Creative ideas to clean up and/or stop the oil spill

Interesting concept, but takes away some of the motive for drilling in far away, hostile environments. Actually, I think most states impose a severance tax. If either the states or the fed own the mineral rights, there are usually royalty payments, as well.

You might be on the right track, but need some refinements. Not that anyone is going to listen to us, any.

It would also add profitability to alternate energy research whilst hopefully slowing down use of oil and perhaps prolonging reserves by making hostile environments more viable in the future than now.

Gulf Oil Spill-Gutsy Solution Restores Environment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VfypUzx1tI&feature=player_embedded


Hay is for ... cleaning up oil spills?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100510/sc_ynews/ynews_sc1978

Now, that is true. Higher prices lead to alternatives and lower consumption. Can't tax them so bad the industry dies. It would be hell to reconstruct from scratch.

Did anyone mention mixing the oil with a several million gallons of the best red wine vinegar then add about a million pounds of romaine lettuce, a few tons of cherry tomatos, a truck load of diced vidalia onions, and perhaps a train car of the best Romano.

What a healthy salad the Gulf of Mexico will make!!

>ptooey<

That's interesting.. (not that I have any idea if it could work, given the great volumes.)

Can this kind of thing happen naturally? I mean an earthquake open up a massive oil store into the ocean? Surely it can and has?

Maybe, but I bet not likely. I bet a quake is more likely to move the reservoir up, down, or sideways rather than open it up to the surface. Remember, most reservoirs lack the pressure to start spewing out oil.

I have seen highway cuts in Wyoming with oil seeps. This was in what they call the Overthrust Belt, which is just full of fractured and disjointed oil bearing formations. That kind of seepage isn't even a good sign of a place to drill.

Earthquakes can happen almost anywhere, and one of the ways for finding a fault line is after the earthquake has occurred. Faults can be rather hard to find without prior indicators. One theory for oil is that it is made from microscopic life that has been pressured in sedimentary layers. This takes it some distance away from where the big earthquakes usually occur, which is along the major plate boundaries. The potential for oil to spill out in an earthquake is not that great, gas esp methane is more likely as it is closer to the surface and it does occur in earthquake prone areas.

In the past, earthquakes have destroyed small cities by erupting oil, one theory suggesting that this is what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, based on the middle east in the past being prone to oil spilling out onto the surface.

It can happen naturally, though it is very unlikely now, and it has in the past, but not to this extent.

And this could also help those who are hungry - bonus!

old people

In the news here, a US harbour (didnt catch the name) got worried waiting for the feds so they hired barges to go across the mouth of the bay and put seven (i think ?) floating booms ...the theory is the barges will stop the waves and the booms, 3 in front and 4 behind the barges, will stop the oil. US$6,000 a day....

To make beach clean up easier:
1) Build a berm just past high tide along the length of beach
2) Dig a trench just inside the berm the length of beach
3) At high tide the oil would flow into trench while the watergoes back out to sea
4) Every day you (BP) would vacuum, scoop or drag oil out of trench with heavy equipment.
5) and/or Volunteers or BP enployees could "adopt a stretch of beach" to ensure that the full length was "covered" and to clean up the oil straglers that get out of bounds. (Of course, children and grandchildren and great grand children will probably inherit this stretch of beach, so choose your beach carefully.)

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of seeing 20 hazmat workers walking along along a stretch of sparcely oiled beach while the remaining 100 miles has no workers.

I'll get back to you on my wetlands cleanup ideas. It's a work in progress.

jan3tt

Sheep. You teach them to swim then they paddle around in the oily water, they come out and you shear them ! You then sell the wool for making raincoats. Yeah, I know....I am a regular Wile E Coyote (Super Genius).

Never forget to laugh ......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AAa0gd7ClM