Ask Me Help Desk - Gulf of Mexico Oil spill solution?

I really do hate to be the bearer of bad news .

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/bu...bal/03oil.html

Edit see my reply below

Hello again, tom:

Oy vey!

excon

Did more digging . The field is called 'Macondo Prospect' .Tony Hayward, the CEO of BP, estimated the Macondo well contained about 50 million to 100 million barrels of oil in an interview with the Houston Chronicle on May 6. This would make it a relatively modest discovery.

It is not as big as the link I posted above .But in my view 100 million barrels is big enough .

The EPA has stood in the way of the development of genetically engineered bacteria that can break down and eliminate oil from spills that remain in the ecosphere decades after a spill event.
Scientists Break Down Oil-Eating Microbe: Scientific American
The likelihood of bacteria helping the cleanup is very high, yet the EPA insists that it is not safe.

Yet the EPA and BP continue to use dispersant chemicals as an alternative. A perusal of the MSDS sheet for the chemical being used is revealing .
http://lmrk.org/corexit_9500_uscueg.539287.pdf
Here are some highlights :

Quote:

WARNING
Combustible.
Keep away from heat. Keep away from sources of ignition - No smoking. Keep container tightly closed. Do not get
In eyes, on skin, on clothing. Do not take internally. Avoid breathing vapor. Use with adequate ventilation. In case
Of contact with eyes, rinse immediately with plenty of water and seek medical advice. After contact with skin, wash
Immediately with plenty of soap and water.
Wear suitable protective clothing.
Low Fire Hazard; liquids may burn upon heating to temperatures at or above the flash point. May evolve oxides of
Carbon (COx) under fire conditions. May evolve oxides of sulfur (SOx) under fire conditions.

SKIN CONTACT :
May cause irritation with prolonged contact.
INGESTION :
Not a likely route of exposure. Can cause chemical pneumonia if aspirated into lungs following ingestion.
INHALATION :

METHODS FOR CLEANING UP :
SMALL SPILLS: Soak up spill with absorbent material. Place residues in a suitable, covered, properly labeled
Container. Wash affected area. LARGE SPILLS: Contain liquid using absorbent material, by digging trenches or by
Diking. Reclaim into recovery or salvage drums or tank truck for proper disposal. Clean contaminated surfaces with
Water or aqueous cleaning agents. Contact an approved waste hauler for disposal of contaminated recovered
Material. Dispose of material in compliance with regulations indicated in Section 13 (Disposal Considerations).

No toxicity studies have been conducted on this product.

Scientists have been advancing the technology of oil eating bacteria as part of an oil spill response for some time now . They enhance the efficiency of naturally occurring bacteria that consume hydrocarbons and spit out carbon dioxide and water.

The bacteria consume the oil until there is no residue left .
When the food (oil) runs out, the bacteria die .

Hello again, tom:

I hear they're getting ready for plan D - Sham - Wow.

excon

great idea !!
:p:p:p:p:p:

Why don't they just turn the valve off?

... Yeah, I know, that's a silly question.

The valve is broken and they don't have a backup plan. So let's not take more money from the taxpayers to help this multi billion dollar company fix the problem that they let happen.

They are a FOR PROFIT organization, let's do what we can to hold them accountable and make them fix this problem that they have caused.

The best option to shut off the valve is the relief wells being drilled now . Conservative estimates have that project completed in August. Everything else they are attempting is ad hoc temporary fixes.

Today their attempt to saw off a piece of the pipe failed . This has been an exercise in Murphy's law.

I think the life expectency of BP is low right now . I hope they will complete this before they go completely belly-up. If the President continues to threaten criminal accountability to the company he is depending on fixin the leak then they may end up one of those "too big to fail " companies that get Tarp-like consideration. Alot of good it will do suing a corpse.

The latest idea gaining steam is nuke it.

The Sham-wow might work for the cleanup, but we need something better and more powerful than a nuke to shut it off.

‘Mighty Fixit’ Self-Fusing Silicone Tape:

The way Russia cleans up large and small oil spills in the ocean is with the use of guess what? Butter. Yep. Plain, old, natural butter. It's taken out to sea in specially heated containers and then put onto the surface of the water. There is specially designed heated boom that is used also. If you have ever cooked with butter you will know that butter goes into other material. The is basically the same thing only on a much larger scale. When the butter grabs ahold of the submerged oil it then floats to the surface and congeals into a readily skimmable mass. This skimmed mass is then broken down and the oil is salvaged from the butter. They have been doing this for years and their waters after any kind of an oil spill are just as pristine as before the spill. The Russians perfected this technique years ago but America was and is still not interested in it. America would rather use toxic dispersants and kill every living organism in the ocean instead of actually cleaning the oil out of the water. Russia does not use any kind of oil dispersant as they want their oceans to continue to have sea life in them.

And then when it's separated the butter goes to the market and sold as clarified butter .

Quote:

Originally Posted by speechlesstx

The latest idea gaining steam is nuke it.

]

That is a really bad idea

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomder55

and then when it's separated the butter goes to the market and sold as clarified butter .

Yes innovative those Russians and who would have thought the Russians had a butter surplus big enough to clean up an oil spill. So what the US needs is some Russians initiative

Contrary to those here who are ignorant of this Russian clean up system. No, the butter is NOT recycled - just the oil. The Russians don't use a bazillion gallons of melted butter for a spill. The amount needed in ratio to the oil to be "mopped up" is very low in comparison.