frac test down under….

http://www.inkcinct.com.au/web-pages/cartoons/past/2011/2011-511–coal-seam-gas-fracturing.gif

http://soundwaves.usgs.gov/2012/10/research3.html

Well, yeah, duh. This was the big risk all along, wasn’t it? The loss of biologically rich and diverse habitats? Hate to say I said so…….. DV

By Rachel Pawlitz
Sept. / Oct. 2012

Nearly 2 years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the meticulous, long-term efforts of scientists finally yielded the official results: the brown, wilted, dying corals found at Mississippi Canyon lease block 294 were indeed damaged by a plume of oil from the spill. For many, it seemed a foregone conclusion. What else could brown gunk (flocculent matter, if you’re a scientist) covering damaged corals 7 miles from the Deepwater Horizon drill site be, if not oil from the spill? Yet, to this team of scientists, it was worth taking a close look at the evidence with two-dimensional gas chromatography, sediment cores, coral samples, and mosaic imagery. Why? Because so much was at stake.

To understand the damage in the deep, the scientists had to start by understanding what was down there before the spill. To support that mission, enter U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) research benthic ecologist Amanda Demopoulos (http://profile.usgs.gov/ademopoulos), who studies life on the seafloor to describe what types of organisms typically live together in deep-sea communities. Her work involves digging sediment cores from the ocean bottom and sorting through the many tiny life forms found there. (For example, see “Scientists Cruise Deep Into Coral Ecosystems,” Sound Waves, December 2009.)

In addition to deep-sea coral ecosystems, Demopoulos studies communities in parts of the Gulf where oil naturally seeps up from the seafloor and is in fact a wellspring of life, not a source of damage. Chemosynthetic ecosystems-the ones where food webs are based on chemicals rather than sunlight-tend to host different life forms, such as tubeworms.

Demopoulos was on the November 2010 research expedition that first discovered the damaged corals. Led by biology professor Charles Fisher of the Pennsylvania State University (http://bio.psu.edu/directory/crf2) and funded by the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management (BOEM) and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the expedition’s goal was to build a scientific understanding of the various undersea ecosystems. It was part of a decades-long collaborative effort among federal and university scientists to explore deep-sea ecosystems in order to provide sound baseline information for management decisions about how to best balance natural-resource use with protection. Demopoulos recalled watching the first images from the damaged site come in from a remotely operated vehicle (ROV).

“When we were watching the ROV video in the lab, I looked up at the video screen, and it looked starkly different from anything we’d ever seen before,” Demopoulos said. “The corals were all dark grey and lumped over, and it was clear these animals were not healthy. We’d seen dead coral, but this was so different, we immediately knew it was worth investigating further. When we got closer, there didn’t seem to be any secondary colonization, as we’d seen in the past on dead coral.”

The fact that no new animals, such as barnacles or hydroids, had begun to attach and grow on the dead corals suggested that the coral deaths had been recent, noted Demopoulos. This process, known as secondary colonization, is commonly observed on dead corals but takes time to occur.

In December 2010, barely a month after the discovery of the damaged coral, Fisher led a followup expedition to further examine the damaged corals, supported by a special National Science Foundation RAPID grant. Fisher, along with assistant professor of chemistry Helen White of Haverford College (http://www.haverford.edu/faculty/hwhite), directed the coral-damage assessment in collaboration with scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Temple University, the USGS, and the BOEM. On the basis of her expertise with sediment samples, Demopoulos worked with White and Fisher to design the best approach for assessing the corals at the Mississippi Canyon lease block 294 for the presence of oil and the extent of damage.

“The challenge we faced in this study was piecing together what happened from multiple lines of evidence, because no one was sitting on the seafloor when the plume went by. The corals were the only witness,” said Demopoulos. “We had to consider the proximity to the Deepwater Horizon site and the fact that a deep-water plume had recently passed over the site, then closely examine the corals for tissue damage and signs of stress, such as the presence of mucus, and of course, the chemical signature of the oil. It was truly an interdisciplinary effort.”

Demopoulos pointed out that the cumulative knowledge about deep-sea communities from previous expeditions provided the baseline for scientifically assessing what they saw at the site. “This is but one site in the Gulf of Mexico,” she said, “but it has shown how important it was for us to have a frame of reference as to what a healthy deep-sea coral ecosystem looks like. We are still trying to understand the extent to which this is occurring elsewhere in the Gulf of Mexico.”

The results of the scientists’ efforts were published online in March 2012 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) at http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1118029109. Additional information about the study is posted at http://science.psu.edu/news-and-events/2012-news/Fisher3-2012.

Above: Normal coral with some dead skeletal material covered by typical secondary colonization (right), in comparison with wilting, dying coral covered with oil-plume debris (left). Also affected were brittlestars, seen climbing in the healthy coral. Image courtesy of Lophelia II 2010 expedition, NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER) and BOEM. [larger version]

Above: Amanda Demopoulos sorts and identifies animals in a sieved sample. Image courtesy of Lophelia II 2009: Deepwater Coral Expedition: Reefs, Rigs and Wrecks. [larger version]

Above: Damaged coral with brittlestar climbing through it. Image courtesy of Lophelia II 2010 expedition, NOAA OER and BOEM. [larger version]

[Modified from USGS Science Pick at http://www.usgs.gov/blogs/features/usgs_science_pick/corals-damaged-by-deepwater-horizon/.]

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www.ogj.com/articles/2012/10/independent-reviews-suggested-as-way-to-keep-offshore-safety-current.html?cmpid=EnlDailyOctober32012

I think it’s revealing that even the oil rep suggests sharing updated technologies for containment with current industry groups, suggesting that improved technology and practices may not be integrated into current production at present even as deeper drilling expands dramatically. DV

WASHINGTON, DC, Oct. 2
10/02/2012
By Nick Snow
OGJ Washington Editor

Regularly scheduled reviews of offshore oil and gas safety and environmental standards and practices could help assure that the complacency prevalent before the 2010 Macondo deepwater well blowout and subsequent oil spill doesn’t resurface, an environmental organization official suggested.

Elgie Holstein, senior director for strategic planning at the Environmental Defense Fund, said the National Academies of Science or some other independent group with the necessary expertise and stature possibly could conduct such reviews as each federal 5-year US Outer Continental Shelf program was being developed.

“It may take outside bodies-both regulators and independent scientists-to identify areas which need to be addressed as the industry moves into more challenging regions and depths,” Holstein said during an Oct. 2 discussion of offshore oil and gas safety at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement Director James A. Watson, who also participated, said Holstein’s idea intrigued him. “In an industry that’s constantly moving forward, I think you need another mechanism,” he said. “It’s constantly pressing technology and management systems into higher-risk areas. I think there’s a role for someone to point out that this is happening, and that a time-out might be necessary.”

Troublesome trend

The discussion’s moderator, Michael R. Bromwich, a consultant and nonresident CSIS advisor, oversaw the 2010-11 restructuring of federal offshore oil and gas regulatory enforcement following the Macondo incident and spill. He warned that the strong offshore oil and gas safety emphasis that followed Macondo is being replaced by a focus on speed in approving drilling and other permits. Ways to break down barriers to improvement need to be found and instituted instead, he said.

“The key point is sustained learning, along with generated information,” observed Charlie Williams, executive director of the Center for Offshore Safety, which the US oil and gas industry established after Macondo. “There’s a lot of research in disparate places, but we need to assure there aren’t gaps in safety technology.”

Major oil companies operating in the Gulf created the Marine Well Containment Co. in 2010 when it became obvious offshore spill control and containment technology had not kept pace as exploration and production moved into deeper water, Williams continued. MWCC might be one place to start sharing information, he said.

Norway’s approach

Svein Erik Eide, vice-president of drilling and well technology at Statoil ASA, said Norway uses a collaboration of producers, regulators, and labor unions to handle offshore safety and environment issues.

“There’s a human factor behind all accidents,” Eide said, adding, “We can address it by sharing information and analyzing data at all times.”

When the Norwegians evaluated their own system after Macondo, they found rig workers were well trained as petroleum engineers but didn’t understand planning and execution of essential tasks, Eide said. “Half of our production comes from deep water in the North Sea. Not having capping and containment systems was a real surprise in 2010.”

Eide said nine companies stepped forward and helped develop offshore spill control and containment systems for the four regions of the world in which Statoil operates.

Holstein said the essential question was whether the oil and gas industry and its regulators can maintain rigorous safety and environmental standards amid budget cuts and political pressures. “Indeed, in the presidential race, there’s much discussion of whether we’re moving fast enough [to develop domestic oil and gas resources], and I expect it to be part of tomorrow night’s debate,” he said.

Contact Nick Snow at nicks@pennwell.com.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www.luminanews.com/article.asp?aid=10910&iid=344&sud=30

by Cole Dittmer
Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Staff photo by Allison Potter
Penny, left, and Mark Hooper of Hooper Family Seafood and Jenny Marienau of 350 Action Fund were among the speakers at a press conference opposing drilling off North Carolina’s coast on Friday, Sept. 28 at Wrightsville’s south end.

Held on the shores of Banks Channel at the south end of Wrightsville Beach, the –
350.org Action Fund organized a flotilla press conference on Friday, Sept. 28, to protest offshore drilling along the North Carolina Coast. Joining Jenny Marienau, the N.C. field organizer for 350.org, was Wrightsville Beach Mayor David Cignotti, Mark and Penny Hooper of Hooper Family Seafood, and Zac Singleton of the Sierra Club. While the event was taking place on the beach, two boats in the background displayed banners that read, “Gov. Romney: North Carolina’s Coast is Not Open For Drilling.”

Romney has endorsed an increase in offshore drilling in the United States in an effort to make the country energy independent by 2020 but Marienau and 350.org hope to inform Romney of the harmful environmental effects drilling for oil off the North Carolina coast could have.

“Drilling is now restricted here through 2017 and we intend to keep it that way,” Marienau said. “Opening our coasts to drilling would put our businesses, which depend on tourism, at risk if we experience an oil spill like the Deepwater Horizon drilling disaster, which has devastated businesses up and down the Gulf Coast.”

The 350.org Action Fund is an international grassroots organization that seeks to solve the climate crisis through promoting a greater public awareness about the issue. The number in the organization’s name refers to the level of parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere. Currently carbon dioxide makes up 394 ppm of the earth’s atmosphere. It should be less than 350 ppm to maintain the necessary temperature to avoid any further melting of the polar ice caps, states 350.org. On its website, 350.org claims that until humans began using fossil fuels, there was only 275 ppm of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, but the level is now rising at an accelerated rate of 2 ppm every year.

Attached to the letter Marienau will send to Romney is a list of 23 businesses from Wrightsville Beach and Wilmington that support the anti-offshore drilling initiative.
Alluding to a press conference about the benefits of offshore wind energy in N.C. that was held earlier in the month of September, Mayor Cignotti reiterated his support for clean energy.

“Drilling is not the best option for coastal North Carolina because it is too much of a threat to our coastal communities,” Cignotti said. “Let’s not be a fossil fuel follower.”

Mark and Penny Hooper also expressed their concerns about drilling off the North Carolina coast as longtime operators of a commercial seafood company in Smyrna, N.C. “I feel a moral outrage about what we are doing to this planet with little or no consideration for our grandchildren’s future,” Penny Hooper said. “We must move to alternative fuels like wind and solar and leave the carbon in the ground.”

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/259759-obama-drilling-chief-timeout-may-be-needed-as-industry-pushes-into-tougher-climates

Finally…..some sense of real concern for the environmental impacts of drilling out of the new oil management team at the Interior Dept. DV

By Ben Geman – 10/02/12 02:51 PM ET

The Interior Department’s offshore drilling safety chief said more review is needed to gauge whether industry technology is keeping pace as companies push into increasingly risky climates, suggesting a “time-out” could be needed in the future.

James Watson’s comments arrive as oil companies are drilling in ever-deeper waters and more remote regions, including the Arctic, in search of new finds. Watson noted that existing technology and management systems are continually being used in “higher and higher risk areas.”

“So I think there is a role for someone outside of the business to actually be able to say ‘time-out,’ we are now stretched about as far as we might want to be stretched with the technology that has been in place for 10, 20 years or whatever,” said Watson, head of Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

“I think that at some point there is an important role that the government needs to play in saying well, wait a minute, let’s just see where we are, and before we stretch that technology another step, is there some work that needs to be done in the applied research area to create a better system of something that is designed specifically for the conditions that we now operate in,” he said at a drilling event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Watson, whom The Hill profiled here, said he is “intrigued” by an environmentalist’s suggestion at the same event for a periodic outside review of the industry’s technological and management capacity.

Elgie Holstein of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) suggested a “periodic technology and managerial review” of the industry carried out by an outside organization such as the National Academy of Sciences or the National Academy of Public Administration.

He suggested such reviews could be conducted when the Interior Department is crafting its five-year offshore leasing plans. The current plan runs from 2012-2017 and includes, in the later years, lease sales for Arctic waters off Alaska’s coast.

“It is a concept that goes hand in hand with the recognition that offshore oil drilling over time is going to become nothing but more complex, the environments will become more challenging, the equipment will be more complex to operate, the managerial challenges of coordinating everybody on the rig and off the rig will become that much greater,” Holstein, EDF’s senior director of strategic planning, told reporters after the event.

Discussion of broad, future reviews of the industry’s technology come as companies are already drilling in deep, high-pressure waters in the Gulf of Mexico, and beginning the early stages of Arctic exploration.

Watson’s agency recently gave Royal Dutch Shell permission to conduct preliminary drilling off Alaska’s northern coast, but the company did not win approval to drill into oil-bearing subsea zones and has abandoned that effort for this year.

Interior has beefed up drilling and rig safety regulations and overhauled oversight in the wake of the 2010 BP oil spill.

At Tuesday’s event, Watson and industry officials – including Charlie Williams, who leads the industry’s Center for Offshore Safety – discussed their ongoing work to boost safety practices.

But with companies pushing into more and more extreme and remote environments and higher pressures, Watson said an additional way to see if technology is keeping pace might be needed. “In an industry that is constantly exploring and pressing its technology forward, I think you also need another mechanism, and I don’t know what it is. I don’t think we have got it quite yet,” he said.

Special thanks to Richard Charter