tagged w/ tropical storm Bonnie
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As ships return to spill site, officials wary of more storms
Vessels returning to oil spill site
By the CNN Wire Staff
July 24, 2010 9:21 p.m. EDT
Ships assist collection of oil Friday near the source of the Deepwater Horizon leak before leaving to avoid a storm.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* Important relief well vessel is back at the spill site
* Bonnie downgraded from a tropical depression
* Work continues during hurricane season
* The well's pressure is at 6,890 pounds per square inch
New Orleans, Louisiana (CNN) -- Bonnie went out with a whimper Saturday, sparing Gulf Coast residents new misery and allowing some of the vessels working on BP's ruptured oil well to return to the site.
But with the hurricane season expected to get only busier, especially later in August, the move of ships to and from safer waters during a storm could be more problematic as crews try to kill the well and safeguard the site.
Ships critical for work on BP's well in the Gulf of Mexico started returning Saturday afternoon after the former tropical depression lost its punch.
The Development Driller III, the rig drilling the first relief well, returned to the well site off Louisiana. The drill ship Discoverer Enterprise was en route, as was the DDII, according to BP. All three are expected to be on site by Saturday night.
As of 4 p.m. (5 p.m. ET), Bonnie had been downgraded from a tropical depression. Maximum sustained winds were 30 mph.
The weather forced officials to temporarily scale back efforts to search beneath the surface for leaking oil and permanently plug the leak, officials said.
The Caribbean storm map behind Bonnie was empty Saturday night.
Ships were moved out of harm's way Friday due to the approaching storm. Most of the 10 to 15 vessels that were at the site will be back on the scene within 24 hours, retired U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen told reporters.
But Allen and BP know there's a possibility that one or more of the 8-14 projected hurricanes this year could come when vessels are still out at the site.
The dicey weather in the region threatens the time it takes to erect a relief well and embark on the "static kill" process, which involves pumping mud into the ruptured well to force oil back into the reservoir below.
Allen said the static kill process could begin three to five days from now.
"We're going to be playing a cat-and-mouse game for the remainder of the hurricane season," Allen said.
BP crews working on a relief well are aware of the potential weather and want to have it completed by the first of August, CNN weather producer Judson Jones said Saturday evening.
"That's why they are eager to get [back] out there," he said.
Jones said an upper level low killed Bonnie, the second named storm of the season behind Hurricane Alex.
But storms born off Africa's Cape Verde will be stronger and will have more time to develop when they begin arriving in August and September, Jones said.
"Imagine what a Category 3 or Category 4 storm would do in the Gulf," Jones said.
Besides damaging the coastline, a strong hurricane could damage the well site. The time for vessels to flee and return would be longer, extending the massive project.
And there's another concern.
"If we get a storm ... things right under the surface could be brought on shore by storm surge," Jones said.
For now, the clear weather buys more time for skimmers and other boats recovering the oil and dispersants below the surface.
Federal officials are pleased with the state of the sealed well.
Allen said the monitoring of the well continued overnight Friday with remote-operated vehicles. The pressure was 6,891 pounds per square inch as of midnight.
"It's still good," he said.
The disaster was sparked when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded April 20, leaving 11 workers dead. Oil flowed freely from the ruptured well for nearly three months, before a cap was installed on it July 12.
CNN's Dugald McConnell and Vivian Kuo contributed to this report.As ships return to spill site, officials wary of more storms
Vessels returning to... more
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Digging on relief well suspended as Bonnie heads toward Gulf
By the CNN Wire Staff
July 22, 2010 10:03 p.m. EDT
CNN's Rob Marciano takes you inside the biggest cleanup job in the world. Watch "Rescue: Saving the Gulf" at 8 p.m. ET Saturday and Sunday on CNN.
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New Orleans, Louisiana (CNN) -- Tropical Storm Bonnie has forced the evacuation of many of the vessels in the area of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, including the rig digging a relief well.
The evacuation started Thursday night, retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said in a statement. "This includes the rig drilling the relief well that will ultimately kill the well, as well as other vessels needed for containment. Some of the vessels may be able to remain on site, but we will err on the side of safety."
However, the cap placed over the damaged well in the Gulf of Mexico will remain sealed, despite evacuation, said Allen, who who is leading the federal response to the spill. A sealed cap means no oil is escaping.
He said the remote operating vehicles (ROV) that have been monitoring beneath the surface for leaking oil will be the last to leave and the first to return "in order to maximize monitoring of the well."
The departure of the relief well rig will delay work the operation -- described as the permanent fix to the ruptured well -- for at least 10 days.
Allen noted that more then 2,000 people are working at the well site. "While these actions may delay the effort to kill the well for several days, the safety of the individuals at the well site is our highest concern."
Earlier, Allen had said sensors and extensive monitoring have allowed observers to "rule out any indications there might be a leak." His confidence in the integrity of the well "improved dramatically" within the past few days after he examined data, he said.
BP is also considering a tactic called "static kill" that could help seal the broken well. The process involves pumping mud into the well to force oil back into the reservoir below.
Kent Wells, senior vice president of BP, said the company has gotten approval from Allen to begin preparing for the process, but the company will still need to seek the government's final approval before actually carrying out a "static kill."
The operation would follow the installation of casing in the well, Allen said Wednesday. However, that process is on hold.
Earlier, Vice President Joe Biden, who visited the Gulf region Thursday for the first time since June 29, said more than 25,000 square miles of federal waters, mainly in the southeast portion of the Gulf of Mexico, will reopen to commercial fishing.
"What we're talking about here is almost one-third of the entire closed areas ... will be open. And we're going to continue to work to see that the rest of it is open ... as soon as we can guarantee that the fish coming out of those waters are edible and safe," Biden said.
During his trip to Theodore, Alabama, the vice president met with several fishermen and addressed concerns they expressed about being able to live as their families have for generations.
"The stuff that hurts the most is the stuff that changes people's way of life," Biden said. "The president and I understand that cleaning up is not the same as recovery."
Meanwhile, officials at the Unified Area Command center say they continue to track the tropical weather and remain in constant communication with the National Hurricane Center, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is ultimately responsible for the safety of the more than 40,000 people currently assisting in recovery and response efforts in the Gulf region.
"The protection of the equipment and crew is paramount to ensure maximum ability to respond to any new challenges a storm may pose to the enormous mission," Rear Adm. Paul Zukunft, the federal on-scene coordinator, said in a news release Thursday.
"We are repositioning assets away from low-lying areas to higher-ground staging areas to protect our ability to respond to the dynamic requirements of the incident," Zukunft said.
At 8 p.m. ET, the tropical storm was moving northwest at 14 miles an hour over the central Bahamas, according to the
National Hurricane Center.
It could pick up strength as it moves over the long stretch of open water in the Gulf of Mexico, but the latest computer models do not show it becoming a hurricane, according to CNN meteorologist Chad Myers.
The storm is expected to pass the southern tip of Florida on Friday afternoon and then make landfall Sunday between New Orleans and the Beaumont-Port Arthur area in southeastern Texas. Myers said it's more likely to bear down on Louisiana.
Severe weather could also cause an environmental setback. If the tropical weather system makes its way to the Gulf Coast marshlands, it could diminish or erase encouraging signs of recovery from the BP oil spill, according to a scientist who spearheaded the first major examination of the Louisiana coast wetlands.
"Early marsh regrowth could easily be taken away with high winds and waves," said Tom Bianchi, a Texas A&M oceanography professor who has spent his career researching marshes.
Bianchi, who used to live in New Orleans and lost his old home to Hurricane Katrina, said he felt an obligation to find out the status of the coastal wetlands in his former home state.
"I had to return. I had to hope, and I was, honestly, shocked that we saw signs of new life," he said. "The marshes are badly, badly damaged, but we found some regeneration."
Bianchi and researchers from several other universities studied the wetlands off Grand Isle, Louisiana, by boat over the past week, funded by a $114,000 emergency grant from the National Science Foundation. Several days of inspecting the swampy home of mussels, crabs, sea grass and microbial creatures yielded good news for a precious part of the region's food chain, Bianchi said.
CNN's Ashley Fantz and Vivian Kuo contributed to this report.Digging on relief well suspended as Bonnie heads toward Gulf
By the CNN Wire Staff... more
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Just upgraded to Tropical Storm status, Bonnie
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According to a majority of the hurricane season forecasts released, the 2010 season is suppose to rival the top seasons on record, but so far there is no comparison at least in terms of the number of named storms through July 20th.According to a majority of the hurricane season forecasts released, the 2010 season is... more
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