ThinkProgress reports that the wellhead is potentially in danger of tilting over, due to its weight, which has near-apocalyptic ramifications for the entire ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico [as if the oil spill itself already hasn't done enough damage]:
The Leaning Tower Of Oily Pisa
The broken wellhead gushing millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico is tilting over, potentially threatening further disaster. The Deepwater Horizon riser package that sits on the seabed a mile below the ocean surface weighs over 450 tons, including the 48-foot-tall failed blowout preventer. In a press teleconference Monday, National Incident Commander Thad Allen announced that the riser package is tilting "10 or 12 degrees off perpendicular," twice the 5.5 degree tilt of the Leaning Tower of Pisa:
The entire arrangement is kind of listed a little bit. I think it’s 10 or 12 degrees off perpendicular so it’s not quite straight up.
So what would happen if the broken wellhead were to completely fall over?
Here are the frightening answers from Julia Whitty at Mother Jones:
"Well...none of what is likely to happen is good, in fact...it's about as bad as it gets. I am convinced the erosion and compromising of the entire system is accelerating and attacking more key structural areas of the well, the blow out preventer and surrounding strata holding it all up and together. This is evidenced by the tilt of the blow out preventer and the erosion which has exposed the well head connection. What eventually will happen is that the blow out preventer will literally tip over if they do not run supports to it as the currents push on it. I suspect they will run those supports as cables tied to anchors very soon, if they don't, they are inviting disaster that much sooner.
"Eventually even that will be futile as the well casings cannot support the weight of the massive system above with out the cement bond to the earth and that bond is being eroded away. When enough is eroded away the casings will buckle and the BOP will collapse the well. If and when you begin to see oil and gas coming up around the well area from under the BOP? or the area around the well head connection and casing sinking more and more rapidly? ...it won't be too long after that the entire system fails. BP must be aware of this, they are mapping the sea floor sonically and that is not a mere exercise. Our Gov't must be well aware too, they just are not telling us.
"All of these things lead to only one place, a fully wide open well bore directly to the oil deposit...after that, it goes into the realm of "the worst things you can think of" The well may come completely apart as the inner liners fail. There is still a very long drill string in the well, that could literally come flying out...as I said...all the worst things you can think of are a possibility, but the very least damaging outcome as bad as it is, is that we are stuck with a wide open gusher blowing out 150,000 barrels a day of raw oil or more. There isn't any "cap dome" or any other suck fixer device on earth that exists or could be built that will stop it from gushing out and doing more and more damage to the gulf. While at the same time also doing more damage to the well, making the chance of halting it with a kill from the bottom up less and less likely to work, which as it stands now?....is the only real chance we have left to stop it all.
And what was the original measurements of the lean of the broken wellhead? It was three degrees on June 10th, 2010. Given Admiral Allen's announcement about the riser tilting ten or twelve degrees, this does not look good. We have two months left before the relief wells are in place, and I do not know if we can even possibly fix this if the wellhead falls over, and causes a giant rupture in the sea floor, thus causing a nearly uncontrollable gush of oil in millions and millions of gallons per day.
Which is why this is indeed depressing in thinking about being unable to stop the oil spill, and upon further thought, this isn't depressing for oil companies---this is what they want. No pesky endangered species to worry about since they'd be all extinct in the Gulf of Mexico, and they can just, drill, baby, drill to their heart's content.
Edit: Here is Ellinorianne's diary on this same subject in a different vein.
UPDATE:BP is concerned about the lean of the riser, and have indeed sent down an inclinometer:
Meanwhile, observers monitoring the video feeds from the robotic vehicles working on the sea floor have noticed BP measuring a tilt in the 40-ton blowout preventer stack with a level and a device called an inclinometer.
Odone, the BP spokesman, confirmed that his company has been monitoring the lean of the blowout preventer, which BP believes began tilting when the Deepwater Horizon rig sank and the riser pipe got bent. "That is tilting and has been tilting since the rig went down," Odone said. "We believe that it was caused by the collapse of the riser."
Bea said BP isn't sharing enough information for others to know. If there is oil and gas escaping from the sides of the well, it could erode the sediments around the well and eat away at the support for all the heavy equipment that sits above. Bea said reports that BP is using an inclinometer is significant news. "It tells me that they are also concerned," he said.
UPDATE 2:
It has been pointed out that there are concerns about the validity of the source at The Oil Drum. With that said, there are valid concerns about the well casing, and the leaning of the riser, which is shared by scientists and federal officials such as Thad Allen. We need more information from BP on this.