Thursday, June 17, 2010
Makes sense to me
From The Oil Drum:
*added for clarification, David. I'll finally start posting again tonight, BTW.
In spite of that, Many will argue for at least one more (relief)* well anyway, and I would probably fall into that camp. Wells are drilled all the time based on the chance for a big payout, and then never go into production. Hopefully another won't be needed, but the risk of not capping the well as soon as possible should be obvious to BP, and waiting until circumstances force the issue of another well will not go over well. In retrospect, they should have looked at the calendar (with the upcoming stormy season approaching), considered yet another unthinkable scenario regarding relief well success, and planned accordingly. In lieu of that happening several weeks ago, the time is now for BP to go above and beyond what they think is required. And with the deepwater drilling moratorium in place, many rigs are looking for something to do.
*added for clarification, David. I'll finally start posting again tonight, BTW.
Sunday, June 06, 2010
What, still no fucking booming school?
updated
You ever put two and two together and get...the impression that nobody in charge, and nobody who reports on anybody in charge, is bothering to put two and two together?
Then you might want to try to figure out why there are fucking rumors of fucking boaters moving fucking boom:
WTF? Shouldn't the people tending the boom 24/7 know for sure whether it's going on? Seems like somebody would if the boom were there for any useful reason.
Update: Silly me, I didn't take into count that even improperly used, ineffective boom has sociological value. Since a limited amount of boom clearly wouldn't go as far if laid out properly, useless boom is more useful than useful boom, sociologically speaking.
More update: Rachel Maddow pretty much comes out and says it -- they, fucking BP and/or the fucking federal government, are just throwing out impressive sounding amounts of fucking boom to fucking impress us. They're not fucking putting the fucking effort and fucking manpower into it to make it do any fucking good:
You ever put two and two together and get...the impression that nobody in charge, and nobody who reports on anybody in charge, is bothering to put two and two together?
Boom is not meant to contain or catch oil. Boom is meant to divert oil. Boom must always be at an angle to the prevailing wind-wave action or surface current. Boom, at this angle, must always be layered in a fucking overlapped sort-of way with another string of boom. Boom must always divert oil to a catch basin or other container, from where it can be REMOVED FROM THE FUCKING AREA. Looks kinda involved, doesn't it? It is. But if fucking proper fucking booming is done properly, you can remove most, by far most of the oil from a shoreline and you can do it day after day, week after week, month after month. You can prevent most, by far most of the shoreline from ever being touched by more than a few transient molecules of oil. Done fucking properly, a week after the oil stops coming ashore, no one, man nor beast, can ever tell there has been oil anywhere near that shoreline.I don't normally take Daily Kos diarists seriously, but this guy Fishgrease really seems to know what he's fucking talking about, so you might want to go read his entire fucking diary from last month.
In practice, there's a reason the best booming schools last weeks. Different types of shoreline, different shapes, require different configurations. Your numerous anchor points (for this spill those would be 1-yard cement blocks with tie-off buoys) need to be chosen so the boom-tenders (you) can adjust the ropes, slanting the booms this way and that to account for changes in wind and current. Booms are tended 24/7, by the way. BUT... just having learned what you've learned here today, DKos Boomer, you know enough of the CONCEPT to figure it out. You get it. You could go out there and watch how the ping-pong balls (your test-oil) glide along the boom. You could see where they miss the catch basins and you could adjust and re-configure and you could perform fucking proper fucking booming. By the third day of actual booming, no one on this planet would be better than you. So if you understand it, and all these production employees understand it (we're talking tens of thousands of people here), then why is most or all of the booming along the Gulf... being done wrong?
Then you might want to try to figure out why there are fucking rumors of fucking boaters moving fucking boom:
“We're getting reports of people in boats moving boom so they can get through,” said Terrebonne Public Safety Director Ralph Mitchell.
Public officials say recreational boaters and fishermen keep moving, cutting or running over boom that's been deployed to protect the parish.
Spill responders are asking for the public's help in monitoring boom along the Gulf Coast.
WTF? Shouldn't the people tending the boom 24/7 know for sure whether it's going on? Seems like somebody would if the boom were there for any useful reason.
Update: Silly me, I didn't take into count that even improperly used, ineffective boom has sociological value. Since a limited amount of boom clearly wouldn't go as far if laid out properly, useless boom is more useful than useful boom, sociologically speaking.
More update: Rachel Maddow pretty much comes out and says it -- they, fucking BP and/or the fucking federal government, are just throwing out impressive sounding amounts of fucking boom to fucking impress us. They're not fucking putting the fucking effort and fucking manpower into it to make it do any fucking good:
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