BP Complaints

NEW ORLEANS (Sept. 24, 2010) – The following information is an operations update from the Unified Area Command for the response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Approximately 22,632 personnel are currently responding to protect the shoreline, wildlife and cleanup vital coastlines.

Currently, 1,381 vessels are responding on site, including skimmers, tugs, barges, and recovery vessels to assist in containment and cleanup efforts.

More than 32,000 water samples have been taken throughout the Gulf of Mexico in the search for residual sub-surface oil.

More than 556 tons of recyclable waste, including oily liquid & oily solid waste, has been processed.

To date, 87% of closed fisheries have been reopened.

Approximately 104 miles of Gulf Coast shoreline is currently experiencing moderate to heavy oil impacts-approximately 94 miles in Louisiana, 9 miles in Mississippi and 1 mile in Florida. Approximately 483 miles of shoreline are experiencing light to trace oil impacts-approximately 224 miles in Louisiana, 85 miles in Mississippi, 59 miles in Alabama, and 115 miles in Florida. These numbers reflect a weekly snapshot so that planning and field operations can more quickly respond to new impacts; they do not include cumulative impacts to date, or shoreline that has already been cleared.

Resources:

For information about the response effort, visit www.RestoreTheGulf.gov.

For specific information about the federal-wide response, visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/deepwater-bp-oil-spill. To contact the Deepwater Horizon Joint Information Center, call (713) 323-1670.

To submit your vessel as a vessel of opportunity skimming system, or to
submit alternative response technology, services, or products, call
281-366-5511.

To report oiled wildlife, call (866) 557-1401.

For information about validated environmental air and water sampling results, visit http://www.epa.gov/bpspill.

For National Park Service updates about potential park closures, resources at risk, and NPS actions to protect vital park space and wildlife, visit http://www.nps.gov/aboutus/oil-spill-response.htm.

For Fish and Wildlife Service updates about response along the Gulf Coast and the status of national wildlife refuges, visit http://www.fws.gov/home/dhoilspill/.

For daily updates on fishing closures, visit http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov.

For information on assistance loans for affected businesses, visit the SBA’s Web site at www.sba.gov/services/disasterassistance, call (800) 659-2955 (800-877-8339 for the hearing impaired), or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov. 

For information on how to file a claim, visit the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) Web site. In addition, www.disasterassistance.gov has been enhanced to provide a one-stop shop for information on how to file a claim and access additional assistance-available in English and Spanish.

Any members of the press who encounter response personnel restricting their access or violating the media access policy set forth by Admiral Allen should contact the Joint Information Center. At the above listed telephone numbers.

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WHAT: The R/V Ocean Veritas will depart Port Fourchon, La., to conduct near-shore, sub-surface monitoring operations off the coast of Louisiana.  This mission is part of the comprehensive subsurface oil monitoring effort being carried out by the Unified Area Command in the Gulf of Mexico as part of the ongoing response to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.  Federal On Scene Coordinator Coast Guard Rear Adm. Paul Zukunft and senior members of the science team will be available to answer questions from credentialed media concerning the upcoming operations and the overall monitoring program. Availability to board the vessel is dependent on operations in preparation for departure.

WHERE: Port Fourchon next to the R/V Ocean Veritas.

WHEN: Monday, Sept. 20, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. CDT.

WHO: Coast Guard Rear Adm. Paul Zukunft, Federal On Scene Coordinator,  Ian Heartwell, NOAA Chief Scientist for the research cruise and Captain Perry Rosenthall operator of the R/V Ocean Veritas.

CONTACT: For questions on this event, please contact the Joint Information Center at (713) 323-1670.

NOTE: For safety reasons, participants should wear long trousers, shirts with sleeves and closed-toed shoes in the event the vessel is available to board.

Wildlife scientists from the Deepwater Horizon/BP Oil Spill Unified Command are finding fewer sea turtles offshore that require rehabilitation, and are now turning their focus to releasing rehabilitated turtles, continuing near shore stranding and salvage network efforts and to learning how these populations of endangered and threatened species have been affected by the oil spill.

“The offshore surface convergence habitats used by these young, oceanic-stage sea turtles has improved considerably,” said NOAA Fisheries National Sea Turtle Coordinator Barbara Schroeder. “We haven’t discovered any turtles that require veterinary care and rehabilitation since early August, so we are implementing the next phase of our turtle response activities while continuing the efforts of the Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network.”

Since the explosion of the BP/Deepwater Horizon in April 2010, effort to assess, rescue and rehabilitate sea turtles has been a multifaceted mission. Multiple agencies including NOAA, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and non-profit partners from Riverhead Foundation and In-Water Research Group have been conducting directed search efforts to recover turtles from these offshore convergence habitats significantly affected by surface oil.

National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen and NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco joined state, federal and partner biologists to release the first group of rehabilitated sea turtles back into the Gulf of Mexico near Cedar Key, Fla. on August 18, 2010. A second release took place on August 31, 2010 in the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge in Naples, Fla.

As of August 30, 2010, a total of 1,086 sea turtles have been collected during directed offshore searches and onshore, as strandings, from the Texas/Louisiana border to Apalachicola, Fla. Additionally, scientists released more than 14,000 hatchling turtles from nests translocated from the northern Gulf of Mexico to the east coast of Florida.

The next phase of the response will include conducting follow-up surveys of sea turtles found in offshore convergence habitats. Convergence areas occur where ocean currents meet and Sargassum, a marine algae, is also found. Young sea turtles inhabit these Sargassum convergence areas, where they feed on a variety of the animals that live with them in the Sargassum. Follow-up surveys will begin in approximately two or three weeks and will be followed by long-term monitoring under the Natural Resource Damage Assessment phase.

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WHAT: A pair of near-shore sub-surface monitoring demonstrations in Mississippi and Louisiana. Credentialed media are invited to Biloxi, Miss., and Venice, La., to receive demonstrations of near-shore aspects of the ongoing Sub-Surface Monitoring and Assessment Program. This program is designed to help oil spill responders best track and understand the fate of sub-surface oil and oil remnants in the Gulf of Mexico.

EVENT IN BILOXI, MISSISSIPPI:

WHERE: The tour and briefing in Biloxi, Miss., will take place on board a vessel in the Biloxi Bay.

WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 9, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. CDT.

WHO: U.S. Coast Guard Lt. John Garr and Gary Petrae, NOAA Scientific Support Team.

CONTACT: Reservations are required. For reservations or questions, please contact the Joint Information Center at the ICP in Mobile: (251) 445-8965.

NOTE: For safety reasons, participants must wear long trousers, shirts with sleeves and closed-toed shoes.

EVENT IN LOUISIANA:

WHERE: The tour and briefing in Venice, La., will take place on a vessel and will include a demonstrastion of the SNARE Sentinel program at a facility in Venice, La.

WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 9, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. CDT.

WHO: Representatives from NOAA, EPA, and the SNARE Sentinel program.

CONTACT: Reservations are required. For reservations or questions, please contact the Joint Information Center at the ICP in Houma: (985) 493-7835.

NOTE: For safety reasons, participants must wear long trousers, shirts with sleeves and closed-toed shoes.

For information on the response efforts, please visit: www.restorethegulf.gov or www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com.

WHAT: A pair of near-shore sub-surface monitoring demonstrations in Louisiana and the Florida Panhandle. Credentialed media are invited to Pensacola Bay, Fla., and Lake Borgne, La., to receive demonstrations of near-shore aspects of the ongoing Sub-Surface Monitoring and Assessment Program. This program is designed to help oil spill responders best track and understand the fate of sub surface oil and oil remnants in the Gulf of Mexico.

EVENT IN PENSACOLA, FLORIDA:

WHERE: The tour and briefing in Pensacola, Fla., will take place on board a vessel in Pensacola Bay.

WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. CDT.

WHO: U.S. Coast Guard Lt. John Garr and Ruth Yender, NOAA Scientific Support Coordinator.

CONTACT: Reservations are required. For reservations or questions, please contact the Joint Information Center at the ICP in Mobile: (251) 445-8965.

NOTE: For safety reasons, participants must wear long trousers, shirts with sleeves and closed-toed shoes.

EVENT IN SLIDELL, LOUISIANA:

WHERE: The tour and briefing in Slidell, La., will take place on board a vessel in Lake Borgne.

WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. CDT.

WHO: NOAA representative and Chelsea Murphy, Staff Scientist at the SNARE Sentinel Program.

CONTACT: Reservations are required. For reservations or questions, please contact the Joint Information Center at the ICP in Houma: (985) 493-7835.

NOTE: For safety reasons, participants must wear long trousers, shirts with sleeves and closed-toed shoes.

NEW ORLEANS, La. – The Unified Area Command continues to expand techniques and programs, as part of its aggressive monitoring efforts, to determine the presence of sub-surface oil in the coastal waters of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. 

“As we continue to expand the scope and resources dedicated to detect, monitor and sample for sub-surface oil and dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico, we continue to leverage a variety of techniques to help us better understand the impacts of the oil spill at all depths,” said Federal On-Scene Coordinator Admiral Paul Zukunft. “We are aggressively monitoring the fate of the oil in the Gulf, and these techniques will help to provide additional information as the full picture becomes clearer.”

Techniques and methods currently employed in near-shore waters include:

• Placement of snare sentinels – innovative strings of absorbent materials, deployed in shallow waters – at a variety of depths to gauge any presence of oil. If oil is detected, qualified sampling personnel are dispatched to obtain water samples which are sent for laboratory tests.
• Sampling with equipment that scoops sediment from areas where the shoreline continues to be impacted. If anomalies are noted or oil is suspected, the sample is sent for testing.
• Trawling for floating tar balls or oiled-debris with specially-equipped, large shrimp boats off the coast. If the presence of oil is detected in an area, qualified sampling personnel obtain water samples which are sent for laboratory tests.
• In coastal and offshore waters, “flourometers” – devices that shine fluorescent light through the water measure the light reflected and refracted back for indications that oil is present – are utilized by responders to screen for oil.
• If the presence of oil is detected in the water column, then qualified sampling personnel obtain water samples which are sent for laboratory tests.  Sediment samples are also taken at designated locations.  If anomalies are noted or oil is suspected, the sample is sent for testing.
• Farther offshore, vessels are outfitted with sampling platforms – called rosettes – that have niskin bottles on them to take water samples to check for sub-surface oil offshore. These samples undergo chemical analysis at off-site locations for concentrations of oil, oil remnants and other compounds.

“A wide variety of U.S. government, private sector, university and other independent vessels are working offshore as part of our aggressive efforts to monitor for any sub-surface oil,” said NOAA Captain Barry Choy, who heads the Sub-Surface Monitoring Unit at ICP Houma. “Together these efforts ensure transparency in our assessment procedures.”

Several Vessels of Opportunity are participating in the sub-surface monitoring effort – transporting personnel and equipment and conduct surveys.

Survey and test data will be evaluated to determine if additional monitoring, sampling and testing are required. Representatives from federal, state and local agencies, the scientific community, industry and academia are working collaboratively in this survey and assessment over the next several weeks.    

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