When the damage from the BP blowout in the Gulf of Mexico was first reported, we were told that perhaps 1000 barrels of oil a day were apparently trickling out of the well the company's contractor had drilled into the ocean floor. They didn't say "trickling," but they did call it a "leak," which gave the impression of a trickle.
One thousand barrels a day, or 19000 gallons of gasoline, enough to provide 41 roundtrips from Portland, Me., to Los Angeles in a Ford F-150 pickup. Then they upped it to 5000 barrels a day, 205 roundtrips from Portland to Los Angeles. But now, according to an expert who has calculated the volume based on what can be seen roaring out of the pipe in the 30-second video BP reluctantly released, it could be 56,000 barrels a day.
Actually, that's his low-end estimate. But there's no way to tell how much is gaseous and how much solid. So let's cut it in half. Call it 28,000 barrels a day of just oil. That's enough for 1293 round-trips from Portland to Los Angeles. Or, 320 times around the earth. Each day. But if the flow has been 28,000 barrels of oil a day since the blowout occurred, that means a total so far of 644,000 barrels of oil. Enough for two-and-a-half round-trips to Mars.
That ain't a "leak." And it sure ain't a "spill." And, as we get more information about what the company, its contractor and their overseers at the U.S. Mineral Management Service did and didn't do, "accident" doesn't quite cut it either, unless you want to say it was an "accident just waiting to happen," inevitable given their willingness to cut corners. Under the circumstances, it gives whole new meaning to BP CEO Tony Hayward's lament shortly after the blowout: "What the hell did we do to deserve this?"
But if it's not a "leak" and not a "spill," what the heck is it? Several people have made suggestions. There's the "BP Rupture Event." The "Gulf gusher" has nice alliteration. "Oilpocalypse" has gone viral. "Oilmageddon" has an appropriately nasty ring to it. After the diary rescue, which begins in the jump, take the poll.
Meanwhile ponder this:
And then ponder this from Haole in Hawaii's Hawaiian Photo Diary:
Whitebar Surgeonfish and Convict Tangs
The Green diary rescue appears Sundays & Thursdays. Inclusion of a particular diary does not necessarily indicate my agreement with it..
Round-ups, Wrap-ups & Digests
mark louis: Alternative Energy Round-Up: " More wind energy is coming to Texas."
eKos: eKos Earthship Monday.
eKos: eKos Earthship Wednesday: Climate Bill Reax Open Thread: Reactions to the American Power Act.
JekyllnHyde The Week in Editorial Cartoons - The Perfect Oil Clean Up Crew.
DWG: The week in dirty coal: Earth Mother's Day edition.
LaughingPlanet: GOP ♥ Terrorists & Big Oil, Hate Jobs: "Chairman of the 9/11 Commission, Thomas Kean, and former Prez'al candidate & co-chairman of the bipartisan U.S. Commission on National Security for the 21st Century, Gary Hart, call for swift action on climate change for national security."
Food, Agriculture, Gardening
beach babe in fl gave us the skinny on how much oil is in a hamburger in her diary, Macca's Meatless Monday...Oil bla di, Oil bla da.
gravlax explained Farm Subsidies, Not Sexy But Important: "The Environmental Working Group (EWG) recently released its farm subsidy database. It breaks down how each Congressional district benefits from farm subsidies. The total comes adds up to $245 billion in federal farm subsidies distributed from 1995 -2009."
Border Jumpers discussed hands-on food-growing instruction in Madgascar in three diaries: Finding Ways to Put Innovations into Practice, Re-Directing Ag Funding to Small-Scale Farmers for Improved Food Security and Despite Challenges, Conserving Natural Resources and Improving Livelihoods in Madagascar.
Saturday Morning Garden Blogging After Hours was another in Frankenoid's latest extended gardening series.
gerrilea discussed what s/he's found in the Codex Alimentarius, an Introduction & Warning: " Codex Alimentarius is truly dangerous and deadly. This is the only conclusion I can come to after all my research. Alas, I'm not alone in thinking these things. It's not about "food safety" or "consumer protection", it is the criminalization of supplements, herbal remedies and anything that can make you a healthy human. If implemented, it would require that you and I, if we wanted to grow food in our own backyards, we'd have to follow "the good farming practices" by the WTO."
makeourfoodsafe explained her work honoring her mother in Daughter Calls on Congress to Pass Food Safety Legislation: "On Mothers Day this year, many families throughout the nation shared meals together. While I’d like to think that the food people ate was as safe as it could be, the rash of foodborne illness outbreaks in recent years screams otherwise. No child, parent or grandparent should have to go through what my family and I have been through. My sister cries when passing through the produce department, and I relive the nightmare of my mother’s painful death on a daily basis."
Patric Juillet: Tales from the Larder: Shellfish Diaries, Part 6: "According to my trusty Larousse Gastronomique, there are approximately 4,500 different species of crabs living on Earth. The good thing is that they are evenly distributed throughout the world. And here's something I didn't know: 'The crab is one of the oldest species on earth. The horseshoe crab dates back over 200 million years and is literally a living fossil. Most people are aware of the zodiac sign of Cancer, named for the constellation which resembles the outline of a crab.'"
Climate Change
davehouck gave the low-down on what some eco-groups are saying about the climate bill in Enviro orgs - a divided front on the energy bill?: "The first email was from Friends Of The Earth. FOE was not impressed: 'Unfortunately, it's as bad as we feared. Summaries of the proposal released this morning indicate they would eliminate critical tools needed to stabilize climate chaos while handing out billions in giveaways to some of the worst industrial polluters in the country.'"
Devilstower hosted a Live Q & A: with Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune.
Meteor Blades excerpted Joe Romm's initial look at the climate bill in Open Thread for Night Owls: American Power Act
And excerpted the key sponsor's discussion of the bill in Open Thread for Night Owls: John Kerry on Climate Bill
slinkerwink wrote As The Earth Bleeds, The President Speaks. President's statement backing Kerry-Lieberman bill.
RLMiller Climate Bill Offshore Oil Compromise Won't Work: Case Study: "Senators Kerry and Lieberman have a choice. They can stick with the compromise hoping that it'll lure Lindsey Graham back from his poutfest -- hasn't worked yet, has it? Or they can listen to the polls showing plummeting support for offshore oil; listen to the accusations that their bill is too friendly to BP and its cohorts; and listen to their consciences."
jovie131 EPA enacts rule to regulate greenhouse gases!: "SHHHHH, don't tell the republicans."
Under what has to be one of the all-time most interesting diary headlines,
jamess discussed e360, 4-8x, 800000y, 389ppm, 1700ppb, 35C, 4-12C, and 50%: "Earlier this year, climatologist Ellen Mosley-Thompson led an expedition to drill into glacial ice on the Antarctic Peninsula, one of the world’s fastest-warming regions. Mosley-Thompson: For the glaciologists, one of the critical things that they wanted to examine closely was — and still is — since the 2002 break up, how much more rapidly are the land-based glaciers discharging ice out into the ocean. Some measurements back in 2004 based upon satellite imagery suggested some of those glaciers increased their flow speed by 4 to 8 times."
oldcrow wondered Who Will Be America's Climate Change Galileo?: " Will climate science face charges, for defying conservative orthodoxy/dogma? Will the well compensated liars among the 'scientists' perjure themselves to please their paymasters in the Oil/Coal/Gas denial combine? Facing a near 'kangaroo court' with a room temperature IQ, tea flavored jury, and with Rush and Glen baying for blood, would any of them stand a chance of a fair trial?"
MinistryOfTruth evaluated two denials together in How to prove the risk of denying God & Global Warming at the same time with 300 yr old science: " Pascal concluded that one should believe in God based on the consequences of not believing in Him should He exist. Now, if one were to apply the same logic and reason to the idea of man-made Climate Change, this is what you would get."
Study: Climate Change may make half of Earth "uninhabitable environment" for humans, lamented Lefty Coaster: "Report: Climate change could render much of world uninhabitable. A worst-case scenario of global warming, in which temperatures would soar some 21 degrees, is that much of the world may simply become too hot for humans to live in, according to new research published last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 'We found that ... a 21-degree warming would put half of the world's population in an uninhabitable environment,'says study co-author Matthew Huber of Purdue University."
Energy & Transportation
MsGrin WH says: First Recovery Act Electric Vehicle Delivered Today: "For months now, a team at an Indiana plant has been hard at work preparing to manufacture electric delivery trucks that are entirely powered by plug-in power. They’ve been installing equipment, retrofitting an old manufacturing facility, assembling parts, testing the new technology – and today they became the very first Recovery Act recipient to deliver an electric vehicle with the advanced battery and electric drive grants the President announced last year as they unveiled their new truck today and handed the keys off to the customer."
FrankSpoke challenged the nuclear industry in BP's SNAFU and the nuclear energy path forward: "You can feel the ground tilting - increasingly frequent reporting by non-MSM outlets of nuclear industry spokespeople gearing up with questionable studies and even more suspect reasoning ... And what could possibly go wrong? Ask BP. Then extrapolate."
And so did wbramh in Fail Safe: "Sure, there are technical reasons to trust Nuclear power plants more today than we should have trusted them 30 years ago. Designs are more sophisticated and becoming standardized, and we're much closer to developing real technological solutions to nuclear waste management. Should we finally trust the industry with our lives? We've been hearing similar arguments in favor of off-shore oil platforms, and often promoted by people who should know better, or at least show a modicum of skepticism. Naturally, the industry has inundated us with slanted babble."
gmoke spotlighted the Zero Net Energy House, Which Was the Winner Is Positive Net Energy House: "At the NESEA Building Energy Conference in March, the winner of the MA Zero Net Energy House contest was announced. It is the Stephens/Clarke Residence in Montague, MA which was built by Bick Corsa. The 1152 square foot, 3 bedroom house cost $180,000, was monitored from January 1, 2009 to January 1, 2010, and produced two and a half times the energy it consumed. This Zero Net Energy House is actually a Positive Net Energy House."
Turkana had some potentially good news in Gore On Oil Spill: "A Consciousness-Shifting Event"; Poll confirms: " And consciousness does seem to be shifting. A new poll ... commissioned by Clean Energy Works, and conducted by President Obama's chief pollster, Joel Benenson, finds strong public support for a strong new energy bill."
A Siegel praised a Senator in Playing a Card in the Energy / Climate Debate: "Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) has a must read OPED in the Baltimore Sun today. The title provides a realist's truth: Gulf spill a lesson nation must heed: Clean energy legislation will protect our coasts, create jobs Let us be clear: Cardin's OPED is not earth shattering revelation, bringing out the meaning of life in some way that has never occurred before, but is simply powerful truth coming from one of the club of 100, the U.S. Senate, a club which has collectively stubbornly refused to move the nation forward toward a more prosperous, climate-friendly future."
Lefty Coaster worried that the Senate majority leader is retreating in Reid backs away from CO2 cuts, talks about "smaller energy bill": " Apparently Reid thinks that since the Deepwater Horizon Disaster made expansion of offshore drilling less palatable for Senate Democrats, he won't have enough sweeteners to offer Republicans in exchange for their support on the Climate Bill."
Kate Colarulli of the Sierra Club Dirty Fuels Campaign and Bruce Nilles co-wrote Oil Disaster Doesn't Mean We Should Switch to Other Dirty Fuels: "There are more and more "clean" coal ads appearing alongside oil cleanup articles, and the tar sands (also known as oil sands) industry has already made the outrageous claim that they are "safer" than offshore drilling. One executive said "that while there can be failures with conventional oil and oil sands projects, 'the damage would be much smaller and more modest' than with offshore spills.'"
And together with Mark Kresowik, Corporate Accountability and Finance Representative for the Sierra Club, he wrote Exposing the Financers of Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining: " It takes billions of dollars to destroy communities, blow the tops off Appalachian mountains and bury thousands of miles of streams, as mountaintop removal coal mining does. Today the Sierra Club, Rainforest Action Network (RAN), and BankTrack are grading the lending policies of nine of the world’s largest banks that help finance the most destructive practices of the coal industry."
rperks was glad to hear of celebrity help on the mountaintop removal campaign as Justin Townes Earle Joins 'Music Saves Mountains': "NRDC is excited to have Justin Townes Earle join the ranks of artists banding together in our Music Saves Mountains initiative to help spread national awareness of mountaintop removal coal mining -- and bring it to an end."
Can We Now Do Clean, Green Power Please? asked terryhallinan: "We Swedes invented the solar airplane. We are not always best known for our brain power ("Watch out for those &*^% clouds, Ollie"). Solar power can be the motive force for predator drones if we want to kill people but you won't get many passengers on a solar-powered flight anymore than on a kite that depends on wind.You need biomass to do the job. Pond scum does just fine even now."
Reflecting local concerns, janefleming urged action to Protect Nebraska’s Economic Activity, Put the Brakes on the Pipeline: "TransCanada is proposing to build a pipeline that will carry the dirtiest form of oil—tar sands—through our farmland, our Sandhills and our water. ...You can help stop the pipeline by commenting on the Department of State’s website and by signing our Nebraska petition to Secretary Clinton, President Obama and Governor Heineman."
longislandny sought a cooperative approach in Renewable Energy, who should do it?: "I am an outdoorsman and love the enviroment as much as the next person. There are some people out there probably a little bit more passionate then me. Some of them have boatloads of cash. I would love to see these people band together and start a utility company and go public."
CathodeRay gasps over Insanity: Shell given the OK to drill in Arctic.
Eco-Philosophy, Eco-Policy & Eco-Action
In the second edition of EcoAdvocates, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse urged EcoAdvocates: Let's Ushahidi BP!: "Citizen witnesses and observers are using Ushahidi, a mobile reporting platform, to collect information and data on the impacts from the BP underwater oil volcano. Ushahidi (Swahili for testimony or witness) is a tool for record-keeping by the crowd-sourcing of texts, photos, tweets and email messages. When the traditional media wants to ignore an issue, on-the-ground citizen reporting to the rescue."
patrickz explains What is eKos: "You may have noticed the tag, and perhaps even stopped by one of the eKos Earthship diaries. But what exactly is eKos? It is comprehensive effort to promote environmental writing on Daily Kos. In this diary, I'll attempt to explain what we are doing and how you can get involved."
Houston Radical asked if American opposed to drilling offshore are engaged in Parochial environmentalism: "Full disclosure: I am a consultant working in the petroleum exploration industry. I am a liberal - Obama is way too conservative for me! I subscribe 100% to the ideals: 1) human rights, 2) economic fairness, and 3) social justice. In short, I think that people are more important than money. I also consider myself an environmentalist - if alternative energy became available tomorrow, then I'd happily work in another industry. So although this comment deserves an asterik, I can't help but wonder. If the BP oil spill had happened offshore Nigeria, or in the Persian Gulf, or in the Java Sea, would the protests be so visible?"
Cliche Rinpoche looked at the big questions in The Right, the Environment, and Me: A Love Story: "I don't mean to be utopian here. I know there are huge differences in the way people view the world, and some of those views are, well, disgusting or cruel. But I wanted to share one idea I've had. Most likely the point has been made before, but I haven't seen it clearly. This is about environmentalism."
penguinsong urged everyone to check out a DVD in Population And The Exponential Function: Arithmetic, Population and Energy - a talk by Al Bartlett.
davidseth explained the personal approach in Taking Care Of Old Mom Earth: "If BP were pouring its oil on my roof, or in my yard, or in my street, I'd tell them to cut it out and to clean it up. I'd probably also get angry at BP. I would plot ways of having my sweet revenge on them for making a mess of my house, or land, or street. I'd think about all of the demonstrations, lawsuits, administrative actions, and so on I could instigate against them. I would look for revenge. It wouldn't be enlightened, but that's what I'd do".
In your opinion, are most Scientists mistaken? was jamess's question in his praise: " Science Literacy matters so much so that the Administration is starting to put some serious money into the efforts to try to improve it. Woo Hoo!"
Ken Salazar must resign #oilspill wrote lokiloki: " Indeed, while Salazar talks a good game ("boot on the throat" type comments) about cleaning up the sex-and-lobbying scandal at Minerals Management Service (MMS, the agency in part responsible for vetting oil/gas leases, and part of Interior), his actions are par for the (Bush) course. Delist grey wolfs? Sure. Don't list polar bears? No problem. Need more off shore drilling? Let's open the whole east coast up!"
The spirit of the commons was Heather TaylorMiesle NRDC Action Fund's theme in National Tragedy Demands Real Response: "Shared national experiences are pretty powerful things. Although one can't really compare a terrorist attack on our nation to a mechanical failure that causes catastrophic loss, the experience of communal mourning is still similar...denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. But what this list does not mention is "resolve". No one can deny that regardless the nature of the event, when this nation marches to the same drummer, it creates a powerful beat that can move mountains."
harveywasserman connected war and oil in As We Die for BP, Our Military Rots in the Wrong Gulf: "We squander our treasure on the largest conglomeration of people and weapons the world has ever seen. It's bloated with hardware designed specifically to destroy and kill. Hundreds of thousands of Americans sit on our dime in more than a hundred countries, rotting in the outposts of a bygone empire. Why aren't they in the Gulf of Mexico, fighting for our truest "national security"?
Pollution
caldreaming was glad to hear about a new report in "Reduce Toxins – Go Organic!" President’s Cancer Panel: "Calling our current approach "reactionary" (wait until a chemical is proven harmful, and then work on cleanup and remediation.) the panel calls for a preventive approach. One that focuses on removing toxins from our lives, and replacing our current chemistry with a green chemistry. They also call for a shift in regulatory processes, where instead of the burden being on regulators to prove a chemical hazardous, industry must prove it safe."
Animals
Ellinorianne told the story with a happy ending in Rescued Gray Whale in Southern Cal Harbor Swims to Open Seas: "This poor old Gray Whale has been hanging out in Dana Point Harbor for the past three days and we're still quite baffled by why he's here. It's the tail end of the migration period for Gray whales and it's assumed that any late comers are either young whales that have been separated from their pod or like this one, sick or old whales that may be lost or just ailing. The good news is they were able to get the rope off of our friend in Dana Harbor and that it might have been the heavy netting that was keeping him from his migration and not that he was old and sick. This is a happy ending that I needed today. We all need some good news."
And a not-so-happy one in Taiji Japan, High Levels of Mercury and Dolphin Slaughter: " The Cove, an Oscar winning Documentary about the annual dolphin wrangling and slaughter in a small Japanese town called Taiji brought a lot of attention to a heart wrenching story. The story still keeps unfolding because it's not just about dolphins that are rounded up daily for a few months each year and sold to aquariums and amusement parks around the world."
Donna O sought help for a happy ending in Tufted Titmouse? Fledgling I'm trying to save..
pale cold was pissed about 350 animals to be euthanized for a treatable disease: " The officials say it is a very virulent strain of Ringworm, and they also admit that it was human error that caused the outbreak to become severe."
Forests & the Great Outdoors
Patric Juillet put the klieg lights on These (Usual Suspects) Corporations Condone Deforestation: "Rainforests are home to roughly 50% of the world's species, making them an extensive library of biological and genetic resources. In addition, rainforests help maintain the climate by regulating atmospheric gases and stabilizing rainfall, protect against desertification, and provide numerous other ecological functions. So what do we do? We destroy them, of course."
jamesboyce taught us about an cco-economic connection in Evidently You Should Put A Cork In It.: " The issue is also that in this arena the answers aren't always clear. For example, corks in wine bottles. Well, they come from cork trees, so it must be bad to have corks right? Well, yesterday I learned that actually using cork is good for the environment and biodiversity of the world."
Vorkosigan took us on a Biking Weekend: On the Coast and in the Fields of Taiwan.
Green Cities & Green Economics
Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse found some good things happening in the way-too-slow rebuilding of New Orleans and explained in Eco Homes for NOLA's Lower 9th Ward in Katrina Recovery: " Habitat for Humanity has constructed more than 1,300 affordable homes in the four states impacted by Katrina. Global Green, an organization designed to foster sustainability by "reconnecting humanity with the environment, is building single-family homes (as shown in photo), an apartment building, and a community center. In addition, one of the top ten green projects for 2010 is Special No. 9 House, a single-family residential home designed to "provide storm-resistant, affordable, and sustainable housing options for the residents of New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward displaced by Hurricane Katrina."
In the Village Green series, Kaid at NRDC did a preliminary assessment of New Metro Area Commuting Data Reveal Best & Worst Environmental Performers: "Earlier this week the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program released its signature report, The State of Metropolitan America. The study is a comprehensive examination of a range of data indicators on America’s 100 largest metro regions. According to the project’s website, the analysis "portrays the demographic and social trends shaping the nation’s essential economic and societal units—its large metropolitan areas—and discusses what they imply for public policies to secure prosperity for these places and their populations. To say that the report is data-rich is a massive understatement (if that’s not an oxymoron), and I don’t pretend to have digested all of it."
Dr Teeth suggested the need for more than has been planned for in Government Credibility and Green Jobs: "If we want wind farms, it will take more than an earmark by congress. The federal government must set aside land, and institute mandatory spending in the budget over the next several decades. This can't be a side note buried in a piece of legislation. The government must commit. If this kind of commitment is there, the private sector will begin investing in the technical requirements for wind energy."
NoGW proposed another way to cut carbon use in America Needs A 'Green Credit: " If we were to set a fixed price at, say, $140 per barrel of oil and the equivalent, carbon-content-wise, for coal, natural gas, and other fuels, the difference between the fixed price and the market price could be rebated in equal shares to all Americans. This could be called the Green Credit, or maybe something a bit more catchy. This credit could be in the form of a monthly check or direct deposit, perhaps administered by the Social Security Administration."
The Gulf Gusher
BSmojo Send BP or Sarah Palin A Tar Ball -TAR BALL PARTY: "I wonder if it is possible to set up a shipping operation in one of those sea shell shops along the Tar Ball Coast. A place where natives could bring sand encrusted tar balls to be packaged and shipped back to BP or any other politician who ever thought Drill, Drill Baby Drill is a good Idea. We could call it a Tar Ball Party."
LaughingPlanet: How Big is the Oilpocalypse? Perspective.: "For those of us without a good spacial ability to get a grasp of how large this river of oil a mile underwater is, a new tool has been developed. Here are a few places you might recognize, and how they would look underneath the crude oil produced by the Deepwater Horizon disaster."
Kristina40 Can we stop repeating their lies for them? Updated w/ Congressional Inquiry: "I live on the Gulf Coast. My every waking moment for more than three weeks now has been dedicated to learning what went wrong, why it went wrong and just how wrong it has gone. It has been clear to me that the estimates of 5K barrels a day was ridiculously low and now there is proof to that effect that is being ignored."
Christian Dem in NC: BP dragging its feet releasing oil spill footage: "A joint investigation by ABC News and the Center for Public Integrity has revealed that BP is releasing footage of the Deepwater Horizon spill at a trickle."
innereye: BP Allowed to Hide the Evidence: "As of today, BP released a single picture of the smaller of two leak points from the Deep Horizon Oil Leak."
Jed Lewison wrote, GOP blocks effort to hold oil companies accountable for economic damage from spills: "I'm sure you'll be shocked by this: acting on behalf of her Republican colleagues (and some oil-friendly Democrats like Mary Landrieu), Alaska's Republican U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski today blocked legislation that would have lifted the $75 million liability cap protecting big oil companies like BP from paying for economic damage caused by their oil spills."
And Few details in White House proposal to lift liability cap.
And After 23 days, BP releases 30-second video of leaking well.
And BP releases still image, but maintains tight control over video of oil gushing from leak.
And Poll: Support for expanded offshore drilling drops: "According to the poll, 46% favored increased offshore drilling and 41% opposed it. This represents a sharp drop from just two years ago -- in August, 2008 a CBS poll showed 62% favored an expansion of drilling compared with 28% who opposed it."
And WH proposes overhaul of drilling oversight agency: "The idea of separating revenue and leasing functions from safety and inspection seems prudent, particularly in light of the history of corruption at MMS. Other nations -- for example, Britain, Norway, and Australia -- have taken the same step. It's also worth keeping in mind that while MMS does have oversight over oil drilling, it also has oversight over mining and other methods of resource extraction."
Shaviv: Gulf Coast Oilpocalypse "at least ten times worse" than previously estimated: NPR: "NPR's report suggests that the volume of crud spewing out of the mangled well-head in the Gulf of Mexico is not 5,000 barrels a day, as previously reported, but on order of 50,000."
Tyto Alba: oil leak volume estimates are dramatically low, analysis suggests.
FishOutofWater: "Oil Could Gush for Years": DK Greenroots: "'We don't know how to stop this,' an oil industry expert Matthew Simmons told the National Geographic today. He strongly doubted temporary efforts such as the 'junk shot' to plug the well, calling it 'a joke.' Simmons said that the oil could flow until the reservoir is depleted. Experts interviewed said that the BP spill could have effects similar to the Saudi spill of 1991, the largest oil spill ever. 'It was amazing to stand there and look across what used to be a salt marsh and it was all dead—not even a live crab,' Hayes said."
And Nelson: BP not waiving liability cap.
8ackgr0und N015e: It's not just the water they foul, but also the air: "exhaust. It's to be expected, officials said, with all that crude oil in the Gulf. Yeah, that's what I expect when I go down to the seashore, a heady mix of benzene, toluene and ethylbenzene. Ahhhhh.... I love the smell of organic compounds in the morning. It smells like.... "
Libby Shaw: OILmageddon: Thank you W., Cheney, BP and Halliburton: "OILmageddon is what happens when two oil boys are in charge of our federal government. During their term in office, President G.W. Bush and Vice President had appointed lobbyists to run our federal regulatory agencies."
Edger: "Not The End of the Gulf": Gulf of Mexico Foundation: "The Gulf of Mexico Foundation's website says it was 'founded in 1990 by citizens concerned with the health and productivity of the Gulf of Mexico.' Its site shows it has sponsored conservation and educational programs and partnered with the likes of the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The site also says the group represents a 'wide range of interests,' including 'agriculture, business, fisheries, industry, tourism, and the environment.' But as it turns out, industry appears to be the most represented of those interests."
jimstaro: Rig Survivor: Tale of Survival, Fear, Legal Tangles: "While being kept aboard the ship they had wanted to call their families, they were told they couldn't as there was only one phone but that the company would contact the families. Apparently that company statement isn't true as his wife says she didn't find out he survived until the next day when she finally got through to the company after she called them."
mfriedman22: BP Tries to Salvage Well: "The truth is that they don't just want to stop the leak. They want to have a working well producing oil for them afterwards! This is a conflict of interest and it looks like it is about greed........again. This conflict of interest is getting in the way of stopping the leak."
o the umanity: Blowout Preventer Failed in Trial Run?: "Someone gave the go-ahead with this drilling, which was bad enough. If they did it anyway after a crucial test failed, that desk--and the person in it--needs to be identified."
RedDan: B.O.P. Hydraulic leaks, well pressure tests, and lots of gas... someone's going to jail: "Ok... so you know that things break. So you test them, continuously and repeatedly."
jimprues: Oil and The Gulf: "But if we look at this 40 year history of oil troubles, we see the same pattern emerge as we see emerge in so many other areas of our lives. Elitist interests trumping the common good. Our policies haven't improved, because our government is controlled by money, in this case energy corporations money."
A Siegel: The Contrasts are Stark: We need to help people see ...: "Will the stink from oil across the Gulf Coast turn citizens toward even stronger support for a clean energy future? Will America's political leaders turn aside in their decision-making from the massive contributions that they've received from fossil foolish interests to represent faithfully their constituents' desires for emphasizing clean energy and energy efficiency over the maximization of oil, natural gas, and coal industry profits?"
Solutions
indycam: The FishGrease Oil recovery plan.
Woodworker: sawdust and oil do mix: "How to you make oil on the surface of water more manageable? Spread a fine layer of sawdust. This may be really wacky as far as ideas go, but sawdust is a readily available organic material that composts, adding nutrients, but moderating the effects of excess nitrogen."
Crashing Vor: Don's Oil Spill Cleanup Idea: Cardboard: ""I started just thinking about things that soaked things up. Paint spills, oil in the garage. I was thinking over all the absorbing stuff I've used, cloth, paper, hay, sand. Then it hit me: cardboard. How many times have I wicked up oil with a piece of cardboard?"
ericlewis0: Permeable Cone Stocking, a.k.a. 'Oil Corral' - Revised: Revised plan with a better graphic.
mindoca: About that permeable cone thingie on the rec list...UPDATED at 11PM EDT: Promoting ericlewis0: for a Democracy for America scholarship.
Tomtech: Nuke the thing! Final Update!: "With the announcement that the Soviets used nuclear blast generated shock waves to collapse well pipes on multiple occasions, I am sure the Navy will prepare and present a proposal somewhat similar to my plan to the President. If he gives the go ahead I hope the community can deal with it."
just another vortex: Is capturing the BP gusher this easy?: "The key is to think buckets, not pipes, and only two buckets (upside down and big, but within the demonstrated range of feasibility)."
just another vortex: Oil gusher solution? Bell jar bucket brigade.
Brainwrap: Golf Balls. That's what we've been reduced to.: "Golf balls. Yup, that's what we've been reduced to.Plan A: "put something on top of it."Plan B: "shove some stuff into it."
Corpania: Oil Spill: Macro-Plan & One New Solution: "BP & HALIBURTON SHOULD "CROWDSOURCE ... I think they should offer a reward/bounty of $1 million for each machine (that works) pumping only 50 gallons a minute (= 7,200 gallons a day or about 1/30th of the current leak rate) to the surface."
The Continuing Saga
RLMiller: SeaScum Sen. Lieberman's Climate Bill To Expand Offshore Oil: "Today's award for dumbest statement of the day regarding Oilpocalypse goes to a Senator who learns, slightly, from accidents. The long awaited Kerry-YourNameHere-Lieberman bill will be unveiled tomorrow. One of its coauthors acknowledges one slight alteration to existing plans in the bill to expand offshore drilling. Yeah, sort of like veering one degree to the right while falling off a cliff? Congratulations, Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT). You win the SeaScum of the Day award."
Something the Dog Said: 28% Of Republicans Say BP Disaster Makes Them Want More Drilling: "There is a new survey by Public Policy Polling (PPP) which will be released today that for 28% of Republicans the recent BP Deep Horizon disaster makes them more likely to support off shore drilling. You read that right."
Fishgrease: Fishgrease: DKos Booming School: "I 've been in Oil and Gas Production (all upstream) and Exploration for over 30 years. My salary is a little bigger than God's, which is okay because I'm more useful than he is. I'm a better cook than God is too, but lets get back on subject here. Booming School. Not only is Oil Spill Booming a large industry in the USA, teaching Oil Spill Booming is a large industry in the USA."
enhydra lutris: Action Diary Deep Water Drilling US Senate Committee: "There are some serious questions being raised on how safe and environmentally friendly off shore drilling is. ...The Disaster in the Gulf was something that needs to be addressed before anymore experimental wells in our fragile ocean ecosystem are drilled."
FishOutofWater: Is Dispersed Oil in the Loop Current Heading for Florida?: "Chemical dispersants have been keeping the size of the of the bright silvery oil slick from growing despite the daily additions of large volumes of oil. Dispersants may be hiding the real size of the oil spill. Dispersed oil does not form slicks but it contains toxins hazardous to marine life. It is difficult to see dispersed oil from the air or from satellite photographs, but it continues to be a threat to marine life."
DWG: DK GreenRoots: Let's Give Virginia A Big Oily Wedgie: "Did you know that a wedge-shaped area near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay is scheduled to be opened for offshore oil and gas leases in 2011? If not, let me introduce you to Lease Sale 220. The area in question ...begins 50 miles off of Virginia's portion of the Delmarva peninsula. The real question is how did this area wind up on the dirty energy auction block?"
RDemocrat: Oil To Spill Unabated in the Gulf Indefinitely: "How many times will Americans pay the price before they stand up and demand that our government protect us not only from terrorists but from the uncaring Corporate irresponsibility that will sacrifice all things, human or unhuman for the almighty profit?? If we do not learn this time I fear that we never will."
icebergslim: What if this happened to you?: "What if you were on an oil rig that blew up in the gulf? What if you witnessed your colleagues die, burn to death but was sequestered for more than 24 hours, unable to let your family know you were alive because your company demands you sign a waiver that holds them not responsible? A form that indicates you are not physically or mentally shattered? What if this happened to you?"
DerAmi: Halliburton: We did what we were required to do..
slinkerwink: Oil Companies Get 27 New Federal Waivers Since Oil Spill!: "The MMS said that the exemptions were granted because they do not represent final drilling approval. So does President Obama's temporary moratorium on offshore drilling only relate to oil companies that have entered final drilling approval? It's not clear at this point, and has confused environmental advocates..."
thomasn528: 27 federal waivers for Gulf drilling since Deepwater Horizon disaster: "You would think that after an environmental catastrophe on the scale of the Deepwater Horizon blowout, the federal agency in charge of reviewing plans for new wells would put everything on hold while it figured out what happened, how to better prevent it, and what to do if another "oil volcano"disaster occurred. You would be wrong."
Steven D: Tar Balls and States Rights: "Frankly I fail to understand those who believe in states rights permitting "scientists"from the United States Geological Service (a/k/a Big Guvmint) to intrude upon the sanctity of their pure white sand beaches, no matter how many tar balls that might wash up on the shore."
Meteor Blades: Lots of 'Incidents' at Transocean/
Miep: What To Call The Event In The Gulf: "I suggest we call it the "BP Gulf Rupture Event."
Something the Dog Said: BP Hearing - What The Traditional Media Did Not Report: "The coverage of the Senate Energy and Work Place Committee hearing yesterday has been rather predictable; the three witnesses from the three companies that are involved in the Deep Horizon drilling rig explosion were always going to point at each other when the question of who is at fault for the explosion and massive ongoing spill of crude oil into the source of 20% of the nations commercial fishing, the Gulf of Mexico. However there were a few things that came out which are going to be of more than passing interest going forward that have not received the attention that they deserve."
beholderseye: BP Releases First Video of Oil Volcano: "It took them long enough, but with enough pressure they finally cracked. Now we have a video of the oil volcano in all of its glory. Something important to note here is the seemingly large amount of gas that is coming out of the pipe."
Clay Claiborne: We Must Stop This Oil Leak ASAP!: "We must have: 1) Federal takeover of emergency operations to stop the leak. BP has it's narrow corporate interests and can't be trusted to continue to run this. 2) Complete openness and transparency. All information relevant to a solution must be made available to every person who could possibly contribute to a solution."
Julie Gulden: Rachel links to Fishgrease....Our HERO: "Not only does Rachel Maddow's website have a fantastic video of the oil spill, done by an amateur, on her website, but she links to our own Fishgrease in all his "boom fucking"glory. Is he an effing hero or what!"
mwmwm: After the shores turn black and begin to stink: "It will stink. Stink in a chemically toxic way. Stink so badly that nobody wants to be near it. Stink so badly that beachfront homes become worthless. Stink so badly that tourism vanishes. Western winds will blow stink through Disneyland. The thousands of tourism-dependent industries all along the coast will smell it every morning, and they will open to no vacationers."
ProgressiveSouth: Will there be real change in wake of Gulf disaster: "The public's views of how the Gulf disaster should influence the drilling debate are clearly colored by their ideological glasses. Pew found [pdf] that support for offshore drilling among Democrats and Independents fell 13 percent after the spill."
douglassmyth: Russian Roulette in the Gulf: "In fact, our whole vocabulary for describing what has happened with the oil well explosion has so far proven inadequate."
Crashing Vor: Tell Me Why We Shouldn't Nationalize BP's Well: "All preliminary reports suggest that the company's project managers overruled on-site engineers who warned that removing drilling mud from the drill string before cementing was complete. After pressure irregularities had shut down the rig before cementing had even begun. In other words, all necessary precautions were not taken."
ybruti: BP diagrams were flawed: "Oil spill probe traces miscues...BP diagrams were flawed, keeping workers from fixing blowout preventer."
Project Omelas: A four storey Coffer Dam photos - how much oil again?: "BP's control and containment appears to have been primarily focussed to limit legal, media, financial and political fall out."
zmom: Must Break the MSM Oil Disaster Semi-Blackout: "I am utterly confused on who is in charge of this disaster, what the chain of command is and how are things getting organized and implemented. Is it BP with Coast Guard guidance, or Coast Guard controlled with BP guidence, who is actually calling the shots and saying yea and nay and is anyone pushing, prodding, threatening for real results, or are we just letting the worst of worst happen?"
jamess: Where does the Buck Stop, when it comes to BP Oil?: "And it's kind of nice to see our distinguished Senators finally getting 'indignant' about something; It seems even they are getting a bit tired of the BP Blame Game ... (funny, you'd think "finger-pointing"would be a sign language, Senators could understand?)"
jamess: It's basically a giant Experiment: Corexit 9500, Oil, just Add Water Column: "What could be worse than Toxic Oil, thoroughly mixing into "every layer of the water column" poisoning most species that somehow manage to eek out a living, in each underwater ecosystem? How about adding a half-million gallons of special 'anti-freeze', to help that 'glass of inky water' -- to instantly turn a murky white? Abra-ca-dabra!"
WilliamKWolfrum: British Petroleum announces "Everyone Wins a Gallon of Oil"Contest: Snark.
jgkojak: Superman to fix BP leak: "UPDATE: Superman is dead. In a scene that shocked the world, Superman was pulled from the Gulf by divers, having drowned in 5000 feet of water. His oil-covered body was lifted by helicopter to a waiting BP ship."
Cardshark: The Oilman's Burden: A poem.
Crashing Vor: BP Terrified... of Morris Bart?: "That a large energy corporation would lead with the lawyers may be outrageous, but it's not surprising. Nor is it much of a shocker that BP has already begun venue-shopping, asking the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to have all pretrial motions in all class actions against the company heard not in the jurisdictions where the harm was done, but in Houston's Southern District (U.S. Fifth District Appellate), the honorable U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes presiding."
Adept2u: BP's Oil Top Hat Has Failed?: "Reports are breaking that BP’s latest attempt to staunch the flow of oil from one of the leaks from their disaster using the "Top Hat"dome has been beset by technical difficulties."
Britethorn: Spill Baby, Spill! NEW BP Commerical: "The only thing that's left out in the above commercial spoof is how BP is going to move heaven and earth from ever having to really pay for the oil spill cleanup and restitution to the millions of residents of the Gulf Coast whose lives and businesses will be horribly mangled by BP's irresponsible stewardship of its oil platform."
My EV World: Drill Baby, Drill!: "The oil coming out of such depths is a scalding 275 degrees F at a metal cutting 17,400 psi. But the now-ruptured Macondo borehole isn't the deepest Gulf well drilled. That honor goes to the Tiber well at 35,000 feet, plus 4,100 feet of water. Prior to it, Thunder Horse held the record at 29,000 feet and 6,000 feet of water. By way of contrast, the deepest oil well of its time, the Daisy Bradford #3, struck oil at mere 3,593 ft in 1930."
BSmojo: Before the Tar Balls Come: "I am going to ride my bike to the beach today. I have been going every day for the last couple of weeks. I feel like I need to go now while it is still safe to swim in the water. Before the toxic sludge and tar balls come I am going for a quick swim in the ocean. I am going down to the sea shore before I can't go there any more without flowers for a funeral and shoes on my feet."
MadScientist: Venezuelan Natural Gas Exploration Rig Falls Over and Sinks: "Proving that offshore drilling is not an easy prospect, for anybody, not just the BP's of the world."