If a whole nation can have its fingers crossed, I suspect it does right now. But what happens if it (and the other containment efforts) don't work? I don't think this is fear mongering,after 3 months of oil blowing into the Gulf. We have to ask the question.
Greg Laden has an answer, by way of University of Hawaii - and perhaps unsurprisingly it isn't pretty.
Sharon
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The new Well Cap is actually a many step process. As described on the Oil Drum:
(1st vessel does steps 1-3)
1st - remove the old Lower Marine Riser (old cap) DONE
2nd - unbolt the old flange top (DONE)
3rd - insert the new flange transition spool and bolt on DONE
4th - add a 18 foot long 75 ton Lower Capping stack (in progress from 2nd vessel)
5th - connect hoses to capture oil
Meanwhile, the relief well drilling continues as the primary solution to kill the well.
Roy (Olympia WA getting an education by spending lots of time reading TheOilDrum.com)
Is it my lack of knowledge on the subject or my apocalyptic nature that sees this oils affecting the Gulf Stream horribly?
Out of non-promotional courtesy, I won't post the link, but if you are interested, or just morbidly fascinated, a lot of the ROVs have live streaming cameras on the BP website.
From a technological perspective and if you can, for a moment, divorce yourself from the incredible ugliness of the circumstances occasioning it, quite an elaborate robotic ballet is happening in crushing pressures and god awful temperatures at 5000ft below sea level.
Human ingenuity can be so dazzling. I would have it appear more frequently than just in necessities created by our complete screw ups.
Historically our jaw-droppingly coolest toys have been ingenious ways to kill people: Hypervelocity SCRAM missles, fighter jets, swords, and everything in between.
I swear that a lot of the military fanboiism is just based on the unbearably awesome hardware that nothing but warfare can afford.
The Bride and I watched Dr. Strangelove together over the phone when we first started dating and couldn't be together.
We still feel disturbed over our agreement that devoid of context, mushroom clouds can be beautiful.
Hey, I'll take that as an invite to plug an artist:
http://digitalblasphemy.com/preview.shtml?i=pride