Diving the spill

[doctormike]

Very sad.

Very sad indeed.

 

[chs8084]

Very sad indeed- but I do wonder about the safety of the reporter (and others) diving in that.

 

[doctormike]

Yup... the second link describes his post-dive cleaning process, although it sounds like he couldn't get a buddy without hazmat gear.

Phillipe Cousteau Jr. (Jacque's grandson) apparently did this recently with commercial/hazmat equipment;

 

[CamG]

Greetings Doctor and thank you for this thread. A part from the blame game political banter these are the images that I feared the most! The worst is yet to come!
How can anyone, Government or BP undue this type of devastation? Once again we reap the spoils of greed and poor planning. I wish I was shocked but only an ignorant person would be.

I am not a so called tree hunger but this is more than I can take or anyone should have to accept. If there is not a solution for the possible line breakage why were they allowed to proceed? Common sense falls on deaf ears when $$$$$ and politics are involved. I hope that in the end we all learn something from this, the world in which we survive is a diminishable environment. Stewardship is far different than rape and pillage without recourse. Maybe it is in our nature to destroy ourselves!

I hope that life will find a way to restore the balance and that lessons will be learned at the price of future generations. I have never understood eco-terrorism till now. It greets me everyday on the news!

CamG

 

[doctormike]

Thanks, Cam... my thoughts exactly! I really don't like it when the discussions here devolve into politics, but I do think that this is a teachable moment.

We need to somehow transition to an economy/infrastructure which is not totally dependent on ever increasing volumes of cheap oil. It will go away someday, if not now, then soon. It is simply not sustainable (e.g. "peak oil").

So we might as well get started with the hard work of diminishing consumption, and developing alternatives. It's a win-win-win (addresses climate change, better environmental protection, less dependance on foreign oil). I'm not saying anything new here, but I would be very happy if we would all collectively get on the job, and not worry so much about scoring political points one way or the other...

Sigh...

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Greetings Doctor and thank you for this thread. A part from the blame game political banter these are the images that I feared the most! The worst is yet to come!
How can anyone, Government or BP undue this type of devastation? Once again we reap the spoils of greed and poor planning. I wish I was shocked but only an ignorant person would be.

Unfortunately we are reaping the spoils of a regulatory system that relies on industry insiders to determine the regulations. A classic case of putting the fox in charge of the chicken coop.

We've further compounded the error by putting the perpetrator in charge of fixing the problem ... even to the point of allocating National Guard personnel to help keep the public from viewing what they're doing about it.

I personally doubt that BP is putting as much effort into stopping the leak or planning the clean-up as they are into figuring out how to limit their liability.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Garrobo]

What NWGratefuDiver said.

 

[Mike Boswell]

Unfortunately we are reaping the spoils of a regulatory system that relies on industry insiders to determine the regulations. A classic case of putting the fox in charge of the chicken coop.

We've further compounded the error by putting the perpetrator in charge of fixing the problem ... even to the point of allocating National Guard personnel to help keep the public from viewing what they're doing about it.

I personally doubt that BP is putting as much effort into stopping the leak or planning the clean-up as they are into figuring out how to limit their liability.
... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Not to mention a robust PR offensive. It was reported yesterday that BP has paid search engines to list them first, and good news about them preferentially. Google "Oil Leak", for an example.

 

[Mike Boswell]

Does anyone here know why all of the the oil is not floating on the surface? Is this because of the use of the chemical dispersants?

What are dispersants, and what are the pros and cons of using dispersants?

 

[captain]

Thanks, Cam... my thoughts exactly! I really don't like it when the discussions here devolve into politics, but I do think that this is a teachable moment.

We need to somehow transition to an economy/infrastructure which is not totally dependent on ever increasing volumes of cheap oil. It will go away someday, if not now, then soon. It is simply not sustainable (e.g. "peak oil").

So we might as well get started with the hard work of diminishing consumption, and developing alternatives. It's a win-win-win (addresses climate change, better environmental protection, less dependance on foreign oil). I'm not saying anything new here, but I would be very happy if we would all collectively get on the job, and not worry so much about scoring political points one way or the other...

Sigh...

Neither you nor your children will live see an end to oil as a primary source of energy.