Oil Spill Tracker (Austin, Post, Howe: home, buy, college)

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

Originally Posted by TakeAhike

Tossing this 'out there'--
From: boortz.com--Libertarian talk show host from my local area/ATL.

'Why do you think they called this vessel the Deepwater Horizon? Well, that would be because it operated in deep water. And why was that? That would be because the radical environmental movement - now a Marxist movement - determined that no further drilling should be allowed in the shallower waters of the Gulf. This forced the oil companies far offshore to the deeper waters. If this accident had happened in 500 feet of water, instead of 5000, it would have been taken care of long before now. In fact, it might well have never happened in the first place.

Just something to ponder.'~~~~~

That's hilarious! And someone actually gets paid to say these things on radio? It's an ignorant string of words and propaganda. My Father always said, "man, will self destruct." I now take heed to the words I used to mock.

[achtungpv]

Originally Posted by oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots

That's hilarious! And someone actually gets paid to say these things on radio? It's an ignorant string of words and propaganda. My Father always said, "man, will self destruct." I now take heed to the words I used to mock.

The first rule of being a political talking head is to never let facts get in the way of how you feel.

[woodinvilleguy]

Originally Posted by opalminor

OK well it does seem like a better option than pedaling your guts out and arriving to work (or wherever) all sweaty... but still, I would never ride around these giant trucks, cell phone yapping folks in SUVs, & drunk illegals.... it's suicide.

Some of us manage to ride most of the year round, Winter is actually the worst, the 100 degree weather really isn't bad. You just ride easier and drink more water. I haven't had any serious issues with motorists other than them getting annoyed that I'm in the shoulder preventing them from driving their car extended distances in the should to skirt traffic. I and most riders I know follow the traffic laws and are courteous and wave cars through to the right when it is safe.

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

A couple of questions:

I'm hearing people say they think the Horizon was blown up. Is there any proof of this?

The other question is when they take up the oil from the earth does it leave an empty cave-like hole, does it fill in with earth as it's taken out, or is it filled up with something when they're done?

[eileenkeeney]

Originally Posted by oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots

A couple of questions:

I'm hearing people say they think the Horizon was blown up. Is there any proof of this?

The other question is when they take up the oil from the earth does it leave an empty cave-like hole, does it fill in with earth as it's taken out, or is it filled up with something when they're done?

I am sure whatever the truth is, that some will always believe it was blown up and others will always believe it was not.
I have seen nothing that indicates anyone has discovered credible evidence indicating it was blown up.

Accident or intentional; it does expose a risk point, that can be used, to reek environmental havoc, if someone wanted to exploit it.


I believe they fill the space in, after taking the oil out, maybe with sea water.
I have a vague memory of reading this somewhere once (but with so much untrue information available for reading, and my not remembering the source, it is hard for me to know how credible the information was.)

[CptnRn]

I did a google news search and could not find any "reputable" news sources carrying the story that someone blew it up. The few websites that did say something about that appeared extremist in my opinion (i.e. they have an agenda they are pushing).


Regarding the space left by pumping out oil: The pressures that deep underground are very high, if you remove anything, there is enormous pressure from surrounding mass to fill that void. Usually underground fluids, oil and or water will flow to it until the pressures equalize. Soil shifts do also occur. This is why no human can survive diving to the depths necessary to work on the broken well pipe casings at this drilling site. The pressures and hazards are so great no one would survive.

If a large enough area below ground is excavated it can result in subsidence that reaches all of the way to the surface.



In offshore wells I expect that saltwater and sea bed shifts make up most of the space for anything that was removed.

I once worked as a surveyor in underground uranium mines in Jeffery City, Wyoming, 1970. Once a shaft or drift was cut through the sandstone formations deep undergound the surrounding soil pressures would make the sandstone near shafts or drifts start to expand, rocks flaking off and necessitating continual clean up and shoring necessary to try to keep it all from falling in. There were pumps running constantly to keep the shafts from flooding. One of those rock flake cave in's fell on top of me and broke my leg putting me in the hospital for around 6 months. On the positive side it motivated me to give up mining and go to college. I don't recommend mining as a career. Or oil exploration either. One of my best friends from high school died when a random scrap of steel fell out of the oil rig and hit him, the summer after he returned from a tour of duty in Vietnam.

My heart goes out to the 11 oil field workers and their families who died in the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig that went down and the 17 others who were injured in the explosion. I'm having trouble finding any information about them in my news searches today, I wish I knew more about them. But I'm sure most of them were hard working blue color employees who trusted in their employer to provide them with a safe working environment. A task BP failed at miserably.

g

[CptnRn]

BP oil spill: harrowing escapes of Deepwater Horizon survivors

BP oil spill: harrowing escapes of Deepwater Horizon survivors - CSMonitor.com

With hearings into the Deepwater Horizon accident ongoing in Louisiana and Washington, survivors' tales are coming out. They paint a picture of chaos and desperation after the explosion and offer hints about what might have caused the BP oil spill.



Sara Stone cries as her husband Stephen Stone, a Transocean, Ltd., employee and survivor of the Deepwater Horizon explosion, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington Thursday about the night that led to the BP oil spill. He told the hearing that he went back into his collapsed quarters on the night of the accident for his life jacket, shoes, and wedding ring.

The first explosion was a violent concussion that threw Douglas Brown against the control panel of the Deepwater Horizon’s engine room and then down into a hole that had opened in the floor.

Mr. Brown, the engine room’s acting second engineer, heard screams and shouts as he lay stunned in debris. He tried to stand up. A second explosion caved the ceiling in on his head. He heard more screams and began to panic. A fellow worker was crawling towards him through the wreckage yelling that he was hurt and needed to find a way out.

They made it out to a lifeboat deck through an engine room hatch that had been blown open. Outside was chaos. Survivors were crying they did not want to die. The drilling derrick was completely aflame, like a giant pine engulfed by a forest fire.

IN PICTURES: Louisiana oil spill

“The heat from the fire was incredibly hot on my body,” wrote Brown in a statement submitted to the House Judiciary Committee.

The 51 minutes that lead to disaster.
Gulf oil spill: the 51 minutes that led to disaster - CSMonitor.com

But documents pulled together by the House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Oversight provide some idea of Deepwater’s final days. Combined with other sources, they provide our best look so far at what happened – if not why.

One clue may be an alleged decision by BP to replace heavy drilling fluid in the well with lighter seawater, in an effort to cut costs and move as fast as possible to production.

The seawater was supposed to hold down the petroleum surging up from beneath the sea while workers capped the well with cement to seal it. It didn’t work.

'BP was taking shortcuts'

“I overheard upper management talking, saying that BP was taking shortcuts by displacing the well with saltwater instead of mud without sealing the well with cement plugs, this is why it blew out,” said Truitt Crawford, a worker for Transocean, in a statement obtained by the Associated Press.

There is an amazing collection of photographs here illustrating the impact of this "accident". http://www.csmonitor.com/CSM-Photo-G...pill/(photo)/1

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots

I disagree. I can say I do not have an insatiable thirst for gasoline. I can say that. This isn't some addiction problem and we don't need treatment for it. We need AFFORDABLE alternatives.

I am dependent on oil. I can say that as well. I'm not in denial. I realize oil rules many facets of my life.

How we all live our lives is dependent on what we have access to. We are controlled by the oil cartel. To think we have "choice" is hogwash, (in my opinion).

You make the choice to live your life exactly how you want to which requires a lot of oil. If you decided instead to move to a place where you could farm, go completely off the grid, teach your children yourself, make all of your own clothes and live a completely agrarian/subsistence lifestyle then you would use zero oil and save a lot of money to boot. So yes you have an insatiable thirst for gasoline based on the lifestyle that you choose to live.

[CptnRn]

Look at this graph of Oil Consumption in the world and tell me that we can't do with less.

No other country in the world even comes close in total consumption.

Oil consumption (most recent) by country

However it is interesting that a few exceed us if you look at "Thousand barrels daily (per capita) (most recent) by country". Hooray Canada!!!

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/ene_oil_con_tho_bar_dai_percap-thousand-barrels-daily-per-capita (broken link)

[TakeAhike]

Originally Posted by oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots

That's hilarious! And someone actually gets paid to say these things on radio? It's an ignorant string of words and propaganda. My Father always said, "man, will self destruct." I now take heed to the words I used to mock.

Yes--he is paid very well to say this sort of thing. A multi-millionaire with significant property in Naples, FL.

'Free societies don't last long'--I guess not.