Oil spill in the gulf of Mexico
07-03-2010, 08:18 PM
#671
Banned
Gulf oil spill likely to reach Florida Keys, Miami, report says
Those shorelines will probably see tar balls in the months ahead, NOAA finds. Also, skimming boats prepare to go back to work, and efforts to help turtles and migrating birds are announced.
By Richard Simon and Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times
July 3, 2010
Reporting from Washington and New Orleans —
Hundreds of skimming boats prepared Friday to return to calmer gulf waters in the wake of Hurricane Alex and resume cleanup of the massive BP oil spill, which scientists now predict is likely to reach the Florida Keys and Miami in the months ahead.
Using computer simulations based on 15 years of wind and ocean current data, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a report Friday showing a 61% to 80% chance of the oil spill reaching within 20 miles of the coasts of the Florida Keys, Fort Lauderdale and Miami, mostly likely in the form of weathered tar balls.
Shorelines with the greatest chance of being soiled by oil — 81% to 100% — stretch from the Mississippi River Delta to the western Florida Panhandle, NOAA scientists said in a statement on its projections for the next four months.
Other areas of Florida have a low probability of oil hits. The Florida Panhandle has already seen tar balls wash up on beaches.
But the chances of oil reaching east-central Florida and the Eastern Seaboard are less than 1% to 20%, NOAA said. And it is "increasingly unlikely" that areas above North Carolina will be hit.
Meanwhile, officials were moving skimming vessels back to sea and were trying to protect the ecologically sensitive Chandeleur Sound area, said Coast Guard Adm. Paul Zukunft.
"It's going to be a long weekend from an oil spill response perspective," Zukunft said Friday. All skimming boats from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle had been idle for three days because of dangerously high waves.
Officials hoped to move another containment ship above the gushing well by Wednesday to nearly double the 25,000 barrels of oil being recovered daily. As many as 60,000 barrels a day are spewing from the well, according to government estimates.
An operation to drill a relief well, the ultimate solution to stopping the leak, is seven to eight days ahead of its mid-August target date for completion.
But Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the national incident commander, said Friday: "I am reluctant to tell you it will be done before the middle of August because I think everything associated with this spill and response recovery suggests that we should under-promise and over-deliver."
BP and the Coast Guard worked out an agreement Friday with wildlife groups in response to concerns that sea turtles were being incinerated when oil slicks are burned. The parties agreed to convene a group of scientists to develop plans for monitoring future controlled burns, said Cathy Liss, president of the Washington-based Animal Welfare Institute, lead plaintiff in a lawsuit on the issue.
Liss said the officials also agreed to notify her group of any burns conducted after Tuesday and whether they have a biologist or other trained observer nearby to protect the turtles. Officials had halted such burns through Tuesday because of the weather.
The environmental groups had initially requested a temporary restraining order to prevent the burns.
Meanwhile, U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials were making plans to start shipping thousands of sea turtle eggs marked for collection along the shores of Alabama and western Florida to the Kennedy Space Center this month.
Starting July 12, turtle eggs will be removed from nests, placed in boxes and shipped in special climate-controlled, vibration-resistant FedEx trucks to a climate-controlled, predator-proof warehouse at the space center, Jacksonville, Fla.-based Fish and Wildlife spokesman Chuck Underwood said. Hatchlings will be released at various locations and times along the nearby Space Coast to avoid drawing predators, he said.
Federal officials also announced that stopover grounds would be created along the Gulf Coast in an effort to assist some of the millions of birds that will soon begin their fall migration.
Paul Schmidt, assistant director for migratory birds at the Fish and Wildlife Service, said it would be impossible to redirect vast numbers of migrating birds around the still-expanding oil slicks. But he said safe grounds for feeding and breeding could be created in coastal marshes and up to 100 miles inland.
He said conservation groups would work with private landowners to flood crop fields, cut out invasive plants that have overgrown some habitats and burn off some plants to open more ground for the birds.
On the economic side, new efforts were underway in the courts and Congress to deal with the financial effects of the spill.
A coalition of business groups and Sen. Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.) filed a brief urging the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold a judge's ruling striking down the Obama administration's six-month deep-water drilling moratorium in the gulf.
Also, a bipartisan group of Gulf Coast lawmakers launched a drive to pass a package of tax breaks to aid struggling businesses hurt by the spill.
Those shorelines will probably see tar balls in the months ahead, NOAA finds. Also, skimming boats prepare to go back to work, and efforts to help turtles and migrating birds are announced.
By Richard Simon and Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times
July 3, 2010
Reporting from Washington and New Orleans —
Hundreds of skimming boats prepared Friday to return to calmer gulf waters in the wake of Hurricane Alex and resume cleanup of the massive BP oil spill, which scientists now predict is likely to reach the Florida Keys and Miami in the months ahead.
Using computer simulations based on 15 years of wind and ocean current data, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a report Friday showing a 61% to 80% chance of the oil spill reaching within 20 miles of the coasts of the Florida Keys, Fort Lauderdale and Miami, mostly likely in the form of weathered tar balls.
Shorelines with the greatest chance of being soiled by oil — 81% to 100% — stretch from the Mississippi River Delta to the western Florida Panhandle, NOAA scientists said in a statement on its projections for the next four months.
Other areas of Florida have a low probability of oil hits. The Florida Panhandle has already seen tar balls wash up on beaches.
But the chances of oil reaching east-central Florida and the Eastern Seaboard are less than 1% to 20%, NOAA said. And it is "increasingly unlikely" that areas above North Carolina will be hit.
Meanwhile, officials were moving skimming vessels back to sea and were trying to protect the ecologically sensitive Chandeleur Sound area, said Coast Guard Adm. Paul Zukunft.
"It's going to be a long weekend from an oil spill response perspective," Zukunft said Friday. All skimming boats from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle had been idle for three days because of dangerously high waves.
Officials hoped to move another containment ship above the gushing well by Wednesday to nearly double the 25,000 barrels of oil being recovered daily. As many as 60,000 barrels a day are spewing from the well, according to government estimates.
An operation to drill a relief well, the ultimate solution to stopping the leak, is seven to eight days ahead of its mid-August target date for completion.
But Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the national incident commander, said Friday: "I am reluctant to tell you it will be done before the middle of August because I think everything associated with this spill and response recovery suggests that we should under-promise and over-deliver."
BP and the Coast Guard worked out an agreement Friday with wildlife groups in response to concerns that sea turtles were being incinerated when oil slicks are burned. The parties agreed to convene a group of scientists to develop plans for monitoring future controlled burns, said Cathy Liss, president of the Washington-based Animal Welfare Institute, lead plaintiff in a lawsuit on the issue.
Liss said the officials also agreed to notify her group of any burns conducted after Tuesday and whether they have a biologist or other trained observer nearby to protect the turtles. Officials had halted such burns through Tuesday because of the weather.
The environmental groups had initially requested a temporary restraining order to prevent the burns.
Meanwhile, U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials were making plans to start shipping thousands of sea turtle eggs marked for collection along the shores of Alabama and western Florida to the Kennedy Space Center this month.
Starting July 12, turtle eggs will be removed from nests, placed in boxes and shipped in special climate-controlled, vibration-resistant FedEx trucks to a climate-controlled, predator-proof warehouse at the space center, Jacksonville, Fla.-based Fish and Wildlife spokesman Chuck Underwood said. Hatchlings will be released at various locations and times along the nearby Space Coast to avoid drawing predators, he said.
Federal officials also announced that stopover grounds would be created along the Gulf Coast in an effort to assist some of the millions of birds that will soon begin their fall migration.
Paul Schmidt, assistant director for migratory birds at the Fish and Wildlife Service, said it would be impossible to redirect vast numbers of migrating birds around the still-expanding oil slicks. But he said safe grounds for feeding and breeding could be created in coastal marshes and up to 100 miles inland.
He said conservation groups would work with private landowners to flood crop fields, cut out invasive plants that have overgrown some habitats and burn off some plants to open more ground for the birds.
On the economic side, new efforts were underway in the courts and Congress to deal with the financial effects of the spill.
A coalition of business groups and Sen. Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.) filed a brief urging the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold a judge's ruling striking down the Obama administration's six-month deep-water drilling moratorium in the gulf.
Also, a bipartisan group of Gulf Coast lawmakers launched a drive to pass a package of tax breaks to aid struggling businesses hurt by the spill.
07-06-2010, 03:47 PM
#674
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
By SANDY DAVIS
Advocate staff writer
Published: Jul 6, 2010 Comments (0) Print Email Save Reprints Twitter Share Del.icio.us Digg Facebook Reddit
Page 1 of 4SINGLE PAGE VIEW
Oil sheen and tar balls made their way through the Rigolets and into Lake Pontchartrain on Monday morning, the U.S. Coast Guard reported.
The oil was discovered early Monday and 19 skimmers and four decontamination vessels were sent to the Rigolets and the lake to clean up the oil.
Response crews also placed hard and soft boom at a natural choke point in the Rigolets to prevent more oil from getting through to Lake Pontchartrain, according to a news release issued at 8:15 p.m. Monday.
Cleanup crews collected 1,020 pounds of tar balls and waste, the release stated.
“Collected oil is being tested to determine if the oil came from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead,” the release says.
In other oil news Monday, state and local officials expressed dismay over the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ weekend decision to reject a plan to build rock dikes to help keep oil out of Barataria Bay.
“Only a government bureaucrat would say rocks are more harmful to our water than oil,” Gov. Bobby Jindal said.
In the meantime, Col. Al Lee, commander of the Corps’ New Orleans District, issued a statement Saturday announcing that after weeks of review, he was denying a permit request to build rock dikes in Barataria Bay passes.
Jefferson Parish requested the emergency permits June 7 saying it wanted to build rock dikes in five passes leading into Barataria Bay. Later, the parish amended the request to only build two dikes in Pass Abel and Four Bayou Pass.
“The Corps took weeks to review the plan only to reject it today and this denial is another unfortunate example of the federal government’s lack of urgency in this war to protect our coast,” Jindal said.
Barataria Bay is one of the richest estuaries in the state for fishing and wildlife, Jindal has said. It is also an area that has been oiled repeatedly from the BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico that began after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded April 20, killing 11 workers.
Grand Isle Mayor David Camardelle said Monday he was devastated when he found out Saturday that the rock plan permits were rejected.
“One of the things that really gets me is they didn’t offer us an alternative plan and they didn’t offer us a plan of their own,” Camardelle said. “They just said, ‘No.
Man oooohhh man what incompetent morons we have running these agencies!!!!!!
Advocate staff writer
Published: Jul 6, 2010 Comments (0) Print Email Save Reprints Twitter Share Del.icio.us Digg Facebook Reddit
Page 1 of 4SINGLE PAGE VIEW
Oil sheen and tar balls made their way through the Rigolets and into Lake Pontchartrain on Monday morning, the U.S. Coast Guard reported.
The oil was discovered early Monday and 19 skimmers and four decontamination vessels were sent to the Rigolets and the lake to clean up the oil.
Response crews also placed hard and soft boom at a natural choke point in the Rigolets to prevent more oil from getting through to Lake Pontchartrain, according to a news release issued at 8:15 p.m. Monday.
Cleanup crews collected 1,020 pounds of tar balls and waste, the release stated.
“Collected oil is being tested to determine if the oil came from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead,” the release says.
In other oil news Monday, state and local officials expressed dismay over the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ weekend decision to reject a plan to build rock dikes to help keep oil out of Barataria Bay.
“Only a government bureaucrat would say rocks are more harmful to our water than oil,” Gov. Bobby Jindal said.
In the meantime, Col. Al Lee, commander of the Corps’ New Orleans District, issued a statement Saturday announcing that after weeks of review, he was denying a permit request to build rock dikes in Barataria Bay passes.
Jefferson Parish requested the emergency permits June 7 saying it wanted to build rock dikes in five passes leading into Barataria Bay. Later, the parish amended the request to only build two dikes in Pass Abel and Four Bayou Pass.
“The Corps took weeks to review the plan only to reject it today and this denial is another unfortunate example of the federal government’s lack of urgency in this war to protect our coast,” Jindal said.
Barataria Bay is one of the richest estuaries in the state for fishing and wildlife, Jindal has said. It is also an area that has been oiled repeatedly from the BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico that began after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded April 20, killing 11 workers.
Grand Isle Mayor David Camardelle said Monday he was devastated when he found out Saturday that the rock plan permits were rejected.
“One of the things that really gets me is they didn’t offer us an alternative plan and they didn’t offer us a plan of their own,” Camardelle said. “They just said, ‘No.
Man oooohhh man what incompetent morons we have running these agencies!!!!!!
07-06-2010, 03:52 PM
#675
Registered
VIP MemberThread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 1,454
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
07-06-2010, 04:01 PM
#676
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
word I got off a local forum today is Livingston parish waters closed till July 8th for now but I have not got a confirmation on that..doesn't sound rite because we border lake maurepas north west past I-55
07-07-2010, 01:02 PM
#677
Registered
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: St. Petersburg, Fl
Posts: 443
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Russia's Shirshov Institute of Oceanology warns that the Gulf of Mexico sea floor has been fractured “beyond all repair” and our World should begin preparing for an ecological disaster “beyond comprehension” unless “extraordinary measures” are undertaken to stop the massive flow of oil into our Planet’s eleventh largest body of water.
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-461896
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-461896
07-07-2010, 01:55 PM
#678
Banned
If nukes are "on the table" for Iran, how much more should he consider this solution for the Gulf spill? If BP doesn't agree they should be cut out of the situation.
Last edited by Catmando; 07-07-2010 at 03:26 PM.
07-07-2010, 09:35 PM
#680
Charter Member #232
Charter Member
