In regards to the Deepwater Horizon Oil leek in the Gulf of Mexico, I was going to write an entry saying that President Obama should perhaps give some consideration to the views of scientists who proposed using a nuclear charge to seal the borehole that was seeping out the huge volumes of oil (a shy 4 million barrel fulls), which was caking itself all over the sea and coast of that region, doing awful damage. The nuke -in theory; should have melted the hole, sealing it off. This would have been a pathetic attempt on my part to look all controversial. Dropping nukes on the US coast? What next? Although the USSR (when it existed of course) did use nukes to seal gas leaks. The gist of my argument was if an environmental disaster like this one couldn't really be abated after two months, after several attempts to seal it failed, and they were forced to put a big metal box over the leak and try to gather up the oil collected to surface tankers (a sticking plaster solution), whilst the black stuff was tarring up such a vast region. How far would a democracy in peace time situations go in order to combat such a catastrophe. The nuclear option would have been REALLY unpopular, but it may have had a decent chance of actually sealing the borehole. (although the geological nature of the well seems not clear, which some have contributed to causing the blast) It really was down to how receptive to "novel" (an understatement) solutions were the White House going to be.
But as of the 16th July, those tasked with stopping it, seem to have put a cap on the leak that has contained it. Put those nukes away then, we don't need them. The tests on the caps integrity over 48 hours seemed to show the leak is contained, however there are some tentative reports that gas and oil has been detected seeping out of this cap too, so it may not be over yet. The plan is to settle the flow of the well, so that the water above it keeps the oil in it by the use of relief wells extracting the oil, where the cap can then be removed and mud and cement will plug the well, like a kind of dental filling for the rockbed. So fingers crossed this is; at last - the beginning of the end.
The whole affair is as messy as the oil it dumped on the beaches and the creatures that got in the way, by having the misfortune of living around it. When we hear that the crew of the Deepwater Horizon had concerns for the safety of the rig. That the amounts of methane in the well was not known. That the rig had reportedly felt unstable during drilling. And most importantly eleven men never returned from the Horizon, which is now a lump of burnt metal on the sea floor. Then there is the financial costs, three and a half billion dollars of BP's money in stopping the leak and cleanup fees. The lowest company share values in 14 years. The fact that BP will have to sell off petrol stations (and the jobs of people who had nothing to do with the leak.) and other things to meet the costs. The compensation to the people who live in the area and the victims families (who deserve every penny). The fall out between the U.S and a company with British in the title. And the ecological damage. Oiled creatures, and the fact that lots of the oil is on the sea bed where it is harder for nature to degrade it. (though there is little British about it these days.) A truly horrible situation, hopefully coming to an end.
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