Is that balloon thing a known solution that’s been used in the past? Just curious.
If they had a known solution like a balloon they would have used it already. A methane leak is very dangerous, they’ll have to stick to the known methods, and even then it may not all go well.
The article says they are limiting work at the leaking wellhead to daylight hours out of concern for sparks. That indicates they are indeed doing work there.
Since allowing the leak to continue is doing measurable harm, I proposed that they try a little harder to stop the harm.
Obviously I don’t know the technical details…but we have put people on the moon, laid a line of sonar sensors across vast stretches of seabed, cloned a sheep, split atoms, and other technical accomplishments.
This is a leaking hole. When they say it cannot be done, they are pretending to be talking about physics, but are actually talking about cost/benefit decisions and the like.
Has any company or agency fess up to this leak yet? Is it SOCAL gas that is the responsible company?
This story is very reminiscent of the nuclear dump site in North St. Louis that was being hushed and if a group spoke out they were ensured all is well.
According to the LA Times article it’s Southern California Gas Co.
There’s no question of fessing up or not. A well is leaking and who owns it is a matter of public record.
There doesn’t seem to be any hushing going on here. Nobody is saying all is well (except to make a pun).
It takes a while to deal with a leak this deep.
I just read this thread. I thought it was going to be complaints about the number of Taco Bells in the LA area.
Apparently the attempts to fix the leak are making the situation worse:
This would make a great sequential thread with You know how when you’re driving along and suddenly the car smells . . .
Pity it’s in a different forum.
Well they may be talking about plugging the well before all the gas has leaked out.
The problem is that it is now dissipating via a subsurface leak … underground channels… Basically they’ve got cracked rocks, and its leaking out all over the shop.
The expensive solution is grout… . blow powdered grout into the well, and then blow water in to set it where it collected… Hopefully sealing it up.
Another is create a grout layer above the rock strata. Basically inject grout at the rock surface and move over 3 metres, and inject more grout… and move over…
The cheap, and profitable way ? they are going to try to come in from a side shaft , safe from the leaking gas, and get down to good rock free from cracks, where they can seal the gas in… and tap it.
31 posters and no Taco Bell Jokes?
Post #28
The thing I have wondered about is the potential size of an explosive gas cloud? How fast does it dissipate into safe levels?
Yes–this is the largest storage facility of natural gas in the western U.S. They want to make sure that it’s still going to be functional when it gets fixed–and that’s probably why they’re taking their own sweet time about fixing it.
Seems like emission testing vehicles is moot at this point. Except for that money revenue thing.
Hey maybe SOCAL GAS CO. could pick up the tab for every vehicle emissions test for say uh… 100 years.
That should be part of the lawsuit IMO
This is what I’ve been wondering. Can this cloud of gas catch fire? How far out is it flammable? If it were to catch fire, how big would the explosion be? Would it just be over the gas field or would it be like a small nuke going off near LA?
Anybody know a necromancer? It sounds like we could really use Red Adair on this job.