Gulf Coast Oil Spill: Ecological disaster in the making
NBC Bay Area’s Rob Mayeda discusses revised estimates of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico now believed to be closer to 200,000 gallons per day. At its current pace the Gulf of Mexico oil spill may be approaching nearly two million gallons and due to a wind pattern change will likely start heading to the Gulf Coast in the next few days. For reference, the Cosco Busan 2007 spill involved more than 50,000 gallons of bunker fuel. The Exxon Valdez disaster involved nearly 10.8 million gallons of crude that still fouls the Alaskan shoreline today (est. 26,000 gallons impacting the shoreline as of 2007). Here’s a repair & oil recovery update from NOAA on efforts in the Gulf of Mexico: Workers finished fabricating the containment chamber portion of the collection dome that will be deployed to the sea floor to collect oil as it escapes from the well. Work will now begin on the piping system that brings the oil to the surface for collection; this method has never been tried at this depth before. The first rig to be used for drilling a relief or cut-off well is on site and should begin drilling approximately ½ a mile from the well head on Friday. The relief well will not be complete for several months. Responders are still figuring out new ways to use Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) to try to trigger the blowout preventer (BOP), a series of valves that sits at the well head. These efforts will continue concurrent with the collection dome and relief well(s). Good weather today allowed for both skimming operations and aggressive aerial application of dispersants – over 50,000 gallons of dispersant have been applied to the surface oil in the last two days. Patches of surface oil were captured with fire-retardant boom and ignited (in situ burn). Current NOAA efforts are focused on: gathering more information about the spill, planning for open water and shoreline remediation, and readying for environmental assessment and response. Natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) activities are now underway. * Winds are forecast to become strong (20+ kts) and blow from the southeast starting tomorrow and continuing through the weekend, which will continue to push surface oil towards shore * NOAA oil-spill trajectory analyses indicate that oil continues to move towards shore. * 100,000’ of oil-containment booms (or floating barriers) have been deployed as a precaution to protect sensitive areas in the Louisiana area. * The effects of oil on sensitive habitats and shorelines in four states (LA, MS, AL, and FL) are being evaluated should oil from the incident make landfall in appreciable quantities * NOAA’s Assessment and Restoration Division is evaluating concerns about potential injuries of oil and dispersants to fishes, human use of fisheries, marine mammals, turtles, and sensitive resources * Baseline aerial surveys to assess marine life were conducted today with personnel from NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), these will continue as needed
