Delta Wildlife Refuge Still at Risk

More: It will be a bigger disaster than the Exxon Valdez. The oil is headed to shore and British Petroleum has been unable to cut off the flow, now estimated at 5,000 barrels a day. Locals say company officials were in denial about the size of the leak. No effort was made to surround the burning rig with booms before it blew up and crude started flowing. The leading edge of the slick is only 3 miles from shore.  Authorities estimate it will reach the Mississippi delta tonight. Attempts to cut off the flow of crude at the wellhead using only robotic equipment have not succeeded. No explanation has been given why manned deep submersibles have not been sent to the site in an attempt to close the blowout valve. At least three months will go by before an intercepting relief well can be drilled, and the well capped with concrete. The already fragile Louisiana coast and wetlands will be covered in a toxic goo lethal to wildlife and commercial fishing. The only good that can come of this slow motion disaster is the reversal of the recent administration decision to open up more of the US coastline to oil and gas drilling. Until the industry can convincingly demonstrate that it has the will, the technology, the trained manpower, and the financial commitment to rapidly respond and contain disasters like the Deepwater Horizon, the government should not allow it to operate in new offshore areas. Deepwater Horizon is destined to replace the 11,000 million gallons the Valdez spilled at the top of the industry's sorry environmental record in the United States.

Update:{4.25.10}The destruction by fire of BP's deep water drilling rig, Deepwater Horizon last week has caused a underwater leak of about 1,000 barrels of crude a day spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. The rig had been producing 8,000 barrels a day before a fire destroyed the platform and killed 11 workers. Most of the crew escaped from the platform. The Coast Guard said it will take time to decide how to stop the leak 5,000 feet down in the Gulf waters. A worst case scenario is that it will take months to stop the well riser rupture. The riser is lying kinked on the sea floor restricting the flow of oil.  Company officials are attempting to activate the blowout valve using remote controlled submersibles to cut off the flow, but the operation is complex and may not succeed. Environmentalist are concerned about the magnitude of destruction to wildlife and ecosystems if the crude reaches the coast.  The slick is now covers 1800 square miles and is 30 miles off the coast of Louisiana.

{4.15.10}Crews are working to contain an oil spill near the Delta National Wildlife Refuge at the mouth of the Mississippi River. A Coast Guard officer at the scene said the slick covered about 16 square miles of the refuge. The refuge contains about 76 square miles of marshland and waterways. It is the home to a multitude of raptors, wading and migratory birds including endangered species such as the brown pelican, arctic peregrine falcon and piping plover. The American alligator also lives there. Delta NWR was established in 1935 primarily as a sanctuary and habitat for wintering waterfowl.  Although accessible only by boat, the refuge has long been used as a hunting and fishing ground.

Steady progress is being made cleaning up the spill, and no wildlife has been observed in distress. Seven thousand feet of containment boom was deployed to protect sensitive areas. The oil spill was first reported on Tuesday when a barge dredging for Exxon/Mobil notified the Coast Guard at 1am. The dredging barge is a "stump barge" which anchors itself to the bottom by driving a piling into the channel bed. About 18,000 gallons of oil spilled before Cypress Pipe Line Co (Chevron/BP), the owner of the pipe, could close it off. The cause of the spill has not yet been officially determined, but Exxon/Mobil has offered to help clean up the spill.  However, oil spills of size or another are very common in the delta because of the intensity of oil and gas development there.  Records of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality show that ten of the largest refineries in the state averaged ten accidents a week during 2005-08.

[photos: USFWS]