Here is what I was talking about leak vs. gusher. It is a very real possibility.

Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL): Andrea weâ??re looking into something new right now, that thereâ??s reports of oil thatâ??s seeping up from the seabedâ?¦ which would indicate, if thatâ??s true, that the well casing itself is actually piercedâ?¦ underneath the seabed. So, you know, the problems could be just enormous with what weâ??re facing.

Andrea Mitchell, MSNBC: Now let me understand better what youâ??re saying. If that is true that it is coming up form that seabed, even the relief well wonâ??t be the final solution to cap this thing. That means that weâ??ve got oil gushing up at disparate places along the ocean floor.
Sen. Nelson: That is possible, unless you get the plug down low enough, below where the pipe would be breached. Indeed, loss of integrity in the well itself may explain why BP is drilling its relief wells more than ten thousand feet beneath the leaking pipes on the seafloor (and see this).

Yesterday, recently-retired Shell Oil President John Hofmeister said that the well casing below the sea floor may have been compromised [Question] What are the chances that the well casing below the sea floor has been compromised, and that gas and oil are coming up the outside of the well casing, eroding the surrounding soft rock. Could this lead to a catastrophic geological failure, unstoppable even by the relief wells?
John Hofmeister: This is what some people fear has occurred. It is also why the "top kill" process was halted. If the casing is compromised the well is that much more difficult to shut down, including the risk that the relief wells may not be enough. If the relief wells do not result in stopping the flow, the next and drastic step is to implode the well on top of itself, which carries other risks as well.

As noted yesterday in The Engineer magazine, an official from Cameron International - the manufacturer of the blowout preventer for BP's leaking oil drilling operation - noted that one cause of the failure of the BOP could have been damage to the well bore: Steel casing or casing hanger could have been ejected from the well and blocked the operation of the rams.

Oil industry expert Rob Cavner believes that the casing might be damaged beneath the sea floor, noting: The real doomsday scenario hereâ?¦ is if that casing gives up, and it does come through the other strings of pipe. Remember, it is concentric pipe that holds this well together. If it comes into the formation, basically, youâ??ve got uncontrolled [oil] flow to the sea floor. And that is the doomsday scenario.

See the complete story here: Washington's Blog
bigsby Reviewed by bigsby on . We need wind and solar power now more than ever The carbon based energy policy is failing on an epic scale. We're killing coal miners and the environment in coal country for cheap coal. Mountaintop removal mining is industrial rape. We're wrecking the water supply in natural gas country with the new "fracturing" technology that pumps poison into the ground to break up rock to allow more natural gas to be extracted and it is destroying the aquifers the east coast and mountain west state residents use for drinking water. And of course Rating: 5