BP Disaster: A few rough estimates

[Goldstein1984]

These estimates are debatable, in part, because the quality of information coming from the spill response is so debatable. But here are some guesstimates:

At 100,000 bbl a day, there's 4.2 million gallons a day of oil entering the Gulf of Mexico. BP claims to have recovered a 1.1 million gallons of oil over the last 24 hours.

Let's be generous and assume that only 50,000 bbl/day of oil has been released, which is 2.1 million gallons of oil per day. And let's assume (very generously), that BP has been collecting 1.1 million gallons of oil per day since Day 1 (It certainly hasn't, and it probably still isn't, but let's assume). That means (64 days)x(1.1 million gallons/day) = 70 million gallons (about 6 Exxon Valdez Oil Spills) are floating around in the Gulf right now. Another 40 or 50 million gallons will be floating around by the time the relief wells are completed. The total equals about 10 Exxon Valdez Oil Spills.

Want to get really angry? Take a look at the satellite photos showing the gray/brown sludge spreading all over the Gulf, from Texas to Florida. Then recognize that a huge amount of the oil isn't even on the surface where it can be photographed, it's in the water column poisoning everything it comes into contact with. Add a couple million more gallons of toxic dispersant, just because things weren't bad enough already.

The damage isn't going to be observed in oiled and dead animals. It's going to be observed in the animals that are never heard from again: turtles that die and sink to the bottom; turtles that are swept up in boom and burned alive; dolphins that die and sink into the abyss; fish poisoned by chemicals that destroy their gills, their ability to breath; animals that won't be counted--they just aren't there anymore when this is over. Like sea turtles that never come ashore to lay eggs again.

BP corrosion engineers on Alaska's North Slope have a saying: If we do our job well, that pipe will spring a leak at the very moment the last drop of oil flows through it. They call it run to fail mode. It isn't cutting costs, it's "finding efficiencies."

How about a saying for holding BP accountable for what it's done in the Gulf? How about: If we the people force our representative government to do the job right, BP will be bankrupt and close its doors just when the last victim is completely compensated. BP can pay financially for the damage being done to people's livelihoods. For what it's done to the environment, it deserves the corporate death penalty.

And how about 11 lives lost so a handful of mid-level managers can collect a bonus for "finding efficiencies."

In summary:

An (under)estimated 110+ million gallons of oil floating around or dispersed in the water column of the Gulf...

An unknown, and unknowable, loss of marine life...

An entire economy, and possibly an entire way of life, destroyed...

And 11 lives lost...

...for profit.

[laughingliberal]

1. The scope of this boggles the mind. It's haunting. K&R. nt

[Oregone]

2. Another good reason to smoke a joint

Hey...I can't change anything getting depressed over this, or the path to human extinction

I just can't change anything period.

[Angry Dragon]

3. In another post tonight on bp

dudley(I think that is his name) was complaining that the American people are to quick to judge bp is responsible for this Ecocide of the gulf.

He is no different than haywood

[Kalun D]

11. I was part of a Union fight once

and I studied the head executive I was up against

he was a clinical sociopath, he fit like 80 percent of the telltale signs.

[Cresent City Kid]

4. The known is scary, the unknown they'll do their best to hide

We can't let them claim problem solved when the leak stops and oil stops coming ashore. The human and sealife tragedy deserves more than a news cycle, albeit a long one.

[LandR]

5. A complete disaster

The 55,000-100,000 barrel per day estimate that was found in an internal BP document and released this past Sunday by Rep. Ed Markey was a "worst-case scenario" estimate in which the blowout preventer is removed from the well casing, which has not occurred and is not currently planned. The Coast Guard says the flow rate is about 35,000 bpd, but independent researchers say the rate may be as high as 60,000 bpd. Nonetheless, it is still a complete disaster that is taking a hold on the marine life. According to the NOAA, 400 of the 527 sea turtles found within the designated spill area are dead. Also, 46 of the 50 dolphins found are dead. About 75 miles south of the spill site, a 25 foot sperm whale was found severely decomposed. This species of whale is one of the few cetacean endangered species in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Ah and of course no reports of any sea lions, walruses, or seals, as the BP Official Gulf Response suggested.

[amborin]

6. Why is BP *still* allowed to dump Corexit?????

[Kalun D]

7. Because

The richest corporations on earth

own the government

[Kalun D]

9. Why

are they "still" allowed to keep the clean up workers from using respirators?

why are they still allowed to harass the media?

[Kalun D]

8. Rough Estimate

If we take Hayward and his new fellow sociopath Bob Dudley (fitting name) and the top twenty BP executives...

and we force them to swim around in the crude oil until they are thoroughly coated with the thick oozing crap, like it's all gunked up in their hair and in their eyes where they can barely see, then we let them crawl out on the beach and flop around in the hot sun for a day or two.

then we catch them in nets, put a ball gag in their mouth so they can't bite, and clean them with Corexit, after all it's not toxic at all, oh no. Give them a real good Corexit shower and about 20 minutes to recover. Then start the whole process all over again. Back out to flop around in the thick stinky crude oil floating just offshore.

Or you could alternate with days have them clean the beaches with shovels, no respirators allowed of course, after all this stuff is non toxic.

Rough Estimate, how long do you think they would live? 11 days, 5, 2?

[Goldstein1984]

12. My preference would be that they survive one day for each

day of this catastrophe, and suffer like an oiled turtle every second of it.

[inna]

10. Absolutely horrible.

K&R, with much sadness.