Environmental news

The EPA has put a temporary halt to the uses of coal ash for recycling. In the past such waste has been used in making such things as concrete, road underlayments and even as a traction aid during winter months. This was the reason Chinese drywall had such problems. They had mixed their fly ash with the drywall causing it to out gas sulfur dioxide when it became damp.
Now you would think that this would be a welcome report from the "liberal" media but you'd be wrong. In fact corporate controlled media has chastised the EPA for using their web site that promoted recycling of such mine wastes and coal ash. Even though this has been policy for many years under the Bush administration. That is until the ash retention pond gave way contaminating several miles of Tenn. riverfront homes. Someone had the idea of testing the ash for what it contained. How they didn't know this stuff wasn't toxic is a real question as it's been know for years that slag contained high levels of arsenic and heavy metals.
You'd also think that the EPA could merely issue a statement saying that they had errored but they are now stuck between a rock and a hard place. Industry wanting that cheap material will be sending their lobbyists to D.C. to reset policy. Environmental groups will be doing the same to try and stop any going back to the good old Bush days.

At present there is a 60 day moratorium until all public comment can be heard. What to do and where do I stand on the issue having worked with such nasties the last 20 years? Knowing what I do there needs to be limited use of it's recycling. I realize that many of the chemicals we use in manufacturing are dangerous and toxic but necessary for a final product. It's a difficult matter to protect both workers and the public from these chemicals and wastes. It's also a problem of shear volume as much of our electricity comes from burning coal. To continue to add such toxins to concrete and other products raises the risk of biting us in the butt now and years down the road. They could lower the amounts (percentages) of waste used below acceptable exposure limits to rid some of the waste. And I still think putting it back in empty mines is a viable option if it's done properly. However with new mining techniques such as rock wall and striping mountain tops doesn't lend itself to that means of disposal.

I expect not much will change in the short term but in the long run we'll have to deal with the problem in unique ways with new technologies and changes to worker protections. I expect you'll be seeing more workers wearing respirators in the future as the effects of concrete dusts, welding fumes and other construction and process pollution show up in retiring workers. We are after all mere guinea pigs of corporate America.

Leave it to MIT for a better answer

Oil cleaning robot army
This strange looking contraption is what the oil industry should have been working on for the last twenty years or so. It's a robotic oil skimmer that can work for months by itself cleaning up oil spills. Seems we can spend billions of dollars on drones and robots to kill people why not something for the benefit of man. But silly me I know once the military gets it's hands on this they'll try to figure out how to turn it into a weapon.

I think I mention this once before, that I wouldn't be too sad if my profession was turned over to robots.


Keep your drums upright or let a robot right it for you.

Blue Gold the other half of the story

If it wasn't bad enough that corporations were buying up most of our drinking water to sell back us at a considerable mark up or the energy industry using our water for coal, oil and gas production, the gas companies are following the lead of BP in the way they rape our land and pollute our ground water. Seems all of the general methods used in drilling for natural gas are no better.
Flying under the radar while everyone's attention was focused on the Gulf another blowout was taking place in Pennsylvania.
See if this doesn't sound familiar:

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection officials moved quickly and methodically to investigate the blowout finding EOG Resources negligent in the operation of blow out prevention equipment and related training. The state fined the company and its sub-contractor a record $400,000 on July 13, 2010. The PADEP found that during the blowout, EOG operators did not contact 911 emergency services until more than 3 hours after the geyser of gas and produced water began along with failing to immediately report the blowout to the PADEP’s 24- hour emergency hotline.

A little backgroud. EOG Resources used to be (wait for it)... Enron! That wonderful company that ripped off everybody on the west coast by charging outragous rates pumping up their stock price while the CEO Ken Lay (may he rot in hell) and his minions sold off their shares in the company just before it tanked. I take this personnaly because our local utility bought power from them and I got a winter electric bill that was triple what it normally was with not so much as a thank you.
EOG while shelling out $400K as a fine is a slap on the wrist because the company made $2.4 billion in profits. This little blowout cost 16 families in that area the permanant use of their water supply. It's totally contaminated and unusable. This company has over 600 permits to do the same in other parts of the state. Total rig permits for the state is 3500. That's 3500 opportunities to screw up a whole lot of water and ruin even more families lives. If you caught the documentary 'Gasland' then you'll know how much damage these rigs can do.

The number one issue right now is jobs. People whine that if we prevent these companies from their further rape of the land then that will take jobs out of communities. I say bull. How about we work on solar, wind, tidal, geothermal and any other renewable sources at least until the next major source like fusion gets perfected in about 30 or forty years. Or should we just say the hell with it and totally pollute our water air and earth and just leave it for our kids and grand kids to figure out?

We think we have it bad

Come to the crystal clear waters of the Yellow Sea and frolic in our newly formed oil bath. Our ancient chinese secret formula will exfoliate your skin down to the bone. Great for removing those long time pesky inperfections in your complexion. Also included is a hair oil treatment you'll never forget.

This is of course a worker being rescued from the sea when an oil pipline broke spilling 400,000 gallons into the Yellow Sea. From the description this type of oil is far more difficult to clean up than the oil we have on our shores. I believe it to be bunker oil which is about as thick as peanut butter and it doesn't look like the chinese were prepared for the clean up by the following statement:

"We don't have proper oil cleanup materials, so our workers are wearing rubber gloves and using chopsticks," an official with the Jinshitan Golden Beach Administration Committee told the Beijing Youth Daily newspaper in apparent exasperation.

Oh and do they bother to close their beaches and fishing? Of coure not, they just wait until the population figures it out that it's not smart to go swimming or fishing. When your sea bass dinner starts smelling like 40 weight it's time to switch to chicken.
Now I see why the republicans like the chinese so much... not many rules.

Ah crap

As you recall I mentioned to keep an eye on the sea floor for leaking methane coming up. In checking a few minutes ago I find that the Ocean Intervention ROV I had a quick scan of the sea floor. To the left of the arm you could see plumes coming up. As the ROV moved forward several feet the floor erupted to the point of zero visability. Not a major eruption yet but not a good sign. Combine this with the fact that it was reported tonight that the whole BOP stack is leaning more than the tower of Piza and as the guys in the know at the Oil Drum are right. The process is proceeding as they expected. The BOP will collapse and then how will they capture any oil? Remember the big containment structure they lowered down didn't work because of the ice and gas making the containment structure float.

I tried to capture the video from this event but had no luck. I'll see if I can try again later. If what was predicted happens any time soon you may be the witness to one of the biggest explosions in American history.

Sure hope this doesn't turn out to be true

Now they think that there may be a large bubble of methane undermining the ocean floor in the Gulf. If the sea floor degrades from the pressure it could cause an explosion that would kill anyone near the rig site. Think of it like the scene from an old war picture where the Navy drops depth charges and the ocean blows up only on a grander scale.

If you thought it's bad now

They estimate that this pocket of methane could be as big as 15 to 20 miles in size. An acompaning tsunomi would wipe out Florida.

I'll have to ponder this bit of info. I know shale rock usually forms in layers like a pie crust so the gas must be locked in the rock under high pressure. What surprises me is that it isn't coming out in spirts and then stopping as you would expect. So if you're following this via the video cams then keep an eye out for any cameras focused on the ocean floor.

Later and keep your drums sealed and upright.

Sorry the link didn't work. Try this one or note the URL and hit it yourself http://www.helium.com/items/1866957-bp-oil-spill-methane-gulf-of-mexico

Shall we visit grandpa one more time before he goes?

Like a relative in the hospital we ask ourselves that question should I go to the hospital and see grandpa or would I like to remember him the way he was in better times? So it is with the Gulf coast. You know the scenario. Relatives running around screaming at the doctors to do something and they not really wanting to give it to you straight saying that they are keeping him comfortable and stable but they know the outcome and we should too. "We're doing everything we can for him". We know the story. There's the IV drips and the tests and the nurses who hover around while we're there. We just can't bring ourselves to face the facts. They gave it their best shots and it all failed.

I sat there last night considering all of the options. Every conceivable thought or plan no matter how crazy was not out of the question. Surely some egghead from NASA would come to step in to save the day but alas there is no super hero or brainiac waiting in the wings. What was once a rescue mission is now nothing more than a recovery. So like grandpa in the hospital you may just want to see the coast one last time before you won't be able to again.

How can I be so pessimistic you might ask? Well in reading information from people who are in the business who have analyzed this situation and come to very obvious conclusions. When they did the top kill and it didn't work that meant that the casing was damaged below the sea floor. There is no way to repair that damage. What will happen next will be the collapse of the BOP and the structure that supports it but not before the engineers try to brace it. And they are doing the beginnings of that as I write this. Once the BOP collapses then there is nothing else that can be done other than try and collect as much oil from the gushing hole in the earth as they can. As the engineer put it think of it as a leaking garden hose with a nozzle. When the flow is slowed at the end the leaks grow bigger. When they cut the end off the riser pipe it took pressure off the leaks. But as he put it sand that's coming out with the oil will cause the pipes to fail. It's already causing the BOP to lean.

So if you're thinking of heading that way for one last look remember to take a respirator with carbon filters with you because grandpa is coughing up some pretty nasty stuff.
Sorry not a great father's day gift but it is what it is.

info from someone who knows

BP cares about people? Their history says otherwise

This is the Texas City refinery owned by BP. They bought it from Amaco in 1998 and ran it until this explosion in 2005. Some 15 people were killed and 180 seriously injured with burns and lost limbs. The CSB (Chemical Safety Board) who investigated found many deficiencies in the way BP operated. First there was a 25% reduction in costs of operation. Staffs were cut to save money. One the day of the explosion the operator who had worked 12 hour shifts for 29 days straight was adding a highly flammable chemical to a process tank. The tank was supposed to be filled to a level of 6 feet however it had been common practice to fill the tank to 9 feet in order for the liquid to flow through a pipe and into a heater. What the operator didn't know was that the tank had already reached past the 9 foot level. That was done by the night shift. At the 9 foot level a high level alarm goes off or is suposed to but the chemical had already gone past that level. Not knowing how much liquid was in the tank the operator continued filling. There was another alarm and sight glass at the top of the tank some 70 feet but the alarm wasn't working and the sight glass was so dirty it was unreadable. With the pressure building and the operator not knowing how much of the explosive liquid was in the tank shut down the heaters and tried to divert to another tank but the valve to the overflow tanks had been manually shut so the vapors traveled out a vent stack then down to ground level where a running pick up truck (its' engine starting to race - sound formiliar?) set off the explosion.
If you click on the photo above you'll notice a couple of trailers in the top center. This was where contractors were killed just after coming back from a break.

CSB Chairman Merritt told the committee of further comparisons of safety culture similarities at Texas City and Prudhoe Bay. Both investigations, she said, found deficiencies in how BP managed the safety of process changes. In Prudhoe Bay, Booz Allen Hamilton found "a normalization of deviance where risk levels gradually crept up due to evolving operating conditions." This compared, she said, to Texas City, where at BP's refinery "Abnormal startups were not investigated and became routine, while critical equipment was allowed to decay. By the day of the accident, the distillation equipment had six key alarms, instruments and controls that were malfunctioning. Trailers had been moved into dangerous locations without appropriate safety reviews."

Prudhoe Bay was a case of BP being too cheap to do proper pipeline maintenance even though they were makeing record profits at the time. That spill resulted in 215,000 gallons of oil contaminating the environment. That spill lasted from March 2005 until August when BP finally shut down to fix the leak. They were fined $20 million.

The head of BP was on air today saying how BP isn't some big uncaring corporation. I just have to ask, with your track record how could you consider yourselves caring? How many times must you lie to people before they don't want you in their country killing their people and polluting their land and waters?

The reason I won't be going to the Gulf any time soon.

The fishermen and other responders working on the clean up of the Gulf Coast were asked to remove their protective gear because BP didn't like the image of workers wearing moon suits and respirators.
A little background here on the rules covering companies that require their workers to use respirators. Any employer who requires an employee to wear a respirator must also require that worker to pass a physical and fit test and maintain medical monitoring. Simply put a worker must get a medical exam to determine if they can wear a respirator and have the respirator fit tested to make sure it is the correct size and actually provides protection.
Here's the kicker in the law: If an employer does not require its' workers to wear a piece of protective equipment they can fire that employee if he chooses to bring his own personal protective equipment. It's a matter of liability for the employer.
Once again BP is hiding data on the toxic effects of air in the Gulf. You will note from this report from Gina Solomon's blog:
New BP air testing results were posted yesterday from April 27 - May 26 for benzene, total hydrocarbons, and 2-Butoxyethanol. There's still no information about other oil-related air toxic chemicals such as naphthalene or hydrogen sulfide, offshore.

The BP sampling plan focuses only on workers on the large ships, and appears to not include monitoring for the people on the approximately 1,500 small fishing boats helping to clean up the spill. These people are dismissed as of "Reduced Priority" on page 4 of the BP sampling plan.

Nearly 70% (275 out of 399) of offshore air samples had detectable levels of hydrocarbons and nearly 1 in 5 (73 out of 399) had levels greater than 10 parts per million (ppm), which is an EPA cutoff level for further investigation.

6 samples exceed 100 ppm which in a previous monitoring summary was labeled as the action limit. This label appears to have been removed in the most recent summary document. No information is given on where these samples, or the 4 found to be between 50 and 100 ppm, were taken.

Had I even considered going to the Gulf to assist I would have taken moon suits, chemical resistant rubber boots, half face respirator with chem filters and nitral gloves. But it looks like BP will not stand for that. It makes me wonder if some volunteer shows up on the beach in full protective gear. BP can't fire them because they don't work for BP. My guess would be that BP would throw them off the beach even though it's a public beach. We've seen this before.
My real sympathy goes to the workers and those those that live near the beach and must breath all the toxic air on a daily basis. We may be seeing a similar situation as we saw with 911 where workers and residents developed all manner of health problems months after the event from the volume of toxins in the air at ground zero.

Lastly the wages being paid (prevailing wage rate) is $9.55 hr. That wouldn't cover your room and board for the week. And I'm hearing that workers aren't getting paid. The same things happened just after Katrina. They hired cheap Mexican labor housed them in trailers with no running water and didn't pay them. How do I know? A couple of my coworkers went down to the gulf after Katrina and saw what was going on. Fortunately unlike the Mexican workers they were paid by our company and got reimbursed for food and housing. Plus they got Washington wage rates for the job they did.

Santa's got a nice present for ya

But you say it's way too early for Xmas. Can't even do Xmas in July. Have no fear Santa Hayward is here. But you'll need a few more calenders to keep track.

Everyone should be prepared for worst-case scenario', says the head of oil consultancy group. Hummm where have I heard that before? They're saying that this mess could last to Christmas of this year. There's 194 days till old Saint Nick makes his showing. Assuming they can capture one half of this disaster that would be 87 million gallons on top of the 100 million gallons already there. We know that they haven't collected or dealt with more than a few million gallons. You could factor in evaporation if it wasn't for the fact that their dumping dispersants on it which makes that unlikely. And yet even now their calculations are based on best case scenario. Then there's the problem of hurricane season. If they have to disconnect the collection tanker ships then the flow rate goes back to over a million gallons per day. And the weathermen are predicting a bad hurricane season.

Then there's the issue of insurance. I hear Lloyds of London isn't too happy about this spill and are encouraging a move to renewable non polluting energy sources. Acknowledging that the initial costs are higher but they would be cheaper in the long term,the company admitted that current fuel sources (fossil fuels) will cost more as the result of this spill.

We as a nation could do a great deal more to move towards self sufficiency and it really wouldn't cost all that much. It's been said so many times I'm surprised it's not etched in everybody's brains. Turn off lights and appliances when not in use. Take shorter showers. Keep your car tuned and the tires inflated. Calk windows and doors. And turn the thermostat down in winter and up in summer. We may not be able to do much for the people of the Gulf but with a little effort we can slow the need for all this deep water drilling.

And the Gulf oil fight goes on

With all the information coming from the gulf it's getting hard to keep track of everything. Miles of boom are being deployed. Some areas covered while others are ignored. There's many plans in the works but few seem to have been approved. This is looking more like a cross between the "Gang that couldn't shoot straight" and the "Keystone cops". Today I saw Orange Beach, Alabama where the beach was covered with tar and not a boom or skimmer in sight.

In Louisiana
Sand bags weighting 2,000 pounds each were hauled in on Friday to get the process started. The bags are being brought in by helicopters belonging to the National Guard and borrowed from other sources. The bags were placed in gaps at Pelican Island and Scofield Island on Friday. The process will continue until all gaps are filled and the interior barrier marshes are protected from more oil coming ashore.

This report from WWLA TV in New Orleans
GRAND ISLE, La. -- Giant floating barges, usually valued for what they carry, are now wanted for what they may block -- future waves of that chocolate colored sludge oozing towards Barataria Bay.

"We'll have pumps on top of the barges that can actually have hoses attached them to suck oil off as they come against the barges, and the barges will also steer oil towards those openings and have skimmers sitting there to skim off the oil as it tries to go through the opening,” said Deano Bonano, Jefferson Parish's emergency preparedness director. “It won't completely stop the oil. It will minimize the oil getting in there.”

16 barges have already arrived with at least 100 more expected by next week. Area leaders hope to sink them along side one another at major passes where Gulf waters flow into coastal Louisiana.

A more permanent plan calls for an interior barrier of rocks to line the barges, sealing entry for the oil. But the permits have yet to be signed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the feasibility of it all remains an issue.

“We’re going to make sure that in those passes there's nothing that’s going to obstruct it like a gas line that we don't hit that. So they’re doing the tests, the field tests now, to determine where those are,” said Steve Theriot, interim Jefferson Parish president.

Meanwhile the marshland and the way of life for the people of Grand Isle hang in the balance.

"They didn't do anything to deserve this. They've lost their jobs, they’ve lost their livelihoods. We're not going to let them lose their land. We’ll do whatever we have to do to protect them,” said Jefferson Parish Councilman Tom Capella.

Jefferson Parish officials expect the Coast Guard to give its official nod to the project on Friday and hope to gain approval from the Corps by Sunday.

"Hopefully we will be driving pilings by Monday and moving barges next week,” Bonano said.

But the beaches here on Grand Isle are on the other side of the bays, so the barge plan isn't designed to protect areas like these from the oil.

But area officials say the sand, unlike the marshes, isn't alive and so while it may be difficult to clean, they could eventually do it. But calls continue to line the beaches here and response teams remain on call.

My take on this: Booms and sand barriers are fine for a temporary fix but this toxic mess will last for decades. What will really be needed will be a more permanent fix. It may be necessary to put a set of boat locks with a filtration system. Skimmers are fine for surface oil but considering the amount of dispersants BP is using they'll need something a bit more aggressive and subsurface. And now while they have the time before any hurricane heads their way what are they doing? Fiddle farting around wasting time money and resources.

BP = Broken pipe

This little machine pictured above is a little invention from Kevin Costner that can process oil at 200 gallons per minute. He's gotten a lot of attention of late for his invention but come to find out that the technology has been around for a while. A Fla. company called Voraxial has a machine that will do 3500 gpm or 100,000 barrels per day. Sounds great doesn't it? It would have been until BP put a slight fly in the ointment. These machines work on the principle that oil is lighter than water. By spinning out the water with centrifugal force the oil is left to be collected. BP in their infinite wisdom has been dumping thousands of gallons of dispersant on the flow effectively changing the weight of the oil. I heard that when Costner ran some test runs of his machine it failed.
There's some 50 BP engineers working on this spill. I'll bet they have more degrees than a thermometer, but not one of them has a lick of common sense.


So BP lies and tries to cover this up as scientists from the Gulf coast states are carefully trying to put this CSI together. Just got an email from the CSB (Chemical Safety Board) saying that they were asked by the feds to investigate. CSB is an outfit that investigates industrial accidents. They have no authority to issue fines or penalties so they are objective. They aren't political. They just want to find out the causes of an accident so that companies can change their operations.

But here's a snippet of just some of what's going on in the background:
MIAMI, Florida - University of Miami professor Hans Graber said Thursday that evidence of the spill on the surface of the Gulf waters should have decreased by now if the cap had significantly minimized the flow. That is not the case. The Coast Guard says the containment cap is capturing 630,000 gallons a day and pumping it to a ship at the surface. That amount could nearly double by next week to roughly 1.17 million gallons. Graber could not explain the discrepancy, but one possiblity is that the amount of oil escaping the well increased when a pipe was cut to place the containment cap.
This is kind of scary when you consider all the dispersants BP is using.

More later as soon as I can find a good Friday beaver shot.

Let that be a lesson to you

People fail to realize the true cost of burning dinosaurs. The only reason we have such antiquated technology is that no one wants to part with something familiar. Just like great grandpa clung steadfastly to the buggy whip we just can't seem to part with an industry that we know is bad for us. The economic model for fossil fuels was fine in it's day. It served it's purpose back when the population of the planet was one third what it is today. But people began to tire of seeing days with no sun with the sooty skies of the industrial revolution. It's not been until the 1960s that cities like Pittsburgh and Buffalo cleaned up their act. And why? All for a cheap source of energy but is it really that cheap when considering the costs to the environment and health?

Funny how we never hear of a disaster with "green" technology. What's the very worst that could happen with green tech? The turbine blew over and workers took three days to repair it and set it upright. Or a solar panel fell from a roof and had to be replaced. No, considering all the extras that go along with our dirty energy policies I'd say it's time to change direction. Relegate the internal combustion engine to a museum along with the horse and carriage.

For too many years there's been the attitude of out of sight out of mind. Even today if we can't bury it we dump it in the ocean. That's what Mr. Hayward would like you to believe. That if you just throw enough dispersant on the problem it will just disappear. No it won't. You can pay off as many scientists as you like to say otherwise but the ugly truth is still there floating on the surface and a drifting slimy mass underneath. And if we don't start really cleaning up this gusher then we're only trying to fool ourselves into thinking it will magically go away. Maybe that's what the plan is now to wait until it drifts around Florida then out for some other sucker to deal with it like throwing your garbage over your fence and expecting your neighbor to clean it up. Why be stingy when you can share such a wealth of pollution with so many states on the eastern seaboard?

But the thing that really pisses me the most in all of this is that we have some of the technologies necessary to clean up the spill and the technologies to start a clean energy revolution but no body wants to start. They're too busy clinging to the buggy whip trying to make that last million before the oil runs out.

Now get off my lawn with those oily boots!

Twenty six years later...

A court in the Indian city of Bhopal has sentenced eight people to two years each in jail over a gas plant leak that killed thousands of people in 1984.

This accident killed 3500 people and all they got was two years in jail and a $2125 fine! Nothing like getting away with murder. I'm sure if this were to have happened in an upscale neighborhood here they would have gotten 20 years and heavy fines. And I note that nobody from the U.S. was convicted.

In other news we have two more gas explosions. First in West Virginia 7 workers were injured when they were drilling for gas at an abandoned coal mine. Then early this afternoon 10 people were injured at a gas line that exploded in Texas. I'll be interested to see more news as to the causes of these events. Generally accidents happen on Mondays or Fridays. I'll check around on this and report back.

More later.

Update: Looks like the Texas accident was another screw up in communications. The pipe localing office doesn't know if the contractor called before digging. The bad thing about this was that the locations are not done by address but by GPS location. I could understand that considering they were drilling a hole for a high voltage line in a somewhat remote location but I still like the old ways better as long as the surveys and drawings are right. It turned out that six people were slightly injured and one presumed dead as he's still missing. He was the auger operator.

BP lies just keep rollin along

1.We have the technology to do deep water drilling.
2.We expect any spillage to be minimal.
3.We have a plan to deal with any spill.
4.We have adequate safety measures for the crew.
5.We couldn't have foreseen this disaster.
6.We believe the spill to be about 1000 barrels.
7.We believe the spill to be about 5000 barrels.
8.We expect the damage to the environment to be modest.
9.We expect the top kill to have a 60 to 70% of working.
10.We expect the junk shot to have a 50/50% chance of working.
11.We will pay for the fishermen's losses.
12.We will hire the fishermen to help with the clean up (10%).
13.Our concern is with the people of the Gulf. (insert stockholders).
14.Clean up workers are just getting food poisoning.
15.There aren't many oil covered wildlife.
16.There are no "plumes" of oil under the surface.
17.The oil is not reaching the beaches or marshes.
18.The oil shouldn't reach Florida.
19.We're doing a good job of keeping the oil contained around the rig.
20.We're managing to collect 10,600 barrels per day with the cap.
(I know there are many more but I leave you to fill in the blanks.)

So like a used car salesmen at the end of the month or a congressmen before an election BP will try and feed their captive audience the highest grade of BS that their spin doctors can muster along with $50 million for the ad campaign.

So today's question boy and girls is (and sorry it's one of those math word problems that we all hate): If you have a 21 inch pipe gushing up 19,000 barrels per day and you partially cap it with a 6 inch pipe how many barrels could you expect to collect? This is assuming you ignore BP incompetence. Hint: It's not 10,600 barrels.

Worst case scenario

There's two phrases I keep hearing in the news of late that I hate. "That this will never happen again" is one of them and "worst case scenario" is the other. That this will never happen again is foolish. As we continue to move technology forward with yet bigger and bigger endeavors it will be the very nature of circumstance to have bigger and bigger accidents. We have done this by the necessity of an ever growing population.
Let's take worst case scenario. That's right up my alley. All of the emergency response books that I have deal specifically with worst case spills. The process isn't complicated. Non response people are evacuated. The chemical or "product" is identified (that can be done 24 hours a day) calling an ID hotline. Then the response personnel having determined proper protective equipment establish a perimeter with booms, sweeps, absorbent pads or even cat litter is used. Then the product is collected for disposal or recycle. We always assume that things can get worse and often times they do.
That this will never happen again? Of course it will happen again. As long as people fail to follow procedures, as long as profits are ahead of safety and as long as there are failures in communication there will be agains. Never happen again? Of course events will happen again but it's a matter of how well prepared and how much money business is willing to pay up front to deal with the possibilities. How much profit are they willing to part with to prevent future events?
I had considered going down there to help out but after seeing the way this is being managed and the fact that it would be somewhat economically unrealistic I think not. I'm seeing unmanned booms. Booms and sweeps being laid wrong. And workers spending 8 to 12 hours in the sun cleaning up the same spot over and over and getting nowhere. Until the leak is truly slowed and some other techniques incorporated then this is just an exorcise in futility. As long as BP remains in charge of this "clean up" then nothing will be done right. They may have drilled wells all over the world but they seem to have no clue as far as fixing their mistakes and cleaning the mess.

Is somebody reading my blog?

This morning reading through the news I stumble on an article that stated Eric Holder is headed to the Gulf Coast to look into possible criminal charges. I had some other things to do and wanted to cut and paste part of the article as proof period of what was going on. Funny thing happened. The article and all reference to criminal charges mysteriously disappeared. In less than two hours any scrape of evidence to the premise was gone. It was as if someone was sanitizing the news. I need to get in the habit of pasting such blurbs to a separate text page.
The article now out only state that Holder is to meet with leaders in the gulf states and to make sure the EPA is following all the laws. I can say from experience that that should be the least of his worries. The EPA does quite well on their own in enforcing the rules. I've seen them once on a job and will say that they are quite thorough even checking people's certifications. That's not to say that things haven't changed since Bush had his way with them but they still seemed to have some scruples left.

And here we have poor Billy Nungesser, the Plaquemines Parish president (pictured above) who's beside himself because he's watching the slow death of the marshland around his district. What Billy fails to realize is that it was all the principles of the party he supports that got him to where he is now. Let business regulate itself. Get that evil government off my back. Don't bother with safety that's for girly men. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. When caught lie and blame the messenger. Secretly ask the federal government for financial help then when it shows up put your name on the check as if it was your money.

The end result? Booms will be set out. Workers will shovel oil soaked sand. Photo ops everywhere for a while and then the marsh will slowly die. But have no fear in another 30 or 40 years nature will slowly come back as the Mississippi dumps her fertile soils back into the marshlands. Because we all know mother nature wins in the end.

BP nickname contest

Here are but a few nicknames I found on the innertubes:
British Polluters
Bad People
Big Prick
Bill Payers

Care to add your own in the comments? I'll bring them up front later.
Update:
Tim and family suggested Blood Pressure and Butt Puckers
Randal's picks (Randal you're weird)
Bandersnatch Prophylactic
Bigamous Proboscis
Burly Portfolio
Brontosaurus Putz
Bronchial Phlegm

In looking for an answer to yesterdays question: What are the pressure limit requirements of the rig casing? I find after much searching that there are none! You heard it here. There are no industry standards as to the strength of the pipe used in oil well drilling. And that was yet another factor in the Deepwater disaster (crime). Come to find out that they used a cheaper pipe that they knew would have problems but did it anyway. Hummm you'd think then the end of this pipe would be fairly easy to crimp off using a robotic jaws of life.

As of 2:30 am they gave up on the junk shot and top kill as it didn't work. That means that they will go to the next option of cutting off the top of the old BOP and installing a new one. They are going to borrow one from one of the two rigs they're using to drill relief wells. Call me stupid but wasn't this declared a national emergency? And in such cases all companies are expected to help out. I know I've done emergency jobs with multiple contractors and you always help wherever you can. If somebody needs a part or a tool you let them have it or make arrangements if it's something expensive.

Last thing, forget the boycotts. The gas stations are independent of the company so all you're doing is hurting local businessmen and besides BP will just sell their gas to another company or country.
Oops one last last thing the weather here is the coldest in the nation. Even Alaska is warmer. And it's raining.

It's Friday Beaver?

No Thought I'd throw a couple of pussies at you for a change up.

Yesterday's not asked question was about the toxicity of the drilling mud. come to find out that at one time it contained asbestos. (Thanks Tim) The only reason I can think that they would use asbestos would be that it is chemical resistant and would provide increased viscosity.

Today's question being tied to the latter and as well not asked. At least I haven't heard this question asked as of yet would be: What are the pressure limits of the drilling casings (pipes) of the Deepwater drilling rig? I know that it has been reported that the maximum flow rate from the leak is 13,000psi and you would assume that the max would be massively higher as a safety factor. I've scanned the web for an answer with no luck. I bring this up because Bill Nye our notorious science guy has stated that BP will be using some 400 tons of force to try and stop the leak. Much like trying to stop the flow of a fire hose with a bigger fire hose I question the feasibility. As we know as any pressures put inside the pipe are just being blown out the top of the BOP. We see the constant video of the plume hour after hour as yet more and bigger drifting plumes are discovered headed towards shore.

I'll have a bit more later and of course the bank failures.

Update: One of the primary ingredients in the drilling mud is propylene glycol which has been discussed a few times before. It's not super toxic in fact if you read labels you'll find it in cheap ice cream (sorry make mine Bryers) but in digging through the old gray matter I remembered doing a spill of pure propylene glycol. The stuff has unusual properties. It's designed to lower the freezing point. It is after all a type of alcohol. It also very slippery and prevents ice from sticking to the surfaces of aircraft. Now when the complete mixture is used on the oil it has one slight drawback. An absorbent pad will not soak up propylene glycol. I know this for a fact because I tried using the pads. I also found out that the dispersants that BP is using were the exact same ones they used some 20 years ago and they didn't work very well then. So now we have four toxic things in the ocean from this spill. There's the oil the dispersant the oil and dispersant combined ( it just changes oil to a smaller size) and the drilling mud.
Lastly consider that there has never been this amount of a chemical or oil or combination there of in our entire history dumped in the ocean. Entirely new industries may spring up from this because what else can they do?

Bank Failures: Five more banks beat it this week 3 in FL. 1 in CA. and 1 in NV. making 76 so far this year.

65 miles and counting 100 miles and counting

That was the initial report of the amount of marsh land that has been contaminated with oil so far. BP those bastions of truth beg to differ stating this morning that there was only 38 acres with but a small sheen. But what BP doesn't realize is that there is an army of scientists out there documenting in exact terms the extent of this spill. Just today the good people from the University of South Florida just brought their research boat the Weatherbird II back from the waters of Mobile Bay, Alabama where they finished monitoring an oil plume 3 miles wide by 22 miles long and some 3300 feet deep. Another scientist (sorry didn't catch his name) has been taking samples in the wetlands to determine the extent of the damage and give a record to dispute BPs claims.
Lately BP has been claiming that there is no potential hazard to workers and that levels are well within the EPA guidelines. I find that interesting since the Coast Guard had just ordered all fishermen who had been out there to shore after many of them got sick from exposures. We saw similar illnesses during the European spill some years back. It was 2002 when the single hulled tanker Prestige was carrying 82000 tons of a heavy crude. The ship Liberian registered was inspected in Russia before heading on it's journey. The captain noting that ship was a little less than sea worthy resigned and another captain found. After being turned away from Spain, Portugal and France the ship was headed back south off the coast of Spain when it broke in two spilling a good part of it's load. I remember this because just after it broke apart the oil started washing ashore and a storm was due a day or two after. When the storm hit it blew oily water over the coastal town making most of the residents quite sick.

Now for a question that reporters should be asking but haven't. Exactly what is in the drilling mud they're using to try and stop this leak? From what I've read they're all toxic. Great now in addition to the oil and the toxic dispersants that the EPA told them to stop using, they're adding to the toxic soup with mud that contains barium, glycol and a bunch of other nasty stuff.

What to do? First get the leak stopped then get a couple of supertankers with vacuums as close to shore as possible. As for the marshes they'll have to burn a good part of that and whether they can be rebuild is another story.

The flag graphic is from the Spanish group that cleaned up the Prestige spill, a volunteer group I might add. The translation - Never again.

Keep your drums upright and sealed.