Video shows fire in Gulf of Mexico after gas pipeline rupture

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38 points·giuliomagnifico··13 comments

Isn't putting out the fire worse than just letting it burn off cleanly?

The burning gas will most likely produce less air pollution that the effects of venting gas into the atmosphere. And it's not like they would have to put out the fire on the _surface_ to fix the leak that is likely tens if not hundreds of meters below surface.

Yep, I had the same thought. Better to either fix the rupture or let the gas burn cleanly than just let it vent into the atmosphere.

What MBA thought cutting maintenance costs was a good idea?

Probably anybody who can add. The penalties for this type of thing are nowhere near enough

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pemex#Incidents

Does pumping water onto an ocean fire actually do anything?

I think that using foam or sand is more useful.

Might possibly help with containment? A little?

I heard that they're not trying put it out, but they're trying to keep the gas contained from floating into a wide area by creating a 360 degree current toward the middle with the water pumps.

No, hence why we could assume it has a different purpose, unbeknownst to us.

Those people have been dealing with oil for decades, and there'a millions of dollars at stake; assume that they know what they're doing.

The ocean is literally on fire, maybe they don’t know what they are doing.

Is this in the path of Hurricane Elsa?

That looks insane

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