Special thanks to Richard Charter
ALLEN G. BREED and SETH BORENSTEIN / The Associated Press
2010-05-02 08:12:36
VENICE, La. (AP) — No remedy in sight, President Barack Obama on Sunday warned of a “massive and potentially unprecedented environmental disaster” as a badly damaged oil well a mile deep in the Gulf of Mexico spewed a widening and deadly slick toward delicate wetlands and wildlife. He said it could take many days to stop.
Obama rushed to southern Louisiana to inspect forces arrayed against the oil gusher as Cabinet members said the situation was grave and insisted the administration was doing everything it could.
Mindful of the political damage suffered by President George W. Bush for a slow response after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the same region, Obama defended his administration’s actions, saying it had been preparing for the worst from “day one” even as it had “hoped for the best.”
The president vowed that the administration, while doing all it could to mitigate the environmental and economic disaster, would require well-owner BP America to bear all costs.
“BP is responsible for this leak. BP will be paying the bill,” Obama, with rain dripping from his face, said in Venice, a Gulf Coast community serving as a staging area for the response.
More on the spill:
On Sunday, BP’s chairman defended his company’s safety record and said “a failed piece of equipment” was to blame for a massive oil spill along the Gulf Coast.
BP PLC chairman Lamar McKay told ABC’s “This Week” that he can’t say when the well a mile beneath the sea might be plugged. But he said he believes a dome that could be placed over the well is expected to be deployed in six to eight days.
The dome has been made and workers are finishing the plan to get it deployed, McKay said. He said BP officials are still working to activate a “blowout preventer” mechanism meant to seal off the geyser of oil.
“And as you can imagine, this is like doing open-heart surgery at 5,000 feet, with — in the dark, with robot-controlled submarines,” McKay said.
BP spokesman Bill Salvin said McKay was talking about the blowout preventer as the failed equipment that caused the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig, which killed 11 people. The blowout preventer typically activates after a blast or other event to cut off any oil that may spill.
The cause of the blast remains undetermined, and Salvin said “we’re not ruling anything out.”
Crews have had little success stemming the flow from the ruptured well on the sea floor off Louisiana or removing oil from the surface by skimming it, burning it or dispersing it with chemicals. The churning slick of dense, rust-colored oil is now roughly the size of Puerto Rico.
Adding to the gloomy outlook were warnings from experts that an uncontrolled gusher could create a nightmare scenario if the Gulf Stream current carries it toward the Atlantic.
Long tendrils of oil sheen made their way into South Pass, a major channel through the salt marshes of Louisiana’s southeastern bootheel that is a breeding ground for crab, oysters, shrimp, redfish and other seafood.
Venice charter boat captain Bob Kenney lamented that there was no boom in the water to corral the oil, and said BP was “pretty much over their head in the deep water.”
“If they weren’t, they would have cut the oil off by now,” he said.
“It’s like a slow version of Katrina,” he added. “My kids will be talking about the effect of this when they’re my age.”
About a half-dozen fishing vessels sailed Sunday morning through the marshes of coastal St. Bernard Parish in eastern Louisiana, headed for the Biloxi Wildlife Management area. The oyster and shrimp boats, laden with boom, hoped to seal off inlets, bayous and bays.
There is growing criticism that the government and oil company BP PLC should have done more to stave off the disaster, which cast a pall over the region’s economy and fragile environment. Moving to blunt criticism that the Obama administration has been slow in reacting to the largest U.S. crude oil spill in decades, the White House dispatched two Cabinet members to make the rounds on the Sunday television talk shows.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on “Fox News Sunday” that the government has taken an “all hands on deck” approach to the spill since the BP oil well ruptured.
Napolitano said that as BP officials realized more oil was spewing than first thought, the government has coordinated federal, state and local resources with the oil company’s response.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that it could take three months before workers attain what he calls the “ultimate solution” to stopping the leak — drilling a relief well more than 3 miles below the ocean floor.
However, as the spill surged toward disastrous proportions, critical questions lingered: Who created the conditions that caused the gusher? Did BP and the government react robustly enough in its early days? And, most important, how can it be stopped before the damage gets worse?
The Coast Guard and BP have said it’s nearly impossible to know exactly how much oil has gushed since the blast, though it has been roughly estimated the well was spewing at least 200,000 gallons a day.
Even at that rate, the spill should eclipse the 1989 Exxon Valdez incident as the worst U.S. oil disaster in history in a matter of weeks. But a growing number of experts warned that the situation may already be much worse.
The oil slick over the water’s surface appeared to triple in size over the past two days, which could indicate an increase in the rate oil is pouring from the well, according to one analysis of images collected from satellites and reviewed by the University of Miami. While it’s hard to judge the volume of oil by satellite because of depth, images do indicate growth, experts said.
“The spill and the spreading is getting so much faster and expanding much quicker than they estimated,” said Hans Graber, executive director of the university’s Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing.
In an exploration plan and environmental impact analysis filed with the federal government in February 2009, BP said it had the capability to handle a “worst-case scenario” at the site, which the document described as a leak of 162,000 barrels per day from an uncontrolled blowout — 6.8 million gallons each day.
Oil industry experts and officials are reluctant to describe what, exactly, a worst-case scenario would look like. But if the oil gets into the Gulf Stream and carries it to the beaches of Florida — and potentially loops around the state’s southern tip and up the eastern seaboard — several experts said it stands to be an environmental and economic disaster of epic proportions.
“It will be on the East Coast of Florida in almost no time,” Graber said. “I don’t think we can prevent that. It’s more of a question of when rather than if.”
The concerns are both environmental and economic. The fishing industry is worried marine life will die — and that no one will want to buy products from contaminated water anyway. Tourism officials are worried vacationers won’t want to visit oil-tainted beaches. And environmentalists are worried about how the oil will affect the countless birds, coral and mammals in and near the Gulf.
“We know they are out there,” said Meghan Calhoun, a spokeswoman from the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans. “Unfortunately, the weather has been too bad for the Coast Guard and NOAA to get out there and look for animals for us.”
Fishermen and boaters want to help but have been hampered by high winds and rough waves that render oil-catching booms largely ineffective. Some coastal Louisiana residents complained that BP was hampering mitigation efforts.
“No, I’m not happy with the protection, but I’m sure the oil company is saving money,” said 57-year-old Raymond Schmitt, in Venice preparing his boat to take a French television crew on a tour.
And the oil on the surface is just part of the problem. Louisiana State University professor Ed Overton, who heads a federal chemical hazard assessment team for oil spills, worries about a total collapse of the pipe inserted into the well. If that happens, there would be no warning and the resulting gusher could be even more devastating.
“When these things go, they go KABOOM,” he said. “If this thing does collapse, we’ve got a big, big blow.”
BP has not said how much oil is beneath the seabed Deepwater Horizon was tapping. A company official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the volume of reserves, confirmed reports that it was tens of millions of barrels.
Obama has halted any new offshore drilling projects unless rigs have new safeguards to prevent another disaster.
As if to cut off mounting criticism, on Saturday White House spokesman Robert Gibbs posted a blog entitled “The Response to the Oil Spill,” laying out the administration’s day-by-day response since the explosion, using words like “immediately” and “quickly,” and emphasizing that Obama “early on” directed responding agencies to devote every resource to the incident and determining its cause.
In Pass Christian, Miss., 61-year-old Jimmy Rowell, a third-generation shrimp and oyster fisherman, worked on his boat at the harbor and stared out at the choppy waters.
“It’s over for us. If this oil comes ashore, it’s just over for us,” Rowell said angrily, rubbing his forehead. “Nobody wants no oily shrimp.”
___
Borenstein reported from Washington; Associated Press writers Tamara Lush, Brian Skoloff, Melissa Nelson, Mary Foster, Michael Kunzelman, Chris Kahn, Vicki Smith, Janet McConnaughey, Alan Sayre, Cain Burdeau and AP Photographer Dave Martin contributed to this report.
BREAKING NEWS
—–Original Message—–
From: Laurel Bryant <Laurel.Bryant@noaa.gov>
Date: Sun, 02 May 2010 14:36:51
To: undisclosed-recipients: ;<Invalid address>
Subject: [Fwd: NOAA News: NOAA Closes Commercial and Recreational Fishing in Oil-Affected Portion of Gulf of Mexico]
Dear NOAA Fisheries Constituents and Stakeholders,
Below, please find NOAA’s announcement and map of an emergency closure of fisheries in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico being most affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. We are working to schedule a stakeholders conference-call for sometime this next week. An e-mail notice will be sent out as soon as a time can be scheduled. All details of the closure can be found at: http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/.
Should you have any questions, please contact me at Laurel.Bryant@noaa.gov. You may also direct questions to Russ Dunn, National Policy Advisor for Recreational Fisheries,at Russell.Dunn@noaa.gov.
For daily oil spill updates from NOAA, please visit www.noaa.gov.
Contact: Kim Amendola FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
727-403-6533 May 2, 2010
NOAA Closes Commercial and Recreational Fishing in Oil-Affected Portion of Gulf of Mexico
NOAA is restricting fishing for a minimum of ten days in federal waters most affected by the BP oil spill, largely between Louisiana state waters at the mouth of the Mississippi River to waters off Florida’s Pensacola Bay (map attached). The closure is effective immediately. Details can be found here: http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/. Fishermen who wish to contact BP about a claim should call 800-440-0858.
“NOAA scientists are on the ground in the area of the oil spill taking water and seafood samples in an effort to ensure the safety of the seafood and fishing activities,” said Dr. Jane Lubchenco, NOAA Administrator, who met with more than 100 fishermen in Louisiana’s Plaquemines Parish on Friday night. “I heard the concerns of the Plaquemines Parish fishermen as well other fishermen and state fishery managers about potential economic impacts of a closure. Balancing economic and health concerns, this order closes just those areas that are affected by oil. There should be no health risk in seafood currently in the marketplace.”
“We stand with America’s fisherman, their families and businesses in impacted coastal communities during this very challenging time. Fishing is vital to our economy and our quality of life and we will work tirelessly protect to it,” said Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke. NOAA is a bureau of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The federal and state governments have strong systems in place to test and monitor seafood safety and to prohibit harvesting from affected areas and keeping oiled products out of the marketplace. NOAA Fisheries is working closely with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the States to ensure seafood safety, by assessing whether seafood is tainted or contaminated to levels that pose a risk to human health.
“There are finfish, crabs, oysters and shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico near the area of the oil spill,” said Roy Crabtree, NOAA Fisheries Southeast Regional Administrator. “The Gulf is such an important biologic and economic area in terms of seafood production and recreational fishing.”
According to NOAA, there are 3.2 million recreational fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico region who took 24 million fishing trips in 2008. Commercial fishermen in the Gulf harvested more than 1 billion pounds of finfish and shellfish in 2008.
NOAA is working with the state governors to evaluate the need to declare a fisheries disaster in order to facilitate federal aid to fishermen in these areas. NOAA fisheries representatives in the region will be meeting with fishermen this week to assist them. The states of Louisiana and Mississippi have requested NOAA to declare a federal fisheries disaster. BP will be hiring fishermen to help clean up from the spill and deploy boom in the Gulf of Mexico. Interested fishermen should call 425-745-8017.
NOAA will continue to evaluate the need for fisheries closures based on the evolving nature of the spill and will re-open the fisheries as appropriate. NOAA will also re-evaluate the closure areas as new information that would change the dimension of these closed areas becomes available.
NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources. Visit http://www.noaa.gov.
Oil Spill Claims Information
BP is now accepting claims for the Gulf Coast oil spill. Please call BP’s helpline at 1-800-440-0858.
See a BP fact sheet here for additional information (Click here to view fact sheet)
If you are not satisfied with BP’s resolution, there is an additional avenue for assistance available through the Coast Guard once BP has finalized your claim. Those who have already pursued the BP claims process can call the Coast Guard at 1-800-280-7118.
More information about what types of damages are eligible for compensation under the Oil Pollution Act as well as guidance on procedures to seek that compensation can be found below and at www.uscg.mil/npfc.
For more information about the response and recovery efforts and to sign up for updates from the Joint Information Center, go to http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com
Types of Claims
Claim Type
Description
Who Can Submit
Natural Resource Damages (NRD)
Costs for:
Assessing an area’s
natural resource damages,
Restoring
the natural resources, and
Compensating
the public for the lost use of the affected resources.
Only specially designated natural resource trustees
Removal Costs
Costs to prevent, minimize, mitigate, or clean up an oil spill.
(The costs of cleaning up your own property fall under the category of property damage, not removal costs.)
Clean-up contractors, called Oil Spill Recovery Organizations (OSROs)
Federal, State, and local government entities
The responsible party
Anyone who helped clean up the spill
Property Damage
Injury to or economic loss resulting from destruction of real property (land or buildings) or other personal property.
Does not include personal injury!
People or entities who own or lease the damaged property
Boat Damage
Injury to or economic loss resulting from damage to a boat (a subset of property damage).
People or entities who own or lease the damaged boat
Loss of Profits & Earning Capacity
Damages equal to the loss of profits or impairment of earning capacity due to the injury, destruction, or loss of property or natural resources
Anyone with loss of profits or income (You do not have to own the damaged property or resources to submit a claim under this category.)
Loss of Subsistence Use of Natural Resources
Loss of subsistence use claim if natural resources you depend on for subsistence use purposes have been injured, destroyed, or lost by an oil spill incident.
Anyone who, for subsistence use, depends on natural resources that have been injured, destroyed, or lost (You do not have to own or manage the natural resource to submit a claim under this category.)
Loss of Government Revenue
Net loss of taxes, royalties, rents, fees, or net profit shares due to the injury, destruction, or loss of real property, personal property, or natural resources
Federal agencies
States
Local governments
Increased Public Services
Net costs of providing increased or additional public services during or after removal activities, including protection from fire, safety, or health hazards, caused by a discharge of oil or directly attributable to response to the oil spill incident
States
Local governments
Claim Format
There is no required format for claims. You must, however, support your claim with documentation, put the claim in writing, and sign it.
Background
The primary source of revenue for the fund is a nine-cents per barrel fee on imported and domestic oil. Collection of this fee ceased on December 31, 1994 due to a “sunset” provision in the law. Other revenue sources for the fund include interest on the fund, cost recovery from the parties responsible for the spills, and any fines or civil penalties collected. The Fund is administered by the U.S. Coast Guard’s National Pollution Funds Center (NPFC).
The Fund can provide up to $1 billion for any one oil pollution incident, including up to $500 million for the initiation of natural resource damage assessments and claims in connection with any single incident. The main uses of Fund expenditures are:
State access for removal actions;
Payments to Federal, state, and Indiantribe trustees to carry out natural resource damage assessments and restorations;
Payment of claims for uncompensated removal costs and damages; and
Research and development and other specific appropriations.
Structure of the Fund
The OSLTF has two major components.
1.
The Emergency Fund is available for Federal On-Scene Coordinators (FOSCs) to respond to discharges and for federal trustees to initiate natural resource damage assessments. The Emergency Fund is a recurring $50 million available to the President annually.
2.
The remaining Principal Fund balance is used to pay claims and to fund appropriations by Congress to Federal agencies to administer the provisions of OPA and support research and development.