(Dave Martin/Associated Press: Oil cleanup workers used high-pressure hoses to decontaminate oil retention booms in Theodore, Ala., on Saturday.)
The New York Times
By CLIFFORD KRAUSS and MICHAEL COOPER
Published: June 5, 2010
"HOUSTON — Oil continued to gush from a runaway oil well in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday as engineers worked to close the vents on a capping device they successfully lowered onto the gushing riser pipe late Thursday night.
“The vents remain open,” Adm. Thad Allen of the Coast Guard, who is in charge of the federal response to the oil spill, said in a briefing Saturday morning.
Admiral Allen said that while engineers had so far been able to bring 6,000 barrels of oil to the surface, they had been hesitant to close the vents. If they do so, they fear, water will rush in and form the kind of icy hydrates that doomed a previous attempt to cap the leak.
“When we put the cap down, there were four vents on the cap that allow oil to escape that’s not going up through the pipe,” he said. “What you want is you want to keep oil in the containment cap and not let water in, because when water gets in you form hydrates.”' More>>>>
“The vents remain open,” Adm. Thad Allen of the Coast Guard, who is in charge of the federal response to the oil spill, said in a briefing Saturday morning.
Admiral Allen said that while engineers had so far been able to bring 6,000 barrels of oil to the surface, they had been hesitant to close the vents. If they do so, they fear, water will rush in and form the kind of icy hydrates that doomed a previous attempt to cap the leak.
“When we put the cap down, there were four vents on the cap that allow oil to escape that’s not going up through the pipe,” he said. “What you want is you want to keep oil in the containment cap and not let water in, because when water gets in you form hydrates.”' More>>>>
Drilling Santa Fe post with BP Oil Spill Live Cam:
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Every article gives different stories and amounts, and as this is a wild rushing gusher, spewing phenomenal amounts of chemicals into the Gulf of Mexico, I expect there is no way to accurately measure the amount.
ReplyDeleteEarlier on Friday, BP's chief operating officer Doug Suttles said the containment cap "should work" by capturing at least 90% of the gushing oil.
Hummm 90% is what amount... is that the down played amount being touted by BP or the much higher estimate of the US government?
Whatever the REAL facts, it remains that this LMRP is only a band aid solution, temporary, until the hoped for two relief wells are complete and functioning.
http://just-me-in-t.blogspot.com/2010/06/not-solution-just-band-aid.html