Louisiana Oil Spill Now the Size of Rhode Island and Headed For Shore

Louisiana Oil Spill Now the Size of Rhode Island and Headed For Shore

chattahbox.com

(ChattahBox)—The sunken oil rig off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico is now oozing out crude oil at an estimated 42,000 gallons per day, threatening the sensitive ecosystems of the region, including a feeding ground for sperm whales. The oil slick is now larger than the State of Rhode Island and is headed for the shoreline during tourist season. The oil slick could make landfall in a few days

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They're saying the spill is now the size of Rhode Island! They must be desperate, because setting fire to a spill this size is dangerous, and will send black smoke for 1000's miles.

What get's me is, why was the flow not shut down as soon as they knew there was trouble on the Horizon? Now, oil is spewing into the ocean at a depth of 5000 ft.

It will be a small miracle to shut it down, and who knows how long the flow will last?

They says it's flowing at about 42000 gal a day. That has to be a lie. There's millions of gallons if the spill is the size of Rhode Island

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reply to post by 911stinks


I don't know about crude oil, but lubricating oil can cover a square yard of smooth surface with less than 1 oz of oil.

First the estimate was 8000 gallons a day, then downgraded to 1000, then downgraded to 400, and now it is 42,000?

Also, the well was supposed to be 35,000 feet of drill tube! How can seawater navigate that amount of drill tube and displace enough crude oil to bring it up in mass quantity?

Why can't they collapse the tube with a small explosive on a submersible?

What is the real issue here? If the oil was that difficult to get to, how come it is coming up so easily now?

I know that yesterday or the day before it was covering 1800 sq. miles. I don't even want to know where we are at now. Is this the worst oil spill in history?
Here's what we were discussing.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Now their saying that there is 200,000 (5000 barrels) a day spewing into ocean.

Lies, lies, lies.


BP is a UK company. This could become an international incident.

3 quick points.

1) Rhode Island is not a big state. It's 1214 sq. miles. But what if the headline said "Oil slick larger than Crocket Count TX". Most would yawn or say not a big deal. Crocket Count isover 2800 sq.miles. Don't get lulled into a frenzy because the name of a State is being used.

2) The last time the Federal government was involved in a controlled burn, Los Alamos was almost destroyed.

Controlled burn at Cerro Grande

There are other platforms in the area. Maybe we should rethink this a little bit.

3) Isn't most timely that President Obama had released land for offshore drilling, pissing off the environmentalist and many demoncrats, but then this thing blows up. The cries of why we should stop all offshore drilling will become deafening towards election time, especially if this rig is still leaking.

Originally posted by hinky
3 quick points.

1) Rhode Island is not a big state. It's 1214 sq. miles. But what if the headline said "Oil slick larger than Crocket Count TX". Most would yawn or say not a big deal. Crocket Count isover 2800 sq.miles. Don't get lulled into a frenzy because the name of a State is being used.

2) The last time the Federal government was involved in a controlled burn, Los Alamos was almost destroyed.

Controlled burn at Cerro Grande

There are other platforms in the area. Maybe we should rethink this a little bit.

3) Isn't most timely that President Obama had released land for offshore drilling, pissing off the environmentalist and many demoncrats, but then this thing blows up. The cries of why we should stop all offshore drilling will become deafening towards election time, especially if this rig is still leaking.

All I know is that these things take years to clean up, once the spill is stopped.

I think this is unprecidented. The Exxon spill in Alaska was a finite amount. So far, this spill has no end in sight.

They need to stop trying to cover it up, and get the American people on board right now.

It's a shame this is getting so little attention. People are more worried about pretty clouds and heart shaped islands. Neat.

There are several companies that specialize in producing microbes that are known to "eat" oil. If TPTB were truly interested in cleaning up the mess, they could. The technology has been around for quite a while.

just one example

You have to wonder what the agenda is if gross contamination is allowed to continue unabated when stopping it is possible.

Originally posted by devildogUSMC
I know that yesterday or the day before it was covering 1800 sq. miles. I don't even want to know where we are at now. Is this the worst oil spill in history?
Here's what we were discussing.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

nope. When Iraq was invaded in the gulf war, to prevent and slow down the americans, they let loose like 1.8 billion litres of oil covering 6000 sq km's

Why is Rhode Island being always compared to major disasters?

Originally posted by Shrukin89
Why is Rhode Island being always compared to major disasters?

Well, when it get's to the size of Texas, we know that it's pretty bad, I guess.

Only one word, avoid sea food coming from the gulf for years to come.

Regardless of what the sea food industry tells, avoid the darn fish from the gulf like you will avoid bargain autos after a flood.

I live in southeatern La, here's a couple links to our local news stations, they are constantly covering the spill with plenty of updates from the coast guard. Our entire 1 hour long nightly news cast was entirely on this

www.fox8live.com...

www.wwltv.com...

Now they're saying the oil spill is worst than they had thought and the military may be called in. This oil is expected to hit our coast line tomorrow. That would be absolutly catastrophic!

www.wwltv.com...

Local meterologist talking about how the weather will effect the oil spill

I live in the area. This is very bad news. There are entire industries that will be crippled by this. They are already telling people to catch and release from the piers. Its about to be hurricane season. If we have a hurricane in the area while the oil is out there we are double screwed. Stock up on fresh sea food now.

Edit to add:

The whole debate about drilling off the coast. Forget about it. This pretty much ended that idea.

[edit on 29-4-2010 by Digital_Reality]

Size of Jamaica...

The US military has joined efforts to stop an oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico

Five times as much oil as previously thought could be leaking from the well beneath where a rig exploded and sank last week, US officials said earlier.

The slick is 45 miles (72km) by 105 miles (169km) - almost the size of Jamaica - and heading for the US coast.

A third leak has been discovered, and a fire-fighting expert said the disaster may become the biggest oil spill ever.

news.bbc.co.uk...

Oh, I wish to see world without that black gold devastating us in every way...

reply to post by Digital_Reality


OK. I didn't believe that this leak was real, but if it is then let me be the first to point out the very very bad worst case scenario!

If this oil is leaking from the sea bottom, and if there are now 3 leaks, and if the pressure of 5000 feet of ocean is pressing into this reservoir and displacing the oil, and the oil is coming to the surface. Then we are screwed?!?!? I better take my boys to see Destin while it still exists! Imagine billions and billions of oil coming to the surface and covering the entire Gulf of Mexico? No more Cancun, Cozumel, Destin, Pensacola, Galveston, New Orleans, etc.

The fact that they haven't stopped it, and that it isn't just one leak, now forces us to consider the worst case scenario! What if they cannot stop it?

At this point, any small hurricane, or even rough seas could undo their containment plan. A major Hurricane would spread the oil over the entire Gulf and inland into fresh water. If the entire Crude Oil Reservoir that they were tapping is now being displaced by sea water, imagine 1 foot of Crude floating from the Bahamas to the Caribbean to the Yucatan and up the Mississippi?

This could be the worst Natural Disaster in the history of mankind. Worse than Chernobyl! It could affect everything from world fish supplies to migrating birds and butterflyes. Whales, shipping, gas prices, industry, tourism, sea turtles, and literally millions of other sources of sustenance/livelihood and life!

Imagine no more Monarch butterflyes in this world! Imagine no more Manatees, Sea Turtles, etc. Imagine the Billions and Billions of dollars of worthless beachfront development! Imagine the jobs lost, and the migration of people northward looking for work. WOW!

reply to post by getreadyalready


Now, I think people are starting to wake up to the potential disaster in the making.

This will be utter devastation. I can't stress enough about how horrible this is going to be.

I knew from the beginning they were lying about the size of the leak. In fact, at first, they said there was no leak.

A conspiracy of unprecedented proportions.

Originally posted by 911stinks
reply to post by getreadyalready

 

Now, I think people are starting to wake up to the potential disaster in the making.

This will be utter devastation. I can't stress enough about how horrible this is going to be.

I knew from the beginning they were lying about the size of the leak. In fact, at first, they said there was no leak.

A conspiracy of unprecedented proportions.

I'm afraid you could be right! At first, I didn't believe there was a leak, because the oil had to be "Pumped" 35,000 feet to the ocean floor and then 5000 feet to the ocean surface.

If the rig and pumping mechanism exploded and sunk, then the oil should stay put, right? I guess not. Apparently the sea water is navigating those 7 miles of drilling tubes and displacing the oil upward. I originally thought they could use a submersible and a small explosive to seal the tubes, but apparantly there are multiple leaks? Also, with an explosive you run the risk of making the leak even bigger!

Starting to look like every potential fix is also a potential disaster, and while we do nothing the disaster grows anyway!

Remember the GOP policy of "Drill Baby Drill?"

If Obama opens up our coastlines to more offshore drilling, I guess we can look forward to "Spill Baby Spill!" This spill could be a blessing in disguise if it causes those responsible for allowing more offshore drilling to take a second look at the repercussions of such actions.

Although I do not wish for harm to come to anyone, I think that it's kind of ironic that this spill happened in the south where the dominant way of thinking supports offshore drilling. Let's just hope it doesn't reach Florida.