Oil Leak at Gulf of Mexico Oil Well

July 9, 2010

It's pathetic that more Americans are not outraged by the death and destruction of innocent wildlife due to the fact that our President has chosen to surround himself with corporate criminals instead of environmentalists.

July 9, 2010

Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the National Incident Commander for the Deepwater BP Oil Spill response, briefed the media this morning.

July 8, 2010

9:00 a.m. EDT

ADMIRAL ALLEN: It's great to be back in Theodore. I want to thank the folks here for the great work they're doing. We picked this site specifically this morning so after we give the update we can talk about skimming operations.

For the past four to five weeks there is been a concerted effort to increase our skimming capabilities. We focus on our ability to intercept oil in near shore asset, the well site itself as the (inaudible) has evolved into what I called hundreds of thousands of oil catches that are out there, it's required us some mass forces from South Louisiana to Port St. Joe, Florida and attack this oil offshore rather than deal with it on the beaches and in the marshlands.

To that end we have a very, very aggressive program with skimming equipment out there. The skimming equipment is used not only by vessels of the federal government, state and local entities, about five vessels of opportunity as well.

There have been enough questions raised about what are skimmers, what do they do, where are they used. We thought it would be helpful today to have a broader discussion on skimming capabilities after the brief this morning. I'll be available to answer questions, go over how skimming operations are conducted.

We have subject matter expertise from our strike teams, deployed routinely with this equipment. They can provide you in-depth briefings on the particular types of skimming apparatus that is there. So with that, let me give you an update on what's going on.

In the 24 hour period that ended at midnight last night and it came to nearly 25,000 barrels from the Discover Enterprise which produces oil and flares off natural gas and there is the Q4000 which flares off both natural gas and oil.

I visited the site yesterday. I was on the Discover Enterprise with Bob Dudley who is leading the BP response in the Gulf. We had discussions out there regarding the production system that is there. And the near term containment plans and the plans to move forward.

If I can just go over these briefly and also talk about the status of the relief wells, and then I'd be glad any questions you may have for me.

The current containment plans for now are centered on the cap that is on the wellbore. That cap is a loosely fitting cap with a rubber seal around the bottom. As you know, that resulted in oil being released around that oil seal.

We have the capability later on in the next day or two as it ceases size out there to hook up a third production platform, the Helix Producer, that will bring our entire production capability up to between 50 and 53,000 barrels a day under the current containment cap.

What has remained to bring the Helix Producer on board is to hook a flexible hose up from the vertical riser pipe that’s been installed underneath the ocean that connects back to the kill line on the wellbore to the bottom of a fully (inaudible) that would then connects up to the Helix Producer.

We had to stop just a few days ago because of the sea states first but Hurricane Alex coming through and (inaudible). It just went over the Yucatan Channel. It appears that today we will the sea state we need to finish that hook up. We would hope in the next two to three days to be producing out of the Helix Producer.

That will then optimize the production capability out of the current configuration of the containment cap on the well bore. The three modes of productions, just to repeat them are the Discover Enterprise, which produces oil and flares gas; the Q4000, which will flare both gas and oil, and now the Helix Producer, which will actually produce the oil on pad and transfer it to a shuttle tanker to be taken ashore.

Once we have that rigged up, that will be the maximum production that we can get out of that system with the current containment cap. There have been extensive meetings held last week and this week within the federal government and in Houston with BP and our technical team headed by Secretary Salazar and Secretary Chu looking at options for a second containment cap.

BP is in position at this time to move forward when the conditions allow to put a second containment cap on that allow us to actually remove that stubby piece of riser pipe where we had to bury an elegant sheer cut a while back and replace that with a pipe that’s actually bolted on to flange that will give us a seal.

That will allow us at some point with—as other production platforms are brought on board during the month of July to increase our production rate to between 60,000 and 80,000 barrels.

At that point, our production capacity will be on—be beyond the current estimated flow rate which is between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels a day. I just want to remind everybody that continues to be an estimated flow rate. Once we get this wellbore completely steeled and are producing out of we'll have better empirical data by which to establish and refine our flow rate moving forward.

The big question in the next couple days for us is the weather window to achieve the removal of the current containment cap and put a new top cap on. Later this day I'll be communicating that British—BP request for a time line and how they would go ahead to do that.

We will have a science team meeting in Houston tomorrow and would anticipate sometime in the next few days the decision to move ahead with the second containment cap if conditions are met and we have the proper time line and details of (inaudible) from BP to move ahead.

So that will be an ongoing activity within the next 24 to 48 hours. We need to decisions either stay with the 52,000 barrels capacity while we have the helix producer or move ahead with the new containment cap which would be a substantial improvement in production capabilities.

Also it would give us quick disconnect capability in the event of heavy weather. One of the reasons we're looking at this right now, with the passage of the troughs through the Yucatan Peninsula yesterday and the calming of the seas today, we are in a little bit of lull between tropical depressions.

And there is a particularly good weather window in the next seven to 10 days to try and accomplish the change out of the containment cap. So the conditions leading to that decision point will all be looked at over the next 24 to 48 hours.

Regarding the relief wells, Development Driller III, which is the lead drilling rig for the relief wells is now at 17,780 feet measured depth, within a couple hundred feet of the proposed penetration point of the wellbore.

We were down to the final days and weeks of a closing in to a point where we can intercept the well. Our target date remains the middle of August because there are a number of uncertainties related to what happens when we get down and penetrate the well bore.

I'll talk about this in a minute. There are certain things that could move that date up. But for right now my official position is that it'll be the middle of August before this well is capped. We should be able to get (inaudible).

If something happens I will advise you. But right now current government estimate is the middle of August. What will have to happen is when the relief well is adjacent to the well bore and close enough to be able to turn to make the penetration, then we'll first penetrate the area outside the well pipe.

And we will see if there is oil there or not. At that point mud will be pumped into the wellbore to see if that contains the well. If that does not, the mud and a (inaudible) plug will be inserted and then we will drill again into the inner pipe.

That will be the second attempt to plug the well if oil is coming up through the pipe with mud and cement. These two procedures will take us into August. There're things that could happen that could shorten that but right now into August is what the official estimate is.

I flew over the area from New Orleans this morning in a National Guard helicopter. We flew over the entrances to Lake Pontchartrain, the Rigolets, Lake Borgne and so forth. We looked at the Mississippi Sound.

The skimming vessels are coming back out onto the water this morning. There were a significant number of vessels coming out of Bay St. Louis starting to put out skimming equipment. And there were vessels in and around Biloxi Bay, moving over towards Alabama here.

It looks like we're getting the weather to put the skimming equipment that's going to be seen here later and we talked about back on the water today. The weather is improving.

We hope to have a much more productive day today and over the next seven to ten days in regards to skimming, which is mechanical removal and (inaudible) burning to the extent we can do that. And we'll try and take advantage of this weather opportunity to fight the oil (inaudible).

(inaudible) your questions.

Q: (inaudible).

ADMIRAL ALLEN: Well, I think everybody would agree there’s not enough skimming operations because right now that is the area where we could have the most effect regarding oil that’s on the water and keeping it from coming ashore. The elements that have to come together to make a successful skimming operations actually have been forming up over the last four to six weeks. If I could go over them in sequence—because it’s important that everybody understand that.

First of all, with the overwhelming response to the solicitation for vessels of opportunity—and we are grateful for that because the local lawmen show up with passion and resources and a commitment to work for their communities. On the other hand, they all have the same types of boats. Some are small open boats with outboard motors some are very sophisticated fishing vessels with communications and electronic devices. One of the analogies I’ve made has been to the militia at Concord before the Revolution. Everybody showed up for the fight. Some had muskets some had a hatchet.

And so our question has been how do we form these groups up and make them most effective? How do we get skimming capability into their hands? But more importantly where do we tell them to go and how do we coordinate how they’re doing that. Since this has never been done on this scale with thousands of vessels of opportunity what we have done over the last four to five weeks is form these vessels up into task forces. They’ve been sub-divided down into stripe teams with proper communications and tracking devices so we know where they’re at. But that’s only part of the equation.

We need to have aerial surveillance to find the oil because if you’re sitting in a boat looking out you could have oil 100 yards away and not be able to see it. Unless you’re airborne and can look down and see the sheen or the actual implications of oil being on the water. So for that reason several weeks ago working with the First Air Force at Tyndall Air Force Base we basically created an air management system for the entire Gulf where there’s a requirement for air surveillance to be coordinated.

Then in between we need a way to refer the air sightings down to the task forces on the water. So what we have done over the last month is basically create a command and control structure for the vessels of opportunity. This allows us to employ them in the right place at the right time with the right capability and then send them to where the oil is at. Everything we did before that—until we had all those pieces in place is going to sub-optimize our response.

So the question is how do we bring all these different parts together, organize them correctly, give them the communication to tell them where to go to find the oil? That’s what’s been happening. The feedback we’re getting recently is that there’s been a marked improvement on the coordination. It takes time to stand this up. The local folks have to be trained in safety procedure. In some cases we have to provide them the communications equipment and put the locating devices on that. I think we’re there. I think it’s time to ramp up. It’s time to put everybody to sea.

Q: (inaudible).

ADMIRAL ALLEN: Actually that was more related to the vessels of opportunity than it was when the oil came out. When the oil came out—we’ve always been attacking the oil at the well site itself with very large offshore skimmers. What created the opportunity for us to really en masse our forces, from the shoreline out, were the vessels of opportunity which basically have doubled and tripled the number of boats that we have.

The question is how do you take them and bring them into the system? That’s what’s taking the time.

Q: (inaudible)

ADMIRAL ALLEN: Both timelines reflect two things. Number one, if you take into account that you’re going to exhaust every possibility, if you go someplace and there’s not oil and you have to go find it in other place in that wellbore and you have to first seal what they call the annulus, the area outside the pipe, with mud and then cement that and go back in and re-bore into the pipe itself because you’re going to slowly remove any source of oil the closer you get inside the wellbore.

If you have to do all of that, it will take you well into August. If you get in there and you find the oil, you can see the oil in the annulus of the well bore the first time around, then it could be shorter. So it could happen, but I’m not going to assume that. I’ve been around you folks long enough to know that we need to under-promise and over-deliver. So, Allen is at August. OK?

Q: (inaudible)

ADMIRAL ALLEN: Well, I’m not in a position to comment on the policy of the moratorium, that’s not my pay rate. But regarding the skimming capability, I can make this observation. A little over a week ago, we (inaudible) an emergency rule—I say we, the federal government—it was the combined rule of EPA and the Coast Guard. It allowed the facilities and vessels around the country to lower their standby requirements for oil spill response so we could potentially free up resources to flow to the gulf.

There was an assumption made on that that they could lower their standby response from a worst case scenario to an average most probably discharge and these are planning factors that they have to use. They are also a response plan and then if they had a worst case discharge, that they would (inaudible) each mutual aid or what we call cascading. They would all commit to applying local resources to assist that facility to meet their requirement in order to free up that facility to come here.

What work is required after that is almost a state by state or a port by port evaluation of how you would set up that cascading plan and what could be freed up to come to the gulf. OK? So (inaudible) the legal vulnerability of the rest of the country.

So there are two portions to this. The moratorium issue (inaudible) those that are making policy decisions. As far as—as far as response equipment, the urgency rule that was issued allows some flexibility in how you mass a force to deal with the worst case spill scenario so you can free up some resources to move down here. Including those that are at naval installations and (inaudible) as well.

Q: (inaudible)

ADMIRAL ALLEN: There certainly is and we understand that when oil comes ashore, especially on beaches, (inaudible) changes buried with sand. One of the things that is required at the end of an oil spill response is an agreement on everybody, including the state and local representatives and the federal trustees, to represent the resources on how clean is clean? And there are provisions to come back and continue to clean that up under the recovery until we get it clean.

And those criteria on how that will be done will be brokered locally by our incident commanders working with the state and local governments. But we have the where with all to order removal and we can have the responsibility party come back as many times as we need to until we get it clean. Thank you.

We going to the phones? Operator, at this time we'd like to turn it over to the phone line.

OPERATOR: To ask an audio question at this time simply press Star then the number One on your telephone keypad. And your first question comes from (inaudible) from CNN.

Q: Good morning Admiral, I just have a question about something you said earlier and I apologize for asking—if somebody asks this earlier, it's kind of hard to hear but you said, BP at this time is prepared to move forward with the second long-term containment cap and then you're sort of in a 24 to 48 hour window to decide if weather conditions are met and if they get you this timeline.

Now when would this all take place? Are you looking at I think you also mentioned in the next seven to ten days from now, you are looking at possibly a good weather window. Is this when this would take place?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: Let me just explain again. We are going to ask BP to give us a detailed timeline of what series of events would have to take place. The reason we're doing this is if we move forward at this time, we are going to move forward in parallel with hooking up the Helix Producer to be able to produce from the free standing riser pipe, which is part of the current recovery system so it would be part of the future recovery system.

The initial thinking was that we would do that, see the results of that and then move to a decision on a containment cap. What has been presented to us, it may be a weather window we will not see at any time later in the summer that will allow us to move to the new containment cap.

So with that in mind, I am asking BP to give me a detailed timeline in 24 hours on how they would accomplish the hookup of the units producer to the free standing riser pipe and then how they would move the current containment cap off, putting a containment cap on that would effectively seal the top of that well and go to the new containment structure, which does a couple of things, it gets us to a production capacity and a redundancy in the system of 60 to 80,000 barrels of day.

It also gives us quick hookup and quick disconnect and it will give us heavy weather or a hurricane. So not only do we have number one we have a weather window, number two we're going to get the weather to be able to hookup the Helix Producer.

I have asked BP to give me within the next 24 hours a detailed timeline that we can look at and then approve that will allow them to move forward. If we can take advantage of this weather window we will certainly do that. Next question.

OPERATOR: Your next question comes from Bertha Coombs with CNBC.

Q: Yes Admiral, can—you said that there are a couple things that could actually move the date up with regard to the completion of the relief well. Can you give us a timeline of where we are now, how many days away, how many weeks away in terms of getting to that wellbore and being able to penetrate it?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: Yes, we are several hundred feet away from the penetration point at this point and what's going to happen is they will drill ahead somewhere between 10 and 15 feet at a time. They will withdraw the bit and actually put down a (inaudible) device on an electrical cable. They will take a look at it - trying to detect the electromagnetic field around the pipe casing and the well bore.

This allows them to get a range and a bearing if you will, from the well bore they're drilling to the well bore they're trying to intercept. They do this very, very slowly so that the end of the pipe they're trying to intercept is between seven and eight inches wide and they're doing this down at about over 17,000 feet of measured depth.

So the next period of time will probably take seven to 10 days to get to a point where they can turn the drill inward and actually start to penetrate the wellbore. At that point they will go through a series of layers leading to the inner pipe and it depends on where the oil is coming up through, where they can intercept it, where they can put the mud in and where they can put the cement plug.

How many days after that will take them to actually seal the well? If for instance, all the oil that is coming to the surface is not coming through the center pipe. But what they call the annulus that is a circle of area outside the pipe and they find that first they put the mud in or able to put the plug in you know that stops it then everything will happen much sooner.

But we can’t rule out the fact that the oil is coming up through the center pipe, which requires them to then drill back in again and complete the same series of procedures and steps to put mud in the pipe and plug it.

There will be a series of sequential steps. If you take I will call it the worst case but if you take the scenario (inaudible) it requires you to exhaust all means by which the hydrocarbons or oil could be coming up that wellbore to the surface it takes you into August.

All I’m saying is I don’t think we need to (inaudible) on hitting it the first time and there’s always the chance we could run into some kind of a weather window after the one we’re talking about now.

So I think prudence dictates we have realistic expectations that this could be done by middle August if it happens sooner than that I think we can all jump for joy but right now as I said middle August I think is a reasonable date. Next question.

OPERATOR: Your next question comes from Susan Baker with Dow Jones Newswire.

Q: Hi, Admiral I know that you’re saying that you’re hoping for this to be completed the relief well be completed by mid August. But BP in the story we just had today said that it’s pushing to get it done by July 27th, in time for its earnings in order to show investors that it’s taking care of its problems.Is there any concern on your part that they are rushing or that they don’t want to put the second cap on because they’re hoping that the relief well will be done by July 27th?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: I don’t want to speak for BP and their inter communication regarding how they deal with their board. My board of directors is the American people next question.

OPERATOR: Your next question comes from Zach Warmbrodt with Argas Media.

Q: Hi, thank you. In regards to the backup plans for the relief wells, I was wondering if you could talk about what fields you’ve identified that you could pump oil into. And at what point you’d be able to do that if the relief wells don’t work.

ADMIRAL ALLEN: At the request of the federal government at an industry meeting almost two weeks ago in Washington, we asked BP to probe on a backup for the relief well. Because I think, we found out so far you need a backup for the backup if you can in responding to this crisis.

One of the ideas that came up was to take wells in the local area that were not producing an actually put the oil back down into those wells. There are some wells in the area they range from two to 10 miles away.

They’re owned by various companies and the opportunity exist actually like pipeline and then use the mechanism that we are putting in place for the containment system that I just briefed on and actually divert that flow into those pipelines.

And then run it back across the floor of the Gulf of Mexico into wells that are not producing now. That will take some construction and some time will probably move it to somewhere in the later August time frame. But becomes a viable backup should the first relief well or second relief well not be successful.

Now we have every reason to believe though that we’re going to be successful between the two relief wells. But I think this situation has taught us from the start to have a backup—to have viable backup plan have it engineered and be moving towards that backup plan being available in the event the relief wells don’t come through.

I will leave the actual details to the particular wells the plans and the arrangements between those private companies to be discussed by BP. Because those are business arrangements that they’re discussing right now. Next question.

OPERATOR: Your next question comes from Paula Dietrich with Oil and Gas Journal.

Q: Hi, Admiral thanks for taking my question. You gave us a measured depth this morning for the Development Driller III at 17,780 feet I just wondered if you know what the ultimate — the target measured depth is that they're going for.

ADMIRAL ALLEN: Yes what I would like to do, and I don’t have the numbers if front of me right now, today is more a tutorial on skimming when I am done. I think tomorrow we need to have a discussion about how they actually depths because I think we are at the point where it will be good for the press and American people to understand it. Let me just give you an over view today and then we will provide you the exact numbers.

There are two measures of depth that are related to drilling these relief wells. One is called Measured Depth—that is the total feet of the well bore that is being drilled to intercept the current well bore. And as you know that is not vertically straight it started out a good distant from the current well sight and it is now curved in. The second measure is True Vertical Depth. And that is the depth at which we will penetrate the well bore as measured from a perpendicular line to a plane (inaudible) to the surface of the water.

I don’t want to get to geometrical here but if you can imagine a perpendicular line going straight down as measured directly and then a curving line that actually reflects the direction of the relief well. We have measured depth which is the length of the well and true vertical which is the depth below the height of the ocean. They both represent ways to describe where the intersection will take place. And tomorrow I will have the exact numbers of True Vertical Depth and Measured Depth for you. One final question?

OPERATOR: Your next question comes from Kristin Hayes with Reuters.

Q: Yes hello Admiral. I was wondering you mentioned earlier at the point where the relief well would kind of—its drilling parallel now and it would turn and enter the well bore. I was wondering if you could kind of talk me through step by step how that will work. It will go into the annulus first see what happens and then possibly into the pipe.

ADMIRAL ALLEN: Yes it will go into the annulus first and if there is oil there it will then pump mud in and when they pump the mud into the annulus it will go and completely fill the well bore top to bottom to the point where the weight of the mud will over power the pressure of the oil coming out of the reservoir. Once they have stabilized the well bore at that point they will then cement in a plug between the relief well and the current well to basically kill the well with cement.

They will then back out and then re-drill through that cement. But to do you must imagine they have hardened the perimeter around the pipe. They will then actually re-drill through the cement they just laid and then go into the inner pipe to see if there is oil there. And if there is oil there they will replicate the same procedure by pumping mud in until the pressure of the mud overcomes the pressure of the oil in the reservoir and then put a cement plug in at that point.

So if you can imagine a series of hollow tree rings going to center and starting with the outer hollow ring first filling that with mud and cement and going back in and going to the inner one until we get to the pipe and then filling it up. If you go in sequence you have to do every one of those because there is oil in every one of those rings if you will this takes until the middle of August.

You get in there and it’s only in the pipe you cut a significant time out of that process. The problem is that we do not know the status of the well bore at this point. That’s the reason that we need to get more definite from what is going on we are just going to have to wait and see. Until we know that the date remains August.

Q: OK. Ok and just one more. Did I hear you right that in seven to 10 days they might be able to make that first penetration into the annulus?

ADMIRAL ALLEN: That is correct.

Q: OK thank you.

ADMIRAL ALLEN: Thank you.

July 9, 2010

Remarks by the President at Grassroots Event for Senate Candidate Robin Carnahan

Folly Theater, Kansas City, Missouri

2:23 P.M. CDT

Most recently, obviously, we’ve had this oil spill -- an environmental disaster. And it’s going to take some time for us to clean it up. But the first thing that we could do was to say all those fishermen down there, all those small business owners who’ve got maybe a little restaurant, they rely on tourist season -- we’ve got to make them whole. BP has got to pay. (Applause.)

And so we -- so I met with BP. I want BP to do well because obviously their ability to pay depends on them staying solvent. But I said to them, do right by these folks. And they agreed to put together a $20 billion fund to make sure that everybody was being compensated. Seems pretty sensible, doesn’t it? (Applause.) I mean, I know you’re a friendly crowd, but even if you weren’t a friendly crowd, you’d kind of say, well, that makes sense, right? They caused this big disaster and they pay the people who’ve been hurt by it.

So I’ve got the House Republican chairman of the Energy Committee, who has jurisdiction over the oil companies -- he, in a hearing, says to them, “I apologize that the President strong-armed you, Chicago-style.” (Laughter.) I apologize -- I think this is a tragedy that you are being made to compensate these folks. Really? I mean, when I heard that I was -- I said, no, he didn’t say that. (Laughter and applause.) No. He didn’t say that. (Laughter.) But he did. Because they don’t think in terms of representing ordinary folks. (Applause.) That’s not their orientation.

July 9, 2010

The one thing that we should all be thankfull for is that there has not been a direct hit by a hurricane in that area, and even though it's premature lets hope there isn't one.

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This was just sent to me. Tiny dots are being found everywhere.

Black (Oil Dispersant) Rain coming from the Gulf. Rep. Nadler is calling it similar to Agent Orange.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEP3UIRnM38

July 9, 2010

We have alot of hurricane season left. I am a progressive Democrat that is losing faith Obama. Transparency is not part of this administration. Journalist are now seen as the enemy. How are we now able to judge the success and failures of this administration.

July 10, 2010

Watch the Video Report from the Gulf spill site, plus how cleanup ideas are vetted and tested.

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/bp-coast-guard-progress-made-solutions-work-clean-oil-spill-costner-11120990

July 10, 2010

Statement from National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen

"After reviewing Bob Dudley's response to my July 8 letter outlining BP's proposed plan of action for oil containment efforts, and consulting top government scientists and engineers including Secretary Chu, I approved BP's plan to simultaneously install the Helix Producer and "capping stack" containment mechanisms, which will require temporary suspension of the current top hat containment system. I validated this plan because the capacity for oil containment when these installations are complete will be far greater than the capabilities we have achieved using current systems. In addition, favorable weather expected over the coming days will provide the working conditions necessary for these transitions to be successfully completed without delays. The transition to this new containment infrastructure could begin in the next days but will take seven to ten days to complete. I have also directed BP to provide daily briefings and regular informational updates to the media throughout this capping process"

July 10, 2010

Admiral Allen Provides Operational Update on the BP Oil Spill Response

National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen provided a briefing to inform the American public and answer questions on the progress of the administration-wide response to the BP oil spill. A transcript is available here.

BP Responds to Admiral Allen’s Letter Directing BP to Provide More Detailed Plans and Timelines

Yesterday, Admiral Allen sent a letter to BP Chief Managing Director Bob Dudley directing BP to provide him—within the next 24 hours—with more detailed plans and timelines relating to efforts to stop the leaking oil and protect the shoreline.

BP today responded with a letter containing details on those plans and timelines, which in part, are still being finalized in a meeting today with federal representatives and a team of government scientists led by Secretary Chu. Throughout this response, the federal government has directed BP to develop more detailed plans, create redundancy measures in case those plans fail, and apply additional resources to the largest response to an oil spill in our nation’s history.

FWS Relocates Approximately 100 Turtle Eggs; Releases Three Rehabilitated Pied-Billed Grebes Back to Wild

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) today participated in the relocation of approximately 100 turtle eggs from the northern Gulf of Mexico to the East Coast of the Florida Peninsula. The eggs were carefully removed from their nests and packed into coolers before being transported to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Yesterday, FWS released three rehabilitated pied-billed grebes—rescued from Perdido Key, Miramar, and Gulf Breeze beaches in Florida—at Lake Talquin, near Tallahassee, Fla.

Governor Charlie Crist joined members of FWS, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, and Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research, to participate in the release.

Wildlife rescue and recovery crews continue to survey affected areas using hundreds of personnel and dozens of vessels, as well as numerous airboats and helicopters to protect Gulf Coast wildlife and habitats from the effects of the BP oil spill. On Thursday, rescue and recovery teams responded to a total of 168 calls to the Wildlife Hotline reporting oiled or injured wildlife along the Gulf Coast. To report oiled wildlife, call (866) 557-1401.

HHS Provides Resources on Mental Health Issues Related to the BP Oil Spill

As part of continued efforts to address the many health impacts of the BP oil spill, the Department of Health and Human Services is working to raise awareness about mental health issues that may affect Gulf Coast residents. Click here for resources on dealing with mental health issues.

BP Continues to Optimize Oil Recovery Rates; Prepares to Increase Collection Capacity

Under the direction of the federal government, BP continues to capture some oil and burn gas at the surface using its containment dome technique—collecting oil aboard the Discoverer Enterprise, which is linked by a fixed riser pipe to the wellhead, and flaring off additional oil and gas on the Q4000, which is connected to the choke line. BP also is in the process of connecting a third vessel, the Helix Producer, which will increase collection capacity to an estimated 53,000 barrels per day by bringing up additional oil up through the kill line—a redundancy measure also taken at the administration’s direction.

Progress Continues in Drilling Relief Wells

The Development Driller III has drilled the first relief well to a depth of 17,780 feet below the Gulf surface. The Development Driller II has drilled the second relief well—a redundancy measure taken at the direction of the administration—to a depth of 14,500 feet below the surface. BP continues the “ranging” process—which involves periodically withdrawing the drill pipe and sending an electrical signal down to determine how close they are getting to the wellbore.

Approved SBA Economic Injury Assistance Loans Top $11.7 Million

SBA has approved 150 economic injury assistance loans to date, totaling more than $11.7 million for small businesses in the Gulf Coast impacted by the BP oil spill. Additionally, the agency has granted deferments on 601 existing SBA disaster loans in the region, totaling more than $3.4 million per month in payments. For information on assistance loans for affected businesses, visit the SBA’s Web site at www.sba.gov/services/disasterassistance, call (800) 659-2955 (800-877-8339 for the hearing impaired), or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov.

Administration Continues to Oversee BP’s Claims Process

The administration will continue to hold the responsible parties accountable for repairing the damage, and repaying Americans who’ve suffered a financial loss as a result of the BP oil spill. To date, 103,013 claims have been opened, from which more than $162.6 million have been disbursed. No claims have been denied to date. There are 999 claims adjusters on the ground. To file a claim, visit www.bp.com/claims or call BP’s helpline at 1-800-440-0858. Those who have already pursued the BP claims process and are not satisfied with BP’s resolution can call the Coast Guard at (800) 280-7118. Additional information about the BP claims process and all available avenues of assistance can be found at www.disasterassistance.gov.

By the Numbers to Date:

* The administration has authorized the deployment of 17,500 National Guard troops from Gulf Coast states to respond to this crisis; currently, 1,571 are active.

* More than 47,400 personnel are currently responding to protect the shoreline and wildlife and cleanup vital coastlines.

* More than 6,600 vessels are currently responding on site, including skimmers, tugs, barges, and recovery vessels to assist in containment and cleanup efforts—in addition to dozens of aircraft, remotely operated vehicles, and multiple mobile offshore drilling units.

* More than 3.02 million feet of containment boom and 5.65 million feet of sorbent boom have been deployed to contain the spill—and approximately 900,000 feet of containment boom and 2.1 million feet of sorbent boom are available.

* More than 28.7 million gallons of an oil-water mix have been recovered.

* Approximately 1.75 million gallons of total dispersant have been applied—1.07 million on the surface and 681,000 sub-sea. Approximately 386,000 gallons are available.

* 275 controlled burns have been conducted, efficiently removing a total of approximately 10 million gallons of oil from the open water in an effort to protect shoreline and wildlife. Because calculations on the volume of oil burned can take more than 48 hours, the reported total volume may not reflect the most recent controlled burns.

* 17 staging areas are in place to protect sensitive shorelines.

* Approximately 534 miles of Gulf Coast shoreline is currently oiled—approximately 288 miles in Louisiana, 91 miles in Mississippi, 65 miles in Alabama, and 90 miles in Florida. These numbers reflect a daily snapshot of shoreline currently experiencing impacts from oil so that planning and field operations can more quickly respond to new impacts; they do not include cumulative impacts to date, or shoreline that has already been cleared.

* Approximately 81,181 square miles of Gulf of Mexico federal waters remain closed to fishing in order to balance economic and public health concerns. More than 66 percent remains open. Details can be found at http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/.

* To date, the administration has leveraged assets and skills from numerous foreign countries and international organizations as part of this historic, all-hands-on-deck response, including Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Qatar, Russia, Spain, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization, the European Union's Monitoring and Information Centre, and the European Maritime Safety Agency.

July 10, 2010

BP Chief Managing Director Bob Dudley today sent a letter to National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen, in response to Admiral Allen’s letter dated July 8.

July 9th, 2010

Admiral Thad Allen

National Incident Commander

2100 Secon Street, SW

Washington, DC 20593-0001

Dear Admiral Allen

Thank you for you letter dated July 8, 2010 acknowledging the next stage

of the Deepwater Response that we are entering. BP has continued to

work through Unified Area Command and the Federal On-Scene

Coordinator to implement agreed plans for subsea collection. The plans

presented below have been developed in consultation with the DOE, DOI,

Federal Scientific Technical Team, BOEMRE, Coast Guard and through

direct daily dialog with Secretary Salazar, Secretary Chu and their offices.

As part of our agreed long term containment plans the implementation of

the capping stack has always been recognized as a critical component. In

previous plans we have scheduled the start of the capping stack

installation following the HELIX Producer start-up of containment

operations. As weather has impacted our ability to execute these

activities in series we, in conjunction with government experts, have

proposed that the capping stack procedure be implemented in parallel

with the start-up of the Helix Producer. This timing takes advantage of a

projected weather window of some 8 days as projected by NOAA. As

noted in your letter, if the capping stack installation is executed in parallel

with and ahead of the Helix Producer start-up, the Q4000 would be the

sole oil collection system running during a substantial part of the

operation.

July 10, 2010

State and Federal wildlife agencies, other partners, move to safeguard sea turtle nests; FedEx providing transportation to Florida’s Space Coast

The first of several hundred sea turtle nests on beaches from Alabama across the Florida panhandle was excavated and moved to Florida’s East Coast today.

The loggerhead nest of roughly 100 eggs was excavated from a site near St. Joseph Bay State Buffer Preserve outside St. Joe, Florida.

“This is an extraordinary rescue mission to deal with an unprecedented threat to iconic and endangered sea turtles,” said Tom Strickland, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks. “Nothing on this scale has ever been attempted, but the scientific consensus is that it is worth the risk given the magnitude of the threat.”

FedEx Custom Critical provided specialized transportation and will move hundreds of other nests to Florida’s east coast adjacent to the Kennedy Space Center for final incubation and hatchling release. Dozens of nest relocations are expected to take place over the next several weeks.

“Kennedy is uniquely situated on the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and the Canaveral National Seashore. We are home to many species of protected wildlife and we hope to provide these sea turtles with a better chance of survival,” said Kennedy Space Center Director Robert Cabana.

The relocation work is part of an unprecedented effort by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the National Park Service, NOAA, many conservationists long connected to the sea turtle program, and FedEx, to do everything possible to minimize extraordinary risk this year’s sea turtle hatchlings face from impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Sea turtle biologists from many agencies and academia were consulted on a number of options to reduce risk to northern Gulf sea turtle nests, and all of the risks were carefully considered and weighed in light of current conditions. Rodney Barreto, chairman of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said, “We understand that significant risks remain, but the option of allowing tens of thousands of turtle hatchlings to crawl into oiled waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico is not acceptable.”

“FedEx is honored it was asked to support for the rescue and relocation of the endangered loggerhead sea turtle eggs and will provide transportation in our unique air-ride suspension, temperature-controlled vehicles to provide a safe and secure transportation environment,” said Virginia Albanese, CEO and President, FedEx Custom Critical. “The sea turtle egg rescue extends our longstanding commitment to support our communities in times of need and is the latest example of our work transporting some of the world’s most precious cargo from pandas to penguins.”

"Given our strong relationship with FedEx and our long-standing relationship with the federal agencies, we were able to move quickly to develop an effective plan,” said Jeff Trandahl, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s chief executive. “We’ll continue to work with all parties so that this relocation offers the best hope for sea turtles’ survival."

The effort is being launched to ensure as many hatchlings as possible from northern Gulf Coast beaches have a greater chance of survival given the unprecedented environmental disaster in the Gulf. Roughly 700 nests are laid annually across Florida’s panhandle and as many as 80 are typically laid on Alabama’s beaches with as many as 50,000 hatchlings.

Normal mortality for sea turtle hatchlings each year ranges between 20 percent and 50 percent. Loggerheads produced along the northern Gulf Coast are part of the same distinct population as those produced on Florida’s Atlantic Coast.

The loggerhead nesting season in the northern Gulf of Mexico begins in late May and runs through late August. After approximately two months of incubation, hatchlings emerge from their nests and make their way offshore to developmental habitats. Hatching season extends into October. This year, hatchlings from the northern Gulf of Mexico will be released on east coast Florida beaches to prevent them from entering oiled waters of the northeastern Gulf of Mexico.

July 11, 2010

Following approval from the National Incident Commander, BP began replacing the existing lower marine riser package (LMRP) containment cap over the Deepwater Horizon's failed blow-out preventer with a new sealing cap assembly.

Installation of the sealing cap is proceeding as planned. The Discoverer Enterprise removed the LMRP cap at approximately 12:40 PM CDT on Saturday, July 10. The Discoverer Enterprise then moved off station. Following the removal of the cap, a subsea dispersant wand was inserted into the riser. Two plugs and all six flange bolts were then removed. The Discoverer Inspiration is now moving on station.

The Q4000 containment system continues to capture oil and gas from the MC252 well and flare the hydrocarbons safely at the surface. Once it becomes operational, the Helix Producer containment system will begin capturing additional oil and gas.

July 12, 2010

Who Goes to Jail? BP CEO or Shrimper?

On June 17, after watching BP’s oil blowout pollute the Gulf of Mexico for nearly two months, environmental campaigner and fourth-generation Texas shrimp boat captain, Diane Wilson, had had more than enough.

So Wilson seized the only opportunity she may ever have to confront BP chief executive, Tony Hayward, eye to eye, about his “criminal activities” as top dog at the oil giant.

That day, Hayward happened to be giving testimony before the Senate Energy Committee hearings. Wilson, who works with CodePink now, had been on the road and was heading home to Seadrift, Texas, when she heard Hayward would be testifying at the Capitol.

“I was coming back to Texas and I found out the CEO of BP was going to be in D.C,” said Wilson, in a telephone interview. “I felt compelled to come. I had to see Hayward. I had to. And I did.”

But Wilson was not merely planning to be a passive observer, sitting in awe in one of the great deliberative bodies of U.S. democracy.

“I got in and I snuck in some black paint,” she said, “and I sat there and waited ‘til he started testifying and then I smeared that paint all over myself, poured it on my hands, and I stood up and told him he should be jailed. He should be jailed, I told him.”

"BP is a criminal company that has ignored safety regulations at the health of our oceans and even its own workers,” Wilson called out to Hayward and the members of the committee,” before she was pounced on by security and hustled out of the hearing room.

“Tony Hayward and BP need to be held accountable for their criminal activities as well as paying every last cent they may have to the families in the Gulf affected by their willful, criminal neglect,” she told me, after she was arraigned in federal court on charges stemming from several acts of civil disobedience.

“Our message to Obama, and Congress: BP must pay to clean up this mess and our government must move to end offshore drilling and move us into a new century of clean energy.”

Now the woman who has been fighting corporate polluters from the Gulf Coast of Texas to Bhopal, India, is facing two years in federal prison and will go before a jury on Aug. 20, which she notes will be “the fourth month anniversary of the oil spill.

“And that’s when I’ll go to trial for, can you believe, doing unlawful conduct?“

In the Heart of Seadrift

Wilson has been facing off with corporate polluters for many years around the world. Then, in 2006, she learned that she lived in the most polluted county in the United States.

She initiated a campaign against corporations that were covering up spills and dumping lethal toxins on the Texas Gulf Coast. Wilson wrote a book about her experiences, entitled An Unreasonable Woman: A True Story of Shrimpers, Politicos, Polluters, and the Fight for Seadrift, Texas.

“You know, Dennis, I have been fighting, ever since I found out my county was the number one county in the nation for toxic disposal,” said Wilson. “We had half the waste generated in the state of Texas was right there in my home town. And we had the largest dolphin die-offs anywhere …

“We have the largest mercury superfund so I am used to fighting chemical plants, refineries, oil people.”

But even Wilson, a fierce fighter for the environment who is usually upbeat and a determined, seemed a bit daunted by the magnitude of the BP oil blowout a mile under the Gulf and the lack of a clear, effective response.

“I have been trying for twenty years to talk to these politicians,” she said, “these agencies, the criminal prosecutors, the federal, the state … and nobody paid any attention. …

“You know, I got to thinking, I must be crazy, it must not matter. And then now with this nightmare going on that for the first time people are looking at it. And they are saying, you know, is this what they do, is this what agencies do, is this what companies do?

“They lie about the releases, they don’t want to give you the information, you know, they don’t tell you about worse case scenarios; and you come to find out, this is what has been going on and … so I was not surprised. I just hated that it could, you know, it really is catastrophic in the Gulf.”

Though the oil first befouled the shorelines of Louisiana and Alabama, the brown ooze has now rolled up on the Texas coast.

“I know in the beginning they were predicting it wasn’t going to reach Texas,” said Wilson. “As a matter of fact, they were saying Texas was going to be kind of a sea bank for fish and that we would have the entire Gulf of Mexico off Texas protected.”

“Well everyone I talk to,” she said, “even the fisherman from Louisiana, they say it’s all just a matter of time. … We had a Vietnamese fisherman in my home town, and it was right after Hurricane Alex hit Brownsville … with all the high tides and the rain, and everything, he went out in the Gulf and he said – this was mid-Texas Gulf Coast, and he said it was covered in dead fish. It was small fish, big fish, he said it was everywhere.

“He couldn’t figure out what was going on and quite frankly I don’t think anybody knows. There is too much that people just find out bits and pieces.”

Wilson was outraged at how the government agencies dropped the ball and trusted BP to lead the clean-up and rescue effort itself.

“They were not reporting leaks,” said Wilson. They “had no type of response plan. Their clean-up program was totally non-existent. Now it has happened, you know, the unthinkable, I mean the worst-case scenario, that these companies will tell you will never, never, never happen: It happened.”

The frustrated activist-turned-author said people “are just sitting’ and waiting’ for it to happen. It’s kind of like sitting there watching Katrina on the TV set and you just see it get bigger and bigger and bigger, worse one day after the next…and just watching it happen.

“I think a lot of people have no idea what to do. The answer to almost every question, is ‘we don’t know’.”

Wilson’s latest nightmare scenario is that the toxic pollution won’t just kill off some fish, birds and other animals but entire species, turning the Gulf of Mexico into a mass graveyard. She said:

“They never thought it would put at risk the entire species of shrimp or crabs or fish, and when you start messing with that, when you start messing with the sea plankton, and … you’re messing with the food chain.

“You might, I think, for the first time you might see the end of it. And I think it’s like they have cob webs in their heads, and they keep trying to shake them off and not believing it. I have a hard time believing’ it too.”

Wilson’s strong will to stand up to BP CEO Tony Hayward and put her body on the line, including doing jail time, is explained by her love of the Gulf, of the region where, for generations, her family lived and thrived off the riches of the sea.

“I was just outraged,” she said of her confrontation with Hayward. “That was the first I saw the face of the man who represented the destruction of my home out there. You know, my family has been out there for a hundred years in that town. A hundred years, and it’s like seeing it go.

“And he somehow represented to me everything that BP was doing. And so I was directing it to him. I kept calling him Tony. I said, ‘Hey, Tony, you need to go to jail’.”

Dennis Bernstein based this report in part on interviews done for "Flashpoints" on the Pacifica radio network. You can access the audio archives at www.flashpoints.net. You can get in touch with the author at dbernstein@igc.org.

July 12, 2010

Democrats are in charge of this one. You are going to have to eat your own on this one.

It's the power that your group was after,everyone else was just a pawn on a chess table.

Who is at fault? The democrats played politics with oil, and then when it came time for your group to step up to the plate? You simply forgot where the plate was.

Just like the democrat responce, too late.

Don't even have to get in the middle of this one either.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Who Goes to Jail? BP CEO or Shrimper?

On June 17, after watching BP’s oil blowout pollute the Gulf of Mexico for nearly two months, environmental campaigner and fourth-generation Texas shrimp boat captain, Diane Wilson, had had more than enough.

So Wilson seized the only opportunity she may ever have to confront BP chief executive, Tony Hayward, eye to eye, about his “criminal activities” as top dog at the oil giant.

That day, Hayward happened to be giving testimony before the Senate Energy Committee hearings. Wilson, who works with CodePink now, had been on the road and was heading home to Seadrift, Texas, when she heard Hayward would be testifying at the Capitol.

“I was coming back to Texas and I found out the CEO of BP was going to be in D.C,” said Wilson, in a telephone interview. “I felt compelled to come. I had to see Hayward. I had to. And I did.”

But Wilson was not merely planning to be a passive observer, sitting in awe in one of the great deliberative bodies of U.S. democracy.

“I got in and I snuck in some black paint,” she said, “and I sat there and waited ‘til he started testifying and then I smeared that paint all over myself, poured it on my hands, and I stood up and told him he should be jailed. He should be jailed, I told him.”

"BP is a criminal company that has ignored safety regulations at the health of our oceans and even its own workers,” Wilson called out to Hayward and the members of the committee,” before she was pounced on by security and hustled out of the hearing room.

“Tony Hayward and BP need to be held accountable for their criminal activities as well as paying every last cent they may have to the families in the Gulf affected by their willful, criminal neglect,” she told me, after she was arraigned in federal court on charges stemming from several acts of civil disobedience.

“Our message to Obama, and Congress: BP must pay to clean up this mess and our government must move to end offshore drilling and move us into a new century of clean energy.”

Now the woman who has been fighting corporate polluters from the Gulf Coast of Texas to Bhopal, India, is facing two years in federal prison and will go before a jury on Aug. 20, which she notes will be “the fourth month anniversary of the oil spill.

“And that’s when I’ll go to trial for, can you believe, doing unlawful conduct?“

In the Heart of Seadrift

Wilson has been facing off with corporate polluters for many years around the world. Then, in 2006, she learned that she lived in the most polluted county in the United States.

She initiated a campaign against corporations that were covering up spills and dumping lethal toxins on the Texas Gulf Coast. Wilson wrote a book about her experiences, entitled An Unreasonable Woman: A True Story of Shrimpers, Politicos, Polluters, and the Fight for Seadrift, Texas.

“You know, Dennis, I have been fighting, ever since I found out my county was the number one county in the nation for toxic disposal,” said Wilson. “We had half the waste generated in the state of Texas was right there in my home town. And we had the largest dolphin die-offs anywhere …

“We have the largest mercury superfund so I am used to fighting chemical plants, refineries, oil people.”

But even Wilson, a fierce fighter for the environment who is usually upbeat and a determined, seemed a bit daunted by the magnitude of the BP oil blowout a mile under the Gulf and the lack of a clear, effective response.

“I have been trying for twenty years to talk to these politicians,” she said, “these agencies, the criminal prosecutors, the federal, the state … and nobody paid any attention. …

“You know, I got to thinking, I must be crazy, it must not matter. And then now with this nightmare going on that for the first time people are looking at it. And they are saying, you know, is this what they do, is this what agencies do, is this what companies do?

“They lie about the releases, they don’t want to give you the information, you know, they don’t tell you about worse case scenarios; and you come to find out, this is what has been going on and … so I was not surprised. I just hated that it could, you know, it really is catastrophic in the Gulf.”

Though the oil first befouled the shorelines of Louisiana and Alabama, the brown ooze has now rolled up on the Texas coast.

“I know in the beginning they were predicting it wasn’t going to reach Texas,” said Wilson. “As a matter of fact, they were saying Texas was going to be kind of a sea bank for fish and that we would have the entire Gulf of Mexico off Texas protected.”

“Well everyone I talk to,” she said, “even the fisherman from Louisiana, they say it’s all just a matter of time. … We had a Vietnamese fisherman in my home town, and it was right after Hurricane Alex hit Brownsville … with all the high tides and the rain, and everything, he went out in the Gulf and he said – this was mid-Texas Gulf Coast, and he said it was covered in dead fish. It was small fish, big fish, he said it was everywhere.

“He couldn’t figure out what was going on and quite frankly I don’t think anybody knows. There is too much that people just find out bits and pieces.”

Wilson was outraged at how the government agencies dropped the ball and trusted BP to lead the clean-up and rescue effort itself.

“They were not reporting leaks,” said Wilson. They “had no type of response plan. Their clean-up program was totally non-existent. Now it has happened, you know, the unthinkable, I mean the worst-case scenario, that these companies will tell you will never, never, never happen: It happened.”

The frustrated activist-turned-author said people “are just sitting’ and waiting’ for it to happen. It’s kind of like sitting there watching Katrina on the TV set and you just see it get bigger and bigger and bigger, worse one day after the next…and just watching it happen.

“I think a lot of people have no idea what to do. The answer to almost every question, is ‘we don’t know’.”

Wilson’s latest nightmare scenario is that the toxic pollution won’t just kill off some fish, birds and other animals but entire species, turning the Gulf of Mexico into a mass graveyard. She said:

“They never thought it would put at risk the entire species of shrimp or crabs or fish, and when you start messing with that, when you start messing with the sea plankton, and … you’re messing with the food chain.

“You might, I think, for the first time you might see the end of it. And I think it’s like they have cob webs in their heads, and they keep trying to shake them off and not believing it. I have a hard time believing’ it too.”

Wilson’s strong will to stand up to BP CEO Tony Hayward and put her body on the line, including doing jail time, is explained by her love of the Gulf, of the region where, for generations, her family lived and thrived off the riches of the sea.

“I was just outraged,” she said of her confrontation with Hayward. “That was the first I saw the face of the man who represented the destruction of my home out there. You know, my family has been out there for a hundred years in that town. A hundred years, and it’s like seeing it go.

“And he somehow represented to me everything that BP was doing. And so I was directing it to him. I kept calling him Tony. I said, ‘Hey, Tony, you need to go to jail’.”

Dennis Bernstein based this report in part on interviews done for "Flashpoints" on the Pacifica radio network. You can access the audio archives at www.flashpoints.net. You can get in touch with the author at dbernstein@igc.org.

July 12, 2010

A ray of hope for the cleaning of the oil spill.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10564798.stm

Russian-owned submersibles would be able to cap the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, the captain of one of the vessels has said.

The skipper was speaking as two of the subs - which can dive to 6,000m - started a campaign of exploration at the bottom of Lake Baikal in Siberia.

He added that there was still time for the subs to help BP with the disaster.

July 12, 2010

Democrats are in charge of this one. You are going to have to eat your own on this one.

It's the power that your group was after,everyone else was just a pawn on a chess table.

Who is at fault? The democrats played politics with oil, and then when it came time for your group to step up to the plate? You simply forgot where the plate was.

Just like the democrat responce, too late.

Don't even have to get in the middle of this one either.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cmon. Every good fellow knows that the relief wells have always been the only real solution to stop the leak. Everything else was for the benefit of our ADD/ADHD population. There was no way BP could have withstood the public outcry of "doing nothing" (building a relief well is not that glamorous or entertaining). So they had to engage in pathetic efforts to "contain" the spill.

July 12, 2010

The one thing that we should all be thankfull for is that there has not been a direct hit by a hurricane in that area, and even though it's premature lets hope there isn't one.

`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Corexit is evaporating into the atmosphere. If you take a barrel of oil, dump it in a indoor swimming pool that has bay windows on the roof, then let the sun hit it for a couple days, you'll find that a few % of the oil mass is gone.

Yes, up to 30% (depending on content in the earth) evaporates into air. Now oil and water don't bind well so, how do you solve that problem?

CoreExit. This allows a droplet of oil to half dissolve (if it's small enough) right into water vapour. Mix enough CoreExit with Oil, and you get massive clouds of 'oily water' floating around the Ocean. Oh wait, that's exactly whats happening. Now after progressive amounts of high-UV sunshine on the CoreExit+Oil mixture, you actually get a decent amount of it evaporating. A great deal of the 'CoreExit binded oil' floats around for ages. And, if the situation is right, you'll end up with streaked/rainbow puddles everywhere. But definitely not sludge formation of any kind, as it would take weeks of rainfall for this much oil residue to collect in any noticeable quantity.

July 12, 2010

National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen today announced the launch of a new federal web portal—RestoreTheGulf.gov—dedicated to providing the American people with clear and accessible information and resources related to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill response and recovery.

RestoreTheGulf.gov is designed to serve as a one-stop repository for news, data and operational updates related to administration-wide efforts to stop the BP oil leak and mitigate its impact on the environment, the economy and public health—unifying web resources across the administration and increasing public access to the latest information.

“We are committed to providing the American people access to complete and accurate information about our response to the BP oil spill and the resources available to assist those directly impacted,” said Admiral Allen. “RestoreTheGulf.gov will provide even greater transparency and openness about the BP oil spill, our historic response, the tools available to assist Gulf Coast communities, and plans for the region's long-term recovery and restoration."

The site offers easy-to-navigate information about the claims and appeals process—as well as other types of assistance available from federal, state, local and non-government sources—for individuals, businesses and communities who have been affected by the spill. It will also contain information about plans for the long-term economic and environmental restoration in the Gulf Coast region.

The public can view details about current operations, resources in specific states and localities, mapping and data resources, and ongoing investigations as well as oil spill data collected throughout the federal government.

In addition, users can find information about ways to get involved—including volunteer opportunities, how to submit a suggestion and how to report concerns about oiled shoreline or wildlife—and a comprehensive list of all hotline numbers related to the oil spill.

Content for www.RestoreTheGulf.gov will be gathered from a wide variety of sources, including the Unified Area Command’s Joint Information Center in New Orleans, all federal agencies involved in the spill response and recovery efforts, and independent scientists and members of academia who are contributing their expertise. While certain information will remain available on various agency websites and the White House blog, the new portal will link all resources together.

The web portal maintained by the Unified Area Command’s Joint Information Center as a short term incident communication site (www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com) will be phased out over the coming weeks as information there is moved to RestoreTheGulf.gov.

It looks like the government is not marketing this web site at all. I see all the links and searches go to:

http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com

CNN Anderson Cooper said RestoreTheGulf.gov is not a very good resource at the moment. The administration is afraid to answer the tough questions. They will not even give an estimate on how much oil has actually leaked. Pathetic.

July 12, 2010

The Unified Area Command announced Sunday that the skimmer fleet supporting the Deepwater Horizon Response Operations doubled the volume of oil skimmed near the well site Saturday.

The skimming armada capitalized on good weather conditions and surged to the site to confront the anticipated increased oil flow from the current operation to remove the top cap and install the capping stack. The skimmers were able to skim an estimated 25,500 barrels of oily water Saturday, doubling the amount collected the previous day.

"As BP transitions to the new cap, we have massed our best skimming forces at the source of the oil, 40 miles offshore,” said Rear Adm. James Watson, Federal On-Scene Coordinator for the Deepwater Horizon Response. "The skimmers join a total force of 65 vessels that are supporting an effort to kill the well and collect the oil offshore before it hits the beaches and marshes. This represents the world's largest collection of skimmers located in one area. These are a very important few days and we will continue to work around the clock and use everything at our disposal to mitigate the oil's impacts."

Currently 46 skimmers are operating at the well site, where crews continue to work around the clock to place a new capping stack on the blowout preventer to contain the oil. The skimmer force working at the well site is part of the fleet of more than 570 skimmers conducting the largest oil spill response in U.S. history.

Controlled burn task forces operating in a wider band around the source were able to conduct 15 controlled burns Saturday, further assisting the skimmer fleet and the Q4000 containment vessel in mitigating the additional flow from subsea operations.

July 12, 2010

Louisiana has 40 percent of the coastal marshlands in the continental United States and 18 percent of all waterborne commerce in the United States.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services (USFWS) says “fishery supported by this area remains the most productive in North America” with 90 percent of all species and 98 percent of commercial fish and shellfish.

Louisiana’s wetlands are also home to five million waterfowl and America’s largest wintering habitat for migratory waterfowl and songbirds. Over two million Louisianians and hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses are along the coast, which also supports the most productive fisheries in the continental United States.

Louisiana’s coast supports hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure and commerce for the state’s economy. Indeed, Louisiana has five of the top 15 tonnage ports in the U.S and over 30 states depend upon Louisiana’s ports for imports and exports.

July 12, 2010

It looks like the government is not marketing this web site at all. I see all the links and searches go to:

http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com

CNN Anderson Cooper said RestoreTheGulf.gov is not a very good resource at the moment. The administration is afraid to answer the tough questions. They will not even give an estimate on how much oil has actually leaked. Pathetic.

You are right about the marketing, but the government has constantly given estimates on how much oil has leaked. They are estimating between 35,000 abd 60,000 barrels a day. They just do not do a good job displaying the information to the public. Currently, the are no links to RestoreTheGulf.gov from USA.gov web site. It is even difficult to find them on the WhiteHouse.gov web site.

http://www.energy.gov/news/9078.htm

Based on updated information and scientific assessments, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, and Chair of the National Incident Command's Flow Rate Technical Group (FRTG) Dr. Marcia McNutt (Director of the U.S. Geological Survey) today announced an improved estimate of how much oil is flowing from the leaking BP well.

Secretary Chu, Secretary Salazar, and Dr. McNutt convened a group of federal and independent scientists on Monday to discuss new analyses and data points obtained over the weekend to produce updated flow rate estimates. Working together, U.S. government and independent scientists estimate that the most likely flow rate of oil today is between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels per day. The improved estimate is based on more and better data that is now available and that helps increase the scientific confidence in the accuracy of the estimate.

At the direction of the federal government, BP is implementing multiple strategies to significantly expand the leak containment capabilities at the sea floor even beyond the upper level of today's improved estimate. The Lower Marine Riser Package (LMRP) cap that is currently in place can capture up to 18,000 barrels of oil per day. At the direction of the federal government, BP is deploying today a second containment option, called the Q4000, which could expand total leak containment capacity to 20,000-28,000 barrels per day. Overall, the leak containment strategy that BP was required to develop projects containment capacity expanding to 40,000-53,000 barrels per day by the end of June and 60,000-80,000 barrels per day by mid-July.

"This estimate brings together several scientific methodologies and the latest information from the sea floor, and represents a significant step forward in our effort to put a number on the oil that is escaping from BP's well," said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. "As we continue to collect additional data and refine these estimates, it is important to realize that the numbers can change. In particular, the upper number is less certain - which is exactly why we have been planning for the worst case scenario at every stage and why we are continuing to focus on responding to the upper end of the estimate, plus additional contingencies."

Today's improved flow rate estimate brings together the work of several scientific teams and is based on a combination of analyses of high resolution videos taken by ROVs, acoustic technologies, and measurements of oil collected by the oil production ship together with pressure measurements inside the top hat. Over the weekend, at the insistence of Secretary Chu and the science team, pressure meters were added to the top hat to assist with these estimates.

The scientists stressed the need for continued and refined pressure measurement, but emphasized that today's improved estimates have a greater degree of confidence than estimates that were possible prior to the riser cut. There are several reasons for this, including:

1. More and different kinds of data is available now: The improved estimates are informed by newly available, detailed pressure measurements from within the Top Hat taken over the past 24 hours. In addition, scientists could draw on more than a week of data about the amount of oil being collected through the top hat.

2. A single flow is easier to estimate: Prior to the riser cut, oil was flowing both from the end of the riser and from several different holes in the riser kink. This made estimates - particularly based on two dimensional video alone - more difficult.

"We need to have accurate and scientifically grounded oil flow rate information both for the purposes of the response and recovery and for the final investigation of the failure of the blowout preventer and the resulting spill," said Interior Secretary Salazar. "This estimate, which we will continue to refine as the scientific teams get new data and conduct new analyses, is the most comprehensive estimate so far of how much oil is flowing one mile below the ocean's surface."

"Each of the methodologies that the scientific teams is using has its advantages and shortcomings, which is why it is so important that the scientific teams have taken several approaches to solving this problem," said Dr. McNutt. "Under the leadership of Admiral Allen, we will continue to revise and refine the flow rate estimate as our scientific teams get new data and conduct additional analyses."

The FRTG was assembled at the direction of National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen, and is led by United States Geological Survey Director Dr. Marcia McNutt. The FRTG, and a scientific team led by Energy Secretary Steven Chu, continue to analyze new data and use several scientific methodologies to develop updated estimates of how much oil is flowing from BP's leaking oil well in the Gulf of Mexico.

For information about the response effort, visit DeepwaterHorizonResponse.com.

July 12, 2010

This conflicts with what Rep. Ed Markey stated.

Representative Ed Markey (D-Mass.) released an internal BP document showing that the company's own analysis believed that a worst-case scenario, based on damage to the well bore, could result in 100,000 barrels of oil per day.

In the document, BP stated: If BOP and wellhead are removed and if we have incorrectly modeled the restrictions – the rate could be as high as ~ 100,000 barrels per day up the casing or 55,000 barrels per day up the annulus (low probability worst cases)

The document can be found here: http://globalwarming.house.gov/files/WEB/flowrateBP.pdf

This number is in sharp contrast to BP’s initial claim that the leak was just 1,000 barrels a day. At the time this document was made available to Congress, BP claimed the leak was 5,000 barrels a day, and told Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that the worst case scenario was be 60,000 barrels a day. This document tells a different story.

"Considering what is now known about BP’s problems with this well prior to the Deepwater Horizon explosion, including cementing issues, leaks in the blowout preventer and gas kicks, BP should have been more honest about the dangerous condition of the well bore," said Markey, the chairman of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee in the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

On Thursday, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen was asked in his daily briefing about the condition of the well bore. He said there, "So what I would tell you is we don't know exactly the condition of the well bore. And that’s one of the unknowns that we’re managing around in terms of risks. And that's the reason we didn't go, didn’t go to excessive pressures on the top kill and decided that we'd deal with containment and then go for the final relief well."

According to Admiral Allen: "I think that one thing that nobody knows is the condition of the well bore from below the blowout preventer down to the actual oil field itself. And we don’t know, we don’t know if the well bore has been compromised or not."

What the BP document suggests that if the well bore is compromised or becomes compromised, we now know we could be looking at a flow rate 100 times BP's initial estimate. Even if we can't know for certain the condition of the well bore, we should have known how much oil could flow from it--BP did.

"When the oil spill started, BP said it was only 1,000 barrels a day. Now we know it could end up being 100 times larger than that in a worst-case scenario," said Markey. "This document raises very troubling questions about what BP knew and when they knew it. It is clear that, from the beginning, BP has not been straightforward with the government or the American people about the true size of this spill. Now the families living and working in the Gulf are suffering from their incompetence."

"BP needs to tell us what it will do if the well bore is compromised and 100,000 barrels per day of oil spills into the ocean. At this point, we need real contingency planning, not a plan with dead scientists and walruses," said Markey.

July 12, 2010

So the government states it is 35,000 to 60,000 barrels. That would be average mean of 48,000 barrels per day. And BP states its between 55,000 to 100,000 gallons a day. That is an average mean of 78,000 barrels a day.

Let's take the two and I get a combined average of 63,000 barrels a day. That is still over the government range.

July 12, 2010

That would explain both the government's and BP's statement Helix Producer, which will increase the rate to a 90% collection capacity of an estimated 53,000 barrels per day. Makes total sense.

July 12, 2010

The only way we will ever know the truth is if they get a third party.

BP does not want to pay for the actual amount. I think the administration cut a deal with them.

James Cameron offered his cameras. BP and Government did not take up offer

Russia offered their sub. BP and Government did not take up offer.

Scientist from California offered to give estimate. BP and Government did not take up offer.

July 12, 2010

So the government states it is 35,000 to 60,000 barrels. That would be average mean of 48,000 barrels per day. And BP states its between 55,000 to 100,000 gallons a day. That is an average mean of 78,000 barrels a day.

Let's take the two and I get a combined average of 63,000 barrels a day. That is still over the government range.

'Zen: I think you meant "And BP states it's between 55,000 and 100,000 BARRELS a day."

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