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BP Oil Spill | A Whale to the Rescue

Gulf of Mexico, (Jul 5) – The Supertanker, A Whale has begun skimming oily waters from the Gulf of Mexico as the Deepwater Horizon disaster becomes the most significant environmental disaster in modern history. The BP Oil spill damage is surpassed by the 1991 Gulf War in which, Iraqi troops intentionally destroyed above ground wells.

With an estimated 60,000 barrels of crude gushing from the Deepwater Horizon’s damaged wellhead since April 22 this year, somewhere in the range of 3.6 million barrels of the damaging fluids along with, dangerous chemical dispersants have bled into the Gulf forever damage the fragile ecosystem.

Only once before has the Gulf of Mexico’s inhabitants been attacked at such a massive level, in 1979 the Ixtoc accident pumped some 3 million barrels of crude into the ecosystem. It took close to nine months to stop that gusher.

Accordingly, it will not be until mid-August before horizontal drilling efforts will be completed at the Deepwater Horizon site to which, the plan is to permanently seal the well with mud and cement via the two relief wells.

Enter, ‘A Whale’ a Taiwanese supertanker designed to radically increase the amounts of water being skimmed per day and separated from the Gushers black gold. The supertanker has large cuts in the sides allowing it to, suck up 21.6 million gallons of contaminated seawater per day.

Current skimmer efforts consisting of thousands of smaller skimmer boats to date have collected a mere 28 million gallons of polluted waters in the Gulf, pale comparison to ‘A Whale’.

Although, a final decision regarding the supertankers efforts have not been reached with, testing still underway, the United States Coast Guard will make the final deployment determination within days.

The effects of Hurricane Alex causing rough seas forced the smaller vessels to return to port halting current skimming operations as well as, the deployment of additional boom.

According to sources, ‘The Whale’ is capable of sucking up seawater with up to 30 percent contamination of oil, process, collect the crude, and then discharge sea water containing less than one percent of contaminants back into the sea. This will be the first time the supertanker has been tested in live conditions. All hopes rest with positive results that in turn, will save thousands of inhabitants’ lives in the Gulf region.

source: U.S. Coast Guard

rgrone Posted by on July 5, 2010. Filed under Environment,News,Science and Tech,Tech Reviews,WorldNewsVine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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One Response to BP Oil Spill | A Whale to the Rescue

  1. Brian J. Donovan

    July 5, 2010 at 10:50 am

    Further testing of the “A Whale” would be an absolute waste of time. This vessel will never be ready to attack the BP oil spill.

    Collection of the BP oil spill has never been a “skimming” operation. Both underwater plumes and surface oil must be collected. Given its lack of maneuverability and location of suction inlet ports, “A Whale” will merely be able to collect some of the surface oil in calm seas.

    However, BP and USCG will eventually use tankers to collect the oil that has been released into the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the Deepwater Horizon blowout of April 20, 2010. Unfortunately, this decision will be made after the devastation of many coastal communities.

    Since May 17, 2010, Renergie, Inc. has submitted unsolicited proposals for the purpose of using three Panamax class crude tankers for the collection and onboard separation of the BP oil spill to every federal agency, state agency, state elected official and federal elected official with even a remote interest in the BP oil spill. These tankers are capable of collecting and separating both surface oil and the underwater plumes of oil.

    The USCG response to Renergie’s proposal stated, “Unfortunately, the Coast Guard does not currently have a mission and is not hiring contractors. However, if BP requests names, I will recommend and forward your company.”

    The blowout of April 20, 2010 aboard the Deepwater Horizon was clearly preventable. The fact that the BP oil spill has been allowed to reach coastal areas is inexcusable.

    For a clear understanding of the issues involved, visit:

    and

    and

    Furthermore, TMT, the owner and operator of “A Whale,” has been allowed to circumvent the inefficient USCG/BP unsolicited proposal submission process. All unsolicited proposals submitted to USCG/BP in response to the BP oil spill should be afforded this same expedited consideration.

    Why has TMT received special treatment from BP and USCG for “A White Elephant?”

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