Kayakers, Ibve never been a person with a cause. But the disaster at the oil rig offshore from Louisiana has made me realize the risk we face with oil rigs along the Southern California coast. As a sea kayaker who loves to cross to our Channel Islands, Ibve often paddled by our offshore oil rigs. I appreciated them as aids to navigation, often using them as a stepping stone in foggy weather. I also found a certain beauty in them, with their towering size, the hum of the machinery, and their lights shining bright at night. But since the Louisiana disaster, I see them in an entirely different light. Yet many Southern Californians don't even know we have oil rigs off our coast. I'm going to paddle my kayak to each and every oil rig to help people become aware of them. Follow my blog: http://socaloilrigaware.blogspot.com/ Duane *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Imagine if all that gulf oil drifts across the Louisianna, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida Gulf Coasts, gets sucked through the Florida Keys, and is propelled northward along the Eastern seaboard of the United States by the Gulf Stream and makes it as far as the Canadian Maritime provinces. Not saying it will, but just imagine the worst-case scenario. If I lived on Cape Cod, I'd be getting nervous. If I had a home in Mobile or Panama City or Cape Coral, I'd be furious. BRC Quoting Duane Strosaker <strosaker_at_yahoo.com>: > Kayakers, > > Ibve never been a person with a cause. But the disaster at the oil > rig offshore from Louisiana has made me realize the risk we face > with oil rigs along the Southern California coast. As a sea kayaker > who loves to cross to our Channel Islands, Ibve often paddled by > our offshore oil rigs. I appreciated them as aids to navigation, > often using them as a stepping stone in foggy weather. I also found > a certain beauty in them, with their towering size, the hum of the > machinery, and their lights shining bright at night. But since the > Louisiana disaster, I see them in an entirely different light. Yet > many Southern Californians don't even know we have oil rigs off our > coast. I'm going to paddle my kayak to each and every oil rig to > help people become aware of them. > > Follow my blog: > > http://socaloilrigaware.blogspot.com/ > > Duane *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On Sun, May 02, 2010 at 08:52:13PM -0700, Bradford R. Crain wrote: > Imagine if all that gulf oil drifts across the Louisianna, Alabama, > Mississippi, and Florida Gulf Coasts [snip] Imagine if a hurricane moves into the Gulf of Mexico. BP 2009 profits: $14B Amount spent by BP lobbying the US federal government in 2009: $16M Cost of backup acoustic switch that BP argued would never be needed: $500K See: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704423504575212031417936798.html for info on that last item. See also: http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/gulf_of_mexico_oil_spill_anima.html for an animated view of the disaster in progress. ---Rsk "Every asshole who ever chanted 'Drill Baby Drill' should have to report to the Gulf Coast today for cleanup duty." -- Bill Maher, 4-29-2010 *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 7:39 AM, Rich Kulawiec <rsk_at_rockandwater.net> wrote: > > BP 2009 profits: $14B > Amount spent by BP lobbying the US federal government in 2009: $16M > Cost of backup acoustic switch that BP argued would never be needed: $500K > > The acoustic BOP controls are pretty new but apparently designed to work in up to 10,000 feet of water (double the depth of the Gulf well). I was hypothesizing back channel with Chuck Holst and wondering if an acoustic control system would have worked under the conditions of the original disaster: explosions, fires, collapsing riser and drill string. I suspected (and still suspect) that the collapse of the riser/drill string caused damage to the BOP which rendered it unusable. If they couldn't operate the valves with the ROVs they probably couldn't have operated them with anything. It's interesting to note that there were several wells being directionally drilled from the (now sunken) drill rig and apparently three of them are leaking oil. Instead of an exploratory drilling venture this must have been a 'workover" operation in preparation for production. Producing deep water oil deposits (the process of moving the oil up the well and to a refinery) is one of the more difficult problems . Also, it's worth noting that the explosions came less than one day after a "cementing" job. I'm unclear as to whether only one well was cemented or more... cementing consists of injecting a cement mixture into the well to secure a "casing". The cement flows down the middle of the casing and back up outside it. Once the cement sets up the middle is drilled out. A bad cementing job can stress the geographical strata around the well and create cracks. The cement job was done by Haliburton... Dick Cheney's old company. Interesting bit of info, I thought. One problem with the operation was that the drilling vessel was an anchored semi-submersible which does not require a full USCG licensed crew. The rig is under the command of a documented "barge master" rather than a licensed Master and there is always a conflict between the drilling crew (who think that *they* are in charge) and the USCG crew who are *legally* in charge. A dynamically positioned drill rig has a full USCG licensed crew including Master, Mate, Engineer, and Able Seamen. There are fewer conflicts with the drilling crew in a DP rig because the laws regarding a ship are more clear-cut. A dynamically positioned rig is not attached to the bottom and is technically "underway" all the time albeit just hovering above the well head. Thrusters positioned around the rig are commanded by a computer system which senses position information (GPS and acoustic beacons) along with wind and other environmental factors. Since the vessel is underway it requires a fully licensed (and trained) crew who are also trained (and certified) in fire fighting. Training on other drill rigs is often haphazard. One major advantage of a dynamically positioned rig is that it can move off about 10 percent of water depth (500 feet in this case) and avoid gas coming up through the ocean water, disconnect the BOP, and then motor away from the area to a place of relative safety. Anchored rigs, especially in 5,000 feet of water, take a lot of time to move off. The weight of the anchors and rode are more than the capacity of the drill rig (especially a semi) and have to be done with several supply boats. But I bet they require acoustic BOP control systems - even if only as a backup - from now on. Craig Jungers Moses Lake, WA www.nwkayaking.net *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 7:39 AM, Rich Kulawiec <rsk_at_rockandwater.net> wrote: > On Sun, May 02, 2010 at 08:52:13PM -0700, Bradford R. Crain wrote: > > Imagine if all that gulf oil drifts across the Louisianna, Alabama, > > Mississippi, and Florida Gulf Coasts [snip] > > Imagine if a hurricane moves into the Gulf of Mexico. > > Yes, imagine that! There's a lot of imagining going on on Paddlewise about this. Thinking would probably be better. Storms often actually help oil spill situations by dispersing and diluting the oil. The biggest problem with a major storm would be that it'd make it more difficult to get the continuing flow under control. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
You can imagine lots of things. That doesn't make your imagination reasonable. Imagine if all that gulf oil gets sucked up in a tornado and rains down all over the country, flooding us all in oil, then catches fire and all turns into CO2 that raises the temperature of the Earth by 200 degrees! Just imagine! On Sun, May 2, 2010 at 8:52 PM, Bradford R. Crain <crainb_at_pdx.edu> wrote: > Imagine if all that gulf oil drifts across the Louisianna, Alabama, > Mississippi, and Florida Gulf Coasts, gets sucked through the Florida Keys, > and is propelled northward along the Eastern seaboard of the United States > by the Gulf Stream and makes it as far as the Canadian Maritime provinces. > Not saying it will, but just imagine the worst-case scenario. If I lived > on Cape Cod, I'd be getting nervous. If I had a home in Mobile or Panama > City or Cape Coral, I'd be furious. > > BRC *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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