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Risk-Taking Rises as Oil Rigs in Gulf Drill Deeper

JAD MOUAWAD and BARRY MEIER

In a remote reach of the Gulf of Mexico, nearly 200 miles from shore, a floating oil platform thrusts its tentacles deep into the ocean like a giant steel octopus.

The $3 billion rig, called Perdido, can pump oil from dozens of wells nearly two miles under the sea while simultaneously drilling new ones. It is part of a wave of ultra-deep platforms — all far more sophisticated than the rig that was used to drill the ill-fated BP well that blew up in April. These platforms have sprung up far from shore and have pushed the frontiers of technology in the gulf, a region that now accounts for a quarter of the nation’s oil output.

Major offshore accidents are not common. But whether through equipment failure or human error, the risks increase as the rigs get larger and more complicated.

Yet even as regulators investigate the causes of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the broader dangers posed by the industry’s push into deeper waters have gone largely unscrutinized.

“Our ability to manage risks hasn’t caught up with our ability to explore and produce in deep water,” said Edward C. Chow, a former industry executive who is now a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “The question now is, how are we going to protect against a blowout as well as all of the other associated risks offshore?”

Dangers do not directly increase with greater depth, according to experts like Mr. Chow. But they do rise as exploration and production rigs become more complex and more remote.

Read More Here:  http://www.gainesville.com/article/20100830/znyt01/8303008?tc=ar

You’ve made the decision to discover all the wonders of the ocean deep and are all set to swim amid the coral reefs, sea turtles, and colleges of fish. Yet ahead of taking the plunge into the blue, you require to make positive you have all the essential products and diving equipment! Although the most apparent factors that may possibly come to thoughts are the scuba diving masks and scuba diving fins, there is a bit a lot more comprising that vital checklist. To make positive that you are completely outfitted with all the scuba gear you will require, be confident to read on!

With any scuba gear and scuba diving under the sea gear that you acquire, you require to guarantee that it all fits you snugly and comfortably. The wrong mask or a scuba wetsuit that is as well little is a certain way to make your dive much less than perfect. So when picking out your scuba scuba diving under the sea mask, make positive that it can remain in location and that you can see properly behind it. The snorkel ought to fit properly with your diving mask on, and it is to be put on on the left side.

Subsequent up for your scuba gear are the fins, and be conscious that some of them ought to be worn with scuba booties. You will now want to locate either a wetsuit or a drysuit. You will want to really feel totally free to move about, but it ought to be snug towards your entire body. These are all a few of the staples in scuba scuba diving under the sea equipment, and now we are available to the a lot more complex scuba equipment. You will will need a buoyancy control gadget (BCD) with your diving gear and this not only assists to continue to keep you supported even though underneath water, but also the regulator, fat system, and air cylinder too. It is the regulator that then makes it achievable for you to breath although you are scuba diving.

You will want to locate a large high quality brand when choosing your scuba equipment, as this is an essential element of the encounter, and each and every regulator in turn must are available full with a second oxygen source, or an octopus. Following is the scuba cylinder, and you will want to purchase this last.
Lastly, you will do properly to take into account adding a diving flag and float to the record of your scuba scuba diving equipment, as it is essential in some locations. With all of your scuba products correctly match and chosen, you can now head off to find your adventures below the sea, and swim amid sunken ship or possibly even sharks!

Now here is a thing we hope you will truly like:

K2 Adventure: Scuba Scuba diving under the sea Colorado

K2 Adventure: Inexpensive Bahamas Family members Family vacation – Snorkeling Can Be an Cost-effective Activity

MEXICO CITY – Greenpeace on Monday joined other organizations in expressing concern about the threat a planned tourist complex in northwestern Mexico would pose to the Sea of Cortez’s Cabo Pulmo reef.
The campaign to protect that hard-coral reef has been spearheaded for several months by several environmental groups opposed to the Cabo Cortes project.
Those organizations on Monday presented a study titled “Cabo Cortes: Destroying Paradise,” which lists the possible damage the 20,000-year-old reef – home to 226 of the 875 fish species in the Sea of Cortez – could suffer.
In 2008, Spanish developer Hansa Urbana was authorized by Mexico’s environment ministry, known as Semarnat, to begin construction of Cabo Cortes in the Los Cabos area of Baja California Sur state.
Last week, however, Semarnat announced the temporary suspension of that permit and requested that Hansa submit more information “to ensure there won’t be any disruption to an ecosystem that has been restored to its natural condition.”
The tourist complex would cover an area of around 3,800 hectares (9,382 acres) and include a marina with 490 moorings, two golf courses, 30,000 guestrooms and 5,000 homes for workers, meaning its scale would rival that of Cancun, Mexico’s leading tourist destination.
The project is contiguous with the Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park, home to a small community of residents who have been instrumental in efforts to protect and restore the reef over the past 15 years.
“For Greenpeace, the fact that authorization was initially given and now may be modified due to irregularities shows the lack of rigor in approving projects that endanger the environment,” the organization said in a statement.
“It’s incredible that a destructive project like Cabo Cortes could be authorized in a single step and then two years later – due only to pressure from society and legal appeals – they decide to modify that authorization,” Greenpeace said.
“We don’t want authorization for Cabo Cortes to be modified; we want it to be cancelled,” said Greenpeace Mexico spokesman Alejandro Olivera.
Greenpeace said Mexico’s National Commission for Protected Areas has objected to the environmental-impact report submitted by Hansa, which faces probes in Spain over alleged irregularities in the permit process for its Novo Carthago project.
“Greenpeace finds it unacceptable that Spanish real-estate and tourist companies, key players in the unsustainable development that has occurred in Spain in recent years … intend to replicate the disaster they’ve caused in other countries,” the statement said. EFE

This was reported by the:

http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=364142&CategoryId=14091

Taking care of your 7mm and 3mm scuba wetsuits will add years of life to the wear, warmth, and comfort. Check out the scuba equipment reviews of the most long wearing suits.A single of the extremely critical issues you are able to discover from diving scuba would be to rinse your equipment and products. Its very essential to sustain your own equipment to get highest possible lifetime span and make sure your products performs properly whenever scuba diving.

Washing Station Setup
The easiest technique to organize your own cleansing station is usually to fill a huge bath tub at household that will be filled up with refreshing h2o. If simply no bath tub then the basic garden hose or simply kitchen sink will probably function just like effectively. Several diving outlets or hotels should have a couple containers; one particular container will possibly be normal water for common equipment this sort of as wetsuits and other gear whilst the other will be for specialist products these kinds of as cameras and diver pcs and any other delicate devices.
Exactly where achievable if your equipment has a whole lot of sand on it is to hose it down prior to dunking it in the tub.

Regulator
The 1st issue just before you begin to scrub your regulator is to make certain your dirt cap is safe as any normal water that enters the very first phase will trigger h2o to enter in the inside components and result in damage.
Just before you replace the dust cap you will will need to dried up the dirt cap and the opening of the initial phase. The least complicated way is to use your tank to blow air onto the two elements and this will dry the elements adequately, alternatively you may use a dry cloth to do the job. You can find scuba regulators at absurdly affordable prices at Flipilicious.com.

Once this is carried out you will need to location the regulator in fresh water for 5 minutes, stay away from pressing the purge button as this will let h2o to key in the initial point. It finest to rotate any moving elements to make certain there is no salt which in the prolonged operate will rust. As soon as Its been soaked and cleaned hang it up and dried out.
BCD
Washing a BCD comes in two elements, the inner and exterior of the BCD. The outside is straight forward and can be dunked and soaked in a tub of fresh water to scrub any salt off the BCD.
Step two as described is the inner of the BCD, this will need to have to be completed as tiny quantities of saltwater will enter even though diving, and this will turn to salt crystals which more than time will lead to the values to malfunction and the inner bladder to tear.
So right here is how to do it, Press the deflate button on the BCD and let fresh water to key in to approximate 25%, afterwards shake the BCD and let the h2o the scrub all-around all corners. As soon as you are satisfied you have washed the interior the finest method is to use the exhaust values to empty the normal water which at the very same time will cleanse them too.
Now slight inflate the BCD to guarantee the inner bladder does not stick with each other when drying and hang out to dried out.

Dive Personal computer and Camera
Clean your dive personal computer in cleanse fresh water and not the exact same h2o you have washed your other machines as detergents and sand will injury your delicate gear. Soak this products for a longer time and press all the buttons guarantee there is no salt trapped. If feasible brush the surfaces with a toothbrush to hep cleanse it far better, but don’t use on the sensors or lenses region as it could destruction it.

Wetsuit, Booties, and Gloves
Your scuba wet suits , booties, and gloves need to be washed in freshwater and you may also like to add a wetsuit detergent. Submerge the items in the normal water and turn them within out as well and maintain cleansing right up until clean. Once clean hang out and let to dried out.
Snorkel Fins, Mask, Snorkel, and Other Gear
All other gear ought to be submerged in fresh new normal water, dunked up and down till clean up and hung up to dry.
Ideas: to prolong the existence of your products don’t hang out in direct sunlight as it will make the equipment discolour and minimize the lifestyle span.

Thanks for reading this far. Here are a couple of articles that you might find interesting:

K2 Vacation Ideas: Cruises & Scuba/Snorkel Diving – The Ideal Match

K2 How To’s: Basic Snorkeling Needs & Snorkel Equipment

Colorado is a landlocked state hundreds of miles from the nearest coast, but you can nonetheless take pleasure in scuba diving; Colorado has a number of lakes and rivers that can offer challenge and enjoyment. A Colorado scuba or snorkel diving family vacation is not as far-fetched as you may surmise. For all those who are "hard-core" about their scuba diving, Colorado lakes and rivers are just as good as anyplace in the globe.

The City That Drowned
One of the much more intriguing locations for a Colorado scuba diving family vacation is Horsetooth Reservoir southwest of Fort Collins. In 1946, the federal Bureau of Reclamation chose to drown the town of Stout, based along the La Poudre River. By 1949, the dam was finished and Stout, which had been established only seventy years earlier as a camp for stone quarry workers, had to be abandoned. The remains of the city are still beneath water at the lake’s southern end; with suitable training and dive gear, Colorado scuba divers can enjoy a fine adventure.

Historic Mining
Following outfitting at their nearby Colorado scuba diving equipment supplier, scuba divers may possibly wish to head for the higher nation to the historic mining community of Leadville, in which scenic Turquoise Lake is correct close by. The lake provides some exceptional opportunities for exploration by way of scuba diving; Colorado’s mining market was the heart and soul of the state’s economy for decades. Provided the close by town’s historical significance, who understands what exciting artifacts a diver may encounter on a Colorado scuba diving holiday?

Obtaining Your Dive Gear
Colorado has its fair share of merchants that sell correct tools, staffed by experienced personnel who also offer certification courses. Colorado diving equipment suppliers can also give you insight as to exactly where in the state to go. If you have the time and cash to go even more afield, however, the very good folks at Colorado scuba diving equipment supply shops can also arrange scuba diving vacations to other, much more exotic destinations as properly.

In any event, you will will need to be certified prior to you go scuba diving. Colorado demands are just as stringent as other spots in the U.S., and this of course is for your personal protection; you’ll need to have to know about the regular hazards, protection practices and how to correctly use and care for dive products. Colorado divemasters and senior divers local to the area can take you on this adventure and assist you in getting prepared for the scuba diving colorado specialties you will need to enjoy your vacation.