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BP puts containment dome on gushing oil geyser
The Washington Post ^ | June 4, 2010 | Joel Achenbach

Posted on 06/03/2010 10:33:54 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

The well has been capped, more or less. BP engineers Thursday night guided a containment dome onto the hydrocarbon geyser shooting from the Gulf of Mexico oil well -- a desperate and iffy attempt to capture the leaking oil and funnel it to a ship on the surface.

It was not an elegant operation. Furious clouds of oil escaped the "top hat." Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the national incident commander for the spill, called the development a positive step but said, "It will be sometime before we can confirm that this method will work and to what extent it will mitigate the release of oil into the environment."

It was a day crammed with engineering drama. First, BP used robotic vehicles and a pair of giant shears to cut a damaged pipe a mile below the gulf's surface. The result simplified the whole arrangement at the sea floor: Instead of spewing from multiple leaks in a tangle of bent pipes, the oil and natural gas surged in a single plume from what looked like a deep-sea smokestack.

Then came the dome, lowered by cables, guided by robots, illuminated by lamps in a world without natural light, and carrying with it the hopes of countless engineers and pretty much the entire Gulf Coast.

Nothing has gone according to plan in the subsea environment as, on the surface, the oil has hit more than 100 miles of Louisiana shoreline. After brushing a barrier island in Alabama, it is poised to tar the white sand beaches of the Florida Panhandle. The area of the gulf closed to fishing is now larger than the state of Florida.(continued)

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Business/Economy; News/Current Events; US: Louisiana
KEYWORDS: energy; obama; oil; oilspill; slowtorespond
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To: Gene Eric

...In other words, “Obama clouds of oil...”
.........

No!
Not OZer0 fault

OZer0 has never, ever had any employees to manage, not one.

He’s never, ever had to wipe up a spill off his Lemonaid Stand, ‘cause he’s never been qualified to run a lemonaid stand.

He’s a total Zer0, and we and the world are beginning to understand that.

(Now if we could finally get our message to Princess Pelosi, maybe she would understand! - Maybe in November!)


21 posted on 06/03/2010 10:54:19 PM PDT by Noob1999 (LOOSE LIPS, SINK SHIPS)
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To: eyedigress
I understand that this sort of thing can happen but be ready for it.

When Bush was President BP got fined for not operating properly in the Gulf but Obama became President and actually gave BP a saftey award.

22 posted on 06/03/2010 10:54:31 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper (11/03/2010 - What did Obama know and when did he know it?)
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To: SoCalConstitutionalist
It will be sometime tomorrow before they can call it a success or just learn from the trial. It takes a long time to spin up the pumps and balance and control things on the surface without blowing up the rig. I would imagine the flare stack is real pretty about now as they vent off the gas.

The oil you see in the water on the ROV cams will look just as bad at 1000 BPD as it does at 5 OR 6 thousand barrels per day. It does not tell you a thing about how much or how little they are pumping.

23 posted on 06/03/2010 10:54:55 PM PDT by Cold Heat
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To: 21twelve

Yup. Those guys are experts. I am no expert but the BP manager had them take the mud out and just rushed it. Sad.

Thanks. I guess the top had is an 80% fix until they have the relief wells drilled.


24 posted on 06/03/2010 10:55:06 PM PDT by Frantzie (Democrats = Party of I*lam)
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To: Cold Heat
I watched him for ten minutes and it was all I could take.

Same here. Cooper was speaking with that"Presidential historian" and full time weasel Douglas Brinkley. All BP. Everything is the fault of BP. Obama and the Federal government and Obama ....well....nevermind about him and it....the problem is how BP is handing this. BP is taking ads out explaining the situation. Terrible, terrible. If BP just...if BP did...BP should...BP, BP, BP...

25 posted on 06/03/2010 10:58:34 PM PDT by Brugmansian
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To: Berlin_Freeper

I understand the need to politicize it and that is an American tradition in its own right. I just really wish they could get this well saved. It is one hell of a gusher and is creating quite a mess. I pray for BP to get the resolution soon.


26 posted on 06/03/2010 11:00:45 PM PDT by eyedigress ((Old storm chaser from the west)?)
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To: shezza

If U.S. officials had followed up on a 1994 response plan for a major Gulf oil spill, it is possible that the spill could have been kept under control and far from land. http://blog.al.com/live/2010/05/fire_boom_oil_spill_raines.html

Obama says that he was in charge since day one, so why hasnt Obama done this?


27 posted on 06/03/2010 11:01:10 PM PDT by ignoramus2010
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To: shezza

“Do it for the children. And baby seals.”

To hell with the childern and turn the seals into coats and dog food!


28 posted on 06/03/2010 11:02:09 PM PDT by dalereed
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To: Frantzie

Plus, the BP company man got the gov’t watchdog to sign off on it too. What pisses me off is that they kept on going even after more over-pressure problems kept arising. Arrogant bastard(s).


29 posted on 06/03/2010 11:03:47 PM PDT by 21twelve ( UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES MY ARSE: "..now begin the work of remaking America."-Obama, 1/20/09)
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To: jpsb
Well first he called some dead seagulls Brown Pelicans. Then he went off on BP for not keeping him or anyone else informed about what they were doing when everything he needed to know was on the BP website.

Then he totally misread what he was seeing via the ROV cams and has been doing it for weeks now.

Frankly, none of the media I have watch has been worth a crap. These fools are all reading copy given to them by someone equally if not more ignorant then they are.

Then you add in those ridiculous interviews with the Plaquimines Parish president who had the IQ of a turnip and what else can I say about it.

You would think that with all the oilfield workers they have walking around Grand Isle, that they could find someone, just one person to translate the technical and factual information into something that is understandable for the mass media audience.....but I guess not.

30 posted on 06/03/2010 11:04:10 PM PDT by Cold Heat
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To: Cold Heat

ten minutes!!!! ten? damn, how did you make it passed about the 2 second mark with that rump ranger?....


31 posted on 06/03/2010 11:05:23 PM PDT by bobby.223
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

*


32 posted on 06/03/2010 11:05:35 PM PDT by Liberty Valance (Keep a simple manner for a happy life :o)
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To: dalereed
I have eaten a Brown Pelican. Barbecued the sucker.
33 posted on 06/03/2010 11:05:52 PM PDT by Cold Heat
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To: bobby.223
I wanted to see what he was saying tonight. My blood pressure was low and I needed the boost.

Now it's too high again....165/92

34 posted on 06/03/2010 11:07:43 PM PDT by Cold Heat
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To: Cold Heat

Sounds about normal to me.


35 posted on 06/03/2010 11:08:29 PM PDT by eyedigress ((Old storm chaser from the west)?)
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To: Frantzie

Thanks for the great link. I’ve been looking for a good multiple feeds link.


36 posted on 06/03/2010 11:11:58 PM PDT by historyrepeatz
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To: Cold Heat

LOL!! That is not high tho!.....well, a bit but can you just imagine old Anderson’s BP when his latest butt pirate little boy fails to perform!!!!???


37 posted on 06/03/2010 11:13:18 PM PDT by bobby.223
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To: mainsail that

oh you must mean his lesbian cohort on MSNBC, Rachael Maddow.


38 posted on 06/03/2010 11:13:19 PM PDT by Blue Highway ("Judge me by the people with whom I surround myself" Barack Obama, Oct 15, 2008 Presidential debate)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Did Daddy plug the hole?


39 posted on 06/03/2010 11:18:33 PM PDT by counterpunch (GOP: Government's Other Party)
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To: ignoramus2010

Obama WANTS the destruction to be as bad as possible and knows the media will protect his image regardless. Now on with pushing Cap & Trade, while clear evidence of WH bribery of politicians barely receives any mention in the lame stream media. There have been enough felonies in the first year of Obama’s reign to have landed Bush impeached and in jail 1,000 times over, and makes Nixon’s actions seem downright trivial by today’s standards (or LACK of them). Clinton lowered the bar on Presidential standards/expectations and under Obama within a year the bar is laying on the floor if not completely removed.


40 posted on 06/03/2010 11:19:19 PM PDT by historyrepeatz
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