'Titanic' director James Cameron has labelled those trying to clean up the BP oil spill 'morons' after revealed BP turned down his offer of help.
Mr Cameron also said he knew some 'really, really, really smart people' who could help with the spill. The director is considered an expert in undersea filming and who has extensive experience working with submersible robots,
'Over the last few weeks I've watched, as we all have, with growing horror and heartache, watching what's happening in the Gulf and thinking those morons don't know what they're doing,' he said yesterday at the All Things Digital technology conference.
Not another setback! An underwater robotic arm, right, attempts free the diamond saw that became stuck while being used to cut through the pipe at the site of oil leak in this image from last night
Making things worse: Oil can be seen pouring out of several spots near the blowout preventer today after the saw being used to slice through the riser pipe had snagged after slicing through about half of the pipe
He did not say explicitly who he meant when he referred to 'those morons'.
His comments came a day after he participated in the meeting at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington to 'brainstorm' solutions to the oil spill.
Mr Cameron said he has offered to help the government and BP in dealing with the spill. He said he was 'graciously' turned away by the British energy giant.
'Morons': 'Titanic' director James Cameron
He said he has not spoken with the White House about his offer, and said that the outside experts who took part in the EPA meeting were now 'writing it all up and putting in reports to the various agencies'.
The film director has helped develop deep-sea submersible equipment and other underwater ocean technology for the making of documentaries exploring the wrecks of the ocean liner Titanic and the German battleship Bismarck some two miles below the surface.
The BP oil spill off the U.S. Gulf Coast is located a mile below the surface.
'I know really, really, really smart people that work typically at depths much greater than what that well is at,' he said.
While acknowledging that his contacts in the deep-sea industry do not drill for oil, Cameron said that they are accustomed to operating various underwater vehicles and electronic optical fibre systems.
'Most importantly,' he added, 'they know the engineering that it requires to get something done at that depth.'
Among the key issues that Mr Cameron said he is interested in helping the government with are methods of monitoring the oil leak and investigating it.
'The government really needs to have its own independent ability to go down there and image the site, survey the site and do its own investigation,' he said.
'Because if you're not monitoring it independently, you're asking the perpetrator to give you the video of the crime scene,' he added.
WHAT THEY'VE TRIED - AND HOW IT'S GONE WRONG
BP fumbled its latest underwater experiment with the wild Gulf gusher - just like every other endeavour the company has tried to fix America's worst oil spill.
First, a 100-ton, four-story box couldn't contain the spill because icelike crystals clogged the top.
Then, a straw-like device that actually did capture crude was inconsistent at best.
The supposed top kill - shooting heavy mud and junk into the well - couldn't overcome the pressure of the oil.
And the most recent risky gambit ran into trouble a mile under the sea yesterday when a diamond-tipped saw became stuck after slicing through about half of the blown-out well.
It took BP 12 hours to free the saw, and the company hopes to use giant shears similar to an oversized garden tool to snip off the pipe.
However, the cut won't be as clean if successful, and a looser fitting cap will have to be placed over the spill.
No timetable was given for when that might start, a familiar refrain in this six-week-old disaster.
All along, the company has been drilling a relief well, the best option at stopping the gusher - but it's still two months away.
Mr Cameron made two documentaries about the wreck of the Titanic as well as the blockbuster 1997 movie 'Titanic' using a small fleet of specially designed remotely operated underwater vehicles.
He said his qualifications are not based on his background as a movie director but on his years of involvement in the deep-sea industry.
The well has leaked anywhere from 21 million to 45 million gallons (80 million to 170 million liters) since an explosion on the rig that killed 11 people on April 20.
Up to 125 miles of coastline in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi have been fouled by the oil. Now it is threatening the white beaches of Florida.
BP's latest attempt to stop it, using a diamond saw to cut through the pipe, failed after the saw got stuck in the pipe.
That so-called cut-and-cap method, is considered risky because slicing away a section of the 20-inch-wide riser could remove kinks in the pipe and temporarily increase the flow of oil by as much as 20 per cent.
And the situation on the water's surface becomes more dire with each day.
Oil drifted perilously close to the Florida Panhandle's famous sugar-white beaches, and crews on the mainland were doing everything possible to limit the catastrophe.
As the edge of the slick drifted within seven miles of Pensacola's beaches, emergency workers rushed to link the last in a miles-long chain of booms designed to fend off the oil.
Forecasters said the oil would probably wash up by tomorrow, threatening the miles of beach that are a favourite tourist destination for Britons.
Officials said the slick sighted offshore consisted in part of 'tar mats' about 500 feet by 2,000 feet in size.
County officials set up the booms to block oil from reaching inland waterways but planned to leave beaches unprotected because they are too difficult to defend against the action of the waves and because they are easier to clean up.
No comments:
Post a Comment