibility to go around, including the Federal Government... But who is he pointing at in the Federal government?

"I understand that there are legal and financial issues involved, and a full investigation will tell us exactly what happened. But it is pretty clear that the system failed, and it failed badly. And for that, there is enough responsibility to go around. And all parties should be willing to accept it.


"That includes, by the way, the federal government. For too long, for a decade or more, there has been a cozy relationship between the oil companies and the federal agency that permits them to drill. It seems as if permits were too often issued based on little more than assurances of safety from the oil companies. That cannot and will not happen anymore. To borrow an old phrase, we will trust but we will verify.... I will not tolerate more finger pointing or irresponsibility."


But it appears that Obama, his administration, and the "Back-Pocket" mainstream mass media, has decided to ignore the reports that the FedGov failed to have the fire boom available when the explosion occurred as required. It could have been a completely different situation in the Gulf now if we had the required Fire Boom as reported in the IBD...


"When the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, the feds had not a single fire boom ready to deploy in accordance with the plan. Federal officials later had to scramble to purchase one from a manufacturer in Illinois. By then it was too late, as the oil had begun to spread out of control and emulsify from the water and the weather."


How much difference could it have made?....

"A single fire boom being towed by two boats can burn 1,800 barrels of oil an hour. That translates to up to 75,000 gallons an hour, raising the possibility the spill could have been contained at the accident scene far from shore."


It has been said that the "Thin-Skinned" President Obama has not been happy when several media outlets started to call this incident "The President's Katrina" and this is likely why Obama came out with the "Tired of Finger-Pointing" and "Enough blame for everyone" speech. But will he step up and take responsibility for the lack of required Fire Booms?...
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Sunday, May 16, 2010

2,227 psi at the well head...


I had to go back to Scuba Diving Physics and after making a quick call to my PADI SCUBA Instructor to confirm it, Chet helped to refresh some calculations regarding water pressure at depth...
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"We know that water is much heavier than air, so it exerts higher pressures with less volume. A cubic foot of water weighs 62.5 lbs, whereas a cubic foot of air weighs 1/12 lb. Sea water is even heavier - a cubic foot of sea water weighs 64 lbs. To exert 14.7 psi (1 ATM) it takes 50 miles of air, whereas it only takes 33 feet of water to exert the same pressure."
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It is reported that the Deepwater Horizon wellhead is at a depth of about 5,000 feet saltwater.
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5,000 ft-sw divide by 33 and multiply by 1 atmosphere (14.7 lbs) is equal to
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2,215 lbs per square inch
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of pressure at the wellhead. If you were to push a single golfball out of a pipe at that depth you would need 2,215+ psi just to push it out the end of the pipe...
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Saturday, May 08, 2010

Problem with the Containment Dome...


The "Oil Drum" blog has some info on the problems with the containment dome that has been lowered over top of one of the main leaks at the Deepwater Horizon site....
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They had to wait on permits before they could use the Fire Booms?!...



I had the opportunity to listen in on a conference call hosted by (API) American Petroleum Institute regarding the operations going on at the Deepwater Horizon site…

During that call there was a question asked about reported delays of getting a required Fire Boom to the site right away to attack the oil spill while it was in a more contained area.

The question and responses can be found in the conference call transcript at the Energy Tomorrow blog at 29:42 minutes into the call….


"It has been reported that the government did not have required "Fire Booms" on hand to deal with the initial incident before the slick became so large and could have started oil burning techniques earlier". (from a media report) "If U.S. officials had followed up on a 1994 response plan for a major Gulf oil spill, it is possible that the spill could have been kept under control and far from land."

But if you look at a response to the question at 30:39 into the conference call you find that it took days to get the required permit to actually use the fire boom. "It did take time to get the permit. I was told it took a couple of days to get the permit"...


Are you telling me that while the above fire was being fought for days in the Gulf of Mexico and with required equipment on site and more coming that they had to wait on "Permits" before they could use the Fire Boom?...
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There have been questions asked about the slow response by the Obama administration and in fact FoxNews Chris Wallace took them to task here:


WALLACE: "A number of Louisiana officials are saying that the Obama administration was slow to respond to this crisis. And I want to review the timeline of what has happened here. On April 20th, the explosion of the drilling platform. For days, BP and the Coast Guard say there is no leak. On April 24th, we're told it's leaking 1,000 barrels a day. On April 28th, the estimate is raised to 5,000 barrels a day. It's not until April 29th, nine days after the accident, that the president makes his first statement about what is now called an incident of national significance".

Gotta love Wallace and it's obvious why Obama will not come onto FoxNews and really "Face the Nation" for fear of hard questions without a pass from Wallace...

Or maybe the Obama administration was taking the advice of the President's Chief of Staff when he said "You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.”
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The Virginia Right blog has info that the Obama administration in fact knew the cause for the explosion and fire on the Deepwater Horizon rig the first day it happened....
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