http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/05/did_gibbs_open_door_to_reinsta.html

The Plum Line
By Gary Sargent

Special thanks to Richard Charter
Did Gibbs open door to reinstating drilling ban?
President Obama has an opportunity on his hands: He could, if he so chose, seize on the Gulf oil spill to reverse his announcement of new offshore drilling and reinstate the ban on it. No idea if he’ll take this opportunity, but it’s there.

The left is redoubling its push for him to resinstate the ban, arguing that strong leaders aren’t afraid to change their minds when empirical evidence suggests they should do so. And Obama has repeatedly said he will base his administration’s decisions on “science” and “facts.”

This strong new MoveOn ad, for instance, argues that “sometimes great leaders are tested.” The ad calls for the ban to be revived, and asks: “President Obama: Will you lead our country into a clean energy future?”

At the press briefing just now, Robert Gibbs was pressed on whether this is a possibilty, and interestingly, he didn’t rule it out. Asked if the administration’s thinking had shifted, Gibbs noted that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar was probing the spill, adding:
“This is an administation that is going to take whatever we get from that and have that dicate our decision-making going forward. It would be premature to get too far ahead of where Secretary Salazar’s investigation is…

“The investigation is to determine what happened and to use that information going forward to dictate any changes in our policy.”

That seems to leave the door open to a possible policy change. Now, we don’t know what the investigation will find, and it’s very possible that the administration will ultimately argue that this one disaster is an exception and doesn’t undercut the case for more drilling.
But either way, Obama has an opening here to change direction. And if he were to reinstate the drilling ban, he would be in a better position to argue that the spill proves in vivid, horrifying detail that the cost of remaining addicted to oil, and the price of inaction on energy reform, are too great to risk any longer.
By Greg Sargent  |  May 3, 2010; 2:59 PM ET

From SkyTruth blog – http://tinyurl.com/29ctazx
—

MODIS satellite image from the afternoon of May 4, 2010.
UPDATE 5/4/10 6:30 pm – And here it is. Today’s MODIS / Aqua image features a break in the clouds (just barely) to reveal much of the oil slick. Fresh upwelling oil is apparent around the location of the leaking well. Long tendrils of slick and sheen stretch to the east and southwest; the total area of slicks and sheen, possibly including patches of open water, is 3,260 square miles. Nearshore, things get complicated: there are pale bands of turbidity, probably caused by the recent stretch of high wind and waves; and a few dark streaks and elongated patches trending northeast that we interpret as low-wind zones (wind shadow, the result of light winds from the northeast this afternoon). But there could be patches of oil slick obscured by these features. To the south, heavy cloud may also be hiding some of the slick from this ongoing spill.
—
John Amos
John@skytruth.org
P.O. Box 3283
Shepherdstown, WV 25443-3283
phone: 304-260-8886
skype: skytruth.amos
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Special thanks to Lynda Schuh

Dear Volunteers,
 
Thank you for registering to donate your services to help in the BP Oil Spill. The outpouring of support has been amazing, and we are working to properly utilize your donated time and resources. The Gulf Response Involvement Team (GRIT) has been hard at work to identify when and where volunteers will be called to action. Please be patient as we work with federal authorities and BP to coordinate and organize volunteer participation.
 
Clarification: There is NO payment for volunteering your time through these conservation organizations. We do not have funding to assist you with travel, although we will provide food for volunteers on site.   For information on paid employment opportunities, please visit www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com or www.bp.com
 
GRIT is made up of numerous local, regional and national conservation organizations—including National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation, the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program, and the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana—that have joined forces and shared resources to develop a swift and effective plan to assist the authorities in their efforts to clean up any damage due to the oil reaching the coast.
 
Louisiana’s coastal wetlands were at great risk before this threat, and we need your help to ensure that the BP Oil Spill does not cause their extinction. The local, state and federal agencies are working hard to prevent the oil from reaching these fragile wetlands. At this time, we don’t want to interfere with these efforts. We are working with the authorities to identify volunteer opportunities, training and participation.
 
Our first concern is the wildlife. Those who have signed up with wildlife certifications and/or HAZMAT training will be called on first to assist in the recovery of oiled or injured wildlife. You will hear from us as the need arises. If you find oiled wildlife, please report it, along with specific location information, to the Wildlife Hotline at 1-866-557-1401.  This message service is checked every hour, and professionals with bird and animal-capture experience will respond to your message.  Please avoid entering affected areas or handling affected wildlife until you are a part of the coordinated response effort, for the safety of you and the wildlife.
 
Training will be required to volunteer. We are working on organizing the required 4-hour HAZMAT training, safety training and other needs for additional volunteers. Please understand that the crude oil is a hazardous substance and proper training is needed in order to handle, clean or transport the materials. Contact with the substance without proper training could result in significant health issues. Please also understand the fragile nature of coastal Louisiana’s wetlands and DO NOT attempt to conduct any recovery activities without the proper guidance or supervision from GRIT or the authorities.
 
We are in need of:
individuals or organizations that can donate their time and services with specialized skills, such as web design, database management, remote sensing, aerial monitoring, and communication technologies.
supplies and equipment to help with this recovery. If you, your community or company is interested in donated supplies, equipment, computers, communication devices, GPS technology, or anything else, please contact Mel Landry at mel@btnep.org for a list of needed supplies.
Until opportunities are better established, we ask that you be patient. The magnitude of this environmental disaster ensures that our coastal organizations will need your help for months and years to come.
 
Thank you again for your generous offer to help. We look forward to working with you.
 
Sincerely,
 
Gulf Response Involvement Team, made up of
 
National Audubon Society
 
National Wildlife Federation
 
Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program
 
Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana

By Amanda Nalley • DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER • May 3, 2010

“We kind of feel helpless because you know you can’t do anything about the oil spill,” Trey Head said.

The cleanup effort, sponsored by Volunteer Florida, was an effort to rid the beaches of trash, which in turn makes oil cleanup easier, said Paul Johnson, president of Reef Relief, a global nonprofit dedicated to protecting coral reefs. About 90 people participated. At Shell Point, volunteers estimated they removed 50 to 60 pounds of trash from the beach.

The state’s fishing industry is already beginning to suffer because of the spill. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Sunday shut down commercial and recreational fishing from Louisiana to parts of the Florida Panhandle, saying the closure would last for at least 10 days.

Florida is not expected to be impacted by the spill through Wednesday. If it does make a presence on Wakulla’s beaches, the Heads of Tallahassee plan on helping out again.

“I can’t see any reason not to help,” Cory Head said. “We love this area.”

The state is developing and training volunteers to help with oil cleanup and BP, which operated the targeted rig, is also seeking volunteers.

The most recent estimation is that the spill is dumping 210,000 gallons of oil into the Gulf each day but some estimate it could be dumping more.

Florida State University oceanography professor Ian MacDonald said according to his method of estimation, which measures the amount of oil on the surface of the water versus the Coast Guard’s estimation of oil flowing directly from the leak, there were 9 million gallons of oil on the surface as of April 28, a number quite higher than the 1.6 million gallons estimated by the Coast Guard.

“It comes down to how we should do this,” MacDonald said. “If one method gives you an answer five times greater than the other method, then you have to say one of these methods is wrong.”

Closer to home, emergency management staffs at Wakulla and Franklin counties and managers at the State Emergency Response Team continue to monitor the situation.

“Right now there is a lot of uncertainty of where this thing is going to go,” said Wakulla County Emergency Management Director Scott Nelson. “We are doing all that we can.”

 A state of emergency was declared for Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay and Gulf counties by Gov. Charlie Crist on Friday.

 BP deployed 74,900 feet of boom near Pensacola with an additional 18,000 feet deployed Sunday.

As the massive spill spread through the Gulf of Mexico, some experts feared currents could pull it down around the Florida Keys and up the East Coast. If that happens, the scope of the disaster could grow exponentially, affecting not only the gulf states but portions of the Eastern Seaboard and all of southeast Florida where the Gulf Stream runs fairly close to shore.

“This may have potentially disastrous effects especially on the beaches and the reefs,” said Hans Graber, executive director of the University of Miami’s Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing. “With weather conditions deteriorating that makes it very difficult to contain.”

http://www.ogj.com/index/article-display/8475724583/articles/oil-gas-journal/general-interest-2/hse/2010/05/bp-drilling_relief/QP129867/cmpid=EnlDailyMay42010.html
Oil and Gas Journal

May 3, 2010
Paula Dittrick
OGJ Senior Staff Writer

HOUSTON, May 3 — Transocean Ltd.’s semisubmersible Development Drilling III started drilling a relief well on May 2 to stem the source of a crude oil leak from a BP PLC well off Louisiana, a BP spokesman said.

The relief well is expected to take 2-3 months to complete, Doug Suttles, chief operating officer of BP Exploration & Production Inc., told reporters during a May 3 news conference in Roberts, La.

The relief well will be drilled to 18,000 ft, which is the same depth as the first well from which oil is leaking. Heavy drilling fluids, and ultimately cement, will be used to stop the flow through the first well, which is leaking an estimated 5,000 b/d, Suttles said.

Transocean’s Deepwater Horizon semisubmersible drilled the Macondo well on Mississippi Canyon Block 252 in 4,992 ft of water. An Apr. 20 explosion and fire left 11 crew members missing and presumed dead. The Deepwater Horizon sank on Apr. 22.

Cause of the accident remains under investigation by various companies and government agencies. As of May 3, spill response officials said they had yet to confirm if oil had reached the coast. Weather prevented the use of low-flying aircraft to check on this.

Subsea containment system
Suttles expects a subsea containment system could be installed and operating in about 7 days. Pressure at this water depth is 2,500 psi, he said. “There are a number of challenges,” because such a system never has been used at this water depth, he said.

The system is designed to collect oil and gas, which then will be pumped to Transocean’s Deepwater Enterprise drillship. The system involves a metal structure that will be set on top of the end of the riser about 600 ft from the wellhead.

A fact sheet said the subsea container will be connected to a riser through which oil will flow to the Deepwater Enterprise. Once on the Deepwater Enterprise, oil will be separated from water and gas.

The Deepwater Enterprise is capable of processing 15,000 b/d of oil and storing 139,000 bbl. A support barge will be deployed. The barge can hold 137,000 bbl, the fact sheet said.

Spill response officials estimate the subsea containment system could collect as much as 85% of oil rising from the seafloor.

Meanwhile, Suttles said efforts continue to activate a blowout preventer. In addition, BP is working to put a shutoff valve over the top of the drill pipe.

Nine remotely operated vehicles are being used, Suttles said, adding the ROVS are being used to monitor the leaks, to activate the BOP, to install the valve on the drill pipe, and to spray chemical dispersants into the oil at the seabed level.