Oil spill update May 13
-Relief wells
-Flow diversion: “top hat” and pipe insertion
-Top kill/junk shot
-New BOP
-Congressional hearing reveals “significant problems”
-Cementing
Technology
Stupak stunner: Oil well’s blowout preventer had leaks, dead battery, design flaws
A senior House Democrat said that the blowout preventer that failed to stop an oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico had a dead battery in its control pod, leaks in its hydraulic system, a “useless” test version of one of the devices that was supposed to close the flow of oil and a cutting tool that wasn’t strong enough to shear through joints that made up 10 percent of the drill pipe.
How the BP oil spill is affecting New Orleans schools
When BP’s Deep Water Horizon well exploded in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, it was difficult to imagine the scope of its impact on the delicate coastlines of Louisiana and adjacent states. Today, the former platform site continues to spill about 5,000 barrels a day – or 210,000 gallons – into the Gulf, with no containment strategy yet in sight.
Oil spill update May 11
-Relief wells
-Containment dome/cofferdam
-“Top kill/junk shot”
-New BOP
-Congressional hearings
-Cementing
-Government oversight
Peak oil, prices, and supplies – May 10
-Crews dealt setback in placing containment dome in Gulf oil spill
-Oil production hit for decades after BP spill
-How big is the Deepwater Horizon oil spill?
-Tread carefully, Mr Obama. You need big oil
Oil spill update May 7
A quick roundup of ongoing oil spill news.
An American Chernobyl
The drawing of parallels between industrial accidents is a dubious armchair sport, but here the parallels are just piling up and are becoming too hard to ignore.
Renewable democracy?
Even where it comes to renewable energy, we face the battle of centralization vs. relocalization, the corporatism of politics vs. democracy. Economically, technologically, politically, we face the same democratic struggle.
Peak oil, prices, and supplies – May 6
-Groundhog Day for Oil
-Oil disaster may prove tipping point for world oil production
-Mother of all gushers could kill Earth’s oceans
-Peak Oil and the Return of the Jet Set
-Not So Fast: With Gas Prices Low, A Return To Oil
-Caution Required for Gulf Oil Spill Clean-Up, Bioremediation Expert Says
From the Deepwater Horizon
The Gulf of Mexico “spill” is really a man-made underwater volcano of oil. This accident taps a primeval fear in the human mind. Something dark and uncontrollable rushes out of the Earth, poisoning the global oceans. Could that really happen? Richard Heinberg, Anita Burke, Riki Ott, Antonia Juhasz, and new song “Corporate Catastrophe”.
Peak oil, prices, and supplies – May 4
-BP Fought Safety Measures at Deepwater Oil Rigs
-Toyota’s Bill Reinert on Peak Oil
-How Bad Is the Oil Spill? Ask the Pelicans
-Asean members try to forge agreement on oil and gas rich Spratly Islands
-Track the Gulf of Mexico oil spill movement in animated graphic
-Response options for BP oil spill
The costs of complexity
Joseph Tainter’s The Collapse of Complex Societies has become one of the most-referenced books in those peak oil circles that have confronted the severity of the predicament the industrial world faces in the age of peak oil. From the offices of Goldman Sachs to the scorched wreckage of Deepwater Horizon on the bottom of the Gulf, an uncomfortable number of today’s iconic news stories are beginning to echo his argument.