Sunday, June 13, 2010

Oil Spill: It's all about the pressure and how to control it...

by dengre

Greetings.

As some my recall, I have posted here at DKos since 2004—mostly with a singular focus on the Abramoff Scandal and the Culture of Corruption that Jack swam in. Over the years as I followed this research obsession I often thought of my father. I grew up watching his obsessions as he researched and learned everything he could about any subject that caught his eye. I guess what they say is true; the nuts don’t fall far from the tree.

While my great obsession has been Abramoff, my Dad's was and is siphons and the ways that liquids and gases act under pressure. When it comes to the way that pressure impacts the flow of gasses and liquids he is a bit of an unaccredited expert. He is also an inventor and has come up with a possible solution to controlling the flow of oil and gas from the BP Oil Disaster and a prototype to demonstrate his idea.

The key to stopping the spill is to control the pressure and manage the flow of liquids and gases from the damaged well. For that, a new cap is needed.

I’ll let Maurice (my dad) explain it on the jump...



continued at Daily Kos....

BP Restricts Media Access to Wildlife Rehab Centers

by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse

The mainstream media has reported how BP's contracts bar clean-up workers from talking with media, and how "minders" or monitors protect workers on the beach from the media. Does BP also feel the need to protect two well-respected organizations that it hired to lead the wildlife recovery effort:  Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research and  International Bird Rescue Research Center.  News reports don't always mention that the groups were hired by BP, but as with other workers, Tri-State had to sign a contract with BP that "restricted media access."



continued at Daily Kos....

Oil Leaks From Gulf Seabed Cracks Around BP's Well Site?

by Edger

Crossposted from Antemedius

BP has a collection of 'bots' or ROV's, remotely operated vehicles, tethered underwater robots operating in the Gulf of Mexico near the blown out Macondo Well site, while they attempt to either plug the leak or at least find ways to recover and siphon off the leaking oil.

Sitting on top of the well pipe projecting from the seabed is the BOP, or Blow Out Preventer, the large steel 450 ton apparatus that you may have seen in various photographs and videos from BP's Live Feed as they recently cut off the top of the riser pipe that ran from the BOP to the Deepwater Horizon platform before it burned and sank.

There has been much speculation lately that the well bore is damaged below the seabed and that oil is leaking out of the well into the seabed underneath and around the BOP.



continued at Daily Kos....

Clean Energy: an Unimpressive Response to Disaster.

by RLMiller

The nation is hungry for something to be done in response to the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.  Support for offshore oil is dropping along with public perception of BP (still not as evil as Goldman Sachs, but for how long?).  Oilpocalypse consumes President Obama's time, and Tuesday he'll address the nation on the disaster.  Congress will continue to hold hearings.  Some legislation will come out of this...but what kind?  

The Gulf crisis has spotlighted the wrongs inherent in our fossil-fuelish ways.  The crisis deserves a mobilization of all resources.  Although reading tea leaves is an uncertain business, the Senate appears poised to take up a hodge-podge clean energy bill instead of the climate bill that would end, once and for all, our fossil fuel addiction.  Our leaders are wasting this crisis.  



continued at Daily Kos....

Rand Paul OOPS: "It's not JUST me pandering to coal; people like having the flat land"

by MinistryOfTruth

Rand Paul, in another OOPS, D'OH! (gotcha, wink ;) moment, on mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia and the coal industry. Watch Paul prove why libertarians are useful corporate tools.

I don’t think anybody's going to be missing a hill or two here and there.

And some people like having the flat land. Some of it apparently has become quite valuable when it's become flattened. And I think they do a good job at reclaiming the land, and you know, adding back in topsoil, bringing in help. So the bottom line is, it's not just me pandering to coal. It's me believing in private property.

CrooksandLiars.com

Bold and italics text added by the diarist

  Rand Paul is an intellectual high priced escort for his Big Business donors. He's not JUST pandering for coal. He'll pander for any special interest who wants to get lucky and have one more Senate vote in their pockets.

Video, transcript and more below the fold



continued at Daily Kos....

A Great Diary You Guys Missed

by slinkerwink

It's this diary and it's about what the White House administration is planning to do to BP. The White House is correct in their approach to BP in this instance. Here's an excerpt below:

The White House announced earlier morning that President Obama will address the nation from the Oval Office on Tuesday night about Oilmageddon--and lay down the law to BP.  Apparently Obama wants BP to set aside significant funds to compensate victims of the spill.

   President Obama for the first time will address the nation about the ongoing oil  disaster in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday night and outline his plans to legally force BP executives to create an escrow account reserving billions of dollars to compensate businesses and individuals if the company does not do so on its own, a senior administration official said on Sunday.

  "The president will use his legal authority to compel them," said Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman.



continued at Daily Kos....

Where's the mass protests?

by shpilk

Crashing Vor asks in his diary why BP employees aren't being arrested. It's obviously a great question, but after waiting some 6 weeks, it's obvious nothing is going to happen. They continue to do whatever they want, intimidating reporters, as noted in Vyan's diary.

I have to ask, why aren't people in the Gulf down on the beaches and in the marshes challenging these corporate thugs and hired goons en masse?

Non-violent resistance: that's what is required. People need to bring a digital cameras, cellphones, tape recorders and notebooks, to document what BP doesn't want us to see.

Long past due now, and I don't understand why it hasn't been happening.



continued at Daily Kos....

Until White House Behavior Changes....

by icebergslim

it is just more of the same.

The stimulus package needed to be minimum ONE TRILLION DOLLARS.

We knew this, but now President Obama is asking, begging, trying to make the case that he needs 50 billion dollars to save teachers, firefighters, policemen jobs out here.  (all of the stimulus money has not been spent, but 50B they don't have....)

But, when you listen to Blue Dog Democrats, wanting Republican votes you get what we got in the stimulus package.  A compromised package that many economic experts said from the very beginning was not enough money.  And we won't even get into the stimulus package creating jobs, it did not, it saved the very jobs for a short time, that now the White House needs more money to save again.



continued at Daily Kos....

BP Blocks Media Access to Cleanup Workers

by Vyan



continued at Daily Kos....

White House plans to force BP to set aside money to pay damages

by Christian Dem in NC

The White House announced earlier morning that President Obama will address the nation from the Oval Office on Tuesday night about Oilmageddon--and lay down the law to BP.  Apparently Obama wants BP to set asidesignificant funds to compensate victims of the spill.

President Obama for the first time will address the nation about the ongoing oil  disaster in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday night and outline his plans to legally force BP executives to create an escrow account reserving billions of dollars to compensate businesses and individuals if the company does not do so on its own, a senior administration official said on Sunday.

"The president will use his legal authority to compel them," said Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman.

Late Friday, BP announced it plans to set up an escrow account--but apparently the amount it planned to set aside wasn't enough to satisfy Obama.  The White House plan will not only require BP to set aside significant funds, but will be administered by a third party to keep BP from shortchanging people entitled to compensation.  



continued at Daily Kos....

Addicted to Oil, in Congress it's Business as Usual; Gates gives a Warning

by jamess

Oil Spill May Spur Action on Energy, Probably Not on Climate By John M. Broder, NYTimes --June 12, 2010 In the words of Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a Republican who worked on a climate change bill for months before pronouncing it hopeless, "There's nowhere near 60 votes to save the polar bear." [...] Images of gushing oil  and dying pelicans in the Gulf of Mexico have stirred anger and agony in Washington. But are they enough to prod the Senate to act on long-delayed clean energy and climate change legislation? Energy, maybe. Climate, probably not. There is growing sentiment for a measure that penalizes BP, imposes higher costs and tougher regulations on offshore drillers and takes some steps toward reducing overall energy and petroleum consumption. But despite the outrage over the spill, there appears to be limited appetite in the Senate for a broad-based effort to cap greenhouse gas emissions across the board. Surprise, surprise ...

continued at Daily Kos....

Jail Just One

by Crashing Vor

The president thunders that BP has 48 hours to improve its oil capture Kabuki. Okay. Or what, Mr. President? Another stern letter? A glare at a press conference?

continued at Daily Kos....

BP Catastrophe Liveblog Mothership: #19

by Liveblog

The current ROV DIARY: BP Oilpocalypse ROV #93 Rules of the Road Let's keep this a meta diary. To volunteer to host a liveblog submersible (ROV), leave a comment here. Please rec this mothership diary, not the ROVs. Please be kind to fellow kossacks who may have limited bandwidth and refrain from posting images or videos. PLEASE visit Crashing Vor and Pam LaPier's diaries to find out how you can help the Gulf now and in the future. We don't have to be idle! And thanks to Crashing Vor and Pam LaPier for working on this! To repeat: please refrain from commenting in this mothership diary, unless you're volunteering for a submersible shift.

continued at Daily Kos....