Gulf oil spill overshadows second oil leak in Alaska

Gulf oil spill overshadows second oil leak in Alaska

rt.com

While the focus has been on the BP oil rig explosion and crude oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, BP’s other spill of more than 100,000 gallons of oil in Alaska has been completely overshadowed.

The Alaska Pipeline is owned by BP and is dangerously corroded and unmaintained. This neglect caused the pipe to burst and spill gallons of oil off the coast of Alaska.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Hmm... I didnt even hear about this spill in Alaska. The article is from yesterday, but its still a pretty big deal. 100,000 gallons have spilled out of a corroded and unmaintained pipeline. Its a short article, but still points out some basic stuff.

Again, the company that owns the pipeline is BP. What are the odds of that?

The article goes on to talk about how BP was cutting corners to save money. I havent been able to watch the video yet, but will soon.

rt.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

wow just wow i havent heard this on the news just the other spill. i wish obama would do something about this but i fear he is telling them to let it spill. this is getting crazier everyday s.a.m.

These are some pretty crazy days we are living in now. Theres so much going on in the world, and then a 100,000 gallon oil spill dosent really even get noticed at all. Whats next?

Originally posted by buni11687
These are some pretty crazy days we are living in now. Theres so much going on in the world, and then a 100,000 gallon oil spill dosent really even get noticed at all. Whats next?

Ah yes, so crazy, especially if you ignore all of human history and the far worse things that used to be. Crazy, crazy crazy.

I seem to recall a few articles about it a few days ago, if not more than a week.

There was an investigator that found testimony of employees complaining about the sad state of the pipeline a few years ago, but nothing was done.

Any corroboration other than the Russian Times?

This oil leak you are worrying about happened a couple of weeks ago.
And all of the oil was contained in a enclosed area. Problem solved.

I just now read about the other BP spill in Alaska in another thread. The article did not say if it was alright now or if any more spill from this rig would be expected. Unbelievable - what's up with the maintenance and safety with the oil companies - something has to be done!

The pipe last week was cut to remove a kink or rather a bend in the pipe. It was reported that this kink removal would increase the flow of the oil spill, because as it was reported this kink was slowing the oil from flowing.

The logical conclusion ( it seems to me ) would have been to "first" try to do a simple test to try to increase this kink in the pipe, in such a way that all the oil spill may be easily and quickly stopped completely. But this simple test was never attempted. The kink was cut out, and the oil spill flow was increased.

Very large powerful and light weight hydraulic presses ( and hydraulic jacks ) as easily available that could have increased this kink in the pipe in such a manner as to completely close the pipe by compressing the pipe closed in order to make the pipe close up by flattening the pipe ( as if the pipe itself was not a pipe but a valve ). Flattening the pipe would have stopped all the oil flow from coming out of the pipe and also have kept all of the future oil spill to be contained within the closed compressed-flattened pipe. It would be easy for a hydraulic press to maintain the required pipe closure pressure on the flattened pipe for many years, or until the relief wells are completed.

I don't understand how people can just wave something like this off.

Sure, there have been worse things that have happened in the past and I have not doubt, in the future. But does that mean that we should turn a blind eye to everything going on around us? I don't think so!

Amazing how, since the catastrophic spill that occured just over a month ago, we are now suddenly unconcerned with a measly 100,000 gallon spill.

What??!!!

Are we so easy to manipulate?

reply to post by endtimer

This oil leak you are worrying about happened a couple of weeks ago.
And all of the oil was contained in a enclosed area. Problem solved.

Actually, if this is beacuse of corroded and unmaintained pipeline the problem isn't solved.

Especially if it's because they are cutting corners to save money.



[edit on 7-6-2010 by earth2]

reply to post by westcoast


Nail, meet head!

Nice post/rant my friend.

The part of this article that jumps out at me: the pipe in unmaintained and heavily corroded..

This is why accidents such as this happen, because companies are not held accountable and fail to properly maintain and prepare for such accidents.

Profit, profit, profit..

sick.

Just thought I would give my take about this since I live in Fairbanks and my company does work on all the military installations here in the interior.

For starters, there WAS a big oil spill that took place up here at the pipeline pump station located just South of of Fort Greely but that was on May 25th. That Tuesday while I was at work I clicked on a Fox News video link to coverage on the BP spill in the Gulf. I work on Fort Wainwright here in Fairbanks and was checking out the news while taking a break. Suddenly they were talking about this big oil spill in Alaska, mentioned Fort greely and I was shocked. Noone I worked with had any idea it was going on.

Little did we know the actual spill apparently took place the night before (or at least very early morning of that Tuesday). The short story that I heard was that a test was being conducted and a circuit failed to operate a shutoff valve of the system (the valves open to release pressure when presure reaches a certain level within the pipeline). The holding tank filled up, overflowed into the containment area, all the workers had to be evacuated.

The spill was contained but it certainly doesn't make BP look good with all the stuff that was -and still is- going on in the gulf. The amount estimated spilled at pump station #9 was 5,000 barrels which in a way is ironic seeing as BP continues to return to that figure for everything. Remember the 5,000 barrel a day leak figure in the gulf that was proven completely inaccurate?

I heard that there was originally talk of evacuating Fort Greely altogether and possibly Delta Junction. I don't think that ever happened.

Then I went on Vacation for Memorial day weekend and was eager to see what activity was going on to respond to the spill (if any) since we drove right by on our way to Valdez. Turned out the response was pretty sizable. There was a gigantic gravel-pit looking area on the right(West) side of the Richardson Highway that was being used as a huge staging area. There were probably 40-50 vehicles parked there just that I could see. Further down the road on the left was a sign saying something like "Oil Spill Response Site" and there was a flurry of activity. The entire pipeline was shut down because of the accident so everyone was in quite a hurry to get it back up and running.

Still not sure if the pipeline is back up and running yet but I imagine so.

-ChriS

Seems like the British aristocracy are deliberately crapping all over America... BP is owned by the queen and the infamous House of Rothschild

More lies from the liberal media! Drill, baby, drill!



[edit on 7-6-2010 by Torgo]