'Not for public': the oil spill may be getting much worse

[82_28]

As of about an hour ago:

'Top kill' plugs gulf oil leak, official says

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... 2115.story

[norton ash]

'Top kill' plugs gulf oil leak, official says

I want to believe. I also want to believe this will change attitudes and policy toward offshore drilling.

(Bluebirds landing on my shoulders.)

[Bruce Dazzling]

Live Obama address on the Top Kill.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/live

[Simulist]

Even as "Top Kill" may be working, now there's this: Gulf Oil Spill: Scientists Discover Massive New Sea Oil Plume

[Bruce Dazzling]

Helen Thomas just asked:

"What is the real reason why we're still killing and dying in Afghanistan, and don't give us those Bushisms about getting them there so they can't get us here."

The above is paraphrased, but very close to what she actually said.

Obama's answer was "blah, blah, yabbaty blah."

[2012 Countdown]

Scientists: Gulf spill far bigger than Valdez -Leak worst in nation's history; new giant sea oil plume seen in Gulf
NBC, msnbc.com and news services
updated 1 hour, 13 minutes ago
=========
May 27, 1:04 PM EDT
Oily ship enters Mobile Bay, sparking anger
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/ ... TE=DEFAULT
==============
Hospital treating 7 oil cleanup boat crewmen
Associated Press Reporting
Seven oil cleanup workers remained hospitalized Thursday after they reported dizziness, severe headaches and nausea while working on boats in Louisiana coastal waters.
West Jefferson Medical Center spokeswoman Taslin Alfonso said doctors believe the likely cause is chemical irritation and dehydration from long hours working in the heat.
Alfonso said the workers told doctors they believe chemicals used to break up the oil made them ill.

Authorities said the workers became ill Wednesday while cleaning up oil in Breton Sound, southeast of New Orleans. Officials with the joint spill command ordered all 125 commercial boats working the cleanup there to leave the area. It was not clear whether boats had returned to the area Thursday.
http://www.wwl.com/Hospital-treating-7- ... en/7338812
================
New, Giant Oil Plume Spotted In Gulf
Plume Stretches 22 Miles Long; More Than 6 Miles Wide

NEW ORLEANS -- Marine scientists have discovered a massive new plume of what they believe to be oil deep beneath the Gulf of Mexico, stretching 22 miles from the leaking wellhead northeast toward Mobile Bay, Alabama.

The discovery by researchers on the University of South Florida College of Marine Science's Weatherbird II vessel is the second significant undersea plume recorded since the Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20.

The thick plume was detected just beneath the surface down to about 3,300 feet, and is more than 6 miles wide, said David Hollander, associate professor of chemical oceanography at the school
http://www.wdsu.com/gulf-oil-spill/23696821/detail.html

[Bruce Dazzling]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/Gri ... %20ltr.pdf

February 24, 2010
Ms. Elizabeth Bimbaum, Director
Minerals Management Service
Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20240

Dear Director Bimbaum:

In recent months, we have heard disturbing reports regarding British Petroleum’s (BP) Atlantis platform in the Gulf of Mexico. This platform, the largest oil and natural gas platform in the world, may be operating without crucial engineering documents, which, if absent, would increase the risk of a catastrophic accident that would threaten not only the workers on the platform, but also the Gulf of Mexico and the communities who depend on the resources it provides.

In March 2009, a whistleblower notified the Minerals Management Service (MMS) that he
believed BP did not have required engineer-approved drawings for BP Atlantis’s subsea
components. Industry standards and federal regulations require the company to have these
documents before any platform can start production. These include “as-built” drawings, which
are essentially an operator’s guide to how the platform components work from start up to shut
down and are critical for operators to have at their disposal.

A review of BP’s database in existence at that time and provided by the whistleblower appears to show that of the over 7,176 documents and drawings for Atlantis’s subsea components --- a total of 6,393 of them --- over 90% --- may not have been approved by a professional engineer, as required by regulation. BP’s own internal communication indicates that using incomplete or inaccurate documents “could lead to catastrophic Operator errors due to their assuming the drawing is correct.”

We are also concerned that your interpretation of 30 C.F.R. § 250.903(a)(1), and its application to approval of operations at Atlantis indicates a less than acceptable standard. Specifically, communications between MMS and congressional staff have suggested that while the company by law must maintain “as-built” documents, there is no requirement that such documents be complete or accurate. This statement, if an accurate interpretation of MMS authorities, raises serious concerns.

MMS owes it to all American taxpayers to fully investigate the allegations made related to
environmental and safety standards of domestic offshore energy production. The urgency of
these allegations is highlighted by the recent oil spill in the Timor Sea that, according to one
source, leaked 2000 barrels per day for 10 weeks before it was finally stopped after five attempts by the operator. These accidents are a reminder that even as drilling technology and clean-up methods have improved there is still a considerable risk to the environment, and public health and safety precautions should be taken seriously by both MMS and industry.

The MMS has an obligation and a duty to ensure that natural resource extraction from public
lands and the outer Continental Shelf is done with the utmost concern for the environment and
the health and safety of workers and the public. Making sure that these standards are adhered to will take on added importance as the nation sets its sights on a national agenda of energy independence. It is critical that we get this right.

We urge MMS to conduct a full investigation of whether British Petroleum had a complete and
accurate set of required engineering drawings for the BP Atlantis platform and its associated
subsea components prior to the start of production from that platform, and to report back to
Congress on the results of that investigation as soon as possible. We also request that MMS
describe how a regulation that requires offshore operators to maintain certain engineering
documents, but does not require that those documents be complete or accurate, is appropriately protective of human health and the environment.

We look forward to hearing from you about this matter.

Raul M. Grijalva
Member of Congress

Edward J. Markey
Member of Congress

Rush D. Holt
Member of Congress

Donna M. Christensen
Member of Congress

Mazie K. Hirono
Member of Congress

Dennis J. Kucinich
Member of Congress

Donald M. Payne
Member of Congress

Corrine Brown
Member of Congress

Eric Massa
Member of Congress

Sam Farr
Member of Congress

Michael M. Honda
Member of Congress

Maxine Waters
Member of Congress

Barney Frank
Member of Congress

Lynn C. Woolsey
Member of Congress

Bennie G. Thomspson
Member of Congress

Barbara Lee
Member of Congress

Jared Polis
Member of Congress

James P. Morgan
Member of Congress

John Lewis
Member of Congress

[2012 Countdown]

Congressman Markey is grilling the head of BP America right now.

Video stream link-

http://edition.cnn.com/video/flashLive/ ... l?stream=1

[ninakat]

via LATOC:

Matt Simmons: Real leak is much bigger, more toxic, 5-6 miles away

Simmons interview with Dylan Ratigan, holy f--k:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp ... 9#37363529

[beeline]

Link
Posted on Thu, May. 27, 2010


New, giant sea oil plume seen in Gulf
MATTHEW BROWN and JASON DEAREN

The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS - Marine scientists have discovered a massive new plume of what they believe to be oil deep beneath the Gulf of Mexico, stretching 22 miles from the leaking wellhead northeast toward Mobile Bay, Alabama.

The discovery by researchers on the University of South Florida College of Marine Science's Weatherbird II vessel is the second significant undersea plume recorded since the Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20.

The thick plume was detected just beneath the surface down to about 3,300 feet, and is more than 6 miles wide, said David Hollander, associate professor of chemical oceanography at the school.

Hollander said the team detected the thickest amount of hydrocarbons, likely from the oil spewing from the blown out well, at about 1,300 feet in the same spot on two separate days this week.

The discovery was important, he said, because it confirmed that the substance found in the water was not naturally occurring and that the plume was at its highest concentration in deeper waters. The researchers will use further testing to determine whether the hydrocarbons they found are the result of dispersants or the emulsification of oil as it traveled away from the well.

The first such plume detected by scientists stretched from the well southwest toward the open sea, but this new undersea oil cloud is headed miles inland into shallower waters where many fish and other species reproduce.

The researchers say they are worried these undersea plumes may are the result of the unprecedented use of chemical dispersants to break up the oil a mile undersea at the site of the leak.

Hollander said the oil they detected has dissolved into the water, and is no longer visible, leading to fears from researchers that the toxicity from the oil and dispersants could pose a big danger to fish larvae and filter feeders such as sperm whales.

"There are two elements to it," Hollander said. "The plume reaching waters on the continental shelf could have a toxic effect on fish larvae, and we also may see a long term response as it cascades up the food web."



Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/n ... z0p9zfgC1h
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[Jeff]

From The Oil Drum:

Admiral Allen, who is the Government head of the effort to cap the flowing well in the Gulf, and to oversee the cleanup operation, commented this morning that the well had reached a point where the internal pressure difference between the mud pumped in and the reservoir pressure was very low. However, with the relatively high volume of leakage that was passing through the BOP, the plan now included a try at blocking some of that leakage path by injecting debris (for which likely read rubber strips and small spheres) in the hope that these will lodge in the flow path within the BOP and reduce the leakage of fluid.

The leakage rate is significant (I calculated earlier that it was around 17,000 bd, which lies within the newly reported range of 12,000 to 19,000 bd, and may have been higher than BP were actually anticipating. (Though the leak may also have increased a little as the mud was injected at higher pressures). The operation has already used all the mud on one of the supply boats, and has moved to the second (there is a third standing by so they won't run out). The concern, however is now with the volume of cement that will be required for the seal.

The high volume that is leaking would require that additional amount to the volume needed for the seal itself, and that may be closer to the available capacity of the system that they have in place, or the supplies that they have on site to achieve the seal. If that is the case, one can understand the desire to at least partially plug the leaks in the BOP, and to wait until the mud column fully balances the pressure in the oil reservoir before starting this phase of the operation.

Until this point in the operation the volume of cement required to create an effective plug has not been seen as an issue.

A comment:

Bad news......we are back to golf balls. Its leaking way more than they thought........

[justdrew]

why plug it with junk? just cut the riser off and put that cap on the BOP, as had been planned if top-kill hadn't worked.

[nathan28]

I don't really understand what Simmons & that fat dude are saying. I know what an O-ring is and a flange, but I can't gather if they mean the riser pipe has moved, or that BP is "top killing" a tiny leak for show and not showing us the "second plume" which is the real leak, or if the oil is coming from a different location. I just read that there are three leak locations and BP is concentrating on the smallest. The only thing I did gather is that they both disapproved of BP's methods on this, which weren't standard or reliable. Is Dr. Farnsworth around?

[justdrew]

I don't really understand what Simmons & that fat dude are saying. I know what an O-ring is and a flange, but I can't gather if they mean the riser pipe has moved, or that BP is "top killing" a tiny leak for show and not showing us the "second plume" which is the real leak, or if the oil is coming from a different location. I just read that there are three leak locations and BP is concentrating on the smallest. The only thing I did gather is that they both disapproved of BP's methods on this, which weren't standard or reliable. Is Dr. Farnsworth around?

One point they make seems to be that the riser from the well to the drill platform was full of oil when the platform went down, so that whole 5000+ feet of pipe is still laying there full of oil, leaking at least at two points I'd think, if not more. There's a lot of oil in there, but it's not being replenished... and couldn't be very much compared to the flow from the other two points... the top of the BOP were the riser bent as it fell, then the broken end of the riser still connected to the BOP through the bend.

[Bruce Dazzling]

I don't really understand what Simmons & that fat dude are saying. I know what an O-ring is and a flange, but I can't gather if they mean the riser pipe has moved, or that BP is "top killing" a tiny leak for show and not showing us the "second plume" which is the real leak, or if the oil is coming from a different location. I just read that there are three leak locations and BP is concentrating on the smallest. The only thing I did gather is that they both disapproved of BP's methods on this, which weren't standard or reliable. Is Dr. Farnsworth around?

One point they make seems to be that the riser from the well to the drill platform was full of oil when the platform went down, so that whole 5000+ feet of pipe is still laying there full of oil, leaking at least at two points I'd think, if not more. There's a lot of oil in there, but it's not being replenished... and couldn't be very much compared to the flow from the other two points... the top of the BOP were the riser bent as it fell, then the broken end of the riser still connected to the BOP through the bend.

They definitely could have been clearer in their description of the situation. Would it have killed them to use a graphic, for crying out loud?