Gulf oil platform explodes, burning off La. coast

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Evo
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Unreal. Could it have been sabotaged? They do not know yet if it is leaking oil. The people on the rig are ok.

The Department of Homeland Security said the platform was in about 2,500 feet of water and owned by Mariner Energy of Houston. DHS said it was not producing oil and gas.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gulf_rig_explosion
 
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Averagesupernova said:
I'm sure it was Obamas fault.

I'm sure it is! He probably set the charges himself. That's what happens when you put a radicalized Muslim-Christian-Marxist-Socialist terrorist in office.
 
Ivan Seeking said:
I'm sure it is! He probably set the charges himself. That's what happens when you put a radicalized Muslim-Christian-Marxist-Socialist terrorist in office.

That's "Muslim-Atheist-Marxist-Socialist terrorist"
 
Evo said:
Unreal. Could it have been sabotaged? They do not know yet if it is leaking oil. The people on the rig are ok.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gulf_rig_explosion

Ivan Seeking said:
Apparently it was not yet producing oil.

The platform is a fixed petroleum platform that was in production at the time of the fire, according to a homeland security operational update obtained by The Associated Press.

The update said the platform was producing about 58,800 gallons of oil and 900,000 cubic feet of gas per day. The platform can store 4,200 gallons of oil.

Looks like it has been producing for a while.

CS
 
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There is no reports of any massive oil leak. Let's not panic.
 
Turns out the rig was producing oil.

new update -
The update said the platform was producing about 58,800 gallons of oil and 900,000 cubic feet of gas per day. The platform can store 4,200 gallons of oil.

Seven Coast Guard helicopters, two airplanes and three cutters were dispatched to the scene from New Orleans, Houston and Mobile, Ala., Ben-Iesau said. She said authorities do not know whether oil was leaking from the site.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gulf_rig_explosion

Looks like stewart beat me to it.
 
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The platform was in about 340 feet of water, considered shallow water and far less than the roughly 5,000 feet where BP's well spewed oil and gas for three months after an April rig explosion.

Even if there is a leak, it's going to be immensely easier to patch than BP's leak at 5000 ft depth.
 
Just yesterday, Barbara Dianne Hagood, an executive of Mariner Energy (owner of the exploded rig) claimed that Obama was trying to destroy the oil and gas industry. Hmmm... Such irony.

Note: I'll try to find an acceptable link to her statements. the Financial Times story is available to subscribers and their web-site won't let me register as a user, though the story is being widely disseminated through blogs today. According to the cites, the oil and gas companies bused about 5000 of their employees to a rally in Houston yesterday to protest the deep-water drilling moratorium.
 
According to AP, the Coast Guard has detected a mile-long plume of oil sheen from the damaged rig.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/02/oil-rig-explodes-in-the-g_n_703525.html

Of course the story may not be entirely accurate.

"These guys had the presence of mind, used their training to get into those gumby suits before they entered the water. It speaks volumes to safety training and the importance of it because beyond getting off the rig there's all the hazards of the water such as hypothermia and things of that nature," Edwards said.

It's hard to imagine dying of hypothermia while floating in the Gulf in late summer.
 
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Ivan Seeking said:
That was my thought. The water is about 85 F right now.
http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/

Which is easily cold enough to develop warm water hypothermia:
http://aquaviews.net/warm-water-hypothermia/

In warm water hypothermia, long slow cooling can take place in water temperatures as warm as 82 degrees F – 91 degrees F. Although warm water hypothermia is not easily recognized as its cold water counterpart, it definitely warrants attention.
 
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turbo-1 said:
According to AP, the Coast Guard has detected a mile-long plume of oil sheen from the damaged rig.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/02/oil-rig-explodes-in-the-g_n_703525.html

Of course the story may not be entirely accurate.



It's hard to imagine dying of hypothermia while floating in the Gulf in late summer.

Oil sheens are quite common around rigs even when they are not blown out or on fire.

CS
 
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Early reports indicate Obama was at the oil rig operating the controls for a photo shoot opportunity to help win support amongst the "drill baby drill" crowd minutes before the explosion occur.

Witness report he simply said "Ah, nuts!" and jumped on his helicopter and left after the photographer was finished
 
stewartcs said:
No, it's Obama's fault!

CS

Obama is a British spy?
 
"It's Obama's fault"

Interesting meme, it spreads like wildfire all over internet blogs and forums. I suppose its effectiveness lies in projecting blame on a scapegoat figure, the US president, for all the problems in the world, where in fact, the state of current events is a net result of actions of all people in the world following the same set of behavioral patterns.
 
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turbo-1 said:
According to AP, the Coast Guard has detected a mile-long plume of oil sheen from the damaged rig.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/02/oil-rig-explodes-in-the-g_n_703525.html

Of course the story may not be entirely accurate.
No that is not an Associated Press story, or a repeat of an AP story, and the final Coast Guard statement (per this Huff Po story) was
hours later, Coast Guard Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesau said crews were unable to find any spill.
 
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Im with brewnog, it was those damned red coats!