From 60 Minutes Blowout: The Deepwater Horizon Disaster:
A Survivor Recalls His Harrowing Escape; Plus, A Former BP Insider Warns Of Another Potential Disaster
The gusher unleashed in the Gulf of Mexico continues to spew crude oil. There are no reliable estimates of how much oil is pouring into the gulf. But it comes to many millions of gallons since the catastrophic blowout. Eleven men were killed in the explosions that sank one of the most sophisticated drilling rigs in the world, the "Deepwater Horizon."
This week Congress continues its investigation, but Capitol Hill has not heard from the man "60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley met: Mike Williams, one of the last crewmembers to escape the inferno.
[...]
Deepwater Horizon was in 5,000 feet of water and would drill another 13,000 feet, a total of three miles. The oil and gas down there are under enormous pressure. And the key to keeping that pressure under control is this fluid that drillers call "mud."
"Mud" is a manmade drilling fluid that's pumped down the well and back up the sides in continuous circulation. The sheer weight of this fluid keeps the oil and gas down and the well under control.
The tension in every drilling operation is between doing things safely and doing them fast; time is money and this job was costing BP a million dollars a day. But Williams says there was trouble from the start - getting to the oil was taking too long.
Williams 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. Read on...
Go read the entire article and there are bonus videos on the site besides the mash up I made here of the first two segments. There really should be people going to prison over this debacle. The whole story is disgusting and if something's not done, it's going to happen again.
Keith Pickering has a good summation of the article over at Daily KOS 60 Minutes: Critical equipment damaged weeks before blowout. And for more "good" news, it looks like oil is not the only thing pouring out of that well.
UPDATE: Gas Leak 3000 Times Worse Than Oil - Updated Math:
This repost of a diary from 2 days ago describes the fact that there is 3000 times more natural gas coming out of the leak than oil. All of the gas is currently staying in the water because the ocean has the capacity to hold large quantities of methane in solution.
When methane breaks down it depletes oxygen in the water.
Then, when it continues to break down it produces hydrogen sulfate
After some discussions with people who are currently working to determine the extent of this undersea damage, I decided we need to revisit this topic: The damage of the massive amounts of Gas being released into the gulf is worse than the oil.
From their summation, we haven't even begun to see the extent of the damage this spill is going to cause.
This deep water oxygen depletion zone has the potential of killing most deep water sea life in the entire Gulf of Mexico.
UPDATE: There has been some dispute over the numbers given in the KOS post and if anyone has some specifics on what those numbers might be if they disagree would be welcomed, but I don't think that takes away from the larger point of how badly the release of this amount of methane into our oceans might be for the environment.
I wonder then. If where BP fails, does government regulation step in and 'fix' the problems? If people and governments really cared to drill in a respectable manner (say without the profit motive), could it be done?
As more information comes to light, it is beginning to look far more like hubris and penny-pinching in favor of shear profits, instead of following established procedures and due diligence. IMHO, BP's actions fall far closer to criminal negligence and environmental terrorism than a mere energy company pursuing new revenue streams.
Their undeniable level of hubris and contempt for the Congressional investigation is striking. Why aren't these oil company executives already in the criminal docket, or worse sitting in a cage at Gitmo?
The USA government would do well to consider breaking up BP in bankruptcy court in the process of covering 100% of their liabilities in this disaster. The entire regulatory and inspection regime needs to be far stricter, and with far more onerous financial penalties available.
As the Arctic Ocean opens up year-round and the clamor for drilling rights reaches a crescendo, those countries with some regulatory control had better have a viable and environmentally safe oversight plan in place. Otherwise the not-so-much possible as probable ensuing ecological disaster could be global in scope.
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."
-- John F. Kennedy
If you haven't already done so, read about the plumes that have formed. And ask yourself this question: Why are environmentalists, mostly from universities, and other recognized organizations being kept out of the area? What are they hiding? If this situation hasn't breached their lease agreement, what will it take? It's not just BP, et al., that is hiding something, it's the government, too.
Sulfate aerosol optical thickness 2005 to 2007 average.
The main direct effect of sulfates on the climate involves the scattering of light, effectively increasing the Earth's albedo. This effect is moderately well understood and leads to a cooling from the negative radiative forcing of about 0.5 W/m2 relative to pre-industrial values,[9] partially offsetting the larger (about 2.4 W/m2) warming effect of greenhouse gases. The effect is strongly spatially non-uniform, being largest downstream of large industrial areas.
The first indirect effect is also known as the Twomey effect. Sulfate aerosols can act as cloud condensation nuclei and this leads to greater numbers of smaller droplets of water. Lots of smaller droplets can diffuse light more efficiently than just a few larger droplets.
The second indirect effect is the further knock-on effects of having more cloud condensation nuclei. It is proposed that these include the suppression of drizzle, increased cloud height, [10] to facilitate cloud formation at low humidities and longer cloud lifetime.[11] Sulfate may also result in changes in the particle size distribution, which can affect the clouds radiative properties in ways that are not fully understood. Chemical effects such as the dissolution of soluble gases and slightly soluble substances, surface tension depression by organic substances and accommodation coefficient changes are also included in the second indirect effect.[12]
The indirect effects probably have a cooling effect, perhaps up to 2 W/m2, although the uncertainty is very large. Sulfates are therefore implicated in global dimming, which may have acted to offset some of the effects of global warming.
[edit] Other sulfur oxyanions
Some stuff you can't make up!
. . . why do we still insist that the same people who cause a problem be the ones in charge of fixing it?
Goldman, Sachs & Ilk put in charge of fixing the economy; insurance companies given a mandate to fix our screwed up health care system; BP in charge of cleaning up this disaster under the supervision of the Mineral and Mine Services. WTF?
Maybe there's a problem with this whole looking forward not back thing.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
why do we still insist that the same people who cause a problem be the ones in charge of fixing it?
Prison is for the little people.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
Of course it is way worse than is being "reported," it is from the corporate media.
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
... that we (the media) need to be reporting the spill in GALLONS per day, not barrels. Barrels don't give anyone a good grasp of the magnitude of this spill.
The other thing that's driving me nuts is that we've got our risk equations all bollixed up. A guy takes the speed course on car bombs and we've got politicians ready to whip out the thumbscrews and pincers, jettison constitutional protections. But a spill that has serious potential for killing off a significant portion of the marine life food chain in the Gulf of Mexico? Yawn.
what abut HUMAN life?
... we're looking at the same thing. We're fucking killing off the Gulf of Mexico. We're rendering a sizeable portion of the ocean into a dead zone.
My point is that we're ignoring an ecological disaster that's not going to end with a bunch of dead fish washing ashore, it's going to impact the environment - and therefore, human lives - in decidedly unpleasant ways, for decades.
offshore is refined into products poured onto the land to
"enhance" the crop production of the land which drains into the Mississippi and into the Gulf of Dead Zone.
We can walk and grow our own food though.
"That's fu*#ing retarded."
Big City Mayor
Gallons would be a useful measure for the oil spewing from the pipe.
Measuring natural gas in gallons or barrels is meaningless. NG is typically measured, priced and traded in units of so many thousands of cubic feet, or TCF. This would be the best way to report the spilled gas, as it is coming out of the pipe highly compressed by ambient water pressure. The volume of the spilled gas at sea level is hundreds of times higher.
As I said last night
dig up the corpse of FDR and re-animate it!
Some stuff you can't make up!
over whose picture goes on the dime.
"That's fu*#ing retarded."
Big City Mayor
was the poster boy for The March of Dimes to cure polio.
And Reagan was?
A saint? ;)
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
ask this collection of gobblers.
108th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3633
To provide for dime coins to bear the likeness of President Ronald Reagan, the Freedom President, in honor of his work in restoring American greatness and bringing freedom to captive nations around the world.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 21, 2003
Mr. SOUDER (for himself, Mr. HASTERT, Mr. DELAY, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. CANTOR, Mr. COX, Mr. DREIER, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. DEMINT, Mr. KING of New York, Ms. DUNN, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. CRANE, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mrs. JO ANN DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. CARTER, Mr. GOODE, Mr. LINDER, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. GALLEGLY, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. POMBO, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. AKIN, Mr. FEENEY, Mr. BUYER, Mr. TIAHRT, Mr. BRADY of Texas, Mr. CHOCOLA, Mr. CULBERSON, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. PENCE, Mr. JONES of North Carolina, Mr. WELLER, Mr. GIBBONS, Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. PITTS, Mr. HERGER, Mr. THORNBERRY, Mr. HOSTETTLER, Mr. TOOMEY, Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey, Mr. KINGSTON, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. TERRY, Mr. BISHOP of Utah, Mr. MCKEON, Mr. OSE, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. OSBORNE, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. SHADEGG, Mr. WAMP, Mr. REHBERG, Mr. RADANOVICH, Mr. PEARCE, Mr. WELDON of Florida, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida, Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida, Mr. BALLENGER, Mr. THOMAS, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. FORBES, Mr. TAUZIN, Mr. PAUL, Mr. ISSA, Mr. RAMSTAD, Mrs. MUSGRAVE, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. OTTER, Mr. CRENSHAW, Mr. WALDEN of Oregon, and Mr. SHIMKUS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services
"That's fu*#ing retarded."
Big City Mayor
it's sorta funny, his face on a "dime" if ya know what I mean.
it should have been the nickel.... worth less than thought
Some stuff you can't make up!
I forget.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
It is why they keep trying to name things after him.
I think he was a bad actor hired to play the President of the US in a very bad and long movie. "Nightmare on Pennsylvania Avenue: Bonzo's Revenge." Lasted eight years with no intermission.
"That's fu*#ing retarded."
Big City Mayor
Funny. That's just how I remember it.
those f*cksticks want to memorialize someone who ignored the aids epidemic for how many years? He should be memorialized on rolls of Charmin for that act.
Just because he could read speeches, does not mean that the words were his own. Just when did he go senile, anyway?
If you pour her another drink it all comes rushing back.
The speeches, I mean, not the date of Reagan's senility.
"That's fu*#ing retarded."
Big City Mayor
Just when did he go senile, anyway?
When he woke up and realized he wasn't sleeping next to Jane Wyman anymore.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
if the case makes it to the conservative activist supreme court, a thump on the knuckle.
a mild retort with polysyllables.
Some stuff you can't make up!
And a harshly worded letter by the Court to the Justice Department for bringing this "frivolous suit" to the Court.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
But a story on the radio this morning said the oil could be headed for Florida, including the Keys. Can you imagine the the pristine, white sand beaches in front of billion dollar rental properties and houses totally soaked with oil? I honestly think that would bring some major repercussions, and, sadly, may be what has to happen in order for anything to change.
I've seen some stuff, man. And some thangs...
It is expected to surround Florida, both coasts, completely. There is apparently a current from the Gulf that will push the oil northeast all the way to Jacksonville.
them. How dare anyone think about challenging the overlords. Off with their heads!
will be to hire foreign workers that won't be able to answer the questions of English speaking reporters.
Let's just totally pollute all the oceans so we no longer have to worry about polluting the oceans. They call it the Clear Water Initiative.
is a nation under God. It's hard to blame BP for doing His work, and He didn't want anyone eating shellfish anyway.
news reporter calling it one of the worlds worst "NATURAL DISASTERS."
who could not speak to English speaking reporters?
How about English speaking reporters who don't know WTF they are talking about in any language?
"That's fu*#ing retarded."
Big City Mayor
Alfred E Neuman!
george W newman?
was so bad, he changed his name to George W Bush.
Alfred is.
... was a composer.
Alfred Neumann is the poster boy for MAD Magazine.
"That's fu*#ing retarded."
Big City Mayor
of Mexico? Sweet. Video at 11.
By DAN JOLING, Associated Press Writer Dan Joling, Associated Press Writer – Sun May 16, 7:08 pm ET
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Inupiat Eskimo whale hunter George Kingik follows news accounts of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. He cringes when he imagines crude fouling his backyard, Alaska's Chukchi Sea.
"They're not ready for the Arctic," Kingik said from his home in Point Hope, 700 miles northwest of Anchorage. "It's completely different up here."
Shell Oil two years ago spent $2.1 billion for leases in the Chukchi, the arm of the Arctic Ocean that the United States shares with Russia, and the home to one of America's two polar bear populations.
The federal Minerals Management Service estimated the sale area contained 15 billion barrels of conventionally recoverable oil and 77 trillion cubic feet of conventionally recoverable natural gas. Shell is poised to begin exploratory drilling this summer on leases as far as 140 miles off shore.
Some stuff you can't make up!
.
won't cover them.
Some stuff you can't make up!
I like to think of them as the Mossad of environmentalists. But I'm a dreamer.
"Williams survival may be critical to the investigation"
Williams may have survived the Deep Water Horizon but I wouldn't want to be flying on the same plane with this guy anytime soon.
Remember Brian McGuff (?), the Iraq vet who made an ad with Vote Vets? He's the one that rush limbaugh called "a phoney soldier". If not outright murdered, I'm pretty sure we'll witness Williams' character being assassinated.
BTW, somebody here will undoubtedly hand you the tin hat for your statement. It frustrates me that there are people who seem to not realize that some people actually do conspire to commit crimes. If that attitude that all conspiracy theories were bunk had prevailed during the Watergate investigation, Nixon probably would have finished out his term.
Seems to me this might fit the bill of negligent homicide. The company appears to have been negligent and as a result people died.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/22/obituaries/...
"That's fu*#ing retarded."
Big City Mayor
I've worked on these Oil Rigs off the Louisiana coast. hydrogen sulfate is a very real and life threatening gas that all workers must be certified in knowing how to escape.
It smells like rotten eggs, but once you smell it, you've got about 7 seconds before you pass-out to get an oxygen mask on. hydrogen sulfate (H2S)is heavier than air so it hovers around the ground. Your body cannot break it down, so once you smell H2S, it takes almost 6 months before you can smell it again without it killing you almost instantly.
If that sh*t is going to start burping all over the gulf coast, a lot people are in very real danger.
Stacey
http://lafirst.org
I guess I'm being pedantic, but H2S would be hydrogen sulfide, actually much more deadly than hydrogen sulfate (H2SO4).
All we need is a cloud of this shit to pass over a few towns ...
.
will Clive star?
as usual?
he always shows up somewhere in the stories.
...equals faster drilling. The oil companies are always after you to get your mud weight down.
BP wanted the well sealed without mud. Was this a cost issue?
"Someday somebody related to some of these sufferers, these victims, these collaterally damaged souls, may try to kill you. And I have to tell you, I think you’ll have it coming." - Christopher Cooper
because the local media certainly is not. The local affiliates have evidently received their talking points from the networks because, now, they are playing down the severity of the spill. Utmost in their concerns is to keep people buying Louisiana seafood.
I have friends in Ocean Springs, Mississippi who say the are seeing sheen on the water there. No reports in the news on that either.
Martin or Charlie?
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
That one.
Welcome to our world.
production is a threat to add to the dead zone. Course if we just eat the corn and poop it into the Mississippi it will brak down faster than if we burn it in our cars. According to the experts I have anonymously read in the blogosphere.
"That's fu*#ing retarded."
Big City Mayor
We need a zillion Sham-wows, ASAP!
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Real Sham-wows are made in Germany. Just like real Nazi's once were.
"That's fu*#ing retarded."
Big City Mayor
A guy on tv who wears a head set and talks really loud told me that the Germans are known for making good things. In another commercial this same yelling guy said I was going to love his nuts as he chopped away with a little gadget. So taking his advice, seems Sham-wows must be the way to go and if you are hungry, his nuts are tasty.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Almond Joy.
Oxi-Clean?
/snark
and get the best deal, because, you know, they "can't do this all day!"
I've seen some stuff, man. And some thangs...
corn? Monsanto's frankenfood corn? That corn? The adding insult to injury corn? "Apocalypse Now" corn? I'm gonna stop now--this is too easy.
charge, that is right as the spill worsens and the American terrorist at BP, Halliburton and Transocean have put the President and the Congress on Notice have NO doubt they are in CHARGE and the President and the Congress will say what they are TOLD to say and then SIT Down and Shut UP.
Announcing today that they will pay 1 Billion Dollars to their Share holders over the next year while NOT addressing the issue of their complete Negligent and Malfeasance Actions of the Gulf of Mexico.
Why isn't the President and the Congress Ordering a complete seizure of ALL ASSESTS as they apply to all three TERRORISTS Groups.
Yes these are Terrorists in Suits or does the Average American believe they can only come from the middle East.
These Socialized Corporations what the hell else are they,THEY and the Whacked out Right wing Racist Nazi republican party and their Socialist Corporation mentality. Notice how the TERRORISTS are Privatizing the PROFITS and SOCIALIZING the LOSSES and BEGGING the Despised Government to BAIL them out, I have a question for these TERRORIST what happened to Capitalism ?
Why isn't the Government locking all assets and Properties of these TERRORISTS. Imposing fines so stiff that their head real from the shock, like 50,000,000 million dollar fines on the Corporate, Board of Directors and share holders level with a 12% interest penalty non negotiable for any appeals on the fine(s). A 1 Billion Dollar fine for every violation and malfeasance violation with a 12% interest penalty attached and ALL interest on ALL violations are Compound interest DAILY.
Mandatory 15 year PRISON terms in a FEDERAL Penitentiary non negociable. A complete investigation into the AMERICAN TRAITOR cheney, this a weseal that held SECRET talks with the same companies while he held his Supreme Court Appointed titled of VP. This is a American TRAITOR that outed a CIA operative, you can not Trust a TRAITOR he betrayed the Trust of the American People and now the same people he held SECRET meetings with are TERRORING the American people. These are Terrorist and they should be treated as Terrorist.
Just because these pastey White business menwear SuTS does NOT mean they get a free pass as Terrorist. these Socialist Corporatist are Terrorising America nad its people. It is about time the President and the Congress start treating them as HOSTILE confine and restrict ALL movements ALL phone calls to be monitored these are TERRORIST they must be treated as TERORIST.
Everyone knows that the republican White Supremacist Anti American party has been callin g for the failure of this President, are they working BEHIND the scenes to help the TERRORIST Destroy America, remember the republicans called for the President to FAIL, the republicans are defending the SOCIALIST CORPORATIONS and protecting the American TERRORIST.Watching the republicans DEFEAT every Financial reform measure of the Congress and Senate, wathing the republicans defeat every measure to protect America and DEFEND the American Terrorist of Wall Street and the BP and the republican party I can not help wonder if this is NOT a last ditch attempt buy the American TERRORIST working hand in hand and behind the scenes to Terrorise AMERICA nad live up to its MOTTO America must fail.
If Congress is a free and seperate body and the President is a Free and seperate individual I would hope they would take the necessary measures to investigate and lock up these TERRORIST and prove me wrong.
I'm sure that Wall Street, Big Oil, etc. can attest to this.
why is it we haven't heard this guy right after this rig blew-up?
why was it held by CBS for ratings season? why wasn't he at the senate hearings two weeks ago? the gov. knows this info and yet has withheld it. that destroyed rubber seal is the reason for this situation, and the negligence of BP forcing improper implementation. and why is justice not arresting the BP execs for manslaughter? and how about that investigator who states, "BP!" this is a cover up in so many ways, and the damage to the gulf is going to go on for decades.
the pres needs to kick some butt, but they are worried about the damn mid term BS.....
oh i know, we need to worry about who lost on idle.....
If you are going to post this again and agin, so am I.
An idle tune for this topic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj92SnsM1pI
"That's fu*#ing retarded."
Big City Mayor
This doesn't make sense. There might be sulfates and sulfides in the gases escaping the well too, but methane (CH4) alone would not break down into H2SO4 just by reacting with oxygen.
My understanding of the breaking down of oil is that it's done by microorganisms and they are the ones sucking the O2 out of the water. Maybe the same is true of methane.
ignored this chemical aspect of thei story before posting. Perhaps they were under deadline pressure.
I just want to know when we are all going to die.
Soon enough I suppose.
"That's fu*#ing retarded."
Big City Mayor
Corruption and greed will do us all in , already it has all but destroyed this country . Unfortunately a one man jihad by yours truly wouldn't do a bit a good , for all practical purposes I am ( we are ) powerless , it's frustrating to no end .
"The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all."
extinction event. Twitter away!
60 Minutes did a great job of explaining what happened and putting the big picture in perspective. Once the details are clearly explained, average people can understand it. Companies like BP get away with far too much by pretending that only they have the knowledge to decide, that they're too big to be questioned. Like Wall St., a lot more sunlight is needed on how these guys conduct business.
I want to know the name of the BP executive who "won" the "who's the boss" argument. Is he still employed by BP? I want 60 Minutes to interview him.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-storie...
they sidestepped many rules under the previous administration, to do drilling..
oil men..
With the oil well catastrophe, we aren't hearing anyone complaining about guvermint involvement! All of the gulf states now want FEDERAL AID! Nobody is suggesting that the MARKET will take care of the problem!
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