Can celebrity ideas really help clean up the oil spill in the Gulf?

James Cameron should concentrate on that he can do the best; make great movies!
If he abides with this, we promise no to send oilmen to Hollywood to make movies.
What works in a fantasy world may no do in the real one.

Dear Mr. Cameron,
I was wondering; depending on the hydraulic pressure of the "jaws" that are being used to work on the pipe, can the pipe be "crimped", then welded closed?
If not welded maybe when the pipe is "crimped" then because of less oil pressure coming out of the pipe a" Top Hat" could then be inserted over the pipe, just a thought?
Tom

hey i have a quetion for who exactly is cleaning up the bp oil spill because i would like to donate a portion of money i am making to help the people really focusing on helping clean th animals

Get serious.

Larry I have the solution to the oil disaster and would love for you to be the first to announce it. Please call me at 810-869-0275

"Lets call in the Military"
What do you want them to do...shoot at it?
"Junk Shot"
Now What? start throwing old refrigerators at it?
The problem is..When you run a well "full bore" as it is currently running, the B,O.P. has become worthless..all the valve trims have been washed out (sand blasted if you will) from Boxite, Interprop and sand from the pressures and volumes that are on the well-head.
The zones that have been perforated and fractured will continue to flow until a relief well is drilled into the well caseing, above the perforations, and a "Completion Rig" is called in to cement the hole.
Any attempt to try to "stop it from above" will be an excersize in futility.
Remember, we are dealing with a 22" diameter pipe, flowing from a number of ditterent zones, Also, there is not just one hole in the ground there are several, the riser pipe is just a delivery system for the numerous strands. What BP calls "vent pipes" are the strands around and below the riser. THIS is where the oil is comming from..The Strands..remember the riser is JUST A DELIVERY SYSTEM.
With "head pressures of 6-10k and flow rates of 10-15k B.P.D. is like trying to shove a wet noodle into a brick wall.
Capture some of it? Maybe, 10-15% at best.
Nothing will change until the relief wells have been drilled and a Completion Rig is called in to cement it shut.
Clean-up?
With the amount that has been spilled, and the amount that continues to come out, its equivelent to trying to sop up a bucket of gravy with a biscuit.
Sorry

Honestly its nice to hear that someone else has stepped up to help stop this disaster and I don't care who it is that does it as long as its fixed. However it is nice to hear that someone with the fame of James Cameron has stepped in and actually has a bit of experience with underwater exploration.

Larry:
While prayer will always be our first line of defense, I do have a practical solution to the oil spill. I guarantee that it will work because it is simple, with no parts to break, but only if we want to completely stop the oil spill.
It seems that BP doesn't truly want to stop the spill, only restrain it until they can salvage a good portion of the oil being spilled. That doesn't help our people and animal/sea life in the Gulf. You don't just bandage part of a sore and hope that it all heals.
Please contact me, or have one of your people contact me, and I will be glad to offer my solution. Also, I have a solution for recovering the mess that is already spreading in the Gulf. The secret to these ideas comes from the KISS approach to engineering. Ask an engineer what that means. :0)
Sincerely,

Rev. S.C. Brown, DD

Cameron has worked extensively with robot submarines. He met with the US Environmental Protection Agency. He offered to help BP but was turned down by them. He has not spoken with the White House either. He stated he knows some "very smart people" (non-oil drillers) that work at depths much greater than the oil well: "they know the engineering that it requires to get something done at that depth".

Cameron wants to help the government with methods of monitoring the oil leak and investigating it, stating the government needs: "to have its own independent ability to go down there and image the site, survey the site and do its own investigation". This is important as they need their own system to monitor the leak independently from BP.

If Cameron, or any other willing party, has access to equipment that can help monitor this disaster, it would help. Bring forth this group of "very smart people" with effective proposals and get the government on board – if it is viable. With the oil spill now forecasted to continue into the fall – we cannot rely soley on BP's accounts for accuracy.

Having lived, worked, played, partied, fished, swam, dived, and flown over the region of the gulf that is being devastated by the effects of errors, lies, and negligence on behalf of BP, Halliburton, and Transocean, does not make me in any way capable to assist, or even critique those charged with stopping the flow of oil, the experts. I have flown out to, and landed on many rigs in the gulf, and am still in no way qualified to lend assistance or detract from the professionals at work trying to impede what was egregiously wronged.

To hear or read about aerospace engineers, that can't even spell cat correctly, let alone write worthy specs., offer their butt-plug ideas; oilfield workers, who never set foot onto offshore rigs, yet have done it all and offer 'Mickey Mouse' cheesy fixes a ten year-old could have suggested; and now a writer/producer/film-maker, who I would guarantee has ZERO oilfield or offshore oilfield experience, will offer his ameliorations to this disaster.

Go ahead, the world will be listening, but I will bet none are more than Disney in nature. Feel free to criticize BP, Halliburton, and Transocean for their blunders, but please do not degrade the efforts or the years of talent and experience attempting to resolve this horrible disaster. I would consider it akin to our members of the Armed Forces being condemned for fighting wars that they are not guilty of starting.

Cameron, your efforts will better serve those already being harmed by this calamity if you stood on the courthouse steps, in the region of devastation, selling pencils emboldened with the slogan "judges should divest their interests in oil" so fair and impartial trials can be conducted when the cases come before them to adjudicate the many losses and violations incurred by BP, Halliburton, and Transocean.

I am a nurse. Think of the oil chamber as a bladder. Imagine a giant Foley catheter with a cement balloon. It will stop the leak from within. I am serious! We need to think out of the box with our solutions. The baloon can be inflated from land and be plugged from within!!!

First of all- thank you. Thanks for your efforts to help solve this problem & to attempt to spread the message of the need to protect our environment. It seems to take disasters for anyone to care. Then it gets all wrapped up in politics. What do you think it will take for our country to take some real action to make real change?

Mr. Cameron, Don't you find this insulting not only to America but also to the people who live on the Gulf Coast and to the environment that you are taking part in this media lunacy which suggests you, as a Director of movies, have any domain expertise to apply to this disaster? If you are not ashamed of yourself then please sir, allow me: Shame on you. Shame on you for whoring yourself to the media and using this catastrophe to further your career. Shame on you. I do not know how you can sleep at night. There are hundreds of other folks with solutions READY TO GO that are begin ignored. You should offer your spotlight to them sir.
I am embarrassed for you.

@retired driller

No need to say your sorry. I can see you are being extremely honest and valid in your assessment of the situation in the gulf. You sir, and I mean the "sir" with the greatest respect, are the first, I have read the blog of, that has been true and correct on what is being dealt with deep below the gulf floor.

You have been the only one that has presented the situation as it really is. My greatest respect is humbly offered to your years of experience and I wish you a very happy and pleasurable retirement. My hard hat is raised high in your honor. Thank you so much for your comments. I know the sorry comes from the fact this situation deeply pains you..Please take comfort that you have informed so many of the truth....cajazz

@Rose...your "IF" in your blog says volumes...NOT says it all.

@stacey...good thinking, but there are pressures and parameters at those depths that nursing school didn't cover.

@Dave M...Bravo, well said...couldn't have said it better..thank you!!!

CNN you asked the wrong Question here , The question should have been one that asks for suggestions and or ideas on how to stop that leak . Cleaning it up wont be very effective until that oil STOPS flowing .

Why not help relieve some of the frustration by doing a show with a few experts or many and exploring the ideas that many people have had to stop the leak ? It is appearing that BP is not interested in shutting the well down as much as they are interested in "recovering" the oil .

I am not an expert , after reading some of the ideas , one of which would be a self tapping plug on the end of a drill which is what BP does , drill . The self tapping plug on the end of the drill ,useing the drill to screw it into the pipe . I cannot see how it would not work , they drill into pressures like that all the time .

Other ideas useing magnets to close the valves , or even plug the hole .

These ideas sound pretty damn good regardless of where they come from a plumber or a engineer or a film producer . STOP THE LEAK !

I don’t know so much about plugging and stopping the dirty oil spillage like some other people such as James Cameron, Borak Obama, Fat Albert, etc, etc, etc. But I do have a suggestion about cleaning it up (Let the shell fish and the crawling scavenger fish have a go at it.)

I have nailed lots of anchor bolts in the past.

Once you nail an anchor bolt, you can never get it out.
Once you nail an anchor bolt with epoxy smudged all around it, you can never get it out and plus you get a nice tight seal all around the drill hole.

Thank you and good day

Can celebrity ideas really help clean up the oil spill in the Gulf?
Larry, I find that an intriguing question. It would be analogous to asking a psychologist to solve a space shuttle mechanical problem.

James Cameron, may be a director extraordinaire; however, he has no knowledge of an oil disaster. The people suited for this job, many of which are already in the Gulf coast, are those with extensive experience in deep sea oil well disasters and who have worked on rigs for years. My vote would be to keep the “clutter” of people down to a soft roar so those with the knowledge can carry on with their work!!!

Addendum: Luis, a will not be posting on CNN for a while as he has volunteered to work in cleanup efforts which will keep him very busy. Stay safe and protected, Luis! Thank You!!!!

If even 1% of the huge drain by the US Military taxpayer funding was focused on developing robotic ocean cleaners, they could be released into the Gulf of Mexico like many already do with their swimming pools.

Fully automated, solar powered skimmers in automated fleets filtering the water, collecting the oil, collecting the trash.

The Republican led administration of Bush-Cheney that removed federal the regulation on Big Oil and Gas Company's to have federal environmental plans and emergency contingency plans filed and checked before being granted leases, permits and drilling is criminal and the deep Oil Gusher in the Gulf of Mexico is entirely predictable directly as a result.

Hi Larry: I'm a long time fan since radio days back in Miami. I have a
question for Mr. Cameron. My husband and I purchased a 1934 V-12 Packard 1107 from John Jacob Astor III in 1970. His dad went
down with Titanic and his mother was pg with him at the time. The
Packard has a very interesting history with regards to Astor having it
shipped to Europe before WWII broke out, and being used by the Germans. Astor was chauffered aroung New York in it before and
after the war. My husband passed away in 2005 and I am interested
in someone owning "Dutchess" and preserving her for historical
value. I can be reached at above e-mail address. MG

my name is adam nelson i was fortunate enough to act in the james cameron under water film THE ABYSS i worked on the film for over 5 months i mention all this to state how thrilled i am to hear that jim is involved with attempting to help with the BP disaster for those who do not realize he has spent much of his time developing and creating new under water ground breaking gear on the highest levels and he doesnt sit on the shore and watch i hope he discusses some of his under water research and his adventures on the real titanic wreck much of the gear in the making of the abyss was prototype which i see in day to day service all the time today (not only being able to see better under water but to communicate to each other under water that was a first or if need be talk to the surface ) the man is a genius( he cant help it )who works really hard and if bp does not pay attention to him hear him out at such a crucial moment well you cant say on the air what i would say about that ! now is the time to think out side the box and that is jims speciality and that is not based on conjecture but reality , the best of luck to him i hope they listen very good that he is on tonight to help people realize that he may have some answers ,sincerely Adam Nelson

Larry,

Ask your guest why can't we deploy an inverted huge, strong, heavy funnel over the leak? We could lower it at a slow rate, eventually capturing all the leakage. Attach a tube (large pipe might be more appropriate) at the base of the funnel and let it gush.

Joe

What scares me most about this situation is that not only does BP not know how to fix this oil spill but neither does any of the other oil companies that have wells in the gulf!

@Retired driller,
Exact same comments T. Boone Pickens made today.

Dear Larry & Mr. Cameron,

I can understand BP will do everything in power to dissolve the crude and dispersants into the ocean so there will be less evidence left on the surface after the spill is controlled. What I can't understand is why nobody is speaking about doing exactly the opposite to control the damage; specifically use fixating chemicals that HARDEN the oil as UV rays hit it. Same as plastics that harden with reactants such as epoxies and other plastics. It would be much better to clean up hardened plastic oil pellets that are stable and sink into the ocean harmlessly or inititially float in a hardened state. Plastics are made of ghess what: petroleum. I am confident DWO Chemical can quicly come up with chemicals that will harden crude and prevent toxic chmecals fron actually dissolving into the ocean. As I said, let's do exactly the opposite of disssolving.

@Smith in Oregon,
Why have you never complained about a Democrat President who repealed Glass Seagull. I guess you feel that had no role in the banking crisis. Of course not.

What value does the constant finger pointing offer?

PLEASE ask them about the chemical dispersants. Earlier on CNN we learned that people who worked on the Exon Valdez cleanup lived only to an average age of 51, and ALL of them are dead. Why wont BP disperse gas mask. Didn't we already learn this lesson on the pile after 9/11? How about it the US Gov just provides them?

Larry, why hasn't the Russian solution of the 1960s been suggested to plug the BP oil well. The loution is to drop a 30 kiloton atomic bomb down the well. They did with success 5 times in sealing their wells. Admittedly, those were underground with no sea cover. But, there has to be away to place such a bomb into the pipe. This is known world-wide so why hasn't it been brought up for at least discussing its possibility in this case of ours?

Hey Larry,

Let's get Goodyear involved....Invert a dirigible with a clamp engineered to "fit around the base of the BOP, have the ROV's secure the bottom. At the top we will need a flexible pipe to enable movement during any storms and to allow for pull out in the evnt of the storm. This is a very over simplified solution If this sounds plausible please, I make myself available to whomever would like to follow up on the specs and the complete idea.
Very truly oyurs,
N. Jeffries Sr.
American

How about capturing the oil at the surface? Is there any way to "vacuum" the surface and be able to use/refine later?

Can you ask Mr. Cameron if BP can use giant sheers to cut the pipe then why can't they use a giant pipe crimper to crimp the pipe closed?

Canada requires that a relief well be drilled along side the main well. Why don't we require this? It would have prevented this nightmare.

Repair for the well. Just below the cut there is a bolt on flange. Take out the bolts and let it blow off. Take one hundred feet hardened steel threaded rods and run though the holes. Design a cap with a valve on top and guide the new top plate into the threaded rods. Slowly draw the cap down with threaded rods until closed. Once capped either take oil up new riser connected to valve or close it completly. Problem solved

Question #1:
Its obvious that BP cant stop the oil or contain it. So why dont they just dump boulders and sand bags on top of the rupture, while they drill there so called pressure relief valves?

Question #2:
What do you think the long term effects will be if they stop the oil leak tomorrow?

Why not try freezing the oil in the well pipe with liquid nitrogen to temporarily stop the flow of oil so a cap can be installed. This procedure has been used for freezing live chilled water flow in pipes, so the pipes can safely be cut for the installation of shutoff valves when no valves previously existed.

Why not place a containment dome (larger one) over the existing dome and pump oil water mixture. This would not increase the pressure on the well and a large unused dome is on the seabed already – just a thought.

if bp is doing such a good job then what is the need for gag orders and not allowing public to see what is actually going on and why are people supposedly cleaning up in white siuts never dirty

Larry,
What if we build a dome simular to the one before. Leave the top open while you lower it into place. This will allow the oil to continue to flow until dome is in place. Have several ports in all four sides connecting to headers outside of dome. connect headers to single riser. When above surface have a header with several hose connections. Turn on pumps and begin pumping out the oil. This should contain most of the spill while hose for top kill is put in place.

To contain the oil spill you must build walls from the sea floor up welding and cementing four columns all the way up to the least amount of pressure around the area of oil spill then cap it welding lid over it then build a valve then pump cement at large amount of pressure.

Thank you,
Gilbert Montanez

Mr. Cameron
I have given my idea a name called Well Chaser and the Coast Guard has everything about it. we can develope it more
It can be used several ways we can use it to go down in the well with the drill steel in the well and grout it in leaving a pipe in to control or stop the oil. We chould go down into the well with a pipe and this tool leading the way. and grout it in at the same time. With stages to go from one size bore to another.
We can send grout down the drill steel once we get the Well chaser set. There are several things we can do.
I don't know how far to each size reduction.
I talked about a sleave to get past the BOP. Larry

Larry, The "Top Kill" procedure appeared to have stopped the crude flow and allow only the materials BP was pumping into the riser to spew out. Based on the clay color (cement?) shooting out, and not the dark brown and black color (crude?)shooting out as we all have seen for days and days now. Based on pure Observation.

If this be true, why would we not require BP to resume the TOP KILL procedure and for all practical purposes stop the oil, until the backup well is completed? I called into BP's response center with this when TK was in progress, it appears they have abandoned TK methodology here. Thanks again, Congrats on your time at CNN,

Mr Cameron
You next movie should be about oil, but not on how to stop an oil leak, but how to stop mankind from extracting black gold (petroleum) for its belly.
If you inject an Orange(Fruit) with a few needles and suck the juice from it, the orange will get dry quicker than under normal circustances and will discompose faster.
The main reason for Global Worming is actually being cause by extracting 83 millions of barrel per day from the planet's layers withou replenishing with anything else. The oil in the earth had being forming for thousands or even millions of years and probabily serve as a culant and it may be one of the reasons for why we have life in our beautifull sphere.
To what extent are we damaging our blue planet, and not because of an oil spill that is what we can see an make acessment in the surface.
What we doing to our planet is going have negative consequences of inmense proportion and it might be to late to reversed.
No more extraction if we want to have a future

What happens deep down inside the earth where the oil has been when this much oil is released so violently and quickly for so long? Does that space get filled back up or it the empty space at risk of causing a shift of some sort? It just seems when you have released something that has alot of weight and is non-compressible that's the size of Maryland something's gotta start shifting, even if ever so slightly.

Larry....No disrespect to James Cameron, if there is 13,000 psi and the leak cannot be turned off like a faucet, makes me wonder if the well was sucessful then how would they control it??? Also he stated the three reasons for failure the following was not mentioned....

Sent to Anderson’s blog…blog closed for future comments

It's well known that the true figure is hard to establish or our nations experts would know the answer.. If one control flap is closed on the capture divice and there are four total, lets say BP claims they are capturing 11000 barrels, three left open, that puts my figures at 33000 barrels ecaping.. not even adjusting for pressure, which would raise my figure......... Also why don't we here any thing about the rubber that broke apart from the blow out perventor that started this mess... To explain.. at the begining of this I heard that they were drilling, stopped and closed the perventor around the drill bit. This is when some one lowered the drill bit with it closed and destroyed the perventor. They had clumps of rubber in there hands when they continued drilling. This is the point that we may have had a chance to stop this accident from happening. Some one in charge said to continue drilling which resulted in this mess. Why don't we hear about this or will BP cover this up as well...Or have you forgotten this Anderson?

Look back at begining news reports

since they have the cap on and the drill ship above . equipted with the drilling equiptment. Why not extend the drill pipe all the way through the hose and cap all the way down to the reservoir and some , where the pressure is zero. start their mud formation there and back out slowly while monitoring your pressure until flow stop. it will be like putting a plug in the drain. Using the pressure of the oil to plug itself.

if the heat from the oil caused the caps to fail would lining them with some kind of ceramic tile work?

I learned more from James Cameron in the first seven minutes than I have the past 40-something days from all these scientists. James has a way of talking to an every-man like me, like with his shutting off a faucet/plumbing analysis. He should become a spokesperson for the people on this matter, or better yet, he should help write the script, and then have Hanks, Leo, Reese, Clooney, and Sandra Bullock come read it to us.

or what about a larger diameter to the cap? mayb a hundred feet, so by the time the oil gets close to the thing it has cooled enough?

K, I'm not sure about the pressure rating of the casing they have in place, but I do could they not use robotic arms to "aim" a retainer, packer, bridge plug or what have you lowerred from the surface with heavy weight to overcome the flow of the well. It wouldn't be much different than snubbing in on a live gas well which is done daily. The deeper the heavey weight pipe gets the heavier it gets, the closer the down hole tool would be to the formations. Would this be a possiblity to shut the well down and get total control of it?

I have a fix to the oil spill. It may be a permanent fix to continue to use the well. Please contact me by email for details.

I didn't follow the early story, but right now the technical details out of BP, such as Kent Wells' technical briefings on bp.com, are among the best I've seen. A press conference today addressed the issues of hurricane season, moving the drill ship, fitting a better cap, and using the "top kill" pipes to capture more oil. It seems to me the real experts are onsite doing all they can. Stemming the flow of oil is rightly their priority, and they are finally having some success.

I have 15 years of experience in the oil field equipment sales in down hole sub surface pump repair. BP must fish the lower flange below the cut pipe and install a hydraulic ram to close and cap the hole. I can't believe they haven't plannned or thought of this yet! I can provide a diagram as needed. Contact me at 951 301-6202

I think it’s a great idea sending down a manned submersible craft! If for no other reason than the documentation of this disaster it’s a wonderful idea! The first thought that crosses my mind is, “Will it or could it harm the efforts now under way?”

It’s difficult to get or have too much information and there’s always the chance, and in this case a very good chance, a wider or broader, real-time view of the disaster could shed some light on a solution.

We’ll be living with the consequences of this spill for years if not decades and a documentary will be made eventually. The earlier this can be started then the more information we’ll have for preventing similar tragedies in the future. So what if Mr. Cameron or some company reaps a profit from the film rights? They’ve made investments in their equipment and processes and are better equipped to do it. I, for one, am fed up with the close-up and myopic views afforded by the ROV’s. Here’s a company that has cameras and lighting to give us a larger view; it goes without saying that no actions should be undertaken which would interfere with containing or repairing the damage and attendant spill but so long as the support vessels could stand off at a safe distance I don’t see how anyone could stop them from observing and filming?

First of all, from ALL of us on this blog, I would like to extend my deepest sympathy to the 11 families who lost their loved ones in this terrible, and tradgic incident.
May God give you peace, comfort and hold you in the palm of his hand.

Next, may God give the clean-up workers his providence and protect them in their task.

It appears to me that there is enough blame to go around from all parties involved.
I really don't believe that this situation is ALL BP's fault.
Once the well is closed in and the B.O.P. is retrieved some of the answers will be known.
I think that there are some problems with the packers and the service company who did the original completion on the well...Who is this you say? I dont know...I really don't want to know...at this point it does not make any difference.
The original cement job at the formation, and the packers failed.
Looks like a surge of gas came up through the zone, broke the cement job, blew through the packers and now you have product in the caseing.
The wing valves,that open and close from the formations below are toast...BP has tried to close these "vents" and has been able to close one of the four. As I stated earlier, with these types of pressures and volumes, the trims on all the valves on the tree have been washed out...there is not much left to close. Monel trims or not.
Again, nothing will change until the relief well has been completed and the well is filled with concrete.
Mr. Cameron I believe miss-spoke when he stated that you can't close in the well..Yes you can close it in...just not abruptly...hence choke manifolds, which throttle down rates and pressures in a controlled enviroment.

PARALLEL VERTICAL UNDERWATER WELL/UNDERWATER CONVENTIONAL EXPLOSIVES CHARGE TO STOP HORIZON LEAK: A second carefully controlled well drilled parallel to (also vertical) and a short distance from, the subject leak well, yet far enough away to allow drilling of the well to occur without oil from the leaking well to seep into this new Explosives Charge Well. Yet this new well would need to be close enough to affect the subject leak well with a powerful conventional underwater explosive charge. The conventional underwater explosive charge could be set off, say 2/3 to 1/2 the way down. If set off lower, say 2/3 the way down, a chance to set off another charge could shortly follow in time by the explosives team, say 1/2 the way down. Engineers/geologists familiar with the well could carefully make the decisions. It would bring soil, rock and otherwise heavy/large movement of substantial earth onto the subject leak eliminating the current well/pipe, preventing oil from passing through the current well and/or pipe. The existing pipe and passage will be simply crushed inward by substantial earth movement, at perhaps many levels near the lowest points that are practical to place the charge. In effect both wells ultimately will be crushed inward at a point of depth somewhat well above the levels that the oil sits. The distance we can surmise of the beginning of drilling of this new explosives well, can be say 8 feet (or other distance) from the subject well, though geologists and engineers at the site, who are familiar with the current well can decide, along with the best explosives experts, to make sure the subject leak well is crushed in at as many levels as possible. Depth of the explosives charge well also to be carefully determined by all including geologists on site familiar with the Horizon well. Army corps and industry have experts, including those on site have access to new suitable rig and drill, equipment, expertise, materials. Some sensible improvising of placement of the conventional underwater explosives will be needed by explosives experts, with army corps overseeing effort.

Can the oil be blown out away with these big wind tunnel machines AWAY from land. Why was this not tried in the beginning

I was on my front porch this hot afternoon.I came up with an idea for the soaking up the oil spill.Use palm tree trunks and other plant life that would be used to absorb it like a sponge. And using a nylon strong holding tube like a sock or nylon stockings.I hope my idea may help with the clean up of our negligent (huge) boo boo;that has happened to or ocean and its way of life, and what it's done to our way of life.