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Welcome to the Wilkyway
 
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I THINK IT WAS SABOTAGE

 

Just too many things were wrong.

 

We know that the blowout preventer, the BOP,  did not properly engage.  The BOP has multiple rams that are supposed to slam shut to pinch off any flow around the drill pipe and stop the flow of oil from the well.  There are also shear rams in the BOP that are supposed to cut and seal the pipe to prevent oil and gas from flowing.  The question we will ask is why did these rams fail?

Our investigation is at its early stages, but already we have uncovered at least four significant problems with the blowout preventer used on the Deepwater Horizon drill rig.

First, the blowout preventer apparently had a significant leak in a key hydraulic system.  This leak was found in the hydraulic system that provides emergency power to the shear rams, which are the devices that are supposed to cut the drill pipe and seal the well.

I would like to put on the screen a document that the Committee received from BP.  This document states: “leaks have been discovered in the BOP hydraulics system.”

The blowout preventer was manufactured by Cameron.  We asked a senior official at Cameron what he knew about these leaks.  He told us when the remote operating vehicles (ROVs) tried to operate the shear rams, they noticed a loss of pressure.  They investigated this by injecting dye into the hydraulic fluid, which showed a large leak coming from a loose fitting, which was backed off several turns.

The Cameron official told us that he did not believe the leak was caused by the blowout because every other fitting in the system was tight.

We also asked about the significance of the leak.  The Cameron official said it was one of several possible failure modes.  If the leak deprived the shear rams of sufficient power, they might not succeed in cutting through the drill pipe and sealing the well.

Second, we learned that the blowout preventer had been modified in unexpected ways.  One of these modifications was potentially significant.  The blowout preventer has an underwater control panel.  BP spent a day trying to use this control panel to activate a variable bore ram on the blowout preventer that is designed to seal tight around any pipe in the well.  When they investigated why their attempts failed to activate the bore ram, they learned that the device had been modified.  A useless test ram – not the variable bore ram – had been connected to the socket that was supposed to activate the variable bore ram.  An entire day’s worth of precious time had been spent engaging rams that closed the wrong way.

BP told us the modifications on the BOP were extensive.  After the accident, they asked Transocean for drawings of the blowout preventer.  Because of the modifications, the drawings they received didn’t match the structure on the ocean floor.  BP said they wasted many hours figuring this out.

Third, we learned that the blowout preventer is not powerful enough to cut through joints in the drill pipe.  We found a Transocean document that I would like to put on the screen.  It says:  most blind shear rams are “designed to shear effectively only on the body of the drillpipe.  Procedures for the use of BSR’s must therefore ensure that there is no tool joint opposite the ram prior to shearing.”

This seemed astounding to us because the threaded joints between the sections of drillpipe make up about 10% of the length of the pipe.  If the shear rams cannot cut through the joints, that would mean that this so-called failsafe device would succeed in cutting the drillpipe only 90% of the time.

We asked the Cameron official about the cutting capacity of the blowout preventer on the Deepwater Horizon.  He confirmed that it is not powerful enough to cut through the joints in the drillpipe.  And he told us this was another possible explanation for the failure of the blowout preventer to seal the well.

And fourth, we learned that the emergency controls on the blowout preventer may have failed.  The blowout preventer has two emergency controls.  One is called the emergency disconnect system or EDS.  BP officials told us that that the EDS was activated on the drill rig before the rig was evacuated.  But the Cameron official said they doubted the signals ever reached the blowout preventer on the seabed.  Cameron officials believed the explosion on the rig destroyed the communications link to the blowout preventer before the emergency sequence could be completed.

In other words, the emergency controls may have failed because the explosion that caused the emergency also disabled communications to the blowout preventer.

Still, the blowout preventer also has a “deadman switch” which is supposed to activate the blowout preventer when all else fails.  But according to Cameron, there were multiple scenarios that could have caused the deadman switch not to activate.  One is human oversight:  the deadman switch may not have been enabled on the control panel prior to the BOP being installed on the ocean floor.  One is lack of maintenance:  the deadman switch won’t work if the batteries are dead.  The deadman switch is connected to two separate control pods on the blowout preventer.  Both rely on battery power to operate.  When one of the control pods was removed and inspected after the spill began, the battery was found to be dead.  The battery in the other pod has not been inspected yet.

And one appears to be a design problem.  The deadman switch activates only when three separate lines that connect the rig to the blowout preventer are all severed:  the communication, power, and hydraulic lines.  Cameron believes the power and communication lines were severed in the explosion, but it is possible the hydraulic lines remained intact, which would have stopped the deadman switch from activating.

If this last scenario is true, the acoustic shut-off switch BP failed to install to save $500,000 would probably have worked to stop the blowout (see “Shocking allegations against BP“):


Speculation has been running rampant among certain sectors of the web-world lately about the true origins of the massive oil spill that has engulfed the Gulf and threatens marine, plant, animal, and human health in a region already beset by natural disasters and toxic industries. Unwilling to accept the mainstream media version of the story (namely that it was the result of off-shore drilling activities) and suspicious of the timing of the calamity (namely that it occurred right on the cusp of Earth Day and during a period of political contentiousness over drilling), this faction has surmised that the "trigger event" in this instance may have been (choose your favorite) either: an attack by the North Koreans; an act of homegrown eco-terrorism by leftwing environmentalists; or something to do with Venezuela, China, and/or other Communist (machi)nations. With little more than a hint from an online Russian source, the theory of a North Korean attack in particular has been gaining virulence among certain fox-trotters.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/randall-amster/was-the-gulf-oil-spill-an_b_560014.html

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EarthSourceMedia.com
 
Electrify the Debate!

This calamity may have only just begun. The geologic force that has been unleashed might have to gush until the pressure is relieved- that could mean an inch of oil the world over! Even if it were to stop in the next half hour, there is already the oil equivalent of a dozen Exxon Valdez spills out there.

In a vulgar display of power, BP has stopped scientists from accessing the gusher site, is refusing an EPA order to stop using COREXIT 9500, the toxic dispersant keeping the oil from reaching the surface where the world can see, photograph and measure the true extent of the damage being done to the Gulf of Mexico, and soon, Atlantic Ocean. They have even gone so far as to threaten a CBS news crew with arrest if they filmed a soiled beach.

As the Coast Guard, National Marine Mineral Service and the Obama administration lay prostrate before BP, major newspapers work to conceal, obscure, and spin the unfolding calamity.

Our 'leaders' aren't getting the message at all- they want to drill and to continue listening to their oil company bosses.

But this is the best shot we'll ever have to change things.

The true cost of oil is war, asthma, environmental destruction, lost tourism and global climate change. No amount of money makes up for that. There is only one solution, and the oil companies fear it- Solar Panels on our rooftops and Electric Cars to drive.

The real reason Toyota is being slammed relentlessly in the press is not over safety, but because they have teamed with TESLA MOTORS to mass produce what the world now needs most!

1. Nickel-Metal Hydride is the only proven EV (Electric Vehicle) battery; after 100K or 200K miles NiMH can be remelted down into new batteries without new mining.

2. Instead of "research", we need to start making and improving plug-in cars right now, not waiting for the perfect that never comes. Lowering cost is the name of the game.

3. Solar power and plug-in cars is the only sustainable way to power individual autos.

4. Running an EV 1000 miles per month takes only 250 kilo-Watt-hours of electric, about $25 worth; about what two old refrigerators cost and about a third of the average home usage.

5. It would take only a tenth of the average home roof -- 6 square yards -- to make 250 kWh per month, enough electric energy to run a plug-in car 1000 miles per month.

6. Because solar power and plug-in cars would cut oil profits, Big Oil has used its financial power to strangle and delay use of these obviously simple and working alternative to oil and coal.

7. No matter how many nuke or coal plants we build, it won't replace one drop of oil unless there are plug-in cars to use the electric; but if we had plug-in cars, we wouldn't even need new power plants. The money not spent on oil pays for solar. We can make it happen. And we should.

8. America's largest open-pit coal mine is a witches cauldron of toxic waste and caustic destruction; but if the ground were left alone, and covered with solar panels, we'd get more electric energy from the same space (28,000 acres) than we get from the coal.

9. Instead of risking death in criminal coal mines, or skirting safety rules on oil rigs, the same workers could be manufacturing and installing solar panels and building and recycling electric plug-in cars and reforming their batteries.

10. Electric cars are all powered with American electrons; no electric is imported. Buying oil from people who hate us gives them our money and leaves only air and ground pollution, asthma and smog after it's burned.

If there were no alternative to oil-fired cars, the permanent lung damage caused by burning oil might be necessary; but there IS an alternative, solar and plug-in cars. There is no higher cost than killing your kids lungs -and the Earth- to enrich Big Oil.

Join Operation 'Sunburst'- Electrify the Debate!

Please help pass this information around.

Thank you

 
JOPLIN, MO. RESTAURANT REVIEW 2010
 
Red Lobster on E. 32nd St.
04/21/10
Food is good but the service the past two times has been bad. I asked for no lemon in my tea and they brought it anyways and had to take it back. Also, didn't get a little seafood fork for the lobster so when they brought it, it was stuck in a piece of lemon, nice. The thing about lemons is a lot of germs live on the lemon skin. The time before this the waitress wanted to argue that they didn't make a drink my wife always orders and when we ordered more biscuits she said I'll bring you two and they always bring 4(it's for our dog). Then she took away my wifes shell cracker so I had to break the crab leg open for her.
 
Maria's Mexican on E. 32nd St.
Sat us by the front door when it wasn't that crowded and every time someone went in or out the cold wind blew right on us. Also, my food was luke warm and cold after only a couple of bites.
 
Casa Montez Mexican on Rangeline Rd.
Their cheese sauce is one of our favorites. They have recipes on their web site but not for it. Rarely disappointed at Casa!
 
Woody's Smokehouse North Main at Stones Corner
Too spicy, covers up the flavor and didn't care for the sides taste either.
 
Woody's Wood Fired Pizza W. 7th St.
Really good if they don't burn the crust too much.
 
Billy Sims BBQ E. 7th St.
Trying today 4/29/10. Not impressed. You walk in and a guy hollers out 'Welcome to Billy Sims' at the top of his lungs. Neither of us liked the rub used on the pulled pork. Very salty and something not quite right about it. Potato salad was ok. Pricey, cost 16 bucks for sandwich, side, and 2 fountain drinks.
   
will be updating weekly or so...

  
Using the Moon for advertising-
A group(I won't name) wants to shoot a laser at the moon that will have their logo shine. It would be similar to the Batman signal. Of course when the moon is fuller would be the prime time. Imagine looking up at that full moon and seeing a KFC bucket on it, Yuk!

 

 
 
My wife Alli and Gerald Carnes in back playing drums and myself, Greg, jamming with Denny and the Cruisers at Stockton lake, Mo. circa. 2006
www.alliscandles.net 
ITEMS FOR SALE:
 
NEW IN BOX ABOVEGROUND POOL LADDER W/ BARRIER  FITS  52 " POOLS. $100.00 PLUS SHIPPING. 

 
 

 


 

The Wilkyway Band is available for your parties, We play a mix of music taylored to your request. 417-782-3626 for booking info.




 


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Wilkyway

417-782-3626  417-499-8614
Greg and Alli Wilkins

715 S. Harlem Ave.

Joplin, Mo. 64801
gman4500@msn.com
allifm@hotmail.com