5,000 bbl/day of Oil Leaking into Gulf of Mexico

[CaptainObvious]

NEW ORLEANS — Government officials said late Wednesday night that oil might be leaking from a well in the Gulf of Mexico at a rate five times that suggested by initial estimates.

In a hastily called news conference, Rear Adm. Mary E. Landry of the Coast Guard said a scientist from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had concluded that oil is leaking at the rate of 5,000 barrels a day, not 1,000 as had been estimated. While emphasizing that the estimates are rough given that the leak is at 5,000 feet below the surface, Admiral Landry said the new estimate came from observations made in flights over the slick, studying the trajectory of the spill and other variables.

An explosion and fire on a drilling rig on April 20 left 11 workers missing and presumed dead. The rig sank two days later about 50 miles off the Louisiana coast.

Read the rest of the article at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/29/us/29spill.html

The well could potentially end up leaking as much or more than the Exxon Valdez. It's very, very bad news. Oh, and my uncle is a vice president of BP... in charge of Gulf production. So he's having a fun week.

[Whisper]

I fuckin hate offshore rigs
push comes to shove if you have a blowout on land you can ignite it
You can't do that when its a mile below the ocean

Isn't there supposed to be an emergency cap system bolted to the ocean floor? to prevent exactly this from happening?

[Commander Thor]

Yes there is, and I believe they're working on getting that valve to close, but it seems as if they're having major, major issues.

[Hollywood]

Yes there is, and I believe they're working on getting that valve to close, but it seems as if they're having major, major issues.

I believe I heard today that they either won't even be able to shut it, or it will be a long time until they can.

I can only imagine how much money this will cost us, and how much it will hurt the Gulf.

[Whisper]

I believe I heard today that they either won't even be able to shut it, or it will be a long time until they can.

I can only imagine how much money this will cost us, and how much it will hurt the Gulf.
money is inconsequential, its just paper.....fuck in todays age it isn't even that.

What matters is the SEVERE damage this is causing
It will be felt for literally generations
There are some spills that happened some 100yrs ago they're still finding residue from
and the sheer scale of this.

Its going to utterly obliterate an entire ecosystem

Oil is such a disgusting product

excluding the clean up costs that the feds are going to have to foot the majority of the bill for
and excluding the many multi million dollar law suits
I hope BP is slapped with a multi billion dollar fine by the international community for the damage they're responsible for, then invest that cash into the gulf. Its gonna need it.

[Hollywood]

What matters is the SEVERE damage this is causing
It will be felt for literally generations
There are some spills that happened some 100yrs ago they're still finding residue from
and the sheer scale of this.

Its going to utterly obliterate an entire ecosystem

Oil is such a disgusting product

Yes, it's going to have a huge toll on the environment in the Gulf of Mexico, not just the ocean life but the fishing industry as well.

It's a shame, there's no telling how long the Gulf will be black with oil. Quite some time, I'm sure.

[CaptainObvious]

excluding the clean up costs that the feds are going to have to foot the majority of the bill for
and excluding the many multi million dollar law suits
I hope BP is slapped with a multi billion dollar fine by the international community for the damage they're responsible for, then invest that cash into the gulf. Its gonna need it.

Less rant, more fact: federal law mandates that BP pay for the cleanup.

And yeah, let's call the world government and have them fine 'em...

[Antares]

It was an accident.

Fining millions upon millions of dollars when it was an accident?
Shit happens.

They seem like they are working hard to fix it and BP is being charged for the clean-up. I think that is good enough.

Either way, they need to get that closed fast and they need to get it cleaned fast because the Louisiana coastline is already having a lot of enviromental issues

[Whisper]

Less rant, more fact: federal law mandates that BP pay for the cleanup.

And yeah, let's call the world government and have them fine 'em...

BP won't cover it all they've stated clearly on the news that they don't have the recourses to handle a spill of this magnitude so Obama has offered federal assistance, not to mention all the state authorities, the local township authorities, etc...

and i HIGHLY DOUBT BP will be covering the hundreds of individual industrial fishers, the restaurants that have no product, the local tourism thats going to be severely hurt, etc.... for years to come before the ecosystems recovered

BP will NOT cover anywhere near what this is going to cost.
They can't, even if they genuinely wanted to, you can't undo what's been set in motion

Not to mention the toll on the environment period, I don't care if they say they're going to clean it up, you can't stomp into a marsh with a vacuum nvm hundreds of miles of marsh. Its a cascade effect thats going to effect millions and will have consequences for decades if not longer


apparently, they don't so much as have a worst case scenario reaction plan
they should have measures drawn up for this exact scenario
and equipment in close proximity ready to move at the drop of the hat in order to shut that fucking valve

[Mzor203]

It was an accident.

Fining millions upon millions of dollars when it was an accident?
Shit happens.

They seem like they are working hard to fix it and BP is being charged for the clean-up. I think that is good enough.

Either way, they need to get that closed fast and they need to get it cleaned fast because the Louisiana coastline is already having a lot of enviromental issues

Shit happens.

"Oops... yea... we're kind of, letting 5,000 barrels of oil all over the place right now... sorry."

Shit happens, but it just so happens that this shit is happening all over the fucking place.

Sorry for the language. But yea, it kind of pisses me off.

[CaptainObvious]

BP won't cover it all they've stated clearly on the news that they don't have the recourses to handle a spill of this magnitude so Obama has offered federal assistance, not to mention all the state authorities, the local township authorities, etc...

and i HIGHLY DOUBT BP will be covering the hundreds of individual industrial fishers, the restaurants that have no product, the local tourism thats going to be severely hurt, etc.... for years to come before the ecosystems recovered

Like I said, more read, less rant. Federal law mandates BP to pay for even the federal agencies' involvement in the cleanup. And BP is rich as fuck, they can pay for it. And they will, with all the inevitable lawsuits, etc.

[Whisper]

Like I said, more read, less rant. Federal law mandates BP to pay for even the federal agencies' involvement in the cleanup. And BP is rich as fuck, they can pay for it. And they will, with all the inevitable lawsuits, etc.

Less attitude, more sammiches.

I don't care how much money BP has, i'm not an idiot, I'm from Alberta, I know exactly how powerful the oil companies are and exactly how much money they have at their disposal, i'm not disputing that, they can pay the feds back w/e.

What i'm trying to say is it doesn't matter. The damage is done.
Thats like if 3 mile island had a critical failure and suffered a meltdown, resulting in a massive reactor leak spewing toxic radiation.
You can be all "OOPS SORRY MY BAD, don't worry i've hired some maids!!!" all you want, the damage is done.
I realize this isn't radiation, but the immediate effect it is, and will continue to have on the ecosystem is similar, it's going to be utterly devastating, and once its happened you can't just take it back. The damage is done. This happened how long ago now and the valve is STILL open, they're saying it could take "awhile" to shut it.


According to NOAA, there are 3.2 million recreational fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico region who took 24 million fishing trips in 2008. Commercial fishermen in the Gulf harvested more than 1 billion pounds of finfish and shellfish in 2008. NOAA is working with the state governors to evaluate the need to declare a fisheries disaster in order to facilitate federal aid to fishermen in these areas. NOAA fisheries representatives in the region will be meeting with fishermen this week to assist them.

http://www.sportfishingmag.com/news/news/breaking-news-the-latest-updates-on-the-gulf-oil-spill-1000082602.html

There are some situations, some areas of work, where an "accident" is simply not acceptable.

If you can't handle the risks, then stay out of the area, because someone else will.

[Sage]

Where's Captain Planet when you need him?

[Whisper]

Where's Captain Planet when you need him?
oh, entertaining are we?

[Antares]

Shit happens.

"Oops... yea... we're kind of, letting 5,000 barrels of oil all over the place right now... sorry."

Shit happens, but it just so happens that this shit is happening all over the fucking place.

Sorry for the language. But yea, it kind of pisses me off.

Then what exactly do you suppose happen??
Im pretty sure
bp is accepting FULL responsibility and is trying to get the situation under control.

Its not like the workers woke up one morning and said lets sink this mofo and kill eachother while were at it

[Whisper]

This was a few days ago I kept forgetting to post it here
there are allot of different sources (just google er w/e, i'm not gonna post them all) saying its FAR higher than 5,000

Several scientists believe the actual leak has been grossly under-reported -- not 5,000 barrels a day, but as much as 14 times higher, or 70,000 barrels a day, which BP denies.

More reading here:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/15/earlyshow/saturday/main6486220.shtml

[Spinder]

More oil to poison our oceans? I wonder how much more of this abuse the planet can take before the ecosystem just can't cope anymore...

[Jess]

man that is a lot. and how animals are dying because of this?

[Whisper]

i have no fucking idea
i do know its due to hit Florida soon
and because they are injecting dispersant directly on the leak (those chemicals have NEVER been tested for their effects underwater nor their long term effect on marine life and oceanic ecosystems) allot of oil isn't rising to the surface
instead its forming an oil pocket underwater....