Oil Spill Suggestions: What Should the President Do?
McKay Coppins, writing in Newsweek, asked presidential historians to speculate how the past five U.S. presidents (going back to Jimmy Carter) would have handled the Gulf oil spill if they were in office. Although nobody really knows what how other presidents would have handled the disaster, it makes for an interesting discussion. We asked in an earlier post, “Will President Obama Follow the Lead of Jimmy Carter, or John F. Kennedy?” Our suggestion for the President has been to take action, and put the federal government in charge of the oil spill cleanup.
Given the scope of this catastrophe, affecting millions of U.S. citizens and businesses, this is no time for the President to rest his hopes on British Petroleum. BP has proven that (a) it can’t be believed, and (b) it is not up to the challenge. The truth is that there is only one entity that has both the incentive and the resources to meet the challenge of the Gulf oil spill, and that is the United States of America.
Our Suggestion for President Obama:
FDR’s New Deal used public works programs to build up the country’s infrastructure while reducing unemployment. The Gulf Coast is facing threats to both its ecosystem and its economy. What is needed now is a New Deal for the Gulf Coast.
Unlike the original New Deal, which was financed by government spending, much (or possibly all) of the cost of the New Deal for the Gulf Coast would be paid by BP. The company owes fines of at least $1,100 per barrel of oil leaked into the Gulf. If gross negligence is proven, the company will owe $4,300 per barrel. With the new estimates that the well is leaking 20,000 to 40,000 barrels per day, it seems clear that BP will ultimately pay the U.S. billions of dollars. This money should be invested in the Gulf in a way that will prevent the economic and ecological devastation that now threatens the region.
In two previous posts we’ve suggested that the federal government should take over oil spill cleanup on the ground. rent vacant hotel rooms and condominiums to house volunteers and temporary workers working to clean up the Gulf. We’ve argued that there is no country or company that is better able to successfully handle the cleanup than the U.S.
Do You Have a Suggestion for President Obama?
Do you agree or disagree with our request of President Obama? Please feel free to share your opinion about the appropriate response to the Gulf oil spill by leaving a comment. If you have different suggestions for how the federal government should handle the crisis, please share your ideas here in a comment. Also, if you agree with the idea that the federal government should take over the cleanup, please join our Facebook group: “Dear Pres. Obama: Please take over the Gulf oil clean up & send BP the bill.” You can also follow BPOilNews on Twitter.
Oil Spill Suggestion Resources:
Oil spill suggestions have been submitted by the thousands to various websites, BP and the Coast Guard. Approximately 2,000 ideas have been submitted here at BPOilNews. Almost all of the ideas have dealt with how to plug the leak, or how to get clean the oil up. If you want to post one of those types of suggestions, please click on this oil spill suggestion link and leave a comment there. If you want to post a suggestion for how President Obama should be handling the crisis, please comment after this post. You can also submit your oil spill suggestion to the Coast Guard, which promises to try to respond within one day. Finally, you may want to call (281)-366-5511 and submit your oil spill suggestion to BP. There is reason to question whether BP is seriously considering public suggestions; a BP employee was quoted on television last night saying that nobody really reviews suggestions coming into BP. The employee said the purpose of BP’s suggestion hotline is merely to stop people bothering BP.
We’ve had almost 2,000 ideas posted here on BPOilNews.com Here is a list of oil spill suggestion posts on our site:
- Coast Guard Opens Oil Spill Suggestion Box
- Gulf Oil Spill Crisis | A Threat & an Opportunity
- Hollywood Suggestions for Dealing With the Gulf Oil Spill
- BP Oil Spill Suggestion Box | Oil Spill Suggestion Hotline Now Open
- Michael J. Evans: My Proposal for Helping Clean Up the Gulf Coast Oil Spill | Federalize the Cleanup
- BP Oil Spill Suggestion Box | More Oil Spill Suggestions
- Another Suggestion to Stop the Oil Leak
- More Gulf Oil Spill Suggestions from our Readers
- Nuke the Gulf Oil Spill, says Expert
- More Suggestions for Dealing with the Gulf Oil Spill
- Video: Using Hay to Fight Oil Spill
- Use Ground Bagasse and Ammonia
- Another Crowdsourced Idea to Deal With the Oil Spill
- Crowdsourcing the Oil Spill | Your Suggested Solutions
{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree! Brilliant!
what is needed is an inflatable tapered rubber gaskek to join the two pipes
Thanks for your comments. President Obama will be addressing the public from the Oval Office tonight at 6:30 Central. Does anyone have an oil spill suggestions for President Obama. I still believe in the suggestion for a New Deal for the Gulf Coast.
Michael, I agree with your suggestion that a New Deal is required, but it needs to be BP’s New Deal — not the Government’s. FDR’s New Deal was the right solution and it accomplished it’s objectives, but it was also an expansion of the economic policies that caused the Depression in the first place. Instead, let BP sponsor a “BP-eachcombing” initiative that pays private citizens and groups for collecting tarballs. Organized as beach events, tarballs collected can be weighed on scales and purchased by the pound onsite. Collected tarballs can then be transported for storage and eventual processing by BP, partially subsidizing the effort. This program could be up and running along the entire coastline this summer – with trial runs in July and a launch in August. It would be a great fundraiser for local groups and an income supplement for displaced workers or those just looking for some extra cash. It would also mobilize BP on the ground in a constructive way that taps the overarching desire people have to do their personal bit to help. Q&A’s need to be figured out and communicated — such as what constitutes a tarball, how much is it worth, how do I safely collect tarballs, where can I go collect tarballs, etc — but this is just part of the event planning process. My company would be happy to organize this as a national “Summer BP-eachcombing” event together for BP. Ideally, this would grow into an annual event sponsored by BP focused on keeping our beaches clean.
I was looking at the way the spill is going way out of control and I was seeing it unfold the whole time I wokr offshoure I do bunkering we had a contract for B>P but we had gotten underbid but we still still do there jobs if need be Well anyway I was think maybe we may need to use rubber to them underwater pipes we the way that presure valve that was put on the cut pipe why dont we try to invent a larger scale rubber hose makeing it super strong with some kind of a hyderlic clap like we would on a leaking fauset like a clamp and a hose type devise and the other end hooked up to a tankership which can avt as a transfer fasility and that can eather do two things stop it completly or slow it down more come on guys we have to d o something I hate for our country look like we dont know what were doing when it comes to offshoure drilling please think about what I am talking about BUY and GOOD LUCK STOP THE SPILL IN MY GULF
Wrap a bladder / balloon around the end of the pipe. It doesn’t have to be flexible. Use the concept of a hot air balloon. At the top, have connections to empty the bladder via tankers. You would just need to empty it as fast or faster then it fills.
heres a simpler suggestion, they have deep sea welders that can weld a threaded flange to the well and then attach a valved high pressure hose to reduce oil flow until that the oil can be cleaned and a more direct approach can be reached they have an off shore oil flange for pumping oil to ships that bring oil to our country. We are forced to design the same type of system.
Here’s how you insert a plug in the powerful flow of oil. Use a CONE shaped plug. The LONGER and more POINTED it is, the easier it will be to insert into the shaft again the powerful flow. The shell of the cone could be shaped and built out of sheet metal on a platform then filled with cement as it’s lowered into the water. I don’t know the diameter of the shaft, but if the cone was 100′-200′ long, it should go in easily and possibly under its own weight. Because the tapper of the cone would be so gradual, I believe it would go in easily and cut off the flow once whatever is currently in place and not working is removed.
To: The Executives at BP Oil:
I think that you should borrow a missile from the US government, one that has pinpoint accuracy, such as those used in wars, and strap a very large ball of gum to the missile head, or have some gum inside the head, and basically shoot the missile directly into the oil well which is spewing out all over and destroying the ocean and its habitat.
ps: Good Luck!
Sincerely,
Anne M. Turner, BS, RD
HOW TO STOP A HIGH-PRESSURE LEAK
If a high-pressure water pipe breaks and there is no shut off valve the solution is as follows: Simply fill an oversized cylinder (perhaps twice the diameter of the broken pipe) with red clay and force the cylinder over the pipe. Leak controlled. Mesh or other hardening agent can then be applied to the excess clay to stop the flow or at least slow it down to the point where relief valves can be strategically added on the pipe behind the leak.
BP oil leak? Attach a cylinder full of clay of proportioned dimensions to the bottom of a submarine, with wire that will hold the clay in place below, yet, will cut when lowered on to the broken oil pipe. Force cylinder onto leak by the powerful submarine. When leak is controlled, anchor sub at that point and leave it anchored (perhaps “eating” the sub permanently). Now, with clear vision, the sealing and relieving can be addressed while the clean-up of lost oil can be achieved without spinning so many wheels. Losing a submarine is more cost-effective than this continued loss of oil and the increasing damage.
Never plug a hole … surround it!
Note here: The depth of the clay under the sub will address the jagged, un-evenness of the broken pipe and surrounding “fixtures”.
Paul R White
`
Insert a very long capped pipe/hose into the hole. Then connect the surface end of the pipe to massive tanks of lquid nitrogen, freon, some type of refrigerant. Then blow it thru the pipe so pressure going down exceeds pressure coming up. The refrigerant will begin to gum up the oil and eventually harden. Hopefully long enough to seal the hole with concrete/debris.
June 16th, 2010 6:13 pm ET
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BP tried to drop a cup or “cover” over the leak. This didn’t work because the gas bubbles made it sway and it was not stable. They could stable this by attaching cables on all ends of the cup. The cables would be run through a giant needles deeply drilled into ocean floor. As the cables are pulled the cup will soon be pulled tight to ocean floor. As a secondary precaution the sludge/cement mix could be filled into the cup to do a easier “top kill”.
If you drill a hole or shaft along side the well say 100 or 200 feet dip put a bomb in the shaft back fill the shaft with cement or even just dirt and the bomb is strong enough to blow up 30ft than 100ft of back fill will keep it safe
I am not sure of the diamiter of the riser but could they not have a packer build say 4 inch in diamier and 20 ft long. Use the robotic subs to guide this into the well . It could be run on either drill pipe or coil. Then use a snubbing unit to push the packer in the well to an appropriate depth. Then inflate the packer to seal the well. They could also run a series of packers as a backup. Seal the well from the inside of the casing and then procede to kill the well.
Art,
I have been drilling water wells for 40 years and I find this to be an excellent idea. Kudos to you.
if you get and old boat hull .cut a hole in the bottom .’atach a 30ft hose to the bottom, than atach pontunes to both sides . the oil on top of the water is lighter or it wouldn’t be on top .this oil could be pump in to the hull the water in it .now being heavy .can go out the hole in the bottom pump out the oil about 2/3 than start again
Subject: Suggestion for oil-leak in the gulf
1. Prepare a large flexible tube, about 20-40 feet in diameter, with a bottom that can be pulled together.
2. Connect it to other similar tubes, until it reaches the surface.
3. With robots, slip the first tube to about 40 feet above the leaking pipe and lower it slowly. over the leaking pipe.
4. Slowly pull the bottom of the tube together until all or most oil flows through it to the surface.
From Rudy Klimes, PhD, president http://www.learnwell.org, Go on gently.
BP could have shut off the well on day 2 or 3. But they will not shut it off because they will lose their investment. That is why they want the 2 relief wells out there. After the relief wells are completed, BP will go down and cap off the well using the same approach that could have been done on day 2 or 3. I am sorry our government is full of so many stupid elected officials. Obama and all of congress should resign. They do not care about this country or the people in it. All they are interested in is their status. All dem’s and rep’s should resign so we can start over and bring pride back to our country.
The elephant in the room. Nobody wants to talk about abandoning the folly of trying to salvage the well (and the revenue). Seal the wellhead off for eternity with a commemorative tombstone in the form of a massive block of concrete.
If B.P can not stop the leak untill the relief wells are drilled. Maybe someone could build a system, to inject a highly absorbent material (that floats) into the cloud of oil, leaking at the bottom of the ocean. The oil may mix with the material and help float all the oil to the top of the ocean. This might make the oil easier to control and keep it from reaching the coast lines, while it is collected in some manner.
Instead of paying claims to the shrimpers. Outfit their boats with oil separators and bladders to collect the oil.
Let them go out and collect the oil and sell it back to bp for processing.
They would make more money than they ever made shrimping.
The bladders could be left floating for tankers to pump out and marked with each shrimper’s symbol so they could get paid for the oil they collected.
Louisiana has the “solution” to the Arizona border problem. It is the OIL LEAK. Transport the tar to the trail heads frequented by gun and drug smugglers and create TAR PITS only axle deep. Criminals will spin their wheels, and/or leave with forensic evidence. Primitive peoples used excrement of man and beast and Earth. Feasibility studiers only lament the tragedy. Real Americans should focus on opportunity.
Petr of Los Alamos
Well I don’t know if this has been said or not but here we go. Use a couple of very heavy weights and slide that down the casing attached to one end of a balloon. Thread it down the casing couple hundred feet and inflate it and then pour cement or some type of sealant on top of that. Same concept as two dogs stuck together. Use a piece of drill stem that should work.
The American People will not be kept from their beaches. Come hell or high water or tarballs, they will seek the shores. The government needs to deal with this issue. BP could supply sand shovels and small plastic bags for tarballs and place collection barrels at the public beaches.
I’ve watched the people, kids and adults, picking up tarballs in their bare hands, wanting to help, wanting to be involved. Use this. Educate the people. Teach them how to handle the tar balls through television or schools or town meetings.
Proposal: Save The Gulf
Save the Gulf of Mexico’s wetlands, create jobs for the people affected by the oil spill, and save marine life.
I. Utilize ships from the U.S. Navy’s moth balled fleet.
A. Several large, aircraft carrier type ships . (I.e., helicopter carriers, ect.)
II. Convert these ships into fish farms.
A. Raise catfish, shrimp, and oysters for eventual sale.
B. Employ fishermen, shrimp men, and lobstermen.
C. Employ local workers for the conversion of the ships into fish farming operations.
III. Utilize the Army Corp. of Engineers.
A. Navy construction to battalion to create a floating pier in the affected areas where ship/fish farms are to be tied up.
IV. Construct.
A. Temporary road way (Pontoon Bridge) from New Orleans to ship/fish farms.
V. Create a temporary grid.
A. Use plastic plants to support living plants and stop soil erosion. Example: plastic holders for a six pack of soda, bond the plastic together, make a grid and anchor the plastic plants.
B. Cover large areas and employ local residents for the job.
VI. Some oil dispersal chemicals.
A. Turn the oil into soil like composites.
B. Use local workers to work the affected areas.
VII. When the area has recovered.
A. Remove the artificial construction and return the affected areas to pre-spill norms.
This is my proposal, where possible make B.P. (British Petroleum) pay for construction and conversions required, when not possible the U.S. Government should expedite phases of the operation.
Glen Wiley
Pol USN (retired)
Why hasn’t the plumb-bob idea suggeted by Paul or the hydraulic crimpping suggested by Engineer Bob been utilized yet? Seems very simple with todays technology, and can possibly be used togther. I think with just the few suggestions that I have read, this leak could have been stopped for some time now. Who ever is calling the shots here needs to get off your bums and apply some of these good ideas. I think the longer you let this leak continue, the more it will appear that you are using this disaster to push the whole Go Green campaign. All the while letting the people, animals and economy suffer. Who will be looked at as the guilty party then?
Okay, how many months has this gone on? How many thousands of ideas have been submitted?????? So the question is WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR???? FIX IT ALREADY!
Havent read any other suggestions, and I’m sure this has probably come up in some form or another (or in many various froms).
Whatever the circumference of the widest part of the wellhead, create a thick length of (concrete? steel?) tubing with, naturally, a slightly greater circumference, whose end is adapted to allow for the further atrachment of similar lengths of such tubing (maybe like drainwater/sewage pipes, an open angled end allowing for easy connection). Slip the initial lenth of tubing completely over the wellhead, which would obviosuly extend the height at which the oil is escaping from, then add further peices of tubing, securing firmly to the piece already in place as you go. At some point you copuld either (1) add so many lengths that the pour out was reaching the surface to be copllected by whatever means without the sea being disturbed, or (2) you could add a piece that was naturally capped itself (although obviously I’m unaware if the subsequent build-up of pressure from the gushing oil inside the now whatever length of connected tubing would com[promise the strength of the nature of the attachments between the pieces of tubing at such ocean depths.
why dont u take a steel rode and about 4 feet from the end of the rode thread it and sho e it in there and pretty much self tap it.
Douglas Trumbull
TRUMBULL VENTURES LLC
PO Box 199, Southfield, MA 01259
413-229-8504 office
413-329-7882 cell
douglashtrumbull@gmail.com
http://www.douglastrumbull.com
VACUUM MANIFOLD CAP CONCEPT
By Douglas Trumbull, June 25, 2010.
There is general agreement that the flow of oil from the broken riser pipe on the Deepwater Horizon blowout preventer is approximately 50,000 barrels per day. That is equal to 2,100,000 gallons per day. If the diameter of the riser pipe is 20 inches, and there are 231 cubic inches per gallon, there are 15.5 gallons per foot of pipe. Dividing the flow of 2,100,000 by the number of seconds in a day (86,400) results in a figure of only 24.3 gallons per second. At 15.5 gallons per foot, 24.3 gallons are moving at a rate of about eighteen inches per second.
It is not reasonable to expect that this flow from a 20-inch diameter pipe could be handled by a single 6-inch riser as in the BP LMRP cap. However, by dividing the 300 square inch area of the 20 inch pipe by (say) 6, the flow could be handled by six risers of 8 inch diameter at the same flow rate and pressure(or some other number of adequately sized risers totaling 300 square inches).
There seems to be significant confusion about pressure vs. flow rate. It is possible that even though this flow rate is relatively slow, the pressure within the failed blowout preventer could be quite high (several thousand psi) due to some restriction caused by, say, a failed and partial closure of valves or shears. This may be why any attempts to cap the well have failed. The relatively slow flow may conceal a high pressure if capped.
The only near-term solution may be to capture 100% of the oil by exerting enough vacuum to the riser pipe so that no significant force is applied to the pipe or the fragile state of the blowout preventer, and no back pressure is exerted that could exacerbate an already fragile state.
Limitations imposed by present circumstances include: Fragile BOP due to fatigue, possible high pressure below restriction in BOP, poor or nonexistent cementing of the well casing, stuck BOP, danger of ripping BOP off well as a result of “bottling up” possible high pressures by successfully closing BOP or capping the top flange assembly.
A “VACUUM MANIFOLD CAP” is proposed that is designed to offer multiple riser pipes, each of which is connected to a powerful surface pump aboard one or more surface oil storage barges or ships. The combined vacuum power of these pumps would provide more total flow than the well provides, thus overcoming the positive pressure of the oil with total negative pressure of multiple vacuum pipes or hoses connected to a manifold to be placed directly above the blowout preventer’s upper flange assembly.
The vacuum manifold cap’s design is such that (in this iteration of six) multiple hoses or pipes are connected radially to a central cap that is configured to seat onto the edges of the flange assembly, clearing the bolt heads, and having a rubber seal around the edges. At the top of the cap are multiple supplies of pressurized and heated methanol whose purpose is to limit hydrate formation, if it occurs. This may not be necessary, since the reduction in pressure and exclusion of seawater may prevent formation of hydrate clogs.
By providing adequate vacuum to the vacuum manifold cap, the cap could be readily positioned over the rising oil plume, since it would have adequate vacuum force to literally “suck” itself onto the flange without being forced off by pressure. It could continue to be held in place by such vacuum, while additional clamps could be activated around the lower rim of the cap to hold it in place.
At the beginning of the operation to install the vacuum manifold cap, multiple pumps connected to the multiple riser pipes or hoses would be activated to draw seawater to the surface. Flow and vacuum force would be measured to ensure that the flow and pressure exceed that of the well. Then the vacuum manifold cap is lowered onto the flange, at which point the oil and methane gas would be drawn to the surface for processing. Once this is accomplished, it could be considered that the weight and pressure within the multiple risers might be adequate to continue the flow of oil and methane up the risers without further pumping.
I have built a scale demonstration, including a saltwater tank, plumbing, and pumps to simulate pressure and flow:
I built a scale model of the VACUUM MANIFOLD CAP:
I built a scale model of the blowout preventer flange, with broken off riser pipe:
This is the VACUUM MANIFOLD CAP seated on the flange:
You can access my website http://www.douglastrumbull.com to find a video of this proposal (BP SPILL FIX). If you email me (douglashtrumbull@gmail.com) and include a way to email back, I can also send you a link to my Wistia FTP site, with the video, technical paper and press release. The video BP SPILL FIX – TRUMBULL is also on Vimeo, YouTube, and others.
Thank you for your consideration.
Douglas Trumbull
Hi,
The problem with blocking this pipe is due to the immense pressure of the oil escaping.
I believe you could get aorund this by adding a tubular cap to the end. (Like an extension of the pipe.) This extension will have space for slats to be placed in.
I don’t clame to be knowledgeable on the details of this spill so i can’t tell you how many of these gaps i expect it to need.
Into each of these gaps you should insert a grid that fills the extension. This grid will have little enough surface area so as to go across the oil jet without being pushed off. This should then be repeated with grids of varying positions. Eventually filling the extension and slowly blocking the pipe. Because each grid has limited surface area the pressure will not affect any single one, hopefully allowing each part of this blockage to stay in place untill it is completley filled.
I may not have explained this very well, if it sounds like it would work i would be happy to elaborate.
Here’s an idea:
Shoot a dud torpedo that gets jammed into the pipe, or something else that is steel or iron to jam it, then shoot a second torpedo armed with termite to weld it into place. Termite works without O2, and oil shouldn’t explode underwater.
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