It is now day 42 of the Gulf Oil spill with no end in sight. Neither BP nor the federal government seem to have a solution to stop the leak. The quest for more energy for hungry consumers has pushed the producers into deep water drilling to tap into abundant supplies of oil, and have pushed the envelope on technology. Now with the first major accident in many years, the Gulf ecosystem will be severely damaged, birds and sea life destroyed in the region as well as beaches fouled, and marshes that are the breeding ground for shrimp and crab coated with goo. The economic cost of this accident cannot even be estimated yet, but will be very high and will devastate the watermen of the Gulf coast. One possibility that people should keep in mind as attempt to cap the well fail, is that extreme measures may need to be taken sooner rather than later. One such measure that I haven't heard discussed is to close the well via a large explosion. This has proven successful on a number of above ground leaks, and may be what is eventually required in the gulf. The old Soviet footage below demonstrates a well could be shut off with an underground explosion. Nukes may be a little extreme, but the longer this situation goes on the more extreme measures will be attempted.
I dunno man! We're gonna blow the planet up so we can drive Hummers. Great!
ReplyDeleteHopefully they'll pass around radioactive protective suits and if it doesn't work at least we can say it worked 50% of the time.
No Hummers or gas guzzlers in this family. I'd be happy to drive a car on CNG from the Marcellus or Barnett Shales until electric cars are perfected and come down in price. I posted the video half in jest. Our society would not accept nuking a well shut like the Soviets, but I could see the well being finally shut down by a high power explosive if the more conventional alternatives continue to fail.
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