Oil Drilling Rig Adrift/Aground of off Kodiak Island

[unokitty]

Shell's Kulluk Drill Rig Aground Near Kodiak

Anyone else think of Captain Phil when they heard this?

Que Bon Jovi

 

[Darwin333]

LOL at the environmentalists already jumping on this:

Environmental groups have been quick to criticize the grounding, saying it shows that Shell isn’t prepared to drill in the Arctic. Michael Levine of the ocean conservation group Oceana condemned the accident as just the latest in a series of missteps by the oil giant.

First of all, the rig was not under operation. It had successfully completed its drilling and was being towed Seattle by a 3rd party. Obviously Shell doesn't operate tugs and icebreakers capable of towing the unpowered rig through probably the harshest waters in the world. The tug boat that was towing it had some sort of major issue including losing power to all 4 of its props. The article says the line broke first and then the tug lost power but I bet they have that backwards.

At any rate, it doesn't appear that there will be any environmental damage despite being adrift in 70mph winds with 40' seas and then running aground. Frankly, I think this puts Shell in pretty decent light that despite all of that there is (so far) very minimal impact to the environment. Not to make light of the fishermen but from what the story says there is more environmental damage done when a fishing vessel sinks and in that area that happens quite a lot.

 

[unokitty]

So far, everything looks stable. NPR reports"

"It's a round ship and the diesel fuel tanks are located at the center, encased in very heavy steel..."

Hopefully, there won't be any significant issues.

Uno