The longer the test goes the more confidence we have in it. There’s no evidence we don’t have integrity.
Pressure reading 6745 psi.
Expected reading 8-9000 psi to absolutely conclude the well has integrity.
Adm Allen announced the testing will be extended until Sunday afternoon.
As we continue to see success in the temporary halt of oil from the leak, the US government and BP have agreed to allow the well integrity test to continue another 24 hours.
Resources being deployed:
-Visual/acoustic ROV monitoring at site for leaks
-Seismic mapping ;
to watch for cracks in the sea floor
-NOAA ship testing for subsea hydrocarbons
Once the testing period is concluded, operations will return to containment using the new sealing cap with both the Helix Producer and Q4000.
Curious how the capped well and barry’s vacation coincide.
Work must continue to better understand the lower than expected pressure readings. This work centers on two plausible scenarios, depletion of oil from the reservoir and potential leakage caused by damage to the well bore or casing.
While we are pleased that no oil is currently being released into the Gulf of Mexico and want to take all appropriate action to keep it that way, it is important that all decisions are driven by the science. Ultimately, we must ensure no irreversible damage is done which could cause uncontrolled leakage from numerous points on the sea floor.
After a 24 hour test period, only a “negligible” amount of oil was recovered and “limited oil beyond a sheen” was found in A Whale’s tanks.
Whereas, during the same time period, 590 skimmers were able to remove more than 25.5K barrels of oil water, conduct 26 controlled burns, and recover 12.8k barrels at the source.
While its stature is impressive, ‘A Whale’ is not ideally suited to the needs of this response. We appreciate the ingenuity of the TMT team to try to make this innovative system work under these unique conditions. This is the largest oil spill response in our nation’s history and we will continue to attack the oil as far offshore as possible with our fleet of hundreds of skimmers, controlled burns, and effective use of dispersant
To date:
More than 6,800 vessels involved in cleanup
Including 593 skimmers
33M gallons of oil water recovered + 387 controlled burns = 11M gallons recovered from the surface
And yet no one knows the effect the massive amounts of methane gas (1M times normal) and the over 1M gallons of dispersants will have. Forever.
July 12, Mrs Obama gave a speech in Panama City Beach, Florida, during which she said the best thing Americans can do is visit the Gulf and spend money so folks there can send their kids to college.
It’s important for the rest of the country to know that these places are just as vibrant and just as beautiful as they’ve always been. And folks here in Florida and across the Gulf Coast are still depending on visitors and tourist dollars to put food on their tables and to pay their mortgages and to send their kids to college — because everybody’s going to college, right?
College – when sending their kids to the store for groceries is a challenge.
And I know that there have been lots of questions lately about how we can best help people here on the Gulf Coast who’ve been affected by the oil spill.And to be honest, truly, one of the best ways that fellow Americans can help is to come on down here and spend some money.
Just like the Mister – words have no relation to actions. We the taxpayers are paying for barry’s many vacations and I would prefer my taxes go to the folks on the Gulf.
And that’s one of the reasons why I wanted to come this summer. I mean, my husband has been down here several times. But I wanted to shed a light on the terrific people and the great places to come and relax and have fun, because that’s the time of year that we’re in.
So on behalf of my family and the administration, know that we are working on your behalf. We care deeply about getting things right here. And I look forward to coming back down to the coast and getting some more sand in my shoes.
4 days later they’re up in Maine eating ice cream and frolicking in another National Park.
Imagine the impact of this photo if he was slurping a raw Gulf oyster off the half shell.
^
*CNN: FLOTUS, POTUS each to make another visit to the Gulf:
The White House announced that first lady Michelle Obama will return to the Gulf region next week to meet with Coast Guard personnel who’ve been responding to the oil spill and to christen a Coast Guard cutter named in honor of Dorothy Stratton, the service branch’s first female commissioned officer. The visit will take place in Mississippi on Friday.
The president expects to return to the Gulf Coast in the next few weeks.
We paid the $29.97 to WordPress to keep them from making money off our “free” blog so there should be NO ADS added to our posts. The final straw was an ad for Muslim dating on a Ground Zero mosque post.
FYI: If you have a public access wordpress blog – no matter the size or subject – WP can add however many ads they want whenever they want to whatever subject post they want.
On a post about a 13 y/o Yemeni “bride” who had literally been raped to death, WP saw fit to place and ad for a “free sex offender report”. On the post extending condolences to the people of Poland on the tragic death of President Kaczyński – an ad for a funeral home.
And when asked, WP said they had no way of knowing what ads are placed where. Like ads for media outlets, political organizations, pro-barry blogs and local/national politicians (most often barry) on an unaffiliated politically neutral site about pro-barry media bias.
WP also said they had no way of knowing how much revenue they were making from individual blogs even as they offer an ad-sharing option where they split the ad revenue 50-50 with the blogger.
Worst of all, WP continues to advertise that their blogs are “free”. If you never read the “Premium” features – why would you if you are looking for that “free” blog – you’ll never see any mention of ads being added to your posts. It’s not in their Terms of Service either.
A final tidbit: WP support employees are located in the UK, US, Israel and Portugal. They have access to everything on your site – including password protected posts, email/personal information/ISP and your location if you geotag your posts, which you clearly should never do. And when asked, they refused to provide a record of what was accessed, by whom, how often and from what country.
How is this not a potentially huge security problem?
The hull of a wooden ship, probably from the 1700′s, was unearthed 20 feet below the surface just south of where the World Trade Center towers should be standing. Archaeologists believe the ship was placed there intentionally to help extend Manhattan’s land mass.
An anchor was also found – unsure if it’s from the same ship.
(CNN video screenshots)
One hopes this find will make the powers that be recognize once and for all the importance of keeping the proposed ground zero mosque location a historic landmark.
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer (pro-mosque) – Rev Michael Faulkner (R-NY) challenging Charlie Rengel
Chris Matthews needs a little education and a lot of Viagra to retain the title Hardball. He calls it a Muslim center – not mosque, which is what it is registered as. He doesn’t know the name of the “holy man” behind it. He does not know anything about the “holy man’s” anti-American, anti-Jew sentiments or his connection to terror groups. And when he asks Stringer about it – Stringer doesn’t answer and instead talks basketball courts and how the issue is being hijacked by the tea party and extremists.
Election time and the same old party line: tea party, extremists, racists, muslimophobes. It’s sickening.
As recent as June 19, 2010, the man behind the mosque refused to denounce HAMAS or the Muslim Brotherhood in a radio interview as reported on by many NY outlets and yet Matthews has no clue. It’s clear Stringer knows but refused to be honest. He’s a tool and nothing more. One might want to look into Stringer’s finances.
WABC radio, interviewer Aaron Klein, Faisal Abdul Rauf
Asked again for his opinion on Hamas, an exasperated Rauf wouldn’t budge.
“I am a peace builder. I will not allow anybody to put me in a position where I am seen by any party in the world as an adversary or as an enemy,” Rauf said, insisting that he wants to see peace in Israel between Jews and Arabs.
His answer sound a little barryish?
And as for his alleged insistence – read about Rauf’s connection to the terror group behind the Free Gaza flotilla. (barry’s friends in the neighborhood Ayers and Dohrn are also involved) and Rauf’s thoughts on Sharia.
American Morning – Kiran Chetry discusses the proposed 9-11 mosque with Pam Geller (Stop Islamization of America) and Ibrahim Ramey (Muslim American Society)
Ramey starts out by denying the truth of 9-11:
It was not an Islamic attack, it was a criminal attack.
And it is very interesting with whom and with what statement the video clip ends.
Ramey says:
There are Muslims right now in Congress, there are Muslims in the National Security system, there are Muslims in the Military who would vehemently disagree with the idea that we don’t have the right to be a represented part of the American multi-faith mosaic.
Which was not the point of the discussion – but clearly what Ramey and CNN wanted you to take away.
Persons of every faith and no faith have the right to be represented in America. And they are. The issue is with a Muslim monument being built on the sacred burial ground where close to 3000 people of all faiths and no faith were incinerated because of the perverted desires of one faith: Islam.
And that is the issue pro-mosque folks don’t want singled out, which is why this man tries to make 9-11 a “criminal” act instead of what it was: an unprovoked act of war by Muslims in the name of Islam against (presumed) non-Muslims.
[That is why any and all of those involved in 9-11 should be tried in a military - not civil - court.]
Then it’s the tired old arguments: you’re racist…you’re ignorant of Islam…it’s “collective intolerance”.
Muslims are not of one race. Collective intolerance is collectively insulting. And until Ramey and the coward behind the mosque unequivocally state in public that jihad is not promoted by the Koran, that the killing of non-Muslims is not the sacred duty of Muslims, that the Muslims murderers who flew into the Twin Towers perverted Islam and are not to be considered martyrs, that Sharia law should be outlawed, and that women and girls are equal to men in the eyes of Islam – those claims of “ignorance” will remain unfounded. As will the preposterous notion of “moderate” Islam fighting “radical Islam”.
Also not included on the video:
1-Chetry asks Ramey if he thinks Geller loves Muslims but Chetry never asks Ramey what he thinks of Jews or Christians.
2-The reference to the Muslim American Society as the public face of the Muslim Brotherhood.
3-Geller asking that if it really is outreach, why not have a church and a synagogue and a Buddhist temple in the building, which there are no plans for. Just like there wasn’t anything in their initial plans to honor those killed in 9-11 even as they tried to pass it off as such.
It’s time to wake up folks.
At the very least, show a little curiosity as to why they chose the name “Cordoba“. I’m sure once you do, they’ll change it. And when they do, it will be more proof of their deception.
During today’s press briefing, Robert Gibbs addressed NASA Administrator Charles Bolden’s comment that his foremost mission was to make Muslims feel good.
Last week’s clarifications of Bolden’s comments via NPR.
NASA assistant administrator for public affairs Bob Jacobs:
Administrator Bolden understands that NASA’s core mission is exploration, both in space and in scientific endeavors here at home. Inherent to the success of that mission is cooperation and collaboration with other nations which are equally committed to this effort, including expanding the range of countries with which NASA engages and partners.
Which Muslim countries are “equally committed to this effort”?
And WH spokesman Nick Shapiro:
The President has always said that he wants NASA to engage with the world’s best scientists and engineers as we work together to push the boundaries of exploration. Meeting that mandate requires NASA to partner with countries around the world like Russia and Japan, as well as collaboration with Israel and with many Muslim-majority countries. The space race began as a global competition, but, today, it is a global collaboration.
Global collaboration = New world order = barry’s true goal
Q There are some comments that the NASA Administrator, Charles Bolden, made a couple weeks back that drew some interest, specifically from conservatives who are wondering why we he said that one of the charges that the President gave him when he got the job was that he had to focus on outreach to the Muslim world. Why is the NASA Administrator doing that?
GIBBS: That’s an excellent question, and I don’t think — that was not his task, and that’s not the task of NASA.
Q So did he just misspeak?
GIBBS: I think so.
Q Has the President spoken to him about that clear it up?
GIBBS: No.
Q Anybody here at the White House?
GIBBS: I’m sure people at the White House here talk to NASA all the time.
And the answer to the set up question?
It is such a blip on barry’s Muslim loving radar that the WH doesn’t think it merits further comment.
Bolden said something similar in February to a group of engineering students:
We really like Indonesia because the State Department, the Department of Education [and] other agencies in the U.S. are reaching out to Indonesia as the largest Muslim nation in the world. We would love to establish partners there.
To which Rep Bill Posey (barry birth certificate bill) said:
Am I the only one that thinks there’s something wrong with this picture?
The 76-year-old French-Polish film director Roman Polanski will not be extradited to the USA. The freedom-restricting measures against him have been revoked.
But Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf wants to assure it “wasn’t about deciding whether he is guilty or not guilty.”
Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, head of the Justice Department’s criminal division: “We are deeply disappointed. We thought our extradition request was supported by the facts. We’re going to review our options.”
Assistant Secretary of State P.J. Crowley also expressed disappointment, saying that the United States “believes that the rape of a 13-year-old child by an adult is a crime” and would continue to pursue justice in the case.
Asked about comments by the Swiss attorney general that suggested technical errors in the U.S. extradition request, Crowley said: “A 13-year-girl was drugged and raped by an adult — this is not a matter of technicality.”
Info, photos and links concerning sea turtles. Italics are direct quotes from source.
There are five sea turtle species in the Gulf of Mexico: loggerheads. Kemp’s ridley, leatherback, hawksbill, green sea turtles. Loggerheads are considered threatened – the other 4 were endangered before the explosion. Follow links for species info/photos.
(Charlie Riedel/AP)
Rescued sea turtles are taken to Audubon Nature Institute’s Aquatic Center in New Orleans for treatment.
(Dr Blair Witherington/Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission)
Q & A with the Audubon Nature Institute Stranding Coordinator Grace Baldwin
Several aspects of sea turtle behavior put them at risk including the importance to turtles of surface convergence areas, typically highly productive areas where ocean currents converge and where oil has been found. These areas provide feeding and sheltering habitat to sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico. Sea turtles are air breathers and all must come to the surface frequently to take a breath of air. In a large oil spill, these animals may be exposed to volatile chemicals during inhalation.
Grand Terre Island, LA
(Lee Celano/Reuters)
NOAA: Additionally, sea turtles may experience oiling impacts on nesting beaches when they come ashore to lay their eggs, and their eggs may be exposed during incubation potentially resulting in increased egg mortality and/or possibly developmental defects in hatchlings. Hatchlings emerging from their nests may encounter oil on the beach and in the water as they begin their lives at sea.
External Effects: Oil and other chemicals on skin and body may result in skin and eye irritation, burns to mucous membranes of eyes and mouth, and increased susceptibility to infection.
Internal Effects: Inhalation of volatile organics from oil or dispersants may result in respiratory irritation, tissue injury, and pneumonia. Ingestion of oil or dispersants may result in gastrointestinal inflammation, ulcers, bleeding, diarrhea, and maldigestion. Absorption of inhaled and ingested chemicals may damage organs such as the liver or kidney, result in anemia and immune suppression, or lead to reproductive failure or death.
Barataria Bay, LA
(Charlie Riedel/AP)
One that didn’t make it…neither did the source of the photo.
June 13 – Venice, LA skipper Mike Ellis speaks with Catherine Craig re: Ridleys being found within 4-8 miles of the explosion site and how they are being burned alive. Without a carcass – BP cannot be fined or found civilly or criminally responsible for their deaths. According to the Endangered Species Act, fines can run as high as 25-50K per turtle. But no amount of money can bring back the species back to life.
July 1FedEx donating resources to transport hundreds of nests containing thousands of eggs to Florida’s Atlantic Coast and its logistics experts are working the Unified Command and its partner organizations to implement this complex translocation. The relocation efforts are scheduled to begin in mid-July and continue throughout the hatching season.
July 2 – Development of sea turtle “observer program”
July 9 – First transport – a loggerhead nest of roughly 100 eggs was excavated from a site near St Joseph Bay State Buffer Preserve (FL) and taken to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and the Canaveral National Seashore on Florida’s east coast adjacent to the Kennedy Space Center for final incubation and hatchling release.
Roughly 700 nests are laid annually across Florida’s panhandle and as many as 80 are typically laid on Alabama’s beaches with as many as 50,000 hatchlings. Normal mortality for sea turtle hatchlings each year ranges between 20 percent and 50 percent. Loggerheads produced along the northern Gulf Coast are part of the same distinct population as those produced on Florida’s Atlantic Coast. The loggerhead nesting season in the northern Gulf of Mexico begins in late May and runs through late August. After approximately two months of incubation, hatchlings emerge from their nests and make their way offshore to developmental habitats. Hatching season extends into October.
• Avoid any nesting sites, which are often cordoned off and signed as sensitive areas. If you come across a nest, observe from a distance. Leave the animal and its nest undisturbed and nest markers in place. Turtle tracks in the sand allow researchers to note where nests are located and to monitor their safety, so please leave these tracks untouched.
• Minimize the use of bright lights or flashlights on beaches at night, as this may disturb turtles and disrupt nesting activity.
• Do not start fires on any beach.
• Help remove beach litter because turtles may mistake it for food.
If you observe an oiled turtle that comes to beach and cannot return to water under her own power, contact the Wildlife Reporting Hotline immediately at 866-557-1401. A dispatcher is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to promptly dispatch a wildlife response team.
Oil spills freely into the Gulf as BP changes operations once again. This time to an allegedly tighter fitting cap. It’s impossible to believe BP and the WH when they said they planned from the beginning for the worse case scenario. No one has a clue what type of long term effects the dispersant will have.
Following approval from the National Incident Commander, BP began replacing the existing lower marine riser package (LMRP) containment cap over the Deepwater Horizon’s failed blow-out preventer with a new sealing cap assembly.
Installation of the sealing cap is proceeding as planned. The Discoverer Enterprise removed the LMRP cap at approximately 12:40 PM CDT on Saturday, July 10. The Discoverer Enterprise then moved off station. Following the removal of the cap, a subsea dispersant wand was inserted into the riser. Two plugs and all six flange bolts were then removed. The Discoverer Inspiration is now moving on station.
The Q4000 containment system continues to capture oil and gas from the MC252 well and flare the hydrocarbons safely at the surface. Once it becomes operational, the Helix Producer containment system will begin capturing additional oil and gas.
This is just so far off the grid of reality. Even for barry. He scraps further missions to the Moon and instructs NASA administrator CHARLES BOLDEN to reach out to the Muslim world in hopes of advancing space travel.
Cave dwellers whose idea of blast off is self-detonation cannot advance a civilization they’re already 14 centuries behind.
BOLDEN was sent to Cairo to commemorate barry’s speech and this is what he said in an al jazeera interview.
BOLDEN: When I became the NASA administrator — or before I became the NASA administrator — [Obama] charged me with three things. One was he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math, he wanted me to expand our international relationships, and third, and
perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science … and math and engineering.
Can you name any of these alleged historic contributions?
If Israel didn’t exist and there was no need for oil – what would the Muslim world be doing besides mutilating, raping and killing their own wives and daughters?
Seriously.
Name one thing positive that has come out of the Muslim world in the last 10 years.
Besides incorrectly saying barry “inherited this mess down in the Gulf” Matthews says “no one has paid more tribute to this country” than barry.
And how did barry do this?
By giving a speech.
Yes, we’ve heard him say ad nauseum that nowhere else in the world is his story possible…but have we ever heard him say: “I love my country”?
[If you have such a quote please share.]
What I would like to know is what Matthews truly believes in his heart because these words are truly insane.
MATTHEWS: I`ve got to remind you, Pat, who has a good memory for this — when this president won the nomination back — when he won the nomination,
he gave the most patriotic speech I`ve heard in this country about only in a country like this is my story possible, a total personal autobiographical love statement about America.
Is barry atop your list of patriotic speechmakers?
MATTHEWS: No one has paid more tribute to this country than this president because of what it allowed him to become.
What it “allowed” him to become.
Precisely.
There is no doubt on this planet that had barry not been biracial he would not have been anointed. No doubt whatsoever. Switch his resume with a white/Hispanic/Asian man or a woman of any anything and they would never have made it to Iowa.
And what exactly is barry’s “tribute”?
Worthless words read off the teleprompter?
An autobiography (that he did not author) riddled with lies – most notably about the moment he became aware of his “otherness”?
His refusing to produce his original birth certificate, his school, government and medical records even as he proclaims he is the most transparent president ever?
And what kind of tribute did barry pay his typical white people family – the people who raised him so that he could be in a position to be president – when he checked off only one box on the census form?
What has barry done for the United States other than apologize at every opportunity, smile and shake the hands of tyrants who rant about how horrible the US is, and bow to a savage beast who thinks it’s ok for girls younger than Sasha and Malia to be genitally mutilated and raped in the name of “marriage”?
The persons who have paid the most tribute to this country are those who have done so with their lives, limbs and sanity.
Not the man who lied when he promised to bring them home.
How many folks will view this as a personification of what barry – top recipient of BP PAC and individual money over the past 20 years – has done to this country?
His trial has been delayed. Again. Only this time Peterson could be released from prison.
Today the prosecution today filed an appeal re: Judge Steven White’s ruling against the introduction of the hearsay evidence they had built their case around. And until the appeal is heard Peterson could be set free on bond.
Prosecutor JAMES GLASGOW:
I filed this appeal because there is evidence that I believe we should have available to us, and we’re going to ask the Appellate Court to consider that under the Hanson case.
Eric Hanson was convicted of murdering 4 family members in 2005. June 24, the Illinois Supreme Court unanimously upheld the use of hearsay in Hanson’s conviction. Problem being White rejected that argument last week and everything remains under seal.
JOEL BRODSKY with the smirk the jury is going to hate:
On the eve of trial, when the State and the defense were eyeball to eyeball, the State blinked.
What else would they say? They think everything’s a big joke – everything’s funny. This is not a funny case. This is about the murder of a mother a two, and it’s a very solemn matter.
And whether anyone wants to admit it – it is about another mother of two wife of Drew Peterson who was stolen from her children.
The thought of him back on the street is devastating.
Peterson will appear in court tomorrow for a bond hearing. Illinois law states: “a defendant shall not be held in jail or to bail during the pendency of an appeal by the state … unless there are compelling reasons for his continued detention or being held to bail.”
A free Drew Peterson is a compelling reason enough. Though I imagine the prosecutors would be more than happy to watch the arrogance of Peterson and Brodsky play out in the media once again.
Judge White’s October retirement might have factored into the prosecutors’ last minute appeal, which may not be heard until after White is gone.
BRODSKY as to what Peterson would do if he got out:
Go home. See his kids and probably, you know, take a nice hot shower and probably have a cold beer. His main thought was to get home and see his children.
As far as Kathleen Savio’s family.
Savio’s niece MELISSA DOMAN:
It was delayed for 5 years before, and we waited very patiently, hoping and hoping. Things are still moving – slowly, but there still moving. So I still hold faith that my Aunt Kitty will get the justice that she deserves.
