Posted on 05/03/2010 10:49:38 AM PDT by 444Flyer
'The following is not public' document states.
A confidential government report on the unfolding spill disaster in the Gulf makes clear the Coast Guard now fears the well could become an unchecked gusher shooting millions of gallons of oil per day into the Gulf.
"The following is not public," reads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Emergency Response document dated April 28. "Two additional release points were found today in the tangled riser. If the riser pipe deteriorates further, the flow could become unchecked resulting in a release volume an order of magnitude higher than previously thought."
Asked Friday to comment on the document, NOAA spokesman Scott Smullen said that the additional leaks described were reported to the public late Wednesday night. Regarding the possibility of the spill becoming an order of magnitude larger, Smullen said, "I'm letting the document you have speak for itself."
In scientific circles, an order of magnitude means something is 10 times larger. In this case, an order of magnitude higher would mean the volume of oil coming from the well could be 10 times higher than the 5,000 barrels a day coming out now. That would mean 50,000 barrels a day, or 2.1 million gallons a day. It appears the new leaks mentioned in the Wednesday release are the leaks reported to the public late Wednesday night.
"There is no official change in the volume released but the USCG is no longer stating that the release rate is 1,000 barrels a day," continues the document, referred to as report No. 12. "Instead they are saying that they are preparing for a worst-case release and bringing all assets to bear."
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.al.com ...
If the wellhead is lost, oil could leave the well at a much greater rate..."
(snip)"...When the oil is removed normally, it comes out at a controlled rate. You can still have abrasive particles in that. Well, now, at this well, its coming out at fairly high velocity," Gouget continued. "Any erosive grains are abrading the inside of the pipe and all the steel that comes in contact with the liquid. It's essentially sanding away the pipe."
Gouget said the loss of a wellhead is totally unprecedented..."
I think we’re gonna need some bigger refineries...
Has anyone said yet what actually caused the explosion and subsequent leak? I haven’t been following the story very closely.
Just nuke it from orbit.
LET US DRILL ON LAND, Dakotas, Colorado, Alaska
This one mile down crap may very well be too risky, not that the oil companies HAD ANY CHOICE.
The MSM will need to find some way to blame Bush for this.
210K barrels/day, meaning it’s already over 2 Mm barrels, approaching 2.5 Mm.
Sweet Jesus, we need a miracle.
I don’t believe they have released that info as of yet. My question is why they can’t colapse the pipe line hole and seal it off?
This is a good thread to start with. Good timeline.
“’Obama’s Katrina’: an Illustrated Timeline”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2505164/posts
... it’s the only way to be sure.
“Just nuke it from orbit.”
I don’t know that I’d use a nuke, but a big enough explosion on the sea bed would probably work...
They never get anything right, do they?
The formation will collapse eventually. I think one of the contributiong factors for the
continuation of the well’s flowing is that it is being choked by the riser.
I think that this will lead to revamped emergency response plans to include ensuring or at least expending efforts to make sure that drilling rigs do not sink when they catch fire.
In a couple of weeks “they” BP I’d guess is going to try putting a huge steel box open at the bottom over the well head. Then if that works, “they” can pump the oil in the box to a ship. We all need to hope this plan works and that the relief well works too.
Uh, not to expect a report to know about math, but isn't an order of magnitude logarithmic, not "10 time larger?"
No a kitty litter bomb
I haven’t watched this very closely, but heard a few days ago that there were SWAT teams sent to the platform sight soon after the explosion. Was that a rumor, or was that ever confirmed? If confirmed, was the reason ever given?
Praying that works. It looks uglier by the day.
I don’t like this at all.
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