We all know that this blowout in the gulf could have been avoided. It was nothing but cost cutting that caused the problem. Between using a known faulty BOP, and removing the drilling mud before finishing the well. This was an accident waiting to happen. I see the trouble capping it as a major disconnect between engineers and fabricators, builders and those with hands on experience.  The BOP (blowout preventer) is an apparatus with lots of appendages. How hard would it be to fabricate a frame that attaches to the BOP. This frame would have a big open valve on a slider. The valve would slide over the top of the BOP. The oil would flow right through the valve body. The valve could then be cranked down on top of the BOP. Though there is a rough cut on the pipe coming out of the top. There is a fitting right below it. The manufacturer knows the exact dimensions. This flange could be pressed onto the fitting by this apparatus connected the BOP itself. Not from a mile above. Then just close the valve. It's common practice to make repairs like this by attaching an open valve to the problem, then closing it.

Ah, but the big problem now is the mess. Let me give you a little insight. As pissed of as I am about this, I have to give BP a little credit here. There is no exact science to fixing a problem like this. Like all engineering, It's a balancing act. Do you burn it? Add dispersants? Microbes? How much? When? Where? We have no idea how BP decided to do what they did in the spill response.

Let's just look at a couple of different options: No dispersants. We would have a lot more oil on the coastline. Granted, we would have been happier with less toxic ones. Oil on the surface has been pushed to shore by the winds. What if all of the oil were on the surface? the oil that is underwater is following the currents and keeping it away from shore. They tried burning it, but hurricane season has just begun. With a hurricane all that oil would be everywhere.

Add microbes. Microbes are extremely good at taking oil and converting it into a harmless byproduct that other things, like shrimp can eat. They are also good at using oxygen to do it. With the scope of this spill that would mean huge swaths of Hypoxic (oxygen free) water. Anything that swims into these zones would suffocate. The hypoxic zones would move with the current and effect other areas. If they settle to the bottom, crabs, clams, anything on the bottom would die. Microbes occur naturally in seawater, but at low levels.  The oil that is underwater is slowly being consumed by naturally occurring microbes. We can only hope that it happens at a slow enough rate that it doesn't turn hypoxic. And that the oil is dipersed enough that the sea life will survive till the microbes finish their work.

We will never know what was the best way to handle the mess.   But we do know, that it should not have happened at all, and that it was avoidable. This should be a huge wakeup call to get off of oil.