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Drilling Under the Sea

Posted by michael on from the down-here-all-the-fish-is-happy dept.

prof_peabody writes "The IODP (Intergrated Ocean Drilling Program) is about to get rolling in a couple of days. If you live in one of these countries then your tax dollars have contributed to the construction of the giant drillship Chikyu, which was launched a little while back (project timeline). The American contigent website is loaded with info and obligatory acronyms. The first leg of the IODP will investigate how water flows through rock formations beneath the seafloor during an eight-week expedition this summer to the eastern flank of the Juan de Fuca Ridge off the coast of British Columbia. Some of you geeks with beards may remember the DSDP (Deep Sea Drilling Project) or the recently completed ODP (Ocean Drilling Program). The real advance in the new program that will cost well over a billion dollars is the IODP riser drill ship that 'will provide a way to drill into continental margins where oil and gas deposits can cause drilling safety concerns and into regions with thick sediment sections, fault zones, and unstable formations.' A good overview of the IODP can be found here, and the necessary references to Megalodon and none other than The Core."

5 of 174 comments (clear)

  1. Taxpayers by feilkin · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    Wow, it's so awesome to know that my money is going towards a ship that can drill holes in the middle of nowhere.

    1. Re:Taxpayers by Rakshasa+Taisab · · Score: -1, Flamebait

      I agree, this is a complete waste of taxpayers money. Why don't they use the money on something useful like a new jet or three for the president and a war or something.

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      - These characters were randomly selected.
  2. no more oil from the middle east. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    If america wants to have greater freedom and security they should invest in offshoring drilling. If billions of american dollars doesn't go to the middle east then families like the bin ladens wouldn't have the billions for their son to exort them.

    making a deal with the devil is bad. offshore drilling will allow america forgot about the middle east. osama doesn't like america because of their middle east polices and the fact that they are in the east. america can't pull out of the middle east because of the oil.

    http://www.eternalconflict.co.uk/dave/

    1. Re:no more oil from the middle east. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

      *ignore parent* If america wants to have greater freedom and security they should invest in offshoring drilling. If billions of american dollars doesn't go to the middle east then families like the bin ladens wouldn't have the billions for their son to exort them. making a deal with the devil is bad. offshore drilling will allow america forgot about the middle east. osama doesn't like america because of their middle east polices and the fact that they are in the east. america can't pull out of the middle east because of the oil. oil is the blood that runs our world. i just want to get my point across that if we had no oil stuff that we enjoy like our computers and whatnot could not exist. my gosh if we americans were not depedent in the middle east all all most of our forieng troubles wouldn't exist. henry kissinger was right when he said we can't trust the arabs to control our source of oil. holy jesus we gotta do something. develop better ways to find oil in sea or find a new source of engery. hermion shrine

  3. dollars? by kipple · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    so good I live in Europe where we have Euro and not dollars, so I don't have to spend my tax dollars for that.

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