Oil spill apocalypse?

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/04/deepwater_horizon_secret_memo.html

TL;DR version: Leaked report estimates massive oil spillage in a worse-case scenario.

The spill would be so huge that global extinction is a real possibility

Related: After pointing that out this seems like small beans, but some species of sea turtle are so rare that killing a couple dozen more than usual would put the species in jeopardy:

http://news.discovery.com/animals/sea-turtles-washing-up-dead-near-oil-spill-site.html

Not to mention that I might not be able to get crawfish when I go to New Orleans this weekend.

Think of the children!

I have evolved to breathe petroleum so I'm cool. You guys are screwed, however.

GameboyRMH wrote: The spill would be so huge that global extinction is a real possibility

Global extinction?

From whose butt was that deduction pulled?

scardeal wrote: Not to mention that I might not be able to get crawfish when I go to New Orleans this weekend. Think of the children!

Don't worry crawfish are fresh water. No shrimp is the real problem.

Just based on some back-of-the-napkin calculations going on at Slashdot, assuming the worse case scenario of an Exxon Valdez' worth of spillage every 3 days until the well is empty. Some more authoritative figures should chime in once this hits the media (probably tomorrow).

Dont they clean up the oiled up critters with dawn dish soap? Lets just dump a tanker full of dawn at the site and walk/boat away.

/thread

(Anyways saving a species with only a couple dozen of them is anti-Darwinism. Only the strong survive. )

RossD wrote: (Anyways saving a species with only a couple dozen of them is anti-Darwinism. Only the strong survive. )

Not what darwin said.

RossD wrote: Dont they clean up the oiled up critters with dawn dish soap? Lets just dump a tanker full of dawn at the site and walk/boat away. /thread (Anyways saving a species with only a couple dozen of them is anti-Darwinism. Only the strong survive. )

If it makes you feel any better about saving them, apparently the creatures and their eggs are extremely tasty (that's why they're endangered) but they're one peg above pandas on reproductive ability. So if they weren't endangered, there would be another tasty edible creature out there. Isn't that what you want for your children?

oldsaw wrote:

GameboyRMH wrote: The spill would be so huge that global extinction is a real possibility

Global extinction? From whose butt was that deduction pulled?

The word extinction doesn't even appear on that web page. Let alone "global extinction". No mention of it what so ever.

I take it you decided on your own to put that bit in there?

How soon until this is blamed for the need to have $4/gal gas?
I predict an expensive summer travel season.

foxtrapper wrote: The word extinction doesn't even appear on that web page. Let alone "global extinction". No mention of it what so ever. I take it you decided on your own to put that bit in there?

That's right, it's based on some nerds' estimates.

http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/05/03/212210/How-Bad-Is-the-Gulf-Coast-Oil-Spill?from=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+%28Slashdot%29

Search through the thread for some different arguments.

jrw1621 wrote: How soon until this is blamed for the need to have $4/gal gas? I predict an expensive summer travel season.

Oh E36 M3 I didn't think about that one. Ah! I hate being broke in college.

Lessee, rig blows up, kills eleven people, and sinks. No one has asked any questions regarding sabotage/terrorism, except apparently ruling it out?

I was wondering about BP's history of not keeping up with maintence just to save a few bucks.

Couldn't they just light the oil on fire?

96DXCivic wrote: Couldn't they just light the oil on fire?

They did! It didn't help much. A lot of the oil is floating under the surface.

96DXCivic wrote: Couldn't they just light the oil on fire?

The USCG's been "corraling" it and lighting it, but it's an uphill battle.

No, the oil is mixed with water, and doesn't burn well.

This spill will basically kill the Keys, both economically and environmentally. It's projected to enter the gulfstream and be on the east coast in a month. Florida is screwed.

And this happend right after the Pres. said we could drill off the east coast.

Great.

Tommy Suddard wrote: Florida is screwed.

Dammit! QFT

It appears that there was no "Plan B" for the possibility of this. How can that be? Drilling 5000' down, and you don't plan on Bad Things happening? Blow outs happen. Explosions happen. You plan for it, right? This is going to take years to play out, the Gulf coast is toast, the Keys, East coast how far up? I wonder if BP people are consulting with Exxon on how to handle this. At least they won't go bankrupt, but price of gas will certainly go up.

96DXCivic wrote:

jrw1621 wrote: How soon until this is blamed for the need to have $4/gal gas? I predict an expensive summer travel season.

Oh E36 M3 I didn't think about that one. Ah! I hate being broke in college.

Summer travel requires more than gas money--which is why I never could travel. I didn't care about gas prices because they didn't mean anything to me since I couldn't afford to eat, sleep, or have fun at any choice destination.

It's having an impact in subtle ways already. I talked to a friend ~30 minutes ago who just canceled their upcoming trip to Steinhatchee (a little fishing town in the northern half of the West coast of Florida) for scalloping. Coastal tourism is going to get hammered.