Posted on 05/01/2010 1:49:36 PM PDT by Crimson Elephant
MOBILE, Ala. -- Federal officials should have started burning oil off the surface of the Gulf last week, almost as soon as the spill happened, said the former oil spill response coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Ron Gouget, who also managed Louisiana's oil response team for a time, said federal officials missed a narrow window of opportunity to gain control of the spill by burning last week, before the spill spread hundreds of miles across the Gulf, and before winds began blowing toward shore.
He also said the heavy use of dispersants, which cause oil to sink, has likely knocked so much oil into the water column that portions of the Gulf may be on the threshold of becoming toxic to marine life. Add in the oil spreading into the water as it rises from the seafloor, and Gouget said he expected officials would have to think about limiting the use of the dispersants...
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.al.com ...
Obama and his cronies have seriously brianwashed some of the masses, the media will be held resposible for being a willin party to this
My question is: Did the White House order for a wait on burning the oil to allow for a negative story involving offshore drilling to take place?
Well, something tells me there’s going to be a lot of oil to burn or not to burn for a number of months to come.
It’s ‘O’s fault.
But the media wouldn’t have these great photo ops of the ugly black oil ON the beaches, and Obama wouldn’t have been able to take over if it didnt’ actually reach the shore.
And to think Obama’s daddy/step daddy was in ‘big oil’...
This guy says it would even help now and going forward...you can still burn a lot of it continuously before it reaches the shore.
Napalm it!
This administration, and their media lapdogs, are like a child who has cut his arm and encourages the blood to flow, not wiping it off, in order to save it for mommy to see... seeking sympathy in the child’s case, and the ability to destroy in Zero’s case.
Mark Levin (last night) had this engineer call his show. Levin confirmed independently that this engineer was ON THE RIG when it exploded.
Approx the second half of Levin’s radio show is him talking with this engineer about the explosion, what probably caused the explosion, and what happened immediately afterward on the rig.
Here is AUDIO of the Mark Levin Show (last night). Skip forward until you hear the caller talking about the rig. He’s on the show for about an hour, towards the end.
PS: Omoslem is apparently waiting for the oil slick to swamp Florida before he reacts in any meaningful way. This is so the media can print photos of birds covered in oil, as propaganda for Otraitor to target the oil companies next.
Why is Lisa Jackson taking a back seat to Janet Napolitano on this?
Naplitano has neither, so she's the hands down choice.
What about sinking a super tanker over the well (and guide it down) to cap it off?
They certainly are going to use situations like this to their advantage - destroying environment while claiming to be saving it.
For instance, a ULCC is about twice the length of a coastal tanker (415 meters versus 205 meters), but can carry about 8 times the volume (50,000 deadweight tons versus 400,000 dwt). Only two "true" ULCC of around 430,000 dwt are left in operation, the T1 Europe and the T1 Oceana. So, a really big one is needed to hold all the oil until the relief well is drilled. How long will we be able to use the tanker? AS the oil fills the holds, the water is displaced. Assuming the oil has a density of 873 kg/m3 and a viscosity of 13.8 x 10-6 m2/s and is leaking at 1500 bbl/day - how many days could we count on? An easier take on your very good idea would be to sink a 'cap' over the wellhead with a neutrally boyant hose leading to the tanker. An "Exxon Valdez" sized tanker would hold 500,000 bbls, so would likely be enough to hold till the releaf well in in. Great stuff, the National Spill Response Center number is 1-202.267.2675 - and as they seem to be thrashing about for some way to deal with this, you might call them and share your idea. The Duty Officer email is HQS-DG-lst-NRCINFO@uscg.mil. Best of luck.
What an out of the box idea! Let's look at how that might work -
Other than trying turn the ship over, so the oil will leak "into" the tanker, you are left with a couple of problems:
What size to use?
There are different tanker sizes used for the international transportation of oil, from a modest coastal tanker to a VLCC or ULCC Supertanker. The common rule is that the volume that can be carried in a tanker increases as a function of the cube of its length.
For instance, a ULCC is about twice the length of a coastal tanker (415 meters versus 205 meters), but can carry about 8 times the volume (50,000 deadweight tons versus 400,000 dwt). Only two "true" ULCC of around 430,000 dwt are left in operation, the T1 Europe and the T1 Oceana.
So, a really big one is needed to hold all the oil until the relief well is drilled.
How long will we be able to use the tanker? AS the oil fills the holds, the water is displaced. Assuming the oil has a density of 873 kg/m3 and a viscosity of 13.8 x 10-6 m2/s and is leaking at 1500 bbl/day - how many days could we count on?
An easier take on your very good idea would be to sink a 'cap' over the wellhead with a neutrally boyant hose leading to the tanker. An "Exxon Valdez" sized tanker would hold 500,000 bbls, so would likely be enough to hold till the releaf well in in.
Great stuff, the National Spill Response Center number is 1-202.267.2675 - and as they seem to be thrashing about for some way to deal with this, you might call them and share your idea. The Duty Officer email is HQS-DG-lst-NRCINFO@uscg.mil.
Best of luck.
The weight of the ship, oil and water in the double hull should keep it on the bottom (I think). Once the holds are full of oil pressure would build so you'd have to shut the “filters”.
Seems like it may be too late for this kind of solution for this situation but something they could consider in the future. Unless of course I've missed some basic physics that preclude any of this.
Maybe a giant vacume attached to the tanker? Like the one they use in Dubai to push slag into the ocean to build those artificial islands, only in reverse. I’m guessing you could use a couple to pump into a tanker. I find it hard to believe no one has planned for this scenerio and come up with better ideas.
the vicosity of the now emulsified oil is the problem
go to the desmi sie(www.desmi.com) and look at the recovery equipment - positive displacement pumps - the volume capacity of the biggest pump.
it all about the numbers - 5000 bbl x 42 = too many gallons for an y solution.
throw in swells, wind, the lot - ocean spills are the complete *itch to deal with.
land spills by camparision are a piece of cake - you can at least drive heavy equipment and build berms and dams.
a large example is the russian spill on the Klova river.
see Usinsk accident, the TED site some good photos. that bad boy was so big we were able to use SPOT images to map parts of the spill zone.
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