A little BOP engine was employed about a deepwater drilling site for such work as it was built, stopping a surge of gas that could sink a drilling rig, killing people and massive amounts of marine life, devastating communities, polluting a major body of water and coast line, and causing health problems and environmental and economic devastation for years to come. One day it was waiting for the next call when a train of company men asked a surge test to prove that plugging of the well was possible.
"I can't; that is too much a pull off," said the surge test. Then the long train of company men asked another failsafe, and another, only to hear excuses and be refused. In desperation, the train of bickering company men asked the little ten-year-old BOP, not configured on the bottom of the Gulf floor to stop the buildup of methane hydrates, to keep a massive surge of ice crystals and gas from going up the grade of a 5000 foot riser and raining down fire and ice.
"I think I can," puffed the little BOP, and put itself in front of the great heavy train of pressure from deep below. As it went on the little BOP kept bravely puffing faster and faster, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can." As the final huge kick reached the inside of the little BOP he went more slowly. However, he still kept saying, "I--think--I--can, I--think--I--can." The methane hydrates built up so thickly in the little BOP that its shears could not work. Then the bravery of a rig worker kicked in and he decided on his own, in terror, to hit the last failsafe mechanism to help the little BOP.
Damning itself, the little BOP said, "I thought I could, I thought I could.” This is of course a fairytale, but a fairytale that the little BOP that thought it could so desperately wishes it could relay in just one of the numerous hearings and “investigations” as to why it failed to be the failsafe it was not designed and configured to be in a deepwater drilling environment that is known for large reserves of methane hydrates that have historically built up in this geologic region and naturally release their pressure straight from the ocean floor.
The little BOP would bring so much deeper meaning to the term whistleblower. The little BOP might spill the whole kit and caboodle of methane hydrates and say, “I am not to blame. You all are. What were you thinking when you passed The Methane Hydrate Research and Development Act of 2000? I quote from an update from the Government Affairs Program American Geological Institute”, the little BOP continues:
“There are technological problems that must be addressed before methane hydrate can be economically and safely extracted. In its natural state below permafrost or under the seafloor, methane hydrate is a solid and cannot flow up the drill stem. Recovery methods, such as steam flooding and depressurization are centered around causing the methane to sublimate, which enables production as a gas. However, expansion associated with the phase change of methane hydrate to methane gas has historically been a hazard to oil exploration and production. For instance, the escape of methane gas to shallow depths has been responsible for the disappearance of whole rigs from the induced liquefaction of sediment into which they were secured. Methane hydrates are also thought to be responsible for some massive submarine landslides.”
The little BOP chugs on, “I submitted this for the record weeks ago, along with the amendment to the act, and the follow up legislation from 2005. Not one of you has brought it up today.” Mr. Lamar McKay cannot even say the word ‘methane’. ‘Don’t know the specific fluid’. ‘That particular fluid.’ That ‘very unique fluid.’ ‘Learning about the fluid’.’ ‘No one could have predicted.’ A research crew from the Gulf of Mexico Hydrate Research Consortium funded by the Department of Energy sits within eye shot of the explosion, videoing their research of capturing methane hydrates straight from the ocean floor. Even with massive amounts of government research, Mr. Cohen doesn’t even seem to know or can’t bring himself to say exactly what ‘froze’.”
Gaveling for dear life and trying desperately to talk over the cheering proletariat, the chair yells, “We will tolerate no outburst! The BOP’s time has expired. The BOP’s time has expired. We will take recess.” When the hearings begin again, the little BOP, that wanted to be the hero to control one of the most abundant sources of fossil fuels that the public seldom hears by name and greatest forces of Mother Nature that has ever existed on our planet, was only to be found on live cam serving no purpose than to be an image of something to blame.
(Jones, LaNita. "If a BOP Could Talk." Godlike Productions. Web. July 2010.)
This, I remember after the computer hack in May of 2010. Voyeurs. Again, twelve and a half years later, there is no such thing as clean-burning, except perhaps hell, perhaps. The hell we have lived through since Top Kill.
This is exactly why I had come to GLP in April of 2010. "For instance, the escape of methane gas to shallow depths has been responsible for the disappearance of whole rigs from the induced liquefaction of sediment into which they were secured.”
2010 El Mayor – Cucapah earthquake. Mud was swallowing a house. There was one video that linked to GLP. I had never heard of the observatory prior and have heard few seldom speak of it.
(Jones, LaNita. "If a BOP Could Talk: Final Testimony." Substack. Substack, 5 Dec. 2022.)
If a BOP Could Talk
"The property was largely self-sufficient in its day. The still-standing Rock Building was built by Jesuits and people they enslaved. They quarried limestone from the banks of the Missouri River, and it has walls 3 feet (0.91 m) thick. The wooden parts came from walnut, logged from the property by the Jesuits, and the bricks were also made on site. The seminary fed itself with an orchard, a chicken ranch, a cattle barn, wheat fields, vineyards, a butcher shop, a creamery, and a bakery. The former farm property is now owned by Saint Louis County, which leases it to the Missouri Department of Conservation as a conservation area.[9]"
I want the property back. Really. I wanted to define the terminology of the word sustainability in my Thesis. I want the term back. Sustainability: It is an economic system.
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