Gulf Oil Intervention Resumes

After Tropical Storm/Depression Bonnie crossed southern Florida, it never had a chance to re-intensify due to it’s high forward speed. As a result of the storm not being as significant as originally thought, the containment, cleaning, skimming and oil well intervention ships will be back on station today to resume operations. Coastal cleanup crews will also return to their operations today.

Please visit this blog frequently for oil related updates.

Named Storm Bonnie –

Tropical Storm Bonnie formed out of Tropical Depression # 3 just south of the Bahamas late Thursday afternoon, July 22. This storm is impacting southern Florida at this hour. This storm will produce heavy rain in places, Tropical Storm force wind gusts to over 50 MPH and will cause localized flooding throughout southern and west central Florida over the next 2 days.

This storm will enter the southeastern Gulf of Mexico this weekend and has limited potential to intensify because it is moving relatively quickly at 18 MPH. Due to the west northwesterly path of this storm, the oil well containment and cleanup vessels have been ordered to port. This storm will create strong wave action along the Gulf Coast from southern Florida to east central Texas. Unfortunately, the winds and wave action associated with Tropical Storm Bonnie will wash some heavier amounts of oil ashore all along the northern Gulf Coast.

Our next unofficial update will be posted as necessary. Please use the link below for up to the minute official updates.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

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“THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL ADVISORY. These updates and advisories are based upon information from our own computer models, NOAA, Local Weather Data Centers, deep water Buoy Data, and other publicly available sources. FOR THE SAFETY OF YOUR PROPERTY AND PERSON, please refer to your Local, State, and Federal Authority updates for Official Advisories and Orders. For up to the minute advisories and official updates, it is essential that you monitor your local Emergency Government, NOAA and Local Media Broadcasts. Please do not make personal safety decisions based upon information presented here in this Unofficial Advisory.”

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Gulf Storms Afftecting Oil Well Shutdown and Cleanup

Some BP oil well shut down, cleanup and skimming operations have been halted due to the wave action and winds from two storms affecting Gulf waters. This is a setback for BP and Coast Guard operations and is pushing the timetable back for final shut down of the well.

One storm, south of the Bahamas, is being watched closely for development as it approaches southern Florida and potentially, the southeastern Gulf of Mexico. The other storm, in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, also shows signs of strengthening and these two storms will most likely affect oil well intervention operations for approximately two weeks.

Please check this blog daily for additional information concerning oil well operations as well as the potential effects of the two low pressure area storms for coastal Gulf of Mexico states.

BP Oil Well Capped – (for now)

On Thursday, July 15, BP’s on-going efforts to reduce or stop the oil well discharge into the Gulf of Mexico waters was finally accomplished… at least for now. BP has not been releasing information to the public in a timely manner, so we do not have ‘real-time’ details as to what is taking place 5000 feet below the surface. Pressure testing is taking place as far as we can tell and BP is also looking carefully at sonar and sub floor data to make certain that there are no failures of the original well casing or drilling path.

BP has said that their ultimate goal is to shut off the well entirely with a relief well procedure sometime within the next month or so, but they will also be attaching up to 4 flexible connections to the legacy blowout protector as well as the new cap stack that was installed a week ago. Those flexible lines will go to the surface for the time being to process oil from the well at an anticipated flow rate of 53,000 barrels of crude per day. This will not only supply oil for refining, but will lower the pressures in the old well system to reduce the possibility of more leaks.

As of this morning, July 16, there is no additional oil being leaked into the Gulf waters. We certainly hope and pray that it remains this way and everything that has been announced by BP and Government official works out as planned.

Cleanup efforts along the Gulf beaches in 5 states are continuing. Please monitor your local media for updates and information on cleanup progress and other official details.

Named Storm Alex – Final Update, July 01, 2010, 5:30 AM CDT

Hurricane Alex made landfall approximately 100 miles south of Brownsville, Texas at roughly 7 PM Wednesday evening, June 30. This storm is producing coastal flooding due to high surf and heavy rains throughout the southeastern Texas and eastern Mexico coastlines.

This storm will move inland over the next 48 hours and will produce moderate flooding in the Rio Grande valley. The coastal surf swells from Alex have shut down some oil skimming and cleanup operations from Florida to Louisiana but these operations will start up again today.

Please watch this blog for continuing local oil spill updates as well as for any additional Tropical Storm information during the 2010 Season.

This will be our final “Named Storm Alex” update.

For up to the minute updates and recaps, please visit the NHC site below.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

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“THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL ADVISORY. These updates and advisories are based upon information from our own computer models, NOAA, Local Weather Data Centers, deep water Buoy Data, and other publicly available sources. FOR THE SAFETY OF YOUR PROPERTY AND PERSON, please refer to your Local, State, and Federal Authority updates for Official Advisories and Orders. For up to the minute advisories and official updates, it is essential that you monitor your local Emergency Government, NOAA and Local Media Broadcasts. Please do not make personal safety decisions based upon information presented here in this Unofficial Advisory.”

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