BP Oil Leak and the Technology We do not Have

It occurs to me that as hurricane season approaches there are a variety of technologies we do not have. I do blame BP primarily for not having them. I do blame the Oil and Gas industry significantly but not solely. I know not every one would agree that we should have all these things and I cannot argue that we must have every single one but here are a few things that I wish we had around.

1.  We do not have ultra speedy drill ships that could be assigned for emergencies to start drilling relief wells in the least dangerous phase and then be replaced by more substantial ships later. If we did have these the relief wells would be farther along in this case.

2. There are floating oil bladders used in conjunction with skimming operations. But we do not have neutral buoyancy production rigs for emergency siphons, caps and risers which could transfer oil to sub surface reservoirs for short (3-5) day periods when sites must be evacuated for storms.

3. There are no aerator buoys which could channel bubbles into the water column in areas where adding oxygen could make a real difference over weeks and days.

4. We do not have the barrier island bases and sound coastal policies I and others have suggested.  https://franksummers3ba.wordpress.com/2009/10/02/ideal-wetlands-policy-on-the-louisiana-coast/

5. We do not have flocculents in mass marketable scale. Floculents are a theoretical set of tiny clusters of microbial cultures, inert clays and solvents which could be used in areas where dispersants are not appropriate.

6.We do not have sophisticated instrument remotely operated submarines owned  by states are the US Coast Guard to measure flows and document damage independently.

7. We do not have an electronic world resources and technologies clearinghouse online.

8. We do not have sophisticated modeling software for predicting the behavior of loose deep water source oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

9. We do not have a National Mental Health Emergency Support Infrastructure.

10. We do have a set of readily deployed products and services for assisting those cleaning marine vessels and small boats unusually affected working to clean or simply passing through oil slicks and other oiled waters.