Gulf of Mexico oil geyser

Originally Posted by serpentsden

Science Advisor Richard C. Warns that an even worse catastrophe could be looming. A giant gas bubble has formed at the site of the leak on the ocean floor.

If it explodes thousands of workers on the ships in the gulf will be lost . This is a catastrophe in the making. Get ready for mass evacuations soon.

Scary stuff, but wouldn't an event like this create seismic signatures? This is one of the "canaries" I have been looking at, and so far there isn't ANYTHING of a seismic nature taking place in the Gulf of Mexico that I have seen. If a bubble as described in that video were forming, I would think there would be a LOT of movement in the earth's crust in that area that would certainly get all sorts of jiggling lines on seismographs.

Connie works at a seafood market on Wednesdays to help out the owner, and I have yet to hear of any of the fishermen out on the waters of the Gulf (in areas that are still open to fishing) who are seeing (or more accurately, smelling) anything noteworthy. Again, this is another "canary" that I have my eye on....

While I am most certainly nervous about all this, I just haven't seen anything yet that makes me want to leap into a car and drive like hell for high ground.

But if someone else DOES see something noteworthy, please email me immediately. Heck CALL me on the phone if it's REALLY serious. You can find my phone number on the SerpenCo.com site....

Originally Posted by WebSlave

Scary stuff, but wouldn't an event like this create seismic signatures? This is one of the "canaries" I have been looking at, and so far there isn't ANYTHING of a seismic nature taking place in the Gulf of Mexico that I have seen. If a bubble as described in that video were forming, I would think there would be a LOT of movement in the earth's crust in that area that would certainly get all sorts of jiggling lines on seismographs.

Well Rich, I'm sure I'm just as worried as you are. Knowing that our government is a bunch of liers, how do we know they would even tell us if something like that were actually happening? I think you are right when you say there should be signs. If they came out and told the public that a catastrophic event could, and more then likely will happen if true, would that cause a major panic in populations that could be negatively affected by an event like that?

You know, I am just so sick of all of this. What, who, how, and so on, do we believe? I sure wish I knew. My gut feeling is telling me that the worst is yet to come. But I suppose only time will tell. I just wish it would end, one way or the other.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

Scary stuff, but wouldn't an event like this create seismic signatures? This is one of the "canaries" I have been looking at, and so far there isn't ANYTHING of a seismic nature taking place in the Gulf of Mexico that I have seen. If a bubble as described in that video were forming, I would think there would be a LOT of movement in the earth's crust in that area that would certainly get all sorts of jiggling lines on seismographs.

Connie works at a seafood market on Wednesdays to help out the owner, and I have yet to hear of any of the fishermen out on the waters of the Gulf (in areas that are still open to fishing) who are seeing (or more accurately, smelling) anything noteworthy. Again, this is another "canary" that I have my eye on....

While I am most certainly nervous about all this, I just haven't seen anything yet that makes me want to leap into a car and drive like hell for high ground.

But if someone else DOES see something noteworthy, please email me immediately. Heck CALL me on the phone if it's REALLY serious. You can find my phone number on the SerpenCo.com site....

I heard CA experienced a lot of seismic activity just days ago. I seen the data but can't seem to find it but you can also check this out.

http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/qed/

Personally if I were in Florida and was capable of moving to safer ground I wouldn't hesitate. IMO It's better to be safe than sorry.

Originally Posted by serpentsden

Personally if I were in Florida and was capable of moving to safer ground I wouldn't hesitate. IMO It's better to be safe than sorry.

Well, at least I don't have to worry about the animals any longer. That would have certainly complicated things. We've been talking about taking a trip out west or up north to visit some relatives, so that might just take place REAL SOON.

Honestly, this is SERIOUS, but I also see what appears to be people trying to capitalize on it by using fear to get people to subscribe to their paid "news" services or pay for CDs or DVDs they are hawking. I just listened to one guy saying how the oil coming out of the ground will leave a huge empty cavern under the Gulf, obviously not having the slightest clue that that's not how it works. Pressures try to equalize, so creating a vacuum just wouldn't be possible under the circumstances. But still it sounds scary and gets listeners and viewers, I guess.

So I believe everyone needs to keep their ear to the ground, but make sure they keep their wits about them. Being stupid and completely ignoring what is going on could be just as bad as taking everything at face value and running down the road screaming that the sky is falling until you drop dead from a heart attack.

There are a lot of people on this site who live around the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Hopefully that will help to set up a sort of early warning system that might help some of us make rational and timely decisions about what to do IF something really needs to be done on a personal level.

So in other words, keep a sharp eye on those canaries...

11 JUNE 2010, 4:52 PM
Terry Winckler
EPA Reveals What's In Gulf Oil Spill Dispersants

Earthjustice demanded ingredient information, will seek expert opinions

The government wouldn't dare let a doctor give out an experimental drug without years of extensive testing, yet it has allowed British Petroleum to flood the Gulf of Mexico with more than a million gallons of a secret chemical compound in an untested experiment on human communities, hundreds of animal species, and myriad ecological systems.

We're talking about Corexit and other dispersants, made up of classified chemicals and spread over and injected into Gulf waters to break up BP's oil spill. The spill alone is in many ways unmatched in human history, scientists say, and because of dispersants may be wreaking special devastation in the Gulf. Aside from the fact that dispersants never before have been used on such a vast scale, we have been forced to guess at the danger they pose because BP and the dispersants' manufacturer refused to reveal the ingredients.

Today, after Earthjustice demanded the information through a Freedom of Information Act request, the Environmental Protection Agency finally provided a list of what's in these chemical compounds. Now, we can turn to experts to assess their danger. Our clients, the Gulf Restoration Network and Florida Wildlife Federation, who have long worked to protect the Gulf, must know what is happening to its rich fisheries, sea turtles, birds, and entire ecosystem.

At one point, the EPA told BP to quit using Corexit because of its toxicity and to find a less harmful dispersant, but BP ignored the order and the EPA acquiesced. The agency, which is all that stands between us and the toxic effects of dispersants, said the urgency of the spill situation was worth the risk. But, who is to say what the risk is unless we know what is being deliberately put into the waters, how it interacts with oil, and what its inherent toxicity is? BP certainly can't be trusted.

We already know what untreated oil does to us and the environment. It is a thick, suffocating mass that kills and maims mostly in upper water columns and as it comes ashore, is visually horrifying and creates economic havoc in the tourism and fishing industries. Dispersants are supposed to neutralize some of that harm, but what we are seeing with this Gulf spill is unlike anything we've seen before.

Even without dispersants, the oil likely would be found throughout the water column because it is flowing from a mile deep at hundreds of miles per hour. But, dispersants have been injected directly into that oil as it escapes and have been spread by boat and plane across hundreds of square miles of surface. BP tried to convince us that most of that oil disappeared, but scientists have found clouds of oil particles and droplets miles wide and long, hovering at various depths from the sea floor where many creatures dwell to surface waters where most fish and other animals feed and spawn.

One plume is 15 miles wide, 3 miles long and about 600 feet thick. Scientist Samantha Joye of the University of Georgia, who led an expedition tracking the oil plumes, says: "The primary producers—the base of the food web in the ocean—is going to be altered. There's no doubt about that. We have no idea what dispersants are going to do to microorganisms. We know they are toxic to many larvae." Of special concern is the larvae of the endangered western bluefin tuna, which spawns exclusively in these Gulf waters. Of no less concern is the harm we all have seen to oiled birds, turtles, dolphin, and fish.

And then there are the long-range potential impacts on human health. Dispersants don't eliminate oil, they make it less visually obvious by breaking it into small pieces spread over a vast area and throughout the depths. This makes the oil/dispersant droplets available to all the life forms that may ingest it and in turn are ingested. Anything in the oil or attached to it are thus entering the food chain. We know about oil's toxic components - human carcinogens like napthalenes, benzene, toluene and xylenes—but we don't know about the dispersants that are partnering with it.

Nalco, the manufacturer of Corexit, put out a release trying to allay concerns about the ingredients in its dispersants, but its statement raises more concerns than it answers. First, it asserts that all of the ingredients "have been determined safe and effective by the EPA." While the Food and Drug Administration makes such determinations for drugs, the Toxics Substances Control Act is so weak that it does not require that EPA make such safety findings before chemicals are allowed on the market. That is why a diverse health, environmental, and labor coalition (including Earthjustice) are calling for an overhaul of that law.

Second, Nalco tries to prove that the dispersant's ingredients are safe by pointing to their presence in cosmetics, lotions and stain blockers. That offers little comfort. Cosmetics and lotions often contain phthalates, which have been associated with reproductive impacts and endocrine disruption. And some stain blockers contain ingredients classified as cancer-causing or neurotoxins.

When we have more information about how the dispersant ingredients work, we will let you know.

Source: http://unearthed.earthjustice.org/bl...ll-dispersants

Second, Nalco tries to prove that the dispersant's ingredients are safe by pointing to their presence in cosmetics, lotions and stain blockers. That offers little comfort. Cosmetics and lotions often contain phthalates, which have been associated with reproductive impacts and endocrine disruption. And some stain blockers contain ingredients classified as cancer-causing or neurotoxins.

Not to mention that just because chemicals are approved separate, it doesn't mean they are safe mixed. I can go out and buy some bleach and some ammonia right next to each other on a shelf. So I guess it is safe for me to mix it and clean the house with it? Yes I know that all of the bottles say don't mix, but with them hiding the ingredients we don't know what they are mixing. I can understand not wanting anyone to steal you "recipe", but when it is something that is banned in most places I don't think they will have that problem. What gets me is that they are not getting in trouble for doing it after they were told not to. Not to mention when we get the ingredients we can test the tar balls that BP says isn't theirs. Just think of how long ago those were popping up. Just Imagine how much is really out there if they are dumping that much in and we still have that much "pure" oil in the affected area.

So they're expecting oil to make its way to my area in the next couple weeks. My county has this whole plan laid out, I read about it the other day on the post, but can't find the link now.

WEST PALM BEACH — Palm Beach County emergency managers said Thursday they won't sit back and wait for BP to clean up oil that makes its way here from the massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

"We are driving the boat here, not BP," said Assistant County Administrator Vince Bonvento, who oversees the county's public safety department. "We are going to take whatever measures are necessary to protect our beaches and estuaries. If they don't have the resources, it is up to us to step up."

The vow came against the backdrop of local leaders in other states, such as Tony Kennon, mayor of Orange Beach, Ala., expressing frustration that BP had not provided adequate protection before the oil arrived or the adequate clean-up help afterwards. Tar started hitting the Alabama town's beaches last week and heavier oil entered its inland waterways on the Alabama-Florida border Wednesday.

It also came even though Palm Beach County found it has 14 miles of sensitive environmental areas within its waterways and estuaries, but only one mile of protective boom to shield those areas from globs of tar. If the threat of oil coming here increases, officials said they hope the Coast Guard would send additional booms here. But with booms in short supply, county environmental managers said they would explore using slit fencing to keep tar out.

The concept was part of a response plan unveiled Thursday by the county task force created to deal with the ecological ramifications of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion for Palm Beach County.

Using booms to completely block the county's four inlets is not part of their plan, officials said. The currents are too strong and the oil globs too heavy for them to be effective, they said.

Instead, officials are focusing their efforts on protecting sensitive mangroves, sea grasses and oyster reefs, which have been ranked based on their environmental significance. The highest-ranking areas would receive booms first.

The county has also pinpointed areas where water currents naturally draw trash and debris. Those areas are being monitored for signs of oil, officials have said.

The county would not try to remove light tar or oil from coral reefs offshore because such manual attempts also could damage the reefs. But if large amounts of oil hit the reefs, the county plans to use specialized floating vacuums to remove it.

Meanwhile, state officials have also begun collecting water and sediment samples along the coastline. The samples will be used to document damage to waterways and estuaries caused by the oil spill, county managers said.

Under the county's plan, BP would ultimately be responsible for cleaning up and disposing of tar balls, said Dan Bates, head of the county's Environmental Enhancement and Restoration division.

But the county is also working to train some of its workers to pick up tar balls manually, Bates said. The county doesn't plan to use rakes for fear of harming turtle nests, but if the tar is too heavy, then rakes would have to be used.

The county's waste management agency is also preparing to dispose of the tar outside of the county if BP fails to get rid of it, Bates said.

But that gas bubble now has me worried, and that it's the floor now spewing oil?...how's that ever gonna stop? :-\

Originally Posted by serpentsden

I heard CA experienced a lot of seismic activity just days ago.

we always have lots of seismic activity.
I live 20 feet from the Hayward fault which is overdue and expected to be the next 'big one'. One day half of CA will split off or 'fall into the ocean' but hopefully I'll be in AZ by then.

Anyways, here's the seismic map I like to check whenever I feel a shake:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqscanv/

Originally Posted by AbsoluteApril

we always have lots of seismic activity.
I live 20 feet from the Hayward fault which is overdue and expected to be the next 'big one'. One day half of CA will split off or 'fall into the ocean' but hopefully I'll be in AZ by then.

Anyways, here's the seismic map I like to check whenever I feel a shake:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqscanv/

It was this late this past Monday evening I heard about this.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...061500047.html

Earthquake measured at 5.7 shakes Southern Calif.

By ELLIOT SPAGAT
The Associated Press
Tuesday, June 15, 2010; 2:26 AM

SAN DIEGO -- The California-Mexico border region was rocked by a magnitude-5.7 quake Monday, rattling nerves from San Diego north to Orange County and Los Angeles.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered five miles southeast of Ocotillo in Imperial County - about 85 miles east of San Diego. It struck Monday at 9:26 p.m. PDT.

San Diego County Office of Emergency Services made a round of calls to all cities in the county and found no reports of significant damage. Louis Fuentes, chairman of the Imperial County board of supervisors, said he had no immediate reports of damage.

"As soon as it hit, my wife said, 'Grab the baby.' My daughter ran out to the back yard," said Fuentes, who was in his garage in Calexico, about 30 miles east of the epicenter. "It thumped really hard."

The quake was an aftershock of the deadly Easter Sunday magnitude-7.2 quake that shook Baja California and Southern California, said Egill Hauksson, a seismologist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. He said the epicenter of Monday's quake occurred in the same zone of the quake in April.

"Aftershocks can go on for months and years," he said.

Thousands of aftershocks have occurred since the Easter earthquake. At least 45 aftershocks were recorded immediately following Monday's 5.7 quake, with the largest measuring at magnitude-4.5.

A 5.7-magnitude earthquake "could break windows, it could throw things on the floor, it could create cracks on the wall, but we don't expect things to collapse," Hauksson said.

Fuentes said his chandeliers swayed at his home and metal objects banged but nothing fell off the shelves. Imperial County suffered significant damage in April's Easter Sunday quake.

"All the lamps, the liquor bottles and the TV hanging from the ceiling shook, but nothing dropped," said Marina Garcia, an employee at the Burgers and Beer restaurant in El Centro, about 30 miles east of Ocotillo.

The quake was felt as a gentle rolling motion in the Los Angeles area.

San Diego's Petco Park swayed during the quake, causing a momentary pause at the Toronto Blue Jays-San Diego Padres game. The public address announcer asked that everyone remain calm. The crowd cheered.

David Eckstein of the Padres had just grounded out in the bottom of the inning when the stadium began shaking. The next batter, Chase Headley, stayed out of the batter's box for a few seconds, then stepped in.

San Diego County Sheriff's dispatch supervisor Becky Strahm said some of her colleagues reported things falling off their shelves, but there were no immediate reports of significant damage or injury.

The quake followed a series of temblors that struck Southern California over the weekend, including a pair of moderate earthquakes that rattled a desert area east of San Diego. Residents in downtown San Diego felt the ground rumbling during at least one of the Saturday quakes.

THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 2010

Did BP Start Losing Containment of the Oil Well in February?


The Deepwater Horizon blew up on April 20th, and sank a couple of days later. BP has been criticized for failing to report on the seriousness of the blow out for several weeks.

However, as a whistleblower previously told 60 Minutes, there was an accident at the rig a month or more prior to the April 20th explosion:

[Mike Williams, the chief electronics technician on the Deepwater Horizon, and one of the last workers to leave the doomed rig] said they were told it would take 21 days; according to him, it actually took six weeks.

With the schedule slipping, Williams says a BP manager ordered a faster pace.

"And he requested to the driller, 'Hey, let's bump it up. Let's bump it up.' And what he was talking about there is he's bumping up the rate of penetration. How fast the drill bit is going down," Williams said.

Williams says going faster caused the bottom of the well to split open, swallowing tools and that drilling fluid called "mud."

"We actually got stuck. And we got stuck so bad we had to send tools down into the drill pipe and sever the pipe," Williams explained.

That well was abandoned and Deepwater Horizon had to drill a new route to the oil. It cost BP more than two weeks and millions of dollars.

"We were informed of this during one of the safety meetings, that somewhere in the neighborhood of $25 million was lost in bottom hole assembly and 'mud.' And you always kind of knew that in the back of your mind when they start throwing these big numbers around that there was gonna be a push coming, you know? A push to pick up production and pick up the pace," Williams said.

Asked if there was pressure on the crew after this happened, Williams told Pelley, "There's always pressure, but yes, the pressure was increased."

But the trouble was just beginning: when drilling resumed, Williams says there was an accident on the rig that has not been reported before. He says, four weeks before the explosion, the rig's most vital piece of safety equipment was damaged.

As Bloomberg reports today, problems at the well actually started in February:


BP Plc was struggling to seal cracks in its Macondo well as far back as February, more than two months before an explosion killed 11 and spewed oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

It took 10 days to plug the first cracks, according to reports BP filed with the Minerals Management Service that were later delivered to congressional investigators. Cracks in the surrounding rock continued to complicate the drilling operation during the ensuing weeks. Left unsealed, they can allow explosive natural gas to rush up the shaft.

“Once they realized they had oil down there, all the decisions they made were designed to get that oil at the lowest cost,” said Peter Galvin of the Center for Biological Diversity, which has been working with congressional investigators probing the disaster. “It’s been a doomed voyage from the beginning.”

***

On Feb. 13, BP told the minerals service it was trying to seal cracks in the well about 40 miles (64 kilometers) off the Louisiana coast, drilling documents obtained by Bloomberg show. Investigators are still trying to determine whether the fissures played a role in the disaster.

***

The company attempted a “cement squeeze,” which involves pumping cement to seal the fissures, according to a well activity report. Over the following week the company made repeated attempts to plug cracks that were draining expensive drilling fluid, known as “mud,” into the surrounding rocks.

BP used three different substances to plug the holes before succeeding, the documents show.

“Most of the time you do a squeeze and then let it dry and you’re done,” said John Wang, an assistant professor of petroleum and natural gas engineering at Penn State in University Park, Pennsylvania. “It dries within a few hours.”

Repeated squeeze attempts are unusual and may indicate rig workers are using the wrong kind of cement, Wang said.

In other words, the well may have lost integrity in February, and never been properly repaired. If cracks in the well were never fully sealed, then the well may have been unstable starting in February and continuing until the April 20 explosion. (There is substantial evidence that there are cracks in the well now.)

Bloomberg continues:

In early March, BP told the minerals agency the company was having trouble maintaining control of surging natural gas, according to e-mails released May 30 by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is investigating the spill.
***

While gas surges are common in oil drilling, companies have abandoned wells if they determine the risk is too high.

***

On March 10, BP executive Scherie Douglas e-mailed Frank Patton, the mineral service’s drilling engineer for the New Orleans district, telling him: “We’re in the midst of a well control situation.”

The incident was a “showstopper,” said Robert Bea, an engineering professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who has consulted with the Interior Department on offshore drilling safety. “They damn near blew up the rig.”

In other words, not only is it possible that the well casing has been unstable since February, but BP may have ignored standard drilling practices by failing to abandon the well when the natural gas began surging too violently.

Sure, the rig didn't actually catch fire and sink until April, but cracks in the well and dangerous natural gas surges may mean that BP actually started losing containment of the well much earlier.

Note 1: These new facts also add to the massive evidence that BP has been criminally negligent.

Note 2: I am not saying that the well has been gushing oil since February (although oil industry expert Matthew Simmons says that the amount of oil leaking from the riser and blowout preventer since April 20th does not account for the massive oil plumes observed in the Gulf).

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2010/...-february.html