Crews may set fire to burn off leaked Gulf oil

[babylonsister]

Crews may set fire to burn off leaked Gulf oil
AP

By ALAN SAYRE, Associated Press Writer Alan Sayre – 11 mins ago


NEW ORLEANS – Crews may set fires to burn off oil being spewed into the Gulf of Mexico by a blown-out well, the Coast Guard said Tuesday.

Pools of oil far offshore would be trapped in special containment booms and set aflame as soon as Wednesday, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said.

Efforts so far have failed to shut off the flow of oil nearly 5,000 feet below where the rig Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank last week. Robot subs are still working on it.

"If we don't secure this well, this could be one of the most significant oil spills in U.S. history," Landry said.

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100427/ap_on_bi_ge/us_louisiana_oil_rig_explosion

[napi21]

1. Which is worse, oil spill on the beaches or toxic black smoke

in the air? I honestly don't know.

[hack89]

9. It will take years if not decades for the beaches to recover

the economic impact to both fishing and tourism would be also greater if the oil reaches the beaches.

[spanone]

2. fucking brilliant. if that doesn't work, we'll nuke the gulf.

[malaise]

7. Any Tweets from the Twit in Chief

Princess Grifterella - spill baby spill!

[Warpy]

3. Better to have it poison the air than poison sea life

and foul all the beaches along the Gulf, I guess.

Besides, it was always going to foul the air.

I just hope they can get it stopped.

[Blue-Jay]

4. What could possibly go wrong?

"Hey ya'll. Watch this!"

[hack89]

10. Read the link - it has worked well in the past. nt

[elehhhhna]

5. this is actually a radical but probably very good idea. and du, if ya have a better one,

please post it. They HAVE to do something. Burning most of it off far offshore may be the best of many poor options.

[RC]

6. What happened to all the fancy detergents and floating rings and stuff

to contain oil leaks? Or was those things just news fillers to put space between the commercials.

[Winterblues]

8. All detergents do is cause the oil to sink

It will then foul the bottom completely.. No the very best thing at this stage is to do exactly what they are suggesting.. Burn it..

[pinboy3niner]

11. Burn, baby, burn! nt

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

12. Most oil in a an oil spill evaporates... unburned hydrocarbons are TERRIBLE for the atmosphere.

The best bet is to burn it. If you let it wash ashore - it ruins ecosystems.
If you let evaporate, it does the same damage as burning it AND THEN MORE.

[Trillo]

13. Given the area, how much heat would this put into the atmosphere?

For how long would it burn? Would the smoke offer a cooling effect? How long would the smoke remain aloft? Where would the ash eventually fall? Would it increase acid rain? What about the health hazard to people breathing any of it?

Oh, one more thing. Planning on that being on fire until the well is capped? How long will that take?

Oh, nevermind, I wouldn't expect any knowledgeable answers, and there isn't a whole lot of time to decide. Just get the damn thing capped already.

I got this odd feeling that this is another transfer of financial responsibility from the private to the public sector....

Can we have solar and wind, now, please?