Ongoing Prudhoe Oil Spill - 1,000 Barrels? 19,000 Barrels? Only BP Knows

[hatrack]

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A bubbling sound helped workers pinpoint a leak in a pipeline that allowed thousands of gallons of crude oil to spill onto the frozen tundra in Alaska's Prudhoe Bay.

State, federal and oil company officials said the total amount of oil spilled is still not known, but they discounted claims by an oil industry critic that the spill was much larger than BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. is saying.


EDIT

As of Sunday afternoon, crews had recovered 1,097 barrels — or more than 46,074 gallons — of crude and snowmelt. The amount spilled is far greater than BP and government officials are saying, according to oil industry critic Chuck Hamel. Hamel, of Alexandria, Va., said he learned from onsite personnel that the spill volume is closer to 798,000 gallons, which would make it the second largest oil spill in Alaska, second only to the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill of 11 million gallons in Prince William Sound.

Hamel said meters record the volume flowing into the pipe as well as the amount leaving it. "There's a 798,000 gallon discrepancy," he said in a phone interview. He declined to provide documentation of the discrepancy, however. Hamel also said operators knew there was a leak at least 36 hours before the spill was found, because the smell of crude vapors was noted. "They knew they had a problem," he said. "They could smell it, but they couldn't find it."

EDIT

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11696601/

[EVDebs]

1. There goes the "Permanent Fund" ! eom

[northofdenali]

4. Nah, the fund doesn't depend on the oil anymore.

The payout is based on a 5-year average of income to the fund, of course, but the fund itself has far outstripped in dollars the amount that the oil companies have paid in taxes and royalties to date. It's one of the best-managed fund in the world.

That said, I wish BP/Exxon-Mobile/Chevron and all the rest would just go the fuck home.

More on the spill here at the Anchorage Daily News:

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/7506920p-7418059c.html

<snip> State, federal and oil company officials said the total amount of oil spilled is still not known, but they discounted claims by an oil industry critic that the spill was much larger than BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. is saying.

The breach was discovered at 1:40 a.m Sunday inside a low-lying section of the 34-inch transit line, which leads to the trans-Alaska oil pipeline. The section where the leak occurred is covered by gravel to let caribou pass.>

See, it's all the caribou's fault.

For info on the Permanent Fund: http://www.apfc.org/

It's actually administered by a separate, semi-independent group.

[EVDebs]

6. You guys got $865 apiece this yr. My sister and bro-in-law

have lived up there since the mid '70s. I was just teasing btw. But have heard that the Prudhoe Bay oil is down by around two-thirds of what it used to be originally. That's why the natgas pipeline is such a big deal.

I always thought it would be cheaper to just drill for the natgas and then tie into the existing Canadian pipelines...but am hearing that AK wants another TransAlaska style natgas pipeline to Valdez. Is that for real ? Either way, I love Seward (Homer is pretty but harder to get too, tee hee). Saw a comedy central Dave Atell show with him fishing at 2am near Anchorage. Verry weird, but not as cool as the all night softball games during 4th of July in Seward.

I love AK, shhhhhhhh, don't tell anyone.

[northofdenali]

8. I won't tell if you won't!!

I've been here since 1968, and I can tell you that I want my dividend just for having to put up with the absolute hell the pipeline has brought us! This state changed dramatically with the influx of oil people, and I can say it wasn't for the better.

The natgas pipeline has been talked about (talked to death, actually) since 1982. Yep, 24 years and counting. It looks like it would be just as easy to build a parallel line to the Pipe to Valdez as it would be to hook up with Canada - and the state and US could keep the royalties. Even the city of Fairbanks now has a Port Authority!!

The Goldpanners have been playing midnight baseball here in Fairbanks since the 1950's on June 21. Without lights. It's fun! The Midnight Sun Run is also during Solstice and begins at 10 PM. Solstice in the interior is damn near as pagan as it should be!

C'mon up, see the great Interior! We'll take a trip up the Haul Road to the Brooks Range and the edges of ANWR, drink a beer to the beauty that the Pukes deny is there. I'll buy the brews!

[acmavm]

2. Hell yeah, I take the oil company's word that the spill is minimal. You

bet.

About as much as I believe the one about American military finding weapons in Iraq that are being sent in by the Iranians. Big weapons, deadly weapons. You know, the kind that you start a war over.

[jpak]

3. I believe the two incidents are related

:tinfoilhat:

:evilgrin:

[seasat]

5. On a similar vein, I tried to find data on spills from ocean drilling.

They don't report it. I was curious about how much oil was released during the destruction of platforms during the hurricanes last year. I found a reporting form on NOAA but found out that they don't release that information to the public. They mentioned some the largest international spills that were associated with platforms on one site but didn't have any information on overall releases from drilling platforms. I also found wide discrepancies in reports. An Australian government report had spills from platforms estimated at over 20% while a US report estimated it at under 2%. I'm curious about it since Shrub Inc and his brother Jebbie are planning on drilling off FL. A major spill out at sea that gets caught in the loop current would eventually decimate the already beleaguered reefs in the FL Keys. Has anyone got any reliable sources on spills from ocean drilling platforms?

[roguevalley]

7. I am coming to hate all corporations. the cruise ships get a quota

on how much poop they can dump into the passage. imagine it. quotas. but then I'm still reeling over Victoria BC dumping theirs into the ocean. for years. and years. and years. sigh.

[EVDebs]

9. Soon we'll all be using composting toilets and giving the poop to be used

in methane digesters. The LA sewage system works this way at their main treatment plant (saw it on History Channel program). Why, oh why, can't they do something like that, even aboard cruise ships ?

[roguevalley]

10. I don't know. There's a program where people are using dog

waste for fuel. its piloted in San Francisco I believe.