Can you say, "Nuke it?"

[ndebord]

BP is now reduced to ever less likely methods to close down this leak. Some say the only hope that BP has is to drill a new hole in August. Anyone got any bright ideas? (This from the Russians.)

"The Soviet Union first solved an Uzbek natural gas leak in 1966 with nukes. The force of the blast sealed the hole from which the gas was being expelled. They used the tactic four more times. The nuclear intervention worked in four out of five attempts." -- Komsomoloskaya Pravda

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/0513/Why-don-t-we-just-drop-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-Gulf-oil-spill

[Dan in Saint Louis]

BP is now reduced to ever less likely methods to close down this leak. Some say the only hope that BP has is to drill a new hole in August. Anyone got any bright ideas? (This from the Russians.)

"The Soviet Union first solved an Uzbek natural gas leak in 1966 with nukes. The force of the blast sealed the hole from which the gas was being expelled. They used the tactic four more times. The nuclear intervention worked in four out of five attempts." -- Komsomoloskaya Pravda

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/0513/Why-don-t-we-just-drop-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-Gulf-oil-spill
Any reports of a tsunami on those dates?

[ndebord]

Any reports of a tsunami on those dates?

Dan,

No idea, worth a search though.

[Jeff]

"The Soviet Union first solved an Uzbek natural gas leak in 1966 with nukes. The force of the blast sealed the hole from which the gas was being expelled. They used the tactic four more times. The nuclear intervention worked in four out of five attempts." -- Komsomoloskaya Pravda

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/0513/Why-don-t-we-just-drop-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-Gulf-oil-spill

The US used a nuke about 30 miles from my house for the opposite purpose. It didn't work very well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rulison

- Jeff

[Dan in Saint Louis]

"The Soviet Union first solved an Uzbek natural gas leak in 1966 with nukes. The force of the blast sealed the hole from which the gas was being expelled. They used the tactic four more times. The nuclear intervention worked in four out of five attempts." -- Komsomoloskaya Pravda

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/0513/Why-don-t-we-just-drop-a-nuclear-bomb-on-the-Gulf-oil-spill
I believe I read that 4 of the 5 attempts were near surface level. The only one under water was about 1000 feet.

[ndebord]

Well, what are the options? An attempt to siphon off SOME of the oil with this container... IF the other scientists' estimates are correct, the idea that this new attempt AT BEST will allow 20% of the oil to leak means that that 20% is more than the 5,000 barrels that BP orginally insisted was all that was gushing out. We now know that that the amount of oil leaking out is a magnitude of order greater than the inital, misleading figures released by BP. Which btw, refused to release videos early on which would have let anyone to realize that BP was low-balling the size of the leark.

[Judy G. Russell]

BP was low-balling the size of the leark.Gee. what a surprise... But BP hasn't always been dishonest...

[ndebord]

Gee. what a surprise... But BP hasn't always been dishonest...

Judy,

That's for real? SIGH

OK... nationalize BP. Cut a deal with the Ruskies to jointly takeover the company, in return they give us one of their proprietary small nukes and then rename the company, with a nice, new hip acronym: RAP (Russian-American Petroleum).

I've been talking to some old Standard Oil people (yes, they're still there in Bayonnne!) and they say BP is the bottom feeder of oil companies. Somewhere, I can't recall where, is a list of violations by major oil and BP heads that list.


Ralph and Earl???? Any comments on this one?

[Judy G. Russell]

BP is the bottom feeder of oil companies.And oil may start washing up on the white beaches of Pensacola FL by... sigh... tomorrow. What a friggin' disaster...

[ndebord]

And oil may start washing up on the white beaches of Pensacola FL by... sigh... tomorrow. What a friggin' disaster...

Judy,

This is Obama's Katrina.

And the oil may be coming up the East Coast next. Noticed today the press talking points have changed. They are starting to talk about it not being "fixed" until August when the relief wells come on line.

In 1927, when a big hurricane hit the South head on, Calvin Coolidge appointed a cleanup Czar, Herbert Hoover, who did just that. Absolute power to do what he thought best and so good did he do his job, that he got the Presidency as his reward (be careful what you ask for! applies to poor Hoover more than any other President).

I would have mobilized the 82nd Airborne and put them to work cleaning beaches. Probably wouldn't have made a rat's ass of difference in reality, but in perception?

And what is it with Obama? His monotone is really beginning to annoy me.

If he can't realize that he is coming off as not involved, he should have sent the VP down. Now there's a loud voice that would have sounded upset, at the very least.

[Judy G. Russell]

This is Obama's Katrina.Not quite yet. But soon. When the press decides it's had enough of being managed by BP, the photos will start coming out with the dead and dying wildlife. THEN it will be his Katrina.

[Dan in Saint Louis]

And what is it with Obama? His monotone is really beginning to annoy me.

If he can't realize that he is coming off as not involved, he should have sent the VP down. Now there's a loud voice that would have sounded upset, at the very least.
I'm pleased that he does NOT scream and shout. He comes off as level-headed, firm, and very careful to think of the consequences of rash actions.

[dgermann]

What about the idea on an NBC Nightly News a week ago where another oil company retired CEO suggested getting tankers in the spill zone to vacuum up the spill and then take it to shore where the oil and water could be separated?

Seems to me clean up is not getting much attention. Or am I missing something?

Cleanup is going to take at least the month and a half that it took to dump all this into the ocean....

[Judy G. Russell]

I'm pleased that he does NOT scream and shout. He comes off as level-headed, firm, and very careful to think of the consequences of rash actions.I'm afraid that he's coming off as uncaring at best and totally out of his depth at worst. Read Maureen Dowd (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/02/opinion/02dowd.html?hp) today.

[Judy G. Russell]

Cleanup is going to take at least the month and a half that it took to dump all this into the ocean....Cleanup and recovery, if recovery is possible, may literally take decades. The Exxon Valdez spill -- much smaller, contained almost entirely within Prince William Sound -- took a year for just the basic cleanup efforts and years for the sound to really recover.

[ndebord]

Cleanup and recovery, if recovery is possible, may literally take decades. The Exxon Valdez spill -- much smaller, contained almost entirely within Prince William Sound -- took a year for just the basic cleanup efforts and years for the sound to really recover.

Judy,

Computer models show this thing coming up the East Coast.

And then wandering off into the North Atlantic. Might even bite Great Britain on its ass before too long.

"British Petroleum: We bring the oil to you."

[Judy G. Russell]

Computer models show this thing coming up the East Coast. And then wandering off into the North Atlantic. Might even bite Great Britain on its ass before too long.It's just showing it as one of several possibilities. But it could happen...

[earler]

Sorry, but I can't provide any wisdom about bp.