The Flow of Oil Into the Gulf May Have a 20% Increase Until Next Operation is Complete

[caption id="attachment_2002" align="alignleft" width="250" caption="Barack Obama Getting Briefed, Photo Credit: White House"]

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“Today, the President was briefed by the National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen and Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change Policy Carol Browner regarding the ongoing efforts to contain the BP oil spill.

He was informed that skimming, dispersing, and burn operations continue with eight controlled burns yesterday.

He was also updated on BP's efforts to begin to put cutting machines into place that will be used to cut the riser pipe for placement of an alternate containment device. According to BP, the riser cutting will likely start Monday, or Tuesday.

They also discussed the fact that the flow rate could increase as much as 20% until the containment device is applied over the leak.

Adm. Allen indicated that, as per the President's direction, government and contractor resources in areas affected by oil will be tripled. He also indicated that officials on the ground have increased efforts to be more responsive to needs identified by local communities.”

This is a Statement of the Press Secretary on the President's Briefing Call Today with National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen and Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change Policy Carol Browner

This sounds both good and bad. Good thing is the President is being briefed and that there has been a lot of skimming, dispersing and burn operations is also good. However, the fact that the flow rate could increase as much as 20% until the containment device is applied over the leak, is definitely not good. This means that if the operation fails we just have more oil coming out than before.

My thoughts on the containment device are:

1. It should have a sort of flange with which it can be later bolted down.

2. It should have valves that can be remotely opened and closed. This way, it would let oil come out of the valves while it is being placed on the damaged riser. Then, when it has been bolted down the valves can be shut and the oil is contained.

If a solution could be found that doesn't involve increasing the flow of the oil, I think that it would be a good idea to try that first. This way everything has been tried before they go and open the hole bigger.

The current estimated size of the spill is about 2-4 times the size of the Exxon Valdez spill. That means there is a lot of oil in the Gulf right now. I am of the opinion that BP and the government need to increase the amount of people working to clean up the spill. Hurricane season starts later this week. If a hurricane came along while there is so much oil in the Gulf, there would be no telling what would happen.

If you can, help do something about it.