'A Whale' may clean up Gulf oil
By Tom Breen |
July 5, 2010, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE latest hopes are riding on a massive new skimmer to clean oil from near the spewing well in the Gulf of Mexico, while a local Louisiana parish's plan to block the slick has been rejected by United States federal officials.
A 48-hour test of the Taiwanese vessel dubbed "A Whale" began on Saturday and was to end yesterday.
TMT Shipping created the world's largest oil skimmer by converting an oil tanker after the April 20 blast sent millions of gallons of crude spilling into the Gulf.
The vessel was expected to cruise a 64.75-square-kilometer test site just north of the Macondo Deepwater well site, company officials said.
The US Coast Guard and BP are waiting to see if the vessel, which is 10 stories high and as long as three football fields, can live up to its makers' promise of being able to process up to 21 million gallons of oil-fouled water a day.
The ship works by taking in water through 12 vents, separating the oil and pumping the cleaned seawater back into the Gulf.
"In many ways, the ship collects water like an actual whale and pumps internally like a human heart," TMT spokesman Bob Grantham said in an e-mail.
The ship arrived in the Gulf last Wednesday, but officials have wanted to test its capability as well as have the federal Environmental Protection Agency sign off on the water it will pump back into the Gulf, which will contain trace amounts of crude.
The wait has frustrated some local officials, who say the mammoth skimmer would be a game-changer in keeping oil from reaching coastlines.
During a Thursday tour of the inlet to Barataria Bay, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said it was exasperating to have A Whale anchored offshore instead of being put to immediate use.
Jindal, who has been outspoken in his criticism of the relief effort, also criticized the US Army Corps of Engineers for rejecting a proposal by Jefferson Parish to build a series of rock dikes to protect Barataria Bay.
A 48-hour test of the Taiwanese vessel dubbed "A Whale" began on Saturday and was to end yesterday.
TMT Shipping created the world's largest oil skimmer by converting an oil tanker after the April 20 blast sent millions of gallons of crude spilling into the Gulf.
The vessel was expected to cruise a 64.75-square-kilometer test site just north of the Macondo Deepwater well site, company officials said.
The US Coast Guard and BP are waiting to see if the vessel, which is 10 stories high and as long as three football fields, can live up to its makers' promise of being able to process up to 21 million gallons of oil-fouled water a day.
The ship works by taking in water through 12 vents, separating the oil and pumping the cleaned seawater back into the Gulf.
"In many ways, the ship collects water like an actual whale and pumps internally like a human heart," TMT spokesman Bob Grantham said in an e-mail.
The ship arrived in the Gulf last Wednesday, but officials have wanted to test its capability as well as have the federal Environmental Protection Agency sign off on the water it will pump back into the Gulf, which will contain trace amounts of crude.
The wait has frustrated some local officials, who say the mammoth skimmer would be a game-changer in keeping oil from reaching coastlines.
During a Thursday tour of the inlet to Barataria Bay, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said it was exasperating to have A Whale anchored offshore instead of being put to immediate use.
Jindal, who has been outspoken in his criticism of the relief effort, also criticized the US Army Corps of Engineers for rejecting a proposal by Jefferson Parish to build a series of rock dikes to protect Barataria Bay.
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