On Wed, 16 Jun 2010 12:51:50 -0500, sandy wrote:

I couldn't tell from reading rdean's post (above) what he was trying to say.

I was simply relaying some numbers to show where this thing _may_ be heading. It
wasn't done specifically for ROFF, so some of it is somewhat out of context.
Simply, the economics of this thing are already ridiculous, but simply alleging
that by saying "a truck driver is making $1500.00 a day," without more to at
least help put it into context, leaves out a lot of necessary info.

It seemed he was mostly concerned with costs associated with cleaning up the ocean front.

In that post as a stand-alone thing, yes. However, that is not my only overall
concern.

This may be missing a much larger point. This oil volcano may be getting ready to
completely rupture its top, thereby releasing enough oil to threaten the food chain
in the entire Atlantic ocean. Or perhaps even worse.

The following is an alarmist quote plucked from http://www.rense.com/general91/oilor.htm
Do I believe the following?
God only knows. You can find almost anything on the net.
If nothing else, it's an interesting read.

It may be interesting, but it is total nonsense. If nothing else, Katrina just
about set the physical limits for "water intrusion" in much of the gulf coast -
there is simply not enough water to get to, much less flood, 50 miles inland,
much less 200. For example, once you are much more than a mile inland in much
of MS, the altitude _rapidly_ increases - for example, there was approximately
30 feet of water at the boat ramp at Diamondhead, MS. However, there are parts
of Diamondhead that are at 35-60 feet elevation above sea level, and even with
30 feet of water _less than one mile away_, some parts stayed above it. 50
miles in would be about Hattiesburg, which is at roughly 150 feet and 200 miles
would be roughly Jackson, at a little over 300 feet (IIRC, 310 at the airport).
IAC, subsurface wells are nothing new, and the "Summary" is gibberish.

TC,
R


SUMMARY OF EXPECTATIONS

At some point the drilled hole in the earth will enlarge itself beneath the wellhead
to weaken the area the wellhead rests upon. The intense pressure will then push the
wellhead off the hole allowing a direct unrestricted flow of oil, etc.

The hole will continue to increase in size allowing more and more oil to rise into the Gulf.
After several billion barrels of oil have been released, the pressure within the massive
cavity five miles beneath the ocean floor will begin to normalize.

This will allow the water, under the intense pressure at 1 mile deep, to be forced into the
hole and the cavity where the oil was. The temperature at that depth is near 400 degrees,
possibly more.

The water will be vaporized and turned into steam, creating an enormous amount of force,
lifting the Gulf floor. It is difficult to know how much water will go down to the core
and therefore, its not possible to fully calculate the
rise of the floor.

The tsunami wave this will create will be anywhere from 20 to 80 feet high, possibly more.
Then the floor will fall into the now vacant chamber. This is how nature will seal the
hole.

Depending on the height of the tsunami, the ocean debris, oil, and existing structures
that will be washed away on shore and inland, will leave the area from 50 to 200 miles
inland devoid of life. Even if the debris is cleaned up, the contaminants that will be in
the ground and water supply will prohibit re-population of these areas for an unknown
number of years.

(End of scientists information release.) From Tom Buyea FL News Service