SailNet Community banner
  • SailNet is a forum community dedicated to Sailing enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about sailing, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, repairs, reviews, maintenance, and more!

Gulf of Mexico oil spill

108K views 1K replies 109 participants last post by  travlin-easy 
#1 ·
any of you guys down in the gulf? while im sure news reports are always accurate... har-t-har har... just wondered if i could get a locals perspective on the situation, as it doesnt look good. from what i gathered if the latest attempt to shut that off fails, the next fix will take two weeks to even attempt!!
 
#2 ·
There's talk of trying to burn it off, but supposedly they'd have to contain it with fireproof boom first?

Whether for booming, containment, or skimming/recovery offshore, the forecast for end of this week is really the worst, strong onshore winds and high seas Fri and Sat at least:

National Weather Service Marine Forecast

Hard to contain anything in those seas. The river delta, Breton Sound areas are in the cross-hairs in SE wind, and Miss. Sound in S wind. I hope they can get the BOP to close, because the other possible solutions would take much longer. Hurricane season starts June 1, by the way.

This is such a boring town to live in.....
 
#3 ·
Any way you look at this, it ain't good.
 
#5 ·
uhhh... maybe the john birch society? lol... j/k

Ive never heard of the 'burn off' method ever being attempted before... esp. considering at 20 mi offshore it could wash up afire! oh wait, they are going to corral the thicker stuff and tow it out.... sounds like an idea that Dr. Klodge (the PO of my boat) would come up with....
 
#6 ·
A flyover on Tuesday, April 27 at 5:00 p.m. (CST) showed a rainbow sheen approximately 600 miles in circumference with areas of emulsified crude. The edge of the sheen is approximately 23 miles off the coast of Louisiana.

More than 76,580 feet of boom (barrier) has been assigned to contain the spill. An additional 167,220 feet is available and 385,080 feet has been ordered.

To date, the oil spill response team has recovered 6,206 barrels (260,652 gallons) of an oil-water mix. Vessels are in place and continuing recovery operations.

70 response vessels are being used including skimmers, tugs, barges and recovery vessels.

64,748 gallons of dispersant have been deployed and an additional 110,960 gallons are available.

Five staging areas are in place and ready to protect sensitive shorelines. These areas include:

Biloxi, Miss., Pensacola, Fla. Venice, La., Pascagoula, Miss., and Theodore, Ala.
 
#7 ·
Release date: 26 April 2010
BP is accelerating offshore oil recovery and continuing well control efforts in Mississippi Canyon Block 252 (MC252) following improvements in weather conditions in the Gulf of Mexico yesterday.

"The safety of the people working offshore is our top priority and the improved weather has created better conditions for our response," said BP Group Chief Executive Tony Hayward. "This, combined with the light, thin oil we are dealing with has further increased our confidence that we can tackle this spill offshore."
BP, operating with the U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies, has launched its comprehensive, pre-approved oil spill response plan following the April 22 sinking of the Transocean Deepwater Horizon drilling rig 130 miles south-east of New Orleans.

According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) experts participating in the spill response, the spill is "very thin" and consists of "97 per cent sheen."

In Houma, Louisiana where the field operations response is being coordinated, more than 1,000 personnel on and offshore are deployed to coordinate the oil spill response.
BP, as lease operator of MC252, also continues to work below the surface on Transocean’s subsea equipment using remotely operated vehicles to monitor the Macondo/MC252 exploration well, and is working to activate the blow-out preventer.

The Transocean drilling rig Development Driller III will arrive on location today to drill the first of two relief wells to permanently secure the well. A second drilling rig, Transocean’s Discoverer Enterprise, is en route.
 
#13 ·
Release date: 26 April 2010
BP is accelerating offshore oil recovery and continuing well control efforts in Mississippi Canyon Block 252 (MC252) following improvements in weather conditions in the Gulf of Mexico yesterday.

"The safety of the people working offshore is our top priority and the improved weather has created better conditions for our response," said BP Group Chief Executive Tony Hayward. "This, combined with the light, thin oil we are dealing with has further increased our confidence that we can tackle this spill offshore."
BP, operating with the U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies, has launched its comprehensive, pre-approved oil spill response plan following the April 22 sinking of the Transocean Deepwater Horizon drilling rig 130 miles south-east of New Orleans.

According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) experts participating in the spill response, the spill is "very thin" and consists of "97 per cent sheen."

In Houma, Louisiana where the field operations response is being coordinated, more than 1,000 personnel on and offshore are deployed to coordinate the oil spill response.
BP, as lease operator of MC252, also continues to work below the surface on Transocean's subsea equipment using remotely operated vehicles to monitor the Macondo/MC252 exploration well, and is working to activate the blow-out preventer.

The Transocean drilling rig Development Driller III will arrive on location today to drill the first of two relief wells to permanently secure the well. A second drilling rig, Transocean's Discoverer Enterprise, is en route.
Well, BP is the environmentalist oil company (if one were foolish enough to believe their false flag marketing) was the worst offender on bad maintenance in Alaska, where one of their pipelines had a big spill a few years back. Once again we find that they are the greatest threat to the environment.

To boot, the administration just approved long-proposed operations of offshore drilling in large swaths of the US coast. Ugh! So where's our big investment in renewal energy? Sure, we are clever animals and can construct amazing machinery to exploit the planet, but I feel sure, we will all perish, as these systems we have come to rely on all crumble one by one, for lack of proper maintenance, for a myriad of reasons. Satellites will cease functioning, disrupting communications and navigation. Big steel machines will corrode and fail from cost cutting in maintenance to maximize profits for the next 3 months, to please Wall Street. Entropy and loss of social cohesion will force all action into the near future and the ten year plans be damned.

If Lou'ziana is the waste portal for the US mainland, the "A" hole for future reference, then the Gulf of Mexico must be the toilet bowl. Standard Oil used to control the state, and the oil cartel still does I think. Condolences to sailors and residents of the oil coast in the gulf. I hope you/we get a benevolent outcome, but it don't look good.
 
#8 ·
I sail the Mississippi Gulf coast out of Bay St. Louis and I'm not real concerned about this (97% sheen) Oil spill right now.
If you like yur crab legs dipped in butter then there may be a silver lining to the oil spill...
I'm kind of hoping for changing wind conditions soon!!
 
This post has been deleted
#25 ·
We are in Slidell, LA, on Lake Pontchartrain. I have a somewhat inside track from friends formerly with Exxon. The concerns to the environment are extreme in their view. They are expecting the worst, especially concerning the off shore islands and the National Sea Shore, unless something changes really soon.

Even if it turns in our favor now there will be devastation to that which will never recover.

We are not far from the spill slick at all, maybe 100 miles, and with SE winds returning soon it will be heading to our home area. Ironically, we were planning a 2 week trip to the Chandeleur Islands this coming weekend. It was to be our first, as waters there are quite thin. A friend was going to lead us in. The trip is now off, and we will probably never see it as it once was.
I live in the n.o. area and I am like disturbed out of my mind over this. I realized just how bad it was when I was smelling the oil in the air today on the westbank, metairie and harahan. I could hardley read some stuff online tonight about it such as this Oil Spill Reaches Mississippi River - CBS News Just look what it says about the marine life, its painful to even read it. All those beautiful dolphins, shore birds and even the state's pelican. I mean WTF are we going to have our beautiful gulf islands, grand isle, and whatever else turned into a oil soaked mess? I have went to grand isle about a year ago and it was more beautiful then I had ever seen. Is it going to change now? I have not even seen some of these places yet and I did want to go to the chandeleur islands. What about my cat island trip? Not to mention what about all of the marine life that we all like to see when we go on the water? I am a photographer and kayaker as well as a sailor. I know the fishermen are effected but so am I. I love my second word (the water) and all I know it for is getting destroyed. This hurts me as I enjoy taking video and pics of all the wildlife I see when I go on the water. Not to mention the beautiful scenery such as white beaches. What about the water, is it going to be oil saturated surf near the beach? I feel as if someone just poored oil all over my personal hometown paradise and all its natural beauty.
 
#14 ·
This is a worst-case scenario in the sense that the multiply redundant BOP systems seemed to have all failed. Deepwater exploration is challenging for sure (I do this for a living), but occurrences like this are very rare. BP's safety record is abysmal though, corporation wide. From an environmental standpoint, this is very bad, to be sure, though I saw some data that suggests the amount of oil flowing into the gulf waters right now is only like 25% more than the natural seepage the occurs. The high temperatures and natural oil-eating bacteria will do most of the cleanup work. Let's just hope they get the well shut off soon.
 
#15 ·
This is looking to be one of the largest environmental disaster in the history of our planet.

The well is leaking a minimum of 40,000-50,000 gal a day and they are now saying it's going to take a minimum of 4-8 weeks to stop the leak. That's 2-3 million more gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Look for oil on all the Gulf State coasts including western Florida and the Keys, plus the oil will be in the Gulf Stream, bringing it up the US eastern coast as well as the potential of the Atlantic European coasts & beyond.

Drill baby drill.....
 
#16 ·
Update:
They just found a third leak and have increased the estimated daily spill up to 200,000 gallons a day.

(CNN) -- The oil spill from last week's deadly rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico has increased to 5,000 barrels a day -- five times more than the original estimate, said Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry.

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.
Drill baby drill...
 
#22 · (Edited)
maybe we should just strive for some responsibility...
wheather the economy expands or contracts the garbage dump always gets bigger,
though i must admit energy efficiency has continued to improve, and the percentage of disposable income spent on it has done nothing but go down since the 70's
 
#24 ·
A solution would be a big tax on petroleum products. A $10/gallon would certainly reduce our consumption.

But will you vote for it? and enough other people for it to get passed?

Can't have your cake and eat it too... or something like that.

I struggle with the issue myself. I love modern technology (sailboats, computers, cars, heated home, etc.) that makes my life comfortable but at the same time I love pristine nature. It's impossible to have extremes of both at the same time -- all compromises.
 
#26 ·
I'm amazed at the amount of destruction that will come out of this. The way it's going now they won't have that closed off for weeks.. 200 gallons a day? That's one heck of a lot of oil that will now wash out all over the east coast, head south and ruin pretty much every island around that area. I can't even imagine what it will be like one month from now, every beach off limits because it's coated in toxic oil?

Of course, expect BP to fight it all the way despite a class action lawsuit already in place for damages done to particular industries. Sad sad sad..

If ANYTHING good comes out of this it should be the wake up call that you can't just drill anywhere and drill irresponsibly. Valdez, Alaska tundra issue, Texas explosion and all the others that aren't just BP have yet to tell people that the industry doesn't care whatsoever about the environment and will fight tooth and nail to not have to pain a penny for cleanup or damage done, even lives lost... Can anybody explain why the government didn't move much much faster on the issue?

Here's an article that a friend sent to me actually, slightly informational I think: Oil spill from BP explosion spreads in Gulf of Mexico
 
#27 ·
Well said and I want to add that explosion is something that could have been prevented. It appears BP was irresponsible for the safe operation of that rig to allow such a horrible disaster to unfold. In addition, what about the 11 men who were killed during the explosion and their families? A small oil spill is one thing, this is a huge national disaster.
 
#28 ·
Sailguy40,
I feel your pain.
Human beings a have been in control for quite a while now and have a proven track record of trashing the environment for elusive profit dating back to the early damming of rivers and gold and silver mining in the Rockies. The Shad (fish) only run in some major east coast rivers now and there are some troutless streams in Colorado because of those activities. Then there is the coal that used to be in the ground in West Virginia that ended up as acid rain in the lakes of the north east, the plastic and now more oil in the oceans and especially your beautiful Gulf waters south of NOLA.
Isn't there a canal in the city of New Orleans called the Industrial Canal? Hmmm.
Don't jump off a bridge just yet as a couple of good hurricanes could mix things up quite a bit. Besides, isn't there already a 'dead zone' in the summer in the Gulf at the mouth of the Miss. river? We seem to keep dumping **** into the ocean.
Depressing? Yes. I feel for you. It probably would not cheer you up to think that all the way to Florida and beyond may get some oil but at least you know that others will be sharing in your misery unless there is one huge fire in the Gulf tonight.
 
#29 ·
I am sure it will eventually destroy most of our gulf coast as we know it. I just heard on the news, some oil had already reached the mouth of the mississippi river. What is next? Don't even tell me we will get some in our lake ponchartrain! They never said anything about the lake but hey its water and it leads right into the rigolets which leads to the gulf. So it seems to me the oil can indeed find its way in if given the right conditions.
 
#30 ·
Think we will be coming down that way in two weeks and see about doing some volunteer work on the shorelines. The way it sounds each passing day will be compounding the problem threefold. I am unclear as to why the oil at depth still comes to the surface. Seems like the pressure would keep it on the bottom.
 
#34 ·
As k1vsk mentioned earlier, it is us that is causing the problems. We the people keep increasing our demand for electricity and cheap oil. I too blame the companies, but it is mostly our fault. Hopefully everybody will begin to see what this way of life does to this planet. All the conveniences and technologies that we have that were supposed to make life easier, but they just seem to go against life. We have to work much harder and longer for things that we actually could live without. All this and we get mining, stripping, pollution, waste, oil slicks and fires, nuclear waste, etc. that not only kills our environment but us along with it.
 
#35 ·
Just to provide a little persepective, and not to downplay the current catastrophe, but this is NOT the biggest spill in GOM history. In fact, at 5000 barrels a day, ti doesn't even come close to Ixtoc I, which dumped at least twice that much oil into the gulf for more than nine months.

In fact, at 5000 barrels a day, it would take 15 days of spill to fill a WW II T-2 Tanker.
26 of them sank in the Gulf during World War II.
Yeah it's big, yeah it's a problem, but the Gulf has faced bigger badder problems before that no one even remembers, because the gulf bounced back.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top