Military option eyed in oil spill
Source: Agencies |
April 30, 2010, Friday
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Print Edition
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A MASSIVE oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is even worse than believed and as the government grows concerned that the rig's operator is ill-equipped to contain it, officials are offering a military response to try to avert a massive environmental disaster along the ecologically fragile United States coastline.
Speaking yesterday on NBC television, an executive for BP PLC, which operated the oil rig that exploded and sank last week, said the company would welcome help from the US military.
"We'll take help from anyone," BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said.
But time may be running out. Not only was a third leak discovered - which government officials said is spewing five times as much oil into the water than originally estimated - but it might be closer to shore than previously known, and could have oil washing up on shore by today.
At the same time, there appeared to be a rift developing between BP and the US Coast Guard, which is overseeing the increasingly desperate operation to contain the spill and clean it up.
Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry was emphatic at a hastily called news conference late on Wednesday that the new leak was discharging 5,000 barrels a day of sweet crude, not the 1,000 barrels officials had estimated for days since the Deepwater Horizons drilling rig exploded and sank 80 kilometers off the Louisiana Coast.
Suttles disputed at the same news conference with Landry that the amount of oil spilling into the water had ballooned - or that the company wasn't able to handle the ongoing operation to contain it.
But early yesterday, he said on NBC that the leak may be as high as the government's new estimate. He said there was no way to measure the flow at the seabed and estimates have to come from seeing how much oil makes it to the surface.
"Using the satellite imagery and our overflights, we can now say it looks like it's more than a thousand. It's a range," Suttles said. He said the range was up to 5,000 barrels a day.
The Secretary of Homeland Security has briefed President Barack Obama on this new information and the government has offered to have the Department of Defense use its equipment and expertise to help contain the spill and protect the US coastline and wildlife, Landry said.
"It has become clear after several unsuccessful attempts to determine the cause" that agencies must supplement what's being done by the company, she said.
This all played out at the end of a long day as crews began an experiment to burn off parts of the slick - the latest in a series of high- and low-tech efforts to stop the oil leak, reel in as much of the oil as possible to prevent it from washing ashore and harming the fragile wildlife and plant life that dot the coast.
Landry said the controlled, test burn was successful late on Wednesday afternoon.
Speaking yesterday on NBC television, an executive for BP PLC, which operated the oil rig that exploded and sank last week, said the company would welcome help from the US military.
"We'll take help from anyone," BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said.
But time may be running out. Not only was a third leak discovered - which government officials said is spewing five times as much oil into the water than originally estimated - but it might be closer to shore than previously known, and could have oil washing up on shore by today.
At the same time, there appeared to be a rift developing between BP and the US Coast Guard, which is overseeing the increasingly desperate operation to contain the spill and clean it up.
Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry was emphatic at a hastily called news conference late on Wednesday that the new leak was discharging 5,000 barrels a day of sweet crude, not the 1,000 barrels officials had estimated for days since the Deepwater Horizons drilling rig exploded and sank 80 kilometers off the Louisiana Coast.
Suttles disputed at the same news conference with Landry that the amount of oil spilling into the water had ballooned - or that the company wasn't able to handle the ongoing operation to contain it.
But early yesterday, he said on NBC that the leak may be as high as the government's new estimate. He said there was no way to measure the flow at the seabed and estimates have to come from seeing how much oil makes it to the surface.
"Using the satellite imagery and our overflights, we can now say it looks like it's more than a thousand. It's a range," Suttles said. He said the range was up to 5,000 barrels a day.
The Secretary of Homeland Security has briefed President Barack Obama on this new information and the government has offered to have the Department of Defense use its equipment and expertise to help contain the spill and protect the US coastline and wildlife, Landry said.
"It has become clear after several unsuccessful attempts to determine the cause" that agencies must supplement what's being done by the company, she said.
This all played out at the end of a long day as crews began an experiment to burn off parts of the slick - the latest in a series of high- and low-tech efforts to stop the oil leak, reel in as much of the oil as possible to prevent it from washing ashore and harming the fragile wildlife and plant life that dot the coast.
Landry said the controlled, test burn was successful late on Wednesday afternoon.
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