On 06/03/2010 07:46 PM, Jed Rothwell wrote: > Mauro Lacy wrote: > > >> I can't believe they can't stop the oil spill after more than six weeks. >> At this point it sounds like something intentional to me. >> > That can't be! BP will lose billions of dollars. There is no way > anyone would cause this situation on purpose. No saboteur could get > within a kilometer of the place, or know how to trigger this disaster. > > > >> Don't they know about mechanical vices? >> >> As they have access to the base of the leaking pipe, a powerful enough >> mechanical vice can be used to slowly compress the pipe, until closing it. >> > I doubt that would work. If thousands of tons of mud do not stop it, >
Throwing mud and other things does not sound like a good idea, because the pressure from the flow of oil will certainly move them away. > I doubt that would. The pressure would just push the pipe open again. > They can leave the mechanical vice in place after crunching the pipe, with a mechanical lock enabled. And also with some kind of auxiliary suspension mechanism, if needed. Probably from ships on the surface, as the bottom of the sea must be very irregular and muddy to serve as a base, and also due to the difficulty of working there. I think that if they can cut it, they can certainly crunch it, and keep it pressed afterwards. But they should know better, isn't? The vice can be left in place until a better way to solve the issue (like cementing all the zone around the pipe, or putting a metalic cap), is finally implemented. Afterwards, you can cement everything, including your expensive vice. Everything will be cheaper than the enviromental disaster they are now causing. > The thing you have to remember is that BP and Uncle Sam have every > expert on the planet on speed dial. I am sure if any expert out there > in major equipment company or oil company knows a way to fix this > problem, he or she can get a message through. Yes, these people have > heard of mechanical vices. And cutters. The cutter they finally used > is the size of a truck. > > The only criticism I have is that they should have done more in > parallel, getting read to do Plan B and Plan C while Plan A was still > underway. > > I do not feel sorry for BP but I feel awful for the engineers and > equipment operators out there, in the spotlight, trying to deal with > recalcitrant equipment in a dangerous, unforgiving place. On a scale > a million times smaller, with absolutely no physical danger . . . I > have been in their shoes. > > It reminds me of Kipling's poem, "The Secret of the Machines:" > > But, remember, please, the Law by which we live, > We are not built to comprehend a lie, > We can neither love nor pity nor forgive. > If you make a slip in handling us you die! > > - Jed > > >
