Aug 18 2010
Two weeks ago we were being told the majority of the Oil Spilled was “mostly” gone …
How did five million barrels of oil simply disappear?
Press Secretary Robert Gibbs points to a pie chart on the BP oil spill during the Daily White House Press Briefing, Washington, DC.
AFP/ Getty Images
Now, University of South Florida, Marine Scientists are reporting Science has a different tale, to tell …
Aug 15 2010
Edward E. Clark, President of the Wildlife Center of Virgina
Earlier in June of this year, I was invited to be part of an interdisciplinary team of wildlife experts, that was organized by the Humane Society of the United States. There were about five of us from around the country, who work with two HSUS disaster response experts.
We flew into New Orleans with the idea that we were going to spend a week, in the area — accessing the damage of the Oil Spill; looking at the Habitat at risk.
And trying to come up with an Inventory if you will, of the short term and long term issues, that needed a response.
[…]Well the hour came, where we finally were — supposedly — given our clearance to fly over the area where the Oil was coming ashore.
[… and ? ]
Aug 06 2010
The oil has gone? Tell that to Gulf coast residents
By Rupert Cornwell, independent.co.uk — 6 August 2010
And though only a quarter of the 4.9m barrels reckoned to have leaked is still unaccounted, that represents the equivalent of five Exxon Valdez, the tanker whose spill caused an environmental catastrophe in Alaska in 1989.
“There are still boats out there every day working, finding turtles with oil on them and seeing grass lines with oil in it,” charter boat captain Randy Boggs, of Orange Beach in Alabama, told the Associated Press. “All the oil isn’t accounted for. There are millions of pounds of tar balls and oil on the bottom.”
Turns out, This — TIMES 5 —
IS mostly STILL There! … lurking somewhere, just below the surface …
Aug 01 2010
I think “Breaking” is the correct adjacent …
BP offers one-off payouts to stem Gulf oil spill lawsuits
Lump-sum compensation offered in return for waiving the right to sue,
but uncertainty remains for those indirectly affected
Tim Webb, guardian.co.uk — August 1, 2010
BP will begin its legal offensive this month to cap its liabilities from the Gulf of Mexico disaster by offering those affected one-off compensation payouts in return for them waiving the right to sue.
[…]
The fund does not cap BP’s liabilities at $20bn. But privately the company believes that it will not have to pay out anywhere near this sum. BP has hired a battery of lawyers to protect itself, and so far it has paid out $261m in claims.
[…]
According to BP, 1.8m gallons of dispersant have been pumped into the Gulf. Scientists say that the resulting high toxicity levels could harm marine life for years to come.
Hmmm … Seems BP is a bit worried about the long-term effects of that 1.8 Millions of gallons of Corexit, they used — to help make that spill problem disappear?
Aug 01 2010
OH NOES!
Just when you thought the worse was over …
BP to scale back some oil response units, new leader pledges to stay for long haul
by Doug Mouton / Northshore Bureau Chief
wwltv.com — July 30, 2010
How much oil is in the Gulf now is up for debate. Several Louisiana leaders, including St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis have argued that million of gallons of oil are underwater, waiting to surface.
“We haven’t found that,” [Bob] Dudley [new BP CEO] said.
Dudley said six ships and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are working to locate underwater oil.
“It’s a big hunt going on right now,” Dudley said. “It’s going to keep going on.”
Hey BOB! — MAYBE you haven’t “found it” because of 1.8 Million Gallons of Toxic Dispersants you managed to spray — Kept much of it Underwater, eh?
They’ll find ALL that missing Oil — just give them some more time … that’s all they ask …
Jul 03 2010
Perhaps you heard about the recent EPA Press Release, regarding latest Toxicity Testing results for Dispersants. Depending on which sound bite you heard, it almost sounded like Corexit got a clean bill of health.
Confused? I was too. And since I had previously written a well-received diary,
Corexit Toxicity Tests not so hot, When Mixed with Oil
by jamess — May 30, 2010
which dove into the Toxicity Data, that the EPA originally cited as credible only 2 months ago, I figured I should try to figure out what was up with the ‘New and Improved’ Dispersant Testing.
What follows is my assessment of what’s happening now, including some relevant links.
I’ll try to keep it brief. (I hate long diaries, lol)
Jun 09 2010
Photographer Rich Matthews takes a closer look at oil
Journalist dives into Gulf, can only see oil
It takes 30 minutes to clean off after diving into ocean 40 miles from shore
By RICH MATTHEWS, Associated Press Writer June 9, 2010
Eeewwwh!! WHAT was he thinking!
Hope you have a De-tox tank, handy, Rich Matthews — you’re going to need it!
Photo Credit: June 7, 2010 photo, APTN photographer Rich Matthews takes a closer look at oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill, in the Gulf of Mexico south of Venice, La.. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
APTN photographer Rich Matthews takes a closer look at oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill, in the Gulf of Mexico south of Venice, La.. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
MSNBC – Updated: 5:54 a.m. ET June 9, 2010
but wait this intrepid Reporter goes deeper …
Jun 06 2010
Lab tests confirm underwater layers of oil
Cain Burdeau, AP — June 4, 2010
Laboratory tests confirmed that oil from a spewing Gulf of Mexico well has accumulated in at least two extensive plumes deep under the surface, scientists with the University of South Florida said Friday.
USF researchers at a meeting in Baton Rouge said lab tests showed their initial findings, based on field instruments, were correct. The extensive layers of oil are sitting far beneath the surface miles from the site of the Deepwater Horizon explosion. The university is collecting data for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The lab tests are the most conclusive evidence yet in a vigorous scientific debate about where much of the oil from the growing spill in the Gulf of Mexico has ended up.
BP spokesman Mark Proelger said the company was awaiting further analysis of what is in the plumes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“It’s too early to say whether any data indicates the plumes contain oil or not,” Proelger said.
Well then WAKE UP and smell the petro, Mark!
Jun 02 2010
Dispersants add to Gulf spill’s toxic threats
Susan Buchanan — June 1, 2010
The EPA on May 10 authorized BP to use two dispersants-COREXIT 9500 and COREXIT EC9527A, distributed by the Tennessee and Texas units of Nalco Co. in Illinois. BP had already applied those products at the spill site for nearly two weeks. As concerns about COREXIT grew, however, the EPA asked BP on May 19 to find a less-toxic dispersant within 24 hours, and to start using its replacement in 72 hours. BP answered that it wanted to stick with COREXIT.
Frustrated EPA and Coast Guard officials said the company’s response was inadequate, and told BP to start reducing its use of surface dispersants. But in a decision questioned by some scientists, officials said BP’s subsea or underwater dispersant use, authorized in mid-May, could continue.
Last week, the EPA and the Coast Guard said that they would start calling the shots about BP’s dispersant use and that COREXIT applications could be scaled back by as much as 50% to 80%.
COREXIT should be scaled back to 0% —
Especially since BETTER options are available NOW.
May 31 2010
Since everything they try, to clean up the mess in the Gulf fails, BP CEO Tony Hayward has decided to take a different tact.
CEO Hayward has decided to “will away” the Oil by some sort of Divine Executive Fiat!
(Managing Billions of Dollars can inflate a person’s Ego sometimes, it seems.)
BP CEO disputes claims of underwater oil plumes
Associated Press — 05/30/2010
VENICE, La. – Disputing scientists’ claims of large oil plumes suspended underwater in the Gulf of Mexico, BP PLC’s chief executive on Sunday said the company has largely narrowed the focus of its cleanup to surface slicks rolling into Louisiana’s coastal marshes.
During a tour of a BP PLC staging area for cleanup workers, CEO Tony Hayward said the company’s sampling showed “no evidence” that oil was suspended in large masses beneath the surface. He didn’t elaborate on how the testing was done.
Hayward said that oil’s natural tendency is to rise to the surface, and any oil found underwater was in the process of working its way up.
“The oil is on the surface,” Hayward said. “There aren’t any plumes.”
So that’s, THAT, then.
May 30 2010
Phillippe Cousteau, Jr., the grandson of French explorer and ecologist Jacques-Yves Cousteau:
BP’s oil spill is humanity’s latest strike against against the World’s oceans, according to Phillippe Cousteau Jr., an explorer and host for Animal Planet and Planet Green.
Phillipe Cousteau, Jr., actually dove into the oil, dispersants of this BP soup mix.
Phillippe Cousteau, Jr. was on “Real Time with Bill Maher” this past Friday and spoke of what the country’s worst in oil spill in history will mean for oceans that are already suffering from pollution and overfishing.
This video is not embeddable — see it here.
Philippe Cousteau, Jr., the ecologist grandson of Jacques, joined Bill Maher on Real Time last night to give his assessment of the Gulf of Mexico, where he has been working to help clean up the oil washing ashore from the the open offshore oil well. While he seemed confident that there was a way to fix the problem, he stressed that the ocean ecosystem will not fix itself. . . . .
Maher asked about the situation in Louisiana, where Cousteau had been working for the past weeks- his answer was not incredibly optimistic. He did have a direct answer for people who believe the ocean is strong and healthy enough to fix itself:
“I could cut my leg off, I could cut my arm off, I could gouge my eye out, I’d still probably survive, but not very well, and that’s what we’re doing to the ocean. It’s the life support system of this planet. We’ve been dumping in it, we’ve been polluting it, we’ve been destroying it for decades, and we’re essentially maiming ourselves… ”
Speaking about massive annual dead zones just off the U.S. Coast, Cousteau lets us know that we have exceeded the tipping point:
May 30 2010
Turned on the tube, there’s a live press conference with Rr. Admiral Landry and BP’s Spokesperson Doug Suttles.
Top Kill is officially Not Working.
Suttles
“We’ve tried and it scares everybody that we haven’t succeeded in getting this stopped.”
No. Kidding.
Admiral Landry.
Obviously we’re very disappointed in today’s announcement.
We will continue with a very aggressive response posture (to get this under control)
Have directed BP to to move forward with the next option, LMRP.
(added later quote) The real solution has been and continues to be the relief well.
Mmm, hmm. Yes.
They think that if they can get a good seal over the top, the LMRP Cap, lower marine riser package Cap, might work, which is the option they are going for next.
This is a newly engineered object, different than what they have used before, which is going to go on top on what they have, with a sort of seal, not a mechanical seal, but a “sealing device” and methanol injection for antifreeze, that Suttles says “should” capture a lot of the oil. Will not be a tight fitting may not completely seal off like a flange.
Pipe will be cut with a large crimping device and a big saw to get it ready for its new LMRP CAP. (this is not being done for the pathetic little “top hat” device they lowered to the marine floor, never to be seen again. this is a new thing.)
Wilberforce correctly anticipated this this morning. Where I disagreed is that this was happening this am, is that it is going to take at least 4 days to set up, per the Coast Guard and Suttles, right now. Landry is saying now, more like 4 to 7 days, because people remember the smaller number, and they hit glitches in trying to execute this, she emphasizes this is cutting edge technology. They are using the data they gather from the “sippy tube” other end of the broken pipe to help design this. That is currently what is being shown on the live feed and what was being shown earlier today. I’ve seen then playing around with cutting on this end before.
I thought they would be too timid and/or cautious to try actually cutting the mess on the top of the BOP, because this will release a huge amount of oil that is currently restricted, which they then must be able to get this new cap securely attached, unfrozen inside, to capture, but they are going for it. This is letting more of the Genie out of the bottle, and he’s not going to go back in easier.
My intrepretation is that they fear the well casing is not in very good shape and they want to start siphoning asap in case the relief well fails or the vital structures of the well fails, which Adm. Landry said was a possibility earlier this week. A major hole blow out is only good for the movies. In really, that is a catastrophe which will be unstoppable until all the oil and gas have leached out, which could take….. years.
Suttles is also still bullsh*tting people on the Corexit, says the monitoring shows no toxicity. Says breaking the oil up into tiny droplets will allow the microbes to eat it more easily.
More like it’s keeping under the surface and swirling around in the Gulf in vast swarms.
Suttles: 12,000 feet deep in the relief well, counting 5000 feet of water, best forecast for the relief well is early August.
This is still a very dangerous and risky operation, and if you are in the habit of praying, start doing it.
______
edit update, here’s a picture from Beyond Pathetic of what I shall be calling Oil Hat Sucker #3
We had the containment “outhouse” box that froze shut, the sippy tube stuck up its bum, the drill mud top kill that didn’t, the junk shot that wouldn’t clog the petrotoilet, and the the forlorn little cap that they sunk down there and never used. And now,
Introducing BP’s Oil Spill LMRP Lower Marine Riser Package CAP, aka Oil Hat Sucker #3.
Which is going to use a pressure gasket with no hardware casing, as a fitting on a 12,000 pounds per square inch oil and methane gas wildcat well 5,000 feet under the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.
As the spoof twitter bpTerry of spoof twitter bpPublic Relations said yesterday, “I just bought a magic wand, and I’m going to start waving it. ”
__
second update.
fixed spelling in blockquote, added sentence by Landry which clarifies the relief well is the way they expect to finally get this under permanent control. Suttles reiterated that the other oil gathering devices, the caps, are to test and implement and prevent as much oil as possible from getting loose in the Gulf and washing ashore, while this solution is worked on.
BP’s Tony Hayward is quoted by CNN as being “disappointed” top kill failed. Yeah, we are too. Especially since it was more of a test round and you never did cap off the sippy tube open end.
The CNN guy is so excited he just said the Top Tail Method did not work to kill the well. You could see him wondering if he should correct himself, he just went on.