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[MassiveAttack]

Gulf Coast oil spill could eclipse Exxon Valdez

By CAIN BURDEAU and HOLBROOK MOHR
Associated Press
1 hr 15 mins ago

VENICE, La. – An oil spill that threatened to eclipse even the Exxon Valdez disaster spread out of control and drifted inexorably toward the Gulf Coast on Thursday as fishermen rushed to scoop up shrimp and crews spread floating barriers around marshes.

The spill was both bigger and closer than imagined — five times larger than first estimated, with the leading edge just three miles from the Louisiana shore. Authorities said it could reach the Mississippi River delta by Thursday night.

"It is of grave concern," David Kennedy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told The Associated Press. "I am frightened. This is a very, very big thing. And the efforts that are going to be required to do anything about it, especially if it continues on, are just mind-boggling."

The oil slick could become the nation's worst environmental disaster in decades, threatening hundreds of species of fish, birds and other wildlife along the Gulf Coast, one of the world's richest seafood grounds, teeming with shrimp, oysters and other marine life.

The leak from the ocean floor proved to be far bigger than initially reported, contributing to a growing sense among many in Louisiana that the government failed them again, just as it did during Hurricane Katrina. President Barack Obama dispatched Cabinet officials to deal with the crisis.

Cade Thomas, a fishing guide in Venice, worried that his livelihood will be destroyed. He said he did not know whether to blame the Coast Guard, the federal government or oil company BP PLC.

"They lied to us. They came out and said it was leaking 1,000 barrels when I think they knew it was more. And they weren't proactive," he said. "As soon as it blew up, they should have started wrapping it with booms."

The Coast Guard worked with BP, which operated the oil rig that exploded and sank last week, to deploy floating booms, skimmers and chemical dispersants, and set controlled fires to burn the oil off the water's surface.

The Coast Guard urged the company to formally request more resources from the Defense Department. A BP executive said the corporation would "take help from anyone."

Government officials said the blown-out well 40 miles offshore is spewing five times as much oil into the water as originally estimated — about 5,000 barrels, or 200,000 gallons, a day.

At that rate, the spill could easily eclipse the worst oil spill in U.S. history — the 11 million gallons that leaked from the grounded tanker Exxon Valdez in Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989 — in the three months it could take to drill a relief well and plug the gushing well 5,000 feet underwater on the sea floor.

Ultimately, the spill could grow much larger than the Valdez because Gulf of Mexico wells typically hold many times more oil than a single tanker.

Doug Suttles, chief operating officer for BP Exploration and Production, had initially disputed the government's larger estimate. But he later acknowledged on NBC's "Today" show that the leak may be as bad as federal officials say. He said there was no way to measure the flow at the seabed, so estimates have to come from how much oil rises to the surface.

Mike Brewer, 40, who lost his oil spill response company in the devastation of Hurricane Katrina nearly five years ago, said the area was accustomed to the occasional minor spill. But he feared the scale of the escaping oil was beyond the capacity of existing resources.

"You're pumping out a massive amount of oil. There is no way to stop it," he said.

An emergency shrimping season was opened to allow shrimpers to scoop up their catch before it is fouled by oil. Cannons were to be used to scare off birds. And shrimpers were being lined up to use their boats as makeshift skimmers in the shallows.

This murky water and the oysters in it have provided a livelihood for three generations of Frank and Mitch Jurisich's family in Empire, La.

Now, on the open water just beyond the marshes, they can smell the oil that threatens everything they know and love.

"Just smelling it, it puts more of a sense of urgency, a sense of fear," Frank Jurisich said.

The brothers hope to get all the oysters they can sell before the oil washes ashore. They filled more than 100 burlap sacks Thursday and stopped to eat some oysters. "This might be our last day," Mitch Jurisich said.

Without the fishing industry, Frank Jurisich said the family "would be lost. This is who we are and what we do."

More here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100429/ap_on_bi_ge/us_louisiana_oil_rig_explosion_282

 

[DanteFox]

looks like I'm having seafood while I still can. >_>;

 

[Shanadeus]

God dammit.

Poor octopuses

 

[WillyFive]

Terrible.

Is the wall of fire still heading towards the coast?

That will really hurt the wildlife there.

 

[iamaustrian]

biggest man-made disaster in US history and only 3 replies?

I think most don't understand what is happening here. This is not some tank ship accident. this is huge. a tank ship only can have this much in it's tanks and then it's empty but in this case the oil comes directly from it's source. it cannot run empty. it spills basicly endlessly

~800.000 litre of oil spilling out of 3 damaged pipes every fucking day.
and there is no way they can stop it at the moment. setting it on fire is useless and just results in more hazards for the nature life.

say good bye to your gulf coasts. hell, say good bye to the entire mexican gulf.

BP will go down because of this.

 

[GrotesqueBeauty]

The best thing to do would probably be to open up more offshore drilling. Drill baby drill! Drill baby drill!

 

[Tim-E]

Drill, baby, drill!!!!

 

[gcubed]

biggest man-made disaster in US history and only 3 replies?

I think most don't understand what is happening here. This is not some tank ship accident. this is huge. a tank ship only can have this much in it's tanks and then it's empty but in this case the oil comes directly from it's source. it cannot run empty. it spills basicly endlessly

~800.000 litre of oil spilling out of 3 damaged pipes every fucking day.
and there is no way they can stop it at the moment. setting it on fire is useless and just results in more hazards for the nature life.

say good bye to your gulf coasts. hell, say good bye to the entire mexican gulf.

BP will go down because of this.

its kind of insane that there was never a real plan to handle something like this. The timeline for fixes are listed in weeks and months. Kinda shuts up the drill baby drill crowd though

 

[GrotesqueBeauty]

its kind of insane that there was never a real plan to handle something like this. The timeline for fixes are listed in weeks and months. Kinda shuts up the drill baby drill crowd though

Yeah right, like that's possible.

 

[deadbeef]

Gulf Coast can't catch a break.

I was going to go to the beach for the first time in years late next month, will probably cancel now.

 

[MDSLKTR]

Damn the patriots!

 

[thefit]

biggest man-made disaster in US history and only 3 replies?

I think most don't understand what is happening here. This is not some tank ship accident. this is huge. a tank ship only can have this much in it's tanks and then it's empty but in this case the oil comes directly from it's source. it cannot run empty. it spills basicly endlessly

~800.000 litre of oil spilling out of 3 damaged pipes every fucking day.
and there is no way they can stop it at the moment. setting it on fire is useless and just results in more hazards for the nature life.

say good bye to your gulf coasts. hell, say good bye to the entire mexican gulf.

BP will go down because of this.

Most don't remember or alive for the Exxon Valdez. That was one fucked up mess.

Spill, baby, Spill!!!!

 

[Zozz]

Now Imagine if this happened to Nuclear energy at the same scale. People would call for the death of all involved but with Oil nobody cares. Nobody gives a shit about the environment.

 

[ShOcKwAvE]

REALLY makes Obama look bad for caving a few weeks ago and announcing the off-shore drilling expansion. At least it shuts up all the anti-environmentalists.

 

[water_wendi]

Now Imagine if this happened to Nuclear energy at the same scale. People would call for the death of all involved but with Oil nobody cares. Nobody gives a shit about the environment.

There seems to be quite a bit of outrage over this. Its only been a couple days since Transocean let slip exactly how bad things were.. at first it seemed as if things were under control.

The thing i dont get is that the rig did not have an emergency shutoff valve? Wtf is that shit?

 

[Karma Kramer]

This is extremely depressing. Though I hope something good can come out of it... like serious reform to move away from oil. I really hope our generation can solve our energy crisis. It would improve so much.

 

[Zozz]

There seems to be quite a bit of outrage over this. Its only been a couple days since Transocean let slip exactly how bad things were.. at first it seemed as if things were under control.

The thing i dont get is that the rig did not have an emergency shutoff valve? Wtf is that shit?

I saw this coming a mile away since the initial explosion, it's preposterous to think that they're going to let this go on for how much longer because they can't do anything about it?

 

[thefit]

Now Imagine if this happened to Nuclear energy at the same scale. People would call for the death of all involved but with Oil nobody cares. Nobody gives a shit about the environment.

Its not that they don't care its that big media is so bought and paid for by these giant corporations in the form of advertisement that they dare not highlight such a disaster as soon as it happens. Look back at the initial day of the disaster the media left it completely to BP's pr to frame the news on it. First it was 11 missing but no oil spill its all under control. Then it was 11 most likely dead and there is some oil but that was stuff that was on top of the rig. Then it was yeah there is like 1,000 barrels or so being spilled but nothing we can't handle.
It wasn't till now that they finally admit that its a hell of alot more oil being spilled and they have no fucking clue how to handle this shit.

If you watch news channels take note of the advertisement, you have a few products that you can actually buy then you have big pharma pushing the next boner drug, then big defense marketing things you can't buy that kill other people and then you have big oil selling you lies about their efforts for clean energy. Thats the difference between Valdez and today, the corporations have become so glued to each other that your not going to get the same story you would in the past.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

This is the third thread on this now I think. :lol

 

[deadbeef]

There seems to be quite a bit of outrage over this. Its only been a couple days since Transocean let slip exactly how bad things were.. at first it seemed as if things were under control.

The thing i dont get is that the rig did not have an emergency shutoff valve? Wtf is that shit?

Exactly what I've been griping about the last few days! Shouldn't there be a failsafe mechanism such that when "things go wrong" it closes automatically?

 

[ClosingADoor]

Exactly what I've been griping about the last few days! Shouldn't there be a failsafe mechanism such that when "things go wrong" it closes automatically?

It has, but it failed to activate or something :S

 

[water_wendi]

I saw this coming a mile away since the initial explosion, it's preposterous to think that they're going to let this go on for how much longer because they can't do anything about it?

Well they tried their robot clamp thing and that didnt work. The only alternative ive read is to make another well thingie or something and flood it with cement to seal it. The timetable for that is a couple months of work so there is the real possibility for the entire gulf and all its shores to be a polluted mess for decades.

ive read that the Deepwater Horizon did not have the emergency remote shut off valve that is common to other rigs. i wonder why that was?

 

[Zozz]

I avoid any new tv outlet, I stick to online and NPR. Of course all organizations are bought out and that's why nobody cares. I don't mean there isn't a single person who cares but in comparison to my earlier point this is just completely been dismissed until these few days. They finally realized how much they've fucked up and will begin an onslaught of advertisement on how they're going to make everything better. Pathetic.

 

[Tideas]

Exactly what I've been griping about the last few days! Shouldn't there be a failsafe mechanism such that when "things go wrong" it closes automatically?

do a little bit more research. there is a failsafe. the failsafe has also failed.

 

[Celsior]

do a little bit more research. there is a failsafe. the failsafe has also failed.

not much of a failsafe then.

 

[water_wendi]

do a little bit more research. there is a failsafe. the failsafe has also failed.

Everything ive read has said that a remote failsafe that is used for most other oil rigs wasnt even installed.

 

[deadbeef]

do a little bit more research. there is a failsafe. the failsafe has also failed.

I've been too busy to spend any time "researching". Good to know there was a failsafe. Sucks it failed.

Research? Lol

 

[ToxicAdam]

Old


http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=394019

 

[Mau ®]

Shit

This is gonna drive seafood prices to heaven.