Louisiana Gets Okay to Build Sand Barriers
June 2, 2010 – After weeks of delay, federal officials have given the go-ahead to Louisiana officials to begin erecting sand berms designed to prevent oil from washing ashore, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal announced today.
State workers will dredge sand from the Gulf of Mexico to build 6-foot-high berms protecting barrier islands, and Jindal wants the BP corporation to foot the bill. Jindal wants to erect 128 miles of berms to protect Louisiana’s barrier islands and shoreline, but federal officials initially balked at the plan, saying they needed to study it first.
But with oil creeping closer to the coast, federal officials today announced their support of the plan after previously saying the project would take too long and might harm the local environment.
While Louisiana officials are preparing to take preventive measures, new reports indicate the large oil slick has come within 10 miles of Florida’s Pensacola Beach, and tar balls are starting to wash up on Alabama shores. BP engineers continue trying to quell the undersea oil gusher, but have run into problems with their latest attempt.
Engineers for the BP Corporation over the weekend abandoned attempts to plug the leaking well with a heavy mixture of concrete and mud and now are trying to cut off a section of oil pipe and cover it with a containment dome in order to siphon off any additional oil leakage and stop the already massive oil slick from becoming even larger.
Engineers gave up on the “Top Kill” approach after failing to stem the flow of oil, which remains pressurized. They now are trying to cut off a section of pipe and cover it in order to capture additional leaking oil. Unfortunately, the effort was stopped for a while today when the saw became stuck in the pipe.
News of the latest setback in trying to control the leaking oil well comes after federal officials last week declared the leaking oil well deep beneath the Gulf of Mexico tentatively plugged and appointed a new director of the federal regulatory body overseeing offshore drilling.
Engineers employed by the BP Corporation last week received the go-ahead from federal officials to proceed with the “top kill” plan to plug the leaking oil well with heavy sediment comprised of mud and concrete. A day later, the effort appeared to be working and seemed to have stopped the oil flow, raising hopes the operation would be successful. But video cameras indicated the sediment was leaking out along with oil and natural gas, and the process was halted for several hours.
Engineers resumed the process Thursday night, and U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen announced the flow of oil had been stopped as of Friday morning. But, engineers on the scene cautioned the process was not a complete success and warned the leak might resume. The process never had been done underwater – and especially at the extreme 5,000-foot depth at which the leaking well is located. BP workers also attempted a “junk shot” and injected large quantities of shredded tires, golf balls and knotted rope into the well in an attempt to plug the leak.
While temporary measures are being tried, BP engineers continue drilling two relief wells that would cut off the oil supply to the leaking well. But the two wells won’t be completed until August, raising the possibility the oil spill will continue unchecked for several more weeks during peak hurricane season.
The oil spill has been declared the largest in U.S. history, surpassing the nearly 11 million gallons of oil spilled into Alaska’s Prince William Sound after the supertanker Exxon Valdez struck an underwater shoal in 1989. BP officials said the company has spent nearly $1 billion trying to get the problem under control.
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