{"id":494,"date":"2010-05-11T18:35:16","date_gmt":"2010-05-11T18:35:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/?p=494"},"modified":"2010-05-12T18:50:23","modified_gmt":"2010-05-12T18:50:23","slug":"bbc-bp-may-stem-oil-with-golf-balls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/2010\/05\/11\/bbc-bp-may-stem-oil-with-golf-balls\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC: BP ‘may stem oil with golf balls’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Debris made up of golf balls and rubber tyres may be used
\nto try to stem the Gulf of Mexico oil slick, BP officials say.
\nFull story:
\nhttp:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/go\/em\/-\/2\/hi\/americas\/8672181.stm<\/a>
\nBP ‘may stem oil with golf balls and tyres’
\nHundreds of miles of booms are being
\nlaid along the coastline<\/p>\n

BP officials desperate to stem a huge oil spill in the Gulf of
\nMexico are considering stuffing the well with golf balls and
\ntyres, it was revealed.<\/p>\n

BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said the so-called “junk
\nshot” of debris was one option after previous attempts to stem
\nthe flow failed.<\/p>\n

A growing slick from the BP-leased rig is threatening an
\nenvironmental disaster along US coasts.<\/p>\n

Some 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) of oil a day are flowing
\ninto the sea.<\/p>\n

Mr Suttles said it may be possible to stem the flow by blocking
\nthe well’s failed blowout preventer.<\/p>\n

“We have some pipe work on the blowout preventer, and if we can
\nopen certain valves on that we could inject basically just rubber
\nand other type of material into [it] to plug it up, not much
\ndifferent to the way you might plug up a toilet,” he said.<\/p>\n

Admiral Thad Allen of the US Coast Guard said it could plug the
\nmain leak.<\/p>\n

“They’re going to take a bunch of debris, shredded up tyres, golf
\nballs and things like that, and under very high pressure shoot it
\ninto the preventer itself and see if they can clog it up and stop
\nthe leak,” he told CBS television.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\nATTEMPTS TO CONTROL SLICK
\n– Booms have been partly successful although rough
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 seas have washed oil over them
\n– Some controlled burning of oil has taken place,
\nbut it causes serious air pollution
\n– About 325,000 gallons of dispersant have been used,
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 although scientists warn it may kill marine life
\n– A relief well is being drilled but could many weeks
\n– A huge steel funnel suffered a build-up of ice-like
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 crystals and had to be put aside<\/p>\n

However, experts have warned that any further damage to the blowout
\npreventer – a huge valve system meant to turn the oil off – could
\nsee it shooting out at 12 times the current rate.<\/p>\n

The Deepwater Horizon rig caught fire and sank following an explosion
\nlast month.<\/p>\n

The resulting slick has so far thwarted all efforts by BP and US
\nofficials to bring it under control.<\/p>\n

A 98-tonne concrete-and-steel funnel lowered 5,000ft (1,500m) to the
\nseabed had been BP’s best hope to contain the main leak while it
\ntried to stop it altogether by drilling relief wells nearby.
\nBut a build-up of gas hydrates – crystalline water-based solids
\nresembling ice – inside the funnel blocked the exit at the top,
\nand it had to be put aside on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Mr Suttles said other options being discussed were to make a smaller
\ncontainment dome or to tap into the broken riser pipe and take the
\noil directly to the surface.
\nThe broken pipe is almost a mile (1.6 km) down on the ocean floor with
\nlittle visibility for engineers using remotely controlled vehicles.
\nWildlife in the Gulf of Mexico is
\nalready suffering<\/p>\n

Although the Deepwater Horizon was operated by Transocean, BP is
\nresponsible for the clean-up.<\/p>\n

The slick has so far covered about 2,000 sq miles (5,200 sq km).
\nUS President Barack Obama is due to meet senior officials at the
\nWhite House on Monday to review BP’s efforts.<\/p>\n

A sheen from the edge of the slick is surrounding island nature
\nreserves off Louisiana and tar balls have reached as far as the
\nAlabama coast.<\/p>\n

The low-lying region contains vital spawning grounds for fish,
\nshrimp and crabs and is an important migratory stop for many species
\nof rare birds.<\/p>\n

Louisiana’s fishing industry has ground to a halt in certain areas
\ndue to health concerns about polluted fish.<\/p>\n

Booms and bundles of absorbent material have been laid along
\nshorelines to try to protect them.<\/p>\n

Teams are also filling sandbags which the Louisiana National Guard
\nwill airlift on Monday to five spots along a threatened stretch of
\ncoastline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Debris made up of golf balls and rubber tyres may be used to try to stem the Gulf of Mexico oil slick, BP officials say. Full story: http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/go\/em\/-\/2\/hi\/americas\/8672181.stm BP ‘may stem oil with golf balls and tyres’ Hundreds of miles of booms are being laid along the coastline BP officials desperate to stem a huge … Continue reading BBC: BP ‘may stem oil with golf balls’<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":507,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494\/revisions\/507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}