So, all they need to do is dump about a million pounds of kitty litter into the Gulf of Mexico, and then follow it with a few hundred thousand gallons of dish soap? Hmmm. I suspect there's a flaw there somewhere.
It's no worse a solution to the couple that have failed by the #4 corporation in the world that felt they did not need an emergency plan, then begs to public for ideas. Currently BP is trying a "Junk Shot" - this suggestion is a crap shot.
Instead of a "junk shot", BP should try a "kitty litter shot" directly into the pipe followed by a "cat piss shot" to clump the litter in place.* :madgrin: * If BP actually implements this plan, I am entitled to 10% of the money saved over the clean up needed after they successfully close off the well 3 months from now. Please forward the cost analysis to me prior to final settlement for review.
Actually the higher the price for oil, the more the oil companies will try to get the oil that is hard to get. So they can afford to drill deeper and deeper waters (which is more expensive for them). Not sure I have an answer, I am just pointing out some economic issues.
For the most part, the use of "dispersants," in this whimsy the dish soap, is considered a drastic measure... microscopic oil droplets suspended below the surface and hence "out of sight, out of mind" in the water column are not only difficult/impossible to collect, but play a role in the degredation of the aquatic habitat/environment in addition to chemical elements of the crude oil that are water soluble and disperse directly into the water column. "The researchers also were testing the effects of large amounts of subsea oil on oxygen levels in the water. The oil can deplete oxygen in water, harming plankton and other tiny creatures that serve as food for a wide variety of sea creatures. Oxygen levels in some areas have dropped 30 percent and should continue to drop, Joye said. The Environmental Protection Agency gave BP the go-ahead on Saturday to use dispersants, chemicals that break the oil into small droplets and keep it from rising to the surface. "It appears that the application of the sub-sea dispersant is actually working," BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said. "The oil in the vicinity of the well is diminished from previous observations." At least 210,000 gallons of oil have been gushing into the Gulf each day since the Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20, and some independent scientists think the leak may be 10 times that bad. Environmentalists - and some leaders in the fishing and oil-spill cleanup industries - have raised concerns about the chemical dispersants. "Cosmetically, it makes it seem that the oil has gone away," said Tom Manton, the retired president and CEO of the International Oil Spill Control Corporation. "But the oil doesn't go away. It ends up in small drops, either on the beach or on the seabed...In many cases, the dispersants are more polluting to the water than the actual oil is." The EPA and Coast Guard, however, say the dispersants are "generally less harmful" than oil and will biodegrade in a shorter time span. Read more.
I say we charter a boat and go down there and skim some of this oil off the water... a thousand gallons and i won't care about the price of gas for a long, long time!
At that price the oil might be sufficiently expensive that spills/loss of product events become essentially catastrophic to the top line. It might also then be economically viable to try reclaiming the spill.
I think they should just let it keep bubbling and then pay it forward by purchasing carbon credits like the rest of the tax evading corporations who do nothing to really stop emissions, etc. That should fix everything right? LOL.
