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US bans offshore drilling as Deepwater Horizon slick hits land

Reverend_Hellh0und said:
Does he ever? I'm suprised he hasn't blamed bush yet for not scuba diving down thier and welding it shut himself yet. :ssst:
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Isn't that pretty much what you were blaming Obama for?

The irony just drips from your posts. :doh
 
Jerry said:
It just occurred to me that at some point the well will lose pressure long before all of it's contents are spilled; this is why rigs have to inject steam or mud into a well to get it to produce after a short time.

This means the '3x worse than Exxon Valdez' doomsday scenario is truly just a scare tactic, because that scenario requires the expulsion of the well's entire contents which the well doesn't have the pressure to do.
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It's even easier than that. Just thread the broken pipe and screw on a standard shut-off valve. They could have done it that way from the start, but it takes a long time for politicians and pundits to learn anything.

As for it being a mile deep, engineers can manage that too with robotic arms.

ricksfolly
 
Jerry said:
It just occurred to me that at some point the well will lose pressure long before all of it's contents are spilled; this is why rigs have to inject steam or mud into a well to get it to produce after a short time.

This means the '3x worse than Exxon Valdez' doomsday scenario is truly just a scare tactic, because that scenario requires the expulsion of the well's entire contents which the well doesn't have the pressure to do.
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Aren't you the guy that said this is no big deal, it happens all the time?

It is very likely that this will be a bigger spill than Exxon Valdez and the damage could be infinitely worse. People live on the Gulf Coast. Scare tactics. That's funny. This well is a mile under water and Oil is lighter than water. It is going to come to the surface as long as there is a pathway. They don't inject steam into wells a mile under the water.
 
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ricksfolly said:
It's even easier than that. Just thread the broken pipe and screw on a standard shut-off valve. They could have done it that way from the start, but it takes a long time for politicians and pundits to learn anything.

As for it being a mile deep, engineers can manage that too with robotic arms.

ricksfolly
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:rofl

Blaming politicians for this one is quite the stretch.
 
USA-1 said:
Aren't you the guy that said this is no big deal, it happens all the time?

It is very likely that this will be a bigger spill than Exxon Valdez and the damage could be infinitely worse. People live on the Gulf Coast. Scare tactics. That's funny. This well is a mile under water and Oil is lighter than water. It is going to come to the surface as long as there is a pathway. They don't inject steam into wells a mile under the water.
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Here's the correct answer:

Initially, the natural pressure from the subsurface petroleum reservoir is sufficient to push fluids and gas to the surface. Eventually, however, this pressure declines, and the use of a pump or injections of gas, oil or water are required to bring the *petroleum to the surface. By adding water or gas to the reservoir, engineers are able to increase reservoir pressure, causing the petroleum to rise again. In some cases, compressed air or steam is sent down a well to heat the remaining petroleum, which also increases pressure.
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HowStuffWorks "Striking Oil"

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The well will loose pressure and slow to a crawl. If it contains 3x the Valdez, all of that oil will not reach the surface.
 
Jerry said:
Here's the correct answer:

Initially, the natural pressure from the subsurface petroleum reservoir is sufficient to push fluids and gas to the surface. Eventually, however, this pressure declines, and the use of a pump or injections of gas, oil or water are required to bring the *petroleum to the surface. By adding water or gas to the reservoir, engineers are able to increase reservoir pressure, causing the petroleum to rise again. In some cases, compressed air or steam is sent down a well to heat the remaining petroleum, which also increases pressure.
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HowStuffWorks "Striking Oil"

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The well will loose pressure and slow to a crawl. If it contains 3x the Valdez, all of that oil will not reach the surface.
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Note the word "eventually" in Jerry's explanation? (Don't miss "if" either!) Another, just as accurate, use of the word "eventually" might be, "Eventually our Sun will burn out and all life on the Earth will die." Now, should we start saying our prayers in anticipation of meeting our maker solely because our Sun will "eventually" die? It might help to know how long "eventually" might mean when talking about how long our Sun has left, ya think? Our Sun is estimated by some to be expected to last for another 5 billion years. Well, that certainly puts that use of "eventually" in a proper context. Doncha think?

So, how long might "eventually" mean re: how long the oil might continue to spew from the ocean floor polluting our environment?

Instead of talking about day dreams, as if they are facts, let's use some facts shall we?

Deepwater Horizon was finishing work on an exploration well named Macondo, in an area called Mississippi Canyon Block 252. After weeks of drilling, the rig had pushed a bit down over 18,000 feet, into an oil-bearing zone. The Transocean and BP personnel were installing casing in the well. BP was going to seal things up, and then go off and figure out how to produce the oil -- another step entirely in the oil biz.

The Macondo Block 252 reservoir may hold as much as 100 million barrels. That's not as large as other recent oil strikes in the Gulf, but BP management was still pleased. Success is success --
certainly in the risky, deep-water oil environment. The front office of BP Exploration was preparing a press release to announce a "commercial" oil discovery.
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Transocean Deepwater Horizon Explosion-A Discussion of What Actually Happened? - Drilling Ahead

There are possibly 100 million barrels of oil under the ocean floor spewing into the Gulf of Mexico. Wow! Mind you that's 100 million "barrels" of oil, not "gallons"! So far, it's spewed about 4 million gallons. That's 4 million gals / 42 gals/barrel = 95,238 barrels of oil in the water. So, there are still approx. 100,000,000 - 95,238 = 99,904,762 barrels still under the ocean that could possibly pump out into the ocean. Or 99,904,762 * 42 = 419,600,004 gallons!!!

To be fair, one thing Jerry said is actually true, that every drop of oil that's under the ocean will not be pumped out. But, out of the 99,904,762 barrels of oil that might still be in the ground, how much can we expect to spill?

The most optimistic estimates say that it will likely take at least 90 days to cap the well and stop the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Even if we accept the official (and by most accounts low) BP and government spill-rate estimate of 5,000 barrels a day, that's nearly 19 million gallons of oil spilling into the gulf over the next three months. If the rate turns out to be closer to 25,000 barrels a day, the underwater well would pump 94.5 million gallons of oil into the gulf by late July--more than eight times as much as the Exxon Valdez spilled into Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989.
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Straight Talk: How Much Oil is Really Spilling Into the Gulf of Mexico?

So, unless BP comes up with an engineering miracle, there is a very real chance that this spill will far exceed the Exxon Valdez accident, which spilled "only" 11 million gallons.

That's today's lesson on the real meaning of "eventual" and why it's important to put its use in proper and accurate context. Spinning words, on such a serious issue, to make a purely partisan political point is... well... sad.
 
Oh now we're up to 8x the Valdez :roll:

You're proof doesn't account for a drop in well pressure, it assumes a constant rate of flow over a long period of time.
 
Jerry said:
Oh now we're up to 8x the Valdez :roll:

You're proof doesn't account for a drop in well pressure, it assumes a constant rate of flow over a long period of time.
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It assumes nothing of the kind. It does assume that there is pressure to pump a lot of oil out of the ground.

Instead of continuously trying to minimize how bad this "could" be, maybe you could open your mind to other possibilities here. Especially outcomes that experts say are a very real possibility.

I know you read it but, still you ignore that I agreed with your insistence on focusing on diminishing pressure when I said, "To be fair, one thing Jerry said is actually true, that every drop of oil that's under the ocean will not be pumped out.". It is true that pressure will drop. But, when will that happen? No one knows that. But BP, the experts here, were very optimistic that this was a big reserve. Even if only 50% of what they think is in the ground comes out, this could be bigger than the Valdez.
 
ADK_Forever said:
It assumes nothing of the kind. It does assume that there is pressure to pump a lot of oil out of the ground.

Instead of continuously trying to minimize how bad this "could" be, maybe you could open your mind to other possibilities here. Especially outcomes that experts say are a very real possibility.

I know you read it but, still you ignore that I agreed with your insistence on focusing on diminishing pressure when I said, "To be fair, one thing Jerry said is actually true, that every drop of oil that's under the ocean will not be pumped out.". It is true that pressure will drop. But, when will that happen? No one knows that. But BP, the experts here, were very optimistic that this was a big reserve. Even if only 50% of what they think is in the ground comes out, this could be bigger than the Valdez.
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Sure, and even if it is, no big deal. The damage to the economy from this oil spill will be blotted out by the damage from Obama'Care, so in context to everything else going on in this country, this oil spill is small potatoes.

Sure, some folks are going to loose their jobs this fishing season, businesses will be damaged, many may close...that seems to be what Obama wants anyway, so I guess this spill just saves the administration the trouble of passing more hyper-partisan legislation.

As for the ecology, nature does worse to itself without our help and comes back flourishing. So, yeah there might be some unsightly shores for a while, but it's only temporary.
 
The bottom line, is that we need to get it sealed, cleaned up and get back to work.
 
The problem here is that some actually believe this isn't going to be cleaned up. So they stoke the environmental damage fire as hard as they can.
 
American said:
The problem here is that some actually believe this isn't going to be cleaned up. So they stoke the environmental damage fire as hard as they can.
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Those are the folks that jumpng for joy over this incident. Now, they can push to fulfill yet another Liberal wet dream: shut down all drilling.

It would be political suicide to do so, but I doubt they'll let that stop them.
 
apdst said:
The bottom line, is that we need to get it sealed, cleaned up and get back to work.
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What do you mean "we"? I have no intention of helping out. I'm neither needed nor do I have the time.
 
apdst said:
Those are the folks that jumpng for joy over this incident. Now, they can push to fulfill yet another Liberal wet dream: shut down all drilling.

It would be political suicide to do so, but I doubt they'll let that stop them.
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Makes one wonder why the Left wants to harm the largest campaign contributor to their Presidential candidate.

"Yay we love President Obama so let's hinder his ability to get re-elected whooohooo!!!!)
 
apdst said:
Those are the folks that jumpng for joy over this incident. Now, they can push to fulfill yet another Liberal wet dream: shut down all drilling.

It would be political suicide to do so, but I doubt they'll let that stop them.
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Funny you don't see any of them over in Saudi Arabia protesting all the drilling. ;) They have the protest signs in the trunk when they stop off at the gas station to fill up on their way to the march.
 
Jerry said:
Sure, and even if it is, no big deal. The damage to the economy from this oil spill will be blotted out by the damage from Obama'Care, so in context to everything else going on in this country, this oil spill is small potatoes.
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Comparing this oil leak to HCR simply boggles the mind. :lol:

Sure, some folks are going to loose their jobs this fishing season, businesses will be damaged, many may close...that seems to be what Obama wants anyway, so I guess this spill just saves the administration the trouble of passing more hyper-partisan legislation.

As for the ecology, nature does worse to itself without our help and comes back flourishing. So, yeah there might be some unsightly shores for a while, but it's only temporary.
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The Exxon Valdez spill is still not cleaned up. It is still causing problems in Alaska. Your apathy for the impact that this disaster will cause to our shores and people's lives mirrors your blind hyper partisan defense of the damage that your hero, Bush, did to our country all across the board. Way to go.
 
ADK_Forever said:
Comparing this oil leak to HCR simply boggles the mind. :lol:



The Exxon Valdez spill is still not cleaned up. It is still causing problems in Alaska. Your apathy for the impact that this disaster will cause to our shores and people's lives mirrors your blind hyper partisan defense of the damage that your hero, Bush, did to our country all across the board. Way to go.
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Please start a thread on Bush and provide some evidence for a change that supports your silly allegations.
 
Jerry said:
Here's the correct answer:



HowStuffWorks "Striking Oil"

***
The well will loose pressure and slow to a crawl. If it contains 3x the Valdez, all of that oil will not reach the surface.
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It does not apply here.
Like I said this well is 5000 feet below sea level. They don't inject steam into wells this deep. And the oil will naturally find it's way to the surface just like natural crude leaks from the ocean floor all over the world.. If they don't stop it soon it will be worse than Exxon Valdez.
 
USA-1 said:
It does not apply here.
Like I said this well is 5000 feet below sea level. They don't inject steam into wells this deep. And the oil will naturally find it's way to the surface just like natural crude leaks from the ocean floor all over the world.. If they don't stop it soon it will be worse than Exxon Valdez.
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Even if your baseless say-so were accurate, even if the spill is worse than the Valdez....it doesn't matter. This is not a big deal. The amount of oil spilled is negligible. The economic damage is trivial AND will be reimbursed by BP anyway.
 
Jerry said:
Even if your baseless say-so were accurate, even if the spill is worse than the Valdez....it doesn't matter. This is not a big deal. The amount of oil spilled is negligible. The economic damage is trivial AND will be reimbursed by BP anyway.
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Trivial? Negligible? It's already a third of Exxon Valdez.
This is why I despise right wingers. They don't care about Americans or America. They will destroy the environment for profit.
 
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