Posted on 05/07/2010 1:46:01 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
ON THE GULF OF MEXICO – Underwater robots positioned a giant 100-ton concrete-and-steel box over a blown-out well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico on Friday as workers prepared to drop the device to the seafloor in a first-of-its-kind attempt to stop oil gushing into the sea.
A spokesman for oil giant BP PLC, which is in charge of the cleanup, said the box was suspended about 200 feet above the main leak Friday and was being moved into position, though it could be Saturday before that happens.
Several undersea cameras attached to the robots were making sure it was properly aligned before it plunged all the way to the bottom.
"We are essentially taking a four-story building and lowering it 5,000 feet and setting it on the head of a pin," Bill Salvin, the BP spokesman, told The Associated Press.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Crewmen aboard the motor vessel Joe Griffin look on as the mobile offshore drilling unit Q4000 lowers a pollution containment chamber into the Gulf of Mexico over the site of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill May 6, 2010. The chamber is designed to cap the oil discharge that was a result of the Deepwater Horizon rig fire and collapse. Picture taken May 6, 2010. REUTERS/U.S. Coast Guard/Petty Officer 3rd Class Patrick Kelley/Handout (UNITED STATES - Tags: ENVIRONMENT BUSINESS DISASTER ENERGY)
That’s quite a contraption. I hope it works.
Well im taking a nap in a few minutes
To listen to the LSM, you would think he was in the WH.
http://media1.break.com/dnet/media/2010/3/25/89%20Under%20arrest%20for%20making%20Superman%20Returns.jpg
My understanding is that if that big metal box scrapes the metal equipement on the ocean floor and emits a spark — KA-BOOOOOOM!!!!
Strange pic - it certainly doesn't LOOK like a "giant 100-ton concrete-and-steel box " - it looks like a couple of plastic phone booths.
Must be farther away than it looks.
Not to Monday Morning quarterback but the oil industry should have had one of these babies sitting on the dock just in case. It looks like cheap insurance. You have at least 10 big major oil companies who could have chipped in and paid the storage costs.
What is this, plan V?
Darn It!
I would love to be on one of those crews.
BP spokesman Bill Salvin told AP: “We are essentially taking a 4-story building, lowering it 5,000 feet and setting it on the head of a pin”..........in pitch black darkness.
Get’r Done!
But I want lots of underwater footage from the ROV’s.
Supposedly it’s been done before but not at 5,000 ft. depth.
Latest news from deepwaterhorizonresponse.com:
Total Vessels (including tugs and skimmers): 256
Boom deployed: 788,085 feet
Boom available: 1,287,764 feet
Oil and Water Mix - Recovered: Approximately 1.89 million gallons
Dispersant Used : 267,195 gallons
Dispersant available: 317,591 gallons
Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV): 4
Overall Personnel Responding: 8,497
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