The sunken drilling rig and damaged well in the Gulf of Mexico not leaking for now: The U.S. Coast Guard
The initial oil spill from Deepwater Horizon is about 200 barrels (8,400 gallons/31,800 liters), which is regarded as a “minor spill,” according to the said Coast Guard
The slick was estimated at about 13 kilometers long (8 miles) and 3.5 kilometers (2 miles) wide and at the last flyover by the Coast Guard, a US Coast Guard spokesman said.
“As of right now, the spill is not growing,” He added.
On Thursday an unmanned submarine inspected the area, but found no leaks of from the sunken drilling rig and no crude oil flowing from the damaged well, a Transocean representative said.
This situation, of course, could change because oil wells gushing at a rate of 8,000 barrels per day don’t heal automatically after a fire. [According to an unconfirmed report, the oil well was capped on Friday. Even if true, there’s no guarantee that the seal would hold.]
The oil rig had a supply of 700,000 gallons (2,650,000 liters) of diesel on board, stored for its huge electricity generators, but the authorities don’t know whether the fuel was consumed by the fire or sank with the oil rig.
The slick poses a threat to the Louisiana coastline, depending on the wind pattern
A boat using booms and dispersant chemicals on Friday tries to contain oil slick where the bleeding-edge Deepwater Horizon rig once floated. [The slick, a mix of crude oil and fuel, was estimated at about 13 kilometers long (8 miles) and 3.5 kilometers (2 miles) wide on Friday. A day earlier, however, officials had said the slick was 5 miles by 1 mile.] Photo credit: AP. Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice for details.
Statement of Transocean Ltd. CEO Steven L. Newman Following U.S. Coast Guard Announcement
ZUG, SWITZERLAND, Apr 23, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) –Following the suspension of U.S. Coast Guard search-and-rescue efforts to find 11 missing persons in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Steven L. Newman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) (SIX: RIGN), on the ground in New Orleans, expressed his deepest sympathies on behalf of the company to the family members of those lost. The nine Transocean personnel and two employees of a third-party company have been missing since Tuesday, April 20, 2010, when a fire and explosion occurred onboard the semisubmersible drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, which sank on Thursday.
“As the nation and everyone in the Transocean family mourns the tragic loss of these people, our deepest sympathies are with their families and friends today,” said Mr. Newman. “Transocean is doing everything we can to meet their needs during this difficult time, and our family response team members are in close contact to provide all necessary support. I would once again like to express our gratitude to the U.S. Coast Guard, BP and everyone involved for their exhaustive search and rescue efforts, despite this very sad outcome.”
For more information about Transocean, please visit our website at http://www.deepwater.com. SOURCE: Transocean Ltd.
What People Said?
Democratic Sens. Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg: “Big Oil has perpetuated a dangerous myth that coastline drilling is a completely safe endeavor, but accidents like this are a sober reminder just how far that is from the truth,” said in a statement.
Louisiana State University environmental sciences professor Ed Overton speaking to the Associated Press. “It’s going to be a … mess for a while … I’m not crying doomsday or saying the sky is falling, but that is the potential.”
Sen. Bill Nelson (D) of Florida: “As a part of the effort to expand drilling, the oil industry as recently as Tuesday was pressing the government agency responsible for leasing offshore lands to quickly proceed with a study of the effects of surveying for oil off the Atlantic coast. That came just hours before the Tuesday night explosion.”
The White House told Washington Post that President B.O. won’t reconsider the offshore oil and gas drilling proposal despite the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
Some 858 fires and explosions have occurred in the Gulf of Mexico since 2001, resulting in 69 offshore deaths and 1,349 injuries, the federal Minerals Management Service said.
The Deepwater Horizon disaster comes just days after the Obama administration proposed opening up large blocks of the Gulf for deepwater oil and gas exploration.
The explosion occurred just two weeks after a coal mine explosion in Montcoal, West Virginia killed 29 miners.
These disasters beg the question, what will the administration do next year to meet with the unreasonable, unsustainable rise in energy demands to feed the terminally ill economic system of exponential growth.
While it is certain that the unsustainable system must and will collapse, it’s unclear which few of our ecosystems and how much of their services might survive.
Our world could have survived and thrived on about 8 percent of current energy consumption.
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Fire Earth 