July 6, 2010 – Now the BP oil spill disaster has impacted all five U.S. states that line the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Yesterday, Texas was the last to see confirmed BP oil in the form of tar balls. Also, on Monday oil was discovered heading into Louisiana's Lake Pontchartrain.
Currently, bad weather which is in the forecast through Wednesday across the region is adding to the frustration of trying to run skimmer operations and continuing clean-up of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf.
Oil spill impacts in Galveston, Texas
The Coast Guard announced yesterday that tar balls collected from the Crystal Beach area of the Bolivar Peninsula on Saturday came from the Deepwater Horizon spill, tests have confirmed, but it is unclear how the material got to Texas. They speculated that the oil which they consider not weathered enough to have washed all the way from the spill area might have been brought in by boats that carry oil collected during the response to Texas for processing.
Officials also said, "The Coast Guard, Texas General Land Office (TGLO), and the City of Galveston patrolled the beaches by both helicopter and on foot over the weekend. On Sunday, teams discovered some dime-sized to nickel-sized tar balls on both Bolivar Peninsula's Crystal Beach and Galveston's East Beach."
It was estimated that of the 35 gallons of material recovered, there were about 7 gallons of tar balls contained within the waste material. Testing on this material is still being conducted.
Update: July 6, 2010, 1:00 p.m. local time, the City of Galveston confirms that all tar balls sent for testing are connected to the BP Deepwater Horizon.
Original story and video from yesterday:
Gulf oil spill: Texas Land Office confirms tar balls on state's beaches are from Deepwater Horizon
Oil in the Rigolets and Lake Pontchartrain
Oil observers reported sheen and tar balls in the Rigolets, one of the waterways leading to Lake Pontchartrain and in the lake itself on Monday morning. The Coast Guard says response crews placed a 600 feet of hard and soft boom at a natural choke point in the Rigolets to prevent more oil from getting through to Lake Pontchartrain. Nineteen manual skimming vessels and four decontamination vessels were sent to the reported locations. Cleanup operations were conducted throughout the day both up and down stream of the choke point.
Slightly more than 1,000 pounds of tar balls and waste were collected yesterday and tests are being conducted to determine for sure that it is from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead. Cleanup operations were scheduled to resume this morning.
Read about the skimmer "A Whale" and see a slide show of 20 pictures, plus video:
Gulf oil spill: Will it go to work? World's biggest oil skimmer reports for duty (video, pictures)
Gulf oil spill: A Whale, world's largest skimmer now being tested in the Gulf of Mexico
Read the latest oil spill updates:
Gulf oil spill update: Airship to join response, A Whale in rough waters, empty beaches (pictures)
Gulf oil spill update: A Whale skimmer test continues, oil pushes into Louisiana marshes (pictures)
Gulf oil spill update: EPA news, NOAA map, what South Florida can expect, oiled beaches (pictures)
Comments
BP is a terrorist organization the same as Al Qaeda and BP Corporate officers have committed a terrorist act against America by murdering Americans and destroying the Gulf of Mexico (in process). Simply declare BP a terrorist organization and send all company officers to Guantanamo for daily waterboarding until they confess (Bush & Cheney solution) then introduce them to Cuban firing squad. The patriot act would apply and all problems are solved.
8 million barrels of oil in the Gulf of Mexico
To day is 80th day, since the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster. Oil keeps gushing from the leaking well into the Gulf of Mexico. The amount of spilled oil now is around 336 000 000 gallons.
BP significantly reduces this rate motivated by the fact that the daily capturing 15-20 thousand barrels of oil.
I have repeatedly explained, no matter how much oil BP capturing from the Cap, because the pump creates inside the Cap additional negative pressure which immediately compensated by the pressure in the petroleum layer and accompanied by an additional release of oil, correlated with this negative pressure.
So, the amount of gushing oil unchanged or unaltered is about 90-120 thousand barrels per day.
There are many people like myself, who would like to give alternative methods to BP and the government but lack the contacts to meet the right people. BP lacks thinking “outside of the box” and continues to solve its problems to the “b
The congressional commitee has aknowleged that the spill is quite likely close to 500,000, five hundred thousand barrels, yes barrels a day.
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