I received an e-mail update from Florida Trend magazine that claims that seafood sales in Fla are down 22% already as people are saying that they do not trust the seafood because of contamination by the oil. I'm with Dave on this... we can't even comprehend the impact of this. I'm not into pointing fingers at this point; that's just counter productive. if this thing reaches the loop they are projecting it to spread as far north as Hatteras, NC.
I just had a freshly caught Wahoo sandwich at a little place down in Clearwater Beach Marina on Monday. Afterward...I started to wonder just how far out they had to go to get that fish......and some doubt does begin to creep in about the safety of eating deep water Gulf caught fish. Bill....the entire reaction and response by both the US Gov't. and especially BP was indeed buffoonish, amateurish and in the beginning smacked of a desire for cost control before anything else.
George I agree with you totally and am with MCG on the possible ramifications of this. Finger pointing still doesn't get it, and the so called buffoons at BP are probably the ones that will eventually get this under control.
What most people are pissed at....those who are pissed....and count me in that group.....is that from the US federal level to the BP executive level it was many days before there was any sense of urgency or an obvious commitment of resources to the problem. The only reason I think BP is keeping their finger on it no matter the expense now is because of the heat they are getting from the media. That remains inexcusable. Someone told me that in Canada before a co. like BP can even drill they must have the relief well already dug. What a helluva idea to prevent this kind of disaster....don't you think?
Dave, I don't rush so quickly to throw blame due to the lack of "obvious sense of urgency" in such situations. We don't know exactly what was going on behind the scenes. I guess this character flaw of mine is due to my short experience (6 years) in emergency response. I learned that it is better to calculate the dangers and formulate a plan rather than run into the situation and become a second victim. I'm not suggesting that you are wrong in your thought process... just that I take a different point of view, right or wrong. I know nothing about the oil industry. I know not whether the proper safety procedures were followed before, during, or after the disaster. How can I point the finger of blame when I know nothing?
Tom, I absolutely have had those same thoughts.....i.e......who knows exactly what the "experts" are doing....but the majority of people have the same doubts as I about the measured response by BP being too cool....too slow and methodical....and perhaps too cost conscious.
I know nothing about the technology either but it seems to me that if we can build a space station we should be able to plug a pipe in the ocean.
Someone had an idea about just placing slab after slab of heavy concrete on the opening until the sheer weight completely shut off the gusher. Seems simple and yet feasible to me.
Go out and turn on your garden hose on the driveway. Now start dumping rocks on top of it. Let me know how much it takes before the stream of water stops running down your street. We may be able to get enough slabs there by this time next year. Gotta get a seal first to be able to force concrete down to that depth and against the pressure of the oil rushing out the pipe. I may be wrong but I don't know of a concrete that will set up in a wet environment.
I was listening to NPR the other day as they were talking to folks with ideas about stopping the flow. My favorite idea was to use a type of airbag that is inserted into the pipe then quickly exploded to fill the pipe and block it. Then rapidly pour concrete into the pipe to stop the leak!!! RC
Better news.....but certainly nowhere good enough: "The collection rate is still only about one-third of one day's flow from the oil geyser, which has been estimated by the government at about 19,000 barrels (800,000 gallons/3 million liters) per day."