I got an email over the weekend from a Fox News reporter whose executive producer had seen the photos of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster and wanted to use them. After checking on copyright issues with Jimmy Haigh, a WUWT regular who got the photos to me, I agreed. Here’s Fox News today citing WUWT:
Thanks Jimmy, for making this possible.
Here’s the original slide show on WUWT, should anyone want to link to it.
The Gulf oil rig explosion – on the scene photos
OMG…. does this mean WUWT has gone mainstream? 😉
As the saying goes, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.”
Anthony, I think that you’ve just got yourself a whole raft of new visitors. Let’s hope that they get to learn a little more about the Truth about our climate from the multitude of well reasoned arguments, propositions, hypothothese and ideas promulgated and discussed here.
I thing that you may be on the verge of a break-though into the major leagues here! I hope so as this blog deserves much wider recognition for the achievements made by you and your hard-working Moderators.
You should all stand center stage and take a bow!
Err … hypotheses
“Jeff says:
May 4, 2010 at 1:12 pm
OMG…. does this mean WUWT has gone mainstream? ;-)”
The other way round…
quite a scoop, Anthony and JImmy!!
Yup Jeff – t-shirts, toothbrushes, cups and the Anthony Watts action doll ( with moving parts and meteorological instruments) coming soon.
If you buy the full set you get the bonus Arctic circle ice kit with receding ice – linked via your computer (usb) to NSIDC for real movement in your own home.
This could be huge 🙂
Despite federal plan, not a single fire boom on hand on Gulf Coast at time of oil spill
Ben Raines of the Mobile Press-Register reports that despite a 1994 federal spill plan for the gulf, no one had a single fire boom on hand on Gulf Coast at time of oil spill.
http://blog.al.com/live/2010/05/fire_boom_oil_spill_raines.html
The “In-Situ Burn” plan produced by federal agencies in 1994 calls for responding to a major oil spill in the Gulf with the immediate use of fire booms. A single fire boom being towed by two boats can burn up to 1,800 barrels of oil an hour. That translates to 75,000 gallons an hour, raising the possibility that the spill could have been contained at the accident scene 100 miles from shore.
In the days after the rig sank, U.S Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry said the government had all the assets it needed. She did not discuss why officials waited more than a week to conduct a test burn. At the time, former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration oil spill response coordinator Ron Gouguet — who helped craft the 1994 plan — told the Press-Register that officials had pre-approval for burning. “The whole reason the plan was created was so we could pull the trigger right away.” Gouguet speculated that burning could have captured 95 percent of the oil as it spilled from the well.
Made of flame-retardant fabric, each boom has two pumps that push water through its 500-foot length. Two boats tow the U-shaped boom through an oil slick, gathering up about 75,000 gallons of oil at a time. That oil is dragged away from the larger spill, ignited and burns within an hour. The boom can be used as long as waves are below 3 feet.
That Jimmy, he’s worth a fortune!
I kin, but he’ll no forget where he comes from.
Congrats you guys.
Next on Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck shows!
Jimmy and Anthony:
Congratulations to you both. Well done.
FoxNews is almost by definition the one non-mainstream TV news network, even though it is far and away the most watched. I can find regulars on Fox who are obvious warmists, lukewarmists, or skeptics, but most (not all) of the contributors on the other news networks tow the msm line…. on global warming, the Tea party, the immigration law in AZ, etc.
Those snaps are brilliant. I am booking my passage to Emerald, Queensland for the PRA meeting.
Nice link. FN gets a bit of traffic, so more good for you. 🙂
Killer pics and story, BTW.
WUWT is usually the best source of “real climate” information. I’d imagine that a lot of media people check in here every day.
WUWT: Fair, and NOT Unbalanced!
Jeff said on May 4, 2010 at 1:12 pm:
The MSNM, Main-Stream New Media?
Next thing you know, you’ll be on the Beck show. 🙂
WUWTMSM
[:)]
Fox News is not MSM
Hal
This means that WUWT is gaining publicity, and perhaps the # of skeptics are growing 🙂
It would be grand to see Anthony on Fox–being grilled by O’Reilly or questioned boldly by Beck. In addition to Founder’s Friday (the first one was last week on Sam Adams and apparenly set records for viewership–I watched and it was excellent; this Friday it will be on George Washington), I’d like to see Beck perhaps do a weekly or monthly special on Climategate, Cap ‘n Trade, and all related issues, featuring some of the regulars here along with other climate realists. There’s too much to cover in just one session and this whole issue just keeps expanding. So much for whitewashes, coverups and lawsuit threats!
you may want to take these findings into account? An astrologer on PlanetWaves doing a chart on the incident has found explosives dumps in the vicinity of the drilling, and is doing more research. Knowing that the drilling station is NOT fixed is very interesting, but I don’t know if the fact that there is ordnance in the area would be something important to know or not.
http://planetwaves.net/pagetwo/2010/05/04/explosives-dumps-gulf-of-mexico-oil-spilll/
And it all started with a study of paint & Stevenson screens, then a few pics of strangely sited weather stations. Next thing you know we’ll have WUWT radio. And then watt? Anthony specials on FOX?
Anthony was on with Beck back when Beck was at CNN.
First a radio show and now FOX? Gosh Anthony, we’re sure gonna miss ya! 🙂
Anyway, iirc, Steve Milloy over at JunkScience.com works for FOX (or did at one time?). He’s fairly decent to good when reporting and commenting on all things AGW, but skepticism didn’t exactly enjoy an explosion of mainstream exposure. That, and I assume, given FOX’s ongoing anti-AGW sentiment, that many FOX viewers already know about WUWT and come here regularly already. Finally, and not to get political here, but once something is on FOX… forget about it. The rest of the MSM and left-leaning population will treat you with mistrust, if not as a plague to be stopmed out. That group will be more discouraged now more than ever from coming here. So I don’t think it likely that WUWT readership will grow as a result of this (nor shrink, either).
But all the same, congrats on another milestone, Anthony (and all contributors here at WUWT)
…quite honestly, I’d prefer to have Anthony host his own TV show! Fox gets a bit extreme for my tastes, they have their own biases.
WUWT is very free-wheeling, with lots of ideas exchanged at a very high level (usually anyway).
I just hope WUWT doesn’t become a hangout for a lot of conspiracy-types….
Clear pics. They show us contract workboats fighting the fire. They show us there was no EPA group present for several days. This is Obama’s Katrina. While dithering, the oil spread. It was scheduled to be burned but days turned into weeks and nothing happened. Texas A&M has the top oil field safety program. Maybe the climate majors can switch and get a real job.
Congratulations Anthony. The more people know about this site, the better. We have the best posters, the smartest commentators and terrific moderators that keep everybody in line. Now more people will hear about the site and hopefully visit and learn.
Here’s to this being the first of many WUWT references in the media!!
John B says:
May 4, 2010 at 3:33 pm
I didn’t know Glenn Beck had Anthony on already. The next conference is this month. It’s in Chicago.
http://www.heartland.org/events/2010Chicago/index.html
Maybe Glenn Beck will cover it. His show today was supposed to be all on ‘global warming’ again. I didn’t see it yet. He went into some important behind the scenes dealings of ‘global warming’ last week. Maybe you, and others, would like to see it?
in four 10 minute parts:
part 1
part 2
part 3
part4
He is covering more of the same in today’s show.
anon says: “…An astrologer on PlanetWaves doing a chart on the incident has found explosives dumps in the vicinity of the drilling…”
♪ooooooooo-♫eeeeeeeeee-♪ooooooooooo!!!
CRS, Dr.P.H. says:
May 4, 2010 at 3:44 pm
“…quite honestly, I’d prefer to have Anthony host his own TV show! Fox gets a bit extreme for my tastes, they have their own biases.
WUWT is very free-wheeling, with lots of ideas exchanged at a very high level (usually anyway).
I just hope WUWT doesn’t become a hangout for a lot of conspiracy-types….”
You mean like there might be a concerted effort to hide data, prejudice scientific journals, and mislead the public regarding the climate and the alleged science behind the scare and laws and regulations? That kind? Or taking it a bit further and asking why? Yeh, we don’t want those nut jobs, do we.
Curiousgeorge says:
May 4, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Next thing you know, you’ll be on the Beck show. 🙂
———————————————————————————————-
Man dude, you don’t know how bad I personally would like to see a full Glenn Beck show with Anthony, EM Smith, and Monckton to boot!!!
Go on the air. Watts on Air or Watts on the Air, or Watts Up In The Air,or Watts About the Air . We need it.
Been there, done that.
Has anyone realized that by pouring water on the damaged rig (with a breached deck) that they probably sank the thing and made the environmental problem 1000 times worse???
If the blowout had continued burning (rig not sunk) then there would much less of a slick (if any at all) to worry about.
IntercontinentalExchange has bought out the Chicago and European Climate Exchanges.
1 May: UK Times: Robert Lea: Climate Exchange founders glowing after agreeing to (Pounds Sterling) 350Million takeover
“The acquisition is an affirmation of the space that we are in,” said Mr Eckert. “However, there is a lot of political risk which has brought uncertainty. The deal works for the ICE because it is already in energy trading markets and because they are big enough to deal with the uncertainties.”..
From 2011 emission trading is likely to go more mainstream when the EU begins auctioning rather than allocating permits to polluting companies and from 2012 when the airlines are expected to be brought into the emissions trading net…
The exchanges expect a boom in derivatives such as carbon futures predicting the price of permits years hence.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article7113476.ece
didn’t derivatives bring down the global financial system?
Excellent: Jimmy & Anthony! The Oil post was terrific. Agreed, or course, and with the quality of all concerned at WUWT it’s evolution will be most interesting and constructive for all with any curiosity. Time to add a trophy room!
Jeremy says:
May 4, 2010 at 5:34 pm
Has anyone realized that by pouring water on the damaged rig (with a breached deck) that they probably sank the thing and made the environmental problem 1000 times worse???
If the blowout had continued burning (rig not sunk) then there would much less of a slick (if any at all) to worry about.
—–
I’ve entertained these thoughts, myself. I believe the hosers thought they could extinguish the oil/gas fire and save something of the rig. Huh. Has that been done before when the Blow preventer was inoperative and open? Probably either way the rig was doomed.
Here’s hoping the “dome” concept works at the mile depth. With a dome, or dragging slicks together with “booms” seem to set up a good opportunity to upload the oil/water into adjoining tankers designated for such cleanups.
Got a question: why does everyone refer to the Gulf Oil predicament as The Gulf Oil Spill?? Nothing has spilled! It appears to me that it should be designated as the Gulf/BP Oil LEAK – eh?
Glad to see it. I direct everyone to this site when AGW comes up in conversation.
Oddly enough, the Web is transforming into the MSM, it is rapid, immediate and all pervasive.
True, different interest can capture the message with their own spin, but with the web, you can aggregate, hunt and
deliberate as you choose.
We are no longer a captive of Corporate sponsors, failed actors turned anchor men and blonde starlets, looking earnest and talking Scripted BS.
Whats more, sites like WUWT don’t talk down to the punters. The average WUWT reader has an I.Q high enough to prevent accidental death from licking liquid helium, can spot a logical fallacy from a mile away, and we drop in to learn something new.
FOX and co, have an agenda, they have too, they got money, lots and lots of money resting on their viewership.
I’m all for using the MSM to get common sense/real science and true debate out into the public, but cautiously.
TV is fickle, it kills whatever it creates.
When Jimmy Haigh’s pics were first posted here I sent the article to Drudge, telling him that Anthony & Jimmy had scooped the MSM. Drudge didn’t run with it. Too bad for him.
Maybe Drudge is resting on his laurels, after getting famous by scooping the Monica Lewinsky/Bill Clinton blue dress story. But that was a long time ago.
Fitzy says:
May 4, 2010 at 7:53 pm : Response: ” I’m vile and pernicious , but you can’t look away !! I make you think I’m delicious with the stuff that I say. I’m the best you can get, have you guessed me yet? I’m the slime oozin’ out of your TV set !!” – Frank Zappa
Addendum to prior comment: “With the explicit exception of TV weather persons” 8^)
Good score on the pics, Jimmy Haigh !! Hope it brings some of the success that all the hardworking folks who make this blog the informative and entertaining site that it is deserve. Hate to quote Lars Ulrich (the drummer from Metallica that parradiddled Napster into the dirt) but – “Ya, we sold out, …………………….. we sold out every night !!!!” Do TV weather anchors say “break a leg” before they go on air?
If 11 dead people and an expanding oil spill can have a up side this would be one. I guess. I don’t see how WUWT is better for it, though, but in showbiz any free publicity is important. I din’t think this was show biz.
Maybe a bit less high fiving on this on would be appropriate lest someone start singing “Your so vain – you probably think this spill is about you…”. It’s too late, actually, as that was “sung” earlier today at work by a warmy when this post first came out. I couldn’t argue with him.
It’s a tough house.
Several times over the last couple of years I have emailed suggestions to three different Fox hosts that they visit WUWT to gain a better perspective on AGW and all it related politically charged biases.
Did it do any good? ¿Quien sabe?
Hopefully the Fox News staff, at least, will make good use of the information that is available here.
BRAVO!!!
How many other oil rigs have blown up? I think it’s actually less than one. How many other oil rigs are there? I think there are lots.
It’s an amazing coincidence that not too long after Obama announced that he was going to open up a few more areas to drilling, this thing happens.
Who else (internationally) is drilling in the Gulf? A quick search finds:
“The world’s ninth largest integrated oil company, PEMEX currently operates approximately 190 platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.”
This is from 2006:
“Chevron and two oil exploration companies announced the discovery of a giant oil reserve in the Gulf of Mexico that could boost the nation’s supplies by as much as 50 percent and provide compelling evidence oil is a plentiful deep-earth product made naturally on a continuous basis.
Known as the Jack Field, the reserve – some 270 miles southwest of New Orleans – is estimated to hold as much as 15 billion barrels of oil. ”
Here’s a first-hand account:
Mark Levin interview
“On Friday, April 30th 2010, an anonymous caller contacted the Mark Levin Show to clarify the events that preceded the Deepwater Horizon tragedy. Rigzone has transcribed this broadcast…”
It’s pretty convincing. It’s worth reading.
Another, from 2006:
Cuba drilling in the Gulf
“… the drilling potential within the existing Cuban basin is such that oil wells will, in the near future, be as close as 35-40 miles from the Florida keys,…”
““Any way you slice it, Cuba, with the help of its foreign enablers, is drilling closer to sovereign American property than we are,” Peterson said.”
Russia drilling in the Gulf
“Now Russia is using oil exploration to establish a new presence in the Western Hemisphere. It recently concluded four contracts securing oil-exploration rights in Cuba’s economic zone in the Gulf of Mexico. A Russian-Cuban joint partnership will exploit oil found in the deep waters of the Gulf. ”
OK, maybe we can buy it from Russia or Cuba.
You know they’ve really hit the “big time” when they’re referenced on The Stu Hughes Show.
http://funnyfest.com/video/index.html
about two and a half minutes in.
Far be it for me to comment on how you choose to do business, but I think that the excellent basis upon which you run this site might be compromised if Fox News got to influence the policy.
Just remember, their execs think that bugging you in your own home is fair game.
I mean it. I know.
Interseting, again on last night’s The One SHow, environmentalist Mike Dilger did a little piece on oil slick issues with wildlife in light of this horrendous disaster. The interesting bit being that although “back in the studio” he emphasised the potential ecological disaster, he also emphasised the point that the “ecosystems” do recover from them! An own goal IMHO. I suspect there were a fair few slicks washing around the Atlantic, Arctic, & Pacific oceans during WWII, yet life seems to have recovered rather well.
nicely done!! AGAIN!
I’ve sent that link far and wide too, the best summation of the event possible. Much discussion on the hole on the helideck btw.
I hope that fox paid you guys … the source of those photos deserves a some new camera equipment!!!
peace
Water is a great concealer/destroyer of evidence, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster with all souls lost makes it doubly so. That said, I speculate the deed was premeditated by some group of enviro-fanatics willing to stop at nothing to make a point and illustrate their (enviro-facists in general) opposition of President Obama’s opening up of the American continental shelf to offshore drilling.
Great!
PS: When dealing with Giants, be careful where they step.
Re-focus time James, I think under consideration was the crowd that incessantly plays up a Central Banker/NWO/Fed world-wide ‘takeover’, the 9/11 ‘truther’, con-trail and the RFID-chip scare industries … but I could be wrong.
.
WUWT is one of my top 3 ‘everyday’ destinations precisely because of the interesting nature of the articles–weather and climate and the B/S tax axis is relevant to my life. and the quality of the bloggers. The MSM talk like they are talking to 6 year olds. the questions too daft and sound lead-ins too shrill. Anyone growing up watching BBC1 or 2 knows whay I mean—you didn’t have to go to bed with Hives from all the sonic assaults from commercials and lead ins. Turning up the sound level for commercials should be illegal. In the UK-the majority of the commercials when I was growing up were humorous. We didn’t save it for one day called a super bowl. A we usually discussed the commercials at school the next day. MSM cover the basics and move on. Crime is not important to me. If they never reported another crime, see if I care. It’s easy to wonder down to the court house, or the police station than actually report on life so thats what you get……..nothing! There is space out there for an IQ channel, where, if you going to watch it, you better have a brain. WUWT……tempted????
It looks like the tree hugging politicians are using this as a fund raising tool.
I am impressed with the technology of engineers that design and build solutions. There are 30,000 offshore wells drilled and one accident creates more innovation in a short time than do 500 non incident drilling events.
Surprise … surprise … surprise …
… NOT
paullm says:
May 4, 2010 at 7:40 pm
Got a question: why does everyone refer to the Gulf Oil predicament as The Gulf Oil Spill?? Nothing has spilled! It appears to me that it should be designated as the Gulf/BP Oil LEAK – eh?
This crosses my mind, also. A ‘spill’ sounds a lot more melodramatic, seemingly evil-corporation made and inherently avoidable.
Reading the transcript of the interview with the rigger who was on the rig at the time (taking it at face value) it does seem that this is most certainly a freak incident.
As I said before, it was a fine, hard breaking news story you posted. You can be proud of yourselves for beating the msm yet again. I think the
GlassCarbon ceiling has been broken.Again, well done.
singularian says:
May 4, 2010 at 1:46 pm
Yup Jeff – t-shirts, toothbrushes, cups and the Anthony Watts action doll ( with moving parts and meteorological instruments) coming soon.
I’d like to take exception to this description. These are not called action “dolls” – rather they are action “figures.” They include miniature anemometer, Stevenson screen, and simulated blacktop siting. Batteries not included.