BigBendFishing.Net

Good point Scoop! Thanks for your response.

I got back down range last night. Everything is plugging along pretty well. Weather is starting to kick up and may impact us this week, especially with the storm down SE that may become a TS or Hurricane. Hurricane plans have a lot of upfront removal actions that will require time to implement and will interrupt operations. We'll just have to see how the storm progresses.

The bubbles around the cap turned out to be nitrogen and a minor amount of methane (believed to be naturally occuring due to decay, etc.). That was good news. As you have probably already heard, the "seep" noted two miles away appears to be from another source.

Hope all is well.

My optimism for getting this well killed in the near future is growing less optimistic due to the weather. If we could get another week of good weather I think we could have some great things happening. Unfortunately, the current disturbance down SE of Florida is projected to head into our area and in turn the Severe Weather Contingencies will start moving forward. With thousands of boats, miles of boom, miles of piping, and forty plus thousand people involved with the response, it takes a while to ensure that everyone and everything is out of harms way should a real storm come this way. It's another dang if you do and dang if you don't scenario. Some folks will say you are jumping too quickly, while others say you are reacting too slowly......... Like I have stated before on this thread, there are some decisions that you will never get consensus on. I told my colleagues, TS, Cat. 1, and Cat 2. are reasons to throw a party not run, that didn't go over too well. Here's my thought, some boom that didn't need to be put out will be removed and we won't have to go retrieve it from the marshes (where it will do damage) should a storm hit the area. I'm seriously hoping that cooler heads will prevail about replacing the boom (in areas that might not need boom) after the threat passes, as stated many times, politics, especially local, often times drives that train.

The cap is staying on for now. Observations and measurements continue to help ensure that there are not adverse effects of keeping the cap on. I fully expect that BP will get approval to try the hydrostatic top kill through the cap. That will not alleviate the need to still punch the relief wells, but it would be good progress. The problem is we need about a 3-4 good days of weather to hit that static kill, but the forecast doesn’t look good for a while. Let’s hope the weather passes quickly and we can get this done.

Well, as you have probably heard/read/etc, the response efforts are pretty well shut down starting tomorrow and through the weekend. I sure hate to see it happen, especially since that means the efforts near the well will stop as well. Hopefully the crews will be able to get right back at it early next week and make further progress. I anticipate that the response personnel and equipment will be "right sized" upon the return to operations. I hope all is well with all of ya'll on the forum.

Thanks for the update Scoop.

Things are going pretty dang good considering this time last week we were looking at a possible hurricane headed our way. Not much oil (mostly sheen) is being seen across the Area of Response. Still getting tarballs, but no major oiling. If the weather holds off and we have no hiccups, we could possibly see a static kill on Sunday. It's looking more and more like our neck of the woods is going to turn out alright (minus the economic impact: Thanks Media......). We will still have months and years left associated with trying to recover from this spill, but our ER activities will start winding down more and more as we see less oil. Ya'll should be seeing less boom and I am happy to say that the boom pulled ahead of the storm is not going to be put back in the water. This boom will be properly staged and ready to be deployed if needed. It's been a while since I dropped a line, so I wanted to shoot out a quick note tonight. The days continue to be long, so I don't get to check the forum too often, but if you have any comments/questions related to the response activities, don't hesitate to drop a line. Take Care.

I appreciate you taking time to post updates. i know I have a hard time making the time to read, much less repond to, generic emails.......so again, I appreciate you and your time. I have spoke up when I have heard others talking of the spill and offering opinions. I have watched a fair amount of the media coverage always keeping in mind the source and comparing that info to what I read here. I was on the Florida Atlantic coast recently and had others talk of the Gulf coast and their thoughts on the conditions there. I quickly informed them of the beautiful area we enjoy and the emerald coast that I have had first hand reports from. The admited that they had been influenced by the Media and were surprised at what I was telling them.

It's a tough position you have been (and continue to be) in. So I appreciate your view and understanding of others views and concerns....I look forward to further updates.....

WE APPRECIATE YOUR REPORTS ON THE OIL SPILL, ALL YOU CAN SEE ON THE NATIONAL MEDIA IS OIL SOAKED PELLICANS, AND OIL SOAKED GRASS. THEY JUST CAN NOT REPORT ANYTHING GOOD HAPPENING.
PA THE OLD MAN OF THE SEA SEMPER FI

CNN ought to pay for the economic damage they caused through their irresponsible and biased reporting.

Harmsway wrote:CNN ought to pay for the economic damage they caused through their irresponsible and biased reporting.

Come on Will, CNN be biased and irresponsible? No way not CNN.

or FOX

I think there is enough blame to share amongst all of the media outlets. I'm just sayin.....

Things still look good here. Still hoping for a Static Kill on Sunday. Seeing very little product out on the water.

Here's an interesting report. What's your take on this Scoop?

Where is the oil?
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/07/27/gu ... -know-oil/

CNN's Amber Lyon takes a tour of the Joint Command Center in Mobile, Alabama, to meet the responders handling the oil spill.
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video ... d.cnn.html

Hey Scoop Sea, what color vest are you wearing? White, I bet (or maybe green).

Hey Harmsway, I'm a White Vester in one of the 7 Incident Commander Roles, USCG, EPA, Al, Fl, Ms, DOI, and BP for Mobile UC. Amber was definitely a breathe of fresh air in the ICP. As you can see, we are very receptive to being open to the media and we were glad they took us up on this offer to give some insight. As denoted, it was a "behind the scenes" type story, I wish we had someone else from CNN come by if you know what I mean, so that we could "keep em honest"........