RESPONSIBLE SPILLERS - Page 6

if the box doesn't work, they will find another way slow or stop the leak.....the box isn't expected to stop the leak completely just to reduce it from 5000 to 500 a day. its very temporary.

they will be using method that they do onshore, they hook onto the well and pump a bunch of junk into it - scraps of rubber, aggregate and after that they pump a bunch of drilling mud to make a plug.  if they can can hook up to the valve and if they can pump all this stuff a mile through the tubing. they are hoping to have it in place within a week or a week and a half.

a relief well is being drilled right now and is already down a couple thousand feet, the second relief well will be started shortly. this will take a month or so.

there are also other possible solutions being studied.

ALL of the so-called solutions are experimental, as this is an unprecedented disater.  I read yesterday, a paper from an engineer, hinting at what is to come if these measures don't work, it's not good.  The amount of oil being pumped into the gulf, if not stemmed, could eventually kill, not only the Atlantic Ocean, but continue around the world.  If that were to happen, it could actually make the entire planet uninhabitable and end life, all life.  I don't know how much credibility the paper has so I will not post the link because it COULD be complete BS.  But, what if it isn't?

I find it simply amazing, don't all of you, that Sitasmom is now an oil well drilling expert and without a single hour in any course or discipline where oil drilling or environmental issues or impacts is discussed. Simply amazing!! The second well, if they are lucky, will take several months to drill.

The disaster continues and we are in a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation in mitigating this spill. The repercussions will continue for perhaps decades to come. People in the region affected have been dealt a terrible blow, but they are resilient and they will hang in, but we will have to help. How many of us will do so? It is no different than the blow that those living in the flooded area of TN have now experienced, except this was just a single horrific incident and the Gulf citizens have had two crosses to bear in recent years. The area has still not recovered from the effects of Katrina.

Besides the terrible environmental consequences of this spill, our society is going to have to come to the table and realize that we are now entering a period in world history that will find us all "energy constrained". There is NOT going to be enough energy for the world very soon, including us, if we don't plan ahead. This means we MUST have a dialogue about energy consumption, and more importantly, what we are willing to tolerate as risks inherent in energy production. Do we use coal, nuclear power (building and bringing a new plant on line could take 10 years!), or oil as a base? And where do we get these products, and what are we willing to trade off for access to it. An ancillary but critical issue is, of course, continuing energy independence to the extent possible. We are not and never have been energy independent, but it is an issue with critical implications for our country.

Continued below:

However, none of this matters at the moment. What matters is stopping the spill and mitigating the consequences which may only just be seen now at the surface. Just seeing the oil lapping at the barrier islands last night made my heart sink. These areas cannot be cleaned up except by nature and that will take years. Mother Earth does have an amazing ability to recover and she will, but perhaps not in the lifetime of some of us who are older.

This is a spill of unprecedented proportions and though it is a different kind of oil, it brings ecological problems that will be far reaching. Understanding how to mitigate the damage will come only with trial and error. In the meantime, we will have to:

• understand the real history/frequency of such blowouts (rare today),
• understand what might have caused this accident (already information has been collected),
• understand that technology, and that men and women who operate technology can make mistakes,
• recognize that drilling in such depths provides additional risks,
• decide whether we wish off-shore drilling to continue,
• decide whether it makes sense to drill for oil in a place like the Alaskan Wilderness Refuge,
• decide if we want the technology to separate the oil out of shale (the Green River Formation in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah is perhaps one of the largest reserves on the planet but it is much, much more expensive to get this oil), and;
• learn all we can about whether how we have responded to this spill has been the best course of action.

There are, of course, many other things to be learned and decisions to be made. The drama unfolds before our eyes.

And yes, a conversation about all this is very valuable, but it is most valuable if people don't exaggerate, learn more about the technology and real issues here and do something with their upset that is helpful to the issue as a whole. Most people here know little about any issue involved here, from drilling, technology, toxicology etc. To be truthful, most people know little and don't spend a second thinking about the issues related to energy production and consumption, not only in our country, but the world. Here is an opportunity to learn on all these fronts. But that takes real study and not just making something up like how long it will take to drill a second well. For now, I am hoping that the dome idea will work in such deep water. For now, I am hoping that the entire issue brings so much scrutiny to the questions I raise above that every single thinking person in this country will seriously think about what makes sense and learn enough to even begin to form an educated opinion about risk vs benefit.

Otherwise, that is the ultimate reason I will mourn......that we learn nothing from this terrible calamity. 

 Travels,

Please PM me that link. I believe that there is a lot of hyperbole in what you read. However, could this situation get worse? If the leak became a real complete blowout, the answer is yes. Could it end all life.....I doubt that premise....