Oil Leaks: BP launches new drive to stop the leaks

Posted on May 11, 2010 by taskker

BP needs quick solutions for oil leaks. The company British Petroleum (BP) resumed operations with dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico to try to minimize the effects of oil leaks, despite the risks to the environment of use of this chemical agent. Both federal state as “consented to a third test with the dispersant underwater,”as  the BP said John Curry. The test “would continue for 24 hours, after which there will be a reassessment,” he added. The launch will be effected through a long tube for underwater robot remote control directly at the site of the leak. The expectation is that the dispersant breaks the oil composition and, over time, dilute the stain is floating into smaller particles, biodegradable, rather than remaining spots like dense, thick, which choke the wildlife and vegetation .
Critics of the measure maintain that the product can cause many problems once dissolved in the sea, affecting the life of microorganisms.
The Louisiana State University will study the deep water and surface to monitor its impact. Simultaneously, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency U.S., Lisa Jackson, traveled to the disaster zone to “observe the effort to mitigate the environmental and human impact of oil spill from BP’s platform.”
On Monday, the White House decided to give carte blanche and follow closely the work of BP to contain the leak. The situation in the Gulf begins to affect the policy agenda and energy of President Barack Obama.
Environmentalists, shrimp farmers and fishermen fear that the dispersant end up with fish and other organisms contained in the food chain. “As creators of shrimp, sea live and fight to preserve the delicate balance of the ocean,” said John Williams, CEO of The Southern Shrimp Alliance, a group representing the industry.
After the failure of placement of the giant dome to stop the spill, BP was running against time in search of new options to face the disaster.
Among the options, experts analyze block leakage point with various materials such as old tires and other debris, or install an entirely new valve. On Monday, the chief executive of BP, Tony Howard, said it plans to download, “within the next 72 hours,” a kind of box to contain less than giant dome, to act as an umbrella at the point of oil leakage.
The Deepwater Horizon platform, run by BP, was wrecked on 22 April, two days after an explosion that killed 11 people. The pipe was connected to the platform from the wellhead is fractured the ocean floor, more than a mile from the surface, releasing oil at a rate of 5,000 barrels or 800,000 liters per day.
The oil slick at sea reached the coast of Louisiana and Alabama threat.
The marine life is being affected in a region of lowlands which contain vital spawning areas for fish, shrimps and crabs, and consists of a major stop for many migratory species of rare birds.
BP tried to contain the spill with a massive dome of 98 tons of metal, but the attempt failed.
It is feared that the stain, which covers area of about 2,000 miles in circumference (5,200 square kilometers), can reach the Florida peninsula dragged by the Gulf Stream.