Gulf oil spill

General discussion of subjects beyond the scope of the other forums.

Re: Gulf oil spill

Postby Wolf Bird » Tue Jun 1, '10, 6:31 pm

Silver_Surfer 1 wrote:I wasn't aware of that fact. I'll have to look into that more. It may definetely affect how I view all this.


I first heard it on one of my news podcasts...I want to say the NPR environment podcast, but I can't remember for sure. I didn't KNOW IT at the time, per se, but I wasn't surprised. After all, how do we buy oil drilled in Venezuala or Saudi Arabia, instead of that oil going straight to those countries for use? Nigeria and Southern Sudan have enormous oil deposits, but they remain horribly poor areas because the company that drills sells the oil out of the country, reaps the profit (along with the country's government) and the people near the oil hardly see a pittance of the revenue. It's private companies that drill and they are not bound by borders between countries; thus oil is another good that can be drilled and processed in one place and then sold on the other side of the world. The company that drills the oil owns it, not the country that the oil was drilled in. Certainly oil drilled here in the US can be used domestically, but only if bought by some entity in the US. Otherwise, it may be drilled here then shipped elsewhere in the world if someone else buys it first.

Also, you're welcome! :)
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Re: Gulf oil spill

Postby Wolf Bird » Wed Jun 2, '10, 1:16 pm

NASA has released time lapse photos of the oil spill from space.

nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/oil-spil ... video.html
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Re: Gulf oil spill

Postby Tweeg » Wed Jun 2, '10, 1:59 pm

Yeah, China's oil demand has exceeded ours and India's is predicted to do so as well within the next few years due to the growing automotive industries over there. That's partly why gas prices never fell even after we the war in Iraq became manageable. Use to be the U.S.A. was the top oil usering nation on the planet with Canada trailing close behind, but that's over with now.

And yes, most oil pumped from the U.S. is exported. Nearly all of the oil products that we use on a day to day basis is made from oil imported by tanker ships from the Middle East.

Solar is a good alternative energy source and one that has been available on the open market for individuals to buy and setup the equipment for themselves for nearly three decades now. Major online retailers and vendors are now getting in on the marketting of solar energy products, such as Amazon. Solar panels themselves aren't terribly complicated and can actually be constructed at home using common materials thanks to several guides online that now show how to make them. And contrary to what the name implies they do collect solar radiation even on cloudy days and moonlit nights. The only time a solar panels isn't producing enrgy is on a night when the moon isn't in the sky or is well less than half-full. The downside to solar is that your likely only to produce enough energy to supply just your own house.

Wind is a best considerable alternative only for coastal and plains areas where the wind blows on a fairly consistant basis. Wind turbines though are massive, usually much taller than your average cell phone tower. Also being that they're mechanical means they need regular maintenance to remain operational. On the plus side though, when running one can supply enough electricity to run several houses.

And out there, but less talked about, are overunity devices and zero-point energy generators. Steorn, an Irish company, is working on bringing a zero-point electric generator to market. And several companies and individuals alike have been fighting the patent office to bring overunity generators to market for nearly two decades, but the technology was deemed "sudo-science in the early 80's by the U.S. patent office.
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Re: Gulf oil spill

Postby Wolf Bird » Thu Jun 3, '10, 1:12 pm

Still can't visualize the size of the oil spill? Now, there's a site where you can put the oil spill anywhere on the globe.
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Re: Gulf oil spill

Postby Thoul » Thu Jun 3, '10, 3:41 pm

Wow, that really helps put the size into perspective. The spill is a lot bigger than I thought. It's going to take forever to clean all that up.
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Re: Gulf oil spill

Postby Wolf Bird » Sat Jun 5, '10, 2:11 pm

BP got the useless blowout preventer off the well head, and then managed to cap it and is now siphoning some of the oil to a ship on the surface. That's all good, but the oil gushing out into the ocean now looks like even MORE than it was before, as much oil is still leaking out despite the cap. I know the flow from the well head is higher, so if something goes wrong with that cap, it'll be even worse.

Also, it seems the previous link I posted with putting the oil spill anywhere in the world DOES update the size of the spill. With the size of the spill in mind, it has reached beaches on the Florida panhandle.

These pictures of oiled birds are worth MORE than 1000 words. I cried when I first saw these.
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Re: Gulf oil spill

Postby Thoul » Sat Jun 5, '10, 2:42 pm

If a civilian did that to a bird, they'd be charged with animal cruelty. As the corporation responsible, BP should face similar justice.
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Re: Gulf oil spill

Postby Wolf Bird » Sat Jun 5, '10, 7:02 pm

I've heard that BP may face criminal charges for environmental crimes under the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, at least, and I know there are others.
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Re: Gulf oil spill

Postby Prince Noah » Sat Jun 5, '10, 7:43 pm

Not just killing so many living things in the water, not just polluting it, but also, what a waste of perfectly good oil.

I mean, come on. How long does it take to stop that thing? So it's a mile underwater, big deal. We've stopped worse spills before. What's taking this one so long? :roll:

I do hope it stops soon.
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Re: Gulf oil spill

Postby Tweeg » Thu Jun 24, '10, 4:32 am

Today there was petroleum polluted rain falling from the sky in Louisiana:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&v=oqPF9dtCc9g

Today, there was an EarthQUake in Toronto Canada of all places. Speculation is already being discussed and studied in the geological community that it could have been triggered by the gulf oil leak.

Wildlife rescuers claiming that BP is now intentionally killing off a rare and endangered species of sea turtle: http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?/weblog ... rtle_soup/

And even before today's earthquake, the geological community as a whole had begun discussing a worst case scenario, a sea floor rupture. Essentially the "leak", if allowed to continue its unregulated flow as it currently is may eventually lead to a dam breaking effect. Just as a crack in an earthen water dam will grow and ultimately lead to the disastrous failure of the dam, so too this unchecked flow of oil will weaken the earth surrounding the pipe, starting at wherever the base of the pipe is at. Do remember that the oil is merely a fluid, a fluid that is underneath what we in our minds think of as being "solid earth". The current fear in the geological community is two fold.

First being that if the sea floor ruptures, then the "oil pocket" could instantly change from the current plume-like state of flow through the pipe it currently is into what would be the equivalent of lake waters gushing through a burst dam. Unfortunately, no one knows just how big the so called "pocket" is, nor how much oil remains inside it. After today's Toronto earthquake the fear in the within the geological community was escalated as a new concern not previously entertained was legitimately raised.

Fear number two. Said "oil pocket", as BP likes to downplay it, could very well be more like an underground ocean of oil, which is now theorized to possibly be linked to a north-south running faultline which lies under the north american continent. The grave concern with this line of thought is that if oil truely is a substance which supports one or both sides of these continental plates that the enviromental impact on sea life in the Gulf of Mexico could very soon become the least of our concerns.

Right now, geologists and geological surveyors are studying and trying to figure out something that was so stupidly obvious from the get go. If one would watch the live video feed of the oil leek and think about it for a minute it should be fairly obvious what's wrong with the image were seeing. The answer of what's wrong is unfortunately simple, "What's displacing the oil that's leaking out?". The general consensus of people I asked in person is "sea water", which is incorrect. There is only one pipe and it's got a steady oil flow coming out. If sea water was displacing the oil, then the visual of the broken pipe is wrong. If you don't understand wha tI'm getting at here then find yourself a plastic jug or bottle, fill up a tob/sink/bucket with water. Now take that empty bottl and shove it down to the bottom of your water filled container see what happens. I can tell you this, the air doesn't get displaced by the water at an even steady flow of pace, it kind of glugs.

The visual point I was getting at with that representation is that the oil coming out of that pipe is under tremendous pressure, and therefore needs no displacement. The correct statement of what's going on with BP's broken pipe is that the oil is squirting out. And the force of pressure is from the sea and land mass that resides on top of the "pocket" of oil.
Last edited by Tweeg on Thu Jun 24, '10, 4:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
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