Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The public frustration over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is boiling over into silliness from both the left and right in the media and the blogosphere.
I told you about the Fox News interview regarding using a nuclear weapon to seal the well head (as allegedly done by the Soviets in the past).
I keep hearing and reading frustrated and angry suggestions in the media and blogosphere for shit-that-only-works-in-the-movies.
Why not hire Bruce Willis and Hollywood script writers to come up with an "only one man can save the planet" heroic solution?
Why not call the Justice League of America and get Aquaman to seal the well?
Can't we get some sharks with laser-beams?
And where the hell is SpongeBob SquarePants?
This is just how ridiculous many of the suggestions sound to me. Deep-water oil drilling is a complex and technically sophisticated process. There are only a limited number of ways to seal this well blow-out, and many of these techniques have not been attempted at this depth.
The first order of business is seal the well head. "Plug the damn hole" as President Obama said. Everything else is secondary. It takes technical expertise and sophisticated equipment that only oil drilling companies possess. The government does not have the technical expertise or sophisticated equipment, so let's stop pretending that it does. The president is not a comic book super hero with super powers. There is no fantastical special effects Hollywood movie ending to this environmental catastrophe.
Admiral Thad Allen, commandant of the Coast Guard (retiring today) and the National Incident Commander for the spill in the Gulf, made these points at a press conference on Monday Press Briefing by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, Admiral Thad Allen and Assistant to The President for Energy and Climate Chang:
Q So their [BP] role is still — to make sure I have this right — their [BP] role is still to be in charge of this operation, and the federal government’s role is to be in charge of oversight, and that is not going to change?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: I think I'd differentiate “in charge.” They are responsible for the cleanup, how that's effected. Ultimately, we are accountable, from the federal government side, to make sure they do it. The law requires them, as the responsible party, to play a certain role — to pay for it, to provide equipment, and so forth — and particularly with trying to deal with the leak on the bottom of the ocean. They’re 5,000 feet down. BP or the private sector are the only ones that have the means to deal with that problem down there. It’s not government equipment that's going to be used to do that. So there’s got to be a way where private industry can address the problem with proper oversight by the federal government. I would say it’s less a case of “in charge.”
Q Is there — to this point, though, whether the government can do more, can it push BP out of the way if it feels like that company is not doing the job? What is your response to that?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: Well, to push BP out of the way would raise the question to replace them with what?
Q Do you think that this government right now is doing the best it can?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: I’ve been involved with the technical decisions made, especially in relation to deal with the leak, and they are pressing ahead. We are overseeing them. They're exhausting every technical means possible to deal with that leak.
Q Is there a solution?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: There are a number of solutions and they're doing them in sequence based on risk. The ultimate solution is going to be to drill a relief well, take the pressure off that well and cap it. That will be sometime in August. We don't want to wait that long. So we’re trying a series of interventions, starting with the insertion tube to evacuate the oil that we can, the top kill shot that will be scheduled for I believe early Wednesday now to try and force mud down the blowout preventer into the well to stop the pressure so it can be sealed.
There’s a series of events. They're trying the least risky ones first and moving on down. But we cannot stop. We’ve got to try every means at our — every means that we can to stop this leak.
* * *
Q You said, as well in response to Ben’s question if BP were to get out of the way, it raises the question of who would step in. Mr. Suttles, today, from BP said, it would be within the government’s area to step in if it wanted to. What does that mean? Could the government step in? Does it have the capacity to do so?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: I hear everybody saying it. I’m not sure what that term really means. I know that to work down there you need remotely operated vehicles; you need to do very technical work at 5,000 feet. You need equipment and expertise that's not generally within the government — federal government in terms of competency, capability or capacity. There may be some other way to get it, but I’m the National Incident Commander and right now the relationship with BP is the way I think we should move forward.
* * *
Q Admiral, early on, what kind of reassurances did BP give you about being able to stop this leak quickly?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: The discussion has mainly revolved around the fact that the technologies that are being employed here are not novel or new. I think one of the mistakes that's being made by a lot of folks who don't understand the industry — and I've learned more about it, frankly, since I started — is that the procedures to try and stop this blowout or this wellhead down there are the same that they would use on land or anyplace else.
The problem is exacerbated and much more complicated by the fact that it’s 5,000 feet below the surface; there’s no human access; the only information we have down there is what is derived from remotely operated vehicles or other sensors that are down there. So everything we see is a two-dimensional video representation of what that particular — or what we can see at any particular time.
So instead of going out and putting some new hoses onto a well and jamming mud down it on the surface, you have to replace the umbilical cord that existed in the riser pipe that was there to begin with and completely rebuild that system, then test every section of it until you're ready for that top kill shot.
So the things that are going on are absolutely logical; they’re consistent with oilfield engineering and practices that are done on land. They’re just being done in a place where it hasn’t been done in the history of oil drilling before.
Q I understand that, but what did they give you in terms of a timeline as to — early on — as to when they thought they could get it capped?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: Well, the ultimate timeline is August for the relief well, for the permanent solution.
Q So they told you that early on? They said, we may not be able to do this until August?
ADMIRAL ALLEN: They said the ultimate solution is to drill a relief well and cap the current well and that will be at least 90 days — we're looking generally at August right now. In the meantime, there’s a series of sequential steps they have tried. And you saw the collection device that did not work, the insertion tube that appears to be working and having some effect, and now they’re looking at the top kill — or putting under pressure this very, very heavy mud that would stop the column of hydrocarbon so they can seal it. After that, there are a series of other steps they’re considering.
These were all laid out. They’ve been provided to us. Secretary Salazar, Secretary Chu have seen them. There are Gantt charts associated with dates. The dates have slipped to the right in some cases because these systems are working out as they deploy to the seabed. But there’s been total visibility of that since they started proposing the way forward.
This is not to say that there should not be a coordinated public-private effort for recovery of oil in the Gulf and coastal clean-up efforts. The current paradigm for responding to oil spills dates back to the legislation that was passed after the Exxon Valdez, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. The oil company is responsible for the clean-up and containment. The government's role is oversight.
Federal, State and local governments can send assets into the field. Private companies and organizations can send assets into the field. Respond to this environmental disaster with the same urgency as a natural disaster. But this needs to be a coordinated effort for effectiveness.
Let's face the fact that even the most herculean efforts are not going to prevent damage to wildlife and fauna and ocean life. This is the "worst case" scenario long predicted but dismissed by the "drill, baby, drill" crowd. They should be the first responders on the scene for this clean-up and containment effort. But where are they? Too good to get their hands dirty.
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As I said, Francine, all of this is secondary to stopping the leak and “plug the damn hole.” I have supported a full investigation of Dick Cheney’s secret meetings with energy companies since the time that the meetings occurred. But investigations are not going to stop this leak. First things first.
In fairness to Chris Matthews, he has called for an investigation of the records of Cheney’s secret meetings with what I would call “the world of big oil”. Those papers and the agreements executed between Cheney, as a representative of our government and the major companies in the oil world must be made public. It is quite possible that promises were made to oil companies that are part of this ghastly mess! As the facts of MMM mismanagement and incompetence come out, we see a further picture of what “the supremes” caused to be foisted on us when they refused to let the recount continue and crowned George Bush king!!!!!
I should explain that I was listening to Tweety Matthews on MSNBC at the time I wrote this. His hyperventilating on this topic (he suggested the government nationalize BP) is well over the line into silliness. He is demanding things the government has no constitutional or legal authority to do (nor the technical knowledge or specialized equipment to do). Apparently he is a big fan of Dick Cheney’s “unitary executive” theory — damn the constitution and the rule of law, the president can do whatever he wants. But he doesn’t possess any magical powers to stop this spill, does he Tweety?
Not sure that I would deem the public frustration as “silliness.” I’m damn mad about it, and my heart is broken by the destruction of habitat and the death of species, which if not on the endangered species list, should be there.
Tonight I listened to NPR on my way home and heard about generational fisherman who will not recover.
How disgusting that my species caused this situation out of pure greed, yet can’t solve the destruction to the ecosystem. We defecate where we eat. Qué lastima.