Pepsi is hosting a forum for sharing ideas on how to “refresh the Gulf”: http://gulf.refresheverything.com/ – start posting on July 12…

Industry expert Bob Cavnar says “If they shut in, they risk rupturing whatever casing they have left down there and experiencing an underground blowout, which is a doomsday scenario”, adding that “I’ve come to the conclusion why they can’t is because of down hole damage, serious down hole damage”… http://www.click2houston.com/news/23932213/detail.html

Here is another blog, but from a technical direction, with information I have not seen in the news:

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6593/648967

There are, as I understand it, concerns about pressure inside the well itself, that if the pressure is totally cut off at the top, the well casing, which keeps the oil from pushing out into the surrounding geology, could burst, making the ”leak” far worse and harder still to contain. We have a running discussion [...]

Guardian reports Costner’s oil clean-up centrifuges going to work in the Gulf of Mexico: The 32 centrifuge machines, which a Costner-funded team of scientists have spent the past 15 years developing, are to be deployed to help tackle the spill, now believed to be gushing 40,000 barrels a day into the Gulf. The devices, manufactured by Ocean [...]

It’s clear from what’s taking place in the Gulf of Mexico that we need to find a way to operate as a civilization without threatening the health of the oceans, but how can we best change policy on the use of agricultural chemicals, the dumping of industrial waste, the management of landfills, and the harvesting [...]

MSNBC reported this evening that a group of Alabama fire chiefs are alleging BP is deliberately preventing trained responders from accessing spill sites, including beaches where oil is coming ashore and wildlife are in immediate danger. Do we need new legislation to give government the power to intervene to prevent a transnational corporation like BP [...]

Press and government reports now suggest the main oil slick is rapidly approaching the coastline in Alabama and Florida. MSNBC reports the slick may “make its approach” to land somewhere between Mobile Bay, Alabama, and Pensacola, Florida, as early as tomorrow, 11 June. Burms are likely not a serious response to oil coming ashore for [...]

One clear fact about sand burms, similar to onshore water booms, is that they may reduce the flow of oil toward coastal ecosystems, but they will not stop wildlife from carrying contaminants inland. To prevent long-term ecological fallout, there has to be an extensive marine clean-up, and it has to involve getting the oil out [...]

SAND BURMS in Louisiana: Are burms a real solution? I keep hearing they are “necessary to keep the oil out”, but some environmentalists seem to think burms are necessary only if nothing else is done, and even then, will not be a real “barrier”, but ultimately will be more like a filter. Does anyone know [...]