Coast Guard to burn off spilled oil
NEW ORLEANS — The Coast Guard said Wednesday it will burn off some of the oil that has spewed from an underwater well once attached to an oil rig that exploded and sank into the Gulf of Mexico.
The well has been gushing oil at about 1,000 barrels — or 42,000 gallons — a day since the rig sank last week in what is now being considered a "significant" spill, said Petty Officer 2nd Class Prentice Danner, a Coast Guard spokesman.
Danner said fire-resistant containment booms will be used Wednesday afternoon to corral some of the thickest oil on the surface, which will then be ignited. It was unclear how large an area would be set on fire or how far from shore the first fire would be set.
Danner said Tuesday the Coast Guard would consider burning off the oil that has clumped at the base of more than 76,000 feet of boom — tubular material used to corral oil spills. "We're trying to minimize the environmental impact," he said.
Burning the oil creates air pollution, but it is usually short-lived, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The agency also says wildlife is at less of a risk from a burning area of the ocean than if they were exposed to an oil slick. Birds might be disoriented by smoke, NOAA says, which is less dangerous than oil coating and ingestion.
The Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20 while preparing a well for oil extraction, sending more than 100 crewmembers scrambling off the rig into lifeboats. Eleven workers are missing and presumed dead. The cause is still being investigated.
The oil drilling rig, off the Louisiana coast, was owned by Transocean and leased by BP Global.
For the past week, Coast Guard crewmembers, oil company engineers and cleanup workers have struggled to contain the spill and stem the flow of oil. The spill has spread a sheen of oil with a circumference of 600 miles, which on Tuesday was about 20 miles south of Venice, La., Danner said.
Coast Guard and oil company officials on Tuesday also were waiting for approval to drill relief wells near the spewing well that could relieve pressure and slow the flow, he said.
Winds and wave action so far have pushed the spill away from coastlines, said Doug Helton, a biologist who coordinates oil spill cleanup for NOAA. Coast Guard officials nonetheless readied 167,000 feet of boom at coastal locations in Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida, Danner said.
If the oil reached Louisiana, it could be devastating not just for the wildlife and coastal ecology of the state, but for fisheries, oyster beds and other livelihoods, said Mark Davis, director of the Institute on Water, Resources, Law and Policy at Tulane University. "There will be a chain reaction of impact," he said.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-04-27-oil-leak_N.htm?csp=34
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