Best Explanation of what’s going on with BP Spill

June 3rd, 2010. By Hunter West

I don’t live anywhere near the Gulf Coast, so the Great Oil Spill does not affect me. But I am mad as hell on behalf of the people who DO live there, and earn their livelihoods from the sea, and the fresh air. What has lately been described as easily the worst oil spill in US history is going to have lawyers locked up and busy for years, acting on behalf of those whose lives have, or will be ruined by all of this. 

And with good reason… 

What were they thinking? Were there interventions planned for this type of disaster? If a drill rig topples, or a submarine rams the pipe, should there not be provision to instantly and automatically cap the wellhead on the ocean floor? Isn’t this just common sense? 

I caught a fast-and-dirty explanation of what’s going on the other day via satellite courtesy of the CBC in Canada. Bob McDonald, the science guy who hosts a radio show called ‘Quirks and Quarks for the radio side of the network,’ is the guy CBC turns to in an effort to explain in layman’s terms, what all this means and why it’s happening. 

He was on camera for no more than 90 seconds, but he nailed it. 

Picture the Deepwater Horizon sitting on top of a pipe—or a super-long straw, if you will—sucking up the oil from the wellhead deep on the ocean floor. The explosion and fire on April 20^th decimated the drill rig and platform, and it toppled into the ocean—taking the pipe—or straw—with it.

Now that pipe is laying on the ocean floor, pretty much in one piece, but with kinks and bends. Like a kinked drinking straw after a child has done using it. There are, as McDonald explained, two or three kinks in the pipe—and the oil is leaking out of those kinks, as well as the end. 

BP has twice tried to cap the leaks, the latest effort failing last weekend when ‘Top Kill’ didn’t work. 

Now BP is trying to cut the pipe at the wellhead, with a clean cut, and cap the well. Drilling additional relief wells to stem the pressure will, hopefully, also help. 

But McDonald puts it all into perspective. According to his observations, the kinks in the pipe are effectively helping to stem the crude oil flow, serving as a governor. The kinks are limiting the pressure. Even though millions of gallons have spewed out into the Gulf in the last 6 weeks, it could have been a lot worse had the crude been allowed to be relaesed totally unimpeded. 

Well, that’s what BP, if I understand McDonald correctly, is about to do: cut the pipe cleanly at the wellhead, and then attempt to cap it. 

McDonald said it would be like opening up a fire hydrant completely, then attempting to cap the rushing water with a cap not much larger than the opening itself, and doing all this from miles away with rushing fluid at high pressure, as your guide and adversary. 

Omigod… 

Legal eagles will be hovering over this for years. Lawsuits are now, and will continue to roll out and meander through the system forever and a day. Let’s just hope there are sufficient resources, either on BP’s part or the feds, to compensate people properly. 

In the meantime… 

Pray. 

Tags: BP, BP Oil Spill

This was posted on Thursday, June 3rd, 2010 at 1:49 pm and is filed under Emerging Issues, Environment . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.