What I really want to know is why if all this frikken oil is spilling out of the damm thing, why in the hell were they going to CAP it? Are they trying to hoard oil? Are they trying to keep the price of oil high by NOT pumping oil for ourselves? Why shouldnt we be gathering that oil for OUR use and not capping the thing? HUH? WHY BP? WHY are you holding back the pumping of oil?

I mean for as much oil that has SPILLED into the Gulf, why shouldnt we have used that oil for gas? @!$%#ERS!

The headlines make you think this is such a great accomplishment. Nearly 90 days and the oil still flows. PLUG THE LEAK. NOW.

It really would be necessary for that thing to work.

First of all it wasn't Obama that caused the oil explosion, but it was Obama and His cronies that caused the delay in fixing the problem because they got involved that is why it took so long to fix the problem. I believe if they had stayed out of the problem and had kept the Green Peace people at bay the spill would have been fixed the first month. I'm not relieving BP of their part in the problem, but after the spill started they had to check on the rules of our government to make sure they didn't step on anyone's toes. There is a lot of things that go on behind the scenes that cause the biggest problems.
shakadog

Fixed, "...in what respect, Charlie?"

Pure-Capitalism said:

"What I really want to know is why if all this frikken oil is spilling out of the damm thing, why in the hell were they going to CAP it? Are they trying to hoard oil? Are they trying to keep the price of oil high by NOT pumping oil for ourselves? Why shouldnt we be gathering that oil for OUR use and not capping the thing? HUH? WHY BP? WHY are you holding back the pumping of oil?"

There are about 27,000 abandoned or capped wells in the Gulf of Mexico. BP is/was responsible for 600 of them, which means that 26,400 are the responsibility of other oil companies (or the US Government, who is, ultimately, the owner of all of them). Some of these wells date back to the 1940s.

They are trying to cap the well head to spot the spewing of the oil into the Gulf.

The "cap" that they are working to put onto the well head will allow them to collect oil as well as keep it from spewing into the Gulf.

With all the damages that BP will be paying for they need the oil as bad as we want lower gas prices.

BP will be donating the net revenue from selling oil recovered from the Gulf of Mexico spill to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

More than likely, BP will go bankrupt (they already put it out there) and the american people will be left with a mess.

Pure Capitalism Said:

I meanfor as much oil that has SPILLED into the Gulf, why shouldnt we have used that oil for gas? @!$%#ERS!

Use it for gas, I guess you could collect that oil, but the amount spilled is an extremely small percent in the entire picture of things. Lets take a look at just the U.S. Every day we consume 20 million barrels of oil a day. That translates into just about 1.1 billion gallons a day of consumption. The amount spilled to date is less than 20 percent of one day of only our U.S. consumption of oil. Break it down to an hourly basis and we consume the amount of oil spilled into the gulf since April 20 in roughly 4.5 hours. Now the real problem is that we will consume more then the amount spilled into the gulf once this is said and done just to clean it up.

I know what you mean, they did the same thing to George W. Bush too!

They're blaming Obama for the handling of the oil spill like they blamed President Bush for Katrina! Can you believe it? The oil spill response is not Obama's fault nor was Katrina's response President Bush's fault! Give these great guy's a break!

My thoughts exactly!! Could not have said it better myself. I know there must be plenty that feel the same way!

Uh? Sitting on your hands and doing nothing is called "lack of response". The government did not respond fast enough in either case. After all, BP was the ones that should have had a "plan B, C, D ect" if things went bad. They filed the papers saying they did have contingency plans. The only plan "B", BP had was racing the yahct on the world cup events.

I though I had my Basset Hound "fixed."

Alas, she was not fixed....a BP Allegory.

So ture, John Haskins. With as much repercussion from the potential damage it is only prodent to be slightly more careful just on the safe side than causing another problem that is even harder to fix. The people who yell faster, faster simply have not comprehend the extend of complexities of the technical challenge at hand.

BP has made enough mistakes "assuming" things are in good shape in the past. I think the government is wise to make them do a little bit more studies before proceeding.

The problem goes back to ower very nature, we are a lazy greedy animal and nothing will change till we have a problem. Look at the Economy, give me Bill Clinton back at least he cheats and still makes a profit!

what a mess. BP needs to get this done.

all this blaming of Obama for the BP oil spill is the definition of insanity.

this is a disaster on the part of PRIVATE BUSINESS and not a natural disaster.

you criticize obama for private business failing to police itself???

basically, you blame obama for GOP policy failure!!!

you "cry" goverment stay out of private business affairs until you need to be bailed out? does this ring a bell...

what does the US gov. know about this kind of drilling that a a company as fiscally large as a country doesn't know... this BP nation effectively specializes in oil. lol

you scream "drill baby drill" and deregulate and then you blame the goverment for an accident?

i could go on and on...

all this blaming of Obama for the BP oil spill is the definition of insanity. this is a disaster on the part of PRIVATE BUSINESS and not a natural disaster.

Actually, in this case, natural forces overwhelmed man made forces. While Obama did not cause this, his reaction to it has been poor at best. Same can be said for Bush with Katrina. Bush didn't cause the hurricane, but his response time was poor as well. People that blame Bush for Katrina say that the government should have been prepared for a hurricane of this magnitude. You can make the same arguement for the oil spill. The government should have been prepared to back up BP. But then critics say that BP is a private business and needs to make sure it cleans up its mess and it is not the governments responsibility because the government did not own or operate the rig the blew up. Again, you can say the same about Katrina. Why should the government be responsible for cleaning up and repairing private property, even if the it was a natural disater. It is still private property. My point here is both administrations had poor responses and have and should be held accoutable for those responses.

How many rounds of gulf has azzbama played since this disaster started. 25 maybe 30? Proof that he can't comprehend what it takes to run a country. He will not change from a 8 hour a day 5 day a week community organizer mentality and will ruin this country.

So many people want to blame Obama for everything. What a shame. Since the Republican government of the 12 years prior to his election, put into place legislation that prevented him from acting on several issues. Obama's hands were tied as far as the oil spill. He had no authority to do anything about it. More Republican special interest legislation. And let's not get on the immigration issue. GOP is blasting him for veiws on amnesty. Guess what, Bush did it twice, gave amnesty to 12 million illegal immigrants. Our job as citizens of this great country, is to support our President for the good or the bad. Instead of standing up for the world to see that many of you really don't want democracy. You forget, we as a free democratic country, elected him. So if you are a proud American, support our President as a proud American

Why blame Obama!? He's done nothing but point fingers at "the previous administration" and "the last 8 years"

What a crock. Obama has pointed fingers at the last administration for the economical disaster he inherited. And rightfully so. Considering the fact that I have personally seen the righteous wingers on the Vine try to hold Obama responsible for the economy that he inherited when he had been in office for two weeks and out of the other side of their mouth try to shed the responsibility of 911 from Bush because he had only been president for eight months. But I'm glad to see that Mike from Iowa has finally admitted that the WTC deaths are Bush's fault. OK. I'll take that one. Because he sure as crap didn't bring Bin Laden to justice as he promised a grieving America. He never found the WMDs that thousands of Americans died for. That war was a joke and cost the tax payers hundreds of billions of dollars. Yea Mike I'd say there need to be some fingers pointed pal because I wouldn't want to be holding the bag for the mess that guy left when he traveled back to Texas.

Durn, more BS from BP.

While Obama did not cause this, his reaction to it has been poor at best. Same can be said for Bush with Katrina.

I guess what I have a hard time understanding is the double standard we hold. I never understood (really) why there was any blame put on Bush for Katrina. And why everyone is trying to blame Obama for the BP Gulf oil spill. For whatever reason people seem to want to blame a US president for these disasters, they didn't seem to have any problem at all back in 1989 when George H. W. Bush did nothing about the Exxon Valdez oil spill. I mean the guy was out to lunch. He didn't do squat. And no one had a problem with it. The people in Prince William Sound (check the Cordova Alaska fishing industry) are still suffering today. Not G.H.W Bush's fault.

Bustum hard: In response to your sincere question about President Obama, one of the duly elected presidents, he has played a total of 39 rounds of golf in the 19 months he has served. That works out to just over 2 per month. He has also taken 26 days of vacation. Now I am sure you are also sincere in insisting no fun for all of our presidents, but George W. Bush took 487 days of vacation during his eight years as president. This number does not include the time either president has spent at Camp David. How about being fair and balanced?

"They looked at our response after the hostage crisis in Iran, the bombings of the Marine barracks in Lebanon, the first World Trade Center attack, the killing of American soldiers in Somalia, the destruction of two U.S. embassies in Africa, and the attack on the USS Cole. They concluded that free societies lacked the courage and character to defend themselves against a determined enemy… After September the 11th, 2001, we’ve taught the terrorists a very different lesson: America will not run in defeat and we will not forget our responsibilities." -- George Bush, 8/30/2005 blaming Clinton for 9/11

Anybody who thinks the BP disaster is all Obama's fault has a very short memory. Two words: Dick Cheney.

Don't believe me? Read this:
http://climateprogress.org/2010/06/09/cheney’s-culture-of-deregulation-and-corruption/

“Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it." Edward Burke

Mark

The bombings of the Marine barracks came under the Reagon administration. While I am not sure as to the timing of the other events I cannot see how this would be an example of George Bush blaming Clinton

bigdog416,

You guys won't quit will you? "The government is not doing enough". "The goverment is in the way".

Mike of Iowa,

You make no sense at all. Let's overly simplify this. If I slapped, say, your momma, and blamed it on you when I went to see the judge, would you claim responsibility?

You guy's political ideology rules over reality.

This must be an old thread they put back up or something. I would think people would be excited to have the oil capped. Of course I don't expect the republicans to be happy about it at all.

Capped in 90 days, when the only comparable well disaster took 10 months, not bad guys.

Ok now that it is Capped dont mess up drilling the relief wells there are two to screw up on. Then they are going to put cement and mud in it to seal it.

And BP is dragging its feet with paying out those effected in the gulf.

I find it interesting that right after BP gets accused of mis-doings with Libya, they have the first real success. I have thought all along that the feds liked this crisis because it took the attention off of them and the oil would stop flowing when there was good reason to. I always knew it would be stopped atleast a month before the elections.

Hey Mike of Iowa, instead of complaining about finger pointing, (which by the way is exactly what you're doing right now) you should be happy for your country; and that there now seems to be some hope of ending the biggest environmental catastrophe in U.S. history. Oh and all the blame and criticism Bush recieved is still extremely well deserved. When it comes to doing nothing like you claim Obama has done, there's no bigger "nothing" than the smoking gun video of Bush being briefed at a meeting over the impending doom of a major storm that will breach the entire Louisiana Levy system (Only days before the storm). And what does Bush do in response to this inevitablility? He goes on vacation only to fly back overlooking the storm and tell the American people he had no idea there was a problem. I don't recall BP sitting down with Obama prior to the blow out and informing him this was going to happen. You should be thankful for his finger pointing instead of throwing your tree cutting poster boy in jail, which is what we all should be calling for.

P.S. Bush didn't blame Clinton for 911?. If that's true he was probably the only republican on the planet who didn't. That's because 911 is W's fault too. At least Clinton knew and believed who the real threat to America was instead of jerking himself off to the Saddam Hussein conspiracy theory.

Remember when they tortured Bush over Katrina? Because of slow response? When Obama has a slow response the media leaves him unscathed. The difference, neither of them was at fault of these things happening, but you can't blame a hurricane like you can blame BP.

I will say this once again: I was living in Biloxi, MS when Katrina hit. I know for a fact that Bush visited New Orleans days BEFORE Katrina and offered the National Guard and any other help they might need. The governor and Mayor Nagin said, "Nix. We don't want no help from no Republican." So people drowned and went without food and water for days. The Coast Guard sent helicopters to lift people off their roofs and to lower food and water; they were fired on by thugs who had looted the gun shops. President Bush did not cause Katrina; and no one is saying that Mr. Obama caused this oil spill. He did however fart around for 87 days, playing golf and entertaining celebrities at the White House while people on the Gulf wonder where their next job, next meal, next check is coming from.

did you mean hear........................HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I say let it flow until it runs dry at this point. Flipper and his buddies are done for anyway so let it rain! Hurricane season is bursting at the seams too. Mother Nature will take care of this mess eventually.

Haskins what is it with you and the South? Every comment you make is about "down there" and very negative. What's up with that? Did an oil co lay you off?

Cuz ur a puss!

Now whats obama gonna talk about henny penny??????

thanks for your thoughts "big dog" ... If obama had jumped on BP immediately they would have fixed it in a month? This operation is more then a little complex. nevermind i'm not even going to try and explain the simple stuff.

Bil, and what date was Bush in New Orleans before Katrina? I can seem to find no conformation of your statement anywhere. I really didn't expect him to there anyway, what I did expect was the Feds to provide a more timely response when they were called. I expected the mayor of the city to have been more on top of the situation and I expected the Govenor to leave politics out of it. None, I repeat, none of them did their job until it was late in the game.

Obama may have been a little late to the game in the oil spill but the big difference is that in Katrina, it was people's lives at stake and the Federal and state governments are supposed to be ready for natural disasters particularly those that we see coming several daays in advance.

Captain Steve you get no promotion vote from me.

The only part of Congress that the Republicans had consistent strong control of was the House. Everything passes by a simple majority. But in the Senate Majority works a lot different.

50-50 or 51-49 control means you control the flow of legislation mainly and every legislation gets watered down AND heavily loaded with pork to buy votes from hold-outs.

Power increases as the majority seats approach 60. With 60 or more seats when you can begin to demand anything you please as the Democrats just did to us. Nothing they wanted could be stopped unless members hold out for more pork - which members did they did through Jan 2010.

Real power starts at 54-46 or 55-45. Not only do you control the flow of legislation, but you can push harder and give less for what you really want.

Actual Real Republican Control 10.38 years out of 12 of which on 6 out of the 10.38 was of Real Control.

Republican Control Jan 1995 - Jan 1997 52-48 WEAK

Republican Control Jan 1997 - Jan 1999 55-45 Moderately Strong

Republican Control Jan 1999 - Jan 2001 55 - 45 Moderately Strong

Democrat Control Jan 3, 2001 - Jan 20, 2001 50 - 50 (Dem VP Gore breaks tie)

Republican Control Jan 20, 2001 - June 6, 2001 50 - 50 (Rep. VP Cheney breaks tie)

Democrat Control June 6 , 2001 - November 12, 2002 Dems 51 (1 Independent) Reps 49 - Jim Jeffords switches parties giving Democrats the Majority.

Republican Control November 12, 2002, Jan 3, 2003 50 - 48 - 2 (Rep VP Cheney breaks the tie)

Republican Control Jan 2003 - Jan 2005 51 - 48 - 1 WEAK.

Republican Control Jan 2005 - Jan 2007 55-45 Moderately Strong

Democrats take over The House and Senate (51-49) Jan 2007. When did the economy start to tank? 2008 and the economy was rolling along until then? HMMMMMMMMM!

Ron

1) The Obama Administration (not the Bush Administration) exempted BP from updating the enviromental impact plan which contains the emergency responses to be followed.

2) BP won't go bankrupt. I'm amazed at how ill-informed people are about these big companies. BP will sell assets if necessary and has little debt. The mainly work on a cash basis. That means that they do have cash reserves. These have been spent, but they easily acquired 20 0r 30 Billion in loans. That amount is nothing compaired to their size.

The only person you can blame for this is the BP idiot who replaced the mud with seawater after arguing with the Trans guy who told him not to. He should be brought up on 11 count of manslaughter. In addition all these oil Companies should have had this technology in place before the first drill went into the ground. At this point let's be glad the oil has stopped spewing and get BP on the cleanup. They have alot of dirt to turn over and clean to get it out of the eco-system. Also, for all that say BP will go bankrupt the British Gov will never let that happen and a pay plan over time has already been worked out.

STL Mike

Bush tried for a week to get the Louisiana governor to order an evacuation of New Orleans. This failure of that governor to act made the disaster larger than necessary. Yes the response was not appropriate for New Orleans, but a lot of ruckus was over them not getting there for 2 days. (help didn't begin trickling in until 3 days - Roads were impassible in the main damage pass for that long) 2 Days is when the Fed has historically arrived and indeed arrived at the other locations in that time frame.

Yeah Bush deserved blame for this, because his appointment - "Bowny" made a lot of bad decisions because he wasn't qualified and Bush & Company didn't catch it.

Bklnj -

mud didn't stop the oil in the top kill operation either. Pay attention to the measured pressures. This cap has to withstand 8,000 - 12,000 PSI. That requires extra heavy steel or extra strong concrete fully cured. They had to engineer and construct this cap special after learning what it would take to be successful.

Some event caused the oil find to be released pre-maturely.

The pressure at the well head, is the highest ever recorded, that is why they must siphon, no cap could hold against that much pressure. BP is not going bankrupt, it is one of the three richest company's in the world. The relief wellls should be ready in about a month, to start with the concrete plug; now is the time to call your Congressperson, and demand oversight, and enforcement of regulations. First thing to do is fire everybody that was in MMS, their getting in bed with the oil company's is what led to this disaster. It will take a generation for the marsh land to recover!

I don't think he visted New Orleans, but you will be able to find he called Governors and Mayors of the major cities offering any aid imaginable. The biggest thing was he called the Louisiana Governor a number of times trying to get her to order a complete evacuation of New Orleans.

Yeah Saxon -

I just heard on the Radio that BP is still testing and won't commit to keeping the thing closed. I think they are still trying to guage just how much pressure there really is. If the pipe is holding up, they might as well keep siphoning the oil off. Afterall, they are supposed to be donating the money to the clean-up and the more pressure they allow to come off that well the more successful another kill procedure is likely to be.

I find it absolutely AMAZING that people talk about their grand-kids future in the "cause/effect" argument, but they absolutely ignore the "cause/effect" issue when it comes to the role the Bush Administration played in screwing this country.

John,

I agree that you should proceed with good information. Still, this isn't about you and your feelings. It is certainly not about Obama. Your comment about blaming Obama is small minded. The fact is that he and his administration does not have the ability to administer to the oil spill and that it would have been much better to let those individuals and businesses respond without restraints. The President is empowered to dictate policy. The fact is that poor judgement and decision making took place. Now, let's clean up the mess.

Why didn't they come up with this cap much sooner? Don't think that the problem is over. The Gulf is full of oil on the surface and below the surface. We will have tar ball and oil washing up on LA, MS, AL and FL beaches for years to come. Do you really think BP will be cleaning up the beaches in five years? The fishing industry is decimated. The oil drilling industry is dead in the water. Tourism is badly hurt. The Gulf states are hurting and Obama is doing nothing helpful (as usual).

Um because it took a while to build this cap to actually work? You can't expect something to be built in few hrs and drop it down in 5,000 feet of water. BP dropped the ball on this one by not being prepared and skimped out on safety.

I can see it now. It's all a pony show now. Bombarding everyone with "We care" advertisements. In about 2-3 years, they will do a complete 180, and will fight every lawsuit and stop paying for everything. By then, the American public will completely forget about it. Look at the current polls. We are already getting tired of the non stop oil spill.

Oil Spill Whoppers from FactCheck.com

http://www.factcheck.org/2010/07/oil-spill-whoppers/

Repulbicans want to exploit this catastrophe to make it Obama's oil spill. That fits their one agenda, to elect a Republican into the white house in 2012. However, anyone that does the research into the causes of the oil spill will have to blame BP 100 % for the oil spill itself and MMS 100 % for absolutely no regulation. Anyone who reads about BP's history of catastrophes and accidents would have to challenge George W Bush's administration giving BP a lease for one of the deepest oil wells in 2008. That was also the year that MMS has a huge scandal in Colorado for MMS regulators taking gifts from, drugs from, having wild parties with and having sex with corporate personnel from the industry they were supposed to be regulating. The fact is, MMS has been doing token regulation for many years, especially under the deregulation Republicans. Did Bush resolve the MMS corruption? No.

I am thoroughly impressed with retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, Obama's point man on the BP oil spill since the beginning. You have to notice how the Republicans bypass Thad and the obvious fact that Obama has delegated this role instead of doing what they want him to do, preoccupy almost all of this time on the Gulf oil spill.

Disingenuous? Alleged "conservatives" want daddy Obama and the nanny state big government to come to the rescue of private industry with taxpayer money and increase the national debt in the process. They need to quit calling themselves "conservatives."

Then you have the delusional Tea Party saying that the oil rig was blown up to advance Obama's socialist agenda and Obama is using the escrow account as a slush fund. This seems to be the rabidly right wing, as in foaming at the mouthing and biting your leg off. And now the Globe tabloid newspaper has come out with a new Kenya birth certificate forgery - since their last forgery is old news.

Good points Mike. The only things I can fault Obama for in this whole mess is not cleaning house at MMs before these permits were issued and letting the Army Corp of engineers to slow down the levee aproaval proccess. Thad has done a great job givin the circumstances.

future of our planet ?? This was a terrible incident....and in 10 years none of the ecological doomsday scenio's will be present....that is my prediction.

I even read the article by an independent (to industry or government) fisheries protection expert who said the benefit to the shrimp from stopping fishing would exceed the harm from the oil....hear that....we are eating our fisheries into endangered status...and likely 99 % of the people predicting this event is a ecodisaster likely do anything to address the real global ecological issues. Much of the gulf area (like other coasts) have populations that are not sustainable .... what is being done.....perhaps we can somehow blame BP for that :)

Get The Point- I'm sure no one is blaming saint obama for the spill. However, the response by him and his admnistration has been beyond pathetic. I have to wonder why the press is giving him a pass on this issue and acting like the government has nothing to do with it. The double-standard actually sickens me.

John - Now that the well crude discharge to the Gulf has been stopped - 2:25 PM CDT today - an earlier prediction of mine will be repeated.

Give us a hot rest of summer and an above-average hurricane - this oil spill will be forgotten by most people come winter.

Well, that might have been true without the Obama administration's idiotic moratoriums and overly broad-area fishing ban.

To John and Iowa Mike...you are both nuts. I live down here, and first started working on shrimp boats over 30 years ago. A few "facts"....

Brown shrimp burrow down in the mud or sand; there is ample evidence that oil is present on the bottom of bays, rivers and the gulf right now. This will NOT help these stocks, and most likely will harm them, but to what extent is not known (your qouted 'expert' is an idiot). Crustaceans that live on or close to the bottom have already shown no ablility to escape the oil (unlike most fish in the Gulf).

One hurricane will scatter this oil inland, kill plant life and contaminate every dwelling/building it touches; so we will forget that by winter? I hope to hell you clowns stay in Iowa and keep diddlin with your corn cobs, because we neither need or want you down here. Ever.

Does anyone else find the live feed kinda fun to watch? With all those robots in the water it reminds me of the movie The Abyss lol :-)

G-man - Yes, things will take time to recover, but, the shrimp may surprise you. They live in some pretty toxic environments in the Atlantic.

Browkinarrow,

About the water-bots and The Abuse movie, I have a bad feeling that msnbc and BP are NOT showing us the capped-off well that has been leaking the past 90 days.

I DO NOT BELIEVE WE ARE SEEING THE SAME WELL PIPE.

What I think is happening: BP is showing us a dummy capped-off well, cameras probably at some BP-owned swimming pool. The leak is still occurring. They just want to not look like they are still failing at solving the problem.

We need REAL proof that the leak has been stopped. An independent camera crew , NOT NBC, needs to be allowed to visually verify and film the capped well pipe.

I, for one, will NOT believe the leak has been capped until i see independent proof.

the G-man - But oil has been in the coastal marsh areas for years. Newsvine poster B89 is from your area and has posted excellent insight and history on this spill in posts to previous articles. In one he described the collection of naturally existing oil from marsh areas with shipment to the east coast for use - this occurring in the 1800's!

Oil has continued to be present at all times in places including the bottoms of bays and rivers. Brown shrimp and crustaceans have also been there and are great natural resources for your area. Yes, the BP spill is bad news and has hurt the region. But the long-term, doomsday predictions are totally unrealistic. The possible hurricane rainfall killing plant life, etc. - are you kidding? Virtually no oil effects would be found inland. (Ya, my moratorium and fishing ban feelings are hard to forget.)

Your part of the South will survive and do it very well! I may have grown up with Iowa corn and mud on my feet but I don't display the kind of hospitality that you did above. Come up and visit us!

As much as we hate BP (me included), I hafta say that I'm GLAD they were able to stop it and I hope they DONT go bankrupt over it because they will be paying for this for a loooooooong time and they need to remain viable in order to do it...

And I'm also glad to say that it appears that I was wrong about the seafloor being ruptured...

At least I hope I'm wrong....

Now that the flow of oil into the gulf has been stopped all we have left to do is stop the flow of illegals into the country and everything will be back to good again.....;)

General Patton - I seem to remember meeting you on an earlier article through the Vine. I was pretty much wrong in a comment there.

I never thought BP would try to stop all well flow. Or at least nearly all - they appear to have a small 'bleed' stream and that could be very helpful at this stage. So say reservoir at 13,000 psi. With crude density 6.3 lbs/gallon (could be lower with 40% methane), static head to sea floor - 4,322 psi. Subtracting - 8,672 psi at sea floor. Danged close to the 9,000 Allen talks.

My theory was that BP would keep flow to the Q and Helix to get the piping flow pressure losses - and only have to close off against an estimated 6,000 to 7,000 psi. Somebody is brave here!

Enough! Your comment on illegals - agree. They should be rounded up and marched back to Mexico on foot like American Indians were led to new homes in Oklahoma!

Maybe the next time someone sees rubber in the mud, they will stop drilling and repair the blowout preventor or at least test it.

At least now when the next topical storm blows by and all ships are pulled into harbor there won't be oil flowing unchecked into the Gulf.

Maybe now BP will use their tankers to collect oil. They can use 1000s of shrimp boats to skim and collect, pump into tankers, let the water settle to the bottom and pump the water back into the Gulf. Any water that is left they can further cleaned with centrifuges or at the refinery.

there were legitimate concerns about dramatically increasing the pressure and increasing the severity of the blowout in the already damaged well... that and they had to engineer and build this cap.

John-- let's hope, in the future, that they have a supply of ready-made caps available. Then maybe we can put some faith in their repeated assurances that "oh, we know exactly what to do if there's a problem..."

In fact, let's make that part-and-parcel of the leasing agreements, and make sure the minerals management folks, rather than partying hearty and bumping uglies with the oil corporation reps, actually do their jobs and enforce the damn regulations. Having Big Oil pay up on their royalties wouldn't be a bad idea either...

rickywahoo,

Plumbers WERE considered at as First Responders, but the idea was scuttled when it was realized that scuba gear wasn't found that was large enough for the plumbers. WalMart in China doesn't make scuba fat pants in their size.

Yes I have sweetie....And with no help from the republicans thank you. But, don't worry they will appoligize to BP for any trouble this spill has caused them.

No, I haven't honey. I have better things to worry about than something that affects our southern coast, where all those independent-minded folks live. They didn't vote for me. So I'm courting the votes of other groups of people, who have no business being here in America. My only real concern is myself. Now please go help your mom in the garden, and let me get back to my rituals of self-admiration...

No hunny, we didnt plug the hole....

BP did....

However, we did everything we could to get in the way...

Run along now hunny, I'm busy suing Arizona....

Sounds like David Spade is writing comedy on this section of the newsvine...

And if any of those wells blow out, "The Blow Out Preventer" probably won't work. 3 out of 5 blow out preventers are defective, we only know they won't work when something like the Deep Water Horizon happens.

They are not nearly as unreliable as you claim. Here is a link to a report given to the MMS about subsea BOP reliability. Bear in mind when reading this report that many of the failures were found when testing the BOP on the rig, prior to running it to the seabed.

http://www.mms.gov/tarprojects/319/319AA.pdf

Maybe they should be using parts "made in America", instead of a foreign country

The BOP (and the new cap system) were both built by Cameron, an American company based in Houston.

Maybe the US Coast Guard should have listened to BP and let it burn out or foam it. Instead they sank it when they shot millions of gallons of sea water into a ship that does not contain water tight compartments guaranteeing the sinking of it and breaking off the pipe that rose to the ship. Don't kid yourself, The U.S. sank that platform and are pointing the finger at BP.

Instead they sank it when they shot millions of gallons of sea water into a ship that does not contain water tight compartments guaranteeing the sinking of it and breaking off the pipe that rose to the ship.

The rig was a dynamically positioned rig, therefore relies on the power of thrusters to hold it in location. Once the power source of the rig was lost, it would not be able to hold onto location and would be at the mercy of the currents. I am not even sure if letting it float would have prevented the riser from separating. If the rig drifted at the surface too far from the site, the riser could have still separated from the rig.

Also, regardless of whether the rig was sunk from the water, the fire would have eventually destroyed the rig. Steel looses much of its strength under extreme heat. Just look at pictures of the rig. After very little time of burning, the entire derrick collapsed. For all we know, the derrick collapsing could have done irreparable damage to the rig structures.

No, it is not capped!

They fixed a leak in the cap. They still need to test the cap. Oil is still spewing into the Gulf.

I see they have fooled you too. Go look at the streamimg "live" video. If thats capped, then what is all that sh!t comming out of it

It's not capped, the cap just stopped leaking. They still need to pressure test it to make sure it is going to work.

Yea, and if it fails (blows off the top of the casing) BP has stopped drilling the relief well too. Thats a great plan

The issue at hand is really not that simple. The same group of fishermen suffered from the Oil leak in LA and AL are the same group of people who either works part-time in the oil-related business, or have close relatives who does.

I do agree with you, however that we need to ask some pretty tough questions. We need to ask them in an objective way without inserting our positive or negative bias towards the industry as a whole. The situation is bad as it is. We need to held our emotions and really take a hard look at the whole big picture objectively and come up with good solutions. In the end we might not all agree on it but it will be a solutions that is workable and we can live with for sure.

Why drill in deep water....becuase that's where the remaining oil is....duh! Eventually, drilling will be going down to 10-15000 feet.

You mean all those tax evading shrimpers that can't give BP their tax statements to prove how much they made these past few years. Karma has caught up with them but will azzbama go after them for tax evasion? I don't think he will. He will use the slush fund already agreed to for his own agenda and let the fisheries flounder. No pun intended. Just how much do they deserve if they can't prove how much they made to begin with? Sorry folks it just that he wants taxes to go way up and now we find out all those companies haven't been totally honest with the tax man. The penalty should be, no tax statements no bailout from BP. Until you pay the taxes and penalties that should have been paid on what you say you should have received. Too bad for you.

The current relief wells are being drilled over 15000 ft already and the well is deeper than that. The problem with using oil is the scientist have no idea why the oil is in the planet in the first place. The upper crust of the planet floats on the upper mantle and moves constantly. This action has only been realized with the last few decades and the scientist don't really know much else about how our planet is constructed or operates. This movement is known as plate tectonics. The oil industry was in full swing long before the scientists figured out about plate tectonics and the effect they are having has never been considered or investigated. They still are trying to sell their theory that oil is merely the remains of dinosaurs and that it is a resource for exploitation. I submit that the oil is the blood of the planet and that drilling for oil will not only cause humans to go extinct but actually kill the planet itself. The human body can lose many pints of blood but lose one pint too many and it dies. An engine can run four quarts low but take out that last quart and it seizes. How can we allow the oil industries to take more and more oil when they really have no idea what they are doing? The destruction from burning oil i.e. global warming may just be the tip of the ice berg on this. The damage to the earth from this spill may seem petty after the entire planet explodes. How does the saying go "forgive them GOd for they know not what they do".

We never needed oil and we don't need it now. There has always been organic and green methods to provide for our energy but the oil companies have been in bed with the Governments denying us the right to grow our own energy. The illegalization of hemp is a clear example of this. We should have continued as an agricultural society but the congress sided with corporate interests in 1940 to ensure their monopoly on energy and our despotism.

For more information on this read "The Emperor Wears No Clothes, by Jack Herer". Or try researching heterocyclics and how they are synthesized. Demand your freedom from oil dependence and demand hemp be legalized immediately. End the oil wars. End the pollution. End your despotism. Realize oil companies know nothing about how this planet lives or the purpose of oil within it. They don't even care. It's all about the MONEY, MONEY, MONEY. Exploitation of humans and the planet is their game. If you fail to remember the past you will be destined to repeat it. You are just another source labor to them. For another look at their concern for planet look at how they've treated the Niger Delta for the past fifty years. They estimate the oil industry has dumbed the equivalent of the exxon Valdez spill every year for the past fifty years into what was one of the most diverse natural environments on the planet. For all we know the cure for cancer or HIV or the next plague was in that jungle but we will never know.

jphelps, This well surpasses 15000'. Check this out for the answer and a better understanding of the both the BOP and the well. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/06/21/us/20100621-bop.html

PS, I only send quality, informative links. No politics.

The government did let LA build oil berms and they failed almost exactly as predicted by the nameless, faceless bureaucrats. In fact, there's a link to a story in this article showing how the berms washed away before the oil even made it to the shore. Also, if you think BP was "chased" into deeper waters to find oil, you're totally nuts. Have you ever been off the coast of Louisiana? It's a maze of literally thousands of oil rigs. In terms of having stricter regulations, I agree with you. But it seems pretty much exactly opposite of the rest of your post. Also, remember that the "regulation is bad" idea is a conservative idea and it has been pushed successfully for at least 30 years.

Hey, EZHUNTER...Good to see you back. Your posts add a bit of sanity to these blogs and we certainly need more of that!

Just remember, if you say anything political they'll crucify you for the slightest mistake. Oh, hell, they'll crucify you for anything you say politically.

jphelps,

I would suggest you do some research. There is still a very large amount of oil in shallow waters along the coasts of North America. Oil companies simply aren't allowed to drill there. There are massive oil shale deposits in Wyoming, North Dakota, Montana and northern Colorado.

So your comment about "Why drill in deep water....becuase that's where the remaining oil is....duh!" is patently false.

Bustem Hard --

The word you really wanted was "founder".

EZHUNTER --

They'll crucify you for saying anything 'practical', too. It doesn't even have to be political. They just like crucifying people.

Wally-1853299

Obama and crew should have been on top of this as soon as the severity of the spill became known, instead of weeks later. Like bring in some of the best experts in the industry to find solutions... instead of assigning a bunch of environmentalist and government hacks to find blame and score political points.

So it seems that the thing to do would be to throw an army of bureaucrats at the spill problem even before the nature and extent of the problem was realized by the recognized experts in the field, who were already on scene and involved. It also seems that environmentalist have no validity in the process of control and recovery. It seems that you have no real ideas and are just puffing.

If it's so simple why don't you swim down to the well and fix it yourself!

Exactly!!

BP never has intended to seal the well. They have been trying to salvage the well.

They will be attempting to plug the well with concrete - if that works the well will be sealed.

Again, they are not attempting to seal the well off. BP wants to salvage the well and bring to oil up and process it. Watch and see. Even a blind person can see it coming.

Ron, One last time here. There is no intention by BP or the gov. to try to salvage this well. The new cap will be used to reduce or stop the spill temporarily until they finish setting up the relief well which is being built for the Bottom Kill. Bottom Kill seals the well from the bottom rendering it useless. Everyone involved knows that because of the blowout the well's integrity could be damaged and it must be killed properly. That is exactly what they are doing.

There is speculation that if the second relief well is not used for the kill that they can back up and redirect that well for later use. I doubt they will do that if it is too close to the other well as that could theoretically also damage the integrity of the area further.

My personal opinion is that when they are completely satisfied with the kill they should move away from the area and drill another well and completely drain this oil field so there will be no pressure to be left in the entire area of the repair to ever come back and haunt us in the future. And once it is emptied they should monitor for recurring buildup of pressure every year or so just as a safety precaution. Do the job right to protect the gulf and those of us that live here.

Gordy, Scan for all of his posts and read them. I can't figure out if he is trolling, venting anger, or just a teenager looking for an alternate opinion to a proven point just to be "Right" in his own mind. He may have other reasons for this posting also which I will not mention because I believe in following the code of honor in my posts.

exactly what is simple about engineering, building then placing an 18ft high 150000lb cap 5000ft below the ocean. I'd like to see you put the cork back in a spewing bottle of champagne, then we'll entertain your other ideas.

they can drill on land into the same oil supply.we are just to stupid to make things easy!they would be afraid of polluting the land so we will pollute the water.$1 wise a penny foolish.p.s. this is all of our faults so is the sh#ty economy.close the gates

Yes, they are trying to get this "directional boring" drilling going in southern california right now. Everything stays on land. Remeber a couple of years ago when an oil company wanted to do this same thing and was stopped? They went to Cuba and have done the directional boring to the oil deposit from Cuba and are extracting it from Cuba, right out from under us.

So you really believe they can directional drill a minimum of 127 miles?

I'm not sure if you guy are aware of the difference in the distance of the drilling have to cover horizontally and vertically: The are drilling down vertically for 1.5 miles into the sea bed, on top of the 1 mile of sea deapth. If they were to drill on-shore the horizontal distance would be close to 100 miles, plus the vertical 2.5 miles deep. the swamp and marchland they have to go through in LA would only make it much worse for the environment in so many more magnitude! That is not counting the increase of resources to drill that long in the first place with th directional drill. You can only do so much before the physics takes over and needing to add a pumping facilities somewhere in between.

Yes, they are trying to get this "directional boring" drilling going in southern california right now. Everything stays on land. Remeber a couple of years ago when an oil company wanted to do this same thing and was stopped? They went to Cuba and have done the directional boring to the oil deposit from Cuba and are extracting it from Cuba, right out from under us.

Ron, they already do a considerable amount of directional drilling all around the world. In fact the gulf is one of the few areas where it is not too common. In California, most of the offshore platforms already are drilling directional. Many of the platforms have upwards of 30-40 wells drilled out in various directions. That being said, the world record for horizontal displacement of a well is over 6 miles. They can drill horizontally for a while, but if they try to go too far the friction of the drill pipe will overcome the weight of the drillstring. It is physics that is keeping them from drilling further. Additionally when drilling horizontally the hole will tend to pack off because it is much more difficult to circulate the cuttings back up the hole.

Much of the drilling in the north slope of Alaska is horizontal drilling. The rigs are actually on the land, but are drilling out under the water.

Capitilism or Communism..????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Why do We trade With Communist China...Hmmmmmmmmmm...???????????????????????

Even Julius Cezar, knew of a Coruppt Republic in his OLD age. Lol

Tao, capitalism has no concience it will eat on its own body and flesh , when it runs out of others. Capitalism is a WHORE of all WHORES. Greed is the only truth it can comprehend. It is responsible for all the good and bad in the world. In the end it will be the undoing of the entire human race as we know it.

Drago,

Spoken like an idealogue. No facts, just emotional diatribe and anecdotes. Here's a few facts for you:

1. Capitalism has created a higher standard of living for more people around the world than any other economic model. That's not an opinion, that is a fact. Just ask any economics professor.

2. Capitalism is not responsible for "all the good and bad" in the world. What a ridiculous thing to say. I think murder, slavery, theft, greed, envy and all those other bad things were around long before capitalism. Try a little critical thinking sometime huh?

Capitalism is neither good, nor bad. It is merely an economic model, the best economic model when compared to any others. It is the decisions of people that make things good or bad. Funny how that works.

As for it being the "undoing of the entire human race", you really need to lay off the melodrama.

A system based on infinite growth on a finite planet cannot be sustained indefinitely. Whether people ignore that fact or begin to make accomodations will determine whether it is the 'undoing of the entire human race' or not.

1. Capitalism has created a higher standard of living for more people around the world than any other economic model. That's not an opinion, that is a fact. Just ask any economics professor.

That is because there are more people. It also has created the magic number of 1 billion people living on less than 1 dollar a day.

2. Capitalism is not responsible for "all the good and bad" in the world. What a ridiculous thing to say. I think murder, slavery, theft, greed, envy and all those other bad things were around long before capitalism. Try a little critical thinking sometime huh?

I somewhat agree with this statement, however capitalism does promote competition rather than cooperation making those 'bad' things easier to overlook when lots of money is involved.

Unfortunately, in America what we have is a corporate oligarchical collectivist society.

PS I don't care about B.O. and the blame game. It's our Government's failure from top to bottom.

LOL, you've been there. What you stated is so true

Oh, will you shut up, already? Let's get your logic out there. The government is supposed to do something and know this ALL while your ilk keeps wanting the government to stay out of industry practices, because they know nothing? How much would the government cost us to have all of the necessary BOP's, equipment, knowledge, etc.? EVen in the oil industry, all of the services are provided contractually and individually, so it is unfathomable for an entity from a government or a multi-national corporation to have everything!

BP screwed this up....a big private enterprise behemoth, that did it, in fact, so inefficiently it puts any government waste to shame. Thank God they are on the hook for 20 billion...best thing Obama has done. I want every dime given for the reparation and when it's spent, put the rest in the treasury. Looks like smart business to me.

and when bps money is gone along with the jobs and taxes and bennefits they pay you can snuggle up by your cozy little trash fire and just set there feeling good about yourself. Oh by the way a natural disaster can do far more damage than bp. who will you hit up for money then? God? maybe demand he fill the gov coffers with what he has left over? your also a damn fool if you think this puts gov inefficiency and waste to shame, doesnt even scratch the surface

That's his job, to get blamed for ShYte

It was the Bush administration that BP had dealt with not Obama! Bush administration waived the process of what every other oil company has to go through before drilling!!! mmm interesting isn't it! How the level of neglagence and greed from the Bush administration has cost the American people so much! But people continue to blame Obama!! how ignorant is that!

Gill:

Obama is president now. Not Bush. Yes, Bush passed regulations for the oil industry that possibly allowed this type of catastrophe to happen. But what good comes of pointing the finger at him? Will it help with the cleanup effort? Will it help then people who are out of work because of the oil?

Obama is in charge now. I don't care if he was in office for 3 days or a year and a half when this happened. It's his administration, and the slow response from the government on cleanup and helping the people down in the Gulf is unacceptable. Obama said in his speech that he gave about a month ago that the government is in charge of the cleanup effort. If that's the case, I don't want to see any more finger pointing. No pointing at BP, no pointing at Bush's administration. Either someone is in charge, or they're not. Enough with the blame game and just actually DO something.

Although it has been reported by the press (and we know some are bias) that BP never did have any permitts to even start drilling this well, the current admin had plenty of time to do the daily inspections that are "suppose" to be done. So where were they? The current admin. that is. Politics as usual, lets party and travel around the world on the tax payers dime.

I thought it Was a Government, of the PEOPLE by the PEOPLE for tyhe PEOPLE.

Constitution Says its Americans Job to Stand against Opressors Foreign and Domestic.

Oh yah We lost that in 1937, The Bill of Rights is the ONly thing covering our Ass,

And it Was overwriten by The PATRIOT ACT.

So What Flea Still thinks They are FREE...????????????????????????????????????????????

It is simple to blame the top guy...most of those people like simple, or are just arm chair quarterbacks who don't make decisions in their lives so second guessing others is fun.

Did Bush know that a bunch of rag heads would fly planes into the world trade center? NO but everyone blames him anyway. What goes around comes around. This is azzbama's fault.

Bustem Hard

Yes he knew...Bush was warned. Fact.

you need to be busted bustem hard!! yea he was warned, but what, when where left out........dummy.........could you have done better?.......I doubt it. He loves america more than that muslim we elected as president..........Bush talked more about God than Obama has,,,,,,in fact where does our Muslim leader go to church?...........

@ bustemhard

I've never heard a republican blame the shrub for anything. They have always blamed 9/11 on Clinton.

I will be Impressed when a Congressmen Drops to the Floor because of Toxic inhilation of Fumes, Because he Actullay tried to help Cleanup the Mess with his own 2 hands.

Lol, who am i kiding They wouldn't even Last a Day in Real Society without Their Pampers. Lol

The Obama administration did NOT have anything to do with BP drilling or the accident! Try looking at Bush and THAT administration! THEY are the ones the let the procedures slide!! BP and Bush administration should be sued beyond reality !! bastards!

Blame who you Want, The Worlds Ocean Might Die From this, and Previous Events,

And with IT ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

"Save the Seed that Will Save the World"(Acient Mayan Text).

Why did George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, Start A country Based on ????????

They Knew the Truth... OIL is GREED, and GREED is A FARCE.

We had the Technology to be FREE, ARE WE.??????????????????????

The facts have shown through leaked intenal emails of BP, that no admin new of the short cuts BP was taking. They used inferior parts and un-approved materials driven by greed (cost).

Very true.

However, I believe the cap has multiple is designed to allow oil to be captured from the well. I assume this is dual purpose, to prevent additional blowouts if the pressure on the cap too high and to capture oil as needed.

Thats why Canada Drills Both At the Same Time..

Seems a truly responsable company would have drilled both at the same time here too

There's no such thing as a "truly responsible company". They will put profits first. I'm not mad about that - that's what companies do. They would only drill a relief well if they were forced to by the government. So I say, force them to drill a relief well. But we all realize that the cost of gasoline would probably increase, right? That's okay with me, but now we see why they haven't been forced to do it up to this point.

so hey workaday joe - down the road a bit, when that "company that puts profits first" happens to be the hospital you are laying in, and yes they too answer mostly to boards of directors AND shareholders, and you're waiting for a transplant or whatever... and they decide that the bid from your HMO is "too low" for any profit to be made off your procedure and decline it...I take it you 'won't be mad about that' either? let ONE company place profits before people OR the environment and they ALL will follow suit. that doesn't bode well for the likes of you and me OR the Ocean now does it? Responsible Capitalism does not automatically mean Anti-business or Socialism the way so many people portray it to be.

WOW! Responsible Capitalism... Now THAT's the word and ideology I've been looking for. Unfortunately that tranlates to Regulated Capitalism because the greedy corporations along with their Republican enablers won't regulate themselves. WE will have to do it through legislation and strict monitoring.

it's not so much about taking action on new wells. But the moratorium stopped all work, including riggs that have been operating trouble free for years. It's about job loss. Deep Water Horizon was just the problem rig, not the rest. So yes we have to blame Obama for putting all of those well workers on the unemployment line

ron - I've heard it said that there are 14,000 rigs off of the coast of Louisiana and around 400 of them were affected by the moratorium. It's the responsible thing to do. The MMS has been a mmmess for years. (thanks, I just came up with that one).

I think what needs to happen is that the government needs to force oil companies to pay into a fund which runs an oil-leak/oil-spill response laboratory so that all of this knowledge is publicly available and in the hands of a disinterested party. If there is another blowout like this, BP gets on the phone, calls in the Federal Oil Spill Response Team, and they take it from there. When it's over, BP foots the bill. Go read about the IXTOD I oil leak in 1978. Almost the exact same chain of events transpired before the oil leak was stopped. This means that in >30 years, no one in the industry really gave a crap about stopping this type of leak and so didn't invest in technology to stop it.

Workaday - FINALLY someone on this thread who has a REAL, practical suggestion, rather than an uninformed comment or stupid, hateful message to spread! Bravo to you for your thoughts on 'response lab.' Start a campaign on FaceBook, Twitter, whatever - to get people to support such a plan. Keep thinking - our country needs more people like you!

I am very impressed with Thad Allen.

Not impressed at all with BP.

"BP has conducted a 90 day experiment in how to stop a gusher. This new cap technique will be used to mollify critics of deep water drilling."

It was successful after Thad Allen and others caught the leak. I'm not "mollified." Whose Molly? I am left with very serious questions about Blow Out Preventers. The BP Blow Out Preventer was seriously compromised during a test and the Annular being shredded. One of the Pods was not fully functional possibly due to non maintenance. The Blind Shear Ram did not close of the pipeline as it was designed to do. I read an article where this type of Blow Out Preventer was tested and was found to be a safety hazard under deep ocean conditions.

Do we need to develop a specialized deep ocean Blow Out Preventer? That may be an industry wide issue with deep ocean drilling.

We need to adopt Canada's requirement for deep ocean drilling - that two wells be established, one primary and one back up safety well. If that had been the requirement for BP in this situation, we would not now have a catastrophe.

So say what you mean Support. What are you talking about? Spell it out for us.