NEW ORLEANS - The Coast Guard discovered Saturday that oil is leaking
from the damaged well that fed a massive rig that exploded this week off
Louisiana's coast, while bad weather halted efforts to clean up the mess
that threatens the area's fragile marine ecosystem.
For days, the Coast Guard has said no oil appeared to be escaping from
the well head on the ocean floor. Rear Adm. Mary Landry said the leak was
a new discovery but could have begun when the rig sank on Thursday, two
days after the initial explosion.
"We thought what we were dealing with as of yesterday was a surface
residual (oil) from the mobile offshore drilling unit," Landry said. "In
addition to that is oil emanating from the well. It is a big change from
yesterday ... This is a very serious spill, absolutely."
Coast Guard and company officials estimate that as much as 1,000 barrels
- or 42,000 gallons - of oil is leaking each day after studying
information from remotely operated vehicles and the size of the oil slick
surrounding the blast site. The rainbow-colored sheen of oil stretched 20
miles by 20 miles on Saturday - about 25 times larger than it appeared to
be a day earlier, Landry said.
By comparison, Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons in Alaska's Prince
William Sound in 1989 - the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
BP PLC, which leased the rig and is taking the lead in the cleanup, and
the government have been using the remotely operated vehicles to try to
stop the leak by closing valves on the well deep underwater. If that
doesn't work, the company could drill what's called an intervention well
to control the oil flow. But the intervention drilling could take months.
"Over the next several days, we should determine which method is the best
one to follow," said Doug Suttles, chief operating officer for BP
Exploration and Production. "A huge number of engineers from ourselves,
working with (the government) and across the industry are putting
together the best technology and know-how to solve this problem."
Complicating efforts to stop the leak is well head's depth at 5,000 feet
underwater, said Lars Herbst, the regional director for the Minerals
Management Service. Leaks have been fixed at similar depths before, but
the process is difficult, he said.
The bad weather rolled in Friday, bringing with it strong wind, clouds
and rain that interrupted efforts to contain the oil spill. Coast Guard
Petty Officer John Edwards said he was uncertain when weather conditions
would improve enough for the cleanup to resume. So far, crews have
retrieved about 1,052 barrels of oily water, he said.
The sunken rig may have as much as 700,000 gallons of diesel on board,
and an undetermined amount of oil has spilled from the rig itself.
Suttles said the rig was "intact and secure" on the seabed about 1,300
feet from the well site.
BP said it has activated an extensive oil spill response, including the
remotely operated vehicles, 700 workers, four airplanes and 32 vessels to
mop up the spill. The Marine Spill Response Corp., an energy industry
cleanup consortium, also brought equipment.
The 11 missing workers came from Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
Neither the Coast Guard nor their employers have released their names,
though several of their families have come forward.
Karl Kleppinger Sr., whose 38-year-old son, Karl, was one of the missing
workers, said he doesn't blame the Coast Guard for calling off the
search.
"Given the magnitude of the explosion and the fire, I don't see where you
would be able to find anything," said Kleppinger, of Zachary, La.
The other 115 crew members made it off the platform; several were hurt
but only one remained hospitalized. The most seriously injured worker was
expected to be released within about 10 days.
Federal officials had already been working on new safety rules for
offshore drilling before Tuesday's blast.
The U.S. Minerals and Management Service is developing regulations aimed
at preventing human error, which it identified as a factor in many of the
more than 1,400 offshore oil drilling accidents between 2001 and 2007. An
MMS review published last year found 41 deaths and 302 injuries during
that period.
The cause of Tuesday's blast hasn't been determined.
The Deepwater Horizon was the site of a 2005 fire found to have been
caused by human error. An MMS investigation determined that a crane
operator on the rig had become distracted while refueling the crane,
allowing diesel fuel to overflow. Records show the fire was quickly
contained, but caused $60,000 in damage to the crane.
Environmentalists said the rig explosion and oil spill should push the
nation to develop new energy sources.
"This should be a wake-up call," said David Helvarg, the president of the
Blue Frontier Campaign, a marine conservation group, and author of
"Rescue Warriors: The U.S. Coast Guard, America's Forgotten Heroes."
"I would rather risk a 'wind spill' than an oil spill offshore," he said,
ruefully pointing out that the source of wind-powered energy can't sully
the environment.
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