Other countries have this requirement, why didn't the USA?
Since it's the only thing that really works, now and with past disasters, if we don't pass a law to make it mandatory after this, we deserve to have spills happen again and again.
Oh and BP's deepwater Atlantis has MORE safety problems than Horizon and no relief well.
They do not actually have to drill such a well, just promise that they can if they have to.
Misunderstanding that rule may have lead to the confusion on reddit.
Well then the USA can be a pioneer again in something, mitigated greed via sane laws and requirements to prevent billions in damage and wildlife needlessly lost.
Just imagine if we get hit by ANOTHER one of these in the next decade, and here's hoping no major hurricanes this summer.
What do you do if your relief well blows?
Maybe if you drill two simultaneously, making sure they stay in sync. But the relief well needs to intersect with the regular one, so that might not actually be possible.
> and here's hoping no major hurricanes this summer.
Oh no. Quite the opposite! A hurricane would be the best thing possible. It would clean the entire area like nothing else can.
The big risk though is that depending on how good your understanding of the geology is, this could increase your risk.
Where will the oil disappear to in a hurricane? Alternate dimension? Or simply coating somewhere else on earth it's not supposed to be?
In deep water there isn't much oxygen, and when it coats shores only the top layer degrades (so it takes some time). But if you can spread it out it will all be gone.
And once degraded it leaves no residue at all.