So Little

It would have taken so little for things to have been done right.

A Solemn Prayer

Last night, President Obama ended his oval-office speech to the nation on the Gulf oil leak crisis with a prayer that combined the model for Christian redemption with the model for social action for the common good:

"Each year, at the beginning of shrimping season, the region’s fishermen take part in a tradition that was brought to America long ago by fishing immigrants from Europe. It’s called “The Blessing of the Fleet,” and today it’s a celebration where clergy from different religions gather to say a prayer for the safety and success of the men and women who will soon head out to sea -– some for weeks at a time.

The ceremony goes on in good times and in bad. It took place after Katrina, and it took place a few weeks ago –- at the beginning of the most difficult season these fishermen have ever faced.

And still, they came and they prayed. For as a priest and former fisherman once said of the tradition, “The blessing is not that God has promised to remove all obstacles and dangers. The blessing is that He is with us always,” a blessing that’s granted “even in the midst of the storm.”

The oil spill is not the last crisis America will face. This nation has known hard times before and we will surely know them again. What sees us through -– what has always seen us through –- is our strength, our resilience, and our unyielding faith that something better awaits us if we summon the courage to reach for it.

Tonight, we pray for that courage. We pray for the people of the Gulf. And we pray that a hand may guide us through the storm towards a brighter day. Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America."

"Something better awaits if we can summon the courage to reach for it."

"We pray that a hand may guide us through the storm."

Heaven awaits us, if we can reach beyond our earthly scope. A larger force can guide us if we ask it. We decide.

Today, President Obama brought home for the American people a $20 billion payment yielded by British Petroleum. It will start an independent fund that can help pay for the damages and loss of income. A first installment, some say.

He decided.

$4300 A Barrel Will Recover The Oil

Can we pay fishermen $4300 for every barrel of oil they bring in? BP's fine will cover the cost. The oil is proof of the pudding. We hand it off to BP. $4300 equips the fishermen with respirators.

They will clean near the shore first.

BP may find themselves paying for leakage from all the other wells, but that will force them to bring leakage issues to the fore with Halliburton, who should have been sealing the wells.

Could A Sleeve Hold The Oil?

(This expands on an earlier post)

Imagine a back-yard swimming pool of strong, flexible mylar plastic, 100 feet across, a mile deep, and upside down over the oil leak.

What is the worst that can happen?

Weighted down at the edges, touching the bottom, it could hold the oil. It could hold 40 million cubic feet of oil until BP finds ships to off-load it. That's 310 million gallons, almost 6 million barrels of oil. Once the sleeve gets full, slip another one in place. The oil would not be under pressure, just contained.

Touching the bottom, the sleeve would limit submarine access to the wellhead. But that would last only until the relief wells succeed. Then the wellhead could be repaired.

If submarines still must tinker with the wellhead, if the present pipe that is pulling a fraction of the oil up into tankers must stay in place, then why not make a 1000 foot wide skirt that can float a hundred feet above the ocean floor and capture oil as it rises from the work site below?

Open wide at the bottom, this "range hood" above the robot submarines could funnel escaping oil upward into a containment sleeve.

Could BP tankers ship the oil away fast enough if it all came directly to the surface?

What is the worst that could happen?

Spike The Leak

British Petroleum has now succeeded in sawing off the broken riser pipe from its spouting oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. The polluting oil exits directly upwards.

Suppose a 50 foot long spike were now lowered into the well?

- - - -
(6-8-10) Well, it appears that spiking the central leak would just force the oil out secondary leaks lower down.

ALL that can be done is to accept all the oil that comes, and to accept it in a way that keeps it non-destructive. For example, a long shroud or sleeve could cover the wellhead and receive the oil, moving it to the surface while keeping it in a defined space. At the surface it could easily be dealt with.

A shroud would, however, block access to the wellhead. The shroud that captures the oil would prevent the submarine from playing with the wellhead.

BP appears to be trying to rebuild the well. Return things to normal. The damage to the environment hasn't hit home yet as a drilling cost they will have to pay.

Perhaps relocating the flow to the surface until the relief wells take hold should be their highest priority.

Would A Mile-Long Condom Hold The Flow?

How hard would it be to make a mylar condom ten feet in diameter and a mile long and to drop the bottom end over the oil leak?

Could we at least relocate the leak to the surface?

Weighted at the bottom, held open by spring wire, the tube could contain the flow, and if it is enlarged at the top, it could also collect the flow as a holding tank.

The flow does not need to randomly disperse into the ocean.

If the tube were twenty feet across, it could hold quite a bit of flow.

What the cost?