SkyTruth Alerts: Shell reported spilling nearly 5000 gallons of drilling mud into the Gulf on July 31:
http://alerts.skytruth.org/report?id=68c9de7b-cb72-3fd1-9f72-11b1f2edc64d

This is in very deep water (>7800′), the Perdido field in Alaminos Canyon Block 859 about 150 miles off the TX coast right near the EEZ boundary. Perdido is actually a cluster of separate fields that will all be jointly produced from a massive floating spar.

And yes, Perido does indeed mean “lost.” – John
—
John Amos – President, SkyTruth
John@skytruth.org
P.O. Box 3283
Shepherdstown, WV 25443-3283
(o) 304.885.4581 (m) 304.260.8886
skype: skytruth.amos

________________

http://www.nrc.uscg.mil/reports/rwservlet?standard_web+inc_seq=984448

NATIONAL RESPONSE CENTER 1-800-424-8802
*** For Public Use ***
Information released to a third party shall comply with any
applicable federal and/or state Freedom of Information and Privacy Laws

Incident Report # 984448

INCIDENT DESCRIPTION
*Report taken at 18:02 on 31-JUL-11

Incident Type: VESSEL

Incident Cause: OPERATOR ERROR
Affected Area: GULF OF MEXICO

The incident was discovered on 31-JUL-11 at 15:30 local time.

Affected Medium: WATER GULF OF MEXICO

____________________________________________________________________________

SUSPECTED RESPONSIBLE PARTY

Organization: SHELL INTERNATIONAL

NEW ORLEANS, LA 70161

Type of Organization: PRIVATE ENTERPRISE

____________________________________________________________________________

INCIDENT LOCATION

BLOCK 859 County: ALAMINOS CANYON AREA
State: TX

____________________________________________________________________________

RELEASED MATERIAL(S)

CHRIS Code: DRM Official Material Name: DRILLING MUD (LOW TOXICITY)

Also Known As:

Qty Released: 117 BARREL(S) Qty in Water: 117 BARREL(S)

____________________________________________________________________________

DESCRIPTION OF INCIDENT

THE CALLER STATED IT WAS DETERMINED THAT SYNTHETIC MUD WAS PUMPED OVERBOARD FROM A PERMITTED DISCHARGE POINT INSTEAD OF SEAWATER AFTER NOTICING A DISCREPANCY OF 117 BBLS OF MUD.

____________________________________________________________________________

INCIDENT DETAILS

Platform Rig Name:
Platform Letter:
Location Area ID:
Location Block ID:
OCSG Number:
OCSP Number:
State Lease Number:
Pier Dock Number:
Berth Slip Number:

—WATER INFORMATION—
Body of Water: GULF OF MEXICO
Tributary of:
Nearest River Mile Marker:
Water Supply Contaminated: NO

—VESSEL INFORMATION—
Name: NOBLE DANNY Number: Aground: NO
Flag:
Length: Breadth: Draught:
Type: DRILLING RIG
Hull Construction:
Fuel Capacity:
Fuel on Board:
Cargo Capacity:
Cargo on Board:

____________________________________________________________________________

DAMAGES

Fire Involved: NO Fire Extinguished: UNKNOWN

INJURIES:

NO

Hospitalized:

Empl/Crew:

Passenger:

FATALITIES:

NO

Empl/Crew:

Passenger:

Occupant:

EVACUATIONS:

NO

Who Evacuated:

Radius/Area:

Damages:

NO

Length of

Direction of

Closure Type

Description of Closure

Closure

Closure

Air:

N

Road:

N

Major Artery:

N

Waterway:

N

Track:

N

Passengers Transferred: NO

Environmental Impact: UNKNOWN

Media Interest: NONE Community Impact due to Material:

____________________________________________________________________________

REMEDIAL ACTIONS

SECURED DISCHARGE POINT.

Release Secured: YES
Release Rate:
Estimated Release Duration:

____________________________________________________________________________

WEATHER

Weather: CLEAR, ºF Wind speed: 11 KNTS

Wave Condition: 2 SLIGHT (1 – 3 FT)

____________________________________________________________________________

ADDITIONAL AGENCIES NOTIFIED

Federal:

NONE

State/Local:

NONE

State/Local On Scene:

NONE

State Agency Number:

NONE

____________________________________________________________________________

NOTIFICATIONS BY NRC

CALCASIEU PARISH SHERIFF’S DEPT (CRIMINAL INTELLIGENCE UNIT)

31-JUL-11

18:13

VESSEL RESPONSE PLAN PROGRAM (CG-3PCV-1)

31-JUL-11

18:13

DHS NOC (NOC)

31-JUL-11

18:13

USCG ICC (ICC ONI)

31-JUL-11

18:13

CG INVESTIGATIVE SERVICE HQ (WFO)

31-JUL-11

18:13

DHS PROTECTIVE SECURITY ADVISOR (PSA DESK)

31-JUL-11

18:13

DHS TEXAS FUSION CENTER (INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS)

31-JUL-11

18:13

DOT CRISIS MANAGEMENT CENTER (MAIN OFFICE)

31-JUL-11

18:13

JFO-LA (COMMAND CENTER)

31-JUL-11

18:13

NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE COORD CTR (MAIN OFFICE)

31-JUL-11

18:13

NOAA RPTS FOR TX (MAIN OFFICE)

31-JUL-11

18:13

SECTOR CORPUS CHRISTI (COMMAND CENTER)

31-JUL-11

18:15

TEXAS STATE OPERATIONS CENTER (COMMAND CENTER)

31-JUL-11

18:13

____________________________________________________________________________

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

NONE.

___________________________________________________________________________

*** END INCIDENT REPORT #

984448

***
Special thanks to Richard Charter

Congress needs to end its dependence on all special interest money
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-a-environment/174977-congress-needs-to-end-its-dependence-on-all-special-interest-money

Noticeably absent from this week’s debt ceiling deal between President Obama and Congressional Republicans were the billions in taxpayer subsidies Congress continues to dole out to Big Oil, despite overwhelming support among Americans to end these handouts and in the face of staggering oil company profits released last week. When it came to taking on Big Oil, Congress and the Obama administration blinked.

Cutting Medicare for low and middle-income seniors? On the table. Closing loopholes for profitable, multinational corporations? Not under discussion.
The world’s largest oil companies announced another round of billion dollar profits last week. BP made $5.6 billion. Shell got even more, with over $8 billion. And ExxonMobil’s profits were $10.7 billion – an astounding $117 million a day from April to June. Gas prices are still at record levels and everyday taxpayers are footing the bill for billions of dollars in wasteful subsidies these companies get every year. Big Oil is making big profits-and the American people are paying the price. In fact, we’re paying it twice – once when we fill up our tanks and once when we pay taxes.

And while the 12-member “Super Congress” that will be appointed as part of the deal would technically put cuts to these subsidies on the table, you can bet oil companies will harness their significant political clout to keep their free money. With just 12 members to focus on-instead of 535–that pressure might be even stronger.

Why do these oil companies have so much sway? Just follow the money. A recent report from Public Campaign Action Fund and the League of Conservation Voters found that 93.5 percent (159 of 170) of U.S. House members who received campaign contributions from the political action committees (PACs) of the largest oil companies in the first half of the year voted to maintain these wasteful subsidies. And the three top Republicans in the House – House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), and House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) – received a combined $96,000 in dirty energy money from these PACs in the first six months of the year alone.

In the 2010 cycle, oil and gas interests spent $22.3 million on campaign contributions to members of Congress, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. In the first three months of 2011, the industry spent $39 million on 643 lobbyists, easily outnumbering the 535 representatives and senators we send to Washington to work for us.

Big Oil has been generous to members of Congress over the years, and in the pay to play ways of Washington, politicians avoid anything that disrupts or slows their steady fundraising stream. Recent votes and hearings in the House and Senate are a perfect example.

In May, just two days after voting to maintain the oil subsidies, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) held an “Oil & Gas Industry Breakfast” fundraiser. A day before the subsidies vote, BP’s political action committee delivered a $2,000 check to him.

The morning of the same vote, Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) held an “energy industry” breakfast fundraiser. The day before the vote and this fundraiser, he also got a $2,000 contribution from BP.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, held a public hearing on May 24th to lay blame on government regulations of energy production for distorting markets. On May 25th, Issa’s leadership PAC got $2,500 from the PAC of energy industry giant Koch Industries.

The list goes on. But you get the point. Members of Congress are serving two masters in Congress, their constituents and their dirty energy campaign donors. Too often, it’s the latter that wins out.

Congress needs to end its dependence on all special interest money, not just Big Oil’s money, by passing the Fair Elections Now Act, legislation that would allow members of Congress to run competitive campaigns for office by relying on people back home. With Fair Elections, members of Congress could vote based on what’s best for their country and constituents, not their campaign bank accounts.

But until then, though, Congress needs to get its priorities straight. Ending these wasteful subsidies should come before cutting Medicare or other programs that provide security for middle class families. A lot of people in Washington are talking about “shared sacrifice” to address our deficit. Any sane plan to rein in spending should include ending wasteful subsidies, but to do that, we may find out that we will need to rein in Big Oil’s political influence first.

Steve Kretzmann is the executive director of Oil Change International. David Donnelly is the national campaigns director for Public Campaign Action Fund. Both organizations are founding members of the Dirty Energy Money Campaign .

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-08-whoi-microbes-consumed-oil-gulf.html

This study reveals the powerful effect of microbes on oil spills; they represent a viable alternative to the dangerous widespread application of dispersants. DV

August 1st, 2011 in Space & Earth / Environment

More than a year after the largest oil spill in history, perhaps the dominant lingering question about the Deepwater Horizon spill is, “What happened to the oil?” Now, in the first published study to explain the role of microbes in breaking down the oil slick on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) researchers have come up with answers that represent both surprisingly good news and a head-scratching mystery.

In research scheduled to be published in the Aug. 2 online edition of Environmental Research Letters, the WHOI team studied samples from the surface oil slick and surrounding Gulf waters. They found that bacterial microbes inside the slick degraded the oil at a rate five times faster than microbes outside the slick—accounting in large part for the disappearance of the slick some three weeks after Deepwater Horizon’s Macondo well was shut off.

At the same time, the researchers observed no increase in the number of microbes inside the slick—something that would be expected as a byproduct of increased consumption, or respiration, of the oil. In this process, respiration combines food (oil in this case) and oxygen to create carbon dioxide and energy.

“What did they do with the energy they gained from this increased respiration?” asked WHOI chemist Benjamin Van Mooy, senior author of the study. “They didn’t use it to multiply. It’s a real mystery,” he said.

Van Mooy and his team were nearly equally taken aback by the ability of the microbes to chow down on the oil in the first place. Going into the study, he said, “We thought microbe respiration was going to be minimal.” This was because nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus—usually essential to enable microbes to grow and make new cells—were scarce in the water and oil in the slick. “We thought the microbes would not be able to respond,” Van Mooy said.

But the WHOI researchers found, to the contrary, that the bacteria not only responded, but did so at a very high rate. They discovered this by using a special sensor called an oxygen optode to track the changing oxygen levels in water samples taken from the slick. If the microbes were respiring slowly, then oxygen levels would decrease slowly; if they respired quickly, the oxygen would decrease quickly.

“We found that the answer was ‘quick,'” Van Mooy said. “By a lot.”

Bethanie Edwards, a biochemist in Van Mooy’s lab and lead author of the paper, said she too was “very surprised” by the amount of oil consumption by the microbes. “It’s not what we expected to see.” She added that she was also “a little afraid” that oil companies and others might use the results to try to convince the public that spills can do relatively little harm. “They could say, ‘Look, we can put oil into the environment and the microbes will eat it,'” she said.

Edwards, a graduate student in the joint MIT/WHOI program, pointed out that this is not completely the case, because oil is composed of a complex mixture molecules, some of which the microbes are unable to break down.

“Oil is still detrimental to the environment, ” she said, “because the molecules that are not accessible to microbes persist and could have toxic effects.” These are the kinds of molecules that can get into the food web of both offshore and shoreline environments, Edwards and Van Mooy said. In addition, Edwards added, the oil that is consumed by microbes “is being converted to carbon dioxide that still gets into the atmosphere.”

Follow-up studies already “are in place,” Van Mooy says, to address the “mysterious” finding that the oil-gorging microbes do not appear to manufacture new cells. If the microbes were eating the oil at such a high rate, what did they do with the energy? Van Mooy, Edwards, and their colleagues hypothesize that they may convert the energy to some other molecule, like sugars or fats. They plan to use “state-of-the-art methods” under development in their laboratory to look for bacterial fat molecules, a focus of Van Mooy’s previous work. The results, he says, “could show where the energy went.”

Van Mooy said he isn’t sure exactly what fraction of the oil loss in the spill is due to microbial consumption; other processes, including evaporation, dilution, and dispersion, might have contributed to the loss of the oil slick. But the five-fold increase in the microbe respiration rate suggests it contributed significantly to the oil breakdown. “Extrapolating our observations to the entire area of the oil slick supports the assertion microbes had the potential to degrade a large fraction of the oil as it arrived at the surface from the well,” the researchers say in their paper.

“This is the first published study to put numbers on the role of microbes in the degradation of the oil slick,” said Van Mooy. “Our study shows that the dynamic microbial community of the Gulf of Mexico supported remarkable rates of oil respiration, despite a dearth of dissolved nutrients,” the researchers said.

Edwards added that the results suggest “that microbes had the metabolic potential to break down a large portion of hydrocarbons and keep up with the flow rate from the wellhead.”
Provided by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2011-08/01/content_13019025.htm

China Daily

Deadline for oil leak clean up
Updated: 2011-08-01 07:05
By Wang Qian (China Daily)

A man moves a stack of dead scallops on July 26 in Laoting county, Hebei province. The province’s fisheries have suffered as a result of the oil leaks in Bohai Bay. [Photo/ China Daily]

BEIJING – Oil leaks continue at two platforms operated by ConocoPhillips in Bohai Bay, more than two weeks after authorities ordered them to shut down, China’s ocean watchdog said on Friday.

The State Oceanic Administration has ordered the company to stop the leaks, contain the oil spills, clean up polluted areas and conduct a thorough investigation to eliminate the possibility of further oil spills before Aug 31.

Several oil belts were detected by the administration on July 27 in a 4.6-square-kilometer area to the east of the Penglai 19-3 oilfield, and the administration’s surveillance has determined that Platform C is still leaking about 2.52 liters of oil a day and that there are more oil slicks near Platform B.

ConocoPhillips reportedly admitted that “small and intermittent spills” are still being detected at Platform B and said it will make efforts to clean up the spills before the deadline, Xinhua News Agency reported on Sunday.

The administration also ordered ConocoPhillips to provide a report by an independent evaluation authority once the leaks have been stopped and the spills contained.

Pollutants from the oil spill have been found on beaches in North China’s Hebei province, and fisheries there are complaining that the disaster has caused the death of a large number of scallops.

“According to our statistics, about 70 percent of the scallops have died due to the oil leak, with economic losses reaching at least 200 million yuan ($30 million),” Yang Jizhen, chairman of the Laoting Fisheries Association, told China Daily.

About 30 boxes of dead scallops have been collected and stored as evidence since July 17, Yang said.

Around 160 households in Laoting county in the province rely on fisheries and related work for their livelihoods and they are planning to file a lawsuit against ConocoPhillips, the operator of the Penglai oilfield and its partner, China National Offshore Oil Corp, he added.

Qi Yuxiang, deputy director of the Laoting aquatic product bureau said they are checking every household to calculate the losses, but he is more worried about the potential long-term effects on exports. Aquatic products in Laoting are exported to Japan and the Republic of Korea.

According to statistics released by the administration on July 12, 4,240 sq km of coastal waters have been contaminated by the leak.

The administration ordered Houston-based ConocoPhillips to shut down production at the two platforms on July 13 because of the company’s inability to contain the oil leaks at platforms B and C.

The company has estimated that about 1,500 to 2,000 barrels of oil and oil-based drilling fluids have been released into the sea.

_________________________

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2011-07/29/content_13014733.htm

China Daily

Sun, July 31, 2011

Oil still leaking at 2 platforms on NE China sea
Updated: 2011-07-29 20:09
(Xinhua)

QINGDAO – Oil continues to leak at ConocoPhillips’s two platforms in northeast Bohai Bay more than two weeks after Chinese authorities ordered a shutdown of their output, said China’s oceanic watchdog on Friday.

Remote satellite sensing and a survey made by a patrol boat of the sea area on Wednesday and Thursday, both conducted by the China State Oceanic Administration (SOA), identified several oil belts in an area of 4.6 square kilometers to the east of the Penglai 19-3 oilfield, though ConocoPhilips’s oil-cleaning efforts continue.

The surveillance has determined that the oilfield’s platform C is leaking at a speed of about 2.52 liters per day and found oil belts near platform B despite the company’s cleaning efforts, said Lin Fangzhong, an official with SOA North China Sea Branch, on Friday.

The density of oil pollutants per liter of sea water sampled in the area reached a maximum of 118 micrograms, far exceeding the limit of 50 micrograms per liter set for the country’s the second-class sea water quality, which is applicable to aquiculture areas and direct sea water contact for the human body, he said.

Before the oil leak, the sea water quality in the area had reached the country’s level one standard.

The oilfield is jointly operated by ConocoPhillips China (COPC), a subsidiary of US energy giant ConocoPhillips, and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), the country’s largest offshore oil producer.

The SOA North China Sea branch has ordered COPC to contain the oil spills, clean up polluted areas and conduct a thorough investigation to eliminate further risks of spills and leaks before August 31.

COPC first reported the two oil spills to authorities in early and mid-June, when an area of 840 square kilometers was polluted.

Pollutants from the oil spill have been found spreading to beaches in northern Hebei Province and northeastern Liaoning Province, which have been blamed for losses in local tourism revenue and aquatic farming industry.

Another oil spill incident reported on July 12 occurred at the Suizhong 36-1 oilfield’s central platform, which is also operated by CNOOC. It marked the third spill in two months in Bohai Bay.

________________________________

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2011-07/26/content_12987632.htm

China Daily
Oil spill suspected in massive death of shells
Updated: 2011-07-26 17:09
(Xinhua)

LAOTING, Hebei – Chinese fishermen in northern Hebei province believe oil particles from a huge spill off the east coast caused a massive death of scallop that they cultivated this season.

More than 160 groups of scallop-raising fishermen have reported to the agricultural bureau in Laoting county that more than half of the scallop cultivated in a shore area of 23 hectares died after greasy oil particles were found along a 25-km beach.

Fishermen said the contamination came from oil spills at the Penglai 19-3 oil field jointly operated by the Houston-based ConocoPhillips’ China subsidiary and its Chinese partner China National Offshore Oil Corp(CNOOC).

China’s oceanic authorities ordered the field to halt production on July 13, and revealed the spills had occurred as early as the first half of June.

The State Oceanic Administration concluded this week that oil particles from the spills in Bohai Bay have been found spreading to beaches in Jingtang Port of Hebei and Dongdaihe Bathing Beach in the county of Suizhong in northeastern Liaoning province.
The beach in Laoting is only five sea miles away from Jingtang Port.

“Some fishermen plan to hire lawyers to sue CNOOC and ConocoPhillips for the contamination-triggered aquatic losses,” said Yang Jizhen, head of the Loating Aquaculture Association, adding the losses from scallop death are estimated at 350 million yuan ($54 million).

But he admitted that it was difficult for the fishermen to obtain validate documents showing the oil spill from the Penglai 19-3 field was the direct cause of the death.

“The quality of scallop is mainly determined by the quality of the sea water, and half of young shells I bred this year died and the rest aren’t good,” said Li Jiafeng, one of the fishermen.

He said there were no red tides or abnormal occurrences other than the oil spill that could be attributed to the massive death of the aquatics.

“Only after we found the oil particles on the beach did we think that the oil contamination may be the killer,” he said.

Yang said local fishermen suffered similar losses from an under-sea oil pipeline breach in 2006, and that it prevented the resumption of normal production of local aquatic farming for over two years.

He said fishermen had expected revenue of 340 million yuan from the scallop-farming investment of 170 million yuan this year. However, the ocean contamination could vanish their hopes.

Several government departments in Laoting, including the marine affairs bureau and the environment protection bureau are investigating the oil contamination situation.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

(07/28/2011)

Gabriel Nelson, E&E reporter
A package of air quality standards proposed today by U.S. EPA would require the oil and gas industry to cut its emissions to protect people from smog, cancer-causing chemicals and climate change — and would also save drillers millions of dollars per year, the agency said.

The four rules, which would need to be finalized by the end of February 2012 under a settlement with environmentalists, include new limits on both volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and toxic emissions. EPA says the standards would cut smog-forming VOCs across the industry by 25 percent and toxics by about 30 percent, and as a side benefit, would cut methane — a potent greenhouse gas — by about 26 percent.

At a time when the Obama administration is taking fire from business groups that claim its environmental rules are too costly, the new standards were touted as saving money for the oil industry by forcing companies to do more to keep natural gas from escaping into the air.

The rules would cost businesses an estimated $754 million in 2015, but the natural gas and condensate that would be captured by new pollution controls could be sold for $783 million, the agency’s analysis shows.

Money spent on upgrades would be recovered within at most a year, EPA says, and because methane is more than 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide at warming the planet, the new equipment would also provide climate change benefits worth an estimated $1.6 billion per year.

“This administration has been clear that natural gas is a key component of our clean energy future, and the steps announced today will help ensure responsible production of this domestic energy source,” EPA air chief Gina McCarthy said in a statement today. “Reducing these emissions will help cut toxic pollution that can increase cancer risks and smog that can cause asthma attacks and premature death — all while giving these operators additional product to bring to market.”

The rules would apply to about 1.1 million wells that are already producing oil and gas, as well as 500,000 existing gas wells and the 11,400 new gas wells being drilled each year. They also apply to 600 natural gas processing plants, 3,000 compressor stations and 1.5 million miles of pipelines.

A representative of the American Petroleum Institute, the largest trade group for the oil and gas industry, said today that EPA should extend the comment period on the rules by at least six months to give companies time to digest them.

“API will review these proposed rules to ensure that they don’t inadvertently create unsafe operating conditions, are cost effective and truly provide additional public health benefits, and don’t stifle the development of our abundant natural resources,” Howard Feldman, the group’s director of scientific and regulatory policy, said in a statement.

Today’s proposal would include the first air quality rules for natural gas wells that use hydraulic fracturing, a practice that has recently unlocked vast reserves of gas in underground shale formations but has become highly controversial based on fears it could be causing water contamination. In places where shale gas wells are popping up by the thousands, neighbors have also raised concerns that they are being exposed to toxic emissions such as benzene.

And in some remote parts of the country, such as northeastern Utah and southwestern Wyoming, locals blame the boom in gas development for spikes in levels of ground-level ozone, the main ingredient in smog, that rival big cities in the summertime.

EPA has already set emissions standards for large gasoline- and diesel-powered engines that are used by oil and gas companies. But some of the smaller engines that are used to drill wells and power other operations are not included in either set of rules.

Today’s rule won’t reach their emissions of nitrogen oxides, which react with VOCs to form ozone. “That’s where there’s been relatively little progress made at the national level for several decades now,” said Ramon Alvarez, a Texas-based scientist for the Environmental Defense Fund. But environmental and public health groups were largely pleased today, especially by the plan to cut down on methane.

They say the techniques that EPA is proposing are already being used in the field. States such as Wyoming and Colorado have set stricter air pollution rules for natural gas wells, and some companies, hoping to plug natural gas leaks and save money, have started using the new techniques under a voluntary EPA program called Natural Gas STAR.

Special thanks to Richard Charter, as always.