SPILL

Sunday, May 16. 2010

Fenton and I are dividing our time between Domain and Beige U. as the wedding date nears. In Domain we stay with our respective parents while at Beige we co-habitate within Tree. And no, as I’ve said before we haven’t consummated anything. We’re like a married couple in pretty much every other respect, though, which bodes well for our future together.
I’m continually checking off items on the wedding preparation list, which always seems to get longer instead of shorter somehow. With everything going on I haven’t followed the tragedy taking place in the Gulf as much as I should.
Those of us on land live separately from aquatic creatures, with a few exceptions. (Sharks, of course, are our lawyers.) This means that the oil, meant to fuel our lifestyle, is now destroying the habitats of undersea creatures who never saw any benefits from it. Because of that I’m sure we’ll soon be hearing from those sharks in the form of massive lawsuits.
The main spill is still out at sea but it won’t stay there forever, and may even follow the currents out of the Gulf and up the Eastern seaboard where it would affect Tammy and Ray at their lighthouse. As a geneticist I try to think of ways that I could help, but there are already microbes that devour spilled petroleum.
I can’t even contribute any shed fur, since mine are in the form of quills which aren’t very absorbent. Other species are doing their part in that respect, and the fur is having an impact in sopping up the mess.
Still, things currently look bleak and perhaps won’t be fixed for months until a relief well is drilled. I know that there’s a similar spill on the human side of the portal. How is it being handled there?

Posted by Lindesfarne at 13:01 | Comments (27) | Trackbacks (0)

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We're considering hay.

http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/05/southern-hicks-hired-to-clean-up-gulf-spill-with-hay-video/

#1 ShireNomad on 2010-05-16 14:47 (Reply)

The only difference as to how the spill is being handled here is that we don't expect massive lawsuits from aquatic creatures. On this side, all of the companies are pointing at each other and saying that the other guy was at fault. Even after issues of 'fault' are settled in court, those decisions will be appealed for years. Most of the humans on the Gulf Coast will not see payment for their losses for (I guess) more than a decade. Of course, by that time it will do them no good.

And, of course, all of the politicians who were screaming "Drill, baby drill!" during the last election are strangely silent...

#2 CharlieG on 2010-05-16 14:50 (Reply)

It's funny, though, the people who are opposed to drilling now were just as opposed a month ago, despite having gone decades without a similar spill.

#2.1 Greg (Link) on 2010-05-16 23:52 (Reply)

So far, the spill here has also been largely confined to sea. A little got on the shore one day, but not much.

A few days ago, there was an attempt to stop the leak by lowering a structure over it with a hose on the top to carry the oil to ships on the surface. This techinque had never been tried before in water so deep, and it was no real surprise that it didn't work. Back to the drawing board.

Details as to how this happened are sketchy. Someone theorized they hit a deposit of frozen methane, which was warmed by hot cement. It then rapidly expanded, making it's way to the platform, and ignited by any open flame there.

There was supposed to be a valve that would shut off the oil in case of this kind of catastrophic damage. But it looks like it either wasn't installed, or was improperly installed. BP, the company who was using the platform, has been trying to shift some of the blame to those involved with transporting the valve over. But legally they are the ones considered responsible for this mess.

People in both political parties have been blaming the other side in the matter as well. What it looks like will happen is plans to expand offshore drilling will be delayed, probably some more regulations. But sooner or later more oil rigs will have to be built as oil outside the Middle East becomes harder to find. While alternative sources of energy are always being developed (and improvements researched), so far they are still more expensive, and sometimes face legal problems. Plans for windmill "farms" for instance are sometimes blocked by lawsuits by people saying they're a risk to migrating birds.

#3 Bixyl Shuftan (Link) on 2010-05-16 15:26 (Reply)

Or by people who think that the windmill farms "ruin the view."

#3.1 Nicky on 2010-05-16 16:05 (Reply)

Wind farms do kill birds. The problem is that the numbers are rarely placed in any kind of perspective. Estimates from science.howstuffworks.com on bird deaths per year:

Feral and domestic cats: hundreds of millions
Power lines: 134-170 million
Windows (residential and commercial): 100 million to 1 billion
Pesticides: 70 million
Automobiles: 60-80 million
Lighted communication towers: 40-50 million
Wind turbines: 10,000-40,000

(Note: these only refer to the number of accidental bird deaths: they do not include any referent to the millions of chickens and turkeys raised solely as food here in the US.)

So, if we're really interested in saving birds, we should take all windows out of our homes and offices and eliminate the feline population. That would save hundreds of millions of birds every year! Before anyone says it, I agree that that's a ridiculous idea. Opposing wind-farm generation of electricity on the basis of the number of birds that might be killed is ludicrous.

#3.2 CharlieG on 2010-05-16 17:48 (Reply)

Whats realy ludicrous is the best areas for wind farms are in homes owned by the rich & powerfull. They say NIMBY but use any means to put up a factory that hurts the land. When faced with having to clean up their mess most times they just walk away leaving it for someone olse to clean up.

#3.2.1 STEVEN BRAMS on 2010-05-17 10:58 (Reply)

Short answer? It's being handled by engineering in action, which is a way of saying they're making it up as they go along. They have to: There's never been a blow-out at this depth. The caisson was a good plan. However, the same methane slush that caused the blow-out clogged the collection pipe. Now they're attempting to draw off the oil as it spews from the pipe. Preliminary attempts are promising.

What's been lost in media coverage is that these are all stop-gap measures until pressure relief wells can be drilled. That will stop the blow-out simply by drawing off the oil to other wells. However, this will take weeks. Everything else has been to shorten the time and the environmental damage.

Now, this sort of thing is going to happen. Murphy's Law comes into play everywhere, and there's likely to be more blowouts over the years. There's two ways of dealing with this:

1. Stop off-shore drilling.
2. Develop the marine equivalent of Red Adair's outfit.

Option one gets into demand and politics. I'll merely observe that the easiest way to remove the economic incentive for offshore drilling is to not use the stuff - and I've yet to see offshore drilling critics move to bicycles, electric cars, and biofuels.

Option two really makes sense if we continue offshore drilling. We should have already developed ways to handle blow-outs over a mile beneath the waves. We haven't, and that's a glaring omission.

#4 Harry on 2010-05-16 17:00 (Reply)

Living where I do (I am on the Gulf Coast less than 10 miles from where they have the command center for clean-up located) They are trying all kinds of things that "normally" work, but are failing, they now have a line inserted to draw off a large amount, but it's still not getting it all. I keep hearing people talk about just capping it, the problem everyone forgets is the pressures, and temperatures being dealt with. I think it will be stopped, but the effects long term are very unknown. The biggest danger to wildlife currently seems to be over zealous fishermen trying to get that extra catch. They are finding sea turtles especially, with no traces of oil on our shores

#5 Steve on 2010-05-17 00:53 (Reply)

Oil rig accidents on this level with loss of the rig and human life are very very rare. Beyond the recent Deepwater Horizon accident the only two that come to mind are Piper Alpha (explosion and massive fire) and Ocean Ranger (capsized in storm after storm damage took out its balance systems). It's a dirty job and there are accidents but almost never on this scale. The previous Piper Alpha accident was over 21 years ago.

No doubt response to these disasters, and better ways of preventing them in the first place, will almost certainly result.

To deal with the slick they thought about setting it on fire to burn it up before it made landfall...but then who wants a giant flaming sea of oil? We'll file that under "Awesome but Impractical."

#6 Elwood on 2010-05-17 01:24 (Reply)

Besides, giant flaming bodies of water would look strange outside of Cleveland.

#6.1 Greg (Link) on 2010-05-18 01:05 (Reply)

The safety standards were laxly followed.
After the Alaska oil tanker disaster the liability limits were set to only 75 Million. The disaster is much bigger than that. Likely billions.
It could be that the standards were followed so poorly because of the lessened liability. It is more likely that they had gotten far too complacent.
'Otter

It seems that Nigel and/Or Catherine are not coming. Too bad, introducing Greg to Domain, etc would have been a wonderfully funny time, even if only tweetted.

(Joke:
were-otters once played a part in human areas.

See the Otter-man empire.
)

#7 Old Prof. Otter on 2010-05-17 23:57 (Reply)

Honestly the information I found shows it isn't really much of a spill, a pipe broke. A spill would indicate a container broke and it fell into the bay, in this case the pipe broke and its flowing into the bay through the pipe...what confuses me though is, if this is a pipe...wheres the shut off valve and why hasn't it been used?

#8 Chris Butler on 2010-05-18 00:27 (Reply)

If the situations are parallel on both sides of the portal...I remember reading a headline somewhere that seemed to indicate that there were problems with the shut-off valve, either that it had been improperly designed, damaged in transit, or improperly installed. Naturally, these issues weren't discovered until it was really needed. [rolls eyes]

#8.1 Terri the Tiger on 2010-05-18 10:20 (Reply)

As any diver will tell you, gases will expand as they rise through the column of water due to the drop in pressure. That's why you never clamp you mouth shut if you're using an air system and have to do an emergency ascent: It can seriously damage your lungs before it finally blows out our mouth from the pressure. For a similar reason my physician didn't okay me becoming a SCUBA diver: Sinus problems meant I might be able to dive just fine, but ascent could turn into a life threatening situation if my sinuses decided to swell.

The same thing happened here. They hit methane slush. As it ascended through the pipe, the drop in pressure turned it into a gas. Shake up a soft drink and pull the tab: That's a very mild version of what happened. The methane blew through the seals, erupting on the platform.

Ironically, they were having a celebration that day on the platform. It had, to that point, been a safe operation. Among the celebrants were engineers. The eleven who died? They were trying to cap off the well when the methane hit electrical equipment in the room next door.

The violence of this blow-out was such that even if the valve wasn't ripped apart, it was rendered inoperable. Right now it's a gusher beneath the sea.

Monday they're going to try a Junk Shot. BP doesn't like to call it that, but essentially that's what it is. They're going to literally pump odd bits of junk, like golf balls, knotted rope, and shredded tires, into the well to try to clog the pipe. It sounds funky, but it's worked before on oil wells.

#8.2 Harry on 2010-05-22 23:36 (Reply)

"How is it being handled there?" Lindesfarne

Poorly.

#9 Cato the Elder on 2010-05-18 01:28 (Reply)

If you are having the same problem with a oil spill on your side of the portal you have a big advantage. You can enlist the help of the whales to help plug the leak. The whales could manuver a large funnel 3 or 4 hundred feet across over the leak. This should contain most if not all the that comes out from how on in one area.

#9.1 STEVEN BRAMS on 2010-05-18 20:42 (Reply)

Very oily whales, but yes, this looks like a Domain side option.

Lindesfarne,
Once you blogged that we were using your town name for the general world name. Can you (re?)tell me what the nation and world designators should be?

Your wedding should be the premier social even that we 'attend' in your world this year, and maybe for a long time.
'Otter

#9.1.1 Old Prof. Otter on 2010-05-18 22:59 (Reply)

The Whales will be even more oily if the leak is not cleaned up. Plus the other sea creachers will be in the same spot.

#9.1.1.1 STEVEN BRAMS on 2010-05-19 13:31 (Reply)

You would think so. Have you ever tried to negotiate with a whale?

#9.1.2 Terri the Tiger on 2010-05-20 10:37 (Reply)

Whats to negotiate. You tell the the whale. Help use clean up this mess or be prepared to move to a diffrant part of the sea.

By the way who buit thjs oil well. Can they be held responcible in the cleanup.l

#9.1.2.1 STEVEN BRAMS on 2010-05-20 21:31 (Reply)

There is the matter that the oil will make the whale less boyant, and it may sink.
Also working conditions are not the best for success, no lights, work by feel, and a very bad (toxic??) taste in the mouth.

Could be that some of the efforts on the human side could be greatly aided by the efforts of an intelligent whale.

#9.1.2.1.1 Old Prof. Otter on 2010-05-20 23:09 (Reply)

generally, under the laws, they will not be held responsible for much of it. Like 75M of several Billion of actual liability.

I do not think that the whales use the Gulf of Mexico much. I could be wrong.

#9.1.2.1.2 Old Prof. Otter on 2010-05-20 23:26 (Reply)

I think they are talking about removing the CAP of 75M. With the billions they make every year they should be responcable for a lot more then that.

I also think anyone who ordered shortcuts on the assembly of the oil rig should be arrested & sent to jail for a long strech. And I don't mean CLUB FED.

#9.1.2.1.2.1 STEVEN BRAMS on 2010-05-21 20:43 (Reply)

Change of subject. Something is happening with Lindesfarne. She has called a emergancy meeting with Fenton & his parents. I wonder if it has something to do with the tests she did on Fenton's shed fur.

#10 STEVEN BRAMS on 2010-05-22 10:18 (Reply)

WOW. Fenton's mother is a Vampire bat. I wonder how this will affect the wedding.

#10.1 STEVEN BRAMS on 2010-05-23 00:54 (Reply)

I think she will go ahead with the wedding. May wish for some pre-nup understandings, but there is no way she will abandon Fenton. The big question is how this will impact Fenton's relationship with his family.

#10.1.1 Cashew Jim (Link) on 2010-05-23 12:12 (Reply)

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