tagged w/ oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
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-Massive fish kill reported in Louisiana-
By Brett Michael Dykes
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100914/od_yblog_upshot/massive-fish-kill-reported-in-louisiana
"What you see above isn't a rural gravel road. It's a Louisiana waterway, its surface completely covered with dead sea life -- a mishmash of species of fish, crabs, stingray and eel. New Orleans CBS affiliate WWL-TV reports that even a whale was found dead in the area, a stretch of coastal Louisiana hit hard this summer by oil from BP's busted Gulf well.
Fish kills are fairly common along the Gulf Coast, particularly during the summer in the area near the mouth of the Mississippi, the site of this kill. The area is rife with dead zones -- stretches where sudden oxygen depletion can cause widespread death. But those kills tend to be limited to a single species of fish, rather than the broad sort of die-off involved in this kill."-Massive fish kill reported in Louisiana-
By Brett Michael Dykes... more
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Another Oil Spill In Coming Days as a Cargoship ran into a coral reef off the Kavaratti Island in Lakshadweep, India damaging around 400 square metres of the pristine reef that's home to thousands of marine species.Another Oil Spill In Coming Days as a Cargoship ran into a coral reef off the... more
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8 minute interview 6/28/10 with transcript
Transcript:
June 28th, 2010 - Water
Why is it so hard to plug the well in the Gulf of Mexico?
Mandy Joye: The methane concentrations in these plumes are 100 to 10,000 times as much as you would normally find in Gulf of Mexico water.
Mandy Joye is an oceanographer at the University of Georgia. In June 2010, Joye returned from an emergency research expedition in the Gulf of Mexico following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. She talked to EarthSky about the high concentrations of methane gas she discovered in oil plumes deep beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.
Mandy Joye: There’s also propane and butane, gases that derive from the same process of making oil.
Are ocean currents likely to carry spilled oil to Atlantic?
Dr. Joye said that there’s so much gas leaking into the Gulf that we might be looking at severe oxygen depletion in Gulf water. What happens, she explained, is that naturally occurring Gulf bacteria “eat up” the vast amounts of methane and other gases.
Mandy Joye: But in the process, they’re consuming molecular oxygen from the water. The reason that’s a problem is that you could potentially have large volumes of water floating around in the Gulf of Mexico that don’t have any oxygen.
Ocean life depends on oxygen. Oxygen depletion in the Gulf, Joye said, means lost habitat for wildlife, and potentially long-term repercussions on local fishing.
Glenn Plumb and other scientists believe oil spill is harming base of Gulf food chain
Mandy Joye: The degradation of this oil and gas being injected in the gulf of Mexico is going to cause oxygen depletion in the water, there’s no way around it.
She explained that ocean plants like phytoplankton normally inject oxygen into marine systems, but the Gulf has been so chemically altered that even plants are having trouble surviving.
Mandy Joye: The microbial community is going to break this down, but it doesn’t come for free, it comes at the expense of the oxygen budget of the system, and that’s something that’s not easily corrected.
Joye said the this injection of gas is happening throughout the water column.
Mandy Joye: And the consumption of oxygen is happening throughout the water column. It’s not just in these plumes where you have high rates of microbial activity. We measure elevated rates of activity all throughout the water column. They were highest in the plumes, because that’s where the concentration of methane is the highest. But the whole water column is being stimulated by the oil and gas coming from the spill.
She said very little is known about the baseline methane cycle in the Gulf of Mexico, so there are many, many unknown surrounding the impact of the methane. She said that if scientists closely monitor the microbial activity and come to understand it, experts might be able to add an element (e.g., nitrogen) to speed of the breakdown of oil and dissolved gas.
Mandy Joye: I suspect that the microorganisms that live in the plumes are probably going to run out of some critical nutrient or oxygen. So their activity is going to be limited at some point. And these plumes are going to spread to other areas because you’re going to run out of some critical thing the bacteria need in the core of the plume.
Joye added that another science team affiliated with the University of Florida found a plume to the north of where she was working that spans 20 miles. She said other plumes likely exist, which means that large areas of the Gulf could be closed of to fishing for an indefinite period. Dr. Joye added that she does not believe dispersant, which was added to Gulf water by British Petroleum in an attempt to break up the oil, to be safe, because it has not been tested in open water at scale.
Written by Beth Lebwohl8 minute interview 6/28/10 with transcript
Transcript:
June 28th, 2010 - Water... more
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!
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/07/15/2010-07-15_bp_announces_no_more_oil_is_spilling_into_gulf_says_cap_has_stopped_the_flow_of_.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/us/16spill.html/
BP Says That Oil Flow Has Stopped as Cap Is Tested
NEW ORLEANS — Oil stopped gushing into the Gulf of Mexico for the first time in nearly three months, as BP began testing the cap atop its stricken well, a critical step toward sealing the well permanently.
This Land: From an Oyster in the Gulf, a Domino Effect (July 16, 2010)
Times Topic: Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill (2010)
Reuters
“I am very excited that there’s no oil in the Gulf of Mexico,” Kent Wells, a senior vice president for BP, said about the flow during a teleconference on Thursday, “but we just started the test and I don’t want to create a false sense of excitement.”
Oil stopped flowing at 2:25 p.m. local time, Mr. Wells said, when engineers closed the choke line, the final seal of the well. Engineers and scientists will now examine the results of the tests every six hours to determine the pressure levels.
The view one mile beneath the gulf on BP’s continuous live video feed was conspicuously calm, devoid of the clouds of crude oil that had been billowing since the disaster first occurred in April. Despite the long-anticipated moment, officials involved in the spill effort, including President Obama, were quick to downplay the development as a temporary measure.
“I think it is a positive sign, we’re still in the testing phase and I’ll have more to say about it tomorrow,” President Obama said in response to a shouted question at the conclusion of a news conference devoted entirely to the passage of the financial regulatory bill.
"We’re encouraged by this development, but this isn’t over," Thad W. Allen, the retired Coast Guard admiral who is overseeing the federal response to the spill, said in a statement on Thursday. "It remains likely that we will return to the containment process using this new stacking cap connected to the risers to attempt to collect up to 80,000 barrels of oil per day until the relief well is completed."
Earlier on Thursday, the national incident commander, Thad W. Allen, said that closing the well off using the containment cap would only be an interim measure, and that the company must still complete the relief wells it is working on in order to seal the well for good.
The test commenced after two days of delays while BP fixed a leak in the equipment that engineers discovered on Wednesday night. Engineers replaced equipment on the tight-sealing cap that has been placed at the top of well, 5,000 feet under water, said Kent Wells, a senior vice president of the company. The equipment, part of a choke line that was the last valve to be closed before the pressure test could begin.
BP said that its three-ram capping stack was closed, “effectively shutting in the well and all sub-sea containment systems.”
Live feeds of video images from the undersea well clearly showed that the release of oil had had been completely halted.
Mr. Allen, clarified the role of the cap in his news conference on Thursday morning, saying that this mechanism was never meant to be the ultimate solution to closing the well.
Mr. Allen called it a “precursor” to containment, making it possible for the gushing crude to be captured through four different systems that together can keep up with the estimated rate of flow, which the government now puts at 35,000 to 60,000 barrels a day. If all goes well, it may also be used to seal the well completely for brief periods.
“I don’t want to reverse the priorities here, because the priority was to contain and stop the flow of oil,” he said, “but the design of the cap itself, if we can withstand the pressures and the well bore stays intact, presents the opportunity to shut the well in, which will give us the ability to abandon the site in a hurricane, so it’s a two-for if we can do it.”
The test involves closing all the valves on the new cap, which was installed earlier in the week, to increase pressure in the well so that BP can assess its condition over the length of the well bore, which extends 13,000 feet below the seabed.
Mr. Allen likened the process to putting a thumb over the end of a running garden hose. If the pressure does not rise as a result, that means there is a leak somewhere. In the case of the well, if the resulting pressure is high, that means the well bore is intact, he said.
“We have been slowly using mechanisms to close off the hose,” Mr. Allen said.
With those mechanisms all but closed off by Thursday morning, BP prepared to start watching the pressure readings. If all goes well and the pressure remains high, the test will continue for 48 hours. But even then, the oil will not be completely stopped, Mr. Allen said, as BP evaluates the test results with seismic readings beneath the sea.!... more
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A new and less well known asymmetric threat has surfaced in the Gulf of Mexico oil gusher. Methane or CH4 gas is being released in vast quantities in the Gulf waters. Seismic data shows huge pools of methane gas at the location immediately below and around the damaged "Macondo" oil well. Methane is a colorless, odorless and highly flammable substance which forms a major component in natural gas. This is the same gas that blew the top off Deep water Horizon and killed 11 people. The "flow team" of the US Geological Survey estimates that 2,900 cubic feet of natural gas, which primarily contains methane, is being released into the Gulf waters with every barrel of oil. The constant flow of over 50,000 barrels of crude oil places the total daily amount of natural gas at over 145 million cubic feet. So far, over 8 billion cubic feet may have been released, making it one of the most vigorous methane eruptions in modern human history. If the estimates of 100,000 barrels a day -- that have emerged from a BP internal document -- are true, then the estimates for methane gas release might have to be doubled.
Methane and Poison Gas Bubble
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found high concentrations of gases in the Gulf of Mexico area. The escape of other poisonous gases associated with an underground methane bubble -- such as hydrogen sulfide, benzene and methylene chloride -- have also been found. Recently, the EPA measured hydrogen sulfide at more than 1,000 parts per billion (ppb) -- well above the normal 5 to 10 ppb. Some benzene levels were measured near the Gulf of Mexico in the range of 3,000 to 4,000 ppb -- up from the normal 0 to 4 ppb. Benzene gas is water soluble and is a carcinogen at levels of 1,000 ppb according to the EPA. Upon using a GPS and depth finder system, experts have discovered a large gas bubble, 15 to 20 miles wide and tens of feet high, under the ocean floor. These bubbles are common. Some even believe that the rapid release of similar bubbles may have caused the sinking of ships and planes in the Bermuda Triangle.
50,000 to 100,000 PSI
The intractable problem is that this methane, located deep in the bowels of the earth, is under tremendous pressure. Experts agree that the pressure that blows the oil into the Gulf waters is estimated to be between 30,000 and 70,000 pounds per square inch (psi). Some speculate that the pressure of the methane at the base of the well head, deep under the ocean floor, may be as high as 100,000 psi -- far too much for current technology to contain. The shutoff valves and safety measures were only built for thousands of psi at best. There is no known device to cap a well with such an ultra high pressure.
Oxygen Depletion
The crude oil from the "Macondo" well, which is damaging the Gulf of Mexico, contains around 40 percent methane, compared with about 5 percent found in typical oil deposits. Scientists warn that gases such as methane, hydrogen sulfide and benzene, along with oil, are now depleting the oxygen in the water and are beginning to suffocate marine life creating vast "dead zones". As small microbes living in the sea feed on oil and natural gas, they consume large amounts of oxygen which they require in order to digest food, ie, convert it into energy. There is an environmental ripple effect: when oxygen levels decrease, the breakdown of oil can't advance any further.
Fissures or Cracks
According to geologists, the first signs that the methane may burst its way through the bottom of the ocean would be manifest via fissures or cracks appearing on the ocean floor near the path of least resistance, ie, the damaged well head. Evidence of fissures opening up on the seabed have been captured by the robotic midget submarines working to repair and contain the ruptured well. Smaller, independent plumes have also appeared outside the nearby radius of the bore hole. When reviewing video tapes of the live BP feeds, one can see in the tapes of mid-June that there is oil spewing up from visible fissions. Geologists are pointing to new fissures and cracks that are appearing on the ocean floor.
Fault Areas
The stretching and compression of the earth's crust causes minor cracking, called faults, and the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico has many such fault areas. Fault areas run along the Gulf of Mexico and well inland in Mexico, South and East Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the extreme western Florida Panhandle. The close coupling of new fissures and cracks with natural fault areas could prove to be lethal.
Bubble Eruption
A methane bubble this large -- if able to escape from under the ocean floor through fissures, cracks and fault areas -- is likely to cause a gas explosion. With the emerging evidence of fissures, the tacit fear now is this: the methane bubble may rupture the seabed and may then erupt with an explosion within the Gulf of Mexico waters. The bubble is likely to explode upwards propelled by more than 50,000 psi of pressure, bursting through the cracks and fissures of the sea floor, fracturing and rupturing miles of ocean bottom with a single extreme explosion.
Cascading Catastrophe Scenarios
1. Loss of Buoyancy
Huge methane gas bubbles under a ship can cause a sudden buoyancy loss. This causes a ship to tilt adversely or worse. Every ship, drilling rig and structure within a ten mile radius of the escaping methane bubble would have to deal with a rapid change in buoyancy, causing many oil structures in its vicinity to become unstable and ships to sink. The lives of all the workers, engineers, coast guard personnel and marine biologists -- measuring and mitigating the oil plumes' advance and assisting with the clean up -- could be in some danger. Therefore, advanced safety measures should be put in place.
2. First Tsunami with Toxic Cloud
If the toxic gas bubble explodes, it might simultaneously set off a tsunami traveling at a high speed of hundreds of miles per hour. Florida might be most exposed to the fury of a tsunami wave. The entire Gulf coastline would be vulnerable, if the tsunami is manifest. Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and southern region of Georgia might experience the effects of the tsunami according to some sources.
3. Second Tsunami via Vaporization
After several billion barrels of oil and billions of cubic feet of gas have been released, the massive cavity beneath the ocean floor will begin to normalize, allowing freezing water to be forced naturally into the huge cavity where the oil and gas once were. The temperature in that cavity can be extremely hot at around 150 degrees Celsius or more. The incoming water will be vaporized and turned into steam, creating an enormous force, which could actually lift the Gulf floor. According to computer models, a second massive tsunami wave might occur.A new and less well known asymmetric threat has surfaced in the Gulf of Mexico oil... more
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In light of President Obama's Oval Office address about the oil spill in the Gulf and the spills' 60 day anniversary, Planet Forward asks people around DC how they are feeling about, and reacting to, the environmental crisis.In light of President Obama's Oval Office address about the oil spill in the Gulf... more
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ScienceDaily (June 6, 2010) — Thousands of barrels of oil are leaking out of the Deepwater Horizon site each day. The oil ascends from depths of approximately 1502 m. (4928 ft.), but not all of it reaches the sea surface. The stratified seawater of the Gulf of Mexico captures or slows the ascent of the oil, and the addition of dispersants near the oil source produces tiny droplets that float for a considerable time in the water column and may never reach the surface.
According to Drs. Gregor Eberli, Mark Grasmueck, and Ph.D. candidate Thiago Correa of the Marine Geology & Geophysics division of the University of Miami (UM), the oil that remains in suspension in the water column and creates plumes poses a serious risk for the planktonic and benthic (sea floor) life throughout the region, including the deep-sea reefs they study.
"The deep water communities within the Gulf of Mexico and in the Straits of Florida are well hidden from us, but they include many species of cold-water corals that live in water at depths of 600 -- 1500 m. (1969 -4921 ft.) in waters as cold as 3° Celsius (37.4°F)," said Eberli. "Unlike their more familiar shallow-water counterparts, these corals do not live in symbiosis with unicellular algae called zooxanthellae, but are animals that feed on organic matter floating through the water column. We know that most of the food consumed by the cold-water corals is produced in the surface waters and eventually sinks down to the corals."
The large plumes being created by the oil spill, some of which are reported to be several miles long, sit in the water column situated between this source of food and these deep-water corals. As organic material sinks through the water column it passes through the oil plumes and is contaminated by micron-sized oil droplets.
"It is most likely that the delicate cold-water corals are not able to digest these oil-laden food particles and will perish in large numbers," said Eberli. "We are especially concerned because the migrating oil plumes have the potential to destroy or greatly diminish these deep-sea coral communities as they are carried by the currents. These corals are important because they are the foundation of a diverse ecosystem that at last count includes over 1,300 marine species, according to Dr. Thomas Hourigan at NOAA."
There is also a danger that these plumes are carried by the Loop Current from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean. Deep-sea coral ecosystems are common at numerous sites from the eastern Gulf of Mexico through the Straits of Florida and northward to the Blake Plateau off North Carolina. This distribution matches the path of the Loop Current that forms from the water masses in the Gulf of Mexico, and enters the Straits of Florida to form the Florida Current and further north the Gulf Stream.
Particularly vulnerable to disturbance are deep-sea fish that form part of this ecosystem because of their late maturation, extreme longevity, low fecundity and slow growth. Deep-water coral reefs in Florida waters are the habitat of the economically valuable grouper, snapper and amberjack. These and other species inhabit hundreds of deep-water coral reefs off the coast of Florida at depths of about 300 -915 m. (1000 to 3000 feet), which were explored by Dr. John Reed from Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute some thirty years ago. This includes the 59,500 sq. m. (~23,000 sq. mi.) of deep-water reefs off the east coast of Florida, which is now proposed as the Oculina Habitat Area of Particular Concern.
There is no known technique to clean the water column from these oil plumes, and as a consequence the hidden oases of corals in the deep, cold waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the Straits of Florida and the Blake Plateau are in severe danger of being decimated by this oil spill.ScienceDaily (June 6, 2010) — Thousands of barrels of oil are leaking out of the... more
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BP has officially given up trying to seal its gushing oil well in the Gulf of Mexico until it can finish drilling at least one "relief well" in mid-August. Although its latest attempt to temporarily control the spill (by sawing off the damaged riser pipe and capping it to divert most of the oil to a ship on the ocean's surface) may succeed, what if the long-term "relief wells" solution fails, as experts say is entirely possible? (Watch an AP report about the most recent cleanup delay.) Here, a quick-guide to the worst-case scenarios:
What's BP saying?
In its original filing with the Interior Department, BP said it could handle a worst-case spill scenario of up to 162,000 barrels a day. BP CEO Tony Hayward recently lowered that figure to 60,000 barrels a day. The federal government says that 12,000 to 19,000 barrels a day are currently spilling into the Gulf.
What's the prognosis on the cut-and-cap effort?
Though the initial attempt failed when the diamond saw got stuck almost halfway through the 20-inch riser, BP technicians successfully sheared off the damaged pipe Thursday, albeit not as cleanly as hoped. If the cap can be affixed correctly, says oil consultant Nansen Saleri, BP might be able to suck up 90 percent of the gushing oil.
What happens in August?
The plan is to finish one or both in-progress relief wells, which would tap into the main well not far above the oil reservoir, relieving enough pressure on the gusher so BP can cement it shut. Among the things that could go wrong: The relief-well drilling might miss the main well, and the main well bore might be too damaged and leaky to plug.
What else could go wrong?
Hurricanes. The Atlantic hurricane season starts this week, and a big storm would at least temporarily derail relief efforts.
So, what if the relief wells fail?
If BP drillers just miss the main well, they can try again. In an undersea gusher off Australia last year, it took five attempts to connect with the main well, 10 weeks after the spill erupted. In this spill, "the worst-case scenario is Christmas time," says energy analyst Dan Pickering. "This process is teaching us to be skeptical of deadlines." At the current rate, 4 million barrels would spill into the Gulf by New Year's Day.
And what if BP just can't plug the well?
That's the ultimate worst-case scenario, says Fred Aminzadeh at the University of Southern California, and the well would probably continue to pour oil into the Gulf for more than a decade. The U.S. government on Wednesday officially shot down the idea of nuking the hole shut, and BP took conventional explosives off the table in May.
What happens to the Gulf during an endless spill?
It would be devastating for marine life, killing everything near the well and destroying all manner of life along hundreds of miles of coastline, according to Louisiana State University professor Harry Roberts. Months of gushing oil would also change the sea's chemistry, with unknown repercussions, says Woods Hole scientist Mak Saito. But nobody knows for sure. The Gulf apparently survived a 3.3 million–barrel spill off Mexico in 1979-80, and the biggest spill on record — the 8 million barrels dumped into the Persian Gulf during the first Iraq War — only did short-term damage to the shrimp, fish, and corals there, notes New York Times blogger Andrew Revkin. "Let’s hope the same holds true this time."BP has officially given up trying to seal its gushing oil well in the Gulf of Mexico... more
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PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. - A Florida beach might get hit with oil from the Deepwater Horizon accident for the first time Wednesday as sheen likely caused by the accident was reported less than 10 miles off Pensacola Beach.
A charter boat captain reported the oil Tuesday afternoon and state and local environmental officials confirmed that it was about 9.5 miles offshore. Winds are forecast to blow from the south and west, pushing the outer edges of massive slick from the spill closer to western Panhandle beaches.
Emergency crews began Tuesday scouring the beaches for oil and shoring up miles of boom. Escambia County will use it to block oil from reaching inland waterways, but plans to leave beaches unprotected because they are too difficult to protect and easier to clean up.
The spill's arrival coincides with the beginning of the Panhandle's summer tourism season, which normally brings millions of dollars to the region.
"It's inevitable that we will see it on the beaches," said Keith Wilkins, Escambia's deputy chief of neighborhood and community services.
The oil has been creeping toward Florida since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers and eventually collapsing into the Gulf of Mexico. An estimated 20 million to 40 million gallons of oil has spewed into the Gulf, eclipsing the 11 million that leaked from the Exxon Valdez disaster. The rig was being operated for petroleum giant BP, which has tried unsuccessfully for six week to stanch the oil.
The Florida report followed an orange and oily mess washing up on Alabama's beaches earlier Tuesday. Crews cleaned up the oil that they described as having the consistency of a "tarry mousse," but health officials closed the beaches to swimming.
Pensacola Beach officials said their request for about $150,000 from BP to buy sifting machines and a tractor to help remove oil from the beach's famous white sands has lingered unanswered for more than three weeks. BP has promised it will pay any expenses, but Panhandle officials say the bureaucracy has been slow. Some think the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be running the cleanup operation, not BP.
"We need the sifters and we haven't gotten them approved yet," said W.A. "Buck" Lee, Santa Rosa Island Authority's executive director. "It's been three weeks and the oil is coming. In my opinion, this entire thing should have been a FEMA project all along. If a hurricane blows the roof off your jail, you shouldn't have to wait and send a letter to BP to replace the roof on your jail."
Lee said BP has spent money on public relations, but not on preparations for beach cleanup. The company has provided the sate with $25 million to promote tourism. Escambia approved $700,000 in emergency funding for tourism promotion Tuesday, with another $700,000 to be allocated in 45 days.
Lee said the bureaucratic process set up at the federal staging centers in Alabama and Louisiana have also made it difficult to get information about his pending request.
Coast Guard Chief Peter Capelotti, spokesman for the Mobile, Ala.-based command center, did not have an immediate answer late Tuesday about the delay in approving Escambia county's request for the tractor and other equipment.
Capelotti said command center officials expect more oil to make landfall in Alabama and the Florida Panhandle through Friday.
On Pensacola Beach, emergency crews are prepared for a long summer of oil clean up. They plan to remove oil in cycles after it is pushed onshore and the winds shift. Removing oil while it's moving onshore doesn't make sense, Wilkins said.
"It would be like trying to go out and clean up in the middle of a hurricane," he said. "We will wait until after the bands make their way onshore and the weather shifts and then we will clean up before the next band hits."PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. - A Florida beach might get hit with oil from the Deepwater... more
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BP inserted a new tube Sunday into the damaged oil pipe that has been gushing oil from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico for three and a half weeks in a bid to capture as much of the oil as possible.
The four-inch wide new pipe was inserted into the broken section known as the riser, from which the majority of the oil has been leaking. If it works, the inserted pipe could keep a substantial amount of the oil out of the sea by siphoning it up a mile-long pipe to the Discoverer Enterprise drillship and then to nearby barges.
"So far it's working extremely well," said BP senior vice president for exploration and production Kent Wells. He said the company has been able to flare, or burn, some of the natural gas at the surface, an indication that the insertion pipe is working. He said it would not be clear how much of the oil can be captured for another day or two, but he called it "a positive step forward."
"As of now there are still reasonably substantial amounts of oil coming out" of the damaged pipeline into the ocean, said Andrew Gowers, an executive vice president at BP. "That is in part a factor of the pressure we are bringing to bear in producing the oil." He added that the amount of oil brought up the new line would "be steadily increased." He cautioned "this is a gradual, carefully calibrated process aimed at steadily reducing the leak rather than a magic bullet."
It also remained unclear how the effort to capture oil from the main leak would affect a smaller leak closer to the well.
The company's efforts to stop the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico come as the existing slick has begun to touch shorelines and come closer to currents that could carry plumes of oil suspended beneath the surface out of the Gulf to areas much further away, including the Florida Keys.
Late Saturday night, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a 72-hour forecast that warned, "As the winds weaken, ocean models indicate the southern edge of the plume could begin moving more to the SW and potentially into the Loop Current."
BP said that while it tries to siphon oil up its new insertion pipe, it was also making preparations to "kill" the damaged well at the sea surface by pumping drilling mud at higher pressure and weight than the oil. The mud would be pumped at more than 30,000 horsepower engine through three-inch hoses and through "choke" valves at the bottom of the blowout preventer near the sea floor. He said the valves could shoot up to 40 barrels a minute of mud into the well.
"We'll be able to pump much faster than the well can flow," he said. "It's about us outrunning the well."
Wells said the company had brought 50,000 barrels of the mud, a mixture of clay and other substances, for the effort, which he said should be far more than needed. He said that the much ridiculed "junk shot," in which golf balls and shredded tires would be fired into the blowout preventer, would only be used if the drilling mud were being forced upward and needed to be blocked.
Wells said it would be another week to 10 days before preparations for what the company has called the "top kill" effort would be complete.
In the meantime, BP pressed ahead with its insertion pipe, which has been compared to inserting a straw into another straw. BP's pipe is somewhat more sophisticated than a straw; it has rubber components to seal off the pipe as much as possible from sea water while letting oil and gas push their way in to the new pipe.
BP is also pumping 120 degree water and methanol into the long pipe in an effort to prevent the formation of crystals of gas hydrates. Those hydrates -- combinations of natural gas and sea water at high pressures and low temperatures -- form slush-like crystals that can block pipelines or even lift heavy objects off the sea floor. They were one reason for the failure of an earlier effort to lower a 98-ton steel coffer dam over the main leak site.
Once the oil, gas and water mixture reaches ships on the surface, it will be processed and separated into different components. Gas is already being flared, and the oil will be loaded onto barges or tankers. Sunday's insertion was BP's second effort. Late Saturday night after the new tube was inserted, it was yanked out after the umbilical cord of a remotely-operated vehicle got entangled with the tube's line to the surface, according to sources familiar with the project.BP inserted a new tube Sunday into the damaged oil pipe that has been gushing oil from... more
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This has to be the most inspiring story I've stumbled upon out of all my coverage of the Gulf spill: Last night, at a tense town hall-style meeting that gathered fishermen, federal officials, and BP reps to discuss the latest on the disaster, one participant took all of the parties by surprise. A 14-year old girl named Lauren Spaulding confidently stepped up to the mic during the Q+A -- the only young person to do so -- and confronted BP about its lack of initiative to educate children about the spill.
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Spaulding was polite but direct when she asked BP what it was doing to educate young people about the spill or to provide teaching materials to schools, and she quickly won over the crowd. She pointed out that kids are concerned about the spill too, and want to learn more about what's going on and how they can help. They're worried about the environment and their parents' livelihoods, she said.
BP isn't doing anything in the education arena at all, of course -- but that could now change, thanks to Spaulding. Lisa Garcia, a Senior Advisor in the EPA, was one of the federal officials attending the meeting. She was particularly impressed by the young girl's advocacy, and said that providing local schools with educational materials on the Gulf spill was a great idea -- and that she now planned on starting up such a program. I confirmed with Ms. Garcia after the meeting that she would indeed be doing so. BP would likely be responsible for funding the effort.
If that's not inspiring, I don't know what is -- thanks to a bright idea, and some serious gumption, this girl has kick started an effort that could better educate kids around the Gulf. I caught up with Spaulding after the meeting was over, and spoke with her about her interest in the Gulf spill:This has to be the most inspiring story I've stumbled upon out of all my coverage... more
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OrganicNation.tv covers the Gulf Coast oil spill and how local residents and conservationists in Biloxi, MS are preparing for landfall.
The video features an interview with Mike Murphy of The Nature Conservancy who explains why wildlife in the Gulf Coast region is so important. Steve Cason, who works on a shrimp tour boat, expresses his concern about threats to fishing and tourism.
For more information about conservation efforts on the Gulf Coast, please visit: http://www.nature.org
Video produced by:
Dorothee Royal-Hedinger & Mark Andrew Boyer for http://www.OrganicNation.tvOrganicNation.tv covers the Gulf Coast oil spill and how local residents and... more
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click for more videos:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/05/us-army-gulf-spill-oil-asphalt-experimental-chemical-video.php
n order to protect the coastline at Dauphin Island -- a site where tar balls have made landfall and hundreds of fish are washing up dead on the beach -- the US Army has launched a highly experimental plan to prevent any oil from reaching its shores. It plans on trapping the oil in Hesco baskets and then applying a chemical called CI Agent, turning the oil into a gelatinous solid. That solid, comprised from oil from the gulf spill, will then be collected and turned into asphalt. Watch how the agent works:click for more videos:... more
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Oil companies face an immediate tax rise of 1 cent per barrel to help to pay for the clean-up in the Gulf of Mexico under proposed legislation rushed out by the White House yesterday.
The measure, unveiled as BP began a new attempt to contain the ruptured well that has leaked millions of gallons of crude oil into America’s southern coastal waters, would put an extra $500 million (£340 million) over ten years into the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, which covers damage caused by such disasters.
Under a $118 million spending plan outlined in the package, people affected by the spill — such as fishermen who have lost their livelihoods because of the contamination — will be granted financial assistance, and federal agencies will get additional funds to monitor the slick and assess its impact.
President Obama, said by a spokesman to be “deeply frustrated” that the leak has still not been plugged three weeks after it erupted, intends that BP will pick up most of the cost of his new plan.
Hearings into the incident aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on April 20 continued yesterday in Louisiana and in the US Congress, where Democrat Henry Waxman blamed a “calamitous series of equipment and operational failures” for the disaster. “If the largest oil and oil services companies in the world had been more careful, 11 lives might have been saved and our coastlines protected,” he said.
The way BP and its partners responded to the disaster, which began with an explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon on April 20, will also be a matter for investigation.
Survivors have alleged that, after being rescued, they were held at sea while the rig’s owner, Transocean, assembled its lawyers. After being brought ashore, traumatised and exhausted by two nights without sleep, they claim that they were taken to a hotel and “coerced” by Transocean representatives into signing liability waivers before being allowed to see their families.
According to Steven Gordon, of the Houston legal firm Gordon, Elias and Seely, the waivers are now being used against the workers as they attempt to seek compensation for emerging psychological problems that have left some too afraid to work at sea again.
“These people went through holy hell. They have probably just gone through the most traumatic period of their entire lives. They needed counselling — not ‘Please sign here that you’re not hurt’ ,” said Mr Gordon, who is representing Christopher Choy, a rig worker. “When they asked him to sign this, he hadn’t been allowed to sleep and have his first nightmare.”
Mr Choy, 23, teamed up with a firefighter on the rig to try to rescue a crane operator who was trapped by the fire. “They couldn’t get to him because he was in flames. These guys watched their friends burning,” Mr Gordon told The Times.
Alwin Landry, the captain of a cargo ship that was moored alongside the rig, told a hearing in New Orleans that mud began pouring down on him “like a black rain”, followed by a thunderous hiss. “I saw the green flash on the main deck. Time kind of slowed down. I heard the explosion,” he said, adding that minutes later came a radio call: “Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! The rig’s on fire. Abandon ship.”
Workers leapt eight storeys into the sea to escape the flames, but even the water was on fire. The last to climb from the rig on to Mr Landry’s boat was the rig’s captain, Curt Kuchta, who tried to hit the “kill” switch to shut the oil well. “He acknowledged he pressed it and didn’t know if it worked or not,” Mr Landry said.Oil companies face an immediate tax rise of 1 cent per barrel to help to pay for the... more
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“As hopes dim for containing the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico anytime soon” after a giant containment dome failed, the cost of cleaning up the spill will continue to rise. BP is financially responsible for the disaster, and President Obama wants to raise the cap on what the company is liable for, as cleanup costs have already surpassed the current limit. BP said yesterday that it had already spent $350 million on the spill response, and the company’s stock has taken a big hit, but the “behemoth” company will almost certainly survive the disaster with little long term damage. BP’s daily profits dwarf the daily cost of spill response, and at the current rate, the company could cover the entire cost of cleanup thus far in just under four days of profits:
For now, at least, BP’s prodigious costs combating the oil spill in the Gulf are outweighed by prodigious profits.
On Monday, BP said it spent $350 million in the first 20 days of the spill response, about $17.5 million a day. It has paid 295 of the 4,700 claims received, for a total of $3.5 million. By contrast, in the first quarter of the year, the London-based oil giant’s profits averaged $93 million a day.
The amount of oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico has been estimated at 5,000 to 25,000 barrels a day. In the first quarter, BP produced 2.5 million barrels of crude oil a day worldwide — and it received $71.86 for every barrel.
At $93 million a day in profits, BP makes $350 million in about 3.8 days. The Washington Post noted that Exxon, through a decision by the Supreme Court, was able to pay only $507.5 million of the original $5 billion in punitive damages that it had been assessed for the 1989 Valdez disaster.“As hopes dim for containing the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico anytime... more
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