The Well from Hell?

“From Day 1, he deemed this hole a well from hell,” said Natalie Roshto, the widow of Shane Roshto, who was a laborer aboard the floating oil rig and among the 11 crew members killed when it exploded April 20. “He said the earth, he said Mother Nature just doesn’t want to be drilled here.”
http://www.latimes.com/

In Louisiana, Economy Trumps Environment

The federal moratorium on exploratory drilling for oil in deep-sea waters is tantamount to an attack on Louisiana’s way of life, politicians and business leaders said Wednesday at an oil industry-sponsored rally held in Lafayette. The political event at the nearly packed Cajundome stadium demonstrated the influence of the oil industry over Louisiana, and the belief that the drilling moratorium could be more hurtful to the state’s economy than the risk of a second catastrophic oil rig explosion. “I think the risk to the local economy is greater than the risk to the environment right now,” said machinist Andy Fuquay, 27, dressed in dark blue coveralls.
http://www.latimes.com/

BP to Keep Well Closed for Another Day

A seep — usually a flow of hydrocarbons from the seafloor — could be evidence that oil, gas or both are escaping from the well up to the seafloor, which could prompt the government to order BP to remove the cap and resume oil collection. But seeps also occur naturally.

Autopsies of gulf animals

“It is terribly important to know, in the big scheme of things, why something died,” said Moby Solangi, the director of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, Miss., where the initial turtle necropsies and some dolphin necropsies were performed.

http://www.nytimes.com

A great awakening?

What if churches and sermons recognized the oil staining out Gulf as a call to repent? To clean up and conserve? Change our lives. Stop drilling holes in our world. What if, instead of being transfixed on the afterlife, we actually fought against losing our paradises -- like these soulful Gulf waters? The Garden of Eden is still here on earth, though struggling to survive our abandonment.
We are still in the thrall of this terrible gusher. Over 300 million gallons have sullied our Gulf and now there is fear that the spill might taint the Eastern seaboard and spread as far as Europe.The Internet is abuzz with claims that this is an "oil spill apocalypse" and perhaps a sign of Tribulations, or End Times. Here is my plea to all true believers: The tribulations are now. We're still here. Please lend a hand. Come home.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Not to worry. The whole thing's a media exaggeration

All of this supports my contention that it's not a good idea for Republicans exaggerate the effects of the oil spill just to score to try and score points against President Obama. This is far from "the greatest environmental disaster in American history," as some have contended. Republicans should take a realistic look at just how much damage will actually result from this spill. If it's anything like the prior big spill in the Bay of Campeche in 1979 as described in a recent article, it might not be all that bad.

Paul Mulshin, the Star Ledger

A look down below: BP's latest cap job

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Spill spreads anxiety among Vietnamese fishermen

"I feel like I am lost," says Chu, a wiry 52-year-old whose hair is specked with gray and voice clouded with dejection. "Sometimes I worry and I cannot sleep. I'm thinking about how am I going to make money to sponsor my wife, thinking about how am I going to pay my bills." The oil spill that has forced thousands of Gulf fisherman off their boats has been especially cruel to those in the tight-knit Vietnamese community here.
http://www.washingtonpost.com

BP's latest attempt to cap the spill

BP has now begun an operation which could allow the company to capture most, if not all of the oil currently leaking in the Gulf of Mexico. The operation involves removing the current cap which was installed June 4th and replacing it with a new, better-fitting cap called "Top Hat Number 10." When the old cap is removed oil will flow freely into the Gulf. The company will obviously then be in a hurry to install the new cap, which is not guaranteed to succeed.
http://www.examiner.com

Modern drilling is an exact science

The need for accurate location information — in a subterranean environment that Global Positioning System satellite signals cannot reach — is true now more than ever, as oil and gas wells go deeper and become more complex, veering off horizontally through narrow hydrocarbon reservoirs or parallel existing wells. But it is especially true right now in the Gulf of Mexico, where BP is drilling a relief well to intersect the runaway well that has been spewing oil since April. The relief well will be used to pump heavy drilling mud, followed by cement, into the damaged well to stop the gusher permanently. But first it, or a second relief well being drilled nearby as a backup, must hit the target — the existing well’s steel casing pipe, only seven inches in diameter, more than 3 miles below the surface of the gulf.

New York Times June 6, 2010

Spill about to score gulf record

NEW ORLEANS – BP's massive oil spill will become the largest ever in the Gulf of Mexico by Thursday based on the highest of the federal government's estimates, an ominous record that underscores the oil giant's dire need to halt the gusher.

The oil that's spewed for two and a half months from a blown-out well a mile under the sea is expected to surpass the 140 million gallon mark, eclipsing the record-setting Ixtoc I spill off Mexico's coast from 1979 to 1980. Even by the lower end of the government's estimates, at least 71.2 million gallons are in the Gulf.

Associated Press