Posted on 09/05/2010 5:14:30 AM PDT by thackney
A crane hoisted a key piece of oil spill evidence to the surface of the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, giving investigators their first chance to personally scrutinize the blowout preventer, the massive piece of equipment that failed to stop the gusher four months ago.
It took 29 1/2 hours to lift the 50-foot, 300-ton blowout preventer from a mile beneath the sea to the surface. The five-story high device breached the water's surface at 6:54 p.m. CDT, and looked largely intact with black stains on the yellow metal.
FBI agents were among the 137 people aboard the Helix Q4000 vessel, taking photos and video of the device. They will escort it back to a NASA facility in Louisiana for analysis.
The AP was the only news outlet with a print reporter and photographer on board the ship.
The blowout preventer was placed into a metal contraption specifically designed to hold the massive device at 9:16 p.m. CDT Saturday. As it was maneuvered into place, crew members were silent and water dripped off the device.
Crews had been delayed raising the device after icelike crystals — called hydrates — formed on it. The device couldn't be safely lifted from the water until the hydrates melted because the hydrates are combustible, said Darin Hilton, the captain of the Helix Q4000.
Hydrates form when gases such as methane mix with water under high pressure and cold temperatures. The crystals caused BP PLC problems in May, when hydrates formed on a 100-ton, four-story dome the company tried to place over the leak to contain it.
As a large hatch opened up on the Helix to allow the blowout preventer to pass through, several hundred feet of light sheen could be seen near the boat, though crews weren't exactly sure what it was.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
That says a lot.
Some suggested no one had any idea what that could have been, but yet others were instantly reminded of the behavior of the GIANT SQUID just months before when he fell in love with the blowout preventer.
Surprising that the FBI was there too. Gulf Vacation?
Dang, took more than an entire day to raise the thing a mile. WOW.
Well, we all know that the FBI are experts in oil rigs.
I guess they were there to protect "evidence". (or, to manufacture it)
In a literate society the 'journalist' would call such a device a cradle. Just what do they teach in J-school anyway?
/johnny
Oh, joy. What company manufactured/installed this piece of equipment? Litigation, Litigation. Al Reuters headline: “BP found innocent, oil field supplier is suddenly seized by the Justice Department, pending further investigation”.
The fact that the unit was raised so slowly implies that they were trying to preserve evidence. It also opens lots of conspiracy theories. Not the least of which is sabotage. Why did they send that SWAT Team? For sure we know that Barry ain’t giving back the money from the BP shakedown.
Pending lawsuits with huge money dependent on who is blamed for the spill. That is the reason. And no, I don't trust the FBI under Obozo either. Many career agents are clean, but the POL FBI agents can never be trusted.
I agree. I also fully believe the agents on board that platform were there for a specific reason.
In a literate society the 'journalist' would call such a device a cradle. Just what do they teach in J-school anyway?
Apparently in Journalism school (at least judging from this example) they don't teach people to think for themselves and to do their own research very well...
For one thing, in order to know what the proper terms for things are, you would have to do research to try to understand as much about the subject you are writing about as you can.
You would have to be the kind of person who wants to know at least a little something about everything. You would have to be curious enough to want to go looking, and intelligent enough to be able to be able to understand the subject and diligent enough to go looking for the information and try to understand something about it.
You would have to have a love for knowledge and discovery.
Apparently people with those kinds of traits do not go into Journalism, or those traits are suppressed in Journalism school...
I just took about five minutes looking online. I still don't know exactly what I am looking at, but at least I now I know something I didn't know before.
I thought the CIA and the Glomar Explorer usually handled
this kind of thing.
'semi-automatic revolver' and '45mm pistol' were two of my favorite idiocies committed by members of the 4th estate.
/johnny
Thanks for the post Thackney. I see from the article that they have installed another BOP to take this ones place.
You don’t get in a hurry with a heavy lift. A typical reactor lift for a power plant took all day.
i wonder if the fact that it was never certified will come into play???
Wondering why they would install another BOP, unless BP intends to re-enter the well sometime in the future, otherwise just blind flange the thing.
It is to handle the pressure of when the relief well begins the “bottom kill” from below.
I believe it was Cameron.
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