Unanswered Questions About April 20 BP Oil Spill in Gulf of Mexico

Those concerned about the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico can find many on-line articles containing interviews with ecologists, fishermen, travel services, Coast Guard officials, government officials, environmental groups, and even some interviews with BP officials.

Numerous questions have been raised regarding the oil spill:

1. Why wasn't a remote control device installed?

2. Why was a company (Haliburton) with documented problems in their cementing operation used?

3. Why are clean-up methods being used that could potentially make matters worse?

4. Why are oil companies allowed to make decisions about drilling and placement of oil wells that could potentially permanently harm the environment?

5. Why aren't there better regulations?

6. Is Mineral Management Services receiving kick-backs for loose regulations? Why are employees of Mineral Management Services allowed to moonlight for oil companies? (Memorandum from Earl Devaney, Inspector General, Dept. of Interior on OIG Investigations of MMS Employees )

7. Why did the Coast Guard and government officials wait 9 days before starting clean-up operations?

8. How can future disasters be prevented

9. What is the long term effect of this and other oil spills?

10. Could so called "natural disasters" be a result of drilling and explosions?

11. How much damage remains from prior oil leaks in and around Louisiana? According to report, there had been 10 oil leaks by 2005, including some caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Researching these questions, revealed answers to some of these questions, but not all. It would be interesting to interview a seismologist for their opinion on drilling in the ocean.

Clean-up Methods Being Used Include, detergents, chemicals, oil barriers (booms), oil skimmers, burning off the oil.

Terry Hazen, a microbial ecologist, warns that using chemicals and detergents is fraught with its own hazards and can even make matters worse. Hazen, affiliated with Berkeley Lab's Earth Sciences Division, studied the Amoco Cadiz and the Exxon Valdez spills. He concluded from his studies that areas that were treated with chemicals and detergents actually fared worse than those not treated.

"It is important to remember that oil is a biological product and can be degraded by microbes, both on and beneath the surface of the water," Hazen says. "Some of the detergents that are typically used to clean-up spill sites are more toxic than the oil.

Such aggressive clean-up efforts are fraught with unintended consequences, Hazen warns. He cites as prime examples the Amoco Cadiz and the Exxon Valdez disasters.

"The untreated coastal areas were fully recovered within five years of the Amoco Cadiz spill," says Hazen. "As for the treated areas, ecological studies show that 30 years later, those areas still have not recovered."

In March of 1989, the oil supertanker Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into the Prince William Sound and impacted some 1,300 miles of coastline. It remains the largest oil spill in U.S. history. A combination of detergents and bioremediation were used in the clean-up. The detergents were nutrient rich, being high in phosphorous and nitrogen compounds. In addition, as part of the bioremediation effort, fertilizers were also used to promote microbial growth. After the first year, the treated areas were dramatically cleaner, Hazen says, but after the second year no improvements were observed. Long-term prospects for the treated area are grim.

"What happened was that we took an oligotrophic (low nutrient) environment, and added lots of nutrients to it to speed up the degradation of the oil, which we probably did," Hazen says. "However, we upset the ecological balance of the system, which could not handle the influx of nutrients. As a result, the severe environmental damage resulting from the spill is expected to persist for decades to come."

While improvements to detergents have been made, including some degree of biodegradability, they remain nutrient rich and in some cases more toxic to the environment than crude oil.

Sorbents the Best Cleanup Option

"From a clean-up standpoint, right now we should be using sorbents to take up as much of the oil as possible," Hazen says. "Then we need to gauge how quickly and completely this oil can be degraded without human intervention." (Expert: Caution required for Gulf oil spill clean-up)

US officials and BP Under-stating Amount of Oil Leaking into the Ocean

John Amos, director of SkyTruth, a satellite data monitoring outfit that supplies analysis to environmental groups, told The Sunday Telegraph that the images and information made public by BP indicated that the slick was made up of at least six million gallons of oil.

"That is a conservative estimate and it would mean that oil is leaking at a rate of 20,000 barrels a day," he said. "That's a real eye-opener. And I believe the true figure is significantly higher."

Ian MacDonald, a Florida professor of oceanography who tracks maritime oil seepage, estimated that more than nine million gallons may already have escaped into the sea on the basis of higher industry estimates of the rate of leakage. (Louisana Oil Spill May be Five Times Bigger than Previously Thought)

Efforts to Stop Leak With Unmanned Submarines and Four-Story Containment Dome Failed

BP engineers desperately and unsuccessfully tried using unmanned submarines to initiate a failed switch-off device on the well about a mile beneath the surface of the water.

Another method tried, a four-story containment dome meant to restrict oil from gushing further into the Gulf of Mexico, failed this weekend, leaving recovery officials to move forward with alternate plans, none of which have been tested 5,000 feet below the water's surface.

Containment efforts were thwarted this weekend after methanol combined with freezing undersea water crystallized in the dome, making it buoyant. While BP engineers are considering ways to address the problem, two more containment efforts are being planned.The first is a smaller containment dome BP is calling the Top Hat. The four-by-five foot, two-ton dome works in much the same way as its larger version, but according to BP senior executive vice-president Kent Wells, it will do a better job separating water from the gas. Mr. Wells says operating a smaller dome "will be a little more tricky," but it will "pump methanol in [the well] to stop hydrates from forming. You couldn't do that in a large vessel, but in a smaller vessel, we believe it will work. He said engineers are prepared to lower the device by the end of this week. (Golf Balls, new containment dome on deck to stop Gulf oil spills)

The company is also exploring the possibility of injecting heavy fluids into the blowout preventer that sits at the top of the well, and whose failure on April 20 led to the disaster.

BP has also dispatched a drill ship to the area to begin digging a relief well that would intercept the oil from the existing pipes at about 18,000 feet below the surface. This will allow the company to close off the leaking well, but the process will take at least three months and possibly much longer. (BP to lower 100-ton chamber to stop oil flow from ruptured well)

Investigation of Cementing Operation by Haliburton; Cementing Factor in 18 of 39 Blow-outs

At the same time, investigations have been launched into the two crucial failures - why the rig exploded and then why the automatic switch-off device did not then activate. Oil industry analysts believe the explosion was caused by a "blow-back" when a pressure surge thrust natural gas up to the rig platform. One area under focus is a recently-completed cementing operation by the company Haliburton, which was intended to prevent oil and gas from escaping by filling gaps between the outside of pipes and the inside of the hole drilled into the ocean floor into which they fitted.

According to a 2007 US government report, cementing was a factor in 18 of 39 well blow-outs in the Gulf of Mexico over a 14-year period. And investigators have also been told that cementing was a likely cause of a major 10-week blow-out in the Timor Sea off Australia last year.

Haliburton has declined to comment while the cause of the accident is being investigated and lawsuits are pending.

No Remote-Control Shut Off Mechanism Installed

The second disastrous failure occurred when the rig's blowout preventer - equipment that should have automatically blocked the well when the explosion occurred - failed to work. It has since emerged that the device did not have a remote-control shut-off mechanism - these are commonly required in most offshore oil producing nations, but not the US. (Louisiana-oil-spill-may-be-five-times-bigger-than-previously-thought.html)

Drilling into the Ocean, and Underground Nuclear Explosions--Could These Be Related to Disasters Such as the Tsunami in 2005 that Killed 255,000 People?

BP was drilling at 5,000 feet deep. This depth is called the Bathypelagic Zone or "Midnight Zone," of the ocean, as the only light at this depth and lower comes from the bioluminescence of certain animals that venture this far down.

The Midnight Zone begins at depths of 3,300 feet and ends at about 13,100 feet (1,000-4000 meters). The temperature never fluctuates far from a chilling 39°F (4°C). The pressure in the bathypelagic zone is extreme and at depths of 13,100 feet (4,000 meters), reaches over 5850 pounds per square inch!

Yet, sperm whales can dive down to this level in search of food. (Ocean Layers) This level is inhabited by a wide variety of marine forms, including eels, fishes, mollusks, and others. (Bathypelagic Zone)

Sterling D. Allan, founder and CEO of PES Network, Inc. and New Energy Congress, provides interesting fodder at his website, pureenergysystems.com, regarding a possible link between deep offshore drilling and the tsunami that killed 255,000 people in 2005. Allan concludes that drilling for oil certainly causes land movement and devastation, and could possibly be the cause of so called "natural disasters." Read the email comments at the end of the article to see his email discussion with a seismologist regarding this. It is fascinating. (Could Exxon-Mobil Works Have Tripped Indonesian Tsunami?)

A sad commentary on financial markets--Goldman-Sachs profited from the oil rig explosion: "It turns out that Goldman Sachs placed shorts on TransOcean stock days before the explosions rocked the rig in the Gulf of Mexico sending stocks plunging while GS profits soared -- benefitting once again from a huge disaster, having done the same with airline stocks prior to 911 then again with the housing bubble."

Goldman Sachs just settled with the SEC for $450,000 (one guy's salary for a month; or the price of one nicer home lost, among millions due to the collapse) as punishment for shorting the mortgage balloon. (Goldman Sachs settles short-sales allegations) They made billions in the crime.(No joke: Goldman Sachs shorted Gulf of Mexico)

Record of Oil Spills in or Near Louisiana Up to 2005

Louisiana has had its share of oil spills. After Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, the nonprofit Louisiana Environmental Action Network said it remained concerned about cleanup efforts, given how late the cleanup began.

"We're very concerned," executive director Marylee Orr told MSNBC.com. "We're watching the limited data that has come out."

Below are the largest known spills, most of them along the Mississippi River south of New Orleans, along with estimates provided by the Coast Guard.

Major spills (over 100,000 gallons)
Bass Enterprises Production Company (Cox Bay): About 3.78 million gallons discharged, of which 960,000 gallons were recovered, 2 million gallons were contained and 982,000 gallons evaporated.

Shell (Pilot Town): About 1.05 million gallons discharged, of which about 718,000 gallons were recovered, 129,000 were contained and 105,000 gallons evaporated or dispersed. Some 87,000 gallons have not been contained.

Chevron (Empire): About 991,000 gallons were released, of which 983,000 gallons were naturally dispersed or evaporated, 4,000 gallons were recovered and 3,600 gallons were contained.

Murphy Oil Corporation (Meraux): About 819,000 gallons discharged, of which 305,000 were recovered, 196,000 gallons were contained and 312,000 gallons evaporated. Some 6,000 gallons were not recovered.

Bass Enterprises (Point a la Hache): About 461,000 gallons of oil discharged, of which half was contained and half evaporated.

Medium spills (10,000 to 100,000 gallons)
Chevron (Port Fourchon): About 53,000 gallons were released, of which 21,000 gallons were naturally dispersed, 26,000 gallons were recovered and 420 gallons were contained.

Venice Energy Services Company (Venice): About 840,000 gallons of potential discharge are enclosed in bermed and boomed area, but only 25,000 gallons were actually discharged, of which 4,800 gallons were recovered.

Shell Pipeline Oil (Nairn): About 13,440 gallons discharged, of which 126 gallons were recovered, 2,940 gallons were contained and 10,500 gallons reached shoreline.

Sundown Energy (West Potash): About 13,000 gallons discharged, of which 153 gallons were recovered, 2,000 gallons were contained, and 5,000 gallons reached shoreline.

Offshore oil
Paskewich dismissed suggestions by an environmental advocacy group that satellite photos showed some 7,000 square miles of oil floating in the Gulf, saying numerous flyovers revealed only minor sheening. Skytruth, a group that uses satellite imagery to track environmental damage, says extensive oil slicks are visible in areas of the Gulf raked by hurricane-force winds. (44 oil spills found in southeast Louisiana)

Given All These Spills, Why Hasn't Mineral Management Services Tightened Regulations?

Why didn't the US Minerals Management Service require that Big Oil install secondary blowout preventers on oil rigs, as other countries have? Congress is investigating this and other issues. (Did-Big-Oil-run-roughshod-over-regulators/(page)/2 )

Drilling Halted

It would seem with all of these unanswered questions, that President Obama made a wise decision in halting new off-shore drilling in Alaska and Virginia.

SOURCES:

Bathypelagic Zone--britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/55998/bathypelagic-zone

BP to lower 100-ton chamber to stop oil flow from ruptured well--www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/07/bp-bid-contain-oil-disaster-100-ton-box, Suzanne Goldenberg

44 oil spills found in southeast Louisiana--Largest is nearly 4 million gallons, most big ones are on Mississippi River, Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report--msnbc.msn.com/id/9365607/

Mark Guarino,Staff writer, May 11, 2010, Golf balls, new containment dome on deck to stop Gulf oil spill--BP is open to suggestions from the public on how to plug the well gushing thousands of gallons of oil per day 5,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.
Patrick Jonsson, Staff writer,May 6, 2010, Gulf oil spill: Did Big Oil run roughshod over regulators?--csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0506/Gulf-oil-spill-Did-Big-Oil-run-roughshod-over-regulators/(page)/2

Paul Noel, JAH, Sterling D. Allan and Mary-Sue Halliburton, Could Exxon-Mobil Works Have Tripped Indonesian Tsunami?-- pesn.com/2005/01/25/6900062_Exxon_Tripped_Indonesian_Tsunami/

Expert: Caution required for Gulf oil spill clean-up--Provided by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (news : web) May 4, 2010--physorg.com/news192202406.html

Marcy Gordon, (AP), Goldman Sachs settles short-sales allegations--google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hKmIsfkA0EgPqbtAyY4hBDj_azTQD9FG84OG0

Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune, April 30, 2010, 9:21PM, Long Term Impact of Gulf Oil Spill Remains Unclear--nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/04/long-term_impact_of_gulf_of_me.html

Philip Sherwell, US Editor, May 01, 2010, Louisana Oil Spill May be Five Times Bigger than Previously Thought, telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7664907/Louisiana-oil-spill-may-be-five-times-bigger-than-previously-thought.html

Memorandum From Earl Devaney, Inspector General, Dept. of Interior on OIG Investigations of MMS Employees-- doioig.gov/upload/RIK%20REDACTED%20FINAL4_082008%20with%20transmittal%209_10%20date.pdf )

Ocean Layers--srh.noaa.gov/jetstream/ocean/layers_ ocean.htm