The environment thread

[Balta1701]

Major oil landfall caught by CBS. And want to know why there's so little video of oil onshore? It's not just because it's all subsurface, read the last bit here.

It may be the most disturbing site yet: the first heavy sludge now oozing into the marshes of Louisiana as the slick continues to grow in size out in the gulf.

 

CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella reports it's an ominous sight. The oil is thick and black and stretches about a quarter mile down a beach. It goes beyond the booms into the sensitive marsh lands which are home to migratory birds.

 

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal flew over it Tuesday.

 

"This wasn't just sheen, we were seeing heavy oil out there," Jindal said. "This wasn't just tar balls. It shows you how quick the oil showed up."

 

When CBS News tried to reach the beach, covered in oil, a boat of BP contractors with two Coast Guard officers on board told us to turn around under threat of arrest. Coast Guard officials said they are looking into the incident.

[BigSqwert]

Pretty awesome idea:

 

Rechargeable batteries are a solution for keeping batteries out of the landfill, but you still have to have the right size for your device, which means buying more batteries. What if you could buy just a small handful of batteries that fit all of your devices? That's the solution presented by The A to D Battery, a single nickel hydroxide battery core wrapped in memory foam that you can simply squish right into that remote control.

 

 

 

The battery is a AA size core with a memory foam wrap that expands to

 

Gadjitz writes, "Given the small capacity of the battery, it's hard to imagine that it would provide much life for any gizmo. But when you really need something to work right now, being able to grab a one-size-fits-all battery would be the very definition of convenience."

 

We fully agree - some devices call for D batteries because it needs that much juice to run. Plus, we aren't sure how your devices would react to having memory foam jammed into them. Heat is one issue, and foam that wants to expand (and therefore bust out of the battery slot) is another. Perhaps a solution is a memory foam wrap that can be removed when using smaller sizes, and added on when needing the core to fit into larger battery slots. But the concept itself is appealing.

 

[kapkomet]

Nine countries in Europe combine resources to build an energy network, connecting wind, solar and wave power sites around the North Sea and northern Europe, in order to make better and more complete use of renewable energy. Since it uses various types of power spread over the network, it should create a more even keel energy source on net. Very nice. Cost, however, is expected to be $43B.

 

This shows both the great potential and great cost of getting out energy infrastructure up to date here, if we wanted to. Unfortunately, we are falling behind, and when we actually have to do it, we will have lost an opportunity to also make some money at it.

 

 

On the bolded you are vastly overreaching.

 

I disagree with the far left, in that I think nuclear should be part of the picture. But the idea that its the only way to go, ignoring the side effects of using nuclear fuel and ignoring the maturity process, is silly.

 

Do 'em all - nuclear, solar, wind, geo, hydro, etc.

 

 

Yeah, but that's not about Obama. That's about another good reason to get off oil ASAP, which Obama has so far been pushing harder for than some of the previous Presidents. Though really, none of them are pushing nearly hard enough.

 

 

This is about compromise, and its about the only way to get things done. Give some room for more offshore drilling, and some nuclear plants. That gives back all kinds of money for the real, renewable future path. If you just stand there and say "nothing will be allowed except alt energy", you won't go anywhere, because the oil companies and the GOP have successfully convinced a wide swath of the American public that alt energy isn't ready and therefore shouldn't be used.

 

I don't like it, I'd rather not have it. But if a few more oil rigs go up, and a few nuke plants go up, in the next 10 years, and in exchange we see a big push towards solar/wind/geo/hydro/tidal/bio type stuff that will actually get us into a brighter future... then I am all for it.

 

 

Which is a damn good argument for getting away from oil and on to non-toxic renewable technologies (solar, wind, geo, tidal, hydro, bio) as soon as humanly possible.

 

Damn, not nearly as many as I thought for 2010.

[NorthSideSox72]

Damn, not nearly as many as I thought for 2010.

You made my point. Only one post making this argument - that the danger of spills or leaks are reason (among others I've mentioned before) to get off oil.

 

Of course I repeat my point about alt energy, clearly its something I believe in. But that post you responded to was the first time I had made this argument - the topic at hand.

 

[kapkomet]

You made my point. Only one post making this argument - that the danger of spills or leaks are reason (among others I've mentioned before) to get off oil.

 

Of course I repeat my point about alt energy, clearly its something I believe in. But that post you responded to was the first time I had made this argument - the topic at hand.

I know you believe in it. I was just bussin' yo chops.

[Balta1701]

This is 100% accurate and it really can't be interpreted as anything other than a naked attempt to cover BP's arse. Especially the lack of public release of most of the available video and the lack of improved estimates of how much gunk is now out there.

The scientists assert that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other agencies have been slow to investigate the magnitude of the spill and the damage it is causing in the deep ocean. They are especially concerned about getting a better handle on problems that may be occurring from large plumes of oil droplets that appear to be spreading beneath the ocean surface.

 

The scientists point out that in the month since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, the government has failed to make public a single test result on water from the deep ocean. And the scientists say the administration has been too reluctant to demand an accurate analysis of how many gallons of oil are flowing into the sea from the gushing oil well.

 

“It seems baffling that we don’t know how much oil is being spilled,” Sylvia Earle, a famed oceanographer, said Wednesday on Capitol Hill. “It seems baffling that we don’t know where the oil is in the water column.”

[Balta1701]

BP has officially/unofficially confirmed that the official estimate of 5000 barrels per day gushing out of the well is woefully inaccurate. BP now says it is collecting 5000 barrels per day using the tube they inserted a few days ago...and that is only a small portion of what is gushing out, based on the videos.

 

The press, of course, will continue to report the 5000 barrels per day number. Why? Screw you, they know better, that's why.

[kapkomet]

BP has officially/unofficially confirmed that the official estimate of 5000 barrels per day gushing out of the well is woefully inaccurate. BP now says it is collecting 5000 barrels per day using the tube they inserted a few days ago...and that is only a small portion of what is gushing out, based on the videos.

 

The press, of course, will continue to report the 5000 barrels per day number. Why? Screw you, they know better, that's why.

 

 

I'm sure it's 50,000,000 bbl. per day, or the number will be whatever it takes to shut down offshore drilling.

 

Why? Screw you, they know better, that's why.

[bmags]

I like how kap can read two things that completely conflict with that statement and then continue to make that statement. Dude stays in character. He's like the asian-fish-bowl guy in the prestige.

[Balta1701]

I'm sure it's 50,000,000 bbl. per day, or the number will be whatever it takes to shut down offshore drilling.

 

Why? Screw you, they know better, that's why.

Kap, I'm going to make you pay that extra $0.05/gallon in 10 years even if it takes not destroying every ecosystem on the planet.

[BigSqwert]

So here's what those chemical dispersants do to marine life....

 

 

That's a turtle in case you couldn't make it out.

 

[iamshack]

So here's what those chemical dispersants do to marine life....

 

 

That's a turtle in case you couldn't make it out.

Wow, that kind of looks like the girl I had drinks with last night...

[mr_genius]

Wow, that kind of looks like the girl I had drinks with last night...

 

haha

[NorthSideSox72]

So here's what those chemical dispersants do to marine life....

 

 

That's a turtle in case you couldn't make it out.

Do we know that wasn't the oil? Not that its good one way or the other, just curious.

 

[EvilMonkey]

Well whaddaya know. A Hollywood type put his money where his activism lies, and is trying to do something about the spill.

http://www.mediaite.com/online/kevin-costn...gulf-of-mexico/

 

Interesting if these work.

[kapkomet]

Kap, I'm going to make you pay that extra $0.05/gallon in 10 years even if it takes not destroying every ecosystem on the planet.

 

 

Yup, cause I give a s***.

 

Note: not ONCE have I said that the oil spill is "ok", just to make it clear.

[bmags]

You've defended the company every chance you could. Don't walk back now.

[Balta1701]

BP checks the list of available dispersants. Finds one that a subsidiary company of its own produces.

 

Checks the stats on that dispersant. Sees it is not the most effective dispersant. Sees it is much more toxic than other available dispersants.

 

Begins purchasing and deploying massive quantities of that dispersant anyway.

 

EPA turns its head for a month.

 

EPA finally gets its head out of its arse earlier this week, after a lot of prodding from media/sciencey types who were saying "BP is using a more toxic dispersant than it needs to and it could be using better, more modern ones!"

 

EPA orders BP to find another dispersant.

 

Meanwhile, CNN finds a warehouse in Texas holding a few hundred thousand gallons of a less toxic, more effective dispersant, just sitting there.

 

BP tells the EPA to s***w off, they'll use whatever dispersant they damn well please, it's their gulf anyway.

[kapkomet]

You've defended the company every chance you could. Don't walk back now.

 

 

Yup, that's what I've said the whole time. Uh huh.

[bmags]

BP checks the list of available dispersants. Finds one that a subsidiary company of its own produces.

 

Checks the stats on that dispersant. Sees it is not the most effective dispersant. Sees it is much more toxic than other available dispersants.

 

Begins purchasing and deploying massive quantities of that dispersant anyway.

 

EPA turns its head for a month.

 

EPA finally gets its head out of its arse earlier this week, after a lot of prodding from media/sciencey types who were saying "BP is using a more toxic dispersant than it needs to and it could be using better, more modern ones!"

 

EPA orders BP to find another dispersant.

 

Meanwhile, CNN finds a warehouse in Texas holding a few hundred thousand gallons of a less toxic, more effective dispersant, just sitting there.

 

BP tells the EPA to s***w off, they'll use whatever dispersant they damn well please, it's their gulf anyway.

 

s***w - what is this?

[BigSqwert]

It's been a month now and there has been no improvement in the gulf. Where the f*** is Obama and the government?

[kapkomet]

It's been a month now and there has been no improvement in the gulf. Where the f*** is Obama and the government?

 

 

Putting on his boots to step on the neck of BP. And selling out campaign dinners.

 

He will not rest, though, until this crisis is over.

[BigSqwert]

Putting on his boots to step on the neck of BP. And selling out campaign dinners.

 

He will not rest, though, until this crisis is over.

I gotta say his response is not unlike what we've seen during the Katrina disaster. Heck, I'd say it's worse. One month later and not a sliver of progress.

[kapkomet]

I gotta say his response is not unlike what we've seen during the Katrina disaster. Heck, I'd say it's worse. One month later and not a sliver of progress.

 

 

They don't care - you know why? There's no voters in the Gulf of Mexico. Just like Nashville. They didn't care. There's no Obama voters in Nashville.

 

Of course, according to folks in this thread, I'm for just letting oil ooze out for infinity and kill off everything... yup! You must be too, if you're waiting for the government to take over.

 

It's an issue that is pretty weird to see in action. Honestly, the bottom line is they need to get that damn thing shut off.

[mr_genius]

s***w - what is this?

 

it's a new swear word

 

and it's REALLY BAD