When they cap the Horizon well, can they also put a lid on Obama?

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As is usual with an US crisis, the media theatres are twofold – the hands on rescue efforts, and the political free-for-all that breaks out in it’s wake. When the media can manage to multitask, focusing on something other than the arrest of the NYC bomber, we’ve been bombarded with the political fingerpointing. Yet the “since day one” efforts of the administration have proven lackluster – with the stories emerging of booms that didn’t exist in sufficient quantities, and test burns that were not done. In contrast, the “do’ers” are busy “doing” in the effort to combat the encroaching oil spill.

What this administration did do is what this community organizer administration does best – employ thuggish threats thru the media, and plan the future paths of the lawsuits. Our Coast Guard? According to Talking Point’s Memo’s Muckraker, they’re being used as an accounting firm… tallying up BP’s bill.

The Coast Guard, which is leading the joint local-state-federal unified command responding to the spill, is keeping track of costs and will eventually bill BP, an Obama Administration official tells TPMmuckraker. It’s not clear when that will happen. (We’ve asked the unified command for details and will let you know if we hear back.)

The prime villain for media purposes had already been targeted… BP as the icon of the evil big oil corporations. But as I pointed out in my April 30th post, the drillship rig was owned and operated by Transocean LTD, and only six BP staffers were aboard when the tragedy happened. Transocean had 79 employees operating the rig, along with 41 unaffiliated contractors. BP leased both the rig and the Transocean crew.

The research challenged were slow to come around to these details, but eventually figured out that BP wasn’t doing the drilling, nor the cementing on the rig. However Transocean, a major oil rig operator with an above average industry safety record, isn’t as easy to scapegoat as the much maligned oil giants.

As more was learned, one more name got added to the fray, to the delight of sundry lib/prog bloggers…. Halliburton.

Crooks and Liars gleefully labels this as “Halliburton’s Katrina”. And then decides, in their infinite wisdom, that Halliburton’s cement job is conclusively the reason for the failure. With Crooks and Liars around, who needs an industry expert investigation, right? C&L then reminds us that Halliburton was the cementing subcontractor on Australia’s West Atlas rig last fall (a rig not leased, owned or operated by either BP or Transocean) when a blowout happened. The well, like the Horizon’s, flowed an estimated 3000 bbls a day for over two months.


According to a not-so-neutral media, the WA Today, a subsidiary of the Sidney Morning Herald, it took four attempts to cap it and relief wells were dug. However, contrary to the media’s headline, the “cause of the spill” was not revealed because there was an impending hearing. The WA Today took it upon themselves to pronounce judgment based on one driller’s personal opinion. Had the research challenged Crooks & Liars bothered to follow thru, they would have learned that the cause of the blowout had nothing to do with Halliburton’s cementing, but was traced back to a pressure corrosion cap that was removed to clean corroded casing threads in the well, but was not reinstalled.

Oops…. there goes another convenient political scapegoat to accuse of deliberate negligence in that case.

The POTUS, thus far, has confined his… and his mouthpieces’…. demonization to BP. But the Senate energy committee is well aware of both Transocean’s and Halliburton’s presence in the event. They’re busy doing what they do best… scheduling hearings for a public reaming. They’ve summoned execs from all three companies, plus independent experts, to a hearing next week. After they’re thru ripping them a new one, the House plans to follows suit with their stage show the next day.

That panel, which will look at the possible problems leading to explosions on the rig as well as the adequacy of containment and cleanup measures, would probably be the first of several, Representative Bart Stupak, Democrat of Michigan, the subcommittee chairman, said in a statement.

A separate federal investigation into the explosion is under way by the Coast Guard and the Minerals Management Service.

That would be, of course, the same MMS who was out doing the necessary safety inspections, “regular as clockwork”, according to “James” – a Horizon survivor interviewed on the Mark Levin Show April 30th.

As our resident oil dude visitor, oil guy from Alberta commented on my “a dose of reality” thread, the elected ones will get a crash course education… including from Mike Miller. Miller is the chief executive officer and senior well-control supervisor at Safety Boss, headquartered in Alberta. Safety Boss is renowned for their emergency response to the blowouts, and to fires in Kuwait. But they’ve been around since 1979 as some of the “go to” guys.

Miller’s “burning” questions? Why wasn’t the burning done at the onset, and why the heck did they fill that drillship with water, effectively sinking it?

“At least while the rig was burning, all of the effluent from the well was coming to the surface and burning at the surface,” Miller notes. Indeed, burning oil — even on the sea surface — is an accepted spill-mitigation technique. So he’s puzzled why water boats were deployed to dowse the burning platform.

“What they did was fill the rig up with water. At which point it sunk,” Miller says — a full 5,000 feet to the seabed. And that, he maintains, violated “the first rule in offshore fire-fighting, which is not to sink the ship.” The reason: As soon as the rig submerged, it took down the riser pipe, which in this case was a 5,000-foot-long tethered straw through which the oil was gushing up from a reservoir 13,000 feet below the seafloor.

Mental note to government… if you’re not sure what you’re doing, please don’t “help”. Did anyone even think about what that water would do to the rig, and the ensuing damage?

TMPs Muckracker clarified another important “day one” task of the administration; cornering BP on their liability language…

BP’s chief executive, Tony Hayward, has said that the company takes full responsibility for cleaning up the oil. But, in a possible bid to limit liability, he has consistently placed blame for the accident on the rig owner, Transocean.

In a claims document posted on its website, BP says it will pay for “all necessary and appropriate clean-up costs” as well as “legitimate and objectively verifiable claims for other loss and damage caused by the spill.” The document says such damage “may include claims for assessment, mitigation and clean up of spilled oil, real and property damage caused by the oil, personal injury caused by the spill, commercial losses including loss of earnings/profit and other losses as contemplated by applicable laws and regulations..”

According to the AP, the Obama Administration and several state AGs have asked BP to clarify its offer to pay damages. This was reported to be a planned topic of conversation in a Monday meeting between Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and BP executives.

Yeah… that’s first on my mind too…. *not*!

Then, of course, there’s Salon’s Joseph Romm, who laments that Obama is missing a golden opportunity to push his alternative energy agenda even further.

sigh….

Well, count me not so bowled over with our government’s “response”. The Coast Guard, sinking the rig with an ill-thought response, Congressional hearings, claims of broken regulations and cries for more… topped off with tons of the media chit chat and a plethora of misinformation. OMG, please spare me the media chit chat. Dang, who’s tending the well? Shouldn’t combining all possible forces and resources be taking priorities over planning litigation? Or are my priorities out of order?

~~~

… and now to the groups who really *are* doing something!

Let’s get a far more interesting focus. An update on just what the powers that actually *are* doing something to stem the tide of oil… and not from politicians and desk jocks.

For the more informed perspectives, I turned to the The Oil Drum from yesterday. The first of three steel/concrete containment caps is being shipped today. Again the media reports it’s BP building them – perhaps to prepare the public for yet another reason for blame in the event it doesn’t work. But in fact it’s Wild Well Control who’s doing the building – a company who’s been around for 35 years responding to well control and pressure emergencies. In that time, they’ve responded to over 2700 events – both land and offshore.

Below, a picture of the first of three cap… via the Oil Drum link

How it’s supposed to work?

Image from Superior Energy – (via Johnson Rice)

How it works


• The system is made up of a 125-ton, 14’ x 24’ x 40’ structure that will be set on top of the largest leak source. This leak is located at the end of the riser, about 600 feet from the wellhead.

• Equipment at the top of the system is connected to a 5,000 foot riser that will convey the hydrocarbons to the surface ship, the Deepwater Enterprise.

• Once in place, oil will flow up into the containment system’s dome to the surface ship.

• Once on the surface ship, the hydrocarbons will be processed and oil will be separated from water and gas. The oil will then be temporarily stored before being offloaded and shipped to a designated oil terminal onshore.

• The Deepwater Enterprise is capable of processing 15,000 barrels of oil per day and storing 139,000 barrels.

• A support barge will also be deployed with a capacity to store 137,000 barrels of oil.

• This system could collect as much as 85% of oil rising from the seafloor.

According to The Oil Drum’s report, there are three separate points where the damaged risers are leaking, with the main leak some 600′ below the well head, and below the sea bed. What are the chances this works? BBC provides an article based on data from John Curry, of BP. This has been used successfully before… after Hurricane Katrina to channel spilt oil from the platforms to the surface. But that was in much shallower water.

This is breaking new ground, lowering these 98-tonne containers down 5000′. And while that, in itself, becomes a technical challenge, and the location of the leaks are known, there are other obstacles… including the softness of the seabed. Also, as Mike Miller of Safety Boss (mentioned above) notes, these devices, even in shallow water, tend to under perform to their expectations.

~~~

… and about that “remote-controlled acoustic shutoff switch”
…. aka ACS

Part of the dog n’ pony show planned by Congress has to do with this “acoustic shutoff” switch. It’s absence on the Transocean (not BP) rig has been cited by many a misinformed media pundit, evoking the impression with ominous certainty that, had the US implemented regulations demanding those, all would have been just hunky dory. Another dose of reality. The US Mineral Management Services didn’t require it simply because it was too expensive or troublesome to change regulations. They didn’t believe it added that much level of protection.

Again, this from the same WSJ article, whining about that ACS not being in place:

U.S. regulators don’t mandate use of the remote-control device on offshore rigs, and the Deepwater Horizon, hired by oil giant BP PLC, didn’t have one. With the remote control, a crew can attempt to trigger an underwater valve that shuts down the well even if the oil rig itself is damaged or evacuated.

The efficacy of the devices is unclear. Major offshore oil-well blowouts are rare, and it remained unclear Wednesday evening whether acoustic switches have ever been put to the test in a real-world accident. When wells do surge out of control, the primary shut-off systems almost always work. Remote control systems such as the acoustic switch, which have been tested in simulations, are intended as a last resort

~~~

The U.S. considered requiring a remote-controlled shut-off mechanism several years ago, but drilling companies questioned its cost and effectiveness, according to the agency overseeing offshore drilling. The agency, the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service, says it decided the remote device wasn’t needed because rigs had other back-up plans to cut off a well.

That pesky reality of skepticism by a US oversight body aside, would it have worked? Again, from the original Oil Drum post..

There has been some significant attention paid as to whether the rig should have been fitted with an acoustic remote control system for the BOPs – though in one discussion I heard there was some confusion as to what this would have changed on the rig, since there were BOPs in place. The acoustic system has the following benefit:

The ACS system is a redundant receiver/transmitter for communication with the rig through acoustics. It is interfaced to the BOP control pod so that different sets of emergency functions can be executed to shut down the well and avoid a pollution. If the regular umbilical is broken and normal communication with the BOP is not possible, the ACS is the last and only means to shut down the well. If a function is executed from the ACS, signal goes to a solenoid that activates a big valve on the BOP; the valve is then energized by air pressure bottles on the BOP.

In this case that doesn’t seem to be likely to have helped, since there was, apparently, a signal on the rig floor that the BOP had activated, though obviously it had not worked the way it was intended. The reason(s) for the BOP failing to work as anticipated is still a matter of conjecture.

As Hydraulic Pneumatics, a BOP manufacturer, notes on their website, high pressure gases when drilling is an ever present danger that strikes both safety and economic fear into the heart of all drillers. However the offshore/subsea pressures are even more extreme, especially when compounded by a cold environment such as the North Sea, Russian or Canadian rigs. It is a reality that they face daily in any operation. Is it possible to avoid? Not likely. Is it also possible that, at some times and under some circumstances, Mother Nature is going to be dealt the winning hand? Absolutely.

~~~

All in all, our best hopes for optimum outcome is not our government’s focus on legalities, but on incredibly brave and innovative men and women, attempting to plow new paths in deep water offshore drilling emergency response.

While they are moving heaven and earth to figure out a quick way to cap the Horizon well, someone should figure out a way to put a lid on Obama, his administration and his Congress. What needs to be addressed first is stemming the flow of the crude, not planning the court docket line up.

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MATA:hi, from BBC news;BP send a giant box to contain gulf of mexico oil spill;engenierds bp raicing against time to build a FUNNEL to help contain the oil leak into the gulf of mexico. bye 🙄

The decision to put the fire out is a judgement call. Many many vessels have been lost to over zealous Firefighters (the Normandy for Instance in WWII). The fundamental issue for the CG was Search And Rescue and then Polution Mitigation. Very likely the Drill ship was going to be damaged very severly in any event. No doubt about it the sinking of the Vessel has complicated Pollution Mitigation. Was the Riser damaged in the original explosion? My guess is that it was.
Understand that the fire itself was a substantial obstacle to boarding the vessel to investigate the damage and begin controling the well fire and the well itself. Firefighting aboard ships differs substantially from landbased firefighting. The best course of action is to secure the fuel and air/oxygen. Cooling water is often used to support those efforts and to protect crews trying to contain the fuel and fire mechanically. What was the objective of the On scene Commander?

The fire was incredibly intense such that the systems in place to control the well may well have been damaged past the point of usefulness. Even getting people close enough to investigate that possibility had controlling the fire as a precursor. Analyzing decisions and critiquing the response should wait till the facts are in. There were not many GOOD options. As in all fires prevention is a far better option. Even after the fact investigation will prove very difficult. Its very expensive to recover debris 5,000 ft deep. Without extensive engineering Investigation it will prove difficult to pinpoint the exact cause of the incident.

Steel structures on the bottom at that depth are almost impossible to recover in any quantity. The economic incentive isn’t there to develop such equipment as is necessary. The cost of the attempt normally would exceed the possible salvage value of the vessel. For an idea of w3hat would be required look at the Glomar Explorer and the Russian Sub it recovered. Only the warhead and the codes justified that expense and the Political value.

Oil Spill Eater II

EMULATING MOTHER NATURE

HOW BIOREMEDIATION OCCURS IN MOTHER NATURE

We need to first explain what happens In Mother Nature when a hazardous
material is spilled. (Note that the key words used here are set in bold and defined in a simple glossary on the last page.)

There is a myriad of bacteria everywhere on the planet. Where a toxic spill comes in direct
contact with bacteria, that bacteria is killed or dies off. Bacteria that is proximal [near] to the spill but not in direct contact, reacts in several ways:

• First, the bacteria separate themselves far enough away so as to protect themselves from the toxicity of the spill.

• Second, the bacteria then releases enzymes and biosurfactants to attack the
spill.

• Third, the biosurfactants emulsify and solubilize the spill.

What this means is the biosurfactants will break up and partition the spill into a manageable consistency. In other words, it is breaking down the molecular structure of the spill or detoxifying it, so it can be used as a food source.

The enzymes then form binding sites on the emulsified or solubilize spill and
this is where the bacteria will initially attach themselves and start the digestive process.

There have to be large amounts of bacteria for this process to take effect, and, if left solely to nature, it is a long process for bacteria to acclimate themselves to a spill. It then takes further time for the bacteria to release enzymes and surfactants.

One of the limiting factors is the number of bacteria present to produce and release enough enzymes and surfactants to get the process started.

This is why you hear scientists talk about adding nutrients to jumpstart the rapid growth of bacteria so enough enzymes and biosurfactants can be released to affect the mitigation of the spill.

However, nutrients alone have limited uses because of concentration requirements which are compromised in various environments–washed away or diluted by wave motion—and that, compounded with the time it takes to grow a large population of bacteria, reduces their effectiveness.

Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a means of emulating Mother Nature while at
the same time, speeding up the process to mitigate in hours, days or weeks what Mother
Nature takes months and/or years to handle on her own?

There is such a solution: OIL SPILL EATER II

OIL SPILL EATER II (OSE II) contains exact proportions of enzymes, bio surfactants, nutrients and other necessary constituents for complete life cycles and biodegradation.

When OSE II is added to a spill, it is not necessary to wait on the proximal bacteria to release enough enzymes or bio surfactants since they are already supplied by OSE II. Therefore, the minute you apply OSE II, there is sufficient biosurfactants to start the emulsification and solubilization process. This process generally takes just a minute or two, or possibly several more minutes depending on the consistency of the spill. As the bio surfactants do their job, the enzymes are attaching themselves to broken down hydrocarbon structures, forming digestive binding sites.

Note: Once this process has occurred, several important changes take effect:

1. The fire hazard has diminished.
2. The toxicity of the spill is rapidly diminished.
3. The odor or smell is almost non-existent.
4. The oil or spill will no longer adhere to anything.
5. The spill is caused to float, OSE II will prevent the oil from sinking.

If the spill has not reached a shoreline yet, but does so after application, it will not adhere to wildlife, sand, rock, wood, metal, or any vegetation.

If the spill has already attached itself, once application occurs, the spill will be
lifted from sand, rock, wood, metal or vegetation and wildlife. OSE II is the perfect solution for cleaning up oiled wildlife and marine life because it works so swiftly and is non-toxic, causing the oil to just easily slough off once sprayed on. This causes less trauma for the animal being cleaned and a much faster and easier cleanup process.

The spill is detoxified to the point that indigenous bacteria (natural to a given environmental location) can now utilize the oil as a food source. This also diminishes toxicity to marine organisms, birds or wildlife.

OSE II causes the oil to float on the surface of the water, which reduces the impact to the sub-surface preventing secondary contamination of the water column or tertiary contamination on the floor of the body of water associated with the spill area. The spill being held on the surface will make it easy to monitor.

OSE II also has an extremely efficient nutrient system which is activated once you mix
the product with natural water–water native to the spill environment.

While the spill is being broken down and detoxified, the indigenous bacteria already living in the natural water used to mix OSE II starts rapidly colonizing or proliferating the growth of large numbers of indigenous bacteria.

Once the bacteria run out of the OSE II’s readily available nutrients, they convert over to the only food source left: the detoxified oil spill. The spill is then digested to CO2 and water. In some cases you can see bacteria growing on the spill; however, in a short period of time, the oil will be digested to CO2 and water before your eyes on a contained spill. In laboratory tests, once you see the water in the test beaker or aquarium become turbid, you know it is only a matter of time before the contaminant is remediated to CO2 and water.

Unlike mechanical cleanup, which cleans up a maximum of 20% of the oil spilled, OSE II will actually address 100% of a spill. This information is substantiated by the EPA’s listing of OSE II on the National Contingency Plan for oil spills referred to as the NCP list, which contains the efficacy test performed for the EPA at LSU University. This documentation can be examined at: http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/content/ncp/products/oseater.htm.

Glossary of Key Terms:

Bacteria: are one-celled organisms with a simple cell structure. Some are helpful, some are harmful. Bacteria are probably the most numerous of all organisms. They can be found almost everywhere. Bacteria are important to the cycling of chemicals in nature. Without the good bacteria, the soil and water would soon become poor in nitrogen and all plants and animals would die.
Biosurfactants: are surface-active substances synthesized by living cells; they are generally non-toxic and biodegradable. Biosurfactants enhance the emulsification of hydrocarbons, have the potential to solubilize hydrocarbon contaminants and increase their availability for microbial degradation. The use of chemicals for the treatment of a hydrocarbon polluted site may contaminate the environment with their by-products, whereas support of the natural process of enzymes and biosurfactants will efficiently destroy pollutants, while being biodegradable themselves. (See: Wiki details http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosurfactant#Biosurfactants )
Emulsify: An emulsion is a mixture of two or more liquids which are normally immiscible (un-blendable). Hence surfactants emulsify and solubilize (make a substance soluble [able to be dissolved] or more soluble) e.g. oil and water are blended.
Enzymes: the chemical substances produced in the living cells of all plants and animals that act as catalysts in the regulation of biological processes. Some enzymes break down complex substances into simpler ones. All enzymes are proteins with a prosthetic group attached. The prosthetic group of an enzyme is the part of the molecule that catalyzes (causes or speeds) the chemical change.

Soluble: designed to be dissolved in water. Solubilize means to make something dissolve in water.

Turbid: not clear or transparent because of stirred-up sediment or the like; clouded; opaque.

BILL REEDER
THIS is so interesting to read and learn, thank you for taking the times to explain so well that an ignorant like me could grab it easy.
do you know, if too many of those bacterias could get a negative response ?I’m thinking of turning against
their own because of an over population of them,, I’m thinking if a non expert is being given the product to add, and decide to put more of , thinking of doubling the results, which if so, would create a negative result or would it? and another question, is it using that too much longer time over oceans and smaller waterways, could give the message to nature to start depending on it there for causing it to decrease
or even stop her mother nature own slow process of chimical cleanup. was my questions here researched as possible after longer term dangerous consequenses on the welfare of ALL LIFES IN OCEANS RELATING OBVIOUSLY TO LAND LIVING BEINGS.
all is so very interesting, and also the questions which it demand our mind to know.
HAPPY NEW YEAR, THANK’S FOR TAKING YOUR TIME. ON EXPLANING IT TO US.

BILL REEDER
hi
I wish I could think at once of the questions coming, here I have to ask this one;
when that chimical is added and working, of course you cannot stop the movements of lifes, be it
mammals and fishes birds and under sea miniature life, to pass by and feed,.
is there have been research on consequences for them
of their passages over the infected area,
I’m thinking swallowing these man made artificial bacteries foreign to all of them? I’m thinking altering the genes of living sea occupants
I assume the research is still going on for it; or has it just stop there on the bactery, and
satisfied, of the results decided to close further searchs.
bye

MATA
hi,
would you want to add some of your thoughts since you left this POST?
SURELY THINGS DIDN’T STOP THERE AFTER YOU LEFT.
is there a chance that someday the search for oil will be looking at deep water drilling? aas we begin 2012, it’s interesting to wander what is coming next, beside the KEYSTONE PIPELINE PROJECT STOPPED FROM OBAMA EVEN WHEN THINGS WHERE ALL SUPPOSE TO BE IN PRODUCTION, WHAT’S NEXT IF THEY CANNOT DEPEND ON HIS AGREEMENT, HE IS NOT A RELIABLE BUSYNESS DEALER,
AND BY STALLING THE PROJECT, HE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE COMPANY COSTING A LOT OF MONEY UNNESSESARY. WHAT DOES HE CARE, HE STALLING MANY JOBS TO BE CREATED BY THE PROJECT,
NO WORRIES OF HIM EITHER.