Just when BP thought it was safe to go back into the Gulf of Mexico, the New York Times has learned that the U.S. Government has ordered the oil business to prepare to open the valves on their just lately placed oil well cap. After 10 tries by BP to seal the oil spill, it seemed that all was progressing as prepared. Now it has become a big concern that the ocean floor itself is leaking oil.
Government issues with BP
There is more coming than just the PR and financial problems BP has had with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The Jones Act has hurt the response from Obama and is going to hurt the Democrats in elections. Now that seep has been suggested, the cycle of public outrage will no doubt continue. Through Tuesday, pressure testing will continue since that is what Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen who’s in charge suggests should happen, even with investigation still continuing, according to the Times.
Pressure tests had signaled no warnings as yet
When BP capped the well, pressure tests commenced so that the potential danger of blowout and seep might be monitored. There is a lot to monitor with the well going 3 miles to the seabed. Oil and gas might start seeping to the ground, even if it doesn’t explode. Allen explained that not much could be done if that happens.
Russian help?
Even though Obama has his own plans, an “independent set of eyes” could be just what we have to fix this thing, as outlined by Andrew Revkin within the Times? Oil seeping to the floor might happen at any depth. James Cameron has a panel of experts that offered a suggestion to the Obama administration. We would be able to monitor the spill better with Russian submarines that can go deeper to the water than ours. It would be easier to discover a seep.
Citations
Deepwater Horizon Response
deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/2931/791891/
New York Times
dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/bp-pressed-to-assess-seep-near-its-well/
Voices from Russia
02varvara.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/russian-mir-submersibles-may-go-to-gulf-of-mexico-to-fix-oil-well-gusher/
CNN reports on seep near well head
youtube.com/watch?v=DPeoRnWV4vw
