The Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico

[capnbobby]

Dear Parrot Heads,

I want to preface this post by saying that I am not a political activist. I don't go out and build houses for people. I don't do Habitat for Humanity. That's not my personality type. I've never participated in a beach cleanup. In my professional life, I'm a teacher. That is one of my principal ways of giving back to society.

That said, I cannot express to you the deep sadness I feel about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. I don't completely understand the source of my sadness. Maybe it's because I'm a sailor. Maybe it's because I reside in the state of Florida and, in ways, am a Gulf Coast resident myself. Maybe it's because Florida is the only place I have ever truly wanted to live. Maybe I just give a damn.

I'm not a political man. I know little of politics. I know even less about business. Some people have the knack to take money and turn it into more money, like Warren Buffett, like Donald Trump. I've always had the knack to take money and turn it into less money. However, it seems incredibly nearsighted and stupid to me that we drill for oil in the oceans of our world. I fear that we are one man-made disaster away from losing everything that is good about living on the Gulf Coast. I fear that that disaster, that black stain, is spreading in the waters just off our shores as I write this. According to Reuters reporter Matthew Bigg, in an article appearing on Yahoo, "'In many ways, the timing of this incident could not have been worse, as President Obama recently supported the expansion of drilling activity to areas where it was previously prohibited,' the brokerage said."

I don't know what your position is on oil drilling in oceanic waters. Whatever it is, I respect it. There is a website I would simply like to draw your attention to. If you are concerned about the effects of drilling on oceanic and coastal environments, you can send a message to the Department of the Interior. You can go to the website of the National Audobon Society. Click on Issues and Action. Click on Take Action Now. Click on Save Sensitive Ocean and Coastal Habitat from Drilling. There is a form letter that you can send, edit, or add to.

Thank you,
capnbobby

[palmettopirate]

capn,

Help me understand something about oil spill cleanup. I've asked this question to engineers and numbers of other people who really are no more qualified to answer than I. But I have sent emails to the coast guard with no response except for links to media releases and other things they do. I am familiar via the media with the vacuumimg process used to clean up oil after a time. However that process is slow and the repsonse time is usually long. Now you have obviously been around the water. I spent most of my life working at a naval shipyard adjacent to a naval base. I have seen fire tugs/fire boats in action. You may have too, either in person or on TV. They use them quite a bit during July 4th celebrations. These boats pump high volumes of water from the sea through an adjustable nozzle, and they move a bunch of water quickly. These boats were actually used to fight the fire aboard Deepwater Horizon (the oil rig). Now here's my question. I can't understand why these boats or similar newly developed craft can't steam to the spill site immediately and begin pumping oil from the surface onto ocean-going barges. And yes, there are barges that can handle bad weather. Now I know you can't fill a vessel full of water because the vessel has to be lighter than the volume of water it displaces or it will sink. But as you know the oil will float to the surface on the barge and pumps at the bottom of the barge could simply pump the water overboard. And the recovered oil could still be refined. So, what's the answer? Somebody please explain the drawbacks. Please don't say money. There has to be an engineer or two on this thing. Come on folks, we blast people into space every few months. This has to be doable. I don't mind being made to feel like an idiot with the right answer. I simply haven't gotten one yet. And I do know that the well is still spilling oil and in this case it wouldn't be as effective as in the case of a tanker spill. BTW, Deepwater Horizon was built by Hyundai. However it has been used around the world safely for a long time.

[HurricaneSeason]

I've had similar thoughts. A dredge. It seems like they could hook a dredge - maybe a couple of 'em - and start dredging the oil plume that is coming out of the pipe.

Part of the problem is this oil is similar to roofing tar, at least according to some people that seem to know (engineers, ha ha, think they know EVERYTHING). Yet it's just a sheen on the surface of the Gulf. The weather has not been any help in dealing with the oil in terms of gathering it but it has kept it, so far, from coating the beaches of LA/MS/AL/FL. At least as of yesterday according to several reports.

But at an estimated 210,000 gallons a day - or if you believe the secret deal that says it's more likely ten times that amount, being the equivalent to the Exxon Valdez every six days - at some point it's going to screw everything up. That well could bleed for a long time. At this point with the well being drilled beside it, a long time is 3 months. With all the industry here in Louisiana it seems that some people would be working on something, even if it's bizarre, to cover it up or s u c k it up, just shove, well, a dredge down there. And one thing is headed out today. Hopefully it will work on the first try. The biggest problem is the pressure at a mile deep. Can't just shove something down there. It has to be thought out.

Meanwhile the bottom of the Gulf is hemorrhaging profusely. I have been able to smell the oil. I don't know if I've gotten use to it or the smell has gone elsewhere. But it sure does make humans look as bad as they do. All the work of the past to clean up the Gulf and the wetlands, all possibly for nothing now. That's part of that "price" the heads keep talking about. I say the hell with it and keep dealing with foreign oil - at least that didn't bleed like this does. But that's just me.

[palmettopirate]

I understand your frustration HS. I know you understand the thrust of my question but a big issue is why a country with the technology we have hasn't come up with a better solution. And we're sorry that your beautiful coastline will suffer. Now maps suggest that currents could bring a portion of the mess around the tip of Florida and off the coast of Carolina. And I'm a beach goer. That's really of little concern though when the livelihoods of fishermen, restaurant owners, and vacation rental folks are impacted so heavily.

[TropicalTroubador]

Yes...leaving all of the politics aside - about which I *do* have opinions - this is a tragedy in the making.

Many of us love the Florida Keys. I have not yet wept, thinking of those brilliantly blue-green waters full of oil...but I've thought about it. And once the oil gets into the Gulf Loop Current, and then the Gulf Stream, that's where it's going. I've already seen posts from folks in the Keys who are preparing, in particular at the wildlife rescue facilities.

The magnitude of this is already beyond our ability to stop. I saw a satellite photo on CNN the other day that put the whole thing into perspective. It showed several ships attempting to contain and clean up one small part of the spill. Then they zoomed out and out and out to show the entire spill, and at that scale, the ships were no longer even microscopic dots.

This is part of what we get for forgetting that we are connected to the Earth, and that what we do to Her, we also do to ourselves.

I pray that this somehow gets stopped and cleaned up without being the catastrophe I fear it will become.

[catsway]

We live on the coast of the Florida Panhandle. We spend most evenings at the Whale's Tail in Miramar Beach enjoying our sand and sunsets with other locals. We had the unique experience of actually sailing close to the Deep Water Horizon as she burned on April 21st while cruising aboard the Carnival Triumph as we sailed back to New Orleans. I commented to Cat how the black plume of smoke over the rig didn't look right. Very ominous. It wasn't until we got home and watched the news did we realize what we had witnessed.

Now its been three weeks since that day, and the topic of conversation at the Tail is dominated by the spill. Its all doom and gloom. We have seen no oil on our beaches yet. Preparations are currently underway to protect the sand. Walton County, Florida has staged large bales of hay along our 25 miles of beach so it may be scattered along the shoreline in an attempt to capture the oil and make it easier to remove with seaweed removal equipment. In Destin, they are considering laying a boom across the mouth of the East Pass to prevent the spill from entering the harbor and bay. Of course that will shut down the Destin Fishing Fleet at the peak of the Spring fishing season.

A "town hall" meeting was held two days ago at Sandestin to begin a class action suit to help local businesses and others who have been effected adversely financially from lost vacation rentals and business slow downs.

I walked the beach on Tuesday and collected a baggie of our sugar white sand as a memento. It may be a week or a month before we actually see the spill arrive in our area. Or by some miracle, the flow of oil may be contained and the spill controlled. But the political and economic damage has already begun. We hope that this disaster will prevent any future considerations of off shore drilling here in the Florida Gulf waters.

[capnrick]

We will be in Miramar the week before Memorial Day. Usually hit all the restaurants along Old 98 (After Buster's 1st for a tall beer or 3 and some tuna dip...sigh). Staying at Camping on the Gulf for the 11th straight year.

Plan on coming down oil or no. Fins Up, Y'all.
capn rick

[Bfan53again]

Looks like the initial attempt at capping this leak with the containment dome has failed..........

[sonofabeach]

This is just messed up and is yet more proof for those that say we are too miniscule to really have an affect on Earth.

[pcbfan]

We live on the coast of the Florida Panhandle. We spend most evenings at the Whale's Tail in Miramar Beach enjoying our sand and sunsets with other locals. We had the unique experience of actually sailing close to the Deep Water Horizon as she burned on April 21st while cruising aboard the Carnival Triumph as we sailed back to New Orleans. I commented to Cat how the black plume of smoke over the rig didn't look right. Very ominous. It wasn't until we got home and watched the news did we realize what we had witnessed.

Now its been three weeks since that day, and the topic of conversation at the Tail is dominated by the spill. Its all doom and gloom. We have seen no oil on our beaches yet. Preparations are currently underway to protect the sand. Walton County, Florida has staged large bales of hay along our 25 miles of beach so it may be scattered along the shoreline in an attempt to capture the oil and make it easier to remove with seaweed removal equipment. In Destin, they are considering laying a boom across the mouth of the East Pass to prevent the spill from entering the harbor and bay. Of course that will shut down the Destin Fishing Fleet at the peak of the Spring fishing season.

A "town hall" meeting was held two days ago at Sandestin to begin a class action suit to help local businesses and others who have been effected adversely financially from lost vacation rentals and business slow downs.

I walked the beach on Tuesday and collected a baggie of our sugar white sand as a memento. It may be a week or a month before we actually see the spill arrive in our area. Or by some miracle, the flow of oil may be contained and the spill controlled. But the political and economic damage has already begun. We hope that this disaster will prevent any future considerations of off shore drilling here in the Florida Gulf waters.

wCs!

[Coconuts]

capn,

Help me understand something about oil spill cleanup. I've asked this question to engineers and numbers of other people who really are no more qualified to answer than I. But I have sent emails to the coast guard with no response except for links to media releases and other things they do. I am familiar via the media with the vacuumimg process used to clean up oil after a time. However that process is slow and the repsonse time is usually long. Now you have obviously been around the water. I spent most of my life working at a naval shipyard adjacent to a naval base. I have seen fire tugs/fire boats in action. You may have too, either in person or on TV. They use them quite a bit during July 4th celebrations. These boats pump high volumes of water from the sea through an adjustable nozzle, and they move a bunch of water quickly. These boats were actually used to fight the fire aboard Deepwater Horizon (the oil rig). Now here's my question. I can't understand why these boats or similar newly developed craft can't steam to the spill site immediately and begin pumping oil from the surface onto ocean-going barges. And yes, there are barges that can handle bad weather. Now I know you can't fill a vessel full of water because the vessel has to be lighter than the volume of water it displaces or it will sink. But as you know the oil will float to the surface on the barge and pumps at the bottom of the barge could simply pump the water overboard. And the recovered oil could still be refined. So, what's the answer? Somebody please explain the drawbacks. Please don't say money. There has to be an engineer or two on this thing. Come on folks, we blast people into space every few months. This has to be doable. I don't mind being made to feel like an idiot with the right answer. I simply haven't gotten one yet. And I do know that the well is still spilling oil and in this case it wouldn't be as effective as in the case of a tanker spill. BTW, Deepwater Horizon was built by Hyundai. However it has been used around the world safely for a long time.

The problem, from what I've heard, is that we're talking a coating of millimeters of oil on the water. It's not easy to get oil out of water, especially ocean water that's constantly being disturbed. The analogy I heard was that it's like trying to get the oil out of a shaken bottle of salad dressing.

Considering the volume of oil, if BP could figure out how to get it out of the water they would- they're losing billions of dollars of product. I'm not defending them, just saying that they have a financial incentive to do that, and the fact that they aren't means they haven't figured out how.

[sonofabeach]

I just heard a radio morning show talking about this youtube video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=did-S6Xb ... re=related

[C-Dawg]

I just read that tar balls are showing up in Key West

[txaggirl91]

http://mitchell-langbert.blogspot.com/2 ... on-to.html

Two good old boys have a solution to cleaning up the oil in the gulf....

[dnw]

I just read that tar balls are showing up in Key West

I also heard that. It makes me sad.

[chippewa]

http://mitchell-langbert.blogspot.com/2 ... on-to.html

Two good old boys have a solution to cleaning up the oil in the gulf....

That was pretty amazing. Which means they'll never try it.

[chippewa]

I just heard a radio morning show talking about this youtube video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=did-S6Xb ... re=related

That was pretty sad to watch

from the comments at that site:

All of those tourists covered with oil ..... Maybe Jimmy Buffett knew something we didn't..........

[HurricaneSeason]

It hasn't shown up on the beaches yet. En masse that is. I don't know if that's a good thing because it seems inevitable to me. Regardless, the problem isn't so much the sheen of oil, it's the huge cloud of it under the surface - that's GOT to go somewhere.

And it will. The currents are goofy but part of it is heading for the Loop Current, which is further off the mouth of the river this year than in previous years.

BP has acted as if this is no big deal. They've done next to nothing. They're THINKING. They won't let ANY oil companies help. The video of the oil and gas coming out too two weeks just to be aired.

This is the worst catastrophe ever - so far. It will get worse. It's already way more oil leaking out than what the Coast Guard or BP says. There's no way - simply no way - that it's 5000 barrels a day. Those rigs do something closer to 70,000 a day (I don't exactly know, I'm going by what I can remember from reading this and that and from things on the news etc) when they're working, so you can figure that it's blowing even more out than that since there's no restriction in place.

Where the oil ends up - and it's not the tar kind as it turns out as it was at first feared - is up to nature. There simply is no good scenario. The best thing that can happen is it's stopped. But while BP 'thinks', the Gulf continues to be killed slowly. Afterall, it's a huge body of water and BP made billions of dollars last year so there's no hurry to stop the leak, right?

Nahhhhh. And BP is getting a lot of heat for their Atlantis rig. They've become the enemy of the Gulf Coast, the Gulf Of Mexico, hell, the East Coast and actually the world. I hope they never sleep.

[wiscoleeds]

And what is the President and his administration doing?!?!?!?!?!
Put them all in a boat with BP and float the jokers out there with some sponges.
Cheers
Wiscoleeds

[Skibo]

This is the worst catastrophe ever - so far.

This sounds a bit dramatic. I'm not trying to downplay the situation which is quite disturbing but this doesn't even hit my radar as worst catastrophe ever. There has been a lot of oil spilled into the oceans over the years and nature has an incredible ability to recover.

List of major oilspills

The well fires after the gulf war did a lot more damage to the earth than this spill has done. Union Carbide's emission of toxic gas in Bhopal killed over 3000 people immediately and thousands more suffer the aftereffects of the poison. The Japanese people would probably disagree with you also considering the destruction of two cities by nuclear bombs during WW2. The Cuyahoga River has quite a history. There have been over 10 fires on this river. The one in 1069 was the catalyst to the clean water act. Did you ever hear of Love Canal? You might not consider the slaughter of millions of Jews in WW2 as a catastrophe, I do. Dust Bowl? The impact if Katrina is still being felt on the Gulf Coast.

There were mistakes that led to this problem and it would serve all better if this was used as a learning opportunity instead of a political witch hunt. Its fun to demonize large successful companies, I do wonder if all the haters would be willing to give up all the products that these big evil companies have made possible.