BP Complaints

Below is a transcript from Wednesday’s press briefing and teleconference by Admiral Thad Allen, National Incident Commander for the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill and Dr. Jane Lubchenco, NOAA Administrator

A downloadable audio file of the conference is available here.

Graphics used during the press briefing are available here and here.

Photos of subsurface equipment are available here, here, and here.

September 15, 2010

Admiral Allen:      Thank you.  Good morning from Kenner, Louisiana.  I’m delighted to be here today with representatives of the seafood industry and the restaurant industry together with the (inaudible) representative of academia and Dr. Jane Lubchenco the NOAA administrator.

I want to hit a couple of things this morning, give you an update and then Dr. Lubchenco is going to come up and we’re going to talk about subsea oil monitoring and our intentions and (inaudible) on that.

But first of all I’d like to point out a few folks that are here with me behind me today that are joining us here at Kenner.  First one is Harlon Pearce
who is chair of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion Board.  We also have the executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion Board, Ewell Smith.  Ewell, thank you for being here and Jim Funk the executive director of the Louisiana Restaurant Association.

As you know the issue of seafood safety has loomed large in the media and elsewhere.  I’m here to tell you this is my third day in the Gulf and I’ve had seafood every day I’ve been here.  This is the most tested and safest seafood in the world right now.  This seafood is ready for the rest of the world and the world needs to know that.  And I’m here with the members of the community involved with preparing that seafood to get it out to you to let you know that the Gulf is ready and you should have no qualms about getting seafood that has been tested from the Gulf.

If I could real quick we started this morning the final drilling process to close in on the bottom of the Macondo Well.  As you know we’ve had several segments of activity that have taken place.  It started with the static kill to fill the well with cement.  We’ve ended a number of tests.  We concluded (inaudible) to remove the blowout preventer.

That has been done.  As you know that equipment has all been shipped to the Coast Guard base at the NASA (inaudible) in New Orleans where it remains under supervision of the joint investigation team and the Department of Justice.

We are demobilizing what’s not needed at the well site right now.  And as we speak, earlier this morning, Development Driller III began the last drilling (inaudible) into the annulus of the drill pipe and we would expect some time in the next 24 hours to actually intercept the well.

The steps after the well intercept will be to ascertain the condition of the annulus.  As you know we do not know what the condition of the annulus is whether or not there are hydrocarbons in it, communication with the reservoir and so forth.  Today will give us a lot of information especially when we get close and finally conduct the intercept looking at the changes in pressure of the drilling mud that’s going in and out.

That will be something that we’re monitoring very closely.  And we will give you update throughout the day.  I have been notifying and updating the senior leadership in Washington as we move forward.

What I would like to do now is just shift to the next part of the opening statements and then we’ll be glad to take some questions from you.  From the start we have known that this has been the largest oil spill in U.S. history.  We know that the impacts of this spill have been far reaching.

We have been defending the coastline from Port St. Joe, Florida over to tar balls that have come to shore in Texas.  And there are concerns about how much oil is in the water and the amount of hydrocarbons, how that’s affecting the Gulf.  We work very close with the Unified Area Command here in New Orleans under the leadership of Admiral Zukunft who will continue to direct our operations when the National Incident Command is redeployed here shortly.

And we have worked with NOAA, our federal counterparts and academia to take a look at the (inaudible) possible for subsea monitoring for hydrocarbons.  A lot of unanswered questions, we’ve never had a spill of this magnitude.  The public wants to know what’s going on and quite frankly we all do too.

There has been a massive effort to conduct sampling from the start of this event.  We’re going to give you a little bit more detail this morning about how we’ve been moving forward and how we intend to move forward in the future to try and get as much information as we can, to make that information transparent and talk about the implications of the data that’s in relation to the future of the Gulf.

So with that I’d like to now introduce Jane Lubchenco, the administrator of NOAA who is going to make some opening remarks about a subsea oil sampling.  And she has some distinguished members of the federal government and academia with her.  Jane?

Jane Lubchenco:   Thanks, Admiral Allen.  Hello everyone thank you for joining us.  I echo Admiral Allen’s thanks for Harlan Pearce and his colleagues for hosting us here today.  When NOAA first became involved at the very earliest hours in responding to the deep water horizon spill we pledged to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with fishermen of the region.

And our continued interactions and partnership with them are a signal of how committed we are jointly to restoring the health of the Gulf and bringing us back to a very healthy state so that everyone cal feel completely comfortable with the quality of the seafood and the safety of the seafood from this region.

I’d like to introduce a few folks to you today.  Some of the senior scientists at NOAA who are working on monitoring efforts that we’re going to b talking about today and some individuals from the academic communities and independent research institutions that we’ve been partnering closely with.

As I introduce each of you guys if you’ll just raise your hands so folks will know who you are.  Okay, Sam Walker, Steve Layman and Steve Murawski, all NOAA senior scientists who are individuals that bring deep knowledge about oil, oil response and the science in the Gulf to this task.

A number of individuals from our academic and private research institution partners, Dr. Michael Carron of the Northern Gulf Institute, Dr. V.J. John and Dr. Gary McPherson of Tulane University, Dr. Richard Shaw from Louisiana State University, Dr. William Hogarth and Dr. Ernst Peebles from the University of South Florida, Dr. Chris Reddy of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Dr. Richard Gregg of Florida A&M, and we’re also joined by Jacqueline Patterson of the NAACP.

I welcome all of them and thank them for their efforts.  They have been involved in the number of research missions out on the water to try to understand this event.  And they have been very helpful in organizing meetings with academic and independent research institutions, folks from the Gulf and elsewhere to help us understand what’s actually playing out, what’s happening on the water, beneath the water, at the edges of the shore and to help us craft the kind of quality research studies that will enable us to better understand what’s happening and what we might see in the future.

As an academic more than 35 years I can attest to the importance of what academic institutions and independent research institutions bring to an effort like this.  We really do need the best scientists in the country focusing on understanding that has already happened, what the impact is and how to guide our actions bring the Gulf back to health.

Although I’m the administrator of NOAA here today I can also say that the entire federal family is deeply committed to understanding the impact of this spill on the health of the Gulf and the millions of people who depend on it for their lives and livelihood.

It’s been 62 days now since oil has stopped flowing into the Gulf but our federal response remains vigilant in its effort to recover oil, to clean up beaches and marshes and to rehabilitate wildlife.

We continue to monitor the movements and the (inaudible) of oil especially beneath the surface.  And we are doing so in collaboration with our academic and research institution partners.  We are indeed seeing a number of encouraging signs, a reflection of this is that we have re-opened almost 40,000 square miles of the Gulf to fishing.

As you will recall at the heights about 37 percent of the Gulf was closed to fishing in federal waters.  We have been nibbling around the edges opening up more and more area.  The area that remains closed today is at 16.5 percent.

So we’re making good progress and sampling very, very carefully making sure that areas that we are opening is, in fact, safe to reopen and that the seafood is free of contaminants.  We’re also releasing rehabilitated sea turtles back into the Gulf, individuals that were recovered some of which have been rehabilitated in the lab and are now able to released into a Gulf.

To date we have released 284 turtles back into the Gulf and that is, in fact, good news indeed.  And yet we are mindful of the need to understand how much oil remains, where it is and in what concentrations and how rapidly it’s being naturally degraded.  Today we are gathered together with the folks behind me to take stock of what we have learned to date, tell you what yet needs to be done.

We are in the midst of a comprehensive collaborative effort to monitor the fate of the oil and the disbursement sub surface.

And it’s in the subsurface that our efforts are focused squarely.  Its subsea monitoring program conducted under the direction of the federal on scene coordinator includes extensive monitoring and sampling done to date, more than 30,000 samples so far.

And we’ll continue where needed to allow us to answer the question what is the fate of the oil and the disbursements in the subsurface?  So this monitoring effort is an aggressive one to be conducted as an integrated strategic plan working closely with states, academic, and private research institution partners.

We have and will continue to monitor, sample and study the oil and disbursements from the near shore to the open ocean, from the surface to the seafloor.  This ongoing monitoring effort has three primary goals.

One is to monitor and assess the distribution, concentration, and degradation of any oils that remain in the water or on the seafloor.  Two, to look for disbursements or break down products of disbursements remaining in the water, and three, to identify any additional response actions needed to address any recoverable oil.

We have already tested extensively.  In the near shore and the offshore and will continue to do so.  Near shore data continues to be generated on a daily basis building upon the approximately 5,000 near shore water and sediment samples that were collected as of September 11.

These samples are in addition to a number of observational techniques employed in the near shore to help responders find oil.  Turning to the offshore the water column has been extensively sampled within 75 kilometers of the well head using fluorometry, particle analyzers, oxygen probes, and hydrocarbon analysis as well as standard connectivity, temperature, and depth for CTG sensor cap.

The federal government working with our academic partners is committed to doing everything it takes for as long as it takes to respond to this oil, to assess the damage, and to restore the habitat and sustain the quality of life in the Gulf.

What has all of this sampling revealed?  We have a fair amount of information about what’s happening along the coast.  Much of that oil, some of which still remains, continues to be cleaned up.  There continues to be a very small amount of residual oil in the near shore.

And that is both being degraded naturally as well as being recovered.  In the water column there continues to be some amount of oil in the subsurface especially in this layer that is between about 3,000 and 4,300 feet, very, very (inaudible), very microscopic droplets of oil and the parts from millions to parts per billion, (inaudible) and disbursed does not necessarily mean benign.

We continue to actively sample and characterize where that is and the rate at which it is being degraded.  The indications are that that degradation is proceeding and we intend to get more definitive information upon that in the not too distant future.

There is oil that is being observed on the sediment, in the sediments on the seafloor surface.  Much of the ongoing monitoring is designed to understand better where that is, what impact it may be having and we look forward to reporting on that also in due time.

So ultimately people in the region and across the country really want to do is Gulf seafood safe to eat?  Are the waters safe to swim in?  Where can we fish with our families and friends?  In short, folks want to know if it’s OK to eat, swim and fish and that kind of information that we committed to identifying those questions, answers to those questions when we can reassure folks that in fact, when and if it is OK to eat, swim and fish.

This monitoring lays the foundation for additional research into the long-term impact of the spill on the health of the Gulf and it will go a long way toward restoring the Gulf and restoring public confidence in this unique and very valuable ecosystem.  So with that we’re happy to take questions and I’ll invite Admiral Allen to join me in that.

Admiral Allen:      Let me – let me make one quick statement.  I’m not sure I’ll have an opportunity to do a public press event with Jane Lubchenco before we transition this organization.  Jane and I met over a year ago we made a trip to the Arctic together.

This has been a professional and a personal collaboration that’s been wonderful for me and I just want to thank her as a friend and colleague for the help she’s given me, first as a (inaudible) on the Coast Guard and National Incident Commander, so thank you Jane.

Jane Lubchenco:   Thanks Admiral, I appreciate that.

Admiral Allen:      Okay.  Identify yourself and your affiliation please.

Harry Weber:       (Inaudible).

Admiral Allen:      Harry we’ve always said it would be about 96 hours total until the (inaudible)  is done, cured and we do pressure testing.  So four days from now to be all done.

Male:                   (Inaudible).

Admiral Allen:      Yes.  It could be sooner depending on when they intercept the (inaudible), the condition of the annulus, how much (inaudible) is required and the carrying time and the pressure test, but that is the sequence.

Male:                   Ninety-six hours.  (Inaudible).

Admiral Allen:      Four days from now, that’s what we’re looking at right now, yes.

Female:               (Inaudible).

Jane Lubchenco:   So let me be clear, there have been a lot of mischaracterizations of the oil budget report that we released.  But that oil budget report says very simply that a quarter of the oil has been burned, skimmed or recovered from the well.  A quarter of the oil has been evaporated, so that half of nearly 5 million barrels of which released, is – has gone from the system.

Another quarter (inaudible) was at some point in the subsurface.  That’s not an insignificant amount, one quarter sounds like a small amount, but that’s the equivalent to four Exxon-Valdez oil spills, so that’s actually a fair amount of oil.  That’s not what’s out there now because it is being degraded as we speak.  And one of the purposes of the ongoing monitoring is to understand better how much of that subsurface oil is still out there and how fast it is disappearing.

The remaining quarter was – what is left over from what you can measure directly or estimate with some degree of confidence, that quarter which is what we call residual is in fact – was at some point light sheen or tar balls or oil that has been washed upon beaches, much of which has now been recovered.  So the budget was intended to give us a sense of where did that nearly 5 million barrels of oil go.

It is not a characterization of what’s out there now because it is being – continuing to be recovered, continuing to be naturally biodegraded.  And that’s why this monitoring effort that is underway is critically important to give us a sense of what remains out there, how fast it’s disappearing.

 Male:                 (Inaudible)

Jane Lubchenco:   When we released the report at that time, a quarter of the 5 million barrels could not be either measured directly or estimated with some degree of confidence.  It’s what was left over, that was residual at that time.  It is not a reflection of what’s happening now because much of that has continued to biodegrade, much of that has now been removed from the beaches.

Male:                     The numbers have gone down?

Jane Lubchenco:    All of those numbers are going down.  The numbers – the residual is probably going down, what’s in the subsurface is probably going down.  We don’t yet know at what rate which is why this monitoring is so important.

Female:                 (Inaudible).

Jane Lubchenco:    One of the most important things that we are doing now is getting as much information as possible from research expeditions, from our academic partners and from the unified command monitoring, overseeing monitoring that is underway to really understand better what’s happening in the sediment, what’s happening on the sea floor.

And we are getting reports that there is oil that’s there, that’s very valuable information and that has been folded into the monitoring that we have underway.  There will be active sampling of sediments in the deep sea and in the near shore to better understand exactly how much is out there.  At some point we will really be interested in what impact that’s having as well because that’s critically important.

But right now our focus is understanding what is left both in the water column and on the sediment on the sea floor.  And we’re doing that in partnership with many of our academic colleagues and that effort is intended to give us a better sense of what’s out there.

Female:               (Inaudible) put that down.  How much money is there (inaudible).

Jane Lubchenco:   The sampling efforts that is underway and will be continuing is an effort to really characterize what’s on the sea floor, that is indeed – it requires specialized equipment, it requires people who know how to use that equipment and it requires good orchestration so that we’re sampling where we need to sample and in a strategic fashion informed by what we know about what’s happening elsewhere.

I can’t give you a figure for how expensive it is, but it does require ships and equipment and if monitoring efforts is part of the response to the spill.

Admiral Allen:      Let me just add on to it.  One of the reasons that we’re both standing here today is the responsibility I have as a National Incident Commander for the response and recovery of oil, is to deal with it until it’s not there anymore, how clean is clean along with shoreline and the marshes.  We’re dealing with an area where we’ve never dealt with this much oil in the subsea area before, so I’m actually utilizing the authority that I have under my response authorities to direct this action to begin so we know it is part of the response, fate of the oil.

We also are going to need to know the fate of the oil for long-term damage assessment and the actions that will follow.  So there’s a – there’s a certainly amount of urgency to know right away what’s happening, (inaudible) about it, but in the long-term, the long-term recovery in the Gulf is (inaudible) dependent on as much data as we can get.

And the best way to do that is through a unified effort.  And if you’ve got a certain amount of resources to deploy and you know you want to check for sediment, that’s (done) if you can organize it together and create the synergies between the public and private sector academia and so forth.  One more question we’ll go to the phones here.

Male:                   Admiral would you step down (inaudible).

Admiral Allen:      I don’t think anything could be farther from the truth.  You know one of my jobs as a National Incident Commander was interfaced with the administration of Congress and other folks in Washington about what was going on down here.  There will be a (inaudible) handoff between myself and Admiral Paul Zukunft who is already running the Unified Area Command.

Who actually is a junior officer and he was stationed in the Coast Guard with a commercial fisherman.  You’re not losing any area of expertise by the leader that’s going to be continuing after I’m gone, you need somebody that’s been working in this area for several months now that knows it from prior assignments and knows the lifestyle, the culture and the way of life of the Gulf.  So I think everybody’s going to be fine.

Jane Lubchenco:   Admiral Z will have not only a great, talented team of folks down here in the region with him, but he will be backed up by a team of very committed folks in Washington, D.C.  the President has made it clear that we are not going any place, that we are seeing this through and that the efforts is not winding down, the effort is transiting, we are pivoting from mostly response efforts to a recovery and restoration effort.

Underpinning all of that will be good scientific information, which is why this monitoring effort and the resource damage assessment effort and the recovery effort will all be underpinned by good science.

Female:              (Inaudible).

Admiral Allen:      Frankly since you asked, I’m about ready to transition.  This is a shared responsibility between the folks that are standing by this microphone and you all out there.  That’s how we talk about this, how we explain it, how we answer questions, it’s not just the questions we answer, it’s how you report it.  And everybody in the country, in the world sees what’s reported out of the Gulf.

We’ve stood here and told you and I have told you I don’t know how many times, that the seafood coming out of the Gulf is the most tested seafood anywhere in the United States and probably the world.  If it comes out of the Gulf and it is then tested it’s safe.

I think we have a joint responsibility not only to our professions but to the Gulf to speak clearly, frankly, and honestly about that.  And create proper perceptions in the mind of the American public about what the conditions are down here.

Jane Lubchenco:   NOAA and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the States have been working very closely together to protect the integrity of seafood.  In addition to what Admiral Allen said about getting the word out, our focus has been squarely making sure that that seafood is safe.

And our first line of defense was to close areas to fishing if there was oil present, as we – as oil is receding as it is being degraded we’ve been very actively sampling throughout the Gulf in areas that were oiled.

And then reopening areas where in fact the sampling shows that the oil is gone number one, and number two that the seafood is not contaminated.  The seafood has been very rigorously tested, we feel confident that it is safe, it’s free of contaminants, and we want very much indeed to get the word out.

Admiral Allen:      Thanks we’re going to go to questions on the phone now Operator.

Operator:            Yes sir your first question comes from the line of Kristen Hayes with Reuters.

Kristen Hays:      Hello, Admiral I hope you’re not going to miss us when you make the hand over.

Admiral Allen:     I’ll miss you terribly.

Kristen Hays:      I’m sure you will, just a quick question, first with drilling resuming and you know zeroing in on the intercept.  Do you expect anymore ranging runs between now and then and when do you think BP is going to start doing those surveys you mentioned before on the Deepwater Horizon Rig preparing to actually pull it up from the ocean floor?

Admiral Allen:      The questions for those in the audience here was we’re expecting more ranging runs before intercept and what about a survey of the Deepwater Horizon Rig?  Actually they’re using a novel technology that allows the ability to do some ranging with the actual drill string that’s down there.

They’re going to try and use that and if they’re successful in using this new technology, it would not require them to pull the drill string out and do another ranging run with the wire they have to send out.

If that’s the case, that would (inaudible) some time out of the intercept that they expect to happen in the next 24 hours.  Regarding the survey of the people on Horizon themselves, I would defer that and we’ll put some information out to the joint information center of the Unified Area Command.

There is an intent to do an extensive survey of the people at Horizon Rig with (inaudible) that will probably be on the (inaudible).  That is something they are looking for in the future but it is not being scheduled yet due to the media concerns with moving the blowout preventer and (inaudible) package as part of the joint investigation.

But we’ll post more information on that.

Kristen Hays:      Okay. Thank you.

Operator:            Your next question comes from the line of Brett Clanton with Houston Chronicle.

Brett Clanton:      Admiral hi, thanks for taking my question.  Is there a chance when you do intercept the annulus that you’ll determine that’s it’s not necessary to inject mud and cement that it’s – you’ll discover that maybe it has been sealed with the static kill.

And then also just some I’m – just to make sure I’m completely sure, there is no plan to also enter the casing with a relief well, correct?

Admiral Allen:      The question is; is there any chance we would intercept the annulus and not pump cement and do we plan to intercept the casing?  Had we done it a traditional bottom kill we would have done both, intercepted the casing and the annulus.

Basically as I said before to fill in the tree rings till the tree was filled, the inner core of the tree was filled, because of a static kill right now.

So we’re sort of concerned with the annulus and the actual actions taken will be depending on the condition of the annulus when the intercepts made.  The first indication we will get with that will be any change of pressure in the drilling fluids or the strum in that drill bit when the interception is made.  At that point, I think there will be a characterization made of the annulus itself and a decision made on how to proceed at that point.

I can’t predict what will happen because as we said the final question in this whole killing of the well has been the condition f the annulus.  I don’t think we think there will be any blockage here I think we think we’re going to need to pump cement but that will not be verified until we actually do the intercept.  Next question.

Operator:        Your next question comes from the line of Jim Polson with Bloomberg News.

Jim Polson:      Thank you Admiral. This question is for Doctor Lubchenco.  Can you quantify for us the amount of effort that’s going into delineating and assessing the subsea oil sediment?

Jane Lubchenco:   I can’t quantify it right on the spot but I’m happy to provide that information once we have clarity on exactly how many ships, what the effort is, how many institutions are working on that.  If there is a very considerable effort and it has been gaining a lot of momentum as additional resources are brought to bear in terms of equipment and ships and other things.  I can’t give you a summary of those now but I’m happy to as soon as we have that synthesized.

Jim Polson:           Thank you.

Admiral Allen:      Let me – only intents of this effort is not unlike the air surveillance we had in trying to figure out what we were seeing out there.  And if you remember, we took control of the air space.  We integrated all of the air sorties via air coordination center in (inaudible) Air Force Base under the first Air Force.

And what we’ve got is a similar situation where we have a large number of federal vessels, a large number of academic institutions, private contractors, and vessels that are capable of doing work out there.  Part of this planning process that we’re working through is to unify that entire effort, coordinate it, and basically put what I would call a multi agency or governmental public private sector task force on the task.  Next question.

Operator:               Your next question comes from the line of Dorothy Kendrick with Louisiana Public.

Dorothy Kendrick: Louisiana Public Broadcasting I guess this is for Doctor Lubchenco.  When you talk about this oil that’s about 3,000 feet beneath the ocean surface I’m wondering with the way the ocean churns is there possibility that some of that oil will be churning up to the surface or how does that work?

Jane Lubchenco:   The question is will the oil that is subsurface now at this layer between about 3,000 and 4,300 feet eventually make its way to the surface.  We believe that’s probably unlikely.  The oil that is in this subsurface very defused cloud of hyperscopic droplets got there because as the oil was being released from the riser pipe or the well head it was shot out under great pressure, it was hot hitting cold water, and it was broken up into very, very small microscopic droplets of oil.

In that particular layer those droplets appear to be neutrally buoyant and are simply moving outward from the well in this very defused cloud and earlier on, on Measurement syndicated it was in parts per million that these microscopic droplets are.  And they are very, very tiny they’re about the size of the thickness of a human hair.

It’s about one micron thick so about the thickness of a human hair to give you a sense of the size.  And those microscopic droplets are in the process many of them of being biodegraded naturally by the bacteria by the microbes that are in the water.  In very, very small droplets the microbes can attack them from all sides and essentially those microbes eat oil.

And that is the process of natural biodegradation that we know is under way and that we are getting a better handle on exactly how fast it’s happening and at what rate the oil in that subsurface cloud is disappearing.

Admiral Allen:      This is a footnote you heard me say many times how unique this response has been because we’re dealing with a source that is 5,000 feet below the surface with no human access.  Well beyond that to just underscore what Doctor Lubchenco said the hydrocarbons in that reservoir are over 200 degrees it’s around boiling on the surface.

And when they come out of that well, they’re encountering water that’s 39 degrees.  When you hear about hydrates and everything else, the chemistry and the organic things that happen under those pressures at those temperature differentials are things we have not encountered before in a spill response.  We’ll take two more questions operator.

Operator:              Your next question comes from the line of Anne Thompson with NBC News.  Anne your line is open.  Your next question comes from the line Richard Fossa with Los Angeles Times.

Richard Fossa:      I was wondering – is it going to be difficult to hear you from a long distance telephone.  Could you go over again when the drilling process began, when you expect to intercept the well, when you’ll begin finish pumping mud and cement if you need to have mud and cement, and what time you’ll declare the well killed if that can be what you declare?

Admiral Allen:      Just to summarize again, in the last 24-hour period we proceeded to go ahead and drill to the intercept.  At the time we started drilling we estimated that we were 3.5 horizontal feet away and 50 feet away from the intercept.  We drilled down (inaudible), we went through the drill string, we put in a ranging tool just to make sure that we wanted to calibrate what the ranging tool told us versus the equipment that now allows us to do some ranging measurements from inside the drill bit.

The drill string is now packed and it’s commenced drilling so the air at this moment as we’re speaking drilling that last 20/25 feet and they are almost touching the well at this time.  That’s the report I got just before I came out here.  When we do the intercept, which will be imminently I will say in the next 24 hours because they may elect to pull that drill bit back do another ranging run, which would add time.  That’s the reason I’m not going to say it’s going to happen in the next hour.

Sometime in the next 24-hour period, we should do the well intercept.  Once the well is intercepted, we’ll have to understand from the pressure differentials and the drilling fluids the nature of the annulus.  Once that’s been determined decision, will be made on cement and then once it’s cemented the cement will have to adhere and be pressure tested.

That entire element from this morning I would estimate to be about 96 hours.  That could actually move to the left depending on whether or not they have to do that last ranging run.  But for the purpose of creating expectations well within a 96 hour window of killing the well.

Richard Fossa:      That was all.

Operator:             Your next …

Admiral Allen:      Thanks very much.

Jane Lubchenco:   Thanks everyone.

Admiral Allen:      That ends our call ladies and gentlemen.

Operator:            This concludes today’s conference call you may now disconnect.

WHO: Adm. Thad Allen, National Incident Commander and Dr. Jane Lubchenco, NOAA Administrator

WHAT: Media briefing to discuss ongoing operations and sub-surface oil monitoring efforts related to the BP oil spill response

WHERE: Louisiana Fish House, 606 Short Street, Kenner, Louisiana, 70062

WHEN: Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2010, 10:00 a.m., CDT.  The call-in number for press unable to attend is (866) 304-5784 for domestic callers and
(706) 643-1612 for international callers. Conference ID# 10742208

###

WHO: Rear Adm. Paul Zukunft, Federal On-Scene Coordinator

WHAT: Press briefing and teleconference following a meeting with state and local officials regarding the ongoing administration-wide response to the Deepwater BP Oil Spill

WHERE: Incident Command Post Houma, BP Training Facility, 1597 Highway 311, Schriever, La. 70395

WHEN: Wednesday, September 1, 2010, 4:45 p.m., CDT. The call-in number for press unable to attend is (866) 304-5784 for domestic callers, and (706) 643-1612 for international callers. Conference ID# 98389055

INFORMATION: The press briefing will be held in the Unified Command meeting room inside the incident command post. Location will not allow for broadcast cables to run to vehicles. Cameras must preset no later than 4:00 p.m. CDT; all other media must arrive no later than 4:30 p.m. CDT.

WHO: Adm. Thad Allen, National Incident Commander

WHAT: Media briefing to provide Operational Update on Ongoing Deepwater Horizon/BP Oil Spill Response Efforts

WHERE: BP’s Houston Westlake 4 Building, 200 Westlake Park Blvd, Houston, Texas 

WHEN: Wednesday, September 1, 2010, 10:30 a.m. CDT.  The call-in number is (866) 304-5784 for domestic callers, and (706) 643-1612 for international callers.  Conference ID # is 98295485

INFORMATION: The press briefing will be held at BP’s Houston Westlake4 building. Press can park in the visitor’s parking garage, adjacent to the Westlake 4 building and accessible from Keating St. Press should enter the main lobby for Westlake 4 and will be escorted to the cafeteria meeting room for the briefing. Cameras must preset no later than 9:45 a.m. CDT and all other media must arrive no later than 10:15 a.m. CDT via the Westlake 4 main entrance. Media credentials and/or photo identification are requested.

Below is a transcript from Friday’s teleconference press briefing by Administrator for NOAA, Dr. Jane Lubchenco, to discuss the reopening of federal waters along western Louisana

A downloadable audio file of the conference is available here.

August 27, 2010

10 a.m. EDT

Kevin Griffis:    Great, thank you.  Thank you, everyone, for joining us today.  This is Kevin Griffis with the Department of Commerce, and I’m joined today by Jane Lubchenco, the undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere.  She is going to announce today the opening of some closed federal waters and the steps that we’re taking to reach that decision.

 And so without further ado, I’m going to hand it over to Dr. Lubchenco.

Jane Lubchenco:     Thanks, Kevin.    Good morning, everyone.  Thanks for joining us.  I’m happy to announce today the reopening of 4,281 square miles of federal waters in the northwestern corner of the federal closed area.  This is an area that’s just off the western coast of Louisiana.  Today’s reopening represents 7.4 percent of the currently closed area. 

 NOAA’s decision today to reopen waters to commercial and recreational fishing we believe is the right one for fishermen and for American consumers.  It gives fishermen access to important fishing grounds.  And because NOAA followed a reopening protocol also agreed to by the FDA and the gulf states, it also protects consumers and helps prevent contaminated seafood from entering the marketplace.

That reopening protocol entails a three-pronged approach.  The first condition for reopening in an area is that oil is not present and not expected to be present in the foreseeable future.  Second, samples must pass sensory analysis.  And, third, they must pass chemical analysis.  The area that we are opening today for fishing meets all three of these criteria. 

On July 18, NOAA data showed no oil in the area.  Light sheen was observed on July 29, and none since then.  Trajectory models show that the area is at a low risk for future exposure to oil.  And fish caught in the area and tested by NOAA experts have shown no signs of contamination.

Between July 26th and July 29, NOAA sampled the area for both shrimp and finfish, including mackerel and snapper.  Sensory analyses were performed on 41 samples and chemical analyses on 125 specimens.  Sensory analyses found no detectable oil or dispersant, odors, or flavors, and results of chemical analyses were well below the levels of concern.

But we believe our sampling work is not done.  To continue to ensure that the seafood from this and other open areas in the gulf is free of contaminants, NOAA will continue to test seafood.  We are also continuing dock-side and market-based sampling in partnership with the FDA.

When the BP Deepwater Horizon crisis first began, I met with recreational and commercial fishermen throughout the region and with consumer advocates.  We pledged to stand shoulder to shoulder with Gulf Coast fishermen and their families during these difficult times and to do everything possible to protect the integrity and the safety of seafood reaching the marketplace.

We are fulfilling that promise, and I can assure you that NOAA will continue to work aggressively to keep seafood safe, get fishermen back on the water doing what they love, and restore the gulf ecosystem that supports this area’s special way of life.

 Thanks.  And I’d be happy to take any questions.

 Operator:        Thank you…

 Kevin Griffis:    Thank you – sorry.  Thank you, Dr. Lubchenco.

 Operator:         And you would like to ask questions at this time?

 Kevin Griffis:    We have Eileen Fleming from National Public Radio.

 Eileen Fleming:   Dr. Lubchenco (inaudible) Jindal said this morning that the seafood for Louisiana is tested seven times, which is more than much of the country, which is not tested at all.  I was wondering if you could talk about those seven tests and what the status is for testing for chemical dispersants.

Jane Lubchenco:     Eileen, the states, including Louisiana, have responsibility for regulating fisheries in their state waters, which for Louisiana is from the shore to three miles out.  NOAA has responsibility for regulating the fisheries in federal waters, which is from three miles all the way out to 200 nautical miles from the shore.

The protocols that we agreed upon between NOAA and FDA and the states are ones that we are all following.  For federal waters, which was the announcement that we are making today, NOAA does the sampling, and NOAA does the testing, and then we turn those results over to FDA, who’s responsible for certifying the safety of seafood.  So just to clarify, in federal waters, NOAA is responsible for opening or closing waters, but FDA certifies whether the seafood is safe. 

In state waters, the states do the sampling.  They turn them over to NOAA and FDA for testing.  And then, again, FDA does the certification.

So what I can describe to you are the sampling protocols that NOAA uses for federal waters, but I cannot describe any extra sampling that the states are doing.  So the seven types of samples that the governor was referring to, I’m not sure quite what that means.

The states agreed to follow the same protocols that we do.  And that’s what we have done and will continue to do.

 Operator:  At this time, I would like to inform everyone, in order to ask a question, press star, then the number one on your telephone keypad. 

 Your next question comes from the line of Harry Weber with the Associated Press.

 Harry Weber:    Morning, Dr. Lubchenco.  If my math is correct, the reopening of these waters will leave about 53,700 square miles of federal waters still closed.  Is that correct?  Can you give us an update?

 Jane Lubchenco: I – yes.  The area that remains closed is 48,114 square miles.  And that’s…

 Harry Weber:    And that stretches from where to where?

 Jane Lubchenco:   Twenty percent of federal waters in the gulf.

 Harry Weber:  That represents 20 percent of federal waters in the gulf?

 Jane Lubchenco:     Correct.  So at the – we began closing waters when – in early May when there was oil and expanded that closed area through time as the oil was moving outward from the wellhead.  At its height, the maximum closed area was 37 percent of the federal waters in the gulf.  And that’s 88,522 square miles.

Once the oil was no longer flowing from the well, and once the oil began to dissipate, we have been reopening areas.  This is the third area that we are announcing today.  The first one was opened July 22nd, and that was off the Florida peninsula.  And then on August 10th, we reopened another area off the Florida panhandle.  And so this one off western Louisiana is the third area to be reopened.

And what we’re doing is sort of nibbling at the edges, if you will.  Areas that have been free from oil for the longest time and that were oiled the least are teed up first for consideration for reopening.  We go in and do sampling of seafood from those areas that we are considering, and then if they pass the tests that I described in my opening comments, that area will be reopened.

So currently, we have an area that is just about 20 percent of federal waters still closed. 

 Operator:  Your next question comes from the line of Mario Garcia with NBC News.

 Mario Garcia:  (inaudible) Lubchenco, thanks for taking my question.  Just moving forward, the systems you described in place thus far, obviously, (involved with) large and constant flux.  What is the protocol for testing, for instance, in areas that are reopened we continue to test to see the status? 

And then moving, you know, much forward or slightly more forward than just, you know, these waters, fishermen we talk to here – some of the concern, obviously, is that, you know, the adult fish now that could be caught may or may not be OK, but, you know, there’s concern about future generations and once, you know, maybe getting into the soil or, you know, in the larvae, et cetera.  What will the longer-term testing entail?

 Jane Lubchenco:    Thanks for those questions, Mario.  Those are great ones.  We will – we are continuing to test in areas that we have reopened.  And we’ll continue to do so.

In other words, in parallel to testing areas that are under consideration for reopening, we will also be retesting areas that have already been opened.

In addition to that, we are doing dock-side sampling.  In other words, when commercial vessels bring seafood into the port, NOAA is doing sampling there as an extra check.  And FDA is, in addition to that, doing samples of seafood that’s in the market.  So that’s the answer to your first question.  

The long-term sampling and long-term potential impacts is an area that is under active investigation.  We have been and will continue to do extensive monitoring of oil in the gulf, which is now primarily subsurface and appears to be biodegrading relatively rapidly, but the oil that is subsurface and surface oil might have had – might have already affected the young juvenile stages. 

And we remain concerned about the impacts that that might have and are continuing to evaluate that very, very closely.  We feel completely confident that the seafood that is in the market now is safe for human consumption, safe and free from contaminants from the spill, and we will continue to investigate the longer-term impacts this spill may have had.

We are in the process of working closely with many of the academic institutions in the region and elsewhere and many of our federal partners in designing some very aggressive short-term and long-term monitoring and evaluation.  And, of course, part of our responsibility is to evaluate the long-term impacts of the spill.

So we won’t have the answers to all of that for quite some time, but are working very carefully and aggressively on that.

 Kevin Griffis:  OK.  I think we have time for a couple more questions.

 Operator:  Your next question comes from the line of (Laurie Wegler) with Examiner.com.

 (Laurie Wegler):     Hi, yes, it’s (Laurie Wegler).  Thank you very much, Dr. Lubchenco.  I actually just filed a story today about the ongoing expedition of Oceana out in the gulf, which is investigating deepwater, subsea oil plume, and so on and so forth, and taking tests regularly.

I wonder, since the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill is unprecedented, what model are you using as a gauge that tells you that X number of tests – that pass the tests make it OK to open these waters?

 Jane Lubchenco:    Our testing is designed to give us a representative sample of the type of seafood that would be caught in any particular area under consideration for reopening and to sample enough individuals of those different species so that we think that that sample is more than adequate to give us information about if there is any contamination.

We know that we can detect contaminants.  We know that we can measure – we can detect them and measure them.  And the areas that we have reopened have shown they have all passed our tests.

You mentioned that this area or that this spill is unprecedented.  That is absolutely the case.  And it is for that very reason that we have – that we are proceeding very cautiously.  We are focusing squarely on making sure that seafood is free of contaminants from the spill.  And we are engaging with many of our academic and federal partners in a very substantial effort to continue to monitor and understand the impacts of this spill.  And that will likely take a number of years to fully appreciate and understand what impacts have transpired.

 Kevin Griffis:  All right.  We have time for one more question.

 Operator:   Your last question comes from the line of (Ken Cooper) with Orange Beach News.

(Ken Cooper):  Hi, and thank you for taking my question.  I was wondering if you have any kind of time estimate on when the waters off of Alabama coast along the Florida panhandle would be open.

Jane Lubchenco:  (Ken), I don’t have a precise date for that.  That is an area that has been free of oil for some time.  And we have been sampling and running those tests.

I know that that area is of keen interest to many people.  And so we are proceeding as quickly as we can, but also as cautiously as we can to make sure that any seafood from that area is completely safe.  So what I can tell you is that that area has been sampled and that we will let you know as soon as we have any news to report on that.

Kevin Griffis:  All right.  Thank you, Dr. Lubchenco.

Jane Lubchenco:   Thank you, everyone. 

Kevin Griffis:   Thanks, everyone.  Please feel free to give us a call if you have follow-up questions.  Have a good day. 

Jane Lubchenco:   Kevin, let me mention one more thing.  I’m sorry.  There is a fact sheet that we have prepared that’s a one-pager that describes many of the protocols.  And a link to that fact sheet will be on the release that we will be sending to all reporters on this call.

So I’d just draw your attention to that and thank you again.

Kevin Griffis: All right.  Thank you.

Operator:  Thank you.  That does conclude today’s conference call.  You may now disconnect.

END

WHO:  Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Administrator for National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration

WHAT:  Teleconference briefing to discuss the reopening of federal waters along Western Louisiana to commercial and recreation fishermen

WHEN:  Friday, August 27, 2010 10 a.m. EDT.  The call in number is (866) 742-3130 for domestic callers, and  (706) 643-1612 for international callers.  Conference ID # is 97597744