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Matthew Simmons: Lightning Rod for Gulf Oil Controversy
Matthew Simmons has made a lot of big claims about the oil spill (see videos below).
Because
of his background, Simmons has been interviewed repeatedly in
television, newspaper and radio media. Simmons was an energy adviser to
President George W. Bush, is an adviser to the Oil Depletion Analysis
Centre, and is a member of the National Petroleum Council and the
Council on Foreign Relations, and is former chairman and CEO of Simmons
& Company International, an investment bank catering to oil
companies.
People have become polarized around Simmons as a
lightning rod. For example, people who believe all of Simmons' claims
believe that anyone who questions any of Simmons's claims is working
for BP. On the other extreme, people who think Simmons has gone senile
or is simply talking his book (he's short BP) tar and feather anyone
who questions BP's version of the Gulf narrative as being a crazy
Simmons follower.
So let's assess Simmons' claims one-by-one. And - more importantly -
let's refocus the discussion away from one person and towards the Gulf
itself (Simmons himself will either be vindicated, proven off-base, or
something in between. But that is his personal concern, not ours).
BP's stock Will Go to Zero
Simmons predicts that BP's stock will go to zero. he might be right. Fines under the Clean Water Act are $4,300 per barrel of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico. And civil and criminal damages could be substantial.
But BP has been doing everything in its power to lowball the amount of oil spilled into the Gulf (and see this), even though it easily could have easily quantified
how much oil is spilling. If the government allows BP to get away with
lowballing the spill number, the fines won't bankrupt BP.
Similarly, if the government let's BP maintain its $75 million liability cap on economic damages, let's BP hide the extent of the damage to the Gulf (see this and this), to perform only a superficial clean up of the Gulf and fails to press criminal charges (or let's BP off with a slap on the wrist), then BP might survive by selling assets.
And remember, BP is still one of the largest suppliers of oil to the U.S. military. See this and this.
In addition, Gordon T. Long argues that the failure of BP would have a greater affect on the U.S. economy than the failure of Lehman.
So some say that - even if it's wrong - BP will be considered "too big to fail" and will be bailed out.
There is a "Lake of Oil" in the Gulf
Simmons claims there is a "lake of oil" in the Gulf, 30 feet thick and miles long.
I don't know about this claim, but scientists have found giant underwater plumes, and NOAA has just announced traces of oil 30 meters thick stretching for quite a ways. See this, this, this and this.
Specifically, because millions of gallons of Corexit have been applied,
many solid plumes have been broken up into giant bodies of solution ...
mixtures of water, oil, methane and dispersant.
But these
solutions can contain levels of oil and other chemicals which are at or
near the levels which are toxic to marine life (see below).
BP Has Killed the Gulf
Simmons told Bloomberg that BP has "killed the Gulf".
Obviously,
the effect on the Gulf will be severe - at least in the short run -
especially because BP has used millions of gallons of Corexit
dispersant, which is highly toxic to animals.
An
independent scientist from the University of Georgia - Dr. Joye - says
that government scientists are underestimating the amount of oxygen
depletion in the Gulf waters. Dr. Joye says that it's not a conspiracy.
Rather, government scientists have only been studying oxygen levels
close to the blown out well. However, oxygen levels are much lower 3-15
kilometers from the leaking wellhead (the water right near the wellhead
has been recently exposed to oil, and so the oil and methane-eating
bacteria haven't had a chance to start breaking it down yet. Further
away from the spill site, the bacteria breaks down the oil and methane
more, depleting oxygen in the process.) See this Wall Street Journal article.
Indeed,
as Dr. Joye notes, scientists have no idea how the large quanties of
dispersant will effect the Gulf's microbial communities (for more
information, watch part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5 of Dr. Joye's July 13th press conference).
The bottom line is that the use of so much Corexit in combination
with such huge amounts of oil is a science experiment, and no one knows
the outcome. This might kill the Gulf. Or the Gulf might bounce back
surprisingly fast.
Rob Kendall, director of Texas Tech’s Insitute of Environmental & Human Health, says:
This
is a catastrophe of enormous proportions. To me, this is the biggest
environmental toxicology experiment we’ve ever conducted.
And Kim Withers, a coastal ecologist at Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi notes:
It's like the biggest science experiment ever. Unfortunately, it's a completely uncontrolled experiment.
We Should Evacuate the Gulf
On one extreme, Simmons says that the health effects from the huge quantities of oil and methane
released from the oil gusher, plus the huge quantities of Corexit used
by BP, have created a toxic brew which could kill 20 million Gulf coast
residents. He therefore says we should evacuate the Gulf coast.
On
the other extreme, the EPA, NOAA and other government agencies have
tried to downplay all potential health effects, according to a senior EPA analyst and many others. Indeed, the head of the EPA said:
I am walking a fine line between truth and hysteria. We don't want to create a panic.
Hurricanes could - under the right conditions - spread oil and toxic chemicals inland. See this and this
.
Marine toxicologist Dr. Ricki Ott and senior EPA analyst Hugh Kaufman both say that Gulf coastal communities should be evacuated.
And University of California Santa Barbara scientist and marine geochemistry expert Dr. David Valentine says
that - at least when BP is burning oil or gas - the area around the
spill site “had a cloud of smoke hanging over it at all times”,
composed of surface burn smoke and the methane flair-up. He said the
burns form “one thick mass of clouds, and when it rains, a lot of junk
comes down from the particulate“.
I simply don't know enough
about how Corexit, oil and methane combine to know how toxic a brew it
could really become, so I don't know whether evacuations should be
implemented.
We Should Nuke the Well
Simmons says that the only thing which will stop the oil spill is a small nuclear bomb inserted deep into the well.
I have researched this issue, and believe that the use of a nuke has more risk than benefit.
However,
conventional explosives - in the hands of top underwater demolition
experts working closely with top Gulf geologists - might be helpful if
the relief wells fail.
There is a Second, Bigger Leak Miles from the Leak We've Seen on the Videos
Perhaps
Simmons' best-known claim is that there is a second, bigger leak miles
away from the leak we've seen on the videos. Simmons claims that what
we've watched on the underwater videos is a smaller leak at the riser,
and that the main well is miles away and gushing 130,000 barrels a day.
He claims that there is a conspiracy by BP to cover this up.
The
claim that BP has hid the real well from the American people seems
contradicted by the evidence we have at this point. And while I can't
say for sure that the claim of a second, bigger leak somewhere else is
false, I have seen nothing to confirm this to date.
However, given that BP has not provided even basic information to the Congressional Committee chairman who demanded it in writing, that BP has done everything it could to cover up the severity of the problems in the Gulf (see this, this and this),
and that we only see what BP chooses to aim its cameras at, we need to
discover some basic facts about the situation before we can even
discuss this intelligently.
Moreover, because NOAA has
discovered other nearby leaks or seeps and because Admiral Thad Allen
says that the seep 3 kilometers away from the blown out well is from
the Rigel gas field, it is vital to find out what's really going on.
See this, this and this.
And a whistleblower previously told 60 Minutes, there was an accident at the rig a month or more before the April 20th explosion:
[Mike
Williams, the chief electronics technician on the Deepwater Horizon,
and one of the last workers to leave the doomed rig] ... says going faster caused the bottom of the well to split open, swallowing tools and that drilling fluid called "mud."
"We
actually got stuck. And we got stuck so bad we had to send tools down
into the drill pipe and sever the pipe," Williams explained.
That well was abandoned and Deepwater Horizon had to drill a new route to the oil. It cost BP more than two weeks and millions of dollars.
Where
did this incident occur? Was there any leak of oil, or only a loss of
equipment into the drilling mud? Have the underwater cameras, seismic
and sonar equipment taken a look at this location to make sure
everything is stable and is not leaking?
Similarly, as Bloomberg reports, problems at the well actually started in February:
BP Plc was struggling to seal cracks in its Macondo well as far back as February, more than two months before an explosion killed 11 and spewed oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
It
took 10 days to plug the first cracks, according to reports BP filed
with the Minerals Management Service that were later delivered to
congressional investigators. Cracks in the surrounding rock continued to complicate the drilling operation during the ensuing weeks. Left unsealed, they can allow explosive natural gas to rush up the shaft.
“Once
they realized they had oil down there, all the decisions they made were
designed to get that oil at the lowest cost,” said Peter Galvin of the
Center for Biological Diversity, which has been working with
congressional investigators probing the disaster. “It’s been a doomed
voyage from the beginning.”
***
On Feb. 13, BP told the minerals service it was trying to seal cracks in the well about 40 miles (64 kilometers) off the Louisiana coast, drilling documents obtained by Bloomberg show. Investigators are still trying to determine whether the fissures played a role in the disaster.
Why do investigators think fissures back then might have played a part in the April 20 explosion and blowout?
The answers to the above questions must be disclosed so that we can assess what's really going on in the Gulf of Mexico.
To watch Simmons make the claims addressed above, watch these videos:
»
- advertisements -
The Blue Angels and BP are polluting the Gulf of Mexico for fun, profit and propaganda purposes
By Gary Kohls
Online Journal Contributing Writer
Jul 22, 2010, 00:12
.
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_6138.shtml
.
"
Hopefully we won’t have to say, ”I participated in America’s extravagant and unsustainable lifestyle by my silence and complicity. I blindly thought that the Pentagon’s continued overuse and wastage of fuel for my amusement was worth it, and I didn’t want to accept that one of the purposes of the air shows was the recruitment of impressionable young boys and girls to think that war is glorious. I’m sorry now, but I wasn’t taking the oil crisis or the endless wars seriously back in 2010.”
Such an apology will surely be regarded as pathetically inadequate and way too late.
Dr. Kohls is a retired physician from the Duluth, MN area, who writes about peace, justice, mental health and religion. "
.
The Mother of All Gushers: Top kill, static kill, drill, kill, kill, kill . . .
By Missy Comley Beattie
........
.
I wish he would just let it die.
Here is something else he could write about. From the New York Times, 7-26-10:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/27/technology/27iphone.html?_r=1&src=mv
The Library of Congress, which has the power to define exceptions to an important copyright law, said on Monday that it was legal to bypass a phone’s controls on what software it will run to get “lawfully obtained” programs to work.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit digital rights group, had asked for that exception to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to allow the so-called jailbreaking of iPhones and other devices. ...
In addition to the decision on jailbreaking, the Library of Congress also granted an exception to artists who remix copy-protected video content for noncommercial work, and renewed its approval for cellphone owners to “unlock” their phones or lift controls that restrict use to one particular wireless carrier.
A lot of angry, angry posts today. I wonder if BP has a war room full of 'tards spewing hate toward any questions. They should be outraged at any inquiry after they have handled the spill so very, very well. The truth shall set you free...
Haven't you noticed that BP share price has increased quite a bit from the lows?
Mr. Matt must have put the whip to the boys on the payroll to get more BS distributed. Repeat the nonsense, more, more, more. The gullible Simmons employees need to keep up the distribution to the simpletons with no long term memory capability.
There you go again, spreading wisdom, good cheer and enlightenment everywhere you go. This post wasn't even against your position (that everything is just fine and dandy), it merely noted the justified outrage of a perfectly respectable corporation. Of which you are most certainly not an employee, full-time, contracted, retained or otherwise. It's not all about attacking BP, you know.
However, I do have a friend, as in one, that works for BP. I do live in energy mecca that is Houston afterall. We were in grad school together. Though, the only thing he's told me since the spill happened is that his day consists of being either a bitch (in the prison sense) or a slave to his new found govt master. He sits down with the govt suit, and they go over records (mostly safety records) all day, every single day. That's the only thing he does now. I can understand why he might be pissed. That's gotta be a boring job, and he gets shit from people even though he is just a rather low level mechanical engineer that works in downstream. Other than that though, he wont tell me a damn thing because he is not able to which would be expected. I couldnt get that asshole to even discuss what the initial integrity test readings might mean going forward while we were out 2 weekends ago. (I think it was the day the very first number was released). I have a friend that works at Nalco too. But he works in finance, knows nothing about geology/chemistry, and doesn't know anyone there that would have any useful info. He also took the job there because they paid for his grad school tuition but is looking to get out of there ASAP. I don't blame him either. I'm pretty sure this admission will have me labeled as a shill, but that accusation is pretty worthless at this point. I think it is more of a badge of honor around here lately. I know and converse with many people in the industry. I honestly would love to see someone like gasmiinder writing articles on ZH. Based on the quality of the posts I've read from him, he obviously has a lot of industry experience and brings a balance to the force.
Oh and Rockford, dont feel left out. I enjoy your posts too.
Agreed, I don't think GW has anything new to report. I wish he would just let it die.
For those who have never seen an undersea volcano, I present the following videos and photos:
Volcanoes in the Gulf of Mexico
National Geographic shows an undersea volcano in the Gulf of Mexico:
http://sciencestage.com/v/15174/underwater-volcanoes.html
Giant Undersea Volcano Revealed
During the past few weeks, the submerged volcano—one of the world's largest—was mapped and explored in detail for the first time by a joint Indonesian-U.S. expedition north of the island of Sulawesi (map).
Watch video footage of the volcano:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/05/090507-guam-underseavolc...
See photos of the volcano:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2010/07/photogalleries/100715-giant-u...
Do you still think there was an oil leak?
yes,
the platform burned out and sank not because of a volcano from guam.
but , the distraction effect the "spill" provides in the mindspace
does help the fed and the pent house agon in this hour of
transparency. the a/b location hypothesis is interesting and
observations / surveys could settle it so they will probably
never be done. proprietary, ......... tip off. extension of
ink, squidesqification, cloud/s. as they say.." i spill/drink your
milkshake".
? plus, it is a pending matter before the courts. ( real "money"
is going to determine the facts").
see, even tragedy is hilarious at the circus show. the world is
forgiving and very big but there are limits, they just seem to be beyond
our comprehension and view.
Yes, although there might ALSO be a gas leak from the Rigel field: See this, this and this.
@Assfire...you're an idiot to now squawk about losing taxes when there is so much other waste and loop holes.. like BP couldn't find other ways to slim down their numbers every year
yeah and 40% coming back to Americans.. what shill talk you breathe - what about all the loss of economy in the GoM?? none of that '40%' was going to go there
YES, IT SUCKS HAVING SOMETHING FACTUAL ON THIS THREAD.
+1
But on the positive side, I did find out that I have "control issues" and that I am a jackass. Where else but here could I get free mental diagnosis with such honesty.
Hey, if you are willing dispense, you should be ready to receive as well...
That's funny coming from someone who uses expressions like "self apologia" and words like "impartial" only to later admit they don't know what it (impartial) means.
I was posting facts and logic on this subject. I don't recall ANY of you refuting those facts and logic. What I do recall is being accused of being a BP Shill, having a mental disorder, and being a jackass by the doomsday-panic-conspiracy-porn crowd.
Hey, you (collective "you") created this jackass. Take the credit for it. Gekko, Wang, Cog Dis ... curtsey for your audience.
You can be a very thin-skinned guy for a hardboiled detective. You keep taking upon yourself things which are a) not in themselves insults b) not aimed at you. Your contribution of facts and logic is welcome. Your twisting of others statements and full-on 'fuck you's' to groups of other members YOU decided belong together is not so welcome. I wish you would stop acting the poor, helpless victim of ZH atrocities -- or at least stop complaining while you engage in exactly the same. The whole 'but they started it' thing doesn't wash very well, and the whole point of an anonymous avatar is to be able to ignore crap like this and carry in with your usual lighthearted manner.
PS: Paid representatives of every major corporation and national gov't ARE present here, and at most popular/niche sites on the web. While the current game of 'throw the shill down the well' is not very fruitful, try not to take it so personally.
I know I am not supposed to take what you say personal, but lest you forget, my namesake was not a "hardboiled detective". He was a framed ex-con with a sensitive side. Geez CD, can't you get anything right?
Note to those who believe Simmons on the second bigger leak claim: I'm too busy at work to read all comments, so don't know how definitive your conclusions are on earlier well, etc. Please let me know what you figure out.
Note to those who think Simmons is disinfo: TPTB always try to discredit their opponents by putting in their own guy who says such nutty things it makes everyone who questions TPTB look bad. This is something we have to watch out for...
Here are the basic problems with Simmons' assertion that MC252 is a slight of hand to hide the fact that the real danger is a second leak somwhere about 7mi away, spewing more than one hundred thousand (if not hundreds of thousands) of barrels of oil a day. First of all, if this leak did in fact exist, then there are two scenarios here. 1) BP and the govt have conciously chosen to not address it and are letting it flow unchecked into the ocean, not even making an attempt to stifle or stop the flow, while they conduct an elaborate and multi-billion dollar slight of hand over at MC252. 2) BP and the Govt are secrectly addressing this second leak.
I don't see what the possible motive could be that would persuade the Govt to knowingly and intentionally ignore an inprecedented oil leak in the GOM, that would dwarf MC252. But not only would they willingly ignore it, they would be deliberately attempting to hide this leak's existence from anyone and everyone else. Again, why?
If they were trying to covertly address this second leak under the radar, how would that work? If it is so much larger than the blowout we are all familiar with, dont you think all of the drillships, production platforms, tankers, equipment, crew, etc. clustered 7mi. away, and not known to have any relation to MC252, would draw some attention? No one happened to notice this on aerial or sat images so far? ever?
That goes for any other scenario as well. Regardless of whether or not this second leak is being addressed or ignored, evidence of its existence would have presented itself by now. No one, and by no one I mean NO ONE ANYWHERE, has presented anything that would even hint at its existence. You mean to tell me that if there are hundreds or thousands of people secretly working on this thing, not a one of them has mentioned it to anyone? Not one person has leaked even the tiniest info? And of all the other people working on the skimmers, the 2000 "vessels of opportunity", independent scientists and academic researchers, other O&G E&Ps, firshermen, or any other human who may have a reason to be in the marine waters of the GOM anywhere near MC252 at some point in the last 3 months, not a one of them has even hinted to a possibility that this leak exists to anyone?
Look, our govt surveillance/intel type of agencies are good, but they aren't that good.
There is just not a logical reason to assume that no one other than Simmons is aware of this. The fact that he has yet to fully explain how this information was obtained beyond some anonymous/ambiguous source, how his source obtained it, or even in what direction it is with respect to MC252, says a lot. Throw in the fact that he has also made several other claims that are physically impossible, what reason do I, you or anyone else have to believe him on this?
Why do they continue to believe Simmons?
They enjoy scary movies and hiding under the sheets with a flashlight.
I scarcely think that the whole truth of this matter rests with GW, Matt Simmons, or the other members of the chorus of voices striving to be heard in an attempt to assess the scope, extent and parameters of this disaster, thought I think we might be grateful to anyone attempting to do so in good faith. Disaster it is, I think all might agree to some degree for another. Chris Landau is another contrarian and authoritative voice, who has nothing but contempt for Simmon's more outlandish claims, and yet is having nothing of the government and BP propaganda served up for public consumption. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_8ZpAibS0w&feature=watch_response.
The point is that few of us know anything about the true nature of this event except possibly the barest outlines of which are all aware and in truth, no one was much concerned with the Deepwater Horizon well, TransOcean and for that matter BP and the 28,000 other oil wells in the Gulf until the explosion and fire occurred. Nonetheless, the proven track records of 1) BP for extensive and ongoing environmental pollution, corporate malfeasance, and most notably the use of the highly toxic Corexit to disperse and deny the massive volume of oil and 2) the federal government for cover up, fabrication and outright lies to the American people, indicate that at the very least, a concerted effort is being made to keep the facts of this unprecedented catastrophe from ever seeing the light of day. I must admit they are doing an excellent job.
Landau is a believer in "abiotic oil".
Chris Landau is an authorative source? The guy is a crackpot. The more he writes, the more obvious it becomes.
I have not doubt that BP used Corexit, but I do have doubts that there's been an oil leak. There are quite a few volcanic deposits in the Gulf of Mexico. With BP's deep-water equipment, it's quite easy to drill into the side of an asphalt volcanic deposit and release gases that look like an oil leak. After all, how many people would know the difference between an undersea oil leak and an undersea volcano venting?
As for motive, misdirection is quite a motive. During the entire alleged oil leak, the U.S. sent large numbers of battleships to areas near Iran, North Korea, and Costa Rica. Large troop movement tend to draw attention...unless there's a phony environmental catastrophe taking place.
This is a troll, right? There's oil on and in the Gulf and it was on camera for weeks.
I could be wrong ... but would'nt BP be too big to fail?
Yeah. That's what I think. Too much involved in finance worldwide to let it crash and burn, unless that aspect of it gets taken over by another huge entity. US taxpayers are already on the hook for potentially $7.5B. Whatever bailouts occur will have to masquerade as something else.
It seems a miracle that our beloved leader was able to convince BP to establish a $20 billion slush (oops, escrow) fund to compensate those hurt by the ongoing oil plume in the Gulf of Mexico. After all, he had no constitutional power to force them to do so; so had to resort to Chicago-style negotiating.
But, let us take a closer look at the effect on BP's finances:
1. BP will establish a $20 billion fund, but will pay only $7 billion into it during 2010.
2. BP is a British corporation, but has a very large operating entity in the U.S.
3. By Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, BP must book the entire $20 billion expense in the year accrued. Therefore, they will book a $20 billion expense in 2010, reducing their U.S. tax liability by $7 billion.
4. Our dear leader also convinced this massive corporation to show their concern for the "small people" by withholding dividends to their shareholders for the last three quarters of 2010. This reduces their outward cash flow by about $7.5 billion, including approximately 40 percent of that amount to U.S. citizens. Assuming the Bush tax cuts will survive through 2010, the U.S. Treasury will lose another $450 million in taxes on that amount. We won't even discuss the effect on the U.S. economy.
Let us review the results:
BP Cash Flow:
Escrow funding ($7 billion)
Dividend saving $7.5 billion
Tax savings $7 billion
Net favorable cash flow : $7.5 billion
US Treasury Tax Receipts:
BP Corporate income tax ($7.5 billion)
BP Shareholders ($0.45 billion)
Net unfavorable tax receipts ($7.95 billion)
I guess we really should expect this. After all, our dear leader is the most inexperienced man in any room he walks into.
BP is a global and not British corporation.
Feel any better now?
I haven't been posting on this subject because the misinformation has been so entertaining. I am on scene on one of the largest oceanographic research vessels working in the GOM. I am not being paid by NOAA or BP. This is a factual statement: Beyond 20 NM from the wellhead we have not detected subsurface oil at any depth in concentrations above 20PPM, beyond 40NM we have not detected any oil above 2PPM that was associated with Deepwater Horizon. We have seen the usual seep concentrations around Vioska Knoll, Green Canyon, etc.
Just wanted to add that out of tens of thousands of samples, the positive hits are coming from extremely limited areas "Plumes" which are measured in tens and perhaps hundreds of meters, not in miles. I have access to all of the raw and preliminary data coming in from 8 of the vessels sampling for the SMU (Subsurface Monitoring Unit)
let me rephrase - please explain CDOM flouresence in relation to DO2 and the date your vessel departed/returned along with its MMSI
Would you also like my social security number? How about the number for the tech at Turner Designs who calibrated our cyclops c6? I am not authorized to be releasing this info, it is all going to litigation. Just trying to add a dose of reality for my old pals at ZH, this same kind of nonsense is going on over at TOD. I'll cut and paste some data on determination of crude concentrations via CDOM and Dissolved Oxygen if it would make you feel any better.
Don't get me wrong I think this is a very serious event, I think bio-accumulations of primary and secondary metabolic by-products all the way up and down the food chain is the big story here. Most people in the science community are appalled by the basically unrestricted use of Corexit. The full story won't be known for years but all this Tinfoil hat Simmons crap is counterproductive. I don't know what his motive is but it certainly isn't the dissemination of facts
+1
I find the Simmons armageddon crowd to be about on the level of the fringe AGW claiming just a few years ago that Greenland's ice sheet already doomed to raise sea levels by 7 meters, that AGW caused Hurricane Katrina, that we should start eating our dogs and have chickens as pets instead (and eat them too) to cut down on GHG emissions, or (my most recent favorite) that early man hunting the wooly mammoth 15,000yrs ago started AGW. Ridiculous claims like these do nothing but impede the progression of intelligent discussion of the issue. It eats away at the credibility of the more level-headed pro-AGW crowd and serves as an affirmation to those that hold all aspects of climate science as nothing but a farce.
(And I realize there is a middle ground, but I'm sure you all get the point)
We certainly agree on Simmons and the tinfoil hat crowd, it is a huge diversion from the environmental issues, which is why I was disappointed that George would give it more than passing reference let alone devote an entire article to it, this far into the crisis.
But at the same time some legit folks from the scientific community would probably take issue with some of your comments on the plumes, granted plumes are very misunderstood as they fit in nicely with Simmon's nonsense. It is good that you brought up the Corexit, which some dismiss as fear mongering, moreover dissolved methane is likely a greater problem than the oil and as you know by the time you are out 40k, it like the oil would likely be presenting as depressed levels of DO2.
My understanding is that there have been no research mission departures since early June and that there have been challenges with how NOAA/JAG is managing/not managing the research process. Final question what level are they using to define hypoxia, the NOAA documents suggest a number lower than 2ml is being used.
Per the conference call today there are 8 vessels still actively sampling for SMU, I have not seen any number other than <2ml/l to define hypoxia but I will ask.
Thanks
Do you mean deepwater research missions like Pelican, Walton Smith etc back in May?
I see Pisces, GG, TJand Nancy Foster out there but I wasn't aware they were doing research on the deepwater subsurface oil/gas paricularly since NOAA had said on Friday there were issues with monitoring equipment.
I will wait for the transcript and hopefully will have the opp to dial in to Joye's update tomorrow (Tues at 11am EDT) - For those interested here is the number and access code.
888-204-5987 and entering access code 2560397
http://shiptracker.noaa.gov/gShiptracker/map.aspx
Whoever is doing the NOAA shiptracker updates is way behind. Everybody out here is doing deepwater sampling for NOAA SMU (along with whatever their primary mission objective may be described as). The main issue is achieving discrete sampling at depth since the standard CTD rosette Niskin bottles go down open and are closed at discrete depth on the ascent. This can be partially overcome by replacing the standard Niskins with Go-Flo's though it takes longer and you get fewer samples, there are a couple of prototype rosettes operating which can open and close at discrete depths. (there is on on my ship). They still have to be preloaded with "clean" water at the surface to prevent implosion, But you dont have to worry about contamination on the way down. Some of the early UNOLS participants, Weatherbird II, Cape Hatteras, FG Walton Smith, Have had to replace gear, since they couldn't sample for trace after working directly in MC252, since even their .322 and winches were completely contaminated. Just about everyone has had time to swap gear and wire and get back into the fray. I have to run, the sampling is getting done, the processing will take a while.
TJ -
To the best of my knowledge no UNOLS vessels currently active in the spill region with the exception of RV Pelican which is studying seasonal Hypoxia.
The only activity I am aware of are NOAA vessels and NOAA contracted vessels i.e. no independent research missions since June.
I would think not (in response to the original text of your post), though I have been known to be spectacularly wrong before....
Good to see you back on the board, TJ -- is there anything you can tell us as to WITHIN 20 NM? Any thoughts on the reports of the NOAA TJ? Also, what is the depth range of the SMU in question?
The TRUTH is that BP has been lying and obfuscating evidence since day 1 - before day 1 it now seems. It only serves BP's interests to focus attention on the mob of pundits whose motives and veracity are at best vague, and at worst nefarious.
Disgustus, Rockford, assminder, & co. are obviously industry shills, or have lost their asses on BP. Nothing but praise and glory for the church of corruption, also known as modern capitalism. Forget them, forget Simmons. Keep your eye on the eye of the storm.
On the subject of the BP well failure there have been, and continue to be, two separate and distinct conversations: a political conversation, and a technical conversation. The technical is not political and the political is not technical. Yet there is a certain crowd here that takes the technical comments and claims they are political comments.
The technical crowd have confined themselves to saying: based on what we know of math and science, that idea or concept is not possible. I may have missed something somewhere, but for the most part the technical folks do not address the political conversation - other than to admit that BP is criminally liable, there has been a campaign of disinformation, and it is hard to know exactly what is going on due to the absence of information. These last points are consistent with what is being claimed in the political conversation.
Encouraging folks to ignore what the technical folks have to say is not much different than encouraging folks to ignore what the math and science books say because they won't help us with our corrupt political system.
Two different conversations going on here. Each conversation has it's value. But only if you can actually understand what each conversation is saying.
+1
Anybody who suggested the use of a nuclear weapon to fix this well has been exposed as a crank and should be put in an asylum where they belong. Is it possible to have dreamed up a more stupid idea?
Matt Simmons is smart enough to know what's going on and I think he's very very upset by it. He's alleging criminal activities by BP. 11 people lost their lives here and the Gulf is turned into a massive science experiment. If you take your ideas from BP's press releases and bought and paid for MSM reports, you think that the word experiment means something fairly malignant. In reality, unfortunately, that is far from the case. It is just a form of hyperbole that they are using on the public.
Matt talks in scattered fashion for a reason, most likely because he want to avoid things that will get him sued.
+1
Dementia/temp. insanity can/could be a solid defense, should it come to that. Now if only we could be sure that it is indeed merely a defensive tactic...
Internet theocracy, virtual Salem witchcraft trials, stone the infidels: F'ing idiots vote against posts because they want to believe something that's not true.
As always. Polarizing commentary on this thread. Because in our now befuddled states, few of us can come to real conclusions by ourselves anymore. We need to be sooth-said by "experts".
http://aadivaahan.wordpress.com/2010/06/09/an-older-piece-pertinent/
And so, what was clear to any astute observer by day 3 or 5 of this disaster has become mainstream thought at a geometric rate. This is not good for information control.
All they need to do is create doubt. So simple and so many willing shills to serve them. Just a shadow of doubt and the weak-minded and conviction-lacking sheeple will begin to doubt.
Read this for such instilled doubt... such confusion...
http://aadivaahan.wordpress.com/2010/07/04/an-open-letter-to-all-gom-res...
So the only real choice all of us have at this time to get a bearing on our inner compass, individual first and then collectively.
Be-come an engine of cause instead of an instrument at effect.
ORI
http://aadivaahan.wordpress.com
Be a thermostat instead of a thermometer.
Very nice Richard.
Exactly!
ORI
http://aadivaahan.wordpress.com