oil leak

[moominmolly]

Yet another one of those news stories that makes me sick enough to think about that it's hard to bring myself to seek out information about it. Anyway, I did, and I learned something kind of fascinating: they're plopping a very fancy box on top of one of the two leaks to try to contain the leak and draw the leaking oil up into a tanker. The infographic:



Nobody has any clue whether this will really work, but it's an interesting idea. Here's hoping.

Comments

[pseydtonne.livejournal.com]

I hope it works. It's a kludge but it's the best thing to do right now. "Look, a steel-belted funnel!"

I keep thinking of the Earth Day sketch from 30 Rock. They have a model of the Earth and it gets destroyed. Tina's character yells "okay, we've ruined the Earth. Can we get another one?" Then they go to closing credits.

[khedron.livejournal.com]

I commented on FB to say "it's a little better than a box" -- and then I read here that you were way ahead of me. Sorry!

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Ha! No problem! I'm fascinated by the whole thing, but I admit it still kind of reads to me as a comical sort of slapping-a-shoebox-on-it gag, which it is clearly not.

Oil Box

[baronet.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much. I want to know more and you saved me from having to wrestle with my own gut.

Do you know if the pipe leaking out just the oil that was in the pipe when it all fell down, or is the pipe still getting oil from the underground reservoir?

Re: Oil Box

[fengshui.livejournal.com]

It's definitely getting oil from the reservoir.

Re: Oil Box

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

The pipe bent and twisted around and broke in a couple of spots -- those are what is leaking, and the biggest problem is that they are still gushing oil out of the reservoir.

The Valdez spill was 270,000 barrels of oil. This is estimated to be 5,000-24,000 barrels per day forever. Nobody knows how much is spilling because it's all underwater. This containment device is actually a clever way to keep it from continuing to fuck shit up. Their long term plan is to drill a relief well into the original well; they began drilling this on Sunday, and expect it to take three months.

They're also skimming the oil off of the surface where possible, and using oil dispersant chemicals (http://www.amsa.gov.au/Marine_Environment_Protection/National_plan/General_Information/Dispersants_Information/FAQ_Oil_Spills_Dispersants.asp) to try to break the stuff up into droplets and make it less damaging. Nobody really knows what the ecological effects of oil dispersants are.

Re: Oil Box

[diatom.livejournal.com]

and apparently the oil companies use a proprietary blend to make the dispersants. Ecology activists are demanding the Oil Folks disclose their ingredients; they're expected to be untested for long-term effects.

And, I just read that it's dumb luck that there haven't been any strong winds/waves pushing oil onto the many nearby shores of wildlife preserves. One got hit the other day, lightly.

I hope the good that comes out of this is Major Oil Drilling Reform, so that we at least catch up to the safety back-ups that Venezuela and Norway have in place.

*feels nervous thinking about all that oil* *wants there to be some huge kind of breadcrumb that sops it up*

[diatom.livejournal.com]

I admit I found out about the leak / oilspill explosion craziness almost a week late, but when my dear friend explained the situation to me, I kept frowning and exclaiming: why can't they go down there and fix it? why can't they use those deep-sea divers and deep-sea contraptions to Get To It? Why can't they cover it up...in....a sheet of plastic!?

How upsetting, to think there's Nothing To Do. And then I heard about the big box, and things felt at least a little better. *sigh*

Suddenly I'm thinking of bullets of putty/liquid glue/goo, that are shot through the water, to Splat on their leak target! ;p

[goat.livejournal.com]

It is amazing to me that there are no failsafe devices on these oil rigs.

I read today that the plan has failed. I'm hoping this means it has temporarily failed, and that they're looking for a solution to make it work. I'm trying to stay aprised while at the same time kind of ignore the situation because it makes me feel sick and powerless.