Charlie Rose

SharkswithfrikingLazers  06/29/2011 07:14 PM Report

PROBLEM: Oil Spills--one spill put 4.1 million barrels--more than 170 million gallons--in the Gulf of Mexico

SOLUTION: Process Quickly

STORY:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2010/08/24/oil-eating-bacteria-have-started-to-cle an-the-deepwater-horizon-spill/

Issue: Bacteria's job might be easier when the plume is relatively dispersed, so the oil particles are smaller and easier to break down.

Issue: BUT University of South Florida Scientists found oil is in small droplets (seen with UV light) and want studies to see if these small oil particles will damage phytoplankton. The small oil particles may mean there is a great amount of oil in the Gulf but it is difficult to measure. Also the oil moved further east than expected:

http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/region_south_pinellas/st_petersburg/usf-scientists-say-oil-drop lets-speckle-gulf-floor

Issue: dangerous constituents of an oil spill are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons but bacteria can still eat them http://www.scientificamerican.com/slideshow.cfm?id=gulf-oil-eating-microbes-slide-show&photo_id=82271 948-AD97-C1EC-F2F7027DBCD2BF5B

Issue: Oil contains some components that bacteria simply won’t be able to break down--asphaltenes and other big-chain hydrocarbons that go on to form the millions of tar balls dotting the world's coasts--especially on the Texas coast!

Issue: 1,600 bacteria genes involved in breaking down oil.

Aquarium demonstration changing oil into fish food: (2:33) http://youtu.be/71l_rJDMMyE

Megaborg Oil Spill video from Texas Land Office (amazing bacteria use and makes you wonder about germ warfare): (8:02) http://youtu.be/eCzhmGHQ_1c

tryingtolearn  08/25/2010 07:28 PM Report

This guy reminds me of the band TOOL.

doodah  08/24/2010 10:21 AM Report

Wouldn't want his job. He can have it. .. with the reality of end-of-the-earth chaos mixed with politics. No-Way, I couldn't do it.

NeilMacCallister  08/23/2010 11:20 AM Report

CHARLIE ROSE: What question to this day do you want answered, and you don’t have the answer?

AMERICAN CITIZEN: Why did it take 3 months to get that well-cap onto that broken well-pipe, and stop the oil that was polluting the Gulf?

THAD ALLEN, BARACK OBAMA, T. BOONE PICKENS: We needed that time to drill 2 more wells, which we call "relief wells".

AMERICAN CITIZEN: Did you use those new wells to stop the oil that was gushing into the Gulf from the pipe on the broken well?

THAD ALLEN, PRESIDENT OBAMA, T. BOONE PICKENS: No, after the 2 new wells were dug, we just put a cap on the broken well's pipe.

AMERICAN CITIZEN: Do you have any plans to use those 2 new wells to extract more oil from that still very large under-sea oil field?

THAD ALLEN, PRESIDENT OBAMA, T. BOONE PICKENS: Maybe.

robdverity  08/21/2010 05:24 PM Report

BP ads are worese than counter productive now. They just remind me what slimy bastards they are - and cynical when they are arrogant enuff to think they work. Insulting squared.

nrcbtm1  08/20/2010 06:33 PM Report

The U.S. Department of the Interior mission statement claims responsibility for utilizing America’s natural resources to supplies the energy to power our future, as well as for protecting fish and wildlife. That is, it has a built-in conflict that can lead to excess support to industry over regulation, or vice versa. Congress should consider splitting regulatory agencies from promotion agencies, as they did when they changed the old Atomic Energy Commission and split off its regulatory branch. Department of Interior and Department of Agriculture both should have their regulatory arms removed from their control. That’s not likely to happen anytime in the foreseeable future because our politically divided government has difficulty passing any kind of reform.

So when Adm. Allen suggested that the way to improve review of oil drilling safety and accident response plans is to require the Coast Guard, the Dept. of Homeland Security, and the Dept. of Interior conduct a coordinated review of submitted plans, I wondered if those are sufficient. He really is proposing only two agencies in the review, because the Coast guard is part of Homeland Security. Perhaps the Environmental Protection Agency, or some other organization with a stronger focus on protecting the beaches, marshes, and sea life, should have a role in the review of cleanup plans.

nrcbtm1  08/20/2010 04:27 PM Report

When Adm. Allen responded to the question regarding how well BP acted after the explosion, he said he divided that into two parts, one being containment of the well, for which he gave them high marks. But Charlie Rose should have followed up on how well BP did with the other part, i.e., keeping the released oil from reaching sensitive areas and the cleanup of contaminated areas.

temporal1  08/19/2010 09:52 PM Report

How glad our president+all politicians, banks, Wall Street, must be for the months-long hiatus from media attention, a la BP OIL. What a charade it all is. By comparison, with BP's commitment to mitigate the Gulf problems, the rest of us have NOTHING to look fwd to, aside from losing more homes, jobs, security. Where is our BP?! We should have BP-like commitment from Wall Streets+Banks! PIRATES.

temporal1  08/19/2010 08:00 PM Report

Not long after the BP oil spill, the irony of it overcame me. Our president, the media, general folks, appear to be speaking with one voice against BP OIL, no outcome against BP could be too dire, etc. Hmm? -- How is that, i wonder. BP has claimed responsibility from the first!!! What about OUR 'OIL SPILL' ON WALL STREET/BANKING?! Where is the responsibilty for THAT heading??? O.IF ONLY WE COULD ALL BE SO LUCKY AS TO BE LIVING IN THE GULF REGION AND HAVE HOPE. I SAY LET'S SEND RETIRED ADMIRAL THAD ALLEN TO WALL STREET AND THE WHITE HOUSE. OUR REAL PROBLEM.

robdverity  08/19/2010 03:15 PM Report

Allen came off too glib for me at first - people that talk fast scare me. But he was more impressive with Charlie.

He didn't seem to be touting the adm. position that everything is much rosier now. That anything-for-commerce BS is too reminiscent of the Republican hands-off rah, rah for profiteering at any cost. Moral hazard anyone?

REMant  08/19/2010 02:31 PM Report

In the words of the Al Jazeera website "NOAA, the agency that conducted the government report, told a White House briefing that: 'At least 50 per cent of the oil that was released is now completely gone from the system. And most of the remainder is degrading rapidly or is being removed from the beaches,'" but "researchers at the University of Georgia said about three-quarters of the oil...is still lurking below the surface of the Gulf and may pose a threat to the ecosystem." And "a study released by scientists from the University of South Florida said experiments in the northeastern Gulf revealed that oil in sediments of an underwater canyon was at levels toxic to critical marine organisms." There has also been a lot of criticism of BP's effort, for instance, that companies contracted to provide booms were left in the lurch when the well was finally capped, that dispersants were overused, and that at first BP wanted to try to salvage the well rather than kill it, but then fearing huge liability claims wanted to kill it, rather than salvage it making known exactly what the flow rate had been. And there has been criticism of the admin's effort, for instance in rejecting help offered by the Dutch, and many other nations, while blaming the Jones Act.