Is the CNN video of the BP cap real?

The sudden decision of BP to cap the well after telling us that nothing could be done until the relief wells were completed in August came as a surprise to me.  Supposedly, there was no technology to cap a leak at this psi.

BP shares rose 9 percent with the news of the cap and their possible sale of assets in Alaska. 

Admittedly, I am a little skeptical of anything BP says or does.  BP denied the existence of other plumes despite the photographs, video footage and expert eyewitness testimony.  Theoretically, the capping would increase the pressure on the sea floor cracks and the psi of the oil that forms two other plumes leaking into the sea floor.  (BP denies the existence of any other oil to minimize the fines and damages.)   I also question James Cameron's relationship with BP.  Who better to fake the video footage?  I can imagine some government bureaucrat telling him that we must do this for national security reasons because if BP fails, the markets will collapse and chaos will reign supreme.  We cannot tell people the truth because they would panic (or take vigilante action against all of those responsible a la Steven Segal), so to protect the world, BP has to fake a video.  It's not like this "Wag the Dog" event hasn't been done over and over.  Remember the overweight, no-neck, flat-nosed, gold wearing, right-handed Osama bin Laden tape?  

I watched the video with the afore-mentioned bias.  Check it out for yourself.

 

This does not look real.  You would expect more movement of the cap as it crosses over this plume.  I would expect to see oil escaping from underneath the cap (which is smaller than the cement dome used in the top kill and theoretically less stable) spilling out from underneath until it was lowered completely.

I searched for "CNN fake video BP oil cap" and came up with this video.  It's not of the cap, but interesting nonetheless.  

 

Maybe I am too jaded and too ignorant on the mechanics of this operation, but something seems fishy here, and it's more than the decomposing bodies of the oil-covered marine life.  When people finally understand the environmentally severity of the blowout and that BP does not have the funds to pay for the cleanup and the damages, their stock will tank and that will be the beginning of the market collapse.  Banks will collapse when people abandon their houses and businesses in the Southeast, the cost of food production will increase, and credit will dry up.  When this happens and pensioners no longer have any income coming in, global revolution will begin.  It's not just an economic collapse - the long term effects of this disaster may well herald the end of the nation-state system as we know it.  What happens when the oil hits Europe and changes the warming effects of the Gulf Stream?  (Is it any wonder BP is selling its North Sea assets?  If the blowout changes the Gulf Stream, the North Sea might be permanently frozen, making drilling operations impossible.)

On June 15th, Washington's Blog posted, "BP admits that if it tries to cap the leak, the whole well may blow"

Check out 7:58 seconds into the video..  Listen to Doug Suttle's response about the casing of the well and why BP cannot cap it completely.  The report ends with the relief wells being the only option.  What changed?  How is the well contained without compromising the integrity of the well?

UPDATE:  Good news for BP.  Now they can claim that all the new oil is not theirs.  A nice little scapegoat for them.  But I'm not cynical or anything like that.

Boat Crashes Into Oil Well, Creating New Spill in Gulf of Mexico

Fox News is being told by the Homeland Security director for Jefferson Parish, La., that a new oil leak has sprung up in the Gulf of Mexico after a boat struck an oil well in the early morning hours on Tuesday.

A tugboat or other workboat collided with the well near Bayou St. Dennis, La., shearing off its valve structure and releasing pressurized natural gas and light oil, DHS official Deano Bonano told Fox News.

Cleanup workers are currently booming off the area and the scene at sea has been taken over by federal agents. The U.S. Coast Guard, Jefferson Parish police and fire officials, as well as Vessels of Opportunity boats have all been dispatched to the scene.

Federal officials do not know who owns the well, but a contractor who handles wild wells is also on the way, Bonano said.

Oil is spewing about 20 feet in the air from the severed 4-inch pipe, a contractor who flew over the leak told Fox News. The area has been evacuated and civilian boats are being told not to enter the scene, where "a fair bit of oil" is leaking out, the contractor said.

Comments

[a reader]

Oops, try posting this again.

The cap was never intended as the final solution. It was meant to slow the flow of the oil until two relief wells were drilled to stem the flow from the blown out well. They have been drilling the relief well since the beginning of this disaster.

"After a series of failed efforts to plug the leak, government and company officials say oil will likely continue flowing until a relief well cuts off the gusher, an event expected sometime in August." (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/o/oil_spills/gulf_of_mexico_2010/index.html)

Also, there have been more than one other capping attempt. At least three have been tried, each time modifying the design with the new information they learned from previous failures. That article above explains the different attempts.

No doubt about it that BP lied, and they continue to lie. Nobody knows what the long term implication of this spill will be. To be honest, I'm more concerned about those creepy dispersants that were dumped in there without so much as a field trial. It will also remain to be seen whether fishermen along that coast will be able to continue with their livelihood.

Of course markets rule, but I think this time, we may actually see a large company who will go bankrupt. Their fines are going to be astronomical. People throughout the world were sufficiently horrified by this, that they won't forget. I hope!

http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/14/bp-oil-spill-settlement-business-energy-lawsuits.html?boxes=businesschannelsections

[a reader]

forgot to add, here's a series of diagrams showing all capping attempts:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/25/us/20100525-topkill-diagram.html?ref=us

[Kelly]

BP said the psi was too high and that there was no technology available to cap the well. The best they could hope for was drilling relief wells to relieve the pressure. Now, before the relief wells have been drilled, BP miraculously caps this using the same old technology they claimed was insufficient just a few weeks ago.

There are a lot of reason why BP and the US government would/will/do lie about this disaster. I don't believe anyone who for two and a half months said this was impossible to cap and now says it is possible using an even smaller dome than the one used for an unsuccessful top kill. The video looks fake.

Where is the harm in demanding that BP show us the proof? I do not believe they would have undertaken this "cap" without the relief wells in place for the same reason that they claim they cannot test it right now - it would have added to the pressure of the other leaks, likely creating a bigger blowout.

Markets rule. BP has every reason to lie. They have lied. They continue to lie. This "cap" has served its PR purpose - now everyone will believe there is a solution and this will end and people can start buying real estate in the south again. The PTB are only buying time.

If you disagree, then please explain to me why this cap would work now and it wouldn't work two months ago?

[a reader]

"Theoretically, the capping would increase the pressure on the sea floor cracks and the psi of the oil that forms two other plumes leaking into the sea floor. "

Are you a geologist as well? How would you even come to this conclusion? Nobody knows what's going on down there. The research is owned by corporations and is not public.

Seriously, do you really believe that the cap is fake? Wow, cool.

[morris]

I think from the get go this oil spill was designed to break BP for political reasons, whether BP was aligning itself with the Libyans, the Palestinians or the Iranians or the Russians, I don't know.

Anyway I have no sympathy for any corporations, and yes we are not being told the truth, and this is normal, its just that now the stakes are so high.

BP's New Cap. A Ruse?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zSf6dNe4MY
What better way to create calm and hope than to announce there is going be a new cap put on the well, and maybe the leak will be stopped. I fear the worst, that it is a ruse, to buy time. What for? Martial law, or rehearsing and considering a nuclear solution? With the restrictions on journalists, and the use of Corexit, it seems that suspicion is begged for.

[poor richard]

KT... If you wrote this piece?.. I am very proud of you and your talents.. If it is someone else's article.. You have a fine eye for hot articles.