Clearly I'm not seeing all that is going on but I'm amazed at how this problem is being attacked. Based solely on the media reports, they are attacking this in a serial fashion when because of the extreme magnitude of the disaster, they should be attacking in parallel.
Let me explain. By serial I mean one thing happens after another. Hey, we got an oil leak so let's build a big box with a funnel top to lower over the leak and catch the oil. That didn't work. OK, plan B, let's build a small box top hat. Nope. OK, Plan C - let's put a straw into the middle of the flow. So that's 3 things they've tried and it has taken a month to accomplish.
Given the magnitude of the this spill, a better approach would be to say "Give me your 5 best ideas. Here's a suitcase full of money to build all of these right now and get them out to the site ASAP. Now, give me your next 5 best ideas and let's get started on those." That is what I mean by parallel. Have multiple lines of attack being worked on at the same time.
Understand that these folks are working right at the bleeding edge of the technology in an environment as harsh as outer space, maybe harsher. Frankly I'm amazed that the industry doesn't have more tools in the toolbox for just this kind of situation. Again, I wasn't there so I don't know what was going on, but just two weeks ago there was the Offshore Technology Conferencein Houston, TX where you had ALL of the players in this space in one place. The gov't should have called meeting, gotten all of the best minds in one room and asked "This could have happened to any one of you, so, what have you got?"
I worked for an engineering support company in the 80's and got to do a lot of work at Prudhoe Bay for the oil companies so I got a bit of an inside look at the business. What these guys do in extremes is amazing and dangerous. I'm fully a supporter of clean renewable energy and am dissapointed so far at Obama's failure to move forward with a better energy plan (but with so much shit to pick up from the previous admin, I guess you have to prioritize something). If you think there are problems in the Gulf, please believe me when I say you do not want this kind of drilling anywhere in Arctic region. If you were to have this kind of problem in the middle of winter, with the oil under the ice and temps at -50 degrees F and colder (been there, done that) the magnitude of the disaster would be equally great or worse.
I'm surprised that they haven't tried cutting the riser just above the Blowout Preventer (BOP) and dropped on a new one like John Wayne did in "Hellfighters"
At the beginning of this clip, the drillers have a blowout not unlike BP (just not a mile undersea). They try to close the valve that performs the same duty as the BOP but it's stuck and the well catches fire. At the end of the clip they use explosives to blow out the flame. You see the stub of the well left with oil shooting out. What they don't show is Wayne & Co. lowering a new valve in the fully open position onto the the well stub and securing it. Once attached, they then close the new valve and solve the problem. This very idea was discussed on the Diane Rehm show on NPR on 5/20. You'll find it starting at the 40:20 mark in the program.
And here I'll offer my own idea. How about a rig that contains two opposing explosive rams. You position them on the riser before any of the leaks. When the explosive charges are triggered simultaneously, the piston/rams are driven toward each other with the riser in the middle. This should smash crimp the riser preventing further flow.
My point is the consequences for damage to the planet are so great with offshore drilling, that significant safety measures need to be in place with tough enforcement, and a whole range of emergency response measures need to be ready to go at a moments notice. Don't just throw one piece of spaghetti at the wall and see if it sticks before you throw the second.