Louisiana won’t get as much in Gulf oil spill fines as officials hoped
Published: Sunday, July 08, 2012, 6:40 AM
By Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune

A close reading of the conference committee report outlining the compromise Restore Act approved by Congress last week shows that Louisiana won’t get as many billions in Clean Water Act fines as state leaders had hoped. Compromise language awards other states larger shares than Louisiana officials believe they deserve.

The compromise, approved as part of a wide-ranging transportation and highways funding bill and signed into law by President Barack Obama on Friday, will deliver to Louisiana and other Gulf Coast states 80 percent of any Clean Water Act fines paid by BP and other parties responsible for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The total fines could range from $5 billion to $21 billion, based on whether BP and others are found to be grossly negligent.
A year ago, Gov. Bobby Jindal said federal statistics showed coastal Louisiana had 92 percent of the shoreline that was heavily and moderately oiled by the spill. In addition, most injured, oiled and dead birds, mammals, fish and other wildlife were found off Louisiana’s coast.

The congressional compromise divides the money into three large pots, with 35 percent split equally among all five Gulf states and their coastal parishes and counties as outlined in state restoration plans; 30 percent distributed to states based on the spill’s impact along the coastline; and 30 percent to be spent on larger projects approved by a new Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council, made up of one representative from each of the five coastal states and six federal agencies: Interior, Army, Commerce, Environmental Protection Agency, Agriculture and Homeland Security. The council will be chaired by one of the federal representatives, selected by a majority vote of the state representatives. The last 5 percent will be used to set up two new study programs.

Within the individual pots, the breakdown of which states get how much money is complex and still difficult to divine in some cases. Louisiana’s share of the state allocation pot will give the state government 4.9 percent of all the fine money BP and others pay, with the state’s 20 “coastal zone” parishes splitting another 2.1 percent. That share is based on a formula that awards more to parishes with more oiled shoreline and larger populations.

It’s still unclear how much money the state will get from the 30 percent of the fine money included in the second pot, the “oil spill restoration impact” allocation. Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority chairman Garret Graves expects Louisiana will receive the largest share based on the amount of its coast that was oiled. But 20 percent of the formula will be based on the population of coastal counties bordering the Gulf, which could favor Florida. Each state is guaranteed at least 5 percent of the money in the pot.

The third pot of money will set up the new Gulf council and implement a new comprehensive plan for natural resource restoration of the entire Gulf coast. That plan must look first to projects that have already been authorized, but not implemented, and which, if implemented quickly, would restore and protect coastal resources. The plan must be approved by the council chair and a majority of the state members.

Again, Louisiana is likely to benefit from this language, as a variety of federal and state restoration projects already are authorized along the state’s coast, but construction on them has not yet started.

“The council is directed to look at larger watershed-type investments,” Graves said. “If the priorities are applied appropriately, they’ll recognize that investments in Louisiana benefit the entire Gulf of Mexico: the health of Louisiana’s marshes, the health of Louisiana’s estuaries, and the fact that up to 90 percent of the freshwater that enters the Gulf comes from Louisiana rivers.”

The council’s draft plan is supposed to be published in 180 days, and is required to incorporate the findings of a coastal plan adopted by the President’s Gulf Coast Restoration Task Force in 2011. The final version of the plan is supposed to be approved within 12 months.

States will be required to adopt their own comprehensive plans outlining how their share of the money in the first pot will be spent, similar to the updated coastal master plan approved earlier this year by the Louisiana Legislature. Louisiana’s plan, however, may have to be updated to include infrastructure, economic development or seafood-promotion projects that were beyond the scope of its coastal protection and restoration mandates.

The state plans must be approved by the state representative of the Gulf council and its chair, but not by other states.
The law also requires Louisiana parishes to adopt a comprehensive land use plan and a separate plan outlining how they will spend the money. Only 10 of the 20 eligible coastal zone parishes have adopted such plans, including New Orleans and Jefferson, St. Charles and St. James parishes in this area. Plans are under development in St. Bernard, St. James, St. John the Baptist and Plaquemines parishes. The law does not require land-use plans for counties in other states.

State, parish and county projects eligible for funding include:
• Restoration and protection of natural resources, including marine and wildlife habitats, beaches and coastal wetlands; otherwise mitigating damage to natural resources; and implementing a federally approved conservation management plan, including fisheries monitoring.
• Workforce development and job creation.
• Improvements to state parks located in coastal areas affected by the spill.
• Infrastructure projects benefitting the economy or ecological resources, including port infrastructure.
• Coastal flood protection and related infrastructure.
• Activities to promote tourism and seafood, including recreational fishing and consumption of seafood harvested from the region.
States, parishes and counties will be allowed to give preference to local businesses in awarding contracts for projects. And they’ll be able to use the money as the state or local match for various federal projects, such as the Morganza-to-the-Gulf hurricane levee now being built around Houma.

The law also sets aside 2.5 percent of the fine money to create a new Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Science, Observation, Monitoring and Technology Program. It will be under the direction of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with assistance from the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The new agency’s duties will include research and monitoring in both Gulf and coastal waters, including assessment of fisheries and development of pilot programs to generate new data sources and programs to reduce exploitation of spawning fish. Another 2.5 percent of the money will be split equally among the five Gulf states to finance “Centers of Excellence Research” grants to universities and other non-governmental agencies in Gulf states that will conduct research on a variety of coastal and deepwater issues, including wildlife, habitat, sustainable land use, offshore energy development, economic and commercial development.

Mark Schleifstein can be reached at mschleifstein@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3327.
© 2012 NOLA.com.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www.bradenton.com/2012/07/08/4107089/new-drilling-off-cuba-may-pose.html

Bradenton Herald: New drilling off Cuba may pose more risk to Florida
Published: July 8, 2012

By DAVID GOODHUE – The Keys Reporter
New oil drilling expected to begin offshore of Cuba at the end of the summer is at least 50 miles farther away from Key West than a well that came up dry in May.

But industry watchers say the drilling sites’ location in the Gulf of Mexico pose more of an environmental threat to the Keys and other coastal areas of the U.S. than did the well that was only 70 miles away from Key West in the Florida Straits.

“National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration models of spill scenarios indicate the obvious: The further west from the Keys, the greater the potential exposure of the Keys and western Florida to oil reaching the U.S. coast. This is much like NOAA’s hurricane prediction cone,” said Lee Hunt, president of the International Association of Drilling Contractors.

Spanish oil company Repsol was the first of several international firms to begin drilling the waters off Cuba for oil on a Chinese-built, Italian-owned giant semi-submersible rig called the Scarabeo 9. The rig was built with less than 10 percent of its parts made in the United States, meaning companies that work on it are not violating the 52-year-old U.S.-imposed trade embargo against Cuba.

The Scarabeo’s pending arrival angered environmentalists and tourism officials who were worried what a massive oil spill would do to coastal states’ environment and economy. It also angered critics of Cuba, who were concerned a big oil find would make the small Communist island a major energy exporter.

But not only did Repsol not find enough oil to continue its $100 million operation, the company also willingly let U.S. inspectors board the rig when it was in Trinidad and Tobago before it arrived in Cuban waters. Repsol also conducted tabletop exercises with U.S. authorities in Trinidad and Tobago on how to coordinate an oil spill response and containment plan in case of an oil well blowout, said Jorge Piñon, a research fellow at the University of Texas’ Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy.

Malaysian company Petronas is now using the rig in partnership with Gazprom,
from Russia. That lease is scheduled to end at the end of this month, the Associated Press reported.

But the next company to use the Scarabeo 9 is Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA. PDVSA is a state-owned company run by the government of Hugo Chavez, which has a hostile relationship with the United States.

Piñon said the U.S. is not likely to enjoy the same cooperation with PDVSA as it did when dealing with Repsol. Petronas is also a state-owned company. Piñon doubts members of the U.S. Coast Guard and other federal agencies have the same open line of communication with its representatives as they had with Repsol managers. He also doubts the same types of contingency plans in place between the Coast Guard and Repsol exist with Petronas, or will be made with PDVSA.

“Repsol was a publicly traded company, so we expected them to behave the way they did. Both Petronas and PDVSA are national, state-owned oil companies,” Piñon said. “What role would sovereign immunity play in their response and financial compensation to Florida residents in the event of an oil spill?”

Cuba believes its coastal waters in the Florida Straits and the Gulf of Mexico contain up to 20 billion barrels of oil. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates a much more conservative 5 billion barrels.

Drilling for oil there is particularly risky because wells are believed to be up to 6,000 feet below the ocean. The British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010, the worst in U.S. history, happened at 5,000 feet below the ocean surface.

Meanwhile, on the northeastern coast of Cuba, another Russian company, Zarubezhneft, is expected to start drilling for oil in about 1,200 feet of water near the maritime border with the Bahamas. That operation is scheduled to begin in November on a Norwegian-Cypriot-owned rig called the Songa Mercur.

Read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/2012/07/08/4107089/new-drilling-off-cuba-may-pose.html#storylink=cpy

____________

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120708/business/business6.html

The Gleaner Jamaica: Researchers Map Marine Life Ahead Of Oil Exploration
Published: Sunday | July 8, 2012

The headquarters of Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica, the state agency leading the hunt for offshore oil.-File

Jamaica in preparation for oil drilling has conducted a marine life survey with its closest southern neighbour, Colombia.

The survey findings will help to prevent damage to marine life when drilling and possible oil production begins within two years.

“The survey has provided a comprehensive view of the existing ecosystem in the Joint Regime Area which will inform what mitigation measures should be taken whenever development activity is undertaken,” said Dr Gavin Gunter, senior geologist at Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) .

“By knowing what exists and by understanding the various factors operating in the environment, we can pursue development in a manner that preserves the ecosystem,” Gunter told Sunday Business.

The findings of survey were compiled and presented in April 2012 from exploration research done in 2011.

Oil is already mined around much of Colombia’s coast, which is actually closer to Jamaica than the island is to Miami, Florida.

Canada-based Sagres Energy plans to drill for oil offshore Jamaica within two years following its subsidiary Rainville Energy Corporation mapping an area believed to contain the equivalent of three billion barrels of oil.

Oil at that level would rank Jamaica as holding the 30th-largest oil reserves – above Yemen, the United Kingdom and some African nations, according to data from the United States Central Intelligence Agency. Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Canada rank as the top three nations with oil reserves.

Sagres must drill by November 2014 as a condition of its licence with the PCJ.

The Jamaica/Colombia Environ-mental Baseline Survey was the first formal joint exercise between the two countries in the Joint Regime Area, which was established under the Maritime Delimitation Treaty signed in 1993.

The survey was funded by Colombia’s hydrocarbons agency – the Agencia Nacional de Hidrocarburos (ANH).

The Joint Regime Area extends south of Jamaica’s Pedro Cays to the maritime space of Colombia, covers an area that includes the Alice Shoal (Bajo Alicia) and borders the Colombian territories of Serranilla Bank (Banco Serranilla) and New Bank (Bajo Nuevo).

“The areas have been found to have complex biological communities with an abundance of fish, sponge, macroalgae, coral and octocoral groups and might also contain important mineral resources,” said PCJ in a statement issued last week.

The baseline survey details geomorphology and structural attributes of the areas; composition, location and extension of ecosystems and ecological units; composition and distribution of the main reef communities; threatened marine species; and signs of reef deterioration. The participating researchers included scientists from Colombia’s Environmental Studies Institute, (INVEMAR), the Omacha Foundation, an expert in marine mammals, and, a geologist assigned by the PCJ.

business@gleanerjm.com

Special thanks to Richard Charter

Mike Soraghan, E&E reporter
Published: Thursday, July 5, 2012

This is only the latest in a string of negative environmental consequences due to fracking. The inordinate amount of fresh water used is also a big concern. I think fracking should be outlawed. DV

What may be the first class-action suit against oil and gas companies for unleashing earthquakes is working its way through the federal courts in Arkansas.

The suit stems from a “swarm” of earthquakes as strong as magnitude 4.7 that rattled the northern part of the state. The quakes prompted state officials last summer to ban drilling waste disposal wells in a 1,150-square-mile area. Four wells ceased operations. The people who brought the suits and their attorneys say the companies knew about the risk of earthquakes from their operations but did not do enough to prevent them. “Defendants, experienced in these operations, were well aware of the connection between injection wells and seismic activity, and acted in disregard of these facts,” says the suit, filed by the Little Rock class-action firm Emerson Poynter LLP on behalf of Stephen Hearn and several other residents of Faulkner County, Ark.

The suit says that the companies’ “ultrahazardous” actions have made residents fear for their safety and caused the cost of earthquake insurance to skyrocket. The suit names subsidiaries of Chesapeake Energy Corp., which operated two of the wells, and BHP Billiton, which acquired the wells from Chesapeake as part of a larger purchase in 2011. Spokesmen for the two companies declined comment, but each has filed blanket denials with the court.

A smaller well owner, Deep Six Water Disposal Services of Oklahoma, was dismissed from the case last week. Another well owner, Clarita Operating of Little Rock, filed for bankruptcy after the first suits were filed. Several class-action suits have been consolidated into the case under Hearn’s name. The case is currently in discovery and is scheduled for trial in March 2014. In a brief email exchange with EnergyWire, lead attorney Scott Poynter said he was not familiar with any other suits against drillers for causing earthquakes with disposal wells.

There is no federal law against causing earthquakes, but the suit alleges that the quakes were caused by negligence, amounted to trespassing and created a public nuisance (EnergyWire, June 18). Before two of the wells stopped operating in the spring of 2011, there were 85 earthquakes with a magnitude of 2.5 or higher. Since the shutdown there have been fewer quakes, according to the state Geological Survey. The state’s moratorium was based in part on the finding of University of Memphis seismologist Steve Horton, who said continued injection would risk a damaging earthquake in the area. He later published findings linking the earthquakes to drilling-waste wells.

The earthquakes were not linked to hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” But fracturing creates millions of gallons of briny, toxic wastewater that drillers must eventually dispose of, usually by injecting it into the type of wells that are at the heart of the case. Advances in fracturing technology that involve blasting millions of gallons of water into production wells have led to a surge in gas production in shale formations such as Arkansas’ Fayetteville Shale.

It is well understood among scientists that injecting wastewater underground — whether from energy production or something else — can lubricate faults and create earthquakes. But there are about 40,000 oil and gas disposal wells in the country, and only a few have been linked to earthquakes. There has never been a death or serious injury from such a quake. State officials in Ohio also shut down several waste injection wells earlier this year after linking a magnitude-4.0 quake and a host of smaller ones to a well in Youngstown.

Scientists are investigating whether other earthquakes in Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas are linked to drilling activities such as waste injection. Seismologists at the U.S. Geological Survey have suggested that some of those quakes, along with the Arkansas swarm, are part of a “remarkable” increase in the number of earthquakes in the middle of the country that is “almost certainly man-made” and likely linked to oil and gas operations (EnergyWire, March 29).

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-07-06/pdf/2012-16152.pdf

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-07-06/html/2012-16152.htm

Special thanks to Richard Charter

Over two years since the largest oil drilling disaster in American history, the Gulf can finally celebrate a victory. The President has just signed the RESTORE Act, directing BP’s Clean Water Act to be used to restore the Gulf’s damaged ecosystems.

I wanted to make sure that you saw Aaron’s email (below) from last week about how critical your support has been to us. Victories don’t happen overnight. Achieving this milestone took persistence, patience, and focus. This legislation is a huge step forward for the people and places of the Gulf on this long road to restoration.

To ensure that GRN is able to sustain this fight, we rely on the support of our members. Please consider becoming a member this weekend and help us continue to hold BP accountable, and implement the RESTORE Act to its fullest potential.

For the Gulf,

Cyn Sarthou
Executive Director

GRN Basic Header

RestoreFunds.jpgDear DeeVon,

We’re expecting big news from Congress tomorrow or the next day, and it’s thanks to you! The RESTORE Act, which will dedicate BP’s Clean Water Act fines to Gulf restoration, has been included in the larger Transportation Bill that is poised to be voted on and signed into law very soon. Thank you for all your phone calls, emails to Congress, donations, petitions signed, events held, and all you’ve done to make Congress prioritize restoring the Gulf. This wouldn’t have been possible without you.

This is a giant step forward for the health of the Gulf, and we’re elated to see the country and Congress demonstrate their dedication to this valuable region. Like many policy and environmental victories, this is not the end of the journey. The ultimate success of this legislation will take time and effort to ensure, and we’ll need your support as we continue working hard to:

Hold BP accountable. The legislation directs BP’s eventual Clean Water Act fines to the Gulf, but there is a wide range of possible fines. We’ve got to keep the pressure up so BP pays the maximum penalty under the law; and,
Ensure effective restoration. As the dollars start to flow, it will be incumbent upon Gulf Coast states to make sound decisions about restoration spending. We’ll be watchdogging the process to make sure the money is well-spent.

So, take a moment to relish in this hard-fought victory. Together, we pushed Congress to show their support for the Gulf! That’s impressive.

Now, please show your continued dedication by digging deep and making a generous donation to Gulf Restoration Network. With the long-haul fight we’ve still got ahead, please consider a Gulf Sustainer automatic, monthly membership.

With sincere appreciation for all you do,

Aaron Viles
Deputy Director