You are in the current Gulf Watchers BP Catastrophe - AUV #439. ROV #438 is here.
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Gulf Watchers Diary Schedule
Monday - evening drive time
Wednesday - morning
Friday - morning
Friday Block Party - evening
Sunday - morning
Part one of the digest of diaries is here and part two is here.
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The House of Representatives on Wednesday approved 212-206 a $1.2 trillion spending bill, including a section that may double the number of federal oil and gas inspectors needed to improve oversight of offshore drilling after the BP spill disaster.
The bill also takes a recommendation from the Obama administration and staffers for the National Oil Spill Commission to give the Bureau of Ocean Energy, Management, Regulation and Enforcement 90 days, instead of the current 30, to conduct environmental assessments for proposed offshore oil and gas exploration plans.
The president has said 30 days isn't enough time for a thorough review. Last week, a coalition of environmental groups, led by the Sierra Club and National Resources Defense Council, said the 30-day deadline "prevents adequate review and adds to the pressure to approve exploration activities" such as the ill-fated BP Macondo well.
Louisiana lawmakers, however, said extending the time given for review of exploratory drilling proposals would further cripple an industry that has seen offshore drilling permits slowed since the BP spill on April 20.
"BOEM has requested an increase in funding to perform offshore inspections, which includes the permitting process, and it makes no sense to triple the amount of review time while simultaneously allowing for an increase in staff to oversee and inspect these same rigs," said Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson. "This proposal will dramatically impact our energy security and should not be attached to other bills without an open and transparent debate."
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., earlier in the week joined Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, in asking Senate Appropriations Committee leaders to drop the new 90-day time frame for reviewing offshore oil exploration permits.
"It has now been eight months since the Deepwater Horizon accident, and our nation's offshore oil and gas industry is still reeling from the economic impact of the moratorium and now the de facto moratorium that has taken its place," Landrieu and Murkowski said in their letter. "Adding more time to the clock will only serve to further delay a process that needs to be accelerated."
The National Oil Spill Commission plans to release a report on the BP accident on Jan. 11.
The additional inspectors were requested by the administration after the Interior Department inspector general said last summer the BOEM has only 60 inspectors to monitor offshore drilling over a 4,000-mile radius in the Gulf of Mexico, and also provides more money for training and technology for federal offshore drilling monitoring.
The bill, which must be approved by the Senate, contains other proposals, including a freeze on salaries for nonmilitary federal employees and an appropriation of $159 billion for the war the Afghanistan. It provides money for the remainder of the fiscal year, which runs through Sept. 30. Republicans opposed the bill, saying they preferred a shorter-term spending bill so the new GOP majority can hit the ground running with their project to drown government in a bathtub when the new Congress convenes next month.
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BP aid may boost barrier islands. Louisiana coastal restoration officials plan to use $100 million given to the state by BP to rebuild at least two barrier islands west of the mouth of the Mississippi River, in conjunction with money available from several federal coastal restoration programs.
Soon after the BP Macondo well began spewing oil that threatened the state's coastlines, Louisiana officials obtained a commitment from the company to give the state $360 million to build 5-foot-high sand berms alongside existing barrier islands on both sides of the river.
Last month, BP agreed that the last $140 million of that money could be used by the state to complete four berms that gained federal permits, and to transition work on some of those berms into full-scale barrier island restoration projects.
The state is using about $40 million to complete work on a sand berm running alongside the northernmost Chandeleur Islands, Robert Routon, a project manager with the state Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration, told members of the state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority on Wednesday.
Between $5 million and $10 million of the remaining money would be paired with $40 million already committed by the Breaux Act Task Force to rebuild Pelican Island in Plaquemines Parish, Routon said. The project's design has been changed to take into account the new money and to reposition the island to take advantage of the berm built along its shoreline as part of the oil spill protection project.
The money will allow construction of 180 acres of sand dune built to a height of 8 feet above sea level, which would stretch along about 2 1/2 miles of the eroded island. About 400 acres of marsh would be built behind the island.
Routon said state officials are negotiating with the Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies over how best to use the remaining funds.
The authority also was updated on the status of the BP disaster's Natural Resource Damage Assessment process. Louisiana and other Gulf Coast states and officials with several federal agencies are attempting to determine the value of damaged or destroyed natural resources, including wildlife and wetlands. The ultimate goal is to provide BP and other responsible parties with plans for projects that would mitigate the short-term and long-term effects of the spill on natural resources.
Well, the suggestion could be made that not doing dangerous things, like letting greedy, incompetent bastards drill indiscriminately in fragile environments could serve to "mitigate" the effects...
Authority Chairman Garret Graves said he and other state officials also are concerned about the efforts of other states to gain an equal division of money that BP and other responsible parties are expected to pay as fines for violating the Clean Water Act by releasing oil into the Gulf.
He pointed out that BP this week said the well spilled only half of the 4.9 million barrels of oil estimated by a team of federal officials, and that if BP's estimate is determined to be accurate, it would halve the fine money. BP could be fined $1,100 a barrel if the oil release is determined to be accidental, or $4,300 a barrel if BP and other responsible parties are found to have been negligent.
Using the government estimates, the companies could be on the hook for fines ranging from $5 billion to $21 billion.
Ya think?
Graves said he and other state officials are concerned that the next Congress may be less interested in agreeing with the recommendation of the administration of President Barack Obama, Gulf Coast Restoration chief and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, and of Obama's Oil Spill Commission that the majority of the fine money should be dedicated to coastal restoration, with most of the money going to Louisiana.
If the money is not protected, Graves said, Congress may attempt to use it for other purposes, such as balancing the federal budget.
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BP official: Effort to shut Gulf well was 'late'
Workers on the doomed Gulf of Mexico oil rig were distracted by multiple activities going on simultaneously and didn't try to shut the well until 49 minutes after potentially explosive gas particles began flowing in, a BP vice president told a federal investigative panel Wednesday.
Steve Robinson, who led the team that questioned the wellsite leaders as part of BP PLC's internal probe, said at hearings in Houston that the actions were late. He said that by the time the crew reacted, the hydrocarbons were already in the riser. He said they couldn't be contained, only diverted.
An explosion occurred just minutes later, killing 11 workers and leading to more than 200 million gallons of oil spewing from BP's well a mile beneath the sea, according to government estimates.
The hearings are nearing completion as divisions of blame are being assessed for the Deepwater Horizon disaster. At least one more hearing, the seventh, is expected before the panel issues its final report, which is due by March 27. The panel is still awaiting the results of forensic testing on a key piece of evidence - the blowout preventer that failed to stop the spill. Investigators are analyzing it at NASA's Michoud testing facility in New Orleans.
BP has previously acknowledged that its engineers and employees of Transocean misinterpreted a pressure test of the well's integrity before the explosion. It also previously blamed employees on the rig from both companies for failing to respond to other warning signs that the well was in danger of blowing out.
Robinson also testified that a technician for a unit of Halliburton who was responsible for monitoring gas levels told BP's internal investigators he never left his post in the hours before the blast. However, the technician, Joseph Keith, testified before the federal panel Tuesday that he left his post around 9 p.m. for about 10 minutes to grab some coffee, smoke a cigarette and use the restroom. Robinson said that if that is true, there could have been a gap in monitoring during a critical time.
Investigators appear now to be trying to draw a link between the distractions on the rig, the time it took to respond and the consequences.
The co-chairman of a separate presidential commission on the Gulf oil spill said Wednesday during a speech to oil industry lawyers in New Orleans that there is widespread belief that "breathtakingly inept" mistakes by BP, Halliburton and Transocean led to the disaster. William Reilly also said the industry must do a much better job of regulating itself.
The industry regulating itself? How's that been working out for you so far?
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Rig worker says she can't testify at spill hearing
A technician who was aboard the oil rig that exploded April 20 in the Gulf of Mexico says she is too traumatized to testify before a panel investigating the blast and subsequent spill.
Cathleena Willis was working for a Halliburton subsidiary the night of the blast that killed 11 people and caused more than 200 million gallons of oil to spew from a deep-sea well. BP PLC was the majority owner of the well and leased the rig from Transocean.
Willis filed a request Monday in federal court in Houston asking that the subpoena requiring her to testify to be quashed. Willis says she suffered physical and emotional trauma and watched friends and co-workers die.
Willis had been scheduled to testify during Thursday's hearings into the disaster, though she did not take the stand. A court has not ruled on her request.
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On a lighter note, don't forget tonight's Gulf Watchers Block Party, with your host Yasuragi. What's in store? I have no idea... But it will be FUN!
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PLEASE visit Pam LaPier's diary to find out how you can help the Gulf now and in the future. We don't have to be idle! And thanks to Crashing Vor and Pam LaPier for working on this!
Previous Gulf Watcher diaries:
The last Mothership has links to reference material.
Previous motherships and ROV's from this extensive live blog effort may be found here.
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