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maybe they shouldnt call it a bp gusher...bp is only the leaser...not the owner of the rig( state department), not the maintainer of the rig( haliburton/deepwater), and certainly not the builder of the rig(korea), and not the regulator of the rig(us government)
lots of hands in this kitchen
EXACTLY ! But it works well for the naive to think big oil is the only ones at fault . For these people only congress should be elitest and rich, not companies .
Methane gas seems to be a big danger in this oil spill.
Both BP and NOAA are saying the numbers are normal..but other researchers question that based on studies they did.
The Bellingham Herald / Top Stories / Vast amounts of methane in Gulf spill pose threat (http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2010/06/19/1488244/vast-amounts-of-methane-in-gulf.html - broken link)
"At least 4.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas - and possibly almost twice that amount - have leaked since April 20. That's based on estimates from the U.S. Geological Survey's "flow team" that 2,900 cubic feet of natural gas are escaping for every barrel of oil.
..
In early June, a research team led by Samantha Joye of the Institute of Undersea Research and Technology at the University of Georgia investigated a 15-mile-long plume drifting southwest from the leak site. They said they found methane concentrations up to 10,000 times higher than normal, and oxygen levels depleted by 40 percent or more."
The Associated Press: Gulf oil full of methane, adding new concerns
"The oil emanating from the seafloor contains about 40 percent methane, compared with about 5 percent found in typical oil deposits, said John Kessler, a Texas A&M University oceanographer who is studying the impact of methane from the spill.
That means huge quantities of methane have entered the Gulf, scientists say, potentially suffocating marine life and creating "dead zones" where oxygen is so depleted that nothing lives.
"This is the most vigorous methane eruption in modern human history," Kessler said."
Drillers have long been wary of methane hydrates because they can pack a powerful punch. One liter of water ice that has trapped individual methane molecules in the "cages" of its crystal structure can release 168 liters of methane gas when the ice decomposes. Bea, who has 55 years of experience assessing risks in and around offshore operations, says "there was concern at this location for gas hydrates. We're out to the [water depth] where it ought to be there." The deeper the water, the greater the pressure, which when high enough can keep hydrates stable well below the sea floor.
And there were signs that drillers did encounter hydrates. About a month before the blowout, a "kick" of gas pressure hit the well hard enough that the platform was shut down. "Something under high pressure was being encountered," says Bea—apparently both hydrates and gas on different occasions.
Apparently these methane hydrates are extremely volatile and under extreme pressures, so that doesn't sound like a good combination.
Apparently these methane hydrates are extremely volatile and under extreme pressures, so that doesn't sound like a good combination.
I've read a few blogs on the worse case scenario regarding this and it doesn't sound pretty..methane bubbles rupturing the sea bed and possible tsunami resulting.
But..I've seen nothing about this anywhere other than blogs so I don't know how credible this scenario might be. But there have been fissure cracks discovered and smaller plumes are escaping now.
Yup, it's alll the government fault and certainly not the God of Repugs, the Corporation.
Not the corporation that took shortcuts that ended up KILLING 11 people and destroying our south coast and the livelihood of the Americans who live there.
Not the God Corporation who makes enormous profits but puts relatively little into safety features and research.
Says a lot MORE about the company......but go ahead and worship anyway...
In 1995 Clinton signs deep water drilling bill, with laxed regulation.
I've read a few blogs on the worse case scenario regarding this and it doesn't sound pretty..methane bubbles rupturing the sea bed and possible tsunami resulting.
But..I've seen nothing about this anywhere other than blogs so I don't know how credible this scenario might be. But there have been fissure cracks discovered and smaller plumes are escaping now.
Yeah, I just came across some story about the whole massive tsunami thing, and I admit, I had to chuckle at how doom and gloomish it was. Almost like a History channel version of the movie 2012 OMGrunforourliveswereallgoingtodieanysecond
"This Gulf coast crisis is about many things – corruption, deregulation, the addiction to fossil fuels. But underneath it all, it's about this: our culture's excruciatingly dangerous claim to have such complete understanding and command over nature that we can radically manipulate and re-engineer it with minimal risk to the natural systems that sustain us. But as the BP disaster has revealed, nature is always more unpredictable than the most sophisticated mathematical and geological models imagine. During Thursday's congressional testimony, Hayward said: "The best minds and the deepest expertise are being brought to bear" on the crisis, and that, "with the possible exception of the space programme in the 1960s, it is difficult to imagine the gathering of a larger, more technically proficient team in one place in peacetime." And yet, in the face of what the geologist Jill Schneiderman has described as "Pandora's well", they are like the men at the front of that gymnasium: they act like they know, but they don't know."
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