|
The oil slick is inching closer and closer to the mouth of the
Mississippi River and as of 1:30 p.m. today was 16 miles from the Pass A
Loutre Wildlife Management Area which is at the extreme south eastern
end of the Mississippi River Delta.
Location of the oil sheen at 1:30 p.m. on 4/28/2010
 |
According
to the EPA controlled burns of the oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico
from the
Deepwater Horizon disaster were suspended
today due to adverse weather
conditions.
A
photograph from an experimental offshore oil burn in Newfoundland
 |
The
Unified Command (U.S. Coast Guard, Department of Homeland Security,
Minerals Management Service, BP and Transocean) had released this
statement
earlier today:
Responders have
scheduled a controlled, on-location burn to begin at
approximately 11 a.m. CDT today (April 28, 2010).... today's controlled
burn will remove oil from the open
water in an effort to protect shoreline and marine and other wildlife.
Workboats will consolidate oil into a fire resistant boom
approximately 500 feet long. This oil will then be towed to a more
remote area, where it will be ignited and burned in a controlled manner.
The plan calls for small, controlled burns of several thousand gallons
of oil lasting approximately one hour each.
The Unified
Command has also made such statements as:
(The burning is) a strategy designed to
minimize environmental
risks by removing large
quantities of oil...
...there are no anticipated impacts to
marine mammals and sea turtles.
The vast majority of this slick
will be addressed through natural means
and through use of chemical dispersants. Today's burn will not affect
other ongoing response activities, such as on-water skimming, dispersant
application, and subsurface wellhead intervention operations.
Preparations are also underway in Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and
Alabama to set up a protective boom to minimize shoreline impact.
We
believe that releases of information from the Unified Command are
glossing over the environmental aspects of this oil spill and failing in
their duty to provide the public with accurate and unbiased
information. From our experience and the
experience of all of our colleagues in dealing with oil spills, once the
oil is in the water it is impossible to eliminate all environmental
impact. We believe that the government agencies in charge must make a
full and accurate assessment of the environmental impacts of this spill.
"The
vast majority of this slick will be addressed through natural means."
This sounds an awful lot like: The vast majority of the oil slick will
be left in the environment. What impact will this have to the Gulf
environment?
The chemical dispersants are essentially a soap like
material that emulsifies the oil and causes it to sink into the water
column and to the sea floor. What impact will this sub-surface oil have
on marine life, on the oyster beds and benthic organisms?
Oil
booms proved to be pretty ineffective during the fuel-oil barge spill
in the Mississippi River in 2008. How effective will booms be in rough
seas?
We do agree that burning the slick is preferable
to the surface oil coming on to shore but we also ask that the Agencies
involved make a full and accurate assessment of the environmental
impacts of the burning of the surface oil.
We simply ask that an
honest and accurate assessment of the full environmental impacts of this
spill be conducted by the relevant government agencies and then
released to the public.
To report affected wildlife, call
1-866-557-1401.
For more information regarding the Deepwater
Horizon incident,
contact the joint information center at (985) 902-5231 or (985)
902-5240.
You can contact us at 1-866-msriver.
Support this vital work today!
Yes! I want to help make Louisiana safe
for us and for future generations!
LEAN is a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Organization
Louisiana
Environmental Action Network (LEAN) is a non-profit organization
working to foster communication and cooperation among citizens and
groups to address Louisiana's environmental problems.
|
