First signs of thick oil found in Plaquemines marshlands

The Times-Picayune ^ | May 19, 2010 | Chris Kirkham

[valkyry1]

After weeks of estimates, countless models and hundreds of boat excursions seeking hints of oil in Louisiana's marshes, a bleak picture began to emerge this week as the first signs of thick, dark oil from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill could be seen blanketing a patch of marsh grass near the mouth of the Mississippi River.

At the eastern reaches of the delta, where Pass a Loutre meets open water, dark brown oil was covering an entire patch of cane grass on Wednesday. On the open water, a dark-brown tint could be seen on grasses just above the water's surface.

A few feet inside the marsh grass, where the currents move the water less, there was a thick coating of oil -- much different from the random, smaller clumps of oil or thin sheens seen during the past two weeks across Louisiana's coastline.

"This is a small area," said Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser. "If this comes in in waves and goes farther inland into the marsh, we'll be 25 to 30 years, if ever, recovering from this."

snip

Nungesser had an even more stern assessment.

"Everything that that blanket of oil is covering today will die," he said. "All of the bugs that the fish come in to eat, all of the critters in the marsh will die. And that marsh will die. There's no way to clean it up.

[valkyry1]

The Gulf is in its death throes right now IMO and there is no way to stop it. A lot of the oil and benzene etc is most likely not even making it all the way up to the surface so it cant be calculated how much deep sea life is being killed. Even the relief wells are a gamble at this point. It looks like the stream is going to get caught by the currents and taken over into the Keys and Cuba.

[valkyry1]

From another article.

http://oilprice.com/Environment/Oil-Spills/White-House-Covers-Up-Menacing-Oil-Blob.html

In an exclusive for Oilprice.com, the Wayne Madsen Report (WMR) has learned from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sources that U.S. Navy submarines deployed to the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast have detected what amounts to a frozen oil blob from the oil geyser at the destroyed Deep Horizon off-shore oil rig south of Louisiana. The Navy submarines have trained video cameras on the moving blob, which remains frozen at depths of between 3,000 to 4,000 feet. Because the oil blob is heavier than water, it remains frozen at current depths.

FEMA and Corps of Engineers employees are upset that the White House and the Pentagon remain tight-lipped and in cover-up mode about the images of the massive and fast-moving frozen coagulated oil blob that is being imaged by Navy submarines that are tracking its movement. The sources point out that BP and the White House conspired to withhold videos from BP-contracted submersibles that showed the oil geyser that was spewing oil from the chasm underneath the datum of the Deep Horizon at rates far exceeding originally reported amounts. We have learned that it was largely WMR’s scoop on the existence of the BP videos that forced the company and its White House patrons to finally agree to the release of the video footage.

The White House is officially stating that it does not know where the officially reported 10 miles long by 3 miles wide “plume” is actually located or in what direction it is heading. However, WMR’s sources claim the White House is getting real-time reports from Navy submarines as to the blob’s location. We have learned that the blob is transiting the Florida Straits between Florida and Cuba, propelled by the Gulf’s Loop Current, and that parts of it that is encountering warmer waters are breaking off into smaller tar balls that are now washing ashore in the environmentally-sensitive Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas.

WMR sources also report that the oil mass has resulted in dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico that have cut off oxygen and killed massive numbers of marine creatures and plant life. Seafood wholesalers from the Gulf Coast to New Jersey and New York have been told that the supply of shrimp, oysters, and other seafood from the Gulf is severely in short supply and that they can expect a possible total cut-off as the situation worsens. The shortage will also affect the supply of seafood, especially shrimp, to national seafood restaurant chains like Red Lobster and Long John Silver’s.

There is also evidence that BP, Halliburton, and Transocean sank a drill to a depth of 35,000 feet at the Deep Horizon site some six months ago without the required permits from the federal government. WMR has learned from U.S. government sources that the drilling at 35,000 feet caused a major catastrophic event that required the firms’ oil rig personnel to quickly pull up the drill and close the drill hole.

[Carley]

Now they’re asking why booms weren’t put in place?

They have had a month to react to this spill but it seems the entire administration and the state of Louisiana were far to busy making sure the boot was firmly on BPs neck rather than protecting America.

What a shock!

not

[Carley]

Don’t you just love that our communist president has been coordinating with his good friends in communist Cuba all the while ignoring our own coast line.

[valkyry1]

Well maybe so but the booms would be just window dressing in this case. I spend a lot of time over at the forum on the oildrum.com and find it very informative.

Just look at the satellite photos of the slick and its getting larger every day it seems.

If nothing works this thing could spew for another 2 years.

[valkyry1]

From another article

The once productive, deep blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico were now smothering under an unnatural blanket of black and red streaks that stretched on for more than 87 miles. That is wider than the state of Florida.

Pilot John Wathen admitted that he was deeply effected by the “red mass of floating goo” that he saw. He said, “For the first time in my environmental career, I find myself using the word hopeless.”

During the course of his flight, Wathen counted more than 30 boats circling uselessly around the massive oil slick.

“We can’t stop this.” He said, “There’s no way to prevent this from hitting our shoreline.”

The images that reached the horizon were all the same. “The Gulf appears to be bleeding,” Wathen said. “No one knows if the Gulf will ever heal from this.”

With some estimates placing the amount of bleeding oil at 50 million gallons and growing, the Gulf of Mexico 2010 oil spill has already changed life on earth for thousands of people in the fishing industry. What it has done to the fish, and the marine life that once fed on them is more than another page for our history books; it is rewriting our future.

[mewzilla]

FWIW....

S. Fla. Men Offer Oil Spill Cleaning Solutions

FNC did something on this a couple of days ago. The demo, conducted in a kiddie pool, really worked.

[mewzilla]

The demo was with the mattress pad idea.

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

FYI : The skimmers were out there on day one,,,

The booms were put out,,,

Then a storm came in with 8-10 foot waves,,,

From what I have read the well is blowing 5 to 50 million

barrels per day of gas and crude,,,

If this “Top Kill” don’t work then the well will blow

for 3 or 4 more months + till wells are drilled,,,

If we don’t have a hurricane...

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

With some estimates placing the amount of bleeding oil at 50 million gallons and growing,
~~~
That would be 50 million BARRELS at 42 gal. per...

[BluH2o]

The once productive, deep blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico were now smothering under an unnatural blanket of black and red streaks that stretched on for more than 87 miles. That is wider than the state of Florida.

Pilot John Wathen admitted that he was deeply effected by the “red mass of floating goo” that he saw. He said, “For the first time in my environmental career, I find myself using the word hopeless.”

Excluding valkyryl, the others addressed here (amos, justa, and warthog) early on in this ecological disaster were all emphatic in their premise that this was no big deal. Nature will eradicate all traces of this in just a few years. What think ye now?

[Carley]

Louisiana is screaming that there were no booms to protect their estuary islands and now the oil is washing onto the grasses.

Have to wonder just what Jindal was doing all this time. Hoping for the best?

[mewzilla]

Jindal should call those mattress pad folks in FL...

[valkyry1]

It would have been real nice if I was wrong.

[GOPJ]

Is God trying to tell us something about the New Orleans area?

[valkyry1]

The odds of the top kill dont look to good right now do they, no other choice though.

[valkyry1]

Maybe something more than just New Orleans. This thing is going to kill the Gulf entirely if it dont get stopped real soon.

And I think if 1COUNTER-MORTER-68 is right and the well head blows at 5,000’ depth there is no way they’ll get it under control IMO.

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

Bobby is doing the best he can as I see it,,,

The eateries in NOLA scream the most,,,

The seafood from here is gone,,,

Most folks don't understand just how bad this is!...

[Wonder Warthog]

"Excluding valkyryl, the others addressed here (amos, justa, and warthog) early on in this ecological disaster were all emphatic in their premise that this was no big deal. Nature will eradicate all traces of this in just a few years. What think ye now?"

Exactly the same. In five years or less, you'll never know it happened. Look at a satellite photo, or a map of the extent of the spill. I doubt that it will affect 1% of the total linear extent of the marshes.

Unfortunately, even one or two years is enough to put a lot of fishermen out of business, as they live "close to the edge" anyway.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Maybe something more than just New Orleans. This thing is going to kill the Gulf entirely if it dont get stopped real soon."

Ye gods! Stop with the damned hyperbole! It is NOT going to "kill the Gulf entirely". Look up the Ixtoc spill, which also happened in the Gulf, was FAR, FAR larger, and which did not "kill the Gulf".