Capture and Divert

I'm so grateful that you are willing to listen. I spent two very frustrating days after the Haitian Earthquake trying to submit an idea to people who could use it. (Rounding up military and humanitarian relief workers who are old enough to remember how to communicate when there were no cell phones. Dropping leaflets, erecting loud speakers, ham radio towers, etc) 

I have two ideas that may spark a solution for the oil spill. 

It is nearly impossible to lower a CLOSED cap over something gushing at high pressure. So lower a very large OPEN tube over the gushing pipe. Use a special open tube that is pre-rigged so that it can be closed off on both ends AFTER it is in place. Top closure is fairly easy. There are many types of closures that will work. Getting the bottom closed with the oil pipe threaded up through it will be much trickier. 

I'm not completely clear why everybody is so focused on CAPPING the oil. Why not capture? What do you do with rainwater is causing trouble because it is going where it shouldn't? You can't cap it so you DIVERT it. Capture and divert seems a lot easier because you don't have to fight an amazing pressure. You harness that pressure. Would it be possible to drop a very large, inverted funnel over the gusher? The top of the funnel could branch out into several long tubes that could fill up tanker ships. 

Beth Anderson 
Silver Spring, MD 

P.S. You might also want to contact the guy from Michigan who made this YouTube video. Wally Wallington obviously has a lot of common sense if he figured out how to move a barn or a many ton cement block with his bare hands!