
Facebook abandons broken drilling equipment under Oregon coast seafloor - xoxoy
https://www.oregonlive.com/environment/2020/08/facebook-abandons-broken-drilling-equipment-under-oregon-coast-seafloor.html
======
s1artibartfast
This appears to be a case of no harm, no foul.

There is no environmental damage and no danger to the residents.

The residents that didn't want to see a small construction project, the size
of a residential lot, will now have to put up with it for another year.

------
agency
outline link: [https://outline.com/DWN7nS](https://outline.com/DWN7nS)

------
Kednicma
This is extra-disappointing because Oregon has previously successfully gotten
Facebook to cooperate when planning its large infrastructure projects. The
Prineville facility was designed with local environmental and labor concerns
in mind, but this coastal venture looks disastrous.

~~~
7952
I don't understand what the actual issue is. The chance of environmental
damage seems very low. And probably less than if they put heavy machines onto
the beach and coastal zone.

~~~
s1artibartfast
the chance of environmental damage isn't low, it is zero. The drill site is
tiny and the neighbors simply don't like the noise.

~~~
LargoLasskhyfv
Would _you_ like the noise?

------
smabie
Okay so fb has 180 days to remove the equipment. What's the problem?

~~~
snorrah
They won’t

~~~
snorrah
No, seriously, just go set a reminder to catch up on this story in 6 months.
Let’s come discuss this again then.

~~~
bawolff
They might come to an agreement with regulators to leave the equipment there,
however it seems like you're implying that facebook intends to act in blatent
contempt of the governments order. That is difficult to imagine. Have they
ever done that to the usa gov in the past? (not on a hurr durr media thinks
facebook is evil kind of way, but in an actual, here is an order and we intend
to ignore it)

~~~
refulgentis
That's actually the case? Did anyone else here read the article? "Facebook has
no plans to retrieve the equipment."

~~~
bawolff
When i read it, i thought it meant - original fb plan: fb leave the equipment
in place. Gov didn't like that, so gave them 180 days to either remove it or
get approval to leave it there. Now ball is in fb's court on how to respond to
government order.

To me though this sounds less like - gov wants fb to remove and more like gov
wants fb to fill out appropriate paperwork

------
atesti
Where exactly are these 6500 gallons of drilling fluid and how would they have
been retrieved if the project was succesfull?

They are not boring a tunnel... So is there just a quite thin pipe in the
ground? is it filled with the fluid? Or is there some storage for the fluid?

~~~
opwieurposiu
The drilling fluid(mud) is both inside the drill pipe and in the annulus
between the pipe and the rock.

After the drilling is complete, cement grout is pumped into the annular space,
replacing the mud. then the mud in the pipe will be replaced with sea water.
Then they will pull the fiber optic cable through the pipe.

Drill pipe comes in various sizes, probably about 4-8 inch diameter for this
job.

------
pintxo
Is it normal to drill a 1km hole under the Beach and out to sea to land a
trans-ocean cable? I was under the impression you merely digg it into the
Beach for 1-2m?

~~~
virtuallynathan
They are commonly drilled out quite a distance with HDD, as the landing point
may not be actually at the beach, etc.

I have some pictures here of submarine cable landing stations in Hawaii,
including the Hawaiki CLS under construction with some HDD being done.
[https://photos.app.goo.gl/H2Y7K112wcAoSjtN2](https://photos.app.goo.gl/H2Y7K112wcAoSjtN2)

------
Simulacra
Just like Zuckerburgs trouncing on the rights of native Hawaiians, Facebook
has shown a deep, callous disregard to the rights, needs, and concerns of
everyone else.

