http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gIXWYBTpLtSayJtg41LKXpxSxVPAD9H1N4B05

By COLLEEN LONG and HARRY R. WEBER (AP) – July 18th, 2010

NEW ORLEANS – A federal official says scientists are concerned about a seep and possible methane near BP’s busted oil well in the Gulf of Mexico.

Both could be signs there are leaks in the well that’s been capped off for three days.

The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Sunday because an announcement about the next steps had not been made yet.

The official is familiar with the spill oversight but would not clarify what is seeping near the well. The official says BP is not complying with the government’s demand for more monitoring.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – The custom-built cap that finally cut off the oil flowing from BP’s broken well held steady Sunday, and the company hopes to leave it that way until crews can permanently kill the leak.

That differs from the plan the federal government laid out a day earlier, in which millions more gallons of oil could be released before the cap is connected to tankers at the surface and oil is sent to be collected through a mile of pipes.

Federal officials wary of making the well unstable have said that plan would relieve pressure on the cap and may be the safer option, but it would mean three days of oil flowing into the Gulf before the collection begins.

Both sides downplayed the apparent contradiction in plans. Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, who will make the final decision, said the containment plan he described Saturday hadn’t changed, and that he and BP executives were on the same page.

“No one associated with this whole activity … wants to see any more oil flow into the Gulf of Mexico,” said Doug Suttles, BP PLC’s chief operating officer. “Right now we don’t have a target to return the well to flow.”

Allen said more work is needed to better understand why pressure readings from the well cap are lower than expected. There could be two reasons, he said: either there’s less oil in the reservoir because so much has flowed out, or oil is leaking out underground.

“While we are pleased that no oil is currently being released into the Gulf of Mexico and want to take all appropriate action to keep it that way, it is important that all decisions are driven by the science,” Allen said.

Both Allen and BP have said they don’t know how long the trial run will continue. It was set to end Sunday afternoon, but the deadline – an extension from the original Saturday cutoff – came and went with no word on what’s next.

After little activity Sunday, robots near the well cap came to life around the time of the cutoff. It wasn’t clear what they were doing, but bubbles started swirling around as their robotic arms poked at the mechanical cap.

Work continued on the permanent fix: two relief wells, one being drilled as a backup. The company said work on the first one was far enough along that officials expect to reach the broken well’s casing, or pipes, deep underground by late this month. Then the job of jamming the busted well with mud and cement could take “a number of days through a few weeks.”

Some boat captains were surprised and angry to learn that their work helping with the cleanup will mean less money they’re eligible to claim from the $20 billion compensation fund set up by BP.

The fund’s administrator, Kenneth Feinberg, told The Associated Press on Sunday that if BP pays fishermen wages to help skim oil and perform other cleanup work, those wages will be subtracted from the amount they get from the fund.

Longtime charter boat captain Mike Salley said he didn’t realize BP planned to deduct those earnings, and he doubted many other captains knew, either.

“I’ll keep running my boat,” he said Sunday on a dock in Orange Beach, Ala., before heading back into the Gulf to resupply other boats with boom to corral the oil. “What else can I do?”

It will take months, or possibly years for the Gulf to recover. But there were signs that people were trying to get life – or at least a small part of it – back to normal.
The public beach at Gulf Shores, Ala., had its busiest day in weeks on Saturday despite oil-stained sand and a dark line of tar balls left by high tide.

Darryl Allen of Fairhope, Ala., and Pat Carrasco of Baton Rouge, La., came to the beach to throw a Frisbee just like they’ve been doing for the past 30 years. With oil on people’s minds more than the weather, Allen asked what’s become a common question since the well integrity test began: “How’s the pressure? I hope it’s going up,” he said. “You don’t want to be too optimistic after all that’s happened.”

People also were fishing again, off piers and in boats, after most of the recreational waters in Louisiana were reopened late this week. More than a third of federal waters are still closed and off-limits to commercial fishermen.

“I love to fish,” said Brittany Lawson, hanging her line off a pier beside the Grand Isle Bridge. “I love to come out here.”

And even though it has been only days since the oil was turned off, the naked eye could spot improvements on the water. The crude appeared to be dissipating quickly on the surface of the Gulf around the Deepwater Horizon site.

Members of a Coast Guard crew that flew over the wellhead Saturday said far less oil was visible than a day earlier. Only a colorful sheen and a few long streams of rust-colored, weathered oil were apparent in an area covered weeks earlier by huge patches of black crude. Somewhere between 94 million and 184 million gallons have spilled into the Gulf, according to government estimates.

Weber reported from Houston. Michael Kunzelman in New Orleans and Jay Reeves in Orange Beach, Ala., also contributed to this report.
Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100718/OPINION/7181011/2078/OPINION
Published: Sunday, July 18, 2010 at 1:00 a.m.

Hopefully, this is the beginning of a rational overhaul of oil policies….DV

Many oil industry officials and leaders in Louisiana oppose a deepwater drilling moratorium, saying that it is economically harsh, overly broad and unjustified.

But a new memorandum from the U.S. Secretary of the Interior lays out a startlingly clear case for systemic overhaul — not just a pause — in deepwater oil exploration.

A new Bloomberg poll indicates that the nation sees the BP oil spill more as a freak accident than an industrywide indictment of deepwater drilling practices.

However, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s words provide ample reason to reconsider that viewpoint. “I cannot conclude at this time that deepwater drilling can move forward in a safe and environmentally sound manner,” Salazar states in his July 12 “decision memorandum.”

Newly identified concerns

The document outlines his reasons for a new moratorium on deepwater exploratory drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific. An earlier moratorium — enacted after the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig triggered the BP Macondo spill — was suspended by the courts.

“The current regulatory regime for offshore operations is not sufficient to ensure safety and environmental protection,” Salazar explained. “Until the Department can implement rules to address newly identified deepwater drilling concerns, rig by rig compliance reviews conducted under the current regime cannot ensure safety.”

Salazar imposed the new deepwater moratorium until Nov. 30, allowing time for investigations to wrap up and regulatory changes to get under way. Yet he noted that the moratorium might have to be extended “if the results of the various investigations reveal significant unexpected risks.”

We question whether the needed safety changes can be implemented in just a few months. The concerns raised by Salazar involve significant issues of design, industrial practices, response training, equipment and expense.

‘Not an isolated incident’

For example, the memo said that testing has raised new worries about the reliability of blow-out preventers (BOPs) — critically important equipment whose failure is believed to be a chief cause of the Gulf spill.

“It is clear that the apparent performance problem with the Deepwater Horizon’s BOP is not an isolated incident,” Salazar asserted. “Performance problems have also been identified in recent weeks with the BOPs on the relief wells that BP is drilling. The problems have been uncovered during new testing requirements that were imposed on the relief wells after the BP Oil Spill, thus providing more evidence that prior testing requirements were inadequate. It is unlikely that these problems are unique to BP.”

Elsewhere in the memo:

He noted endemic challenges posed by deepwater conditions, including inaccessibility of wells; the formation of methane hydrates; pressure problems that complicate well-cementing procedures; and limited availability of remotely operated deepwater vehicles to effect repairs.

He cited the impact hurricanes would have on spill-containment efforts and cited shortcomings in drillers’ emergency response plans.

“This is not a question of a specific operator’s record, but a measure of the adequacy of the entire industry’s containment plans and capacity to address major spills in the deepwater environment,” Salazar stated. “BP was not the only operator drilling with inadequate plans.”

He explained that deepwater oil fields can have five to 10 times the flow of oil seen in shallow-water wells, so an accident would discharge much larger quantities.

BP’s 86-day struggle “to contain the Macondo blowout and spill provides continuing evidence that BP — and the rest of the industry … had not prepared to contain a blowout in the deepwater environment,” the secretary stated. “Substantial improvement in the industry’s safety practices and procedures relating to offshore drilling, particularly with respect to deepwater drilling conducted from floating rigs and production facilities, is necessary.”

‘Any responsible government’

Salazar’s 22-page memo calls for a moratorium, not the abolition of deepwater drilling. But his critique all but admits that, in its current state, the industry is not ready for prime time.

The BP disaster is even causing doubts in Europe, where deepwater drilling has a longer history.

“I think it is really not justifiable to be issuing licenses or permits for further drilling operations at this moment,” Gunther Oettinger, Energy Commissioner of the European Union, was quoted as saying last week. He called for a moratorium on new deepwater drilling until the cause of the BP spill is better understood.

“Given the current circumstances, any responsible government would at present practically freeze new permits for drilling with extreme parameters and conditions,” he told the European Parliament.

In the U.S., drilling-related industries seem likely to contest Salazar’s new moratorium on economic and other grounds.

Certainly, a suspension of deepwater exploratory oil drilling will cause economic disruption, but dollar signs shouldn’t blind anyone to the rest of the picture: oily tides swirling through Gulf waters, shores and wetlands; paralyzed seafood and tourism industries; dead dolphins and wildlife.

Until deepwater drilling can be done right, it should not be done at all.
Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www2.highlandstoday.com/content/2010/jul/18/la-lets-step-back-and-pass-good-laws-about-offshor/

Highlands Today
Published: July 18, 2010

Drilling for offshore oil is a touchy subject these days, and rightfully so. The thought of more drilling and possibly more accidents makes most of us ill, considering the damage already done by BP’s recent spill in the Gulf. But we should hold off before making decisions about more drilling until everyone’s thinking rationally. This is important, and we must think it through.

Gov. Charlie Crist is calling a special session of the Florida Legislature to discuss banning offshore oil drilling in Florida’s waters. He wants a Florida constitutional amendment to make sure the Legislature doesn’t mess with the law once it’s in place.
We don’t necessarily disagree with Crist’s idea on this. We are as horrified as anyone about the disaster that’s happened in the Gulf and it is fouling our beaches and killing business and the environment. If passing a constitutional amendment fixes that, we’re all for it.

Truth is, though, the BP spill wasn’t in Florida waters. Other big offshore rigs are nowhere near us, but if they spill, it likely will affect us as much as anyone. And if we ban drilling in offshore waters, just one foot past these forbidden zones could be oil wells.
The bottom line is let’s try to calm ourselves a bit before making nearly permanent decisions. We must consider everything, and make sure decisions we make now in anger are really the right decisions for Florida.

Perhaps they are the perfect solution. And maybe with Crist in office for a few months more, this is the absolute best time to do this. But we must make decisions like this with a clear mind and considering every possible ramification. If we don’t, we might be making a bad decision while trying to fix a bad situation.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

By HENRY FOUNTAIN
Published: July 19, 2010

A pressure test of BP’s undersea well that has kept fresh oil from gushing into the Gulf of Mexico will be allowed to continue for another day, despite concerns about potential new problems near the well, the government official overseeing the spill response said Monday.

Late Sunday, the government ordered BP to step up monitoring of the well after “undetermined anomalies” were discovered on the seafloor nearby. The government’s top official in the Gulf response, retired Coast Guard admiral Thad W. Allen, said that government scientists had talked late Sunday with BP about a seep and the possible detection of methane around the well.

“I authorized BP to continue the integrity test for another 24 hours and I restated our firm position that this test will only continue if they continue to meet their obligations to rigorously monitor for any signs that this test could worsen the overall situation,” Admiral Allen said in a statement.

On Sunday, after three days of encouraging pressure tests, a senior BP official said that the company’s recently capped well in the Gulf of Mexico was holding up and that BP now hoped to keep the well closed until it could be permanently plugged. BP’s plan differs sharply from the one the company and the federal government had suggested only a day earlier, to eventually allow the flow of oil to resume temporarily, collecting it through pipes to surface ships.

If BP succeeds in keeping the cap atop the well closed until a relief well is finished, that would mean the gusher would effectively be over, three months — and tens of millions of gallons of oil — after it began. It would be a major turnaround after weeks of failure for the oil giant, which had been harshly criticized as being unprepared for such a disaster.

“We’re hopeful,” Doug Suttles, the company’s chief operating officer for exploration and production, said in a conference call with reporters Sunday morning.

“Right now we do not have a target to return the well to flow,” he said.

The federal government was more cautious, saying Sunday in a letter to the company, that tests had detected a seep — usually a flow of hydrocarbons from the seafloor — “a distance from the well.” A seep could be evidence that oil or gas or both are escaping from the well up to the seafloor. But seeps also occur naturally.

And while the letter said the federal government would allow the test to continue for now, the discovery of a seep and the unspecified anomalies suggest that the well could be damaged and that it may have to be reopened soon to avoid making the situation worse.

The pressure testing, which began Thursday with the closing of valves on the cap and is designed to assess the condition of the well, was originally expected to last 48 hours. “We need to be careful in predicting how long it will go,” Mr. Suttles said.

If a problem crops up, he said, collection systems could be restarted, some within a few hours. In a few weeks there should be enough capacity to collect more than the high estimate of 60,000 barrels a day. But Mr. Suttles said that if valves on the cap were reopened to restart collection, oil would pour anew into the gulf for up to three days.

If the well is not reopened, it could mean that the precise volume of oil that leaked — the well has been estimated to be flowing at a rate of 35,000 to 60,000 barrels a day — may never be known. That raises the question of whether the company might escape some liability for the spill.

It has been an encouraging several days for BP, but it comes after many engineering efforts that produced little but a lexicon of strange terms, all defining failure: containment dome, junk shot and top kill among them.

Even the good news about the test and the new cap, which was installed last week, left many wondering why the project could not have happened earlier.

BP has pointed out that the concept — essentially, putting a new blowout preventer atop the existing one that failed when the Deepwater Horizon drill rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers — had been in the works since shortly after the disaster occurred. They have said, and diaries and other documents tend to bear out, that ideas were worked on in parallel, with those that were easier to accomplish and had a greater chance of succeeding being tried first.

In a discussion with a reporter in mid-May, Kent Wells, a senior BP vice president in charge of the subsea work, and others described in broad terms an option to install a second preventer if the top kill, in which heavy drilling mud was to be pumped into the well to stop oil and gas from coming up, did not work.

The top kill failed and one proposed explanation at the time was that the well was damaged. That put a halt, for a while, to talk of putting another blowout preventer or other tight-sealing cap on the well, out of concern that a buildup of pressure could further damage the well.

But the idea was revived, and in June BP considered using the blowout preventer from the Development Driller II rig, which was working on the second relief well, for the job. The company halted drilling of the well, aiming to bring the blowout preventer to the surface. But the federal government intervened and ordered BP to continue drilling the well as a backup in case anything went wrong with the first relief well.

The cap that was eventually used was designed and built more or less from scratch, although off-the-shelf valves and rams were used. And as with any engineering project, particularly one being conducted by remotely operated submersibles a mile underwater, installation procedures had to be devised and practiced.

That practice appeared to pay off last week when the cap was installed. It was by far the smoothest operation of the many that had been undertaken in the three-month disaster.

With the valves on the cap closed and the gulf still free of fresh oil on Sunday, Mr. Suttles said that skimming ships near the site were collecting far less oily water. Only one controlled burn was conducted Saturday, compared with 19 the day before, he said. And there were no new reports of oil reaching the shore.

“There is less and less oil to recover,” he said.

Barring bad weather, the relief well, which will be used to pump heavy mud, followed by cement, into the blown-out well to seal it permanently, may be ready by the end of July, although it may take several more weeks for the process to be completed, Mr. Suttles said.

Jack Healy contributed reporting from New York.

Note that House leaders still plan on blocking the vote. It is imperative that we generate thousands of calls to House members and get out to their offices on Monday to deliver a strong message that they must let the voters decide this issue.

– Frank Jackalone, Sierra Club frank.jackalone@sierraclub.org

July 16, 2010

By Mary Ellen Klas, Lee Logan, Steve Bousquet and Cristina Silva, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Next week’s special session may test Republican leaders’ brawn.
TALLAHASSEE – Fearing a major victory for Gov. Charlie Crist, Florida Republican leaders are prepared to take drastic action – even blocking a historic vote on a constitutional amendment banning offshore oil drilling.
Legislators are expected to reluctantly convene a special session next week called by the governor, then swiftly reject a plan that would attract his supporters to the polls.
A survey of House Republicans shows the party’s caucus is so deeply divided over the amendment that leaders fear it would be difficult for Republicans to stand up to Crist and vote against bringing the issue to the voters.
At least 14 Republicans and one Democrat who supported legislation in 2009 to open Florida waters to oil drilling now support asking voters to decide on a ban, according to a survey of legislators by the St. Petersburg Times and the Miami Herald.
Combined with 43 Democrats who are expected to support the constitutional amendment, there are at least 58 solid votes in support. Another eight Republicans, most of them in coastal districts, declined to state a position and 23 Republicans could not be reached.
”If we vote on it, I believe it will pass,” said Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, a Miami Republican and majority whip, who last year supported a plan to open Florida waters from three to 10 miles off shore to oil and gas drilling.
He said that if he were voting on the constitutional ban, he would be ”leaning yes,” but instead is angered that the governor called the session ”for selfish reasons.”
Legislators need 72 votes in the House and 24 votes in the Senate to put the amendment on the November ballot, but rather than take up the governor’s proposal and soundly defeat it, the House is expected to convene and adjourn without taking a vote.
Rep. Sandy Adams, R-Oviedo, wants them to at least vote on her bill to chastise Crist for wasting taxpayer money by calling for what she considers an unneeded session.
Rep. John Tobia, R-Satellite Beach, echoed the comments of many Republicans about Crist’s proposal, calling it ”nothing more than a political stunt.”
Even legislators who support the ban are critical of Crist for failing to use the session to address more immediate needs, such as passing legislation to give economic relief to businesses and families in northwest Florida.
Rep. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, said that while she supports putting the amendment on the ballot ”you have to question the governor’s motives.”
Rep. Marcelo Llorente, R-Miami, said that while he would like to vote to put the amendment on the ballot, taxpayer money could have been better spent to ”address all those issues while we are up there.”
Tuesday’s no-vote would mark a new low in the steadily deteriorating relationship between the former Republican governor and GOP lawmakers.
Since Crist abandoned the Republican Party in April and announced he is running for U.S. Senate as a non-party candidate against former House Speaker Marco Rubio, a Republican, and Democrats Kendrick Meek and Jeff Greene, he has hinted he would call a special session in time to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot by the Aug. 4 deadline.
But the sharply partisan House leadership stonewalled the governor, even refusing to answer his phone calls. Meanwhile, Senate leaders suggested they were open to a special session, especially one that would also provide economic relief to regions crippled by the oil disaster.
Crist instead scheduled the four-day session to deal with the constitutional amendment alone, saying there was no urgency to the economic issues.
”For them to put their animosity toward me above the will and what’s right for the people of this state would be stunningly shortsighted,” Crist told theTimes/Herald.
Democrats also believe Republicans are out to punish Crist and prevent him from using the issue to drive supporters to the polls. ”It’s a bunch of kids that want to take their ball and go home,” said Rep. Scott Randolph, D-Orlando.
Some legislators oppose using the Constitution to impose a ban, while others say it is wrong to preclude future generations – especially since there are the known deep natural gas reserves along Florida’s Gulf Coast.
”Safe offshore oil drilling ought not to be prohibited in our Constitution,” said Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, who is also chairman of the Republican Party of Florida.
He acknowledged that the party has conducted a poll on the issue but the decision to not take a vote on the proposed amendment was not intended to offset popular support for a ban, but to give voters more time to determine the causes and consequences of the oil spill before amending the Constitution.
”Why rush into approving a constitutional amendment when we already have a statute that bans oil drilling,” he said.
Other lawmakers lament the bitterness the issue has spawned.
”There’s not going to be any winners out of this special session,” warned Rep. Mike Weinstein, R-Jacksonville. ”We’ll all be looked upon as wasting the taxpayers’ money and time because we don’t have our act together.”
Rep. Clay Ford, a Gulf Breeze Republican agreed. By not allowing voters a voice on the oil ban, ”It may intensify the anti-incumbent feeling already out there,” he said. ”It’s sort of a calculated risk. I don’t think it’s worth taking that risk. Most of us are up for re-election.”
Mary Ellen Klas can be reached at meklas@MiamiHerald.com

Here’s how House Republicans contacted by the Times/Herald said they plan to vote on the proposed constitutional ban on oil drilling if it comes before them. Nearly all 44 House Democrats are expected to support the proposal.

Yes:
Rep. Marti Coley, Marianna
Rep. Faye Culp, Tampa
Rep. Greg Evers, Baker
Rep. Anitere Flores, Miami
Rep. Clay Ford, Gulf Breeze
Rep. Jim Frishe, St. Petersburg
Rep. Ed Homan, Tampa
Rep. Marcelo Llorente, Miami
Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, Miami
Rep. Peter Nehr, Tarpon Springs
Rep. Jimmy Patronis, Panama City
Rep. J.C. Planas, Miami
Rep. Ron Schultz, Homosassa
Rep. Juan Zapata, Miami

No:
Rep. Sandy Adams, Oviedo
Rep. Dean Cannon, Winter Park
Rep. Larry Cretul, Ocala
Rep. Steve Crisafulli, Merritt Island
Rep. Chris Dorworth, Lake Mary
Rep. Rich Glorioso, Plant City
Rep. Eddy Gonzalez, Hialeah
Rep. Denise Grimsley, Lake Placid
Rep. Alan Hays, Umatilla
Rep. Ed Hooper, Clearwater
Rep. Mike Horner, Kissimmee
Rep. Mike Hudson, Naples
Rep. Kurt Kelly, Ocala
Rep. Paige Kreegel, Punta Gorda
Rep. Debbie Mayfield, Vero Beach
Rep. Seth McKeel, Lakeland
Rep. Dave Murzin, Pensacola
Rep. Pat Patterson, DeLand
Rep. Scott Plakon, Longwood
Rep. Ralph Poppell, Vero Beach
Rep. Ron Renuart, Ponte Verda Beach
Rep. Julio Robaina, Miami
Rep. Matt Gaetz, Fort Walton Beach
Rep. Will Snyder, Stuart
Rep. John Tobia, Satellite Beach
Rep. Will Weatherford, Wesley Chapel
Rep. Mike Weinstein, Jacksonville
Rep. Rich Workman, Melbourne

Declined to answer/unsure:
Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, Fort Lauderdale
Rep. Adam Hasner, Delray Beach
Rep. Doug Holder, Sarasota
Rep. John Legg, Port Richey
Rep. Marlene O’Toole, Lady Lake
Rep. David Rivera, Miami
Rep. Rob Schenck, Spring Hill
Rep. Kelli Stargel, Lakeland

Could not be reached:
Rep. Janet Adkins, Fernandina Beach
Rep. Kevin Ambler, Tampa
Rep. Tom Anderson, Dunedin
Rep. Gary Aubuchon, Cape Coral
Rep. Steve Bovo, Hialeah
Rep. Jennifer Caroll, Fleming Island
Rep. Carl Domino, Jupiter
Rep. Brad Drake, Eucheeanna
Rep. Eric Eisnaugle, Orlando
Rep. Erik Fresen, Miami
Rep. Tom Grady, Naples
Rep. Dorothy Hukill, Port Orange
Rep. Charles McBurney, Jacksonville
Rep. Bryan Nelson, Apopka
Rep. Steve Precourt, Orlando
Rep. Bill Proctor, St. Augustine
Rep. Lake Ray, Jacksonville
Rep. Ron Reagan, Bradenton
Rep. Ken Roberson, Port Charlotte
Rep. Nick Thompson, Fort Myers
Rep. Charles Van Zant, Keystone Heights
Rep. Trudi Williams, Fort Myers
Rep. John Wood, Winter Haven

Yes only if it is temporary ban
Rep. Baxter Troutman, Winter Haven

Special thanks to Richard Charter