DOCSLIB.ORG

Beaufort Sea: Hypothetical Very Large Oil Spill and Gas Release

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Beaufort Sea: Hypothetical Very Large Oil Spill and Gas Release OCS Report BOEM 2020-001 BEAUFORT SEA: HYPOTHETICAL VERY LARGE OIL SPILL AND GAS RELEASE U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Alaska OCS Region OCS Study BOEM 2020-001 BEAUFORT SEA: HYPOTHETICAL VERY LARGE OIL SPILL AND GAS RELEASE January 2020 Author: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Alaska OCS Region U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Alaska OCS Region REPORT AVAILABILITY To download a PDF file of this report, go to the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (www.boem.gov/newsroom/library/alaska-scientific-and-technical-publications, and click on 2020). CITATION BOEM, 2020. Beaufort Sea: Hypothetical Very Large Oil Spill and Gas Release. OCS Report BOEM 2020-001 Anchorage, AK: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Alaska OCS Region. 151 pp. Beaufort Sea: Hypothetical Very Large Oil Spill and Gas Release BOEM Contents List of Abbreviations and Acronyms ............................................................................................................. vii 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 What is a VLOS? ......................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 What Could Precipitate a VLOS? ................................................................................................ 1 1.2.1 Historical OCS and Worldwide Loss of Well Control Incidents ........................................... 2 1.2.2 Historical OCS VLOS Frequencies and Risk Factors ......................................................... 4 1.3 Methodology ................................................................................................................................ 6 1.3.1 Geographic Scope .............................................................................................................. 6 1.3.2 Scenario and Impact-Producing Factors............................................................................. 7 1.3.3 Oil Spill Trajectory Analysis ................................................................................................ 7 1.3.4 Physical, Biological, and Socioeconomic Impacts .............................................................. 8 1.4 How to Use This Analysis ............................................................................................................ 8 2 Very Large Oil Spill and Gas Release Scenario ................................................................................. 10 2.1 Cause of Spill ............................................................................................................................. 10 2.2 Timing of the Initial Event .......................................................................................................... 10 2.3 Hypothetical VLOS Volume ....................................................................................................... 11 2.4 Duration of Flow ......................................................................................................................... 11 2.5 Duration of Oiling ....................................................................................................................... 12 2.6 Volume of Oil Reaching Shore .................................................................................................. 12 2.7 Length of Shoreline Contacted .................................................................................................. 12 2.8 Environmental Variables ............................................................................................................ 13 2.9 Response, Recovery, and Cleanup Countermeasures ............................................................. 13 2.9.1 Mechanical Countermeasures .......................................................................................... 14 2.9.2 Non-Mechanical Countermeasures .................................................................................. 14 2.9.3 Effect of Ice on Response Actions .................................................................................... 15 2.9.4 Levels of Response, Recovery, and Cleanup Activities ................................................... 16 2.10 Opportunities for Prevention and Intervention ........................................................................... 17 2.10.1 Well Intervention ............................................................................................................... 18 2.10.2 Well Ignition ....................................................................................................................... 18 2.10.3 Well Capping ..................................................................................................................... 18 2.10.4 Relief Well ......................................................................................................................... 19 3 Scenario Phases and Impact-Producing Factors ............................................................................... 20 3.1 Well Blowout Incident, Offshore Spill, and Onshore Contact (Phase 1) ................................... 20 3.2 Spill Response and Cleanup (Phase 2) ..................................................................................... 20 i BOEM Beaufort Sea: Hypothetical Very Large Oil Spill and Gas Release 3.2.1 Summer Response ........................................................................................................... 21 3.2.2 Winter Response ............................................................................................................... 21 3.2.3 Shoulder Season Response ............................................................................................. 21 3.2.4 All Seasons ....................................................................................................................... 21 3.3 Post-Spill, Long-Term Recovery (Phase 3) ............................................................................... 22 4 General Oil and Gas Behavior and Effects ......................................................................................... 23 4.1 Behavior and Fate of a Crude Oil Spill and Gas Release ......................................................... 23 4.2 General Effects of Oil and Gas on Resources........................................................................... 32 4.2.1 Air Quality .......................................................................................................................... 32 4.2.2 Water Quality .................................................................................................................... 33 4.2.3 Vegetation and Wetlands .................................................................................................. 36 4.2.4 Invertebrates ..................................................................................................................... 37 4.2.5 Fish ................................................................................................................................... 39 4.2.6 Marine Mammals ............................................................................................................... 40 4.2.7 Terrestrial Mammals ......................................................................................................... 44 4.2.8 Birds .................................................................................................................................. 46 4.2.9 Economy ........................................................................................................................... 47 4.2.10 Sociocultural Systems ....................................................................................................... 49 4.2.11 Archaeological Resources ................................................................................................ 52 5 Effects of a VLOS ................................................................................................................................ 53 5.1 Air Quality .................................................................................................................................. 53 5.1.1 Phase 1 (Well Control Incident, Offshore Spill, and Onshore Contact) ............................ 53 5.1.2 Phase 2 (Spill Response and Cleanup) ............................................................................ 55 5.1.3 Phase 3 (Post-Spill, Long-Term Recovery) ...................................................................... 56 5.1.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 56 5.2 Water Quality ............................................................................................................................. 56 5.2.1 Phase 1 (Well Control Incident, Offshore Spill, and Onshore Contact) ............................ 56 5.2.2 Phase 2 (Spill Response and Cleanup) ............................................................................ 58 5.2.3 Phase 3 (Post-Spill, Long-Term Recovery) ...................................................................... 59 5.2.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 59 5.3 Vegetation
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Greenpeace Deep Sea Oil Briefing
    May 2012 Out of our depth: Deep-sea oil exploration in New Zealand greenpeace.org.nz Contents A sea change in Government strategy ......... 4 Safety concerns .............................................. 5 The risks of deep-sea oil ............................... 6 International oil companies in the dock ..... 10 Where is deep-sea oil exploration taking place in New Zealand? ..................... 12 Cover: A view from an altitude of 3200 ft of the oil on the sea surface, originated by the leaking of the Deepwater Horizon wellhead disaster. The BP leased oil platform exploded April 20 and sank after burning, leaking an estimate of more than 200,000 gallons of crude oil per day from the broken pipeline into the sea. © Daniel Beltrá / Greenpeace Right: A penguin lies in oil spilt from the wreck of the Rena © GEMZ Photography 2 l Greenpeace Deep-Sea Oil Briefing l May 2012 The inability of the authorities to cope with the effects of the recent oil spill from the Rena cargo ship, despite the best efforts of Maritime New Zealand, has brought into sharp focus the environmental risks involved in the Government’s decision to open up vast swathes of the country’s coastal waters for deep-sea oil drilling. The Rena accident highlighted the devastation that can be caused by what in global terms is actually still a relatively small oil spill at 350 tonnes and shows the difficulties of mounting a clean-up operation even when the source of the leaking oil is so close to shore. It raised the spectre of the environmental catastrophe that could occur if an accident on the scale of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico were to occur in New Zealand’s remote waters.
    [Show full text]
  • Beaufort Seas West To
    71° 162° 160° 158° 72° U LEGEND 12N 42W Ch u $ North Slope Planning Area ckchi Sea Conservation System Unit (Offset for display) Pingasagruk (abandoned) WAINWRIGHT Atanik (Abandoned) Naval Arctic Research Laboratory USGS 250k Quad Boundaries U Point Barrow I c U Point Belcher 24N Township Boundaries y 72° Akeonik (Ruins) Icy Cape U 17W C 12N Browerville a Trans-Alaska Pipeline p 39W 22N Solivik Island e Akvat !. P Ikpilgok 20W Barrow Secondary Roads (unpaved) a Asiniak!. Point s MEADE RIVER s !. !. Plover Point !. Wainwright Point Franklin !. Brant Point !. Will Rogers and Wiley Post Memorial Whales1 U Point Collie Tolageak (Abandoned) 9N Point Marsh Emaiksoun Lake Kilmantavi (Abandoned) !. Kugrua BayEluksingiak Point Seahorse Islands Bowhead Whale, Major Adult Area (June-September) 42W Kasegaluk Lagoon West Twin TekegakrokLake Point ak Pass Sigeakruk Point uitk A Mitliktavik (Abandoned) Peard Bay l U Ikroavik Lake E Tapkaluk Islands k Wainwright Inlet o P U Bowhead Whale, Major Adult Area (May) l 12N k U i i e a n U re Avak Inlet Avak Point k 36W g C 16N 22N a o Karmuk Point Tutolivik n U Elson Lagoon t r !. u a White (Beluga) Whale, Major Adult Area (September) !. a !. 14N m 29W 17W t r 17N u W Nivat Point o g P 32W Av k a a Nokotlek Point !. 26W Nulavik l A s P v a a s Nalimiut Point k a k White (Beluga) Whale, Major Adult Area (May-September) MEADE RIVER p R s Pingorarok Hill BARROW U a Scott Point i s r Akunik Pass Kugachiak Creek v ve e i !.
    [Show full text]
  • Conditional Probabilities for the Beaufort Sea Planning Area
    OCS Report BOEM 2020-003 Oil Spill Risk Analysis: Conditional Probabilities for the Beaufort Sea Planning Area US Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Headquarters This page intentionally left blank. OCS Report BOEM 2020-003 Oil Spill Risk Analysis: Conditional Probabilities for the Beaufort Sea Planning Area January 2020 Authors: Zhen Li Caryn Smith In-House Document by U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Division of Environmental Sciences Sterling, VA US Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Headquarters This page intentionally left blank. REPORT AVAILABILITY To download a PDF file of this report, go to the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Oil Spill Risk Analysis web page (https://www.boem.gov/environment/environmental- assessment/oil-spill-risk-analysis-reports). CITATION Li Z, Smith C. 2020. Oil Spill Risk Analysis: Conditional Probabilities for the Beaufort Sea Planning Area. Sterling (VA): U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. OCS Report BOEM 2020-003. 130 p. ABOUT THE COVER This graphic depicts the study area in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas and boundary segments used in the oil spill risk analysis model for the the Beaufort Sea Planning Area. Table of Contents Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................................... i List of Figures ...............................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Ixtoc I: a Case Study of the World's Largest Oil Spill Author(S): Arne Jernelöv and Olof Lindén Source: Ambio, Vol
    Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Ixtoc I: A Case Study of the World's Largest Oil Spill Author(s): Arne Jernelöv and Olof Lindén Source: Ambio, Vol. 10, No. 6, The Caribbean (1981), pp. 299-306 Published by: Allen Press on behalf of Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4312725 Accessed: 13/05/2010 11:42 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=acg. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Allen Press and Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Ambio.
    [Show full text]
  • PDF Download First Term at Tall Towers Kindle
    FIRST TERM AT TALL TOWERS PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Lou Kuenzler | 192 pages | 03 Apr 2014 | Scholastic | 9781407136288 | English | London, United Kingdom First Term at Tall Towers, Kids Online Book Vlogger & Reviews - The KRiB - The KRiB TV Retrieved 5 October Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Archived from the original on 20 August Retrieved 30 August Retrieved 26 July Cable News Network. Archived from the original on 1 March Retrieved 1 March The Daily Telegraph. Tobu Railway Co. Retrieved 8 March Skyscraper Center. Retrieved 15 October Retrieved Retrieved 27 March Retrieved 4 April Retrieved 27 December Palawan News. Retrieved 11 April Retrieved 25 October Tallest buildings and structures. History Skyscraper Storey. British Empire and Commonwealth European Union. Commonwealth of Nations. Additionally guyed tower Air traffic obstacle All buildings and structures Antenna height considerations Architectural engineering Construction Early skyscrapers Height restriction laws Groundscraper Oil platform Partially guyed tower Tower block. Italics indicate structures under construction. Petronius m Baldpate Platform Tallest structures Tallest buildings and structures Tallest freestanding structures. Categories : Towers Lists of tallest structures Construction records. Namespaces Article Talk. Views Read Edit View history. Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file. Download as PDF Printable version. Wikimedia Commons. Tallest tower in the world , second-tallest freestanding structure in the world after the Burj Khalifa. Tallest freestanding structure in the world —, tallest in the western hemisphere. Tallest in South East Asia. Tianjin Radio and Television Tower. Central Radio and TV Tower. Liberation Tower. Riga Radio and TV Tower. Berliner Fernsehturm. Sri Lanka. Stratosphere Tower. United States. Tallest observation tower in the United States.
    [Show full text]
  • Bering Sea NWFC/NMFS
    VOLUME 1. MARINE MAMMALS, MARINE BIRDS VOLUME 2, FISH, PLANKTON, BENTHOS, LITTORAL VOLUME 3, EFFECTS, CHEMISTRY AND MICROBIOLOGY, PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY VOLUME 4. GEOLOGY, ICE, DATA MANAGEMENT Environmental Assessment of the Alaskan Continental Shelf July - Sept 1976 quarterly reports from Principal Investigators participatingin a multi-year program of environmental assessment related to petroleum development on the Alaskan Continental Shelf. The program is directed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under the sponsorship of the Bureau of Land Management. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LABORATORIES Boulder, Colorado November 1976 VOLUME 1 CONTENTS MARINE MAMMALS vii MARINE BIRDS 167 iii MARINE MAMMALS v MARINE MAMMALS Research Unit Proposer Title Page 34 G. Carleton Ray Analysis of Marine Mammal Remote 1 Douglas Wartzok Sensing Data Johns Hopkins U. 67 Clifford H. Fiscus Baseline Characterization of Marine 3 Howard W. Braham Mammals in the Bering Sea NWFC/NMFS 68 Clifford H. Fiscus Abundance and Seasonal Distribution 30 Howard W. Braham of Marine Mammals in the Gulf of Roger W. Mercer Alaska NWFC/NMFS 69 Clifford H. Fiscus Distribution and Abundance of Bowhead 33 Howard W. Braham and Belukha Whales in the Bering Sea NWFC/NMFS 70 Clifford H. Fiscus Distribution and Abundance of Bow- 36 Howard W. Braham et al head and Belukha Whales in the NWFC/NMFS Beaufort and Chukchi Seas 194 Francis H. Fay Morbidity and Mortality of Marine 43 IMS/U. of Alaska Mammals 229 Kenneth W. Pitcher Biology of the Harbor Seal, Phoca 48 Donald Calkins vitulina richardi, in the Gulf of ADF&G Alaska 230 John J. Burns The Natural History and Ecology of 55 Thomas J.
    [Show full text]
  • Country Travel Risk Summaries
    COUNTRY RISK SUMMARIES Powered by FocusPoint International, Inc. Report for Week Ending September 19, 2021 Latest Updates: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, India, Israel, Mali, Mexico, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine and Yemen. ▪ Afghanistan: On September 14, thousands held a protest in Kandahar during afternoon hours local time to denounce a Taliban decision to evict residents in Firqa area. No further details were immediately available. ▪ Burkina Faso: On September 13, at least four people were killed and several others ijured after suspected Islamist militants ambushed a gendarme patrol escorting mining workers between Sakoani and Matiacoali in Est Region. Several gendarmes were missing following the attack. ▪ Cameroon: On September 14, at least seven soldiers were killed in clashes with separatist fighters in kikaikelaki, Northwest region. Another two soldiers were killed in an ambush in Chounghi on September 11. ▪ India: On September 16, at least six people were killed, including one each in Kendrapara and Subarnapur districts, and around 20,522 others evacuated, while 7,500 houses were damaged across Odisha state over the last three days, due to floods triggered by heavy rainfall. Disaster teams were sent to Balasore, Bhadrak and Kendrapara districts. Further floods were expected along the Mahanadi River and its tributaries. ▪ Israel: On September 13, at least two people were injured after being stabbed near Jerusalem Central Bus Station during afternoon hours local time. No further details were immediately available, but the assailant was shot dead by security forces. ▪ Mali: On September 13, at least five government soldiers and three Islamist militants were killed in clashes near Manidje in Kolongo commune, Macina cercle, Segou region, during morning hours local time.
    [Show full text]
  • Reference Atlas ...A1
    REFERENCE ATLAS United States: Political A2 United States: Physical A4 United States: Territorial Growth A6 Middle America: Physical/Political A8 Canada: Physical/Political A10 Middle East: Physical/Political A12 World: Political A14 Europe: Political A16 United States: 2000 Congressional Reapportionment A18 ATLAS KEY T Ice cap u E n v d r e a r g r M e e i x n M e f d o o r u f e o s t n r t e G s a t i r Oceans n a s s s l Seas a n d Desert SYMBOL KEY Canal Depression Below sea level Lava Claimed boundary Elevation Dry salt lake Sand International boundary National capital Lake Swamp Towns Rivers Reference Atlas A1 12345678 ° RUSSIA ° 70 ° ° ° 50 60180 170 W °N 160 W 150 W 140 W ° ° t N N rai A St Point Barrow Arctic ing St. Lawrence er 170°E Island B Ocean Seward B r Peninsula o Norton o k Sound s R Beaufort a on n A Yuk ge Sea l Nunivak e 40 u Island ° t N B i a ALASKA n Fairbanks I s l a A l a s k a R a n d n g s Bristol e Bay Ala Anchorage ska Peninsula Kodiak I. C Gulf of Alaska 180° P A Juneau A r c l e h a x i p a n e l d a e g r D o c i C E ° 170 W f 30 °N Tacoma Seattle i Olympia e Spokane g WASH.
    [Show full text]
  • Siberian Coast & Polar Bears of Wrangel Island, Russia
    Siberian Coast & Polar Bears of Wrangel Island, Russia Aboard the Spirit of Enderby July 24–August 6, 2013 Tuesday / Wednesday July 23 / July 24 – Anadyr, Russia Arrival Over several days, North American trip participants slowly began to arrive in Nome, Alaska for our charter flights to Anadyr, Russia. Participants from other parts of the world made their way to Anadyr through Moscow. Altogether, passengers included passport holders from 11 countries. Many people had flown into Nome several days early, rented cars, and driven the local roads in search of accessible musk oxen in the meadows near town, Pacific and red-throated loons in small tundra ponds, and gulls, ducks and shorebirds along the coast. On July 23, most of our group consolidated their luggage in our Nome hotel lobby and had it loaded on a truck to be taken to our charter airline hangar, while we followed in a bus with our camera gear. Thick fog was drifting along the coast and, when we reached the hanger, we were informed the Nome Airport was closed to inbound air traffic. That posed no real problem for us because our small airplanes were already at the hangar in Nome, on stand-by and readily available, and, since the fog was intermittent, it seemed certain we would have almost no problem departing to Russia. A breakfast buffet was arranged in the hangar and we were regaled by local Nome personality Richard Beneville—who also organized our land-based transportation—with his tales of moving to Nome following his life as a theater actor in New York City and anecdotes of his decades-long life in hardscrabble Nome.
    [Show full text]
  • Vol. 83 Thursday, No. 22 February 1, 2018 Pages
    Vol. 83 Thursday, No. 22 February 1, 2018 Pages 4575–4830 OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL REGISTER VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:58 Jan 31, 2018 Jkt 244001 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4710 Sfmt 4710 E:\FR\FM\01FEWS.LOC 01FEWS daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with FRONT MATTER WS II Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 22 / Thursday, February 1, 2018 The FEDERAL REGISTER (ISSN 0097–6326) is published daily, SUBSCRIPTIONS AND COPIES Monday through Friday, except official holidays, by the Office PUBLIC of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC 20408, under the Federal Register Subscriptions: Act (44 U.S.C. Ch. 15) and the regulations of the Administrative Paper or fiche 202–512–1800 Committee of the Federal Register (1 CFR Ch. I). The Assistance with public subscriptions 202–512–1806 Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office, Washington, DC 20402 is the exclusive distributor of the official General online information 202–512–1530; 1–888–293–6498 edition. Periodicals postage is paid at Washington, DC. Single copies/back copies: The FEDERAL REGISTER provides a uniform system for making Paper or fiche 202–512–1800 available to the public regulations and legal notices issued by Assistance with public single copies 1–866–512–1800 Federal agencies. These include Presidential proclamations and (Toll-Free) Executive Orders, Federal agency documents having general FEDERAL AGENCIES applicability and legal effect, documents required to be published Subscriptions: by act of Congress, and other Federal agency documents of public interest. Assistance with Federal agency subscriptions: Documents are on file for public inspection in the Office of the Email [email protected] Federal Register the day before they are published, unless the Phone 202–741–6000 issuing agency requests earlier filing.
    [Show full text]
  • Birds of Mansel Island, Northern Hudson Bay Anthony J
    The Canadian Field-Naturalist Birds of Mansel Island, northern Hudson Bay Anthony J. Gaston Science and Technology Branch, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H3 Canada; email: [email protected] Gaston, A.J. 2019. Birds of Mansel Island, northern Hudson Bay. Canadian Field-Naturalist 133(1): 20–24. https://doi.org/ 10.22621/cfn.v133i1.2153 Abstract A recent review of bird distributions in Nunavut demonstrated that Mansel Island, in northeastern Hudson Bay, is one of the least known areas in the territory. Here, current information on the birds of Mansel Island is summarized. A list published in 1932 included 24 species. Subsequent visits by ornithologists since 1980 have added a further 17 species to the island’s avifauna. The list includes 17 species for which breeding has been confirmed and 10 for which breeding is considered prob- able. The island seems to support particularly large populations of King Eiders (Somateria spectabilis) and Tundra Swans (Cygnus columbianus) and the most southerly breeding population of Sabine’s Gull (Xema sabini) and Red Knot (Calidiris canuta; probably). Key words: Mansel Island; Hudson Bay; birds; breeding Introduction leaved Mountain Avens (Dryas integrifolia Vahl) and At 3180 km2, Mansel Island, Qikiqtaaluk Region, Purple Mountain Saxifrage (Saxifraga op po sitifolia Nunavut, is the 28th largest island in Canada. It is L.). Marshes support extensive sedge (Carex spp.) one of three large islands in northern Hudson Bay, meadows. the others being Southampton and Coats Islands. The Hudson Bay post on the island closed in 1945, Although the birds of Coats and Southampton Is- and there has been no permanent habitation on the lands have been documented (Sutton 1932a; Gas ton island since then, although people from the nearby and Ouellet 1997), those of Mansel Island are com- Inuit community of Ivujivik, Nunavik, sometimes paratively poorly known.
    [Show full text]
  • National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling
    National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling STOPPING THE SPILL: THE FIVE-MONTH EFFORT TO KILL THE MACONDO WELL ---Draft--- Staff Working Paper No. 6 Staff Working Papers are written by the staff of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling for the use of members of the Commission. They are preliminary, subject to change, and do not necessarily reflect the views either of the Commission as a whole or of any of its members. In addition, they may be based in part on confidential interviews with government and non-government personnel. The effort to contain and control the blowout of the Macondo well was unprecedented. From April 20, 2010, the day the well blew out, until September 19, 2010, when the government finally declared it “dead,” BP expended enormous resources to develop and deploy new technologies that eventually captured a substantial amount of oil at the source and, after 87 days, stopped the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The government organized a team of scientists and engineers, who took a crash course in petroleum engineering and, over time, were able to provide substantive oversight of BP, in combination with the Coast Guard and the Minerals Management Service (MMS).1 BP had to construct novel devices, and the government had to mobilize personnel on the fly, because neither was ready for a disaster of this nature in deepwater. The containment story thus contains two parallel threads. First, on April 20, the oil and gas industry was unprepared to respond to a deepwater blowout, and the federal government was similarly unprepared to provide meaningful supervision.
    [Show full text]