People keep talking about the ocean apocalypse in the gulf of mexico as if it was an “oil spill’. I don’t know if you ever had the hot water valve burst in your upstairs bathroom, but take it from me when I say that the event is clearly not a ‘spill’. Even when the calamity happened in my 100+ year old house we were eventually able to turn the water valve off at the street and stop the flow before it dripped entirely through my walls and ceilings.
There is, unfortunately, no ‘off valve’ for the BP wellhead.
Well, there was one, but it was mangled when the rig blew up and sank. In fact, I read today that in doing so it managed to kink the line a bit and that is the only thing that explains why the oil isn’t gushing much, much, much faster. No one knows for sure of course, because no one can see it. Compare it to the Exxon Valdez? A recent article admitted that if the wellhead futher erodes (which it certainly will from the force of the sand blasting it 24/7) the spill could escalate to the tune of 4 spills of Exxon Valdez proportions every week.
“The pipe could disintegrate. You’ve got sand getting into the pipe, its eroding the pipe all the time, like a sandblaster,” said Ron Gouget, a former oil spill response coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Even if the proposed techno-solutions of side drilling to bleed off the well (worked for kuwait!) or topping it with a giant domed funnel are successfully implemented they are a minimum of three months away (50 Exxon Valdez spills later) This is so much worse than an oiled coastline and a few black birds cleaned with dawn by worried volunteers. The spread is already visible from space, bigger than the state of Delaware and going to make the 600 miles prediction sound like a ‘patch’ in a week’s time. And what are they doing to stop it? burning what they can reach, and sending toxic fumes everywhere along the coast. Dabbing at it with sponges as if it were as simple as a spill.
Which it is not.
I can’t think of anything more alarming or anything more serious that has ever happened that wasn’t volcanic in nature. Or maybe this will move past volcanic proportions, as the oil seeps into the Pacific and the Atlantic and clogs the algae that creates oxygen for every living thing on the planet. Every resource we have should be directed at this problem. Every person should call their congressman and remind them this is why we can’t drill offshore. The streets should be filled with people, wearing black arm bands in mourning and walking to work in protest.
I thought absurdly of this charming scene from Sex, Lies and Videotape but there is just nothing as horrifying as the reality, which no one can film or, I’ll wager, even imagine.
IT GETS WORSE: Update
The Wall Street Journal reports that the well lacked a remote-control shut-off switch that is required by Brazil and Norway, two other major oil-producing nations. The switch, a back-up measure to shut off oil flow, would allow a crew to remotely shut off the well even if a rig was damaged or sunken. BP said it couldn’t explain why its primary shut-off measures did not work.
U.S. regulators considered requiring the mechanism several years ago. They decided against the measure when drilling companies protested, saying the cost was too high, the device was only questionably effective, and that primary shut-off measures were enough to control an oil spill. A 2001 industry report argued against the shut-off device:
“Significant doubts remain in regard to the ability of this type of system to provide a reliable emergency back-up control system during an actual well flowing incident.”
However, a spokeswoman for Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority said the switches have “been seen as the most successful and effective option” in North Sea usage. Several oil producers, including Royal Dutch Shell, sometimes use the switch even when it is not required by country regulations.
Experts have said that the remote-control switch may have been able to shut off the Deepwater Horizon well, and critics of have said the lack of the remote control is a sign U.S. authorities have been too lax with the industry. A spokesman for Democratic Florida Senator Bill Nelson argued:
“What we see, going back two decades, is an oil industry that has had way too much sway with federal regulations. We are seeing our worst nightmare coming true.”
Finally, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that BP argued against stricter safety regulations for the oil industry in letters to the Minerals Management Service last year. BP joined with several other oil producers to say that current voluntary safety rules are sufficient. BP’s Vice President for Gulf of Mexico Production wrote:
“We believe the industry’s current safety and environmental statistics demonstrate that the voluntary programs..have been and continue to be very successful.”
