Re: Oil Rig explosion/Gulf Oil Spill A top kill would probably have saved more oil because it would have not been lost in the gulf and then produced through the relief well in a month. It was only two pages ago it was mentioned this could make the leak worse and a number of pressure tests had to be done on the bop. But they probably made that up too......
Re: Oil Rig explosion/Gulf Oil Spill While I can't give you the specific reasons, I can give you my rationale as to why it makes sense. First a large portion of the 30-40% chance of failure is not just a continuation of the status quo. There is a real danger that this could make things much worse. How much of a chance? I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised that it's 10% or more that we could see a multifold increase in the spill especially if they rushed. If you watched that presentation posted above, it should be obvious that the engineering involved with this is incredible. In some ways, due to their own negligence of not documenting BOP modifications, they are blind and as a result they need to do a lot of cautious testing. This stuff has never been done and it was going to take time to responsibly figure it out. May as well try other less risky things in the mean time. The idea that they are doing it to make money is silly imo. While I don't know, I would bet as soon as that well failed they were always going to have to drill an alternative well to tap the reservoir.
Re: Oil Rig explosion/Gulf Oil Spill In interesting point of view: http://thehayride.com/2010/05/video-nungesser-spews-outrage-over-spill-response/
Re: Oil Rig explosion/Gulf Oil Spill This video illustrates just how awful the effect of using dispersants is. ABC News Goes Underwater For Special Report On Gulf Oil Spill (VIDEO)
Re: Oil Rig explosion/Gulf Oil Spill Well, he's frustrated and understandably so. But Mary Landrieu is right about one thing. The coastal sand experts around here have been involved in beach nourishment and dredging offshore sand resources for decades and they say that the kind of berms that people are screaming for would take 6 to 9 months to build under the best of circumstances with no hurricane season. The right sand is not available just everywhere that it is needed, we have a lot of thick muddy bottoms, especially near the delta. And, as mentioned earlier, the ocean processes start to break sand berms down immediately. One hurricane and the whole effort could be wasted. If it were that easy to build barrier islands we would have been doing it years ago. But decades of failed projects and experiments have shown that it only works under the best of conditions and under some conditiones and in some areas, especially tidal channels, it won't work at all.
Re: Oil Rig explosion/Gulf Oil Spill Thanks, I posted it on Facebook. If bureaucrats and politicians don't want to lead and make decisions, at least let people who are willing to, do so! Not surprised given how our country has ignored the coastal errosion problems in our state for years: The balance has been upset by the construction of levees and dams along the Mississippi River leading to rapid erosion of the Mississippi River delta in Louisiana. It is the most rapidly eroding coast in the USA. Since 1900, about 4900 km2 of wetlands in coastal Louisiana have been lost at rates as high as 100 km2/year. The rate was 90 km2/year for the 1978-90 time period. Coastal Erosion
Re: Oil Rig explosion/Gulf Oil Spill I'm really thinking that BP is dragging it's feet because the uncertainty of top kill success is probably very high and they know it. Also, I think they're hoping for the US government to push them aside and take over the operations so when the top kill does fail, they can blame the Feds and try to wiggle out of a portion of their liability. Believe me, BP is dragging their feet on purpose...but not to capture the oil as much as they know the damage and their subsequent liability will increase many fold.
