Hey Social: It’s not like I make highly explicit images of Dragons even back when I still believed I was one. That said we can now keep this thread on the oil spill which conditions are forecast to remain favorable for cleanup.
In engineering school I had an Angolan buddy who had worked on oil rigs I asked him the same thing and he said that natural spills do happen more frequently than most people assume.
If the slick stays offshore than the enviromental impact isn’t as big. Fish just swim away from the slick. Its when the slick starts hitting reefs, wetlands and other costal areas that big problems start.
He also add on that sometimes depending on geology chemicals have to be added to the oil to make it easier to pump. If these kind of wells spill than the do more damage as the chemicals can be fairly toxic.
Sorry I should have said “assuming that these companys arnt run by the greediest people on earth” 
So here ya go kids, I do hope that you enjoy your journey to the coast in your SUV for some nice seafood.
(Sorry, I get a bit a cynical at times.)
They say the dome idea failed, and they are going to try a smaller containment unit. http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/may2010/2010-05-10-02.html
I seem to recall reading somewhere that the world’s oceans and rivers are to become poisonous. Could this be it?
“Revelation 8:8 8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; 9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.”
I’m no Christian, but hey, if we get to see real prophesies instead of made up stuff that’s contestable - I’d definitely want to convert.
That oil will all end up in food change 
like other chemicals.
But what most bothers me is unknown “food” inside food.
I know some fruits - vegetables - meet - dairy products,
but most names in component card is unknown.
How can we hope to be more carefull in futture with polluting if we poison the food consciously and eat it consciously.
Does the responsible oil company search cleaners with GOOD SALARY :eyebrowlift:
Well, as you all know, we a carbon based economy. If we were silicon based, we would have sand spills!
Recent measurements of the leak puts it at 70,000 barrels per day. A barrel is 40 gallons. That puts it at 2.8 million gallons gushing into the ocean per day.
New estimates suggest that as many as 70 billion barrels have poured into the ocean so far. That translates to nearly 3 trillion gallons gushed into the ocean so far.
The Exxon Valdez oil tanker spilled 11 million gallons.
3,000,000,000,000 gallons
vs
11,000,000 gallons
For reference:
There are 326,000,000 trillion gallons of water in the ocean.
326,000,000,000,000,000,000 gallons
When ye put things like in perspective, it sure appears that we are upon disaster of an unprecedented level. While the TV shows the areas affected immediately, this is something that may take a while to clear, and no doubt spread around the world in due course. I hope all the oil companies take heed of the lessons learnt here, so as to never repeat this mistake again.
Yeah, while I don’t think this will destroy the world - I do believe this will ruin the fishing industry in the gulf. It will also poison the water along the gulf cities, and kill all of the sea life in that area. They say this is Obama’s Katrina, but it’s really more like his non-nuclear-Chernobyl… only there will be more than one ghost town after this.
I believe the oil will never stop gushing. We may be able to slow it down, but it is so strong I wouldn’t be surprised if it leaked forever.
Nuke it! This worked 4 out of 5 times for Russia. Jaque Cousteu found very little damage to the ocean around underwater tests and exercises. Life returned very quickly to the environment. Time really is of the essence here.
Depending on coastal regions oil spills “disappear” in about five years and it takes an average of 10 years for the eco system to bounce back (coastal France was hit in the past), if there is enough surf and the sea is heated enough the oil actually works as a fertiliser (however the accident this pertains to happended to be an oil tanker, processed oil might be “cleaner” than unprocessed oil.)
What I don’t get is that Europe has a whole infrastructure and industry that is specialised in cleaning up the oil. I’ve seen at least 2 blurbs on the news about Dutch cleaning companies that have special technology to gather/dissolve oil spills that are available to clean up the mess…
Unfortunatly somehow the experts fall on deaf ears at BP USA, for some reason its better to do a half-assed job the american way, than use the european tried and tested techniques. I’m very sorry for all the people and businesses this oil spill will and has killed, just elect better representatives next time y’all livin’ in Uncle Sam’s backyard.
On a sidenote: BP’s oil rigs have been known to fail in the past, this has been analised and reported in the past, not much has been done, now live with the consequences (or start looking for a new job if you work for BP 
.
I’ve heard of the possibilities that there could be criminal charges filed against BP.
If it really is BP’s fault that they failed to know the failsafe was broken and are so negligent in handing out vital information as soon as the rig exploded then maybe it would be nice to see BP get fined such a high amount they go bankrupt or even go out of business.
If they’re an oil company that does a horrible job in making sure things like this don’t happen then maybe they should be replaced with other companies that do care to make sure these things don’t happen.
Thats really interesting, I thought that was the dumbest idea ever when I first read those articles, but when you think about it, it kinda makes sense.
Talk about dramatic though, but I think the situation has the potential to be bad enough to warrant America seriously considering this action… Especially considering the fact that this has worked in the past…
Nooooooo, my skyline runs on BP ultimate, this is not an option! :spin:
I grew up in the Marshes of S.C.
I would go out shrimping in the Summer, and Oystering in the Winter. My family was poor so that was a great percentage of our meals were what I pulled out of those creeks. I am smpathetic to all the Fisherman, and families that will no longer be able to sustain themselves.
11 workers lost thier lives because the ddecision was made that it would be too expensive to install the safty precautions. Someone needs to go to PRISON!
Jim Cullen
hoxolotl, your claim that oil spills are good for the environment is false. Oil spills do not disappear in 5 yrs. The oil seeps into the ground and contaminates the soil, as well as the water table, and it doesn’t just go away in 5 yrs. Not only that, but the gulf oil situation is massive in scale, and it hasn’t even been sealed yet. Oil is a pollutant, and it is not good for plant or animal life. Please provide a reputable non-propaganda source concurring with your claim that oil spills benefit the environment.
Some amazing pictures here, a must see - http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/05/disaster_unfolds_slowly_in_the.html
@ trancerobot, you’re off by a few factors of ten regarding the trillion thing. but still, a lot of oil is in the gulf.
@AD-Edge - love the burning water pics - just so…biblical, you know?
Huge plumes of oil sitting on the gulfs floor are growing in size. Some plumes are several miles wide and hundreds of feet thick. Bacteria in the area are feverishly eating the oil, simultaniously depleting the oxygen in the area. Already in the area of the leak, oxygen in the depths have depleted by 30%.