“Skeptical” is a polite phrasing.

There is an old saying in Devon. “What the eye can’t see the heart don’t grieve”.

Considering the side effects experienced by response workers in Alaska and what we’ve seen so far from the folks in the Gulf, it doesn’t sound “safe” to me. Additionally, I agree the EPA is going to lie and feign ignorance. It is what they do. I am shocked anyone actually takes them seriously. I mean BP ignored them during their dumping of dispersants, so who can actually take them seriously?

I’m certain we’ll see an increased amount of birth defects throughout the Gulf coast, an increase in cancer and all the other issues that seem to spring up when humans go do stupid things. We’ll all be shocked and deny the correlation for years to come, but we all know the truth.

Not that I ever enjoyed or sought out sea food, I think I’ll keep to my habits. Not going anywhere near that stuff for at least 5+ years from now.

When it is greed over need, greed always wins. Alaska fishermen circle their boats to fight mine

It is an unfortunate coincidence of geography that this lush region of wild rivers, grassy tundra and windy sea is home to two competing treasures of almost unimaginable value: the world’s largest sockeye salmon run, supporting a fishery worth $440 million a year; and in the hills behind it, a massive deposit of copper, molybdemum and gold worth at least $300 billion.

They don’t even know how much oil was spilled. And yet they know it’s mostly gone. Sounds like the Bush-Cheney playbook to me.

Voodoo math?

Margaret Hamburg at the FDA is doing her part by reopening fishing waters off the coasts of Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi. This is seriously messed up.

“I have heard first-hand from commercial fishermen and seafood processors about not only the importance of getting back to their livelihoods, but also their commitment to protecting the health of their customers and making sure consumers have the most up-to-date and accurate information available,” Hamburg said in her statement.

Supporting two diametrically opposed interests, making sure business comes first. Oozing with trustworthiness and reliability.

Guess what, folks — seafood is off the menu.

I understand the cynical calculus behind Obama’s fealty to Wall Street – he’s helping them out after they helped him out. But with BP, I don’t see the upside for him. The oil and gas industry is solidly behind the Republican Party.

So why has the Obama administration, from the start, been helping BP downplay what’s happened and is happening in the Gulf? It seems he just reflexively protects the powerful and ignores the plight of the powerless. He sees the rich and powerful as his natural constituency, even when they give their money to the other party.

Bet they won’t label it either and to hide the taste even more they will sell the oiler smelling tasting fish as processed fish like fish sticks or they might even cut the bad fish with good fish.
They do know Lefties were more likely to eat fish right? Given our tendency to boycott for Health and Political reasons this is doomed.
Still I’m surprised Obama hasn’t fed his kids fresh caught New Orleans fish like that English Minister did on tv right before England killed all their mad cow infected cows.

Sure it has !
And where has the millions of gallons of dispersant gone?
The dispersant is far more toxic than the crude itself !

Will the Tea Baggers accuse Obama of wanting to poison us with oil fish or will they stay true to their corporate masters.
Is the ( cough ) grass roots movement really grass roots or are they just a bunch of crazy led by paid poodles?

“I expect various Republican Congresspersons to demand a Constitutional Amendment mandating drilling in the National Parks any minute.”

And, since there is a buck to made, the Democrats will vote in favor of it.

Roundup will take care of those grass roots

So who is going to first call for the boycott of all processed fish unless Gulf Coast fish is labeled or banned?
I say we get the fishermen new jobs cleaning the oil until the fish are safe.

I think the Fake Grass Roots Tea Baggers plan on using Round Up on us.

Good morning, pups. It’s Dowd and Friedman today. MoDo has given us the “Tragedy of Comedy,” and what purports to be an an e-mail exchange with the author of a book on “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” and some bonding over the demise of the romantic comedy. This may or may not have anything to do with reality, given the tripe that she’s foisted off on us before. The Moustache of Wisdom, in “Broadway and the Mosque,” says a concert of Broadway show tunes sung by a diverse cast brings to mind reasons why it is O.K. to build a mosque near the World Trade Center site. Well, that and the Constitution, right, Tommy?

Here they are.

The coffee and tea are ready, the cold drinks are in the fridge, and I’ve got toasted Thomas’ English muffins with your favorite jam. We finally got rain yesterday, so some things in the garden other than the weeds may start to perk up. I’ve got some really LUSH weeds now… Have a great day.

The fish in the Gulf will be like the fish in most of the rivers and ponds around here—— inedible !

Isn’t that the point. There are no substantive differences between the agendas of the two major parties. They both represent the very rich. Partisan battles are continuously staged to keep the vast majority of citizens from catching on. The fundamental unit of political analysis is not longer party. It is economic class.

Try an economic analysis. It makes the seemingly incomprehensible political landscape entirely understandable. As Deepthroat said: “Follow the money.”

If you need to have a picture drawn for you, “Wall Street” is invested in oil. If BP loses money, Wall Street investments lose value. Then the rich folks that own those investments will become unhappy. The interests of the not-rich don’t enter into the calculus.

The Vacuous Optimist is a despicable liar. He can’t get to the Preznitcy of Harvard or CEO of the Ford Foundation fast enough. Hills or KKKreditkkard Joe would be horrible, but this guy is just a monster. Whatta grotesque lie.

It’s not that the water is polluted ,you could prolly drink it and be fine.
No , it’s the muck on the bottom ,the muck and debris that settles to the bottom contains all the toxic stuff.
Small single cell critters eat the stuff in the muck ,and then bigger critters eat them and so on and so forth. Eventually the fish and frogs and birds, end up with these contaminants in their systems.
The same situation will occur in the Gulf ,the fish and other sealife will be inedible for years!

Everybody on here is mad because the so-called disaster was overblown from the beginning and everything is working out ok. P.S. I ate fresh speckled trout yesterday that we caught off of Grand Isle. It was great!

Good morning all.

Let’s get back to “Drill baby drill” so we can make thiss country more energy independnt. We need to drill everywhere. Hundreds of thousands of good jobs will be created. What a stimulus plan this would be!

Rush? Is that you?

Morning eCAHN and pups.

Yesterday, yes yesterday, the story was how much more oil had leaked than what was first reported. Today we’re to believe that 75% of it has just disappeared?

Fat.

Fucking.

Chance.

while voyager988 channels Baghdad Bob the BP aristocracy has gone all-in for “Hitler in the bunker” mode…

… they issued a carefully-worded press release this a.m. saying that the well had achieved “static pressure”… which is meaningless drivel but had the carefully planned effect of sparking a barrage of “the well has been killed!” stories from the usual tradmed suspects this morning…

… the only problem being that the wellhead, strained by all of BPs mucking around to avoid accurate flow counts and accountability for same… the wellhead is still leaking like a sieve and the leaks are getting worse.

hint: killed wells don’t leak

Why won’t people believe that the static kill worked. The travisty is that the government is going to make BP finish the relief will which is a total waste of money. They could stop where they are and finish it when they are ready to put the field into production.

The government even confirmed that Tony Hayward was “victimized” since they have now stated that the environmental impact was “modest”.

hint: killed wells don’t leak

That’s .correct. They do not leak

They aren’t done with the static kill operation so nobody can say that it worked or didn’t work.

Did you send BP an apology card yet?

It’s working. the rest is simple. It’s been done hundreds of times and has never failed. Next subject!

How many have you taken part in? How many wells have you drilled? Cased? How do you know?

This would be the same government that has now increased the size of the leak estimate by a factor of twelve? Making it the largest known oil disaster ever? In the world, not just the US?

The same government that is claiming all the chemicals are safe? The same government that said pretty much the same thing about the air in lower Manhattan after 9/11? Which has now had to admit they lied?

The same government that said Agent Orange was safe? Until they were forced to admit that it wasn’t?

Those chemicals and oil are in the environment. Just because it may not be visible on the surface does not mean it isn’t lurking out there in the water and entering the food chain.

But go ahead, eat all the chemical laden fish and crabs and oysters and everything from the Gulf that you like.

Hi, I’ve got enough 9/11 and Exxon Valdez workers to reference that seem to indicate that whatever the EPA or industry says is a bunch of shit. Hope you didn’t feed any infant children that fish. If so, I can’t wait to pay (as a taxpayer) for the services they will undoubtably need the in years to come.

Tired of playing games with yall because I have a job in the oilfield and I actually have work to do.

Really? Then you should have a vested interest in the matter. Go talk to those that have to clean up the messes businesses such as yours make and then come back and see if you have the same sunny disposition.

What do you think, now things just “go back to normal”? If they do, it is just another instance about how stupid as a nation we have become. Large businesses such as those in which you work may create jobs that put a roof over your head, but take note that they have done everything in their power to minimize your power over the regulation and safety of your position.

They only care about profits, not you. Go ask those that died on the rig how they feel about BP and the care they take. BP has the people between a rock and a hard place. They have ruined their environments, taken their jobs and now those very needy people have become slaves to BP. BP owns them. If you don’t believe they will do everything in their power to screw them over, you are a blind fool.

Go ahead, enjoy your fish dinner. America exceptionalism is alive and well in your mind. “Why do people hate us?” “It must be because they hate our freedom.” Wake the hell up dude.

voyager988 is trolling, of course, but for those who don’t get the grim humor of the situation:

After the possibly catastrophic gamble of capping the well BP was sitting pretty with no oil leaking into the Gulf. All they had to to was await the relief wells.

But those relief wells pose a financial exposure risk for BP… while the kill operation was in progress oil would have to be allowed to flow unrestricted from the damaged well for a while as the relief well killed the main well.

That would engender the one thing that the Obama administration has bent over backwards to avoid: an accurate measurement of flow rates from the blown well under various conditions.

And BP doesn’t want that… you think the amount estimated recently by the administration dwarfs the original BP estimates? There’s good reason to think accurate measurements would make the estimates substantially higher… billions of dollars worth of higher…

So BP came up with a plan: take yet another potentially catastrophic risk and kill the well while maintaining the cap currently in place…

… and now the overstrained cap is leaking and the leaks are growing worse.

BP said the well had achieved “static pressure”, which is meaningless, and counted on the cheerleading to drown out the questions of “why is it still leaking?”

The well isn’t at “static” anything and is leaking… again.

I happen to work for a small co. with less that 50 employees. Obama is trying to kill an industry that provides this country with plenty of petroleum products for all things we use. All of this exercise just proves that what was done has worked and we know what to do if this were to happen again. The systems on the rigs are so redundant to be ridiculous and the only reason it failed this time is BP’s stupidity of not following rules that are already in place. No new rules are needed. Let’s get back to work and move forward and try to save this country from falling deeper in to this fantasy world that we can live without petroleum.

Yeah, and in the movie “Jaws” the politicians said the beaches were safe.

OK I want to be sure I’ve got this straight. BP allowed literally millions of gallons of crude into the fishery called the Gulf of Mexico followed closely by millions of gallons of a friendly toxin and we should all go out and enjoy a shrimp/oyster platter? Tell you what I’ll wait until they publish the toxic levels in the little critters like they do where I live in the fishing regs. Guess I’ll let the trolls eat those speckled whatevers.

La. fishermen wrinkle their noses at ‘smell tests’

Experts say smell tests may sound silly but are a proven technique that saves time and money. Moreover, they are the only way to check fish for chemical dispersants, though FDA spokeswoman Meghan Scott said government scientists are developing a tissue test.
…
Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said Sunday that federal regulators did not ignore environmental guidelines, but that some field commanders were given the authority to allow more dispersants on a case-by-case basis.

We have some of the best trained noses in the business working on this, we don’t need to wait for scientifical testing mechanisms.

You know you’re in trouble when people who need to fish for a living are saying that the government is proceeding too fast and lacking proper precautions.

The fisherman are saying this because they are making more money from BP than they have ever made in their life and don’t want to go back to fishing. Everybody that has worried about the fishermen need not worry. They are greedy just like the big bad corporations. Let’s face it, with a soon to be totally socialist govenment, they need all the money they can get there hands on!

Rep. Barton, is that you?

I work in Grand Isle and Port Fourchon. I know the fishermen. They are making more money for doing nothing. Why would they want to fish. Most never take there boats off the trailers and put in the water. FYI. The small co. I work for does zero business with BP and I have other reason for not liking BP also but this was an accident by their own cause and should not shut down a whole industry.

Let’s put on our blinders and full speed ahead!! Drill, baby, drill. Why the eff not?? I’m reminded of that classic scene in Kubrick movie Dr. Strangelove where Rip Torn (I believe) rides the dropped bomb all the way down to annihilation: YEEEEEE-HAAAAAWWW!!

Oh when will we ever learn??

I would imagine that you’d want the additional work done to seal the well correctly. For one thing, this “wasted money” is additional work for the local petroleum industry. As is done in Canada and Norway, an intercept well should be prepared for every exploratory well, particularly in deep water.

As for the problem’s modesty, even that 75% claim includes “dispersed” and “evaporated” which ain’t the same thing as gone. Beyond that 25% of the largest spill to date is *a giant spill*.

I expect sea life to begin to return to pre-spill levels and behavior on the order of a couple years, based on the experience of Ixtoc. However, that doesn’t mean sealife will be unaffected and accumulate no oil or toxic dispersants.

I have no interest in eating Gulf seafood, which is really too bad.

(Slim Pickens as Maj “King” Kong)

Actually, the well can be as dead as a doornail and still leak mud from the annulus above the wellhead. Were that to happen, as it undoubtedly is, that could cause a problem by reducing the level of the mud column and subsequently the hydrostatic pressure that killed the well, unless of course under BP’s direction, Transocean, the drilling contractor attached to the top of the well, keeps topping the well with heavy kill weight mud until it is displaced with kill weight cement; which by the way they certainly will do. Then Transocean will continue to monitor the well until the cement is in place, dried, hardened and pressure tested prior to recovering their BOP for examination…

Thanks! One of cinema’s greater moments, imo.

Plus, Obama was named the recipient of BP’s largest donations in 2008 – primary and election year.

Grist had a piece on BP’s donations to Congress being more worrying.

And together? Bp runs the table?

Someone with more experience dealing with oil than I have, (35 years) please explain something to me:
If we don’t know how much oil flowed into the Gulf, how much was actually recovered and how much dispersant was pumped into and onto the Gulf; then how the hell will we know what percentage of oil and dispersant has been recovered, emulsified, absorbed, evaporated or is still out there and for how long it will remain in the state it is currently in (whatever state that is)?

It’s nice to talk about “following the regulations/laws that are already in place” in terms of “dealing” with a disaster like New Horizon owned by BP. It’s true that there are laws, rules and regs in place, but the big problem is that they simply are not followed anymore in this once great nation… esp by the “big” people/corporations. They’re just not.

So it’s a nice fantasy to dream on about currently in-place laws & regs being followed in order to solve disasters like New Horizon or the Massey-owned coal mine collapse and so on.

Why conservatives are bound and determined to put on blinders and refuse to see the factual reality that big corporations have been given free reign to do ignore the rules which, time & again, RESULTS in deaths, illness, environmental disaster, etc is beyond me. Ok, I do get it that citizens are worried about jobs, and they are correct to be concerned about that. But the willy-nilly capitulation to *accept* that jobs can come ONLY by permitting corporations to ruin our environment and KILL citizens just eludes me.

Yet when we talk about enforcing laws & regs, conservatives usually end up decrying the left for attempting to do that. Why? Because it “upsets” the corporations, and then they might take all of the jobs away.

As long as citizens are willing participants in their own self-destruction, which includes constant fealty and capitulation to (ie, slavery) to corporations, well, then: this is what will happen.

And so, conservatives will continue to be codependent on and enabling of the killing of other citizens and the environment, all in the name of “saving jobs.” When Gill Scott Heron sang his song, “Wake Up, N****s, or we’re ALL Through,” he wasn’t just singing about African Americans. That’s yet another hint for today.

I have absolutely NO experience whatsover in the oil industry, but I think can answer your question: we do not know, nor will we ever know, bc the EPA, the US gov’t and BP will collude to lie to us about it. How’s that?

However, if someone who DOES have said experience would care to comment, then I’m all ears.

You want the good news or the bad news? The good news is that we are fortunate to have an existing example of how long the oil might be there without the dispersant mix (Exxon Valdez). The bad news is that it is our misfortune that the only entities capable of examining the facts and answering the questions (U.S. Government and major oil companies) are determined that no one produce a definitive answer.
Paraphrasing here: It is difficult to make people understand something when their salaries are dependent upon not understanding.

Taking your arguments facts at face value you ask why should BP’s mistake shutdown an industry?

Assuming that we are talking about seafood the answer is clear: food that cannot be shown to be safe to eat because the contaminant danger is not currently testable and verifiably safe should not be eaten nor even put into the pet food channel.

Assuming that we are talking about off-shore drilling then the onus is on making sure that this cannot happen again and that includes current drilling.

Whether you in fact know, as opposed to believe, that LA fishermen are making more from BP than fishing is fairly unlikely unless you are the business accountant for all of them. Given BP’s record on a wide range of issues of compensation it seems unlikely that you are correct on this issue.

Thanks and yes, that just rephrases more elegantly what I said.

I do “get” very, very much why citizens want to wear blinders, and they are abolutley correct to be very, very worried about jobs. And although it may seem as if I’m being dismissive, condescending or uncaring about their very real and valid job concerns, I am not feeling that way at all. Citizens of the US have very much been F***** by our corporate overlords, and said corporations very much use intimidation, bullying and threats to keep workers in line. I certainly get it, and it’s real.

That said, kowtowing to the Powers that Be will NOT, nor will it ever, provide workers with the “safety net” that they are so desparately seeking (with validity and justification).

Of course, I’m mostly preaching to the choir here at FDL, but it’s nearly impossible to open up the conservative mind-set to see how much they have been conned and tricked and manipulated by the powers that be.

Sadly also the unions have done a S*** rotten job, themselves, both in terms of Union mgmt being too often corrupt and complicit with the Powers that Be, and too often not really looking out for what’s best for all concered and negotiating in good faith. However, the unions are about all we’ve got in terms of “power for the workers,” and the corporate owned media has done a great job at demonizing and marginalizing the unions.

So one ends up with lonesome conservatives listening to the likes of RushGlenn who pander to their very real fears, but who then sell them a big line of goods that enures only and soley to the benefit of the rich and powerful.

Another good film to watch for yet another hint (since I’m in a cinematic mood this morning) is Paul Schrader’s Blue Collar, which came out in the 1970s no less. The raping, plundering and pillaging of US citizen workers by the big corporations and the powers that be has been going since the beginning of this nation, but in our lifetimes really picked up steam in the 1970s (coincidentally right at the time that Pat Robertson started the 700 Club & the C Street Family became more powerful and influential).

And so: on it goes….

Slim Pickens was picked for the role because he was strongly identified for his roles in westerns and his drawl (affected or not). The government saying that the food is OK because it smells fine to somebody that is supposedly scientifically trained to smell is worse than junk science.

Up next scientifically trained humans are slotted to replace pigs in the hunt for truffles.

Based on recent conservative postings here at FDL about how “all” of these LA fisherfolk, plus purported legions of pretenders from other states, are being lazy, shiftless, money-grubbing, BP blood-draining, cheating, lying MoFo’s mercilessly ripping off sweet lil innocent nice guy, BP… I take it that RushGlenn has been touting these bull hockey lies on Fake and elsewhere.

It’s interesting when the same rightwing lies are spewed here by a number of clearly conservatives posting here. And they all same just about the same thing.

And what’s the bottom line: conservatives line up to willingly pit themselves against their fellow citizens; to diss their fellow “small” people citizens as being lazy shiftless undeserving scum; and to tout the wonderfulness of the big corporation, who MUST BE APPEASED.

And all of these conservatives have very, very similar apocraphyl – but totally true – stories that they know for sure happened.

Note that these conservative stories always, always, always are about the lazy, shiftless, disgusting, scum-sucking of fellow citizens (or how liberals never pay taxes), but are always praising and appeasing of corporations. Each and every time. Never fails. And the dog forbid that these conservatives should ever, in any way, question their “take” on the situation… no way. no questioning. just blind obedience to RushGlenn.

Sad really. Their fears and concerns are justified, but they’re being played.

Well, hunting for truffles might not be so bad. At least you’d be outside, and you might get to eat some of the delicious truffles. It’s more like: scientifically manipulated human beings are slotted to be guinea pigs for any number of experimental procedures… oh wait, already happened!

Attaturk,

Thank you for keeping the spotlight on this “sorry lot”*!

*Quoting the queen of the clan, Bar Bush!

Being outside sounds fine. Believing that someone can be trained to detect something that the human nose could not possibly detect – detecting truffles would be easier than cell contamination – is right out of Lamarck. The ideas that Lamarck proposed being one of the USSR’s favorite theories that in turn drove their agricultural plans right into the ditch.

So if you don’t feel safe eating the seafood, burn it to keep warm. Fishermen say that the tarpon burn like kerosene-soaked two-by-fours.

As for the rest of you, oil’s all gone, nothing to see here, move along.

… and stop pointing at that man behind the curtain!!!!

Well, you bring up an interesting thought. Perhaps the LA fisherfolk should get back to work, and they can sell the fish to the Northern climes sort of like duraflame logs – eh?? Might be cheaper fuel, if you a fireplace or wood-burning stove, than turning on the furnace???

LOL… maybe we could get the Amish to design some special kind of oilfish burning stove???

Bullshit.

One slight problem with that rosy depiction, appeal to authority and attempt to distract by attacking the (very real) coverups by Obama’s people and BP… the wellhead is leaking gas, oil and mud.

The leaks are expanding.

A killed well is one where the mud sits on the hydrocarbons and does not permit them to rise. This reduces the relative pressure at the wellhead to ~zero.

The pressure at the wellhead is not at zero or the wellhead would not be leaking. The leaks would not be expanding as the wellhead gives way.

Given the Administration collusion with the timing of the release of its report and the constant cries of “Why don’t you believe us?!” from the shills… I’m beginning to wonder if this current fustercluck is just a pump-n-dump scam for the benefit of those oligarchs who weren’t bright enough to jettison their BP-related paper holdings during the initial go-rounds…

A burning clam on the half-shell adds more of a festive touch under your chafing dish than sterno!

Ok. Let’s get back to the truth. The dispersants worked the way they are supposed to work. Oil gone! Not many of the fisherman fish because they really want to make a paltry living. They do it because they can’t pass a drug test to get a real job. It has nothing to do with heritage or a lifesyle that was passed on. Anybody who believes that our president is a friend to BP or the industry is absolutely insane. He keeps trying to push this green crap that bankrupted Spain because everything had to be so heavily subsidized. Yes, I am a true conservative and very proud of it. That’s why I deal in reality instead of fantasy like most of the democrats or progressives, as they now want to be called. An the same thing goes for about 90% of republicans who try to portray themselves as conservatives. NOT!

Oh, it’s not Joe Barton after all… it’s Rahm Emanuel here to punch the hippies on behalf of OBPama…

I hope you take the time to read this late addition. I’m a long time reader and regular financial supporter of Firedoglake. I’m in Norway this week and am seriously suffering from jet lag and lack of sleep. I was alerted to your disparaging reply to my comment and felt compelled to return to this thread.
The overburden of the kill fluid will leak from any breach in the wellhead or formation, from the Diverter to TD. When the pressurized formation is being restrained by the hydrostatic pressure of the kill weight fluid, the well is considered under control even if fluid is escaping somewhere in the 18,000 foot well, as long as the rig can continue to mix and pump kill weight fluid to maintain the hydrostatic pressure of the column of fluid above the formation pressure attempting to encroach into the annulus. Figuring a 10% increase for safety margin on a problematic wellbore with unknown bottom hole configuration, 17 ppg kill weight mud at the 5500 ft depth of the wellhead will be exerting 4860 psi psi at the mud line, and 15,000 psi at 17,00 ft. Transocean would not have drilled the well if anticipated or actual pressure were to exceed the maximum weight of fluid in the riser that has to be supported by the riser tensioners. It’s a well control 101 basic mathematical calculation and is part of the well plan. In the event that the well pressure exceeds the maximum weight of fluid the riser tensioners can support, the well is immediately plugged and abandoned with the kill weight fluid left in the annulus.
The well was drilled and under control until the kill weight mud was displaced to seawater, ostensibly after the casing was cemented and pressure tested. Someone may have falsified the test pressure results, but it is a FACT that the well was under control until the kill weight mud was displaced. Ergo, in order to regain control of the well it must be displaced with kill weight mud, which has been accomplished, finally. This time the well will be cemented with kill weight cement as the only fluid displacing the kill weight mud in the well, leaving the kill weight mud in the annulus between the cement plugs and outside the casing walls above any cement on the back side.
If you want to have a discussion, outline your 35 years of deepwater offshore exploration and production drilling experience before you call my comments bullshit. I know what I’m talking about and have access to information you and 235,000,000 other Americans do not. I can and do respectfully disagree with your conclusion, and as you may have noticed, am doing so without disparaging your “contribution” to this thread.

That sentence should read: Figuring a 10% increase for safety margin on a problematic wellbore with unknown bottom hole configuration, 17 ppg kill weight mud at the 5500 ft depth of the wellhead will be exerting 4860 psi psi at the mud line, and 15,000 psi at 17,000 ft.

Hmmm… the subject was whether the well had been killed.

The definitions of a killed well that I’ve found, and as stated by a variety of oil workers who claim pedigrees equal to yours, is when column of heavier fluid has been injected into the well shaft and by its weight prevents the hydrocarbons from rising through the shaft without the need for a cap or replacement fluid. This is not a stable situation and thus cement is indicated… but the cement plug is lighter than the kill fluid and thus the kill fluid must remain as well.

Is this wrong?

BP used such terms as zero pressure… but carefully omitted to mention that the pressure was zero only when measured at the surface… ~5000 feet above the wellhead.

You used the word “kill” a lot… kill weight this and kill weight that… but now you’re using the word “controlled” as to the actual status of the well at that time?.

So you were not saying that a well had been killed when just to keep the hydrocarbons down in the reservoir it needed a column of mud ~5000 feet high over the wellhead and a ship in position overhead to constantly replenish that mud?

BP and the Obama administration carefully phrased and planted their respective stories so as to stimulate a flurry of media fluff to the effect that the well had been killed and the oil in the Gulf was, somehow, gone. And then you chimed in saying that the well was dead… despite a great number of other oil workers around the net saying “it ain’t dead if it’s leaking.”

“Controlled” does not equal “dead.”

Dead is when you can disconnect from the wellhead and the hydrocarbons tend to stay down in the reservoir.

I was and am pissed at all the obvious scams that have been run by BP since the blowout, even more ticked off by the Obministration’s aiding and abetting of said same scams and have little faith in those who seemed to be repeating the corporate party line.

And thus my comments to you.