100-ton box to drop on oil spill
Source: Agencies |
May 7, 2010, Friday
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Print Edition
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WITH success uncertain, a boat carrying a 100-ton concrete-and-steel contraption designed to siphon off oil fouling the Gulf of Mexico arrived at the scene yesterday in an unprecedented attempt to cap a blown-out well spewing hundreds of thousands of liters a day.
Another boat with a crane was to start lowering the box to the seafloor later in the day. Engineers hope it will be the best short-term solution to controlling the leak that has only worsened since it began two weeks ago.
The waters at the spill site yesterday morning were calm with some clouds in the sky, though visibility was good. Roughly a dozen other ships either surrounded the spill site or could be seen in the distance.
While people anxiously wait for the mess to wash up along the coast, globules of oil are already falling to the bottom of the sea, where they threaten virtually every link in the ocean food chain, from plankton to fish that are on dinner tables everywhere.
At the accident site, thick, tar-like oil surrounded the boat for as far as the eye could see. The pungent scent of oil could be smelled even in the bridge of the boat.
The Joe Griffin was expected to meet up with another BP-chartered boat, the Boa Sub C, a Norwegian vessel that will use a crane to lower the contraption to cover the gusher of oil spewing from the seabed - something that has never been tried before at such depths.
The boat hauling the specially built containment box and dome structure set off on Wednesday evening from the Louisiana coast. The dome-like top of the structure is designed to act like a funnel and siphon the oil up through 1,500 meters of pipe and onto a tanker at the surface.
Oil has been gushing into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of at least 757,000 liters a day since an offshore drilling rig exploded and sank last month, killing 11 people.
"We're a little anxious. They're gonna try everything they can. If it don't work, they'll try something else," Captain Demi Shaffer said.
BP, operator of the oil rig, has tried several high-tech undersea tactics to cap the leak. The containment dome endeavor is unprecedented.
Meanwhile, a rapid response team planned to head to the Chandeleur Islands off Louisiana's coast yesterday to look into unconfirmed reports that oil from the spill had arrived there, Coast Guard Petty Officer Erik Swanson told reporters.
Another boat with a crane was to start lowering the box to the seafloor later in the day. Engineers hope it will be the best short-term solution to controlling the leak that has only worsened since it began two weeks ago.
The waters at the spill site yesterday morning were calm with some clouds in the sky, though visibility was good. Roughly a dozen other ships either surrounded the spill site or could be seen in the distance.
While people anxiously wait for the mess to wash up along the coast, globules of oil are already falling to the bottom of the sea, where they threaten virtually every link in the ocean food chain, from plankton to fish that are on dinner tables everywhere.
At the accident site, thick, tar-like oil surrounded the boat for as far as the eye could see. The pungent scent of oil could be smelled even in the bridge of the boat.
The Joe Griffin was expected to meet up with another BP-chartered boat, the Boa Sub C, a Norwegian vessel that will use a crane to lower the contraption to cover the gusher of oil spewing from the seabed - something that has never been tried before at such depths.
The boat hauling the specially built containment box and dome structure set off on Wednesday evening from the Louisiana coast. The dome-like top of the structure is designed to act like a funnel and siphon the oil up through 1,500 meters of pipe and onto a tanker at the surface.
Oil has been gushing into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of at least 757,000 liters a day since an offshore drilling rig exploded and sank last month, killing 11 people.
"We're a little anxious. They're gonna try everything they can. If it don't work, they'll try something else," Captain Demi Shaffer said.
BP, operator of the oil rig, has tried several high-tech undersea tactics to cap the leak. The containment dome endeavor is unprecedented.
Meanwhile, a rapid response team planned to head to the Chandeleur Islands off Louisiana's coast yesterday to look into unconfirmed reports that oil from the spill had arrived there, Coast Guard Petty Officer Erik Swanson told reporters.
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