Oil leak in Gulf is 5 times worse now. 210K gallons a day leaking into the Gulf.

[BigRedChief]

Not intended to be a political thread so please keep that out of here. This is going to be an enviornmental disaster for the coasts. Oil leak in Gulf may be 5 times worse than feared By the CNN Wire Staff STORY HIGHLIGHTS Oil spill has increased to as much as 5,000 barrels a day, Coast Guard official says Third underwater oil leak has been located; two other leaks found days after April 20 blast Coast Guard: Controlled attempt to burn off part of the spill successful BP Group exec focuses blame on rig owner Transocean Ltd. New Orleans, Louisiana (CNN) -- The estimated amount of oil leaking from a sunken rig in the Gulf of Mexico has increased to as much as 5,000 barrels a day -- five times more than what was originally believed, a Coast Guard official said. Rear Adm. Mary Landry told reporters late Wednesday that the increased estimate is based on analysis from the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "This is not an exact science when you estimate the amount of oil," Landry said, noting there are a lot of variables in calculating the rate of the spill. "However, NOAA is telling me now that they prefer we use the 5,000 barrels [210,000 gallons] a day as an estimate of what has actually leaked from this well and will continue to leak until BP secures the source." Some 250,000 gallons of oily water has been collected from the scene, she said. BP is the owner of the well, while Transocean Ltd. owns and operates the rig. Additionally, a third underwater oil leak has been located in the pipeline that connected the rig to the oil well, said Doug Suttles, chief operating officer for BP, who joined Landry at a news conference. Two other leaks were located within a few days of the April 20 explosion. The cause of the explosion remains under investigation, and search efforts have been halted for 11 workers missing after the blast. "I do not disagree with the admiral's estimate that it could be 5,000 barrels a day -- it's clearly within the range of uncertainty," Suttles said. Landry said President Obama was briefed on the latest development from the spill site. "The president urged out of an abundance of caution and, mindful of the new information, that BP must position resources to continue to aggressively confront this incident," Landry said. "That said, BP has always planned and anticipated for a much larger spill. We have urged BP to leverage additional assets to help lead the response to an oil spill incident for which they are responsible." Military planners on Wednesday night began examining options to provide assistance to the Coast Guard in cleaning up the spill, said James Graybeal, a spokesman for U.S. Northern Command in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Northern Command is responsible for coordinating and providing military assistance inside the United States. While the specifics of the assistance have yet to be determined, some of the ways the military could help would be putting a ship in the Gulf of Mexico to support and resupply other vessels in the region or providing aircraft to help map the spill. The head of BP Group told CNN's Brian Todd in an exclusive interview Wednesday that the accident could have been prevented, and he focused blame on rig owner Transocean. CEO Tony Hayward said that Transocean's blowout preventer failed to operate before the explosion. A blowout preventer is a large valve at the top of a well, and activating it will stop the flow of oil. The valve may be closed during drilling if underground pressure drives up oil or natural gas, threatening the rig. "That is the ultimate fail-safe mechanism," Hayward said. "And for whatever reason -- and we don't understand that yet, but we clearly will as a consequence of both our investigation and federal investigations -- it failed to operate. "And that is the key issue here, the failure of the Transocean BOP," Hayward said, describing the valve as "an integral part of the drilling rig" A Transocean spokesman on Wednesday declined to respond to Hayward's comments in the CNN interview, citing pending litigation against both companies. However, Transocean Vice President Adrian Rose has said its oil rig had no indication of problems before the explosion. Asked whether the accident could have prevented, Hayward said, "All accidents can be prevented -- there's no doubt about that." At least one of the victims' families has filed a lawsuit against BP and Transocean, accusing BP specifically of negligence. "The responsibility for safety on the drilling rig is with Transocean," Hayward added. "It is their rig, their equipment, their people, their systems, their safety processes." He insisted that, despite reports to the contrary, BP has not resisted attempts at tightening safety regulations. "We welcome tighter safety regulations. But we'd like them to be applied in a way that makes them practically impermeable." Before the explosion, Hayward had announced a "significant" discovery of at least 50 million barrels of oil. "Of course, all of that is completely irrelevant in the context of what we're now dealing with," he said. A controlled attempt to burn off part of the spill was successful Wednesday, Landry said. The burnoff is part of the effort to prevent the spread of oil from an underwater well that was broken open when the drill rig Deepwater Horizon blew up and sank last week. BP and the Coast Guard corralled part of the oil slick using a 500-foot, specially designed boom, and then set it ablaze. The flames were expected to destroy between 50 percent to 90 percent of the oil in that section, and winds were expected to blow the resulting cloud of smoke and soot out to sea, Lt. Cmdr. Matt Moorlag, a Coast Guard spokesman, said before the burn. "It's a historically proven technique, and it has multiple preventative safety measures in place to ensure that that burn area remains controlled," Moorlag said. The slick stretched about 100 miles across the north-central gulf Wednesday afternoon and had advanced to within 16 miles of the mouth of the Mississippi River, the U.S. Coast Guard reported. The oil spill has the potential to become one of the worst in U.S. history, Landry said earlier. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said the slick, which is about 30 miles wide at some points, was expected to hit the state's southeastern shoreline later this week. Jindal said the state has asked for 55,000 feet of booms to keep oil away from the marshy, environmentally delicate coast that's rich in shellfish and wildlife. "We want to approach this situation the same way we would approach a hurricane or other natural disaster," he said. "We think it's best to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst." The slick left many who draw their living from the water and coastal wetlands "watching and praying," said Tony Fernandez, owner of the Breton Sound Marina near Hopedale, Louisiana. "For the most part, what we're doing is mostly waiting," Fernandez said. "There's not much that laypeople can do with this." Most of the slick is a thin sheen on the water's surface. About 3 percent of it is a heavy, pudding-like crude oil. Efforts already are under way to position boom material around sensitive ecological areas. Five staging areas have been set up on land, stretching from Venice, Louisiana, to Pensacola, Florida. "If it reaches the shoreline, ourselves and the Coast Guard ... will deal with it," BP's Hayward said. "And we will clean it up, if we get to that position." CNN's Barbara Starr contributed to this report.

Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/29/lou...ex.html?hpt=T1

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by WoodDraw

Yeah, that's right. BP gets the pleasure of picking up the bill for all the cleaning up going on. Although they'll likely sue down the line for whatever incompetence caused the blow up.

But, they'll also be liable for lost revenue from all the industries they're about to **** up. So they're up for a few billions in damages. Hope they have a nice insurance policy.

No biggie for BP. They made $6 BILLION in PROFIT in one quarter.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...,2783251.story

[WoodDraw]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

No biggie for BP. They made $6 BILLION in PROFIT in one quarter.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...,2783251.story

Well I'd say one accident wiping out an entire year of profits for a company is a big deal. But, I agree that we don't need to start the telethon quite yet.

But I'm sure they're well insured.

[BigRedChief]

Surface area of Gulf spill has tripled
Rough seas hamper cleanup; Obama visit Sunday
msnbc.com news services
updated 2:32 p.m. CT, Sat., May 1, 2010

VENICE, La. - The surface area of a catastrophic Gulf of Mexico oil spill quickly tripled in size amid growing fears among experts that the slick could become vastly more devastating than it seemed just two days ago.
Frustrated fishermen eager to help contain the spill from a ruptured underwater well had to keep their boats idle Saturday as another day of rough seas kept crews away from the slick, and President Barack Obama planned a Sunday trip to the Gulf Coast.

Documents also emerged showing British Petroleum downplayed the possibility of a catastrophic accident at the offshore rig that exploded.
How far the spill will reach is unknown, but the sheen already has reached into precious shoreline habitat and remains unstopped, raising fears that the ruptured well could be pouring more oil into the Gulf than estimated.

The Coast Guard has estimated that about 200,000 gallons of oil are spewing out each day — which would mean 1.6 million gallons of oil have spilled since the April 20 explosion that killed 11 workers. The environmental mess could eclipse the Exxon Valdez disaster, when an oil tanker spilled 11 million gallons off Alaska's shores in 1989.
The slick tripled in just a day or so, growing from a spill the size of Rhode Island to something closer to the size of Puerto Rico, according to images collected from mostly European satellites and analyzed by the University of Miami.


On Thursday, the size of the slick was about 1,150 square miles, but by Friday's end it was in the range of 3,850 square miles, said Hans Graber, executive director of the university's Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing. That suggests the oil has started spilling from the well more quickly, Graber said.


"The spill and the spreading is getting so much faster and expanding much quicker than they estimated," Graber told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Gobs in the water
Louisiana State University professor Ed Overton, who heads a federal chemical hazard assessment team for oil spills, cautioned that the satellite imagery could be deceiving.

He said satellites can't measure the thickness of the sheen and makes it difficult to judge how much oil is on the water.

Another issue is that the oil slicks are not one giant uniform spill the size of an island. Instead, they are "little globs of oil in an area of big water," Overton said.
One expert also cautioned that if the spill continues growing unchecked, sea currents could suck the sheen down past the Florida Keys and then up the Eastern Seaboard.
The Florida Keys are home to the only living coral barrier reef in North America, and the third largest coral barrier reef in the world. About 84 percent of the nation's coral reefs are located in Florida, where hundreds of marine species live, breed and spawn.
"If it gets into the Keys, that would be devastating," said Duke University biologist Larry Crowder.




Ian R. MacDonald, an oceanography professor at Florida State University, said his examination of Coast Guard charts and satellite images indicated that 8 million to 9 million gallons had already spilled by April 28.
"I hope I'm wrong. I hope there's less oil out there than that. But that's what I get when I apply the numbers," he said.
Alabama's governor said his state was preparing for a worst-case scenario of 150,000 barrels, or more than 6 million gallons per day. At that rate the spill would amount to a Valdez-sized spill every two days, and the situation could last for months.

"I hope they can cap this and we talk about 'remember back when,'" Gov. Bob Riley said late Friday, "but we are taking that worst-case and building barriers against it."
However, officials with the Coast Guard brushed off such fears and said the estimates were imprecise.
BP deemed giant spill unlikely
BP suggested in a 2009 exploration plan and environmental impact analysis for the well that an accident leading to a giant crude oil spill — and serious damage to beaches, fish and mammals — was unlikely, or virtually impossible.
The plan for the Deepwater Horizon well, filed with the federal Minerals Management Service, said repeatedly that it was "unlikely that an accidental surface or subsurface oil spill would occur from the proposed activities."
The company conceded a spill would impact beaches, wildlife refuges and wilderness areas, but argued that "due to the distance to shore (48 miles) and the response capabilities that would be implemented, no significant adverse impacts are expected."
The spill — a slick more than 130 miles long and 70 miles wide — threatens hundreds of species of wildlife, including birds, dolphins, and the fish, shrimp, oysters and crabs that make the Gulf Coast one of the nation's most abundant sources of seafood.
Although the cause of the explosion was under investigation, many of the more than two dozen lawsuits filed in the wake of the explosion claim it was caused when workers for oil services contractor Halliburton Inc. improperly capped the well — a process known as cementing. Halliburton denied it.
The Coast Guard said Saturday it had shut down two offshore platforms and evacuated one of them near the spill as a safety precaution.

Animal rescue crews ready
A sheen of oil from the edges of the slick was washing up at Venice, La., and other extreme southeastern portions of Louisiana. Animal rescue operations ramped up as crews found the first oiled bird offshore.
Several miles out, the normally blue-green gulf waters were dotted with sticky, pea- to quarter-sized brown beads the consistency of tar. High seas were forecast through Sunday and could push oil deep into the inlets, ponds, creeks and lakes that line the boot of southeastern Louisiana. With the wind blowing from the south, the mess could reach the Mississippi, Alabama and Florida coasts by Monday.

Amid increased fingerpointing, the government desperately cast about for new ideas for dealing with the growing environmental crisis. Obama halted any new offshore drilling projects unless rigs have new safeguards to prevent another disaster.

Officials have said stemming the flow of oil is their top priority, but the seas have been too rough and the winds too strong to burn off the oil, suck it up effectively with skimmer vessels, or hold it in check with the miles of orange and yellow inflatable booms strung along the coast.
The floating barriers broke loose in the choppy water, and waves sent oily water lapping over them.


BP also sought ideas from some of its rivals and was using at least one of them Friday — applying chemicals underwater to break up the oil before it reaches the surface. That had never before been attempted at such depths.

BP and federal authorities said the dispersant was released overnight at the site of the leak, nearly 5,000 feet underwater, and they were evaluating the effort Saturday.

Many of the oil-cleaning boats remained tied to the docks Saturday in Venice, partly because of the weather. However, charter boat captain Eddie Cerise said he was just awaiting instructions from BP so he could help with containment.

He said he attended a safety class, though he had hoped for more practical information — like what to do if oil gets into his boat — than what he was taught.
"Basically they say if you walk up on an alligator, don't kick it, if you see something you don't recognize, don't do it," he said.

The weather also was keeping skimmers and other larger vessels stuck in harbor, said Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class David Mosley, a spokesman for a command center in Robert, La.
"Waves are going anywhere from 5 feet to 8 feet high and getting bigger," he said. "It definitely makes it more difficult."


The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36870222/ns/us_news-environment/

[T-post Tom]

Originally Posted by Donger

Unless I'm wrong (and I'm never wrong), BP will be required by law to pay for the clean-up. If memory serves, this became law after the Exxon Valdez spill.

"Clean-up" is a subjective word for this project. Sometimes you just can't put the toothpaste back in the tube.

A friend of mine lives near the projected path of the slick. He's involved in local government there and told me that BP is already making efforts to reach out and mollify local politicians.

This is a truly tragic affair. Time for more of these?

[Valiant]

Man they need to get that thing plugged up quick.. Still want to know why they have not burned that shit off yet.. Better it being carbon at the bottom of 5000ft ocean then that shit on the beaches and shorelines..

[Valiant]

Where the F is Bruce Willis when you need him..

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Valiant

Man they need to get that thing plugged up quick.. Still want to know why they have not burned that shit off yet.. Better it being carbon at the bottom of 5000ft ocean then that shit on the beaches and shorelines..

CNN was saying they weren't burning it because the waves were too high and were washing over the top of those things they use to set up a fire zone.

[T-post Tom]

Researchers: Oil slick could move to Eastern seaboard
Academics talk of the well pushing the disaster north past Florida
By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press Scientists fear if the oil spill isn't contained and the underwater well continues to spew unstopped, it could grow so large that it may be sucked with the currents around the Florida Keys and up the East Coast.

Duke University biologist Larry Crowder said Saturday if that happens, the scope of the disaster would not only affect the gulf states but portions of the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.

The gulf's waters come through the Yucatan Strait between Mexico and Cuba, then circulate in what's called the Loop Current, before sweeping south along Florida's west coast. It then moves up the East Coast before ending in the North Atlantic.
http://www.salon.com/news/louisiana_...spill_currents

[Valiant]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

CNN was saying they weren't burning it because the waves were too high and were washing over the top of those things they use to set up a fire zone.

Gotcha.. Had not seen that.. Still does not explain why they are not doing it further out though..

Surprised some econut has not tried dropping a road flare off from a helicopter to see if it would work..

[WoodDraw]

Originally Posted by Valiant

Gotcha.. Had not seen that.. Still does not explain why they are not doing it further out though..

Surprised some econut has not tried dropping a road flare off from a helicopter to see if it would work..

They have done some burns, but apparently weather has been a big problem.

This spill sounds to be unprecedented, with everyone wondering how the hell to move forward. Unless they get lucky and trigger the failsafe device, they're talking at least weeks to plug the hole. What a mess.

[WoodDraw]

From the BBC:

BP spokeswoman Sheila William told AFP news agency the energy firm was prepared to assume costs for the clean-up and for damages.

BBC business correspondent Joe Lynam says that BP has no external insurance cover in the traditional sense, instead using a form of "self insurance" to cover major events like this.

The company would therefore have to cover the full cost of any legitimate compensation claims from the oil spill from its own resources.

Youch.

[Bugeater]

$4/gal gas.

[Valiant]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

$4/gal gas.

We know it will happen.. But technically should it go up that much without speculators lying?? It is just one rig, not a refinement plant.. What percentage of our oil/gas came from there?? .0001%?

Would be good if some outside investigators researched into this so other gas companies and marketshare holders do not make some unjustified profit..

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by WoodDraw

From the BBC:




Youch.

Eh, it's not entirely surprising. They've got to be bigger than most insurance companies themselves.

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by Valiant

We know it will happen.. But technically should it go up that much without speculators lying?? It is just one rig, not a refinement plant.. What percentage of our oil/gas came from there?? .0001%?

Would be good if some outside investigators researched into this so other gas companies and marketshare holders do not make some unjustified profit..

It's not the loss of supply from the rig, it's the cleanup cost. BP isn't going to absorb the cost.