Friday, June 25, 2010
The Footprint of the Oil Spill
Posted by Bruce VanWyngarden on Fri, Jun 25, 2010 at 1:43 PM
I am fairly obsessed with the destruction being wreaked on the habitat and waters of the Gulf by the BP oil spill — for environmental/ecological, economic, and, yes, personal reasons.
I've been going to the coast for years to fish, kayak the surf and marshes, swim, and boat. My family has vacationed there, off and on, for more than 25 years — from Perdido Key to Appalachicola. I love the Gulf Coast and I hate the images of destruction I'm seeing on the news and the Internet.
I have friends who live there year-round, and I've watched them weather hurricanes, the vicious collapse of the housing bubble, and now this crap.
And selfishly, I'm concerned because my family's annual stay in Grayton Beach is threatened. (Don't hate me for being shallow.) We're going the first of July — rain, shine, tarballs, or whatever. We'll hit the beach if we can. We'll bike and hike and kayak the lakes, if the oil has moved in. We'll spend our money where our hopes are.
- This day's footprint may best visually represent what BP is doing to the Gulf.
So, every day, I go here: USA Today's daily update of the oil spill's "progress." But I have to admit, I don't really understand it. How do you explain the enormous changes in the spill's footprint from day to day? Clean-up efforts? Tidal surges? Bad mapping? What? I'm somewhat, yes, selfishly, comforted that the spill seems to be shrinking away from the Emerald Coast to the east of Destin (where I'm headed) in recent days. And my friends living in that area say "the coast is [still] clear," at least for now.
If nothing else, I'll post a full, eyewitness report here in a couple of weeks.
Comments (9)
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Obviously, the data is being manipulated to make us all think this is a real problem. It is all part of the Obama/Gore/Leftist/Pinko war on our economy.
Um, I thought it -was- the environmentalists who sabotaged the thing in the first place. You know, as part of their leftist agenda to make us all wear solar panels on our heads.
Not to worry, BV. Remember, by your earlier calculations, the odds that your vacation will be spoiled (i.e., 285 billion to one) are still decidedly in your favor.:)
Spent quite a bit of my career in refineries, oil rigs and chemical plants. Acquired an intimate understanding of how these things work, the products they produce and how much civilization depends, and always will, on oil.
With all that, it is still insurmountable to understand the forces, both financial and political that fuel ( no pun intended) this industry.
The horrible truth for all of us is that these forces transcend political party and regardless of who our President is, he quickly becomes a bitch for the oil industry.
What makes absolutely no sense is that oil rigs can be designed to be much more safe at costs that dwarf what these buffoons will have ot pay in damages.
The long-term damage caused by this latest spill will be minimal and forgotten in 10 years. It will have a positive net economic impact, like it or not, because long term it will create 2 jobs for everyone it eliminates. Laugh if you want, but just take a look at the job numbers in 90 days and see for yourself.
Labor to sop it up, machines for separation, industrial process for reclaiming usable products, transportation, energy consumption, food to feed the new workers, medical care, etc. Every colleague I have in the water purification industry is hiring people and dispatching equipment like there was no tomorrow.
Now all you liberals, don't get your panties in a bunch for I am not suggesting a conspiracy here. What I will say however, is that for all parties, democrat and republican, the potential economic boom offered up by this spill may be the dirtly little secret as to why the effort to stop it seems so impotent.
As a side note, I have seen broken pressurized pipes, up to say 6 feet in diameter
stopped with an inflatable Kevlar baloon inserted with a 4 -6 " pipe. THe pressure out of this line is nothing spectacular, just a lot of volume. I guess the experts know what they are doing because they brought in Kevin Costner.
If his machines can't get the job done I say we call on Rosie O'dumbell and Orca Winfrey. Guaranteed that their fat asses would plug this sumbitch up!
Gosh, I had never looked at it this way before, Tommy. So the oil spill, which almost everyone else ON EARTH is calling a disaster, is actually a GOOD thing. How foolish of all those narrow-minded people in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama — you know, the ones losing their livelihoods — not to see it that way. Thank you, as always, for helping us to see the error of our ways.
Tommy, strangely enough I have to agree with you on a few of those points. I had the same idea for a Kevlar type balloon inserted in the well and inflated. It should work. Something else is going on down there, something they aren't telling us about. I wonder if the water column above the well is so saturated with methane bubbles that nothing can float in it.
Pretty good post, Tommy. I have a friend whose business hq'd here in Memphis is benefitting from the spending down there. However, a positive economic benefit from all the mitigation spending on this disaster doesn't much make up for the environmental devastation caused by BP. You're correct about any POTUS being a bitch for the oil guys...some just enjoy it more and make sure they and their buddies profit directly.
It’s amazing to me that BP new the risks with off-shore drilling and still spent all that money rather than invest in new newer fuel options.
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