By Bob Warren, The Times-Picayune

April 06, 2010, 9:10PM

Petty Officer 3rd Class James Peterson takes a sample Tuesday from an oil spill about 10 miles southeast of Venice in the Delta National Wildlife Refuge. 

Crews worked Tuesday to contain the oil from a spill in the Delta National Wildlife Refuge, the Coast Guard said.

At approximately 1 a.m., Tuesday, Berry Brothers General Contractors notified the Coast Guard that oil was discharging into a canal located approximately 10 miles southeast of Venice. Chevron Pipeline Co., which operates the pipeline, reported that approximately 18,000 gallons of crude oil were released.

The Coast Guard Sector New Orleans, the Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator’s Office – Department of Public Safety and Corrections and Chevron responded to the spill to try and minimize damage to the refuge.

The Coast Guard evaluated the spill by air and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and the Coast Guard had pollution investigators in response boats on scene assessing the oil’s impact and monitoring clean-up efforts.

Coast Guard Lt. Stephen Nutting said the Mississippi River has not been impacted by the spill.
“Right now, we’re trying to contain it in the refuge,” he said.

Upon receiving the initial report of the spill, Chevron immediately closed the affected section of the pipeline and has initiated its emergency response procedures, the Coast Guard said.

The pipeline is owned by Cypress Pipe Line Company, which is a joint venture between British Petroleum and Chevron Pipeline Co.

The Coast Guard is investigating the cause of the spill.

© 2010 NOLA.com.

http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews.aspx?xmlpath=RSSFeed/HeadlineNews/Oil/6933006.xml
 
Crude line leaks into Louisiana wildlife refuge: USCG
 
Houston (Platts)–6Apr2010/607 pm EDT/2207 GMT
 
The US Coast Guard, Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator’s Office and Chevron Pipe Line Company were working to contain an oil spill from a Chevron-operated crude pipeline in the Delta National Wildlife Refuge, according to a statement issued by the Coast Guard.
 
The leak involved about 429 barrels of crude oil and occurred around 1 am CDT Tuesday, according to the statement. The leak resulted in crude oil being discharged into a canal about 10 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana.
 
This pipeline originates from an offshore oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico and terminates at the Empire Pipeline Terminal, said an official from the Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator’s office. The Empire terminal is located in far southern Louisiana, on the east bank of the Mississippi River. The terminal has the capacity to store 1.3 million barrels of oil, according to information published on Chevron Pipeline Company’s web site.
 
CPL has shut the leaking segment of the crude pipeline. Cypress Pipe Line Company is a joint venture between CPL and BP.
 
  –Esa Ramasamy, esa_ramasamy@platts.com

Humans are the risk in drilling: Pensacola News Journal Editorial

http://www.pnj.com/article/20100404/OPINION/4040312/Editorial-Humans-are-the-risk-in-drilling

PNJ.com
Pensacola News Journal
Editorial: Humans are the risk in drilling

APRIL 4, 2010
The Orlando Sentinel recently took a close look at the Australian drilling rig that blew out last August in the Timor Sea, leaked oil for more than two months and dumped millions of gallons of crude.

It’s a cautionary tale for Florida.

Supporters claim drilling is much safer today because of new technology, redundant safety procedures and government oversight. All true. But the rig in the Timor Sea was one of the most modern in the world, and the Sentinel found that the main problem behind the accident likely was: human error and bad judgment.

They trumped all the technology and safety procedures.

Supporters also say the rules in the Gulf of Mexico are even tighter than those in Australia, and that appears to be true. But human error has never been eliminated from any human endeavor, and bad judgment is always one decision away.

The Timor rig spilled millions of gallons of oil. Fortunately, it was 150 miles off the coast and winds and tides kept the oil away from land. Unfortunately, the Sentinel reported, the slick still covered 22,000 square miles and polluted a rich marine area marked by coral and sponge reefs, whales, fish and birds. (Last October, Indonesian fishermen reported finding dead and oil-contaminated fish in their fishing grounds.)

The article indicated that the spill wasn’t caused by poor or failed technology, or a natural event like the hurricanes that regularly damage Gulf rigs. In the end, it looks like simple human error. “I just made mistakes,” the rig’s senior supervisor testified in a government inquiry.

Similar “mistakes” in the Gulf of Mexico could put oil on a lot of Florida beaches.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www.collinscenter.org/resource/resmgr/OilDrilling/oilHome.html

Report punches holes in offshore drilling claims

Thursday, April 01, 2010  
BRADENTON HERALD EDITORIAL | Little impact at gas pump, low reserves refute goals

Despite a report prepared for the Florida Senate that should cripple efforts to allow oil and gas drilling in state waters, the push will continue.

The report, prepared by the Collins Center for Public Policy in conjunction with the Century Commission for a Sustainable Florida, estimates offshore reserves at a level so paltry there would be no noticeable impact on pump prices or on American reliance on foreign oil.

The amount would only quench America’s thirst for oil for less than one week, the report states.

Grand forecasts of billions in state revenue would thus not materialize, rendering the primary arguments in favor of drilling obsolete.

The “drill, baby, drill” proponents will have a tough time discrediting the report. The Collins Center, a reputable think tank that researches state issues, and the 15-member nonpartisan Century Commission, appointed by the legislators to investigate economic and environmental issues, conducted the study at the behest of Senate President Jeff Atwater.

The resulting 40-page report, chock full of information gleaned from private and government sources, should withstand attack.

While the report also states the odds of accidental oil spills are low because of drilling technology advances, the threat remains. With such negligible reserves believed to be beneath state waters, the risk is not worth the return.

Story continues…

Tampa Bay: Oil drilling plan hits a nerve nationwide, locally

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/apr/01/na-drilling-plan-hits-a-nerve/news-breaking/

Oil drilling plan hits a nerve nationwide, locally
Staff photo by JIM FARQUHAR

Pamula Hewett from Tampa put chocolate syrup on herself at a drilling protest at the Vinoy Renaissance Hotel in St. Petersburg on Wednesday.

ADVERTISEMENTBy WILLIAM MARCH
wmarch@tampatrib.com
Published: April 1, 2010
In a reversal of a long-standing ban on most offshore drilling, President Barack Obama is opening up areas of the East Coast – and possibly areas off the Gulf Coast of Florida – to oil and gas exploration and drilling.

Obama’s plan allows oil drilling on tracts 50 miles off the coast of Virginia and consideration of drilling for a large chunk of the Atlantic seaboard. At the same time, he is rejecting some drilling sites that had been planned in Alaska.

The plan drew objections Wednesday from environmentalists nationwide, and about 100 people protested outside a Newt Gingrich speech in St. Petersburg.

Its effect on Florida drew an immediate objection from Rep. Kathy Castor of Tampa, a Democrat and a strong Obama ally on most issues.

It drew guarded approval, however, from Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a longtime opponent of oil or gas drilling near the Gulf Coast.

The plan’s proposals for Florida’s Gulf Coast apparently would require congressional action to alter the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006.

Nelson said the Obama proposal comes with assurance that no activity will be allowed within 125 miles of the coast, closer than that law now allows.

Nelson said he has told the administration “if they drilled too close to Florida’s beaches they’d be risking the state’s economy and the environment. I believe this plan shows they heeded that concern.”

He said he still wants assurances from the Defense Department that the plan won’t interfere with military training in the eastern Gulf.

Castor remains “very concerned because the oil companies are never satisfied.”

“Right now we have a guarantee written into law that a 200-plus-mile line is written into place until 2022. If you agree that 125 is enough, it would be the camel’s nose under the tent. They’re not going to be satisfied.”

Rep. Vern Buchanan, a Sarasota Republican, considers Obama’s plan flawed. “It fails to open the Alaskan and Pacific coasts to drilling but allows oil rigs off the eastern Gulf of Mexico, threatening our natural resources and tourism-based economy,” he said.

The full effect of Obama’s announcement on waters off the Florida Gulf Coast wasn’t clear Wednesday.

First, a map released by the Department of the Interior appeared to conflict in some ways with assurances Nelson’s office said he had been given about a 125-mile buffer off the west coast. The areas suggested to be opened come much closer than that to the Florida Keys.

“When they met with us they said 125 miles from all points, and that’s what we’re going to hold them to,” said Nelson spokesman Dan McLaughlin. The discrepancy “could be a distortion in their drawing.”

Obama spokesman Bill Burton didn’t give a direct answer when asked by reporters whether the administration will ask for a lifting of the moratorium that currently prevents oil and gas exploration some 230 miles off Florida.

Burton also denied the proposal is a change in the position Obama took on the issue during his campaign.

“Nothing has changed,” he said. “What you see here today is a fulfillment of what the president said he was going to do.”

In fact, it appears to differ sharply from a campaign speech Obama gave in Jacksonville in June 2008, saying, “Offshore drilling would not lower gas prices today. It would not lower gas prices tomorrow. It would not lower gas prices this year. It would not lower gas prices five years from now.”

He said more drilling “would only worsen our addiction to oil” and put off investments in clean, renewable energy.”

Obama shifted that position, however, endorsing a proposal that could have opened up areas 50 miles from the Florida coast.

Michael Brune, executive director of the national Sierra Club, singled out Gulf drilling in a statement Wednesday reacting to the Obama proposal.

He said drilling off Florida “would substantially increase the chance of oil spills damaging the Everglades, the Florida Keys, fragile coral reefs and Florida’s beaches” and jeopardize the coastal tourism industry.

Obama, speaking at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington on Wednesday, said, “This is not a decision that I’ve made lightly.” He addressed the expected outcry from disappointed environmentalists by saying he had studied the issue for more than a year and concluded it was the right call given the nation’s voracious thirst for energy and the need to produce jobs and keep American businesses competitive.
Obama made no secret of the fact that one factor in his decision is attracting GOP support for a climate change bill that has languished in Congress.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Reporters Jackie Barron and Peter Bernard contributed to this report. Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761.

Opposing view: No need to drill offshore”: USA Today OpEd

USAToday, Op-Ed, “Opposing view: No need to drill offshore”

April 2, 2010

By Frances Beinecke
 

It’s risky, adds little supply, and the nation has several better options.

Everyone can agree we need a stronger, safer energy future for our country. The question is, how do we get there? I believe the answer is a comprehensive clean energy and climate strategy that takes advantage of solutions that hold the greatest potential to put us on a clean and domestic energy path.

And simply put, more offshore drilling moves us off this path.

There’s no need to jeopardize the 2 million jobs and the $128 billion annual economy that depend on ocean resources when drilling will do little to relieve America’s oil addiction. According to the Department of Energy, new drilling won’t significantly impact domestic crude oil and natural gas production before 2030. And the price of gasoline is set by the global marketplace, so it won’t impact prices at the pump either.

There are better ways to fuel our cars and trucks – available now – that will protect the ocean economy, create jobs and help America compete in the global clean energy market.

The new clean car standards President Obama announced this week are a real solution, saving Americans billions of dollars and 1.8 billion barrels of oil.

If we want to boost our domestic supply, we should focus on the untapped resource of enhanced oil recovery. Abandoned oil in existing wells can supply more than 10 times the oil as offshore drilling over the same period. Yet that’s left on the table.

And drilling off our coasts still poses grave risks. Despite technological advances, a blowout last year from a state-of-the art Australian facility took 10 weeks to bring under control and spread oil over 20,000 square miles. Recent hurricanes have destroyed oil platforms, tanks and pipelines throughout the Gulf of Mexico and released more than 1 million gallons of crude oil and other petroleum products. Hurricanes are an annual threat to our East Coast, making hurricane-related accidents inevitable.

I have worked more than 30 years to put sound oceans policies in place, and I know offshore drilling will not move America forward. We need to pay attention to real solutions: cleaner cars, better use of existing oil fields, and utilizing our coasts for clean renewable energy, such as offshore wind. That means comprehensive clean energy legislation with smart solutions for our energy and climate needs.

Special thanks to Richard Charter