<font face="tahoma,sans-serif">Our faith in our own know-how is certainly taking a beating in this episode. We know how to unleash forces that we don't know how to control (and destroy a lot of things we don't know how to replace). People keep comparing this to Katrina. But I think it's more like Chernobyl. We are likely to have a long-term dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.<br>
</font><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, May 30, 2010 at 10:13 AM, Jim Kinney <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:jim.kinney@gmail.com">jim.kinney@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/us/30rig.html" target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/us/30rig.html</a>?<br><br>Time to start pumping the well head full of execs yet?<br><br>Does anyone know of a single component compound that reacts with mixed organics to make a solid? Drilling mud is a lubricant. They need to pump in a fast-setting glue. However, since the article talks about the screw ups in the valve and the cement well casing I'm concerned that with the well pressure a plugged head will only force a leak (or blowout) near the head in the sea floor. The cement casing is supposed to act as a reinforcement but there are reports that the material used was substandard (thanks Haliburton!) and poorly installed.<br>
<br>Maybe since the riser pipe is still attached to the head they can beat on it with the "top cap" box and crimp it down to cut the flow. Who knows. Maybe a slow crimping cutoff of the flow will not shock the casing and allow a temporary blockage with the sub-floor fracturing of the crappy casing they are worried about.<br clear="all">
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