Pumped+Up+Chevron+Drills+Down+30,000+Feet+to+Tap+Oil-Rich+Gulf+of+Mexico

Little, Amanda Griscom. "Five Miles Deep: Pumping Oil from the Bottom of the Gulf."//Wired.com//. 21 Aug. 2007. Web. 20 Feb. 2011.  ** Where does the author work, what else has s/he written about, and what are her/his credentials? ** The author is a journalist. She has written “Muckraker,” which is an award-winning weekly column on energy and environmental policy from salon.com and grist.org. She has also written a book called __Power Trip__, which discusses how energy was the main supplier of how the United States became a superpower. ** What is the main topic or argument of the text? ** The article puts in perspective a 4,000 under-water deep well drilled by Chevron, traveling furthermore some 22,000 feet of geological material. ** Describe at least three ways that the main topic or argument is fleshed out. ** Little emphasizes that ultradeep-sea drilling is very risky, new, and it requires high-end technology to successfully drill at such great depths. She questions the reliability of the equipment to be used in extreme temperatures and pressures. Little explains that a 3-D map of the ocean, the seafloor, and the sediment below has been formulated to determine optimal drilling conditions. It serves to avoid fault lines or air pockets that would destabilize the entire well. She discusses the technology used behind generating such a detailed map. Hydrophones are used to map the oceanic aspects after exploding air guns in the deep. Drill lubricant is used, and often, robotic submarines fix any problems associated with the seafloor equipment. Another challenge to face is to assure that the rig stays in place. The changing ground below the ocean floor is another challenge furthermore, as it is accompanied with changes in pressure and different geological properties the drill must encounter. The oil comes up hot at hundreds of degrees Fahrenheit, where it then conflicts with the freezing seafloor water. ** What three quotes capture the critical import of the text? **  · “It’s just another high-priced mishap in the world of ultradeep-sea drilling—the newest, riskiest, and most technologically extreme drilling frontier.”  · “As consensus grows that the world needs to shift away from fossil fuels, extracting oil from the most extreme and costly locations can seem foolishly myopic.”  · “ Technological breakthroughs have, decade after decade, revived the perpetually doomed oil industry. "Predicting peak oil," Siegele tells me as we tour the drilling floor of the // Cajun Express //, "is almost like predicting peak technology" — an exercise, in other words, that to him seems inherently small-minded. Even absurd.” ** Explain how the argument and evidence in the text supports your research focus. ** The research focus is to assess the safety of underwater oil drilling. With increasingly deeper wells, the argument in the text poses that deep underwater drilling is very risky, where technology may not necessarily be up to par with the quest. Little finally argues that it may even be nonsensical to spend millions of dollars in something perilous where the consequences are dire. ** List at least two details or references from the text that will be useful to other members of your research group. **  · Underwater air explosions-environmental impact  · Worker health on board-long hours hauling ** lubrication mud **