BP spokesman states, "the estimated rate of flow would not effect either the direction or the scale of our response, which is the largest in history."
i could not disagree more. the magnitude of the leak is critical to the response.
if a patient is undergoing major surgery, has stable vital signs and has a little bleeding which you can easily be controlled then the surgeon does so and proceeds with the procedure.
IF the patient's vital signs indicate a rate of bleeding which will lead to hemorrhagic shock, the procedure is entirely different because death is certain within hours. in the case of Gulf Coast wetlands, death is a few days away.
Therefore, accurate vital signs on this rate and volume of spill is critical and BP's response should be tailored accordingly.
Accurate vital signs are critical in surgery as well as in oil spills. BP doesn't want to know so they can continue in denial mode with a low ball figure for the leak. Why? Stock price? Reputation? Hope that some miracle will appear and get them off the hot seat.
BUT now we learn that the leak is probably much more serious, on the order of hemorrhage.
It has been said many times, "You see bleeding. You hear hemorrhage." With hemorrhage a surgeon knows everything possible needs to be done immediately or risk losing the patient's life.
If there is hemorrhage, then the surgeon calls for transfusions to start immediately, blood warmers, platelet packs, fresh frozen plasma, other surgeons to come in and help, immediate increase in IV fluids, vascular instruments, clotting factors for local and systemic use and other kinds of retractors and more nurses and anesthesia help, at a minimum.
In short everything that can be done is initiated immediately since this moment is the patient's only chance for survival.
NEVER does a surgeon take a few measures at a time when a patient is going into shock.
so what should BP do?
An independent event boss should be named by the President in 24 hours who has the most knowledge and experience with managing these kinds of oil spills.
This event boss should begin barking orders from the command location at the well site where he should be until the battle is won. No biking, golfing, weekends or holidays off. this is war.
He/she should be able to engage the entire petroleum industry, world wide, the Feds should be entirely engaged with any agency or entity who can help and it should be immediate if not sooner. this boss should be given the power to call on anyone and have the support of any commander in chief.
as a layman, i would order drilling 100 wells into this formation to drain it dry as well as riddle the end of this leaking pipe with as many horizontal wells as could be managed to plug the leak.
this response is not too much considering the fact that 50% of US wetland are at stake and knowing that the damage could last centuries.
i have seen clouds of ducks and geese rising and settling back down at dawn in the Louisiana wetlands in a cacophony of calling. there are no wetlands this vast anywhere in America.
corporations are legal entities created to make money. they have no feelings or morals. they are not intrinsically good or bad. they are not designed to stop environmental disasters.
what is needed to now is some ad hoc entity designed to stop this disaster with the zeal of a mother's love and the force of a commander-in-chief. something like the Army, Air Force and Navy with no limit on spending till this well is plugged.
if there was ever a time for the USA to wake up and to go into survival mode, now is that time.
For President Obama, it is time to assume the mantle of Commander-in-Chief and bring on this disaster management organization now.
uncle steve
It's a huge problem and needs a huge response. But 100 wells? I guess an engineer would have to tell us if 100 would work any better than, say, 5...
ReplyDeleteI like the surgery analogy, makes sense. Hm, maybe only 50 wells? Where's our engineer?
ReplyDelete