Tag: BP

(cross-posted at firefly-dreaming)

(Click on photo to enlarge)

This is a “Flotel.”  It is a huge barge upon which pods, made of corrugated steel, are stacked two high and three wide.  Each pod holds 12 bunks.  There are 4 bunks to a “room”

(Click on photo to enlarge)

There is a common area for eating, showering and leisure activities.

The men working for BP, in helping with the clean-up, are expected to put in 12 hour days, for 18 days straight, and then, they are to receive 3 days off.  This means workers living in these “flotels” spend 24 hours a day there for 18 days straight.  And it means being away from their families for a long time at a stretch.

Although workers had been promised motels, BP brought in these flotels, because of, or so they say,

One of the logistical difficulties in combating the Gulf oil disaster has been finding housing for the thousands of workers brought in by BP and its contractors to work on cleanup and containment operations . . . .

However,

BP told a New Orleans Fox affiliate that the flotels were useful for keeping workers close to cleanup sites, thereby eliminating travel time.

According to University of California Professor of Engineering Robert Bea, the cap being used by BP, which has, at least for now, stopped the gushing of oil into the GOM, could well be the design of an anonymous mystery plumber.

UPDATE: 7/18/10

Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse in The Great Orange and Patrick Jonsson in The Christian Science Monitor report that the anonymous plumber has come forward and identified himself.  He is Joe Caldart, a 40-ish married father of five with 3 hound dogs living in St. Francis, Kansas — just a regular blue collar guy who has made quite a contribution.  I find this to be quite wonderful!  (And please check out the Three Stooges videos downstream in comments.  I ROFLMAO-ed without stop.  Either BP should give royalties to the 3 Stooges, or the stooges should pay BP for PR (provided they donate all proceeds to the many places which deserve financial compensation).  

***end update.

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Reporting in Yahoo News on Friday, June 16, Brett Michael Dykes states:

…the model of the well cap now in place didn’t exist in the earlier stages of the spill saga. But what’s more noteworthy than the timing issue is the likelihood that the device owes its origin to the same authority that any homeowner turns to in order to get a leak plugged: a professional plumber.

More below…

Washington’s Blog thursday…

…numerous industry experts have warned that there is no upside to temporarily capping the well as part of the well integrity test, and that it might actually cause the well to blow out.  

Admiral Thad Allen previously said that the test will be considered a success if pressure in the well stays at 8,000 psi or higher for 48 hours.   So we won’t know for a couple of days whether the test has succeeded.

As AP correctly notes:

Now begins a waiting period to see if the cap can hold the oil without  blowing a new leak in the well. Engineers will monitor pressure readings  incrementally for up to 48 hours before reopening the cap while they  decide what to do.

Interestingly, as CNN’s Situation Room noted a couple of minutes ago, the cap might soon be re-opened, and closed again only during hurricanes:  

Admiral Thad Allen releasing a statement to us just a  short while ago…

He cautions “This isn’t over”…

Very interesting here. He talks about the cap as a temporary  measure to be used for hurricanes…

“It remains likely that we will return to the containment  process… until the relief well is completed”

So it looks like the plan is to go back to releasing the oil  and letting it pump up to the surface.

 (hat tip FloridaOilSpillLaw).

So is the well integrity test a meaningless PR stunt, which is delaying completion of the relief wells, and failing to bring us any closer to permanently killing the oil gusher?

About 500 years ago, Cortez landed in Mexico. He told the people who were already living there that they had to become subjects of the King of Spain. But, they told him, they were already subjects of Montezuma, the Emperor who was in Tenochtitlan. Cortez told them that Montezuma had to become a subject of the King of Spain, too, and he took Montezuma prisoner. As if that weren’t enough, he told the People that they had to give up their Old Gods and accept his God. Cortez’s God, he told them, was far more powerful than their Gods, and if they didn’t accept his God and abandon their own Gods and abandon their practice of having idols and human sacrifices and ceremonies and dances to their Gods, they would be killed. Also, Cortez told them, they had to deliver to Cortez all of their gold and silver. So it was that the Spanish foothold came to what is now Mexico in 1517.

About 8:30PM PST…

TEXAS CITY, TEXAS — Two weeks before the blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, the huge, trouble-plagued BP refinery in this coastal town spewed tens of thousands of pounds of toxic chemicals into the skies.

The release from the BP facility here began April 6 and lasted 40 days. It stemmed from the company’s decision to keep producing and selling gasoline while it attempted repairs on a key piece of equipment, according to BP officials and Texas regulators.

BP says it failed to detect the extent of the emissions for several weeks. It discovered the scope of the problem only after analyzing data from a monitor that measures emissions from a flare 300 feet above the ground that was supposed to incinerate the toxic chemicals.

The company now estimates that 538,000 pounds of chemicals escaped from the refinery while it was replacing the equipment. These included 17,000 pounds of benzene, a known carcinogen; 36,000 pounds of nitrogen oxides, which contribute to respiratory problems; and 189,000 pounds of carbon monoxide.

more here….