Oil and natural gas drilling in U.S. waters

[Buster]

Take the Poll:
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Current Results:
http://polls.newsmax.com/results/bpspill.html

 

[James48843]

Don't question my sincerity Jim!!!!!!!!!!!!...I take personal offense to your tone...I don't need a lecture, especially from you, your a$$hole reply was not warranted…I'm fully aware of all that is going on with this crisis...Get down off your high horse once in a while and address people like you are not looking down your nose at them here...Are you ever capable of having a discussion without coming off with your elitist, condescending manner?

I'm not questioning your sincerity.

I asked what do you expect them to do?

I don't know of anything they COULD do at this point.

What did you have in mind when you said you wanted them to man up and do the right thing?

 

[James48843]

New info- volume is much higher than previous reports. Coast Guard guy today says think they will be capturing 28,000 barrels a day by next week. CAPTURING 28,000 barrels a day.

I wonder how much is actually flowing.

Allen says 630,000 gallons of oil captured daily

56 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen says the oil spill containment operation in the Gulf of Mexico is now catching up to 630,000 gallons daily.

Assessing efforts to restrain the oil spill, Allen told reporters that "we continue to make progress," although he said reinforcement help is on the way, including the expected arrival of a shuttle tanker from the North Sea within the next few days.

He also said he hopes capacity of the existing containment structure can be increased soon to roughly 1.17 million gallons daily.

"We're only at 15 (15,000 barrels) now and we'll be at 28 (28,000 barrels) next week. We're building capacity," Allen said. "They'll probably go back at that point and put a cap back on it. At some point, there'll probably have to be a transition between a containment cap and a regular cap."

More: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_oil_spill_administration

 

[WorkFE]

Everyone has an agenda.
BP needs those numbers to come in as low as possible. It will have a direct impact on how much this is going to cost them. But don't think for a minute that there are not figures coming in from other sources that are not tied to funding dollars down the road.
I am in no way saying that evrybody is guilty of deflating or inflating the numbers but the game is being played by more than just BP.
And those that say more is escaping now than before are eye fooled by the way the cap expanded the release zone. If they are capturing one drop per minute it is less escaping than before.

 

[James48843]

Woman dumps fake oil on herself to protest Gulf liability cap

By the CNN Wire Staff
June 9, 2010 2:27 p.m. EDT


Washington (CNN) -- Public anguish over the growing oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico took center stage on Capitol Hill on Wednesday as a woman dumped simulated oil on herself during a Senate hearing in a graphic expression of support for legislation lifting oil companies' current liability cap.

"We're tired of the bailouts and we're tired of being dumped on in the Gulf," protester Diane Wilson yelled during the start of a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing.

Wilson, who was arrested, described herself as a fourth-generation shrimper from the Gulf. She interrupted opening remarks by Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, one of several Republicans who have expressed opposition to lifting the $75 million cap.

"I am seeing the destruction of my community and I am outraged," Wilson added in a statement released by the activist group Code Pink. "I am also seeing elected representatives like Sen. Lisa Murkowski blocking BP from being legally responsible to pay for this catastrophe. ... This is outrageous."

Several top congressional Democrats -- with the backing of the White House -- are pushing for a complete removal of the liability cap. Some Republicans, however, have warned that doing so could lead to the creation of a new energy monopoly while increasing U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/06/09/oil.liability.protest/

 

[Buster]

Red tape vexes Gulf residents seeking BP payments​

GRAND ISLE, La. – The reefs that David Walter makes for anglers to drop into the Gulf of Mexico are fake, but his frustration as he tries to win compensation from BP for lost income is real.
State regulators stopped issuing permits for the reefs on May 4 because of the oil spill, effectively killing off $350,000 in Walter's expected business. It sent him into a labyrinth of archived invoices and documents lost by BP. Finally, an offer came: $5,000.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100610/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill

 

[fabijo]

Watching the news reports from 1979, you'd think you are listening to today's news about the gulf oil spill. Back then, the oil spill lasted about 10 months. They tried capping it (Operation Sombrero...:nuts, throwing metal balls into it, catching the oil, etc...

 

[Buster]

Fab....We didn't have the internet and cable news back then and so the crisis hype wasn't so rabid..

Oil Spills and Disasters​

The following list includes major oil spills since 1967.

1967 March 18, Cornwall, Eng.: Torrey Canyon ran aground, spilling 38 million gallons

1977 April, North Sea: blowout of well in Ekofisk oil field leaked 81 million gallons.

1978 March 16, off Portsall, France: wrecked supertanker Amoco Cadiz spilled 68 million gallons,

1979 June 3, Gulf of Mexico: spilling an estimated 140 million gallons

July 19, Tobago: , spilling 46 million gallons of crude.

1983 Feb. 4, Persian Gulf, Iran: Nowruz Field platform spilled 80 million gallons of oil.

Aug. 6, Cape Town, South Africa: the Spanish tanker Castillo de Bellver caught fire, spilling 78 million gallons

Nov. 10, Saint John's, Newfoundland: Odyssey spilled 43 million gallons.

1989 March 24, Prince William Sound, Alaska: tanker Exxon Valdez hit an undersea reef and spilled 10 million–plus gallons

Jan. 23–27, southern Kuwait: during the Persian Gulf War, Iraq deliberately released 240–460 million gallons of crude oil into the Persian Gulf

April 11, Genoa, Italy: Haven spilled 42 million gallons

May 28, Angola: ABT Summer exploded and leaked 15–78 million gallons

1992 March 2, Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan: 88 million gallons of oil spilled from an oil well.

April 24, Gulf of Mexico: The Deepwater Horizon, a semi-submersible drilling rig, sank on April 22, after an April 20th explosion on the vessel. Eleven people died in the blast. When the rig sank, the riser—the 5,000-foot-long pipe that connects the wellhead to the rig—became detached and began leaking oil. In addition, U.S. Coast Guard investigators discovered a leak in the wellhead itself. As much as 25,000 barrels (1,050,000 gallons) of oil per day were leaking into the water, threatening wildlife along the Louisiana Coast. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared it a "spill of national significance." BP (British Petroleum), which leased the Deepwater Horizon, is responsible for the cleanup, but the U.S. Navy supplied the company with resources to help contain the slick. Oil reached the Louisiana shore on April 30, affected about 125 miles of coast. By early June, oil had also reached Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. It is the largest oil spill in U.S. history. 1,050,000 gallons/day x ~45 days = 47,250,000 gallons so far...

Remember: during the Persian Gulf War, Iraq deliberately released 240–460 million gallons

 

[Buster]

Red tape vexes Gulf residents seeking BP payments​

GRAND ISLE, La. – The reefs that David Walter makes for anglers to drop into the Gulf of Mexico are fake, but his frustration as he tries to win compensation from BP for lost income is real.
State regulators stopped issuing permits for the reefs on May 4 because of the oil spill, effectively killing off $350,000 in Walter's expected business. It sent him into a labyrinth of archived invoices and documents lost by BP. Finally, an offer came: $5,000.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100610/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill

Later today:

Feds: BP agrees to expedite oil spill payments​

GRAND ISLE, La. – BP said Thursday it plans to boost its ability to capture the oil gushing from a ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico by early next week as the Obama administration announced that the oil giant agreed to speed up payments to people whose livelihoods have been washed away by the spill.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100610/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill

 

[Thunderhorse]

Another gem courtesy ABC.

No, not that ABC. The other ABC.

"...we're going with the Democratic solution..."

LMAO.:nuts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrL2Zg1fPP0&feature=related

 

[James48843]

Watching the news reports from 1979, you'd think you are listening to today's news about the gulf oil spill. Back then, the oil spill lasted about 10 months. They tried capping it (Operation Sombrero...:nuts, throwing metal balls into it, catching the oil, etc...

That 1979 Gulf of Mexico gusher is so very much like today's gusher. Top-hat= Sombrero. Tried top-kill. Ended up drilling relief wells. MONTHS later before they were done.

SOOOooooo similar.

Yes, take Buster's list of the worlds biggest- and take a look where that Gulf of Mexico 1979 one came in on the list .

1979 June 3, Gulf of Mexico: spilling an estimated 140 million gallons

I think this one is going to easily top that one.

How depressing.

 

[wwwtractor]

That big sucking sound you hear is all the Vietnamese boats leaving down I-10 or whatever way they can get there for California.

 

[Thunderhorse]

How depressing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-4oooyqe_8&feature=player_embedded

What is depressing is the hair on fire, condescending, know it all approach cable/network organizations use in attempting (and failing) to deliver news.

What a study this video is in the downfall of objective journalism since 1979.

Give me the gravitas news. Keep the runny nose, teary eyed crap.

Nah, I don't get depressed about it. I don't watch any of it anymore.

I actually get a kick out of reminding Comcast they still owe me money from back in 2002. Every time they come a callin' wanting me to sign up. Short story is I paid a month ahead at the tiime since I knew I was going to be on travel for a while. Got home and found my service disconnected and a penalty fee assessed. Due to their to their screw up which they would not admit to. I told 'em to shove their service where the sun don't shine (actual wording was more explicit). After I got over being pissed off about it, I came to realize it was a blessing it disguise. No cable bill.

This mess will get cleaned up eventually. It is not the end of the world.

T'horse

 

[Buster]

This mess will get cleaned up eventually. It is not the end of the world.

T'horse

A very level headed post..I gave you Reps...Thanks for the calming assurance.

 

[Buster]

Latest: Huge amounts of oil to be burned

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/06/11/4497370-oil-flow-strains-the-system

 

[XL-entLady]

This mess will get cleaned up eventually. It is not the end of the world.

T'horse

Nope, it's absolutely NOT the end of the world. Just the end of the world as we knew it.

Think about it. What it's doing to the economy of the Gulf. What it's doing to the food chain. What's going to happen this hurricane season. It's already the biggest single spill in US history and we're months away from stopping it. And now the dispersant is making people sick.

The world changed that day. It will never be the same. April 20, 2010, is going to become as infamous as September 11, 2001.

 

[CountryBoy]

Jones Act Slowing Oil Spill Cleanup?
Foreign companies possessing some of the world’s most advanced oil skimming ships say they are being kept out of efforts to clean up the oil spill in the Gulf because of a 1920’s law known as the Jones Act -- a protectionist law that requires vessels working in US waters be built in the US and be crewed by US workers.

Joseph Carafano of the Heritage Foundation has been studying the matter and wonders, “Are we accepting all the international assistance in the maritime domain that we can, and is the Jones Act an impediment to that?”

The Coast Guard and the Administration are quick to point out that some foreign technology is being used in the current cleanup effort. Including:

- Canada’s offer of 3,000 meters of containment boom

- Three sets of COSEQ sweeping arms from the Dutch

- Mexico’s offer of two skimmers and 4200 meters of boom

- Norway’s offer of 8 skimming systems

Some of the best clean up ships – owned by Belgian, Dutch and the Norwegian firms are NOT being used. Coast Guard Lt. Commander, Chris O’Neil, says that is because they do not meet “the operational requirements of the Unified Area Command.” One of those operational requirements is that vessels comply with the Jones Act.

"Yes, it does apply,” said ONeil,“ I have heard no discussions of waivers.”
Waivers to the Jones Act were granted by the administration of George W. Bush in the days following hurricane Katrina. And today, the Obama White House said waivers might again be considered.

“If there is the need for any type of waiver, that would obviously be granted,” said White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs. “But, we've not had that problem thus far.”

These are the facts, Everything possible to mediate this disater is NOT being down.

If the Obama Administration needs an example of what can happen when global assets are allowed to tackle a massive oil spill, they need look no further than Saudi Aramco’s clean up of a massive wartime spill off the Kuwaiti coast in 1991. Aramco summoned every available ship to assist in the cleanup. The company claims it recovered 900,000 barrels of oil in roughly three months. The industry views that effort as the gold standard in oil spill cleanups.

http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/...tm_campaign=Heritage+Hotsheet&test=latestnews

We aren't using the best available Technology in battle this environmental disaster. Why? Who knows, pay offs to the unions? Make the crisis even worse so they can kill BP or nationalize it and the oil industry? More Control? A combo of all 3? Or something more machevellian?

We deal with the Jones Act all the time in my office so I'm very aware of why it is there and it's protectionist agenda. Most of the time it is good, but NOT KNOW! Lets put thes petty things aside here.

 

[alevin]

Never heard of the Jones Act before. Yes, it's time for waivers. Sweet light crude doesn't burn all that well, as I posted early on in this debacle. Why burn if you could be skimming. Should be doing a full court press with every available resource. I can't read articles on this thing, makes me sick.

 

[nnuut]

Very efficient our Government! NOT!!! View attachment 9554

 

[James48843]

I call "BUNK".


That's a bunch of FOX NEWS bullSh*%#$.

Do you know what the Jones Act is? Or what it actually says?

Not what FOX news and the Heritage Foundation says, but what the LAW actually says?


First- "the Jones Act" allows seamen who are injured in the line of duty- to SUE their employer for damages if they are injured.

​

Of COURSE Fox News and the Heritage Foundation would want you to waive "the Jones Act".
They don't want workers to be able to file suit.



Now- that said- "the Jones Act" has a provision that automatically can waive U.S. built-US flag requirements for oil spill response vessels.

That's right- FOX NEWS IS LYING TO YOU-

The U.S. can allow an oil response rig anytime they want- no US flag required.


See 46 USC section 55113:

46 USC § 55113. Use of foreign documented oil spill response vessels

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an oil spill response vessel documented under the laws of a foreign country may operate in waters of the United States on an emergency and temporary basis, for the purpose of recovering, transporting, and unloading in a United States port oil discharged as a result of an oil spill in or near those waters, if—
(1) an adequate number and type of oil spill response vessels documented under the laws of the United States cannot be engaged to recover oil from an oil spill in or near those waters in a timely manner, as determined by the Federal On-Scene Coordinator for a discharge or threat of a discharge of oil; and
(2) the foreign country has by its laws accorded to vessels of the United States the same privileges accorded to vessels of the foreign country under this section.

All BP would have to do, is ASK for a waiver, and the U.S. Government would grant it under this section. However- BP has not asked for a waiver.