Comments on: BP screws up another attempt to stop massive oil spill

By: Alfred Supe

Alfred Supe — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 23:10:30 +0000

And these idiots (who most resemble the Three Stooges) want to drill under the Great Lakes? When they are insane enough to drill a well in water so deep that they have no reliable way of stopping it off? I say to Hell with Palin and her “Drill, baby, drill” philosophy I could puke.
BPs entire assets should be frozen and only used to stop this disaster, and then to make the States and people whole, down to the last penny. And all the rest, if any, should be considered a punitive damages.

Alfred Supe AKA John1172002

By: rick the mechanic

rick the mechanic — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 12:09:34 +0000

Sorry people I have listened to this to long. cut the pipe which is now done, drop a valve on the the end of the pipe with hydraulic clamp fitting or a split clamp type fitting with big nuts and bolts to attach it to the pipe. Close the valve. this is standard procedure when a blow out above the surface happens whats the big deal.

By: woody188

woody188 — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 02:40:42 +0000

Hayward said BP had been successful so far in keeping most of the oil away from the southeastern U.S. coast.

What, by sinking it using toxic dispersant?

Aquatic wildlife doesn’t live on the beach other than crabs and sand fleas.

By: DejaVuAllOver

DejaVuAllOver — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 22:41:52 +0000

Geez, Carl. You know a lot more than the CEO of BP, apparently. Then again, changing a lightbulb is way beneath the dignity and way above the intelligence of the luminaries that run our corporate state.

By: Carl Nemo

Carl Nemo — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:54:46 +0000

First a saw, then hydraulic shears…?

They should have used “detonation cord” also known as primer cord that’s used for underwater demolition efforts etc. cutting pilings, underwater steel supports etc. It would have cut right through the pipe leaving a fairly clean fused edge. Since the spill is underwater there’s not a correct fuel/air mix for the oil and other volatiles to burn.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detonating_cord

When you try to cut any pipe with shears unless you are able to put a hardened, solid steel insert close to the shear point, it’s going to pinch/bucklle the pipe. The insert prevents the pipe from pinching or buckling. A regular pipe cutter cuts pipe by either ratcheting or circling around the tubing or pipe until it cuts through cleanly with evermore pressure applied as the jaws are tightened via a handle or screw affair. Presumably they don’t have pipe cutters large enough to work under water in this fashion, but if so then they should have done the job right.

Visualize you call a plumber to your house and he has to work on older copper or galvanized metal pipe and he brings hydraulic shears which screws up the ends of the old pipe rendering it useless for fittings. / : |

Carl Nemo **==

By: NC-Tom

NC-Tom — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:52:43 +0000

A story I recently heard on NPR gives some idea of the pressures involved with this blowout. The last really big spill in the Gulf back in the 70s was shallow enough that they could send divers down to work on it. The divers reported that the rush of the oil coming out of the pipe sound like roar of dozens if not hundreds of jet engines.