Bay 12 Games Forum

Just out of idle curiousity, has the spill reached Exxon Valdez proportions yet?

I have to take my new car back to the dealership already. When I go above 30mph, the front passenger wheel starts to sound like a helicopter rotor, and my steering wheel vibrates so badly it's a bit hard to hold on to.

I have been sold a lemon. 

I love that the only thing they've really done so far is to continue drilling for oil and send lawyers in to limit their liability.

Or is there something else?

Possibly not the biggest spill, but I suspect it will have one of the largest economic impacts. Seriously, even with the dead zone, the gulf provides HUGE amounts of seafood to the USA, it's a heavily populated coastal region, and it will affect the livelihood of millions.

Quote from: Nonsapient on May 17, 2010, 12:44:19 pm

A bit more info for everyone:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_spill#Largest_oil_spills

Not to say this isn't a horrid horrid thing and that BP/Anadarko/Transocean/Halliburton aren't bad people.

Just that things are, overall, way worse than you realize.

So... that's basically saying we're about to surpass the largest spill ever in terms of barrels... right?

(50,000 barrels/day)(27 days) = 1,350,000 barrels thus far.


Edit: well, if their estimates are correct:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Quote from: Wikipedia article

Spill flow rate

BP initially estimated that the wellhead was leaking 1,000 barrels (42,000 US gal) a day.[60] On April 28, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimated the leak was likely 5,000 barrels (210,000 US gal) a day, five times larger than initially estimated by BP.[61][62] John Amos, a geologist who has worked as a consultant with oil companies on measuring oil spills, said that figure is the "extremely low end" of their estimates, putting a more realistic figure at 20,000 barrels (840,000 US gal) a day.[63][64] Other sources using satellite imagery have put that number as high as 25,000 barrels (1,100,000 US gal) a day.[60][65] Ian MacDonald, an oceanography specialist at Florida State University, estimated that oil might be leaking at a rate of 25,000 barrels (1,100,000 US gal) a day and that the oil slick as of May 2, 2010, might already contain more than 210,000 barrels (8,800,000 US gal).[66] He later estimated the spill to be about 290,000 barrels (12,000,000 US gal).[67] Mike Miller of Safety Boss, a fire-fighting company that specializes in oil wells, suggested that the oil spill may become the biggest in history.[62]

According to BP, estimating the flow is very difficult as there is no metering of the flow underwater.[62] In their permit filed with the Minerals Management Service, BP quotes a worst case daily discharge of 3,900 barrels (160,000 US gal) per day.[68] Before Congress, BP revised their figure upwards to 60,000 barrels (2,500,000 US gal) per day if the blowout preventer and other equipment restricting the current flow were removed.[69] Experts contacted by National Public Radio and shown the same footage put the leak rate at 56,000–84,000 barrels (2,400,000–3,500,000 USgal) per day.[70] Steven Wereley, an associate professor at Purdue University used a computer analysis (particle image velocimetry) yielding a rate of 70,000 barrels (2,900,000 US gal) per day.[71][72] Timothy Crone, an associate research scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, used another well-accepted method to calculate fluid flows, estimating the flow is "at least 50,000 barrels a day," and Eugene Chaing, a professor of astrophysics at the University of California, Berkeley, got a similar answer just using pencil and paper, stating "I would peg it at around 20,000 to 100,000 barrels per day," and the earlier figure of 5,000 barrels a day is "almost certainly incorrect."[73][74]

-sigh-

Of course.

A gem window has been toppled by a giant desert scorpion.
A gem window has been toppled by a giant desert scorpion.
A gem window has been toppled by a giant desert scorpion.
A gem window has been toppled by a giant desert scorpion.

Perhaps the one time I have ever savescummed. Thankfully I saved right after I finished building my windows... Now I need to find some way to protect them though.