BP's efforts to clean up Gulf of Mexico oil spill livestreamed by PBS
By Laura June 
posted May 27th 2010 9:38AM
posted May 27th 2010 9:38AM
posted May 27th 2010 9:38AM
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I got an idea take all the execs from bp and take there bodys and use them to plug the hole. That might work.
@Kapnkracka Forgive me, overseas reader, this thing is still leaking. Yowzahs, good suggestion, I hope you made it directly to PBS also.
@Kapnkracka
good idea there deep pockets alone should be able to contain all that oil.
@Kapnkracka I was going to say tale their yearly salaries and bonuses, cash them out and get all ones......use said ones to absorb the oil.....
@Kapnkracka Let me preface this by saying that I work in the oilfield.
Comments like this make me sick. The demonization of corporations around the world are destroying the capitalist ideals that allowed our country to grow and thrive. People get into business TO MAKE MONEY. I suppose that you work just for the fun of it, or perhaps because you think you are benefiting man kind? There is no evil here, there is no good guys and bad guys, a mistake was made somewhere that led to a failure. It is unclear if the mistake was made by the regulators (MMS), the contractor, BP itself, or (most likely) a combination of the three. It is a tragic mistake, but this is not paradise where resources are limitless and always available, it is the real world. We generate the demand for the oil every time we fill up our cars, and with every outcry when the price of gas jumps twenty cents. Creating the wells to meet the demand is becoming more challenging by the day, and thus demand for wells such as the one BP was creating with high technical difficulty are necessary. People make money, you get what you want. Its how the system works. Do you think you could put someone in the position of CEO, someone who will immediately take the blame for every mistake (in the publics eye) and not pay them? I assume that you drive a car, that you use plastic, that you have electricity. Until you have tried to live in a country where these are scarce, you cannot appreciate what we have here. Stop pointing figures and yelling about things you do not fully understand.
@Kapnkracka - Wait, what ever happen to the "DRILL BABY DRILL" Republican Luddites? Where are they NOW!?
@Josh S - WHAT! I never heard such dribble! You Sir are out of your F-ING MIND!! You sound like Renfield protecting his Oiligarch Vampire Masters! I don't need to bore everyone here with the dirty history of oil companies, the wars they help create, the technology they suppress, the lobbyist the hire, the congressmen the pay off, the regulators they ignore, the corners they cut, all in the interest of buying more caviar, and yachts, all else including the planet BE DAMMED! Go eat another bug will ya...
@Josh S
Just another charlatan trying to justify excessive wealth and the off chance of pollution as a side effect, moves along folks.
@Kapnkracka Here's an idea, the Government (pointing fingers at both sides) could let us drill closer to shore and on shore to tap into the abundant oil resources available there, instead of forcing oil companies to drill for oil that we require (no other viable alternatives yet) miles off shore where the ocean is miles deep and they can't get access when things like this happens. This would not have happened if the leak was 200 meters down as opposed to 1.5Km. Yes, this is what Palin is saying and I agree. She is right sometimes, you know.
@Shooter McGavin So you work for free? Do you people not understand that the pursuit of wealth is how technological progress works? I'll play your game, you're using the internet, electricity and plastic right now, your killing the earth you greedy capitalist, stop supporting the greed. Since you are benevolent and above us you should go volunteer to build wind farms and quit your job, you aren't interested in money right?
@Frankenstein Black
Sir, may I ask what you are proposing, exactly? Nation oil? Go visit Venezuela and see how that works. What would you have us do? Maybe we could actually open up places where its safer and easier to drill? But that would be terrible right? Better to force companies out into the ocean...
@Josh S
No one is saying we don't want all of the advancements we have, but when the gas raises 20 cents a gallon, and we cry foul, its probably because their is foul at play. It isn't because it cost them more money in safety precautions or instead of taking shortcuts to get something done they did it the right way. Instead it gets raised because of greedy endeavors such as trading and stockpiling like in 2008 when gas hit all time highs. It gets raised because the big guys want to buy an island or maybe two. And even if it didn't get raised for those purposes, they have history of being lying greedy thieves and no one would believe them if they said it for good purposes. Hence we cry foul over raised prices, and then they start taking shortcuts and stop caring about anything else as long as they can gain more money to buy those islands and luxury items. That is why they are hated, not because they pursue the American dream of making money or owning their own business or anything of the like.
@Shooter McGavin
How do you define "excessive" wealth? Ten dollars more than what you have?
@Frankenstein Black I'm still in the "drill baby drill" camp, but after this I think we definitely should never go this deep again. It's clearly too dangerous when we have no idea what we're doing.
@jjl207
A picture of Scrooge McDuck comes to mind...
@Josh S - National Oil? No. Don’t you know we had that already? And the giant monopoly commenced to rip up the thousands of miles of train tracks that help to build America. Why? Because they wanted roads instead to STUFF THEIR GREEDY POCKETS from all the gas profit. And gotta love that Nut Rand Paul say it is un-American to criticize BP? What?! Let me get this straight. A British company drilling for oil in our American backyard to sell to China on the open market, spills oil on our American shores and criticism of BP (British Petroleum) is "Un-American?" YIKES! (another corporatist in sheep’s clothing pretending to be a champion of the “little guy”). Yea, good luck with that Kentucky.
So what to do? Nothing! (= Sarcasm). Let’s just sit back and watch the Chinese go green with geo/hydro/electric/solar/wind technology. We gotta get of the “black crack” and stop making excuses for the Vampire that would keep us addicted. Forget about the unrealistic act of stuffing them into the whole. How about we kill all of those tax breaks that big oil gets and shift the windfall to providing more tax incentives for people to green (electric cars, solar or vertical wind turbine additions to homes, business, etc.). How’s that for a start? I’m quite sure many of us geeks that frequent Engadget would love a sub $25k Tesla. But it won’t happen because their pockets are deep and their tentacles run wide across Washington DC.
PS Dude, seriously. Stop making excuses for them. The very vampires you are trying to excuse would slash your job in seconds the minute they figure out a way to ship in dollar a day Indonesian workers. You’re expendable. THEY DON’T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT YOU!!
@Gwanatu - G, think about it. Its BP (British Petroleum) drilling in our backward to sell the oil to China on the open market. Don't drink the cool-aid about it coming directly to America so that we reduce the dependency on oil from countries that support terrorists. Its all horse shit and now many parts of our southern shores are fux'ed for years to come...
@Josh S :
Damn skippy we do! In a corporation, the CEO is the top of the food chain and the one responsible to the shareholders. That's why they make the wonderfully large salaries when the company does WELL - they should also be the ones to eat it first when the company does POOR. They are where the buck stops, and BP humped the pooch on this. As soon as the safety of the personnel was confirmed the FIRST thing that should have been done was to shut off/cut off the wellhead! Nope, BP stalled on this so they would hopefully not have to take any action that might end up with them not being able to extract any more profit from this particular hole. They gambled and lost. Know what happens when I gamble and lose? I LOSE MY MONEY! Let them repay to make it right, and start with the one in charge. He can then fire whoever he wants down the chain, but this disaster WAS ON HIS WATCH.
Think of the military - the commander is responsible for the conduct and effectiveness of his/her soldiers. If my sergeant f's up I as the lieutenant am responsible because he was acting with and under my authority. I might lose my command over it. That kind of idea ensures that the one in charge continues to correctly oversee those they are in charge over - their ass is on the line for it.
@DarrellJ88
I don't see any facts here, I see a bunch of speculation and uniformed conclusions. Do you know that the speculation that led to the increase in the price of gas was completely out of the hands of people like BP? Do you know that our government is about QUADRUPLE the tax on crude, with the money supposedly going to some fund for cleaning up spills (you really think that is where the money will go)? Do you have any idea about the safety measures that BP uses on EVERY well? Do you even know what a BOP is, or how it works (ask me and I'll tell you). Please, just do a little research before you rant about things you don't know
@Frankenstein Black
I'm done talking to you... look read this to yourself "Chinese go green with geo/hydro/electric/solar/wind technology." Do you realize that most of china is still burning coal for power? Do you... Never mind, look you cant just say random things and pretend no one will notice you made them up.. Google "China+Pollution"
@Josh S - Of course China has pollution from oil that is taken from places like the gulf by oil companies which you seem to want to defend to help power factories with suicidal workers that we buy endless shit from.
But it doesn't mean that the aren't fast tracking green tech. Why don't you Google china's efforts to do just that or do you want me to perform Engadget searches and spam us all with endless articles from this blog alone? Ok, here's one for ya...
http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/27/geely-ig-is-covered-in-solar-cells-two-years-away-from-marketab/
Shall I keep going? Do we need the wind powered stuff too? Or the massive rail projects? All this and we still P0wn the pollution title!
Dude let it go! Fossil Fuel is OLD and STUPID! It is indefensible (as we watch environments change and the oceans and air fill with its crap). There are better ways NOW and Renfield thinking like your is what will keep us on the side lines like Luddites while others move forward. SOLAR, WIND and BIO are now TECH!
@Josh S
"Comments like this make me sick."
It's funny you should say that, because your condescending, "more-rational-than-thou" attitude and your sniveling apologies and excuse-making on behalf of the oil industry make me kind of sick, too.
@Josh S IMO this is all just a conspiracy to raise the oil price. When demand declines (as it has recently), production must be reduced in order to stabilize the price. This is what the whole 'Peak oil theory' lie is about. Trying to keep the price of oil up.
@Josh S
The thing that gets me is they didn't have a contingency plan for something like this. I have a hard time believing that nobody ever thought that the pipe could get broken at the sea floor from any of a million potential causes. Why didn't someone think that this was a possibility and make a plan years ago when off-shore drilling was invented? Or is it like my teenagers attitude towards the thought of dieing in a car wreck, "can't happen to me". Not just BP, but every oil rig building company should have thought of this and made a plan years ago.
@Josh S
I am generally a peaceful guy but I hope all people like you die in horrible horrible agony. Agony like the one caused by the big companies you are apologizing for to the people in 3rd world countries. Just google aspestos to know what I mean...
^_^
When do we get to see "Engadget CTRL" and "Engadget DEL?"
@Smart People Play Tuba yes!!!!11!1
@Smart People Play Tuba
CTRL could be where they put all the rumors and tips that don't warrant an article, thereby controlling what they put on the site. DEL could be a list of all the comments that got removed by Engadget. I'd read both of those over Mobile...
@engadgetcomexcludeengadget Actually I would switch those around.
It would be interesting to know how the rate of mud gushing out compares to the rate of oil this time yesterday. Looks the same to me.
BP is claiming they've stopped the oil, yet this is still showing it coming out as fast as ever. How delayed is this?
@jonyah From what I understand it's the mud they are jamming into it
@muledriver first mud to slow it down/stop it then cement to seal it up
@gasshole So, they have two colors of mud? They had oil (brown) and gas (white) coming out before. Both colors are still coming out. Ya, I'm sure a good amount of it is mud, but they haven't stopped anything if at least gas is still getting out.
@jonyah well, now they come out and said they stopped for 16 hours. so ya, that was oil and gas.
How the hell have they STILL not fixed this yet. Did nobody ever think that this might happen and prepare ahead of time? Are we really that shortsighted as a species?
WTF?
@ttringle the things they did to prepare ahead of time failed... its not like BP is just sitting there twittling their thumbs. They are going to lose hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions, when this is all over just in fines and lost oil. Not to mention the more than ten years and one billion dollars they probably invested to make the well operational in the first place. Everything that can be done is being done.
@ttringle
Deep-water drilling is relatively new and still imperfect. Since the discovery of this massive deposit off the shelf a few years back, there has been a rush to sink wells at depth well beyond the norm. They knew the risks of drilling this deep, but they motivation for profit was far too great. If BP didn't move with the technology they had on hand, someone else would have.
We're going to hear about all kinds of procedural and engineering errors that led to the accident, but it's kind of a moot point. Deepwater drilling permits should never have been granted in the first place.
If this were one of the hundreds of wells closer to the coast, they might be able to send down compression divers to aid in the effort. As it stands, thy would have a better chance of using the NASA rovers to stop an oil leak on Mars.
This thing is just beginning.
Well apparently they have started to use a Top Kill technique in which they put very dense and heavy mud into the area and that eventually stops or vastly reduces the amount of oil that is coming out, then they start replacing the mud with cement (not sure how that's gonna work under water, thought it needed to "DRY")
Supposedly what your looking at is the Mud being expelled by the force of the oil trying to get out. Experts have been saying that they believe they see a significant reduction in the amount of oil they are seeing.
Hopefully these idiots have finally gotten this under control. The GULF is going to be absolutely screwed for decades I'm thinking. Which means the US is going to be screwed in a alot of ways down the road due to high prices and not being able to compete in certain markets.
Way to go BP, I'll make sure I remember to NEVER use any of your gas moving forward.
@ttringle
umm, if all cement needed to be dry, when how does almost every bridge in the world work? how about every canal wall?
and keep in mind that the "BP" gas stations actually have very very little to do with the BP that caused this leak.
@ttringle
Seconding electron, concrete does not "dry" it cures. That can be done underwater with the right type of concrete. Heck the romans were doing underwater concrete millenia ago.
Also seconding electron, BP gas stations don't neccesarily sell BP gasoline. There is no way of knowing who's gas it is, it's a fungible commodity. The only person you're hurting by not buying from BP stations is the poor owner of that station.
Finally, I like how you think the gulf is going to be screwed for decades. How did you become such an expert on oil's impact on the ecology of the region? Are you familiar with gulf wildlife, gulf algae, and oil's properties? Or are you just talking out of your ass because of news reports of "OMG DISASTER!"?. If you actually do know what you're talking about, I feel sorry for the people on the gulf coast, if you don't I feel sorry for you.
@ttringle From what I know, cement is "activated" by water. You can't keep it from setting just by keeping it wet; you can only keep it from setting by having it move and shift shape. This spells problems for trying to get BPs plan to work but there is a good chance that they have some other type of chemistry involved here that I don't know about. I'm no expert.
@danbert8 We can at least get out of this that the gulf IS going to be bad for some time, maybe not decades but possibly years. It is common sence that oil+water+wildlife does not add up. You don't have to be an expert to know that. Oh and you can also look up the history of these oil spills and maybe be able to compare their damage, and yes you dont have to be an expert to compare
@ttringle
The drying cement thing has been answered... but reading through your comments in your profile, you clearly are full of rage. I couldn't find a single positive one. :)
@electron um....for most bridges and damns they pre-dry and then place them in their respective spots.
All we need now is a hurricane to come through and deposit the oil all over new orleans. I think "someone" is trying to say something about building your city below sea level.
You might want to do a little reading.
It was not BPs rig or team that caused anything here. They made the mistake of out sourcing. This is what happens when you dont do the job yourself.
BP is only responsible for the clean up.
@Stepup
That's supposed to somehow rid BP of the responsibility? Everyone outsources nowadays for this very reason, so they make more money without having to care about safety.
@Shooter McGavin Well, what about the responsibility of the company they outsourced to? Does this mean that if you are hired to do some work, then if it goes wrong you just shrug your shoulders and tell them to deal with the people above you?
The responsibility lys with those who were on that rig. If the equipment was faulty they should have followed correct procedures. This was not BPs equipment.
BP expect the 'professionals' they work with / hire / outsource to, to act appropriately. In this case something went wrong and they didnt do that.
@Stepup
Well then maybe BP could have stopped by on occasion to make sure things were going according to plan. Maybe an inspection or two. There were warning signs WEEKS out that could have helped prevent this from being the catastrophe that it currently is.