Oil Spill in the Gulf

Robot Nudge Foils Gulf Oil Collection for a Day

June 24, 2010

AP – One nudge by a deep-sea robot, and BP had to back off its most effective method so far for containing the Gulf of Mexico oil leak.

After being removed for much of the day Wednesday, engineers using remote-controlled submarines repositioned a cap that had captured 700,000 gallons of oil in 24 hours before one of the robots bumped into it late in the morning.

Bob Dudley, BP's new point man for the oil response, said crews had done the right thing to remove the cap because fluid seemed to be leaking and could have been a safety hazard. The logistics coordinator onboard the ship that has been siphoning the oil told The Associated Press that the system was working again but it would take a little time before for the system to "get ramped back up." He asked not to be identified by name because he was not authorized to provide the information.

"It's a setback, and now we will go back into operation and show how this technology can work," Dudley said before the system was working again.

While the cap was off, clouds of black oil gushed unchecked again at up to 104,000 gallons per hour, though a specialized ship at the surface managed to suck up and incinerate 438,000 gallons.

The oil-burning ship is part of an armada floating at the site of the rogue well some 50 miles off the Louisiana coast, and the scene below the surface is no less crowded. At least a dozen robotic submarines dangle from ships at the surface on mile-long cables called "umbilicals," with most of the undersea work taking place within a few hundred yards of the busted well ...

The latest problem in the effort to stop the gusher came as thick pools of oil washed up on Pensacola Beach in Florida, and the Obama administration sought to resurrect a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling.

Wednesday's disruption "is obviously a very disappointing development in a long line of setbacks, and Louisianians are frankly tired of excuses from the government and BP," said Republican Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana.

The current worst-case estimate of what's spewing into the Gulf is about 2.5 million gallons a day. Anywhere from 67 million to 127 million gallons have spilled since the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig that killed 11 workers and blew out the well 5,000 feet underwater. BP PLC was leasing the rig from owner Transocean Ltd.

When the robot bumped into the equipment just before 10 a.m., gas rose through a vent that carries warm water down to prevent ice-like crystals from forming in the machinery, Allen said. Crews were checking to see if the crystals called hydrates had formed before attempting to put the cap back on.

Last month, a similar problem with a cap doomed the effort to put a bigger containment device over the blown-out well. BP had to abandon the four-story box after the crystals clogged it, threatening to make it float away.

The smaller cap, which had worked fine until now, had been in place since June 4.

In Florida, thick pools of oil washed up along miles of national park and Pensacola Beach shoreline as health advisories against swimming and fishing in the once-pristine waters were extended for 33 miles east from the Alabama line.

"It's pretty ugly, there's no question about it," said Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.

The oil reeked as it baked in the afternoon heat on a beach that looked as if it had been paved with a 6-foot-wide ribbon of asphalt.

"This used to be a place where you could come and forget about all your cares in the world," said Nancy Berry, who fought back tears as she watched her two grandsons play in the sand far from the shore.

Park ranger Bobbie Visnovske said a family found an oily young dolphin beached in the sand in the Gulf Islands National Seashore Wednesday. Wildlife officers carried it into shallow water to revive it. They later transported it to a rehabilitation center in Panama City, about 100 miles to the east.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration was plotting its next steps after U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans overturned a moratorium on new drilling. In court papers, the Justice Department said it has asked a judge to delay the ruling. The Interior Department imposed the moratorium last month, halting approval of any new permits for deepwater projects and suspending drilling on 33 exploratory wells.

Feldman, appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1983, has reported extensive investments in the oil and gas industry, including owning less than $15,000 of Transocean stock, according to financial disclosure reports for 2008, the most recent available. He did not return calls seeking more information about his investments.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he would issue a new order within the next few days imposing a moratorium that eliminates any doubt it is needed and appropriate.

"It's important that we don't move forward with new drilling until we know it can be done in a safe way," he told a Senate subcommittee Wednesday.

Several companies, including Shell and Marathon Oil, said they would await the outcome of any appeals before they resume drilling.

Biggest Concentration of Oil Yet Hits Pensacola

June 6, 2010

CBS4 - Even as people started arriving on Pensacola Beach for a long, hot, pre-summer Sunday, more bad news arrived with the waves. Cleanup crews working to clean up oil before beach-goers arrived found what some are calling the largest single concentration of oil to hit the beach since the BP gulf oil disaster began.



CBS4's Jorge Estevez was with the clean-up crews when they arrived. They faced a tedious and frustrating task, sifting through the sand picking up literally thousands of miniature tar patches, embedded in the sand and hiding from the shovels and bags brought to take them away.

It was a bit of a shock for Pensacola City counciman Larry Johnson.

"I pull up and get out here and set up, and there is oil all over our beach," he said.

Johnson came across the oil while on the very same beach he was elected to protect.

"I'm outraged," he said. "This is terrible what is happening to our community -- the devastation financially, emotionally -- everyone is suffering because of this."

Johnson said he confirmed Sunday's discovery is the worst yet.

"I spoke with the Coast Guard," he said, "and they said this is the heaviest concentration of oil on Pensacola beach right here."

As crews worked to pick up what they could, people in Pensacola on vacation watched them work while others just headed to the water, trying to avoid the tar.

It looked like you and I had a hose and we were just spraying the beach down with motor oil," said Pensacola Mayoral Candidate Ashton Hayward.

"Today was far worst than yesterday. Yesterday you had balls of oil. Today it was dispersed everywhere."

What worries the cleanup crews, the politicians, and anyone concerned about the beaches is that what was discovered Sunday is just the merest hint of the oil still waiting off-shore.

"That is what we found. Let me press it for you. See that is what we are looking at. That is what is washing up on Pensacola Beach right now. Devastating. I hope this doesn't show up in Miami."

Slideshow: Gooey Tar Balls Wash Ashore Pensacola Beach