Alex path likely to bypass oil site: The Oil Spill

Vatic Note:   Wow, this story conjured up so many questions that I am going to need some help here from anyone who knows and understands waterways and politics.   Right now a deadly combination, if I do say so myself.   If you would please use the comment section and I will then try to update the article with the answers so others can share in the information:

1.  I think everyone would agree we have an historic precedence setting disaster here that should be commanding the entire attention of those in power, right?  So someone please tell me why we have decided at this particular point in time to begin doing war with Iran?   This I simply do not understand?  Also what would a false flag nuke attack to get that war started,  do to our recovery efforts in the gulf as well???

2.  Why is BP only using two collection vessels if they can only capture 28,000 gallons a day each which  is hundreds of thousands less than that which is spewing out daily? 

3.  Why is Governor Jindal avoiding his responsibility to protect his land, seashore and 12 mile limit regardless of what the Feds and BP tell him to do?   Other counties in LA have literally told the feds to take a hike and have begun their own actions on the gulf, why isn't Gov Jindal?  Does this remind anyone else of Katrina???

4.  Why hasn't Gov Jindal begun criminal investigation against BP which is within his power to do given the criminal nature of the RESPONSE to the crisis, even if it was a mistake and an accident, which evidence certainly supports that it was not?

5.  Does anyone know what the other governors of the other states are doing if anything to either actively work this problem  or investigate or prosecute BP for this mess?   I am seriously looking and can't find a word on what the other governors are doing right now or have been doing. 

WEll, these are only some of the questions I have regarding the big picture, so if anyone has any answers I would sure love to see them.  Thanks

Alex path likely to bypass oil site: The Oil Spill
By SANDY DAVIS
Advocate staff writer, Baton Rouge
Published: Jun 29, 2010 - Page: 1A

Tropical Storm Alex probably won’t hit BP’s oil collection effort in the Gulf of Mexico, but the high waves generated by the storm could cause delays in the company’s plans to double the amount of crude it captures.

Kent Wells, BP’s vice president of exploration and production, said Monday the storm isn’t expected to stop oil collections on its two vessels or drilling on its two relief wells.

But the storm could delay hooking up a third containment vessel, the Helix Producer, which, once online, is expected to increase daily oil collections from about 25,000 barrels to 53,000 barrels, he said.

Wells said preparation work to hook the Helix Producer to a free-standing riser pipe likely won’t be finished until sometime during the first week of July.

“It’s precise work, and a lot of it is done on the surface of the water, which requires a flat sea,” Wells said.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that Alex is expected to make landfall near the Texas-Mexico border sometime Thursday.

BP’s two other collection vessels, Discoverer Enterprise and the Q4000, captured about 24,000 barrels of oil Sunday, he said. But their collection limit is 28,000 barrels a day.

As a result, oil continues to billow from the containment cap and into the sea.

Government scientists estimate that between 35,000 barrels and 60,000 barrels, or 1.47 million to 2.5 million gallons, of oil are spewing daily from the well.

One of the two relief wells being drilled is within 20 feet horizontally of BP’s blown-out well, Wells also said Monday.

The well is about 16,770 feet deep and, Wells said, drillers have about 900 feet more to drill before they plan to intersect the well and begin the process of plugging it.

In case they “nick” the well on the way down, Wells said there was about 20,000 barrels of mud on the drilling rig and another 20,000 barrels of mud on a second ship connected to the drilling rig. The mud, which is heavier than the oil and gas, would be put in the well to suppress the pressure.

Drilling on the relief well began May 2 and BP said the well should be completed by mid-August.
“While we feel very good about the progress we’ve made thus far, we’ve said from day one, roughly 90 days,” he said. “We continue to think that.”

The gusher began after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded April 20, killing 11 workers. The rig was about 50 miles off shore.

While the storm headed away from the oil gusher, Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi and Alabama braced for more oil to come ashore.

NOAA said that by Wednesday, shorelines as far west as Caillou Bay, and as far east as west of Freeport, Fla., could get oiled.

A large oil slick threatened Mississippi and Alabama barrier islands and the Florida Panhandle west of Freeport, according to NOAA’s 72-hour trajectory.

The Chandeleur Islands, Breton Sound and the Mississippi Delta also were threatened.

NOAA officials said that a “significant amount” of oil was observed near Barataria Bay during a flight over the area Sunday.

Gov. Bobby Jindal said Monday he saw a “massive and heavy oil slick” about three miles out from Grand Isle and Barataria Bay.

Jindal said that he was frustrated that federal permits had not been issued for projects he said would help keep the oil out of the area.

Jefferson Parish, Grand Isle and Lafitte applied for permits to narrow five passes in eastern Barataria Bay using rocks and barges equipped with vacuums and sorbent material, he said.

But the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has only approved using barges in two of the passes, Pass Abel and Four-Bayou Pass, Jindal said. The use of rocks to help block off the passes has not been approved, he said.

“The federal agencies are saying rocks in the water would cause more damage than the oil that is coming our way,” Jindal said. “Only someone in Washington would be arguing about that. That defies logic and common sense.”

Jindal asked the corps to issue an emergency authorization for the rock work.

“Requests for minor details or additional analyses can be handled after a permit is issued,” he said.

Jindal also criticized the corps for shutting down a state dredging operation last week near the Chandeleur Islands.

The operation resumed Monday, but Jindal said that the islands were oiled over the weekend.

Corps officials said they were concerned that dredging in shallow water could cause additional erosion and further deterioration of the Chandeleur Islands.

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