New estimates of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill are particularly frightening. Original estimates of 5,000 barrels a day seeping from the broken wellhead of a BP oil well were alarming enough. Now some scientists believe it to be 14 times that, up to 70,000 barrels a day.
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To add more sting to the scar being left in the fertile waters of the gulf another team has identified plumes of oil below the surface getting caught up in the gulf’s currents putting them on a beeline course for the Florida Keys and beyond. The Gulf Stream exits the Gulf of Mexico and runs up the east coast of the US.
Now I am no ocean scientist but it is quickly apparent that this much oil will have to go somewhere and from the look of the North Atlantic Ocean current maps England, Ireland, Iceland and all the fishing grounds in between are possibly in the path.
BP needs all the help they can get to stop the leak as soon as possible. The world needs all the help it can muster to start cleaning up this spill. Creative thinking is needed now, not after all this stuff hits the beaches from Miami to Maine.
Where are the inventors? Can we trap the oil as it squeezes between the Florida Keys? Are all the world’s oil skimming resources heading to the area? Can BP really afford to reimburse for contaminated fisheries on both sides of the Atlantic?
Let’s put on our thinking caps and try to stay as far ahead of this disaster as possible.
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Yes, we, as humans, are brilliant enough to drill at the bottom of the ocean, so we should be brilliant enough to figure this oil spill clean up. We obviously have had research underway since the last few oil spills and should have at least a few inventions at the ready!! The question in my mind is, why aren't they using the inventions?
ReplyDeleteWe may be brilliant but we are also a bit greedy. In 1991 (after Exxon Valdez) several large scale oil skimming ships were designed like this one
ReplyDeletehttp://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/coal-oil-gas/deep-sea-oil-cleaner
Unfotunately these big catastrophe vessels were never built, probably because of cost.
Responding to a contest challenge an Illinois company has developed what may be the fastest oil skimming device available. The design brings the company not only notoriety and new business opportunities but also a million dollar prize from the X-Prize Foundation.
ReplyDeleteA tip of the hat goes to Elastec/American Marine of Carmi, Illinois. Their spinning discs pick up oil and scrape it into a trough nearly three times faster than previous devices.
http://www.npr.org/2011/10/19/141481055/revolutionary-oil-skimmer-nets-1-million-x-prize?ft=1&f=1001