Scoop Sea's Oil Spill Thread

[Scoop Sea]

The weather beat the mess out of the crews again today. In turn, the crews that normally tend boom, act as "sentinels", boom the oil, etc. were driven off the water. Then storms came ashore and ran the beach crews off as well. You can't beat the weather. That's the bad news. The good (or better) news is the fact that the Mobile UC is adjusting the "Branch" structures in each State. These Branches have already been operating, but now the Counties are going to be given more power in each of these Branches. Up until now, the UC has been working with the States at the UC level to address local issues (and some of the Counties in the Area of Response actually have seats over at the Incident Command Post as well). The States will also have a seat at the table at the Branch level. In essence, mini-incident command structures will be implemented in the States, that will incorporate: Federal, BP, State, and County personnel to direct the operations at a more local level. Most of the Branches will include more than one County, but each County will be given a seat at the table to ensure they can have ownership in the operations taking place in their area. It will take a little while to get this fully functional, but in my opinion it's a great move forward for the response operations.

Barhopr I see you started up a thread to allow venting, etc. thanks for doing that. As for the “I heard this and Brother In Law” questions/statements that folks aren’t supposed to post over there, they can post here and hopefully I can get them addressed.

As for the question concerning: “is anyone testing local waters”, the answer is yes. Both the State and Feds are testing the water. As of now, no exceedences of oil, oil constituents, or dispersants have been found.

Something I do want to throw out there is this: There is oil stratification in the sand on-shore and in the sediment near shore. I fully expect this to continue regardless of how many track-hoes, etc. are used. In my opinion, it is best to try and address the gross contamination on the surface, the best you can, now during this response and save the “remedial” work for after the oil has stopped coming ashore. It’s basically an effort in futility in my mind. Of course it is driven by perception and politics. That’s just my two cents worth.

Take Care,

[Redbelly]

That is good news about the local waters. Thanks.

[wevans]

My nephew just called and couldn't put in at Bottoms landing due to the crews off-loading booms lets just hope that they don't have a reason to use them

[Scoop Sea]

Hey Wevans, we have no indication of oil that way. They are just trying to get ahead of the oil in case it shifts again. It's a good and bad situation. You put the boom out this far in advance of possible oil and you have a lot of maintenance and repair issues to deal with in the interim. However, if you don't get it out ahead of the oil, it may be difficult to get it out when you need it, i.e. bad weather comes and you can't place boom. It's another challenging situation. No doubt people will call and express anger over boom being "free", washed ashore, needing repair, etc over in the area that oil hasn't gotten to yet. They will also call and complain about boom being in the way of fishing, etc. Dang if you do, dang if you don't. The bottom line is exactly what you said, let's hope we don't need it over in our neck of the woods.

[Ty one on]

Is the plan to continue this boom to east untill Florida is rapped up?

I have seen the boom plan for Wakulla. It has the boom running from the Bottoms road area to Piney Island. 12,577 feet from Piney Island to the west end of Shell Point then 10,961 feet from Live Oak Island in front of Patty's and John's Island then to the St. Marks River. also other booms at the mouths of the creeks.

I feel the boom is being placed way to early becuase by the time it will be needed it will be torn and laying in the marshes making the boom a maintenace nightmare.

Also the early placement of the booms sends the message that the oil has arrived.

[Barhopr]

Here is a link to a map of boom placement for Franklin.
http://deepwaterhorizonresponse.calvin- ... o.com/gis/

[Scoop Sea]

Hey Ty, good points. The points you made were the points I was making, boom put in place too early leads to a lot of other problems. It's a dang if you do, dang if you don't. The original boom strategies in the Area Contingency Plan were more restrictive (didn't cover as much area) but they were adjusted in the heat of the battle. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if we can get politics out of the way, things will go a lot better and run more efficient. I'm just saying.....

[Good Times]

Hey Scoop. What are your thoughts on the "A Whale" skimmer ship?

[Flint River Pirate]

Hey Scoop. What are your thoughts on the "A Whale" skimmer ship?

I was about to post the same thing. I look forward to Scoop's thoughts on this.

[Scoop Sea]

Hey Guys, Sorry for the late reply on the A Whale Skimmer. Here are my thoughts, let's try anything.... I think the press and the ships owner are making this ship out to being the answer to the problem. What folks have to remember is this ship was a former tanker and they have retrofitted it to be a skimmer. It is not known how well it will work. The USCG is conducting a 48 hour test on the ship to see how effective it is. If the USCG gives the o.k., it should go into play. There is some confusion over the EPA's involvement, etc. I fully expect that if the USCG says it's a viable tool, it will be put into use. I do think that it’s “centrifuge” type of operation will allow for some more efficiency on oil/water that comes into the ship (kind of like Kevin Costner’s machines).

The ship is extremely large and it's maneuvering will force other ships doing skimming work in the area to get out of the way due to it's size. Furthermore, the oil doesn't just come straight up out at the source, i.e. you have to move around to various areas in which it comes up, so it will be interesting to see how well it works chasing down these various oil releases. Personally, due to the press it has gotten and the pressure to use it, I can't see any way that it won't be put into play (notice all of the boom deployed that doesn't need to be deployed: previous posts, all of the VOO''s being used as "sentinels or pulling absorbant boom that really aren’t efficient but have been put into place due to politics, or the thousands of beach workers that although their heart is in it, they are not overly efficient,etc.) My point being, I believe pressure will put this into play regardless of how efficient it is (we have seen this on other operations). I really hope the USCG comes back and says it did a great job and it will be efficient, we'll see.
Happy 4th.

[Scoop Sea]

I heard this afternoon that the A Whale was not really doing that well. Apparently, it too is hampered by inclimate weather (high waves) and is having a hard time recovering oil. Furthermore, it appears that the ship is so large that the push of the water from moving the ship actually pushes the oil/water out of the way. I also heard that it was mostly getting sheen instead of true product. I was advised the USCG is going to extend the trial another 24 hours to see if it can't be tweaked and become more productive. It has been reported that the EPA will have to approve the use of this ship, but as noted in my earlier posts, I do not believe that is the case and if the EPA had to approve it, they would if it was found productive. I do contend that the political and media pressure will force some use of this ship, even if it is not found to be overly productive.

Ops this week look to be challenging due to the weather we are having. Maybe we'll get a break before too long. I'll be heading back to "the county" this week, but will try to keep in tune of the activities so that I can update the post when new info comes along, etc.

[Scoop Sea]

Ops are still challenged by the weather. A Whale is still being tested, but no real "miracles" at this point. Let me stress, EPA will not stop A Whale from being used if proved feasible. Press has been dogging EPA on this, but that's not the case. Oil is still moving west, good for our neck of the woods, but sucks for our westerly neighbors. Rumors run amuck that the relief wells are way above schedule and will get done in a week or so. I don't believe this is the case, I would love for that to be true, but just haven't heard anything definitive in the pipeline indicating this will be done in 7 days or so. Yes, they are above schedule, a week or so ahead maybe, a month ahead, doubtful. No other real news this way.

[leesburgga]

Scoop Sea, my first post on this thread, but I have been closely following your posts and wanted to thank you for both your work on the spill and also the info that you are sharing with us. I have a boat in the Port St. Joe area and closely followed the closing of that area. To my knowledge, oil was never spotted at Mexico Beach nor on Cape San Blas nor in St. Joe Bay nor was it ever actually projected that far east. However, as the projections reached Panama City and also some oil was identified at PCB, the closure understandably moved east and encompassed the federal waters all the way to the south end of Cape San Blas. As the winds have moved the projections significantly back to the west, I was curious what might be realistic for that area to be considered for reopening. Obviously, I am not trying to hold anyone to a date specific, but rather just curious how that process works and is that even something that is realistic in the near term. Thanks again for all you are doing.

[Scoop Sea]

Hey Leesburgga: The NMFS Southeast Fisheries Office in St. Pete sets the closures, they are not located in our Command Center. I have discussed closures with my NOAA reps and they advised that usually the NMFS uses the 72 hour trajectories and a buffer for uncertainty when making closures. Areas are re-opened if they never had oil in them and are outside of the new 72 hour trajectory+buffer. I am just speculating here, but I expect that since the area was closed due to a former projection, they are keeping it closed as this oil has been oscillating back and forth dependent on the winds/currents. In turn, once again just speculating, I do not expect that they will lift that fishery closure any time soon, i.e. the winds are pushing the oil west this week, but it may push it back east next week. I could be 100% wrong and they could open it at the end of the day..... I do know that the USCG Captains are very concerned with fishery closures and they constantly stress that closures should be lifted as soon as possible. Sorry I couldn't provide more information on this subject.

[leesburgga]

Scoop Sea, thanks for the quick response and that is exactly the kind of information I was looking for but would not know where else to find without you. Thanks again.