Discussion: Global Warming and Other Environmental Issues

[enterthemadness]

...and newest estimates have the oil spill at 46 million leaked.

Is the Gulf gonna be a dead sea for a loooooong time..with two oil spills since 1979 now?

 

[Spidey-Bat]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/02/gulf.oil.spill/index.html?hpt=T1&iref=BN1

Biggest issue with this is that there will be a lot of oil coming out until the containment cap goes on. As they say, you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.

Where's a Green Lantern power ring when you need one?

 

[Marx]

Is the Gulf gonna be a dead sea for a loooooong time..with two oil spills since 1979 now?

At this point, I honestly don't see how the Gulf won't become a dead sea.

 

[Paradoxium]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/30/oil-spills-nigeria-niger-delta-shell

It's nothing compared to Nigeria.

 

[Alastor]

Oh, so its ok then.

 

[Marx]

BP ABANDONS DIAMOND SAW TACTIC
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/02/gulf.oil.spill/index.html?hpt=T1

 

[Alex The Great]

If Canada is broke why is it blowing 1 billion dollars on security for the G20?

Haha, true. I didn't know we had a billion dollars lying around....

Ok, we're broke NOW

 

[Donut]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100603/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill

 

[El_Citrus]

Is is true that BP had 746 safety violations last year compared to the second highest, I think Sunoco, with 8?! BP deserves to go bankrupt trying to fix the spill at this point.

 

[Marx]

Is is true that BP had 746 safety violations last year compared to the second highest, I think Sunoco, with 8?! BP deserves to go bankrupt trying to fix the spill at this point.

I'm not sure if it was in a one year span, but it was definitely within a time frame where BP was 'focused on safety'.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

My mom had whatever news Katie Couric does. What was pissing me off was they showed a seagull on it's bag flailing on a beach and a pelican sitting on the beach, both covered in oil and didn't even mention if those birds eventually were helped.

 

[Paradoxium]

If you are an enviro-hippie I don't thinx you wantz to watch this. It involves a projection of ocean currents and the fail-spill.

 

[Bunker]

Government Map Shows BP Oil Spill Could Hit East Coast

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/bp-oil-spill/19503156/

It may have become the most popular video on the internet. The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), part of the Commerce Department, created a computer simulation of the direction of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill from the day the leak began to Day 132. It shows the slick moving to the tip of Florida, up the East Coast nearly to Washington D.C., and then thousands of miles into the Atlantic Ocean by the end of the summer.

The interactive map, made using computer models by NCAR scientists and collaborators, shows one scenario of how oil from the leak could move. It is based on the behavior of dye -- not oil -- in water. "This is not a forecast, but rather, it illustrates a likely dispersal pathway of the oil for roughly four months following the spill. It assumes oil spilling continuously from April 20 to June 20," the NCAR writes.

The public seems to have ignored the caveat as the video has been picked up by website after website. The NCAR adds,"The computer simulations indicate that, once the oil in the uppermost ocean has become entrained in the Gulf of Mexico's fast-moving Loop Current, it is likely to reach Florida's Atlantic coast within weeks. It can then move north as far as about Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, with the Gulf Stream, before turning east. Whether the oil will be a thin film on the surface or mostly subsurface due to mixing in the uppermost region of the ocean is not known."

The model assumes that the oil flow could carry crude that lies as deep as 65 feet beneath the surface. Other simulations assume that the crude sits in a thin film on the top of the water. By the time this pool of crude reaches the East Coast, it could move north at a rate of 100 miles per day.

The simulation will increase the debate about the potential damage of the catastrophe. Current estimated are extremely wide-ranging -- from a few billions dollars to tens of billions, depending on which direction the oil goes and how much of the Gulf shoreline and fishing in the Gulf is affected.

Should the simulation be correct, coasts all along the Eastern Seaboard could be impacted and tourism and fishing could become problems as far North as the Carolinas. In other world, the costs would be unimaginable.

I'm supposed to visit my mom in Wilmington, NC in July. What a cluster****.

 

[enterthemadness]

If that oil follows projections and gets to Florida and East Coast.....if any Hurricanes come to be....I don't even want to think about it.

Just imagine Hurricanes hitting East Coast or Gulf but Oil with them.

FU BP.

 

[Donut]

They should kick that British Company out of the U.S. so that they can **** up their own oceans

 

[enterthemadness]

They should kick that British Company out of the U.S. so that they can **** up their own oceans

It just came to me! It's payback from us dumping their tea in the harbour! Those bastards!

 

[Donut]

It just came to me! It's payback from us dumping their tea in the harbour! Those bastards!

People are saying that the Government is doing next to nothing to stop the spill because this will open up more jobs. Which it will but are they really willing to kill sea life as we know it for this ?

 

[Spidey-Bat]

Good news, everyone! The cap that BP installed on the rig last night appears to be working.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/04/gulf.oil.spill/index.html?hpt=T1

Venice, Louisiana (CNN) -- Oil is being siphoned from the ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico to the surface, where it's flowing on board a ship, BP said Friday.

The news comes after the oil company lowered a cap over the ruptured well Thursday night. On Friday, BP was planning to close four vents atop the containment cap, through which oil was still gushing into the Gulf.

The company hoped very little oil would escape once the vents were shut, BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said. He said he was optimistic that the "cut and cap" operation, which hit a snag earlier in the week, will be successful.

"I think it should work," he said.

President Obama, who told CNN's Larry King that he was "furious with the entire situation," was heading to Louisiana on Friday to meet with political and business leaders.

Obama canceled a trip to Asia for a third tour of the oil-affected Gulf Coast, underscoring the gravity of the crisis. He plans to see firsthand the slick along coastal communities and environmentally sensitive ecosystems.

Oil has already hit barrier islands off Mississippi and Alabama, and Friday, it seemed inevitable that Florida beaches would not be spared.

"You can't help but be passionate about Florida," Gov. Charlie Crist said Friday about the state's natural beauty and the importance of tourism. He added that strong leadership was needed to get through the crisis.

"You've got to keep a cool head in order to win a hot game."

BP completed a complex underwater maneuver Thursday night when it lowered the cap over the ruptured well after slicing off a damaged pipe. It was unable to achieve a fine cut on the pipe, leaving open the possibility that the seal on the cap would not be snug enough to prevent oil from leaking.

The progress was applauded but with caution.

"The placement of the containment cap is another positive development in BP's most recent attempt to contain the leak. However, it will be some time before we can confirm that this method will work," Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Tony Russell said. "Even if successful, this is only a temporary and partial fix, and we must continue our aggressive response."

Thursday's developments followed days of setbacks for workers trying to cap the well, which has spewed hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico for six weeks.

An effort to slice off the pipe with a precision diamond-edged cutter failed Wednesday, forcing BP to settle for a rougher cut of the pipe made with shears. The well may not be completely sealed off until August, when BP hopes to finish drilling a relief well.

"Our task is to contain the oil, ultimately to eliminate the leaking well and, most importantly, to clean up the oil, defend the shoreline and restore the shoreline where the oil comes ashore, so we return it to the original state," said Tony Hayward, BP's chief executive officer.

The BP CEO said Friday that the company will establish a separate division to manage the response to the massive spill.

Hayward appears this week in television ads launched as part of a national campaign to restore the British oil company's tarnished reputation. In them, Hayward apologizes and promises to "make this right."

The BP well erupted after an explosion and fire on the leased Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on April 20 that killed 11 people. The rig sank two days later, leaving up to 19,000 barrels (798,000 gallons) of oil pouring into the Gulf daily, according to federal estimates. BP, rig owner Transocean and oilfield services contractor Halliburton have all pointed fingers at one another for the disaster.

In Louisiana, where oily sludge has been fouling coastal marshes for two weeks, state officials said the White House has given its blessing to a plan to dredge up walls of sand offshore and BP agreed to fund the $360 million construction cost. But Gov. Bobby Jindal said Thursday that state officials "haven't gotten a dime from them."

"I'm calling on BP to step up [and] be the responsible party in fact, not just by label," Jindal said. He added, "We're done talking to attorneys."

But BP announced Thursday on its website that it has established a $360 million escrow account to fund construction of the six sections of Louisiana barrier islands approved by federal authorities. "Since the environmental implications of the projects are not fully understood, BP assumes no liability for unexpected or unintended consequences of these projects," the company said in a posting on the website.

 

[Donut]

People that live in Florida that goes to beaches will have to find a new hobby this summer

 

[Marx]

Finally! Let's hope a full scale cleanup goes into effect immediately!

 

[VampElvis]

People are saying that the Government is doing next to nothing to stop the spill because this will open up more jobs. Which it will but are they really willing to kill sea life as we know it for this ?

What people are saying this? I've not heard any such claim.

 

[Marx]

I haven't heard that either...

 

[Spidey-Bat]

I believe he's confusing the spill with more offshore drilling.