• NEW! LOWEST RATES EVER -- SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY THE VERY BEST PREMIUM PARACAST EXPERIENCE! Welcome to The Paracast+, eight years young! For a low subscription fee, you can download the ad-free version of The Paracast and the exclusive, member-only, After The Paracast bonus podcast, featuring color commentary, exclusive interviews, the continuation of interviews that began on the main episode of The Paracast. We also offer lifetime memberships! Flash! Take advantage of our lowest rates ever! Act now! It's easier than ever to susbcribe! You can sign up right here!

    Subscribe to The Paracast Newsletter!

The Mad as Hell at BP Oil Thread


I had expected a lot more creative thinking from those trying to sort this situation out.

How about freezing the area where the oil is coming out, or having a large canopy to direct all the oil coming out. Do we not have the chemistry to take the viscosity out of the oil , maybe turn it into a solid brittle material so that it can be easier to gather.

I am sure there are solutions out there but I bet some of them are not being able to sell the spilt oil.

As for not letting other countries help in the clear up operation - Where all here to help especially on matters of the environment.

Russians did the same with the Kursk.
 
I doubt freezing will work, my guess is it is pretty hot stuff. A large canopy is not a bad idea but under water currents might hamper that idea. I wonder if an inflatable heavy duty tube of some sort could be inserted in the pipe somehow.

BP (Broken Pipe) and Obama will have solutions tonight I hear. Any bets that it will be a tax?
 
They should borrow the ultra-secret government back engineered UFO and then use its forcefield to stop the leak and then again to clean it all up.

You'd think that if some real rock'm sock'm tech were available they would deploy it. If they have technology 50 years ahead of what is publicly known as some claim, what event is worthy of whipping it out? What would trigger the 'tearing of the veil?' Economic/Ecological disaster on what scale? War with who or what? It would seem that if we have a star player now would be the time to take him off the bench.
 
It would seem that if we have a star player now would be the time to take him off the bench.

We just did! While Obama tries to out-slick the oil slick, Kevin Costner will save us all.
 
I am surprised that they have not used a large canopy tunnel (like the one they use to train dogs in agility) , with weights at one end to gather the oil. even with currents you just use heavier weights, the ribbing keeps it rigid. At least we could funnel all the oil escaping now and use ultrasonics to keep the flow going.

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]ABSTRACT[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Filtration under an ultrasonic field is a technique that is gaining importance in the wastewater treatment research field, not only due to its ability as a cleaning mechanism, but also as a filtration intensifier. The main objective of this research was the study of the influence of ultrasonic waves on the filtration of theoilfield wastewater (known as produced water) in order to increase the operation performance and filter medium regenerative effectiveness. A 0.016 m<sup>2</sup> hollow cylindrical porous ceramic filter was submitted to the filtration of produced water by two mechanisms: conventional filtration under vacuum and filtration under theinfluence of ultrasonic waves. Experiments were carried out using synthetic produced water by analyzing the variables oil and grease content (O&G) and total suspended solids (TSS) for each filtration run. Backwashing of the filter medium with distilled water was also performed to evaluate the regeneration efficiency. During conventional filtration, permeate flux decreased gradually, becoming stable around 0.06 cm<sup>3</sup>.cm<sup>-2</sup>.s<sup>-1</sup>. Furthermore, in the filtration assisted by ultrasound, the permeate flux was around 0.15 cm<sup>3</sup>.cm<sup>-2</sup>.s<sup>-1</sup>. Therefore, ultrasonic waves provided an increase of about 150% in the permeate flux. Moreover, the sonication improved filter medium regeneration effectiveness, even under conditions of high TSS and O&G contents. Taking into consideration the very positive results associated with the application of ultrasonicwaves, this filtration technique is likely to become an important industrial process.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Keywords: Filtration; Ultrasound; Produced water.
[/FONT]


[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]This may be of interest http://kurapov.name/eng/science/oil_spills/[/FONT]
and this http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/4060312/Oil-eating-plants-could-clear-up-spills.html

although the last link could be part of Pandora's box



[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
 
A large nanofiber containment umbrella anchored to the sea floor with a riser tube going to the surface sounds like it could work. However, only someone with the appropriate engineering experience would know if that would be a viable solution.

But the truth is -- within 2 days of the explosion, engineering experts from around the world have offered assistance. The US government have either said, "No thanks" or ignored the requests.
Just Google "oil spill" "refuse help". To avoid offending die-hard Obama supporters, below is a link to a non-political article that blames the refusal possibly on miscalculations or pride. Plenty of other articles also mention incompetence, unwillingness to anger maritime unions, opportunities to push Cap & Trade, etc.

A short, must-read for anyone with a serious interest on this topic:

Here's The Real Reason America Refused International Help On The Oil Spill
http://www.businessinsider.com/here...ed-international-help-on-the-oil-spill-2010-6
 
A large nanofiber containment umbrella anchored to the sea floor with a riser tube going to the surface sounds like it could work. However, only someone with the appropriate engineering experience would know if that would be a viable solution.

But the truth is -- within 2 days of the explosion, engineering experts from around the world have offered assistance. The US government have either said, "No thanks" or ignored the requests.
Just Google "oil spill" "refuse help". To avoid offending die-hard Obama supporters, below is a link to a non-political article that blames the refusal possibly on miscalculations or pride. Plenty of other articles also mention incompetence, unwillingness to anger maritime unions, opportunities to push Cap & Trade, etc.

A short, must-read for anyone with a serious interest on this topic:

Here's The Real Reason America Refused International Help On The Oil Spill
http://www.businessinsider.com/here...ed-international-help-on-the-oil-spill-2010-6

Admiralty/Maritime Law has had a strangle hold on the USA for many years.

http://www.detaxcanada.org/crown1.htm

---------- Post added at 04:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:16 PM ----------

Along with the dumping of millions of dollars worth of BP stocks by high level investors just before the spill occurred, there was also a "spill training exercise" being performed 3 weeks before the explosion occurred. Does this sound familiar? ie: 9/11, 7/7... why is there always a training exercise going on at the time of these tragedies? Even the rig employees were worried about an explosion well before it happened.

I maintain there was fore knowledge and this tragedy was possibly either planned or let happen to resurrect the failed green agenda.
 
NEW ORLEANS - Scientists provided a new estimate for the amount of oil gushing from the ruptured well in the Gulf of <NOBR style="FONT-FAMILY: inherit; COLOR: darkgreen; FONT-SIZE: 100%; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" id=itxt_nobr_0_0>Mexico</NOBR> on Tuesday that indicates it could be leaking up to 2.52 million gallons of crude a day.
A government panel of scientists said that the ruptured well is leaking between 1.47 million and 2.52 million gallons daily of oil. The figures move the government's worst-case estimates more in line with what an independent team had previously thought was the maximum size of the spill.
"This estimate brings together several scientific methodologies and the latest information from the sea floor, and represents a significant step forward in our effort to put a number on the oil that is escaping from <NOBR style="FONT-FAMILY: inherit; COLOR: darkgreen; FONT-SIZE: 100%; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" id=itxt_nobr_2_0>BP's</NOBR> well," Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in a statement.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37717335...r_in_the_gulf/
 
We are also mad at Dick Cheney and George Bush for putting these laws into place. Remember how they had a love affair with big oil?

58d44dfd8b23.jpg
 
We are also mad at Dick Cheney and George Bush for putting these laws into place.

No argument with you there. Although Cheney was a big supporter of more lenient restrictions on oil & gas development, we don't know that the current leak was a direct consequence of that. But watch the upcoming HBO documentary titled, Gasland, and you will see that he can be blamed for being part of water quality problems in some gas exploration areas.

This might belong in the conspiracy forum, but knowing that Obama's new moratorium on offshore drilling, which will cost tens of thousands of US jobs, is interesting.

There is a worldwide shortage of deep-water rigs and many of the 35 or so rigs idled by Obama may be headed to Brazil -- and not come back. Petrobras, Brazil's state oil company, will be the beneficiary since they are in the midst of a 5-year plan to tap oil reserves even deeper than those in the Gulf.

And how convenient that one of the biggest financiers of Obama's party, George Soros, invested $811 million in Petrobras last August. It his fund's largest holding. What makes this even more interesting is that the feds, already short of cash, are going to loan $2 billion to Petrobras to help finance their deep water exploration! Soros sure is a lucky guy.

These are the facts. I'll let the conspiracy folks take it from here.
 
So how should they stop this leak?

Since it looks like the well shaft is damaged and oil and gas are coming up through the sea floor over a large area if "relief wells" don't do the trick they'll just have to nuke it like the Russians did that gas well. The real problem in my view is that the decision to do something as drastic and effective as using a nuclear device to kill the well will only occur after its essentially too late. Cleanup efforts seem to be totally useless until they stop the flow. This is way beyond any 'civilian' response funded by 'donations' and 'volunteers.' It's just ludicrous.

 
Since it looks like the well shaft is damaged and oil and gas are coming up through the sea floor over a large area if "relief wells" don't do the trick they'll just have to nuke it like the Russians did that gas well. The real problem in my view is that the decision to do something as drastic and effective as using a nuclear device to kill the well will only occur after its essentially too late. Cleanup efforts seem to be totally useless until they stop the flow. This is way beyond any 'civilian' response funded by 'donations' and 'volunteers.' It's just ludicrous.


NNNNNnnnnooooooo ! don't use Nukes.

Who thinks of these things? Mcarthur lives.

Look the way to deal with this is containment - You use the oil coming out to help make a large polymer based funnel. Stick refineries on barges and get out there. They need to do something industrious rather than paying a lot of people to be oil gushin voyeurs and produce pretty charts of doom.

Are there not chemical we can use to ge the oil to congeal to a floating cabel to put up lots of booms to protect coastline. My god where are all the intelligent scientists - the suits need to pay them more respect and invest in proper reasearch and development so that being a scientist is a more attractive proposition rather than talent shows (can you hear the charity song already building to a cresendo). Think the suits have an abundance of King Canute genes.

Look someone get me some funding so we can build a foundation of scientists dedicated to clearing the messes that greed creates.

Have MIT proposed the Nano Soap sponge yet (soap has a nice property where one part like water and the other likes oil, seperating them quite nicely)

PLease please can someone who has the ear of someone in charge please try a solution that does not involve burning or blowing stuff up.

Also we have to issue ear defenders to the marine wildlife and those guys really wriggle.
 
http://www.examiner.com/x-2383-Honol...ETs-to-show-up

Should extraterrestrials stop the Gulf Leak? - 10,000 sign petition for ETs to show up

As the BP oil leak continues into its eighth straight week, environmental catastrophe threatens local residents and the marine life of the Gulf of Mexico. There have been many failed attempts to stop the spill by BP which has succeeded so far in only slowing the leak. The prospects of removing the oil polluting the Gulf of Mexico are not good, and it may be years before the toxic oil and​
 
http://www.examiner.com/x-2383-Honol...ETs-to-show-up

Should extraterrestrials stop the Gulf Leak? - 10,000 sign petition for ETs to show up

As the BP oil leak continues into its eighth straight week, environmental catastrophe threatens local residents and the marine life of the Gulf of Mexico. There have been many failed attempts to stop the spill by BP which has succeeded so far in only slowing the leak. The prospects of removing the oil polluting the Gulf of Mexico are not good, and it may be years before the toxic oil and

ET's may actually like a film of oil in the gulf. I was speaking to one the other day and it/he/she/blob telepathically projected that we had made the mess so we had better clear it up and that the solution was straightforward and to look and see if this had happened in the past.
I then blacked out and lost 3 days of memory's and postrate infront of locusts.

Also with my chute idea - once built and in place they could dump loads of concrete down it.
 
NNNNNnnnnooooooo ! don't use Nukes.

It could be done with a "clean" nuke. The explosion would be so far under the sea floor that it would be relatively safe. Certainly safer than allowing the oil to continue to kill everything in the gulf. But like I alluded to, that option won't be entertained until they've killed off the Gulf, the East Coast, and part of the Atlantic.

Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope the relief wells (which won't be completed for months) will work. Remember, we are talking about the deepest oil well ever drilled, under the most pressure ever encountered, and it is under 5000 feet of water to boot. Sticking things in the water isn't going to get it. "Cleanup" and "Containment" are just sick jokes until the flow from the sea floor is stopped. The flow is coming from multiple spots from 1000s of feet under the sea floor itself. They aren't going to be able to cap the thing or somehow siphon the stuff off and process it. The incredible scale of this disaster is almost incomprehensible. They simply must stop the flow. It is probably the only truly humanitarian use of nuclear weapons we'll ever see.

What we will see is the continued ineffective efforts and hand wringing until someone with the intestinal fortitude to actually do something that is proven to work comes along. IMHO.


Also with my chute idea - once built and in place they could dump loads of concrete down it.

From what I understand the well itself is so damaged that you can't do something like that. If you watch the Russian nuke film you'll see this type of thing described and illustrated. The problem is you can't get to an intact enough portion of the well to put a plug in it. You have to drill down and intersect the thing below the damage. Due to the immense distances hitting that well shaft would be quite a challenge. Using a nuclear device you only have to get "close enough" to compress the well shaft.
 
It could be done with a "clean" nuke. The explosion would be so far under the sea floor that it would be relatively safe. Certainly safer than allowing the oil to continue to kill everything in the gulf. But like I alluded to, that option won't be entertained until they've killed off the Gulf, the East Coast, and part of the Atlantic.

Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope the relief wells (which won't be completed for months) will work. Remember, we are talking about the deepest oil well ever drilled, under the most pressure ever encountered, and it is under 5000 feet of water to boot. Sticking things in the water isn't going to get it. "Cleanup" and "Containment" are just sick jokes until the flow from the sea floor is stopped. The flow is coming from multiple spots from 1000s of feet under the sea floor itself. They aren't going to be able to cap the thing or somehow siphon the stuff off and process it. The incredible scale of this disaster is almost incomprehensible. They simply must stop the flow. It is probably the only truly humanitarian use of nuclear weapons we'll ever see.

What we will see is the continued ineffective efforts and hand wringing until someone with the intestinal fortitude to actually do something that is proven to work comes along. IMHO.




From what I understand the well itself is so damaged that you can't do something like that. If you watch the Russian nuke film you'll see this type of thing described and illustrated. The problem is you can't get to an intact enough portion of the well to put a plug in it. You have to drill down and intersect the thing below the damage. Due to the immense distances hitting that well shaft would be quite a challenge. Using a nuclear device you only have to get "close enough" to compress the well shaft.

I like the idea. Extreme situations call for extreme measures.
 
What you see on TV is just a "dog and pony" show.



---------- Post added at 12:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:08 PM ----------

I like the idea. Extreme situations call for extreme measures.

It's a real life horror show that calls for horror show solutions. People can "see" the oil. What they are not seeing is the incredible amount of toxic gas that is being released into the atmosphere. What will any boom, hair-ball, floating processing plant, or funky chemical you toss in the water going to do about that? Nothing. Not a damn thing. It has to be stopped at the source and sooner than later.
 
Back
Top