Beyond Horizon

BP to Face Felony Charges

2011-12-29T12:17:00.000-08:00

A handful of BP engineers could face felony criminal charges as early as next week for their role in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, according to sources close to a Federal investigation.

According to that source, prosecutors are targeting at least four Houston-based BP employee, alleging that the men provided false information to regulators, downplaying the risks associated with drilling on the fateful platform in the Gulf of Mexico.

Breaking News, WSJ.com

The explosion killed 11 men and caused the worst offshore oil spill in America's history, some 500 million barrels.

The charges would mark the first criminal charges stemming from the April 2010 accident. Each conviction would call for up to five years in prison and extensive fines.

Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser, who was one of BP's harshest critics throughout the cleanup, said it was about time BP was held accountable.

"They think the law does not apply to them," said Nungesser. "Throughout this whole cleanup BP was more worried about protecting themselves from lawsuits, from charges — more concerned about protecting (damaging) information than doing the right thing."

Nungesser said that from day one BP has acted in the best interest's of BP and not the Gulf Coast and its residents.

"It's obvious in the way they operated throughout the cleanup how they operate as a company and it doesn't surprise me at all," he said.

The damning news of impending charges comes just days after a federal judge lifted BP's probation stemming from another spill, this one in Alaska.

BP had been convicted of negligent discharge of oil in 2007 for a 200,000-gallon spill on the North Slope a year before.

But that spill paled in comparison to the Deepwater Horizon spill, which conservative estimates put at over 500 million barrels.

Check out my upcoming Fox News Radio report here.

Perhaps a first: High gas prices mean little to Louisiana's offshore industry

2011-02-28T19:48:00.000-08:00

Historically, high prices at the pump mean bigger paychecks for Louisiana's offshore industry on payday.

But not this year.

While gas prices in Louisiana grew more than 15 percent in the last week, shooting up to nearly $3.40 a gallon at some stations, many of the offshore workers laid off since the BP Horizon spill remain at home, waiting for a call to get back on a rig.

Typically, Louisiana celebrates when gas prices rise, but this time around — unlike in 2008 when prices hit $4 a gallon — the increase at the pump is not proving to be a boon at the bank.

While the official moratorium — and the defacto moratorium, have not cost the state the 20,000-plus jobs that many industry officials expected — an estimated 8,000 to 12,000 jobs were lost as a result of the spill, according to a recent report from the Department of Interior.

And things are not looking up for the state, which must also wrestle with a struggling fishing and oyster industry, and a crawfish industry hurt by the unusually cold winter.

In the 10 months since the Horizon tragedy, not until a few days ago did the federal government grant the first permit for deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexcio, and each deepwater platform generally means about 100 new jobs.

With rising gas prices, and fewer jobs to come by, it's possible that 2011 could prove worse for Louisiana's economy than last year.

In fact, John Hofmeister, the former Shell Oil president who appeared on Lou Rom Live today, said the combination could send the country back into recession.

"We're looking at the same problems we had in 2008, as gas climbs to $4 a gallon," said Hofmeister. "It's gonna get worse before it gets better."

Lou Rom, an award-winning journalist, with over 2,000 articles published, hosts Lou Rom Live weekdays from 4-6 pm on KVOL1330. Contact him at kvolou@yahoo.com

Lucky 13: Feds give OK for limited new drilling

2011-01-04T20:43:00.000-08:00

At least a few companies will be spared any further delay from the Obama administration's defacto drilling moratorium.

The federal Department of Interior said Monday it will allow 13 companies to resume deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico without having to jump through additional environmental hoops.

Chevron and Shell Oil are among the 13, as are Murphy USA and Noble Energy, both with a significant presence in Southwest Louisiana.

BP is not on the list.

Don Briggs, president of the Louisiana Oil & Gas Association, offered a tepid response to the news.

"It's a responsible decision by the administration -- given the 13 companies have complied with the contracts under the leaseses from the (BOM) ... Not allowing the companies to (resume drilling) would have been a breach of contract," Briggs said.

The Feds say they are not bending the rules in allowing the new drilling activity, rather the 13 companies had already started drilling the wells prior to the new environmental regulations approved after the Deepwater Horizon exploded last year on April 20.

Drilling was suspended after the disaster, which killed 11 people and poured up to five million barrels of oil into the Gulf.

The ban was lifted in October, but critics such as John Hofmeister, former Shell Oil CEO, say a defacto moratorium has been in place since, with only a handful of permits granted since then.

"In order to demonstrate decisiveness our government simply shut down drilling, putting thousands of people out of work ... and months after the drilling shutdown many of the rigs are still shut down," Hofmesiter told me last week on 850 KOA (full KOA podcast here).

Hofmeister insists that human error, or more specifically -- a conscious choice made by certain individuals to ignore regulations and guidelines -- caused the BP explosion. Not a lack of rules or oversight, or the industry's inability to drill safely.

"All the regulations in the world will not change how well people do their jobs and we have to keep that in mind because we're in a regulatory shutdown in the Gulf," said Hofmeister, author of the bestselling book, Why We Hate the Oil Companies.

DOI officials said the 13 companies -- all but three of which are drilling exploratory wells, the same as the Deepwater Horizon -- must adhere to the new federal guidelines before they resume drilling.

The 13 companies that were given the OK to resume drilling were: ATP Oil & Gas Corp.; BHP Billiton Petroleum (GOM) Inc.; Chevron USA Inc.; Cobalt International Energy; ENI U.S. Operating Co. Inc.; Hess Corp.; Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Corp.; Marathon Oil Co.; Murphy Exploration & Production Co.-USA; Noble Energy Inc.; Shell Offshore Inc.; Statoil USA E & P Inc.; and Walter Oil & Gas Corp.

For more on the latest actions by the Feds, check out this comprehensive report from the Times-Picayune.

BP fast-tracking some damages claims

2010-12-12T21:10:00.000-08:00

People who say they have been harmed by BP PLC's Gulf Coast oil spill will have more options for faster payment of claims under a plan to be announced Monday by attorney Kenneth Feinberg.

Mr. Feinberg, who is administering the $20 billion fund set aside by BP to pay claims to those hurt financially or otherwise by the spill, said claimants in some instances could receive a final payment in as soon as two weeks.

Gulf residents and politicians from the region have criticized Mr. Feinberg as taking too long to cut checks to restaurant and resort owners, shrimpers and others whose livelihoods have suffered since the April spill.

He has said many of the claims came with improper documentation and so couldn't be processed.
As of Thursday, Mr. Feinberg had paid 163,946 claims for a total outlay of $2.4 billion. Claimants were able to seek emergency payments up until Nov. 23.

For the full WSJ story, click here.

'Autopsy' on failed BP blowout preventer on the horizon

2010-11-02T22:25:00.000-07:00

The Interior Department has hired a Norwegian firm to inspect the giant subsea device that failed to prevent the Macondo oil and gas well from exploding in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, although the same firm earlier gave a thumbs-up to safety procedures on board the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which sank in the accident.

The Interior Department is planning to pay Det Norske Veritas $1.3 million to conduct the autopsy of the 60-foot-high, 380-ton blowout preventer, which is sitting on a dock at the NASA Michoud assembly plant in eastern New Orleans.

But some government and industry officials say the firm's earlier work for Transocean, owner and operator of the Deepwater Horizon, poses a conflict of interest.

In 2007, DNV inspected and recertified the Deepwater Horizon's safety procedures. In 2009, Transocean hired DNV to study the reliability of subsea blowout preventers.

For the full story, check out the Times-Picayune.

Lt. Gov' Angelle and other La officials express skepticism over lifting of drilling ban

2010-10-12T11:22:00.000-07:00

Louisiana officials today said that while lifting the ban on deeepwater drilling is a solid first step, they are skeptical about when the industry will be back to work.

Lt. Governor Scott Angelle, one of the most outspoken critics of the ban, in an exclusive interview on Lou Rom Live today, said it remains to be seen whether this is a temporary salve or a longterm solution.

"We needed to put all hands on deck to get this moratorium lifted and we got it. But we will be able to dance in the streets when we are putting American workers and American companies back to work," said Angelle.

"When folks have a sense of job security, that the mortgage could be paid ... as they go out and kiss their families goodbye in the morning and put on their hardhats and their steel-toed boots and go do the work of energizing America, that's when we can celebrate," he added.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar today said the decision means the industry is "open for business" but that companies will have to meet higher safety standards to secure permits to resume drilling.

“We have more work to do in our reform agenda, but at this point we believe the strengthened safety measures we have implemented, along with improved spill response and blowout containment capabilities, have reduced risks to a point where operators who play by the rules and clear the higher bar can be allowed to resume," Salazar said.

U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, who had been withholding her vote on Obama's nomination to head the Office of Management and Budget in opposition to the ban, was tepid in her response to the news.

“I applaud the administration for taking a step in the right direction by lifting the deepwater drilling moratorium. Today’s decision is a good start, but it must be accompanied by an action plan to get the entire industry in the Gulf of Mexico back to work," said Landrieu.

"This means that the administration must continue to accelerate the granting of permits in shallow and deepwater and provide greater certainty about the rules and regulations industry must meet. I strongly believe that we can do this safely and swiftly.," she added.

Sen. David Vitter, in a press release soon after the announcement, was more pointed in his skepticism.

"I guess this is movement in the right direction, but it’s painfully slow," said Vitter. "It’s clear that President Obama is going to preside over a continuing de facto moratorium for months or years, with new drilling held back to a fraction of previous levels. I’ll keep fighting until real drilling happens and jobs are actually created."

Rep. Charlie Melancon, reiterating a demand he pushed for in Congress as far back as June, said there should be no more "de facto" delays.

“I’m glad that Secretary Salazar has finally come to understand that we can drill for oil and gas safely in the Gulf. Our workers need to get back to work on those rigs to provide the jobs and energy security we need. If rigs comply with the regulations that are necessary to keep another BP disaster from ever happening again, they should be allowed to resume work immediately," he said.

Deepwater drilling in waters deeper than 500 feet has been suspended since the BP Horizon disaster of April 20.

As part of the higher safety standards, the industry must demonstrate sufficient blowout containment resources, the department said. For a copy of the Salazar press release following today's press conference, visit the federal Department of Interior's press room here.

The moratorium was put in place after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 people and spewing nearly 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. It is the largest oil spill disaster in U.S. history, more than 10 times the oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez in Alaska.

Lou Rom, an award-winning journalist with over 2,000 articles published, hosts Lou Rom Live weekdays from 4-6 pm on KVOL1330. Contact him at kvolou@yahoo.com

BP's Recovery Czar: 'We have a lot of work to do'

2010-09-20T20:31:00.000-07:00

The full BP interview here --

The man leading BP's next phase on the Gulf Coast said a day after the Deepwater Horizon well was killed for good that much work remains toward making the Gulf of Mexico, and its people, whole again.

"We really understand the fact that people are concerned,"Mike Utsler, BP's Chief Operations Officer for the Gulf Coast Restoration Organization, told Lou Rom Live in an exclusive interview Monday.

"With this major accomplishment behind us peoples' concerns are will BP stay to continue to clean up and restore the environment, (and mitigate) the environmental impacts to our shorelines and our beaches and our marshes," he added.

Utsler, who replaced Doug Suttles last month, said manpower and money will make the difference.

"My words and my words alone aren't gonna be enough. Our being there in the communities, every day, to continue working with local people to clean up those marshes ... is gonna be the proof in the pudding," he said.

Part of that work, Utsler insisted, is continuous tests to determine the presence of oil and dispersant in the soil and water of the Gulf Coast. Critics claim BP is not conducting such tests.

"We continue to work with both state and local academia and the federal government on testing and evaluating sediments, water, water columns ... to understand and to continue the journey of learning about the impacts of this event and we will continue that effort over the years to come," said Utsler.

Asked specifically if BP is testing for the presence and toxicity levels of Corexit and oil, Utsler said BP was in fact doing just that.

"Those tests are part of the public record and are available on government web sites associated with this operation. Many, many sediment samples have been collected in the near-shore, all the way out to the deep waters," Utsler claimed (At press time, this statement could not be verified, but future Beyond Horizon stories will confirm or disprove this claim).

Utsler said killing the well in Mississippi Canyon 252 means that BP will not produce from the Deepwater Horizon well, or either of the two relief wells.

He insisted, however, that BP has it's eyes wide open regarding future wells tapping into the reservoir, which when it was discovered was believed to be the largest ever in the Gulf of Mexico.

"In the future we could go back and potentially redevelop this reservoir and that's something that over time will be looked at by the right parties to make that decision ... that decision will be made in the fullness of time," he said.

"This reservoir might be developed to help America meet its energy needs and demands," he said.

BP's Report? File it under F for Fiction

2010-09-08T17:10:00.000-07:00

BP LLC. today released their internal investigation into the Deepwater Horizon tragedy that killed 11 people and lead to the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

While there was much speculation about just how BP would perform the balancing act needed -- that is, how they would both accept sufficient responsibility for the disaster to avoid another public relations nightmare without opening the company up to even more legal liability, such debate proved unnecessary.

All you need to do is read the first three pages of the report and you know exactly which side of the tightrope BP leaned to -- the one that covered their ass.

In introducing the report, BP said the investigation team was purposely "isolated" from high-ranking officials and the legal team. Yet, it is clear that that claim holds as much water as the company's original estimates of how much oil was spilling into the Gulf of Mexico.

Below is both the Executive Summary, a six--page document, and the full report, all 193 pages of fiction that would make Mark Twain blush.

For full effect, I suggest you get comfortable in the old smoking chair, grab a $20 cigar and a fine glass of port and read it through your rose-colored glasses. That, I assume, is the only way BP's brass could even stomach the nonsense and utter drivel that they have spewed forth here.

Enjoy.

Click here for the Executive Summary

And here for the Full Monty ( i.e., the full report)

Oil sheen at Vermilion 380 explosion not from leak, but fuel reserves on board, says Mariner

2010-09-02T13:00:00.000-07:00

Five hours after the Vermilion 380 exploded, a mile-long oil sheen is stretching from the accident site in the Gulf of Mexico, but rig owner Mariner Energy says the rig's wells have been shut down and the sheen and fire are being fed by stored fuel on the rig.

Meanwhile, the 13-member crew is safe, after an explosion around 9:30 a.m. this morning sent the crew scrambling into the water 90 miles off the coast of Louisiana, the Coast Guard said.

A nearby industry vessel pulled the crew to safety soon after the explosion and all but one of the crew members was wearing so-called "Gumby suits" -- bright-colored survival gear that protects from hypothermia and makes it easy to spot people for rescue.

USCG Cutter Decisive is responding to the latest explosion.

Mariner Energy, who, according to company records, owns 100 percent of the Vermilion 380, responded with a vessel soon after the explosion. Within an hour or so, eight helicopters, two airplanes and four boats were en route from Coast Guard stations in New Orleans and Houston.

Mariner, via a press release on their Web site, said "the cause is not known, and an investigation will be undertaken."

The platform was not in production at the time of the explosion because it was undergoing maintenance, according to the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. Last week, the facility produced approximately 9.2 million cubic feet of natural gas per day and 1,400 barrels of oil, according to Mariner.

Philip Weiss, an analyst at Argus Research, said Mariner's explanation "seems very likely."

"It appears, at this point, to not be a huge concern," said Weiss, in comparing the explosion with that of the Horizon rig that exploded April 20th and spewed oil into the Gulf of Mexico for three months.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, at an early afternoon press conference, said the water was about 340 feet deep; Mariner's Web site said the rig was working in 450 feet of water, less than one tenth as deep as the BP Deepwater Horizon rig, which was in about 5,000 feet of water.

Mariner's safety record in the gulf, based on federal fines, is a good one. The company was fined a total of $55,000 last year for two incidents, according to BOEME.

The company holds 350 offshore exploration leases; 110 of those are currently in development, according to the company’s website.

Breaking News: New Rig fire in Gulf, off La. Coast

2010-09-02T08:59:00.000-07:00

10:59 a.m. CST -- The Coast Guard is responding to an explosion and a rig on fire "and people in the water'' in the Gulf of Mexico south of Vermillion Bay.

The rig is around 80 miles south of Vermillion Bay and a helicopter earlier today reported that it was in fire "and that there was smoke and there were people in the water.''

Five helicopters, two airplanes and four boats are en route from Coast Guard stations in New Orleans and Houston, according to a USCG official.

She said the rig, Vermillion Oil Rig 380, is owned by Mariner Energy, but that details were scarce. A phone call to Mariner's corporate office in Houston by Beyond Horizon was not immediately returned.

Vermillion Oil Rig 380 is a gas and oil rig in 450 feet of water in South Timbalier Block 316, according to company records.

In an interview with CNN, Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill Colclough said the rig was not actively producing at the time of the explosion, but is still on fire. At approximately 9:30 this morning, the explosion was reported to authorities.

Twelve of the workers are in immersion suits, which protect from hypothermia. One of the men was injured and taken to Terrebone General Medical Center in Houma.

Eight helicopters, two airplanes and four boats are en route from Coast Guard stations in New Orleans and Houston, officials said.

2010-08-25T21:39:00.000-07:00

A leading disaster preparedness expert says the response to the BP oil disaster proves, once again, that America is not ready to deal with a major disaster.

Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, told a panel of journalists covering the disaster that neither the government or the people have learned from past disasters.

“No matter what exhortations come from the federal government (and) local government … a very small minority of Americans actually are prepared for any kind of disaster,” says Redlener.

Redlener says the BP disaster, despite being under control now, is “leaving a residual problem that is deep and likely to be very prolonged.”

Speaking to a group of 25 journalists covering the BP disaster, Redlener said that according to a recent survey, the disaster has affected 43 percent of some 1,000 coastal families, many who were exposed to oil and dispersants while working cleanup or simply by living in the area.

He argued that had government and the citizenry been more prepared the toll could have been much lower.

Redlener said one of the great frustrations in disaster preparedness is that too often officials in charge of responding don't learn from past disasters and past mistakes. He cited several examples:

After 9/11, emergency response officials vowed better intercommunication between agencies, yet nine years later sharing information among agencies leaves much to be desired. While many examples exist.
The 1989 Exxon Valdez spill was the nation's worst before the BP Horizon, yet the industry and government made virtually no changes in spill response since then.
Hurricane Katrina revealed how multiple agencies can be overwhelmed by a disaster … how so?

Redlener says the problem of misinformation – much of it worst-case scenarios that “scare the bejesus out of people” – dates back … but cited the “duck and cover” government PSAs of the 1950s and

He said most everyone today believes that a nuclear explosion means imminent death for millions within an entire region of the country.

But in reality, said Redlener, a nuclear bomb that exploded in lower Manhattan would.

The death toll in Manhattan from “a single Hiroshima-sized nuclear wweapon is really very small,” he said.

Not so fast, says Newsweek, echoing Beyond Horizon's claim it was too early to celebrate

2010-08-19T21:36:00.000-07:00

Look, I'll admit to wishing I worked for a major metro newspaper or a clear channel radio station when the BP Horizon disaster struck in April. Not because of the access some believe that gets you, but because of the ability to reach so many more people and really effect change with the work I've done over the last four months.

That being said, it is rewarding to read days, sometimes even weeks after some of my original reports, major magazines and newspaper accounts of what I've been preaching here for the last month or so.

That being, a muted Hallelujah and a cautionary Not So Fast for the Gulf of Mexico.

I have said repeatedly over the last month that if -- and that was a very big IF in June -- if somehow BP caps this well, Hurricane Season cooperates and the mighty Mississippi's flow into the Gulf keeps the oil at bay, we could avert the catastrophic disaster that once seemed imminent.

I also said that if all those things happen -- and they have -- that it would not mean that we are out of the woods, that this is the end of the disaster. I've said repeatedly that the true long-term affects of this disaster won't be known for years, maybe a decade or more.

I stand by that assertion and feel in no way that it is any less credible today simply because BP and the Gulf states had the great fortune of man and nature working in unison, as if through what poets call pathetic fallacy, with everything magically coming together last month.

So, while it may be time for the now famous La 23 BP Crosses to come down, and while we may be able to say "we got lucky," anyone grounded in reality cannot say that A.) We are in the clear on this one; or B.) that the commie liberal tree-huggers blew this whole thing out of proportion.

When more than 40,000 barrels of crude are pouring into the Gulf of Mexico every day; when scores of endangered state birds, the Brown Pelican, are showing up dipped in oil; when oil spill response workers are sick yet threatened with being fired for wearing respirators the American public had EVERY reason to believe that this would be a life-altering event.

So, look, if you still don't believe me, and you need to read some of the big boys to affirm what I've been telling you all along, then who am I to stop you. SEE BELOW.

Is most of the oil gone or not? At the beginning of the month the government released its assessment of where the 4.9 million barrels of oil from the Deepwater Horizon had gone.

Its rose-colored-glasses conclusion: about one quarter of the oil that gushed up from the Macondo well was physically removed (skimming, booming, piping to surface), one quarter was dissolved in the gulf waters, and one quarter was busted up by chemical dispersants or natural weathering into microscopic droplets. That left “only” 26 percent to foul shores and surface waters.

That has triggered the predictable “Ha! I told you those crazy enviros were exaggerating how bad this was” chorus in the blogosphere.

Not so fast. As NEWSWEEK reported in June, the biggest long-term environmental threat from BP’s oil comes from vast undersea hydrocarbon plumes, not the stuff on the surface.

Now a team of scientists has concluded that those plumes are even bigger than initially feared, that the flow rate that produced them swamps the natural “seeps” of hydrocarbons from vents on the seafloor, and that microbial decomposition is so slow the plumes aren’t going to dissipate for some time.

Read the whole story here.

My special report for Fox News Radio -- Dispatches from The Gulf, coming soon

2010-08-11T03:33:00.000-07:00

To my loyal readers, I am back from vacation and am currently on location in Venice, La., and will spend all day interviewing locals in Plaquemines Parish before heading back to Lafayette to see the kids off to their first day of school tomorrow.

Forgive the lapse in posts here, but it is not for lack of material, rather I am working on a longform radio piece that will air Labor Day on Fox News Radio and Sirius/XM. The report, between three and five minutes, will focus on Plaquemines Parish and its effort to recover twice in five years from one natural and one man-made disaster -- Katrina and the Horizon.

I have not, as much of the national media, forgotten about the Gulf. I have, in fact, spent more time here since June 15th than I had for the two months prior.

However, longterm BP Horizon projects, including my upcoming contribution to a Fox News Radio special report on the Gulf, have briefly deterred me from my typically bi-weekly reports here on Beyond Horizon.

In addition, I have been selected as one of a lucky few participants in a special Poynter Institute workshop on covering the spill over the long run. “The Gulf Oil Disaster: Covering What Comes Next” seminar will be held Aug. 23-25 in New Orleans and will be hosted by the Times-Picayune, and chock full of veteran reporters from broadcast and print journalism, including several Pulitzer Prize winners.

So, again, don't mistake my brief break as an indication that I followed Anderson Cooper and the national media back to NY. I am here for the long haul, and so is Beyond Horizon.

I will file a new dispatch later this week, and appreciate your checking back with me.

Mainstream, Alternative Media Polluting our Minds with Lazy, Self-serving Reports from Gulf

2010-08-01T22:43:00.000-07:00

After nearly 20 years in this business, I tend to handle my blog sort of "old school" if such a thing can be said about a new technology. What I mean is that I tend to avoid the first person when writing, and I try to play it straight in my reporting and my language.

But now and then one must stray from the norm, and, well, use the blogosphere to "call bullshit."

So, today I must do just that and call bullshit on both mainstream and so-called alternative media on their refusal to budge from their etched-in-stone narratives.

I call bullshit on the mainstream media for buying Coast Guard Admiral (and eventual BP consultant) Thad Allen's dogged pursuit of this "elusive" oil since July 15th, the day BP capped the well and Gulf Coast motel's started freeing up rooms that NY journalists had been gobbling up for weeks.

I call bullshit on the alternative media's dogged pursuit of Tony Hawyard, the apparent next coming of Damien, the Exorcist and the Heretic all wrapped in one.

Point No. 1 -- Mainstream media should stop these lazy, vague reports about how no one can find any oil in the Gulf of Mexico anymore. I imagine their correspondents are texting their assignment editors and producers stuff like "can't see oil, no shoot here, miss Yasuda's tiger roll" from Bridge Marina in Grand Isle, La.

You see, the truth is that the major networks, both broadcast and cable, have enough money to hire scientists to conduct air, land and water quality tests to "find" this "elusive" oil. If they would do that -- like WKRG in Alabama did a week or so ago -- they would confirm that there is oil in them there waters and that there were plenty of stories left to tell from places like Grand Isle and Port Sulphur.

WKRG's tests showed as much as 200 parts per million in Gulf Shores, Ala., water a week ago, that is about, oh, 40 times what is considered safe levels.

But beakers, test tubes, and scientists waxing about longterm impacts don't make for exciting news reports. So, mainstream media is using the lack of visible oil as an out, an excuse to pack up, head back north, and get back to scaring Americans from the comfort of their SoHo lofts.

Point No. 2: On the flip side, we have alternative media outlets -- from Alt Weeklies across the coast to flagship greenies like Mother Jones magazine who continue to demonize BP's Tony Hayward as if he were the first CEO to have tea with the bottom line.

In particular, the Alt Press will not let go of the Golden Parachute story, which I reported on last week.

You want to know the real story about Hayward's golden parachute? There isn't one, a parachute that is.

Hayward is getting a year's severance, about $1.6 million. He is not expected to get his performance-based bonus, which typically is between $2 million and $2.5 million.

And, if he retires at 65, he will get a pension worth about $18 million, a pension -- as in, he contributed to that fund for some 28 years.

Now, would it make more sense for Hayward's pension to be based on his pre-CEO salary, given his performance in that role has been -- how can I say this, a bust? -- Sure it would. But that nuance is just too complicated for the alternative press.

The bottom line is that both mainstream and alternative press outlets are offering typical paper-thin, one-dimensional reporting on this disaster, a disaster that is clearly, deeply layered and complex.

And, while the Gulf of Mexico may be polluted with BP's oil, America's hearts and minds are being polluted by shoddy, half-ass reporting on this disaster. We deserve better.

Even folks in Oil Spill central need a break, and I am taking a week off to spend with the kids before they go back to school, so see you in about 10 days folks. Be good and don't forget about us here in the Gulf states.

Hayward will resign with no Golden Parachute

2010-07-26T08:15:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: 3:24 P.M. CST -- BP chief executive Tony Hayward is to step down from the top job but will be put forward for the board of the oil firm's Russian operations, according to Sky News.

Board divided over recognizing Hayward's long
career while placating critics over huge buyout

Sources within BP tell Beyond Horizon that CEO Tony Hayward's resignation is all but official and that he will barely get a year's severance pay, about $1.6 million, modest compared to many of today's Golden Parachute deals.

But the source says that Hayward and his representatives are pushing to boost the deal, citing his 28 years with the company, and hope to secure a package worth at least $10 million when he exits and up to $20 million over time.

"The board is trying to finalize the package today and expects to do so," said the source, via email earlier today.

Hayward, who became the face of BP's ineptitude and, to many, apparent indifference to how the Horizon disaster has impacted America, has been with the company since 1982.

During that time he served several key roles with the oil giant, including director of exploration and production -- a role that betrays his alleged ignorance to the history of problems on the Horizon rig that he portrayed during his Senate hearings in June.

The news of Hayward's imminent resignation sparked shares over 2 percent. The firm has lost about 40 percent of its stock's value since the spill on April 20th.

The source said the board is divided on Hayward's final compensation.

"They're torn between compensating a man for his 28 years of service and avoiding more public outcry over a package deemed excessive in the states," he said.

Day after flyover of spillzone, Bama's WKRG confirms: Oil aplenty, just not on the surface

2010-07-21T21:32:00.000-07:00

During my flyover Monday of the Gulf Oil Spill site I noticed very little oil on the surface, and no thick expanses of the gooey stuff we saw early on.

In fact, several stories have been published lately claiming that skimmers can't pick up any oil in the Gulf.

I am not surprised. The dispersant Corexit is breaking up the oil and making it almost impossible to skim -- you know, the whole out of sight, out of mind approach?

I speculated, in talking with other journalists aboard the USCG cargo plane, that while it appeared the skimmers were no longer needed that it should not suggest to people that the water is oil-free.

Well, if Louisiana is anything like the beaches of Alabama, I was absolutely right.

Don't take my word for it, check out this lights-out report on Alabama's WKRG News.

Thad Allen: Today is a 'consequential day'

2010-07-13T10:32:00.000-07:00

by Lou Rom

Command Admiral Thad Allen called today … "a consequential day."

If the new cap that was installed yesterday can withstand up to 9,000 PSI, BP will kill the well and plug it with cement. If it cannot, they can still reattach the Helix Producer and the Q4000, which will contain the oil.

"We continue to watch with great anticipation … either way we will have a way to contain the oil if we are successful in the pressure readings," said Allen.

"We will at some point try to get at least 8 to 9,000 psi inside the capping stack," said Allen.

He added that if the cap can handle that PSI they will monitor and test it for about 48 hours.

"If we are down around in the 4 to 5, 6000 PSI range we would have to try and assess that .. it will tell us something about the wellbore itself and condition of the wellbore," said Allen.

He said it would suggest that oil and methane are escaping from the casing.

Over the next 48 hours, those tests will tell Unified Command to proceed in one of two ways:
1.) If the cap can sustain 8,000 to 9,000 PSI, they can kill the well, plugging it with mud then cement.
2.) If closer to 5,000 PSI, BP can simply reconnect the Helix producer and the Q4000 and continue to produce the well, with next to none of the oil escaping.

This sequence describes how BP will test the cap and potentially seal the leak, according to Allen at today's press conference:

1.) Stop production on the Q4000 and the Helix producer, the first chance to see if the PSI increases as it should.
2. Close the middle ram on the capping stack, sealing the upper opening.
3.) Close the choke lines.
4.) Kill the main board, closing the last vent in the capping stack.

In other response news ...

1.) The relief well No. 1 is 60 to 70 feet from the tap-in location, and is running parallel to the casing, within 5 feet of the casing. That well must tap into the 7-inch casing pipe to ultimately kill the well.
2.) Just shy of 600 skimmers involved in cleanup today, expected to grow to 1,000 by the end of July.
3.) About 1.8 million gallons of Corexit dispersant have been used in the Gulf, both on the surface and sub-sea.

The BP Interview -- Thursday, July 8, 2010

2010-07-10T17:00:00.000-07:00

Excerpt of the Lou Rom Live exclusive interview with BP's Mark Proegler on Thursday, July 8, 2010. Click here for the full interview -- LRL BP Podcast

LRL -- when proponents of the moratorium talk about why they think it should be in place they say the industry hasn't proven that it can drill safely. I think that's inaccurate. I think the industry has proven that it can drill safely. I think in this case we're gonna find out that the industry has the technology and they have the ... See Moreequipment and the know-how to drill safely -- in this case I think we're gonna find that BP ignored that technology, they ignored that equipment, they ignored what it told them and they continued to proceed anyway.

BP -- Well, Lou that's quite an allegation but I guess we'll all know after the investigation is over.

LRL -- What the industry has not proven and what this disaster spells as clear as day to the world and to America is that the industry has spent virtually zero dollars and made zero progress in 40 years in trying to be prepared for a spill. It's clear that this plan was kind of like a fairy tale, it was really just like fantasy land.

BP -- I would say the plan was well thought out for the conditions that were expected ... and we have followed the plan from the beginning and have expanded it substantially.

LRL -- Mark the plan calls for ... the plan addresses how to mitigate the impact on walruses and sea lions which haven't lived in the Gulf of Mexico in millions of years.

BP -- Lou, you know, you can pick out one little thing and say that that casts dispersions on the entire plan but the fact is a lot of good parts of the plan are being used ...

Feds not only one dropping the ball

2010-07-04T14:15:00.000-07:00

July 7 UPDATE: A spokesman for Unified Command told Beyond Horizon on Tuesday that the number of skimmers stated as "responding" -- at the latest count about 550 -- reflects the number of skimmers available to respond, but not necessarily on the water, responding that day.

For the better part of two months, the national media and state-level leaders have focused on how the Obama administration has got in the way of a fast, effective response to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

But behind the talking points and the countless photo ops of state leaders and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal exists a story that few want to talk about -- the old-school parochialism of Louisiana that has come home to roost.

In Plaquemines Parish, President Billy Nungesser says his parish and others soaked in oil are not getting the help they need because parish leaders outside the spill zone are hoarding boom, skimmers and manpower.

"Down in Cameron Parish, they have five skimmers just sitting there waiting. They don't want to give 'em up in case the oil comes there," said Nungesser, referring to Louisiana's most southwestern parish that borders Texas.

"It's just shortsighted. You know what? If we can contain the oil at the source -- by using all the skimmers available -- it will never make it that far," said Nungesser.

Cameron Parish is about 300 miles west of Plaquemines Parish, bordering Texas.

In Grand Isle, Chris Hernandez, a lifelong resident and one-time offshore hand, said a "me first" attitude has prevailed for much of the cleanup.

"I have a friend who's working for BP in Terrebonne Parish. He has been told by officials there, with BP and the parish, not to contain -- or even report oil that is flowing toward east toward Lafourche and Jefferson parishes.

"He's told me, 'I gotta let it go, and leave it alone. It's not my problem, I'm told.'"

One BP contractor, who I met at Artie's Sports Bar in Grand Isle, acknowledged that while the response is flawed on all levels, that often parish leaders are their own worst enemy.

"Everyone is looking out for themselves. Nungesser wants all the skimmers he can get. So does (Jefferson Parish President) Theriot. They're competing with one another rather than working together," he said.

According to Unified Command, more than 550 skimmers were reportedly responding to the spill this weekend. But Nungesser said his USCG contact admits that far fewer -- maybe even half as many -- are actually out on the water, working the spill.

"I told him, 'Take me up in a helicopter and show me where they are. I don't believe there's that many responding.' He then admitted that many were just sitting there because parish officials from across the state didn't want to give them up," Nungesser said.

A spokesman for Unified Command told Beyond Horizon she would confirm whether the 550 skimmers posted on their website reflected the total number of skimmers available for cleanup or vessels actively engaged in cleanup efforts.

Lou Rom, an award-winning journalist, with over 2,000 articles published, hosts Lou Rom Live weekdays from 4-6 pm on KVOL1330. Contact him at kvolou@yahoo.com

Grand Isle, Tarpon Rodeo, fight to stay alive

2010-07-01T11:21:00.000-07:00

The City of Grand Isle, reeling from the never-ending BP oil spill, will host the Grand Isle Aid Concert on Saturday, July 24.

The concert is the city's answer to the recent cancellation of its biggest annual event, the Tarpon Rodeo, which typically draws some 20,000 people to the city.

Organizers for the event say they're not finished booking acts for the event, but that so far several name bands have committed to perform, including Three Dog Night, the Little River Band, Doug Kershaw and more.

The concert will be held, rain or shine, on July 24, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tickets are $10. The fundraiser is being managed by the International Grand Isle Rodeo. Because of fishing closures resulting from the spill, the rodeo cannot go on as planned.

For more information, visit http://www.tarponrodeo.com

The Beyond Horizon Interview: Billy Nungesser

2010-06-28T21:07:00.000-07:00

Obama uses backdoor to maintain drilling ban, despite judge's stay of moratorium

2010-06-25T09:13:00.000-07:00

Federal judge Martin Feldman of the U.S. District Court in New Orleans refused Thursday to grant a stay of his decision to lift the six-month drilling moratorium imposed by the Obama administration.

However, in a backdoor move to shun the judge's ruling, the Administration -- through the recently renamed and somewhat reorganized Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (the old MMS) -- is refusing any new permits and playing hardball with companies that have existing ones, according to several sources.

The Administration has gone so far as to throw out prior permits, according to one safety inspector working in the Gulf of Mexico.

"The BOM has withdrawn it's approval for the next location we were planning to secure 10 more wells at," said the source.

In addition, the Administration has told the company it must start over on wells it has recently completed.

"Now, they are saying we have to completely redo one of the wells we already finished because it wasn't done exactly as the original plan called for which (then-MMS) approved eight months ago," said

The moratorium effectively shut down operations on 33 deepwater rigs, but has come under fire since news leaked that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar misrepresented his panel's advice in calling for the ban.

The panel approved a ban on new wells in 1,000 feet of water or more, not the ban Salazar imposed, which shut down all wells in 500 feet of water.

One mud engineer I spoke with said they've been told the feds won't be issuing any new permits.

"They're ignoring the judge's ruling. They are doing what they want with absolute contempt for the law," he said.

The Deepwater Horizon, operated by BP, exploded in the Gulf on April 20th and sank to the ocean floor two days later and has spewed out tens of thousands of barrels of oil a day ever since.

The disaster is now, by far, the country's largest oil spill in history, believed to have poured up to four million barrels into the Gulf in the last two months.

Working hard or hardly working?

2010-06-19T13:14:00.000-07:00

Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser continues to struggle with constant delays and shutdowns of cleanup efforts courtesy of BP and the Coast Guard.

Earlier this week it was the Coast Guard that drew the ire of Nungesser for shutting down six vacuum barges for not having life jackets and fire extinguisher.

Today, Nungesser arrived in Barataria Bay early in the morning to find dozens of workers laying around on boats, waiting for orders to deploy.

When asked why they were not working, some of the workers said they were "on stand down."

When asked who issued the stand down, the workers said they did not know. Asked if they knew who was in charge, the workers said they did not know, that it changed daily.

“This is infuriating. We continue to stress how important it is to get out early and at 10 a.m. no one was out on the water yet," said Nungesser.

"This is unacceptable and unbelievable, it’s the reason why I’ve called for a change in leadership."

Earlier in the week, when Nungesser learned of the vacuum barges shut down by the Coast Guard, he called President Obama's office and got quick relief. He's hoping to do the same today.

"I’m going to send this to the White House so they know what’s happening on the ground," Nungesser said.

Today is Day 60 of the BP Horizon disaster. The latest estimates suggest that more than 2 million barrels of oil have poured into the Gulf of Mexico since the April 20 explosion.

BP announced earlier this week that one of the two relief wells was within 200 feet of the borehole nearly two miles beneath the Gulf of Mexico's surface.

State's Oil Response Leader: May be November until any cleanup products will be used in wetlands

2010-06-17T09:02:00.000-07:00

by Lou Rom

BATON ROUGE – Louisiana's chief oil response leader says it could be November before Unified Command puts any of the thousands of alternative cleanup products to work in an effort to protect Louisiana's wetlands from BP oil.

Dwight Bradshaw, Incident Commander for the state Department of Environmental Quality and the department's senior environmental scientist, told Beyond Horizon that it would be futile to attempt any valid tests now.

“Now is not the right time to do it. You wouldn't get a valid test, you're just throwing something out there and you won't have any proof scientifically (that it works),” said Bradshaw.

When asked repeatedly for a timetable, Bradshaw said sarcastically, “You tell me when they're gonna plug up that well.”

Asked if he was being facetious, Bradshaw responded, “nope, it would be meaningless.”

When asked how long from the moment the well is capped to the first day that field tests will happen, Bradshaw said, “two or three months for a meaningful test.”

Billy Nungesser, Plaquemines Parish President, was shocked by Bradshaw's statement.

“What? You're kidding, right? That's just ridiculous. You know, this is just one more thing, one more roadblock. DEQ has been in the way from the start and I thought, perhaps, after our meeting last week that we were making progress. But, this shows that it was all just for show,” Nungesser told Beyond Horizon.

Nungesser, in addition to fighting – and succeeding at securing BP financing for sand berms along Plaquemines' shorelines – has also been fighting BP, the DEQ and the Coast Guard to give smaller companies with alternative products a chance at securing contracts for cleanup.

“I want to try everything. I'm open to everything. So far, nothing BP's done has worked,” he said.

In early May, when the federal government deemed the disaster a “spill of national significance,” EPA Director Lisa Jackson told BP it was “pre-authorized” to use any chemicals/solutions on the National Contingency Plan's product list that were less toxic than Corexit.

Bradshaw, however, told Beyond Horizon that “every last one” of those products must be field tested before they can be used to treat Louisiana's wetlands.

Asked if he gave any weight to the EPA's screening of products and Jackson's green-lighting at least 12 less toxic products for use,” Bradshaw said, “Nope, that list only gets you in the door for consideration.”

Irving Mendelssohn, a biologist at the LSU Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, agrees with Bradshaw on some points, but disagrees that scientifically valid field tests could not be conducted today. In fact, Mendelssohn said he was hoping to do some field site work in the next week or so, possibly in Empire, La.

Mendelssohn said while there could be problems with conducting valid field tests today it should not force DEQ or anyone with Unified Command into waiting months after the well is capped.

–

“You could create a valid, controlled environment now… even before the spill is stopped,” Mendelssohn said. “But there may be some problems – if you do a field test then that same marsh gets oiled again.”

Skepticism over miracle cures

DEQ's Bradshaw expressed skepticism that many of the products being touted by entrepreneurs from around the world could help. In fact, he suggested many were just carpetbaggers trying to make a quick buck.

“Do you know how many of these companies who want to save Louisiana were started in May 2010? A lot,” he said.

Bradshaw said “these people … are willing to sacrifice the marsh because 'this is green, this is wonderful stuff, we need to go ahead and use it.' Well, we don't know what damage these products might do to the marsh.”

Nungesser said his hometown has little to lose by not trying alternatives to products with the BP seal of approval.

“Well, (BP) sure haven't proven to me that they know what they're doing,” said Nungesser.

Mendelssohn said that overall many of the “surface washing” agents listed in the NCP product list remain unproven.

“There has been some research done that shows that some of these shoreline cleaners had little to no effect on the plants that were being cleaned and the marshlands that were being cleaned,” he said.

State law requires that anything other than physical removal of the oil must be vetted by DEQ. “You have to get prior written approval from the DEQ office of compliance,” Bradshaw said.

So, how many companies have submitted products to that office for review?

“Nobody has submitted anything to us asking for that yet,” said Bradshaw.

“They're all trying to use political pressure to get their product used – all of them do that – they're trying to go through the political process not the scientific process.”

Asked for documents that outline the steps necessary for companies to have their products tested and possibly put to work in the marshes via the DEQ Office of Compliance, Bradshaw said, “I don't know that we have an actual document that actually describes (the process)”

Mistaken race against the clock

While politicians across the state and environmental activists have complained about a lack of urgency in the response, Bradshaw says the belief that we must act now is one based on emotion, political showmanship, and not science.

“You're operating on the assumption that we have to go out and apply something to it, or the oil's gonna kill the marsh … it's not gonna happen,” said Bradshaw.

“It doesn't happen as long as you get out there and get it out of the marshes … and you don't damage the marsh while you're doing it. Once you get that gross oil up the marsh will come back just fine.”

LSU's Mendelssohn agreed that the marshes can survive, but that leaving the oil for months might not bode well for fish and wildlife.

“Because of the viscous type of oil that this is after the weathering it doesn't appear that the oil should get into the soil much. The oil cannot displace that water,” Mendelssohn said.

Both scientists claim in situ burns likely are the best method to restoring the wetlands.

“There are certain systems that are adaptive after a fire. Fire is used in the management of wetlands for a number of reasons,” said Mendelssohn. “It's used to reduce all the fuel load that can build up and it's also used to produce new chutes.”

Mendelssohn's expertise is in the wetlands specifically – in the sediment and the indigenous plants that call it home. Just what impact leaving the oil for months, then conducting a burn might have on animal and marine life is another question, he said.

“That doesn't mean that if the oil comes in and coats crabs, nests for birds, other mammals … that it won't be harmful,” he said.

Bradshaw said the state's wetlands have recovered from countless oil spills, including the 44 documented spills that took place during the 2005 hurricane season.

Lessons Learned

Bradshaw said after the well is capped DEQ will select the appropriate sites and create a controlled environment to conduct the tests, eliminating any variables that could skew the results.

“It's just which way the wind blows right now with a lot of oil flooding the surface. What's the point of trying to evaluate something if you can't evaluate it accurately. I'm not averse to testing these , but to do a valid test you need controlled conditions to test it. You're just spinning your wheels if you just throw something out there,” he said.

In many cases, said Bradshaw, the application of the products will displace water and further damage the marshes by giving the oil a better chance at infiltrating the sediment and indigenous life.

“When you have oil on top of the water, the water between the oil and the root system protects that root system,” he said. “That's why we don't use dispersants in-shore, because we know it will have a negative effect in water … and instead of saving the critters living on the bottom it could kill them.”

Bradshaw said people just don't get how complicated this cleanup effort is.

“Most people don't have that much knowledge of how we clean up oil spills. This marsh cleanup – most people will never see it, part of the problem is that it's not real exciting to watch,” said Bradshaw.

“This is not my first oil spill, this isn't my first rodeo.”

Mendelssohn said the experts have learned at least one thing over the years.

“What we know now about oil spill cleanup is that it's an exercise in tradeoffs. You have to make some (difficult) decisions,” he said.

Lou Rom, an award-winning journalist, with over 2,000 articles published, hosts Lou Rom Live weekdays from 4-6 pm on KVOL1330. Contact him at kvolou@yahoo.com

134 years, and 1 oil spill later, P&J Oyster Company is out of oysters and future uncertain

2010-06-12T13:13:00.000-07:00

P&J Oyster Company, a New Orleans institution since 1876, is out of oysters.

Owner Al Sunseri, who I interviewed days after the BP Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, tells CNN he had to send his workers home Friday.

"My son -- who is delivering oysters right now -- he asked me yesterday, 'Should I go apply for food stamps?'" Sunseri told CNN.

"I started here when I was 21, and I remember how I wanted to carry on the tradition of our business and I remember the feeling of not only the pressures of trying to carry on this long-standing business but also the opportunity that I had to do it," he said.

P&J is the oldest oyster company in America, based in the French Quarter for 134-years, and provides oysters to many of New Orleans most famous seafood restaurants.

When I talked to Sunseri in April, only 10 days after the spill, he was concerned but not fatalistic.

"Well, Lou, if it's not one thing it's another. We dealt with the (proposed Gulf Coast oyster) ban earlier this year, now this ... it's looking pretty bad," Sunseri told Beyond Horizon.

Today, any optimism he had has disappeared. He has told his employees to work with BP for compensation over lost wages.

Over the last decade or more, the Gulf of Mexico has provided about two thirds of the nation's oysters, according to federal data. In 2008, Louisiana landed nearly 13 million pounds of oysters, about $40 million worth.

Further clouding the future of Sunseri and countless oystermen across the gulf is the fact that its spawning season for young oysters that usually take 18 to 24 months to grow to market size.

Click here to see the latest story about how Louisiana's Incident Commander claims the state will not test any cleanup products until after the well is capped.

Lou Rom, an award-winning investigative reporter, with over 2,000 articles published, hosts Lou Rom Live weekdays from 4-6 pm on KVOL1330. Contact him at kvolou@yahoo.com

DEQ, Environmentalists: Don't just 'do something'

2010-06-11T12:38:00.000-07:00

BATON ROUGE -- Louisiana scientists and Wetlands experts are banning together in an effort to quell political pressure to "just do something" to protect Louisiana's delicate marshes, a strategy that could do more damage than good.

Dwight Bradshaw, incident commander for the state Department of Environmental Quality, said politicians and the public need to be patient and allow the experts to develop and implement a plan to protect the wetlands -- even if that plan is "to do nothing."

“They're all trying to use political pressure to get their product used, all of them do that. They're trying to go through the political process not the scientific process,” Bradshaw said.

More tomorrow

DEQ, Nungesser approve first 'green' field tests in effort to save wetlands

2010-06-05T16:03:00.000-07:00

BELLE CHASSE -- After weeks of delays and heated debate, the state Department of Environmental Quality and Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser today approved the first field tests for so-called green products to save Louisiana's oil-soaked wetlands.

If the field tests are successful, up to four environmentally-friendly solutions -- the first yet without the BP-Nalco seal of approval -- will be put to work in an effort to save the already inundated wetlands of Plaquemines, and could be used throughout Louisiana's marshes.

BP has used about one million gallons of Corexit, a dispersant that has been banned in Britain, produced by Nalco, a company owned in-part by current and former BP board members. Most environmental scientists agree that dispersants should not be used in-shore.

After an hours-long meeting with parish, state and federal officials, Nungesser tells Beyond Horizon that DEQ -- reportedly the last government holdout against evaluating the products -- relented and gave the green light for the field tests. The tests could be conducted as early as next week.

"We didn't hit a home run, but we made progress," said Nungesser, reached at his home Saturday night. "Am I totally satisfied? No. But I'll take what I can get."

Nungesser wanted to begin testing Sunday, but DEQ asked for time to prep the areas, most importantly, to cordon the areas off with boom.

"DEQ wanted to isolate the marsh where we do this, to go out there and seal it off," said Nungesser.

The DEQ did not immediately return phone calls for this story and could not be reached for comment.

Nungesser said it is crucial that alternative products be fairly and efficiently evaluated, and that the public has a chance to see the results.

He said officials will document the application of the products with still- and video cameras and will return in two to three days to document the results.

"If we can get some product out there and show results it's gonna' be hard for anyone out there to say 'no,'" especially BP, said Nungesser.

Pass-a-Loutre, located 10 miles south of Venice, is likely the first location where tests will be conducted, according to Nungesser.

The Wildlife Management Area, at the mouth of the Mississippi River, encompasses about 115,000 acres.

Petromist Environmental Solutions of Atlanta produces one of the four products that will be tested, a non-toxic biodegradable solution that accelerates nature's own oil degradation.

Lieutenant General Russel Honore, who has seen Petrotech work in laboratory tests, attended today's meeting and was encouraged by the DEQ's approval to move forward. He's eager to see the product at work in the field.

"They showed me what his product can do and I said, 'damn,'" Honore said. "I want their product and the others tested so we can all -- so the public, the people, not BP -- can decide how to proceed."

David Elmore, marketing manager for Petromist, says he is, "excited at the opportunity to show what our product can do."

On Friday, Congressman Charles Boustany told Beyond Horizon that the EPA and DEQ -- not British Petroleum -- should be making decisions on what products are used to clean Louisiana's wetlands.

"We need President Obama and the federal government to take charge," said Boustany. "And we need local control over cleanup efforts."

In the six weeks that oil has been pouring into the Gulf of Mexico, BP claims to have received more than 3,500 ideas on how to cap the well and clean the Gulf.

BP and the federal government have been criticized for not looking at other products, including any of the 12 less toxic cleanup products already approved by the EPA for cleanup.

Nungesser said he is confident that the four companies whose products will be tested can produce sufficient quantities to treat the wetlands -- a key point, according to BP, in the continued use of Corexit. Petrotech has the ability to produce up to 30,000 gallons a week.

Lou Rom, an award-winning journalist, with over 2,000 articles published, hosts Lou Rom Live weekdays from 4-6 pm on KVOL1330. Contact him at kvolou@yahoo.com

Jindal, Feds to look at BP alternatives to cleaning the marshes

2010-06-03T22:09:00.000-07:00

Gov. Bobby Jindal will travel again Saturday to the oil-soaked shores of Louisiana, not for another canned BP-friendly tour, but for a hands-on assessment of alternative cleanup strategies brought forth by heretofore ignored EPA-approved companies.

Jindal, and high-ranking members of his team, are expected to travel over the weekend with at least four companies that have greener solutions to cleaning the state's delicate marshlands, according to sources within the governor's office.

BP and the federal government have been criticized for not listening to other companies' ideas, including any of the 12 less toxic cleanup products already approved by the EPA for cleanup.

BP has used about one million gallons of Corexit, a dispersant that has been banned in Britain, produced by Nalco, a company owned in-part by current and former BP board members.

The source within the governor's office says Jindal will make at least one of the trips. But representatives of two of the four companies say it appears Jindal will not attend their demonstrations, but will send a representative from his office.

One of those companies, Petrotech of Atlanta, arrived today for meetings preceding Saturday's trip to the marshland.

David Elmore, marketing manager for Petrotech, says he has been told a Jindal representative will travel with his team over the weekend. In addition, BP and federal officials are expected to observe the field demonstrations.

"We're excited at the opportunity to show what our product can do," Elmore said.

In the six weeks that oil has been pouring into the Gulf of Mexico, BP claims to have received more than 2,000 ideas on how to cap the well and clean the Gulf.

Six weeks after the BP Horizon began spewing thousands of barrels of oil into the Gulf, none of those ideas -- including proposals sent by the four companies to be evaluated over the weekend -- have been put to work.

Congressman Charles Boustany told me on Lou Rom Live yesterday that the EPA -- not BP -- should be making decisions on what products are used to clean Louisiana's wetlands.

"We need President Obama and the federal government to take charge," said Boustany. "And we need local control over cleanup efforts."

Early indications suggest that the "cut and cap" procedure appears to be working. The latest "top hat" is in place, but early Friday morning it was too early to tell how much oil the cap was collecting.

Lou Rom, an award-winning journalist, with over 2,000 articles published, hosts Lou Rom Live weekdays from 4-6 pm on KVOL1330. Contact him at kvolou@yahoo.com

A day after Obama's "I'm in charge" pledge, locals confirm BP is calling the shots

2010-05-30T07:51:00.000-07:00

By Lou Rom

VENICE -- Sunset comes early for the hundreds of inventors, environmental and oil service workers in Venice, Louisiana.

The small fishing village, with a population of about 500, has doubled in size since the BP Horizon explosion. And for many, their days are long on frustration and short on accomplishment, as the old adage "hurry up and wait" describes much of the story here.

A day after President Obama insisted "I am in charge" most everyone dining at the Riverside Restaurant on La 23, the main drag in town, confirms what much of the rest of the world believes -- BP is still calling the shots.

"You won't find anyone at the marina to take you out (on a charter boat). They're all working for BP and they'll be fired if they take anyone out," said a woman whose husband, a fisherman by trade, is hanging a BP shingle on his boat.

"He's signed a contract that says he can't take anyone to take pictures or video of the oil, that he can't take any, and that he can't talk about what he sees," said the 20-something woman who asked not to be identified.

That explains the scene at Harbor Seafood Oyster Bar, which overlooks the marina.

About a dozen charter captains kick back in lawn chairs in the shade beneath the stilted restaurant, collecting a paycheck from BP for doing nothing, at least on this day.

When we tell a group of fishermen at one table our plans -- "we're looking for a boat to take us to the oil in the marshlands" -- they don't hesitate to tell us we'll be "arrested and put in jail" by BP and the Coast Guard.

When reminded that BP can't put anyone in jail, one charter captain named Billy says, "it will take them five minutes to find someone who can."

At Adam's Grocery, a few miles north in Boothville, a young Coast Guard seaman says what many have been thinking all along: "BP has the money, they have the power."

And many fishermen, earning as much as $3,000 a day from BP, are reluctant to talk ill of the company.

"One of my neighbors got sick while doing cleanup. He asked for a mask and they told him he could not use one. He ended up being sent to the hospital," said one fisherman who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

"It's all about BP's image and nothing about safety," he added.

Even the skeptic in me doubted the conspiracy theorists could be entirely right about BP's wholesale power over the off- and onshore response. Surely, there must be pockets of U.S. control somewhere.

Of course, that's how I felt at 7:30 a.m., Saturday morning.

After shadowing an environmental services company for 12 hours I began to believe the conspiracy theorists were right.

As the host of an afternoon drive radio show in Lafayette, La., and owner of horizonspill.com, several companies who claim to have the magic potion to clean the Gulf of Mexico have reached out to me. On Saturday, I spent the day with one, Petrotech of Atlanta, to see what it's like on the ground in Venice.

I've talked with a few over the last month and witnessed the frustration that comes from trying to work a system that is designed to -- well, not work.

After a day of talking with public officials, reps for the Coast Guard, EPA and Homeland Security, it became clear to me the game that is being played:

Their collective "I'm too busy" is code for "we're not really in charge."

This became evident by the end of the day.

After countless meetings with federal officials, and busily working the phones, the four men with Petrotech finally got a sitdown with BP representatives in New Orleans, who explained that the road to a once-again pristine Gulf of Mexico clearly runs through British Petroleum.

"It's clear that they are in charge," said David Elmore, the marketing director for PetroTech, after returning to Venice late Saturday night. "If you want your product to be considered (for cleanup), BP must give the green light."

When asked how that jibes with the President's claim that he is in charge, Elmore chuckles.

"He can say that all he wants, but that's not reality."

Lou Rom, an award-winning journalist, with over 2,000 articles published, hosts Lou Rom Live weekdays from 4-6 pm on KVOL 1330. Contact him at kvolou@yahoo.com

Lou Rom Live Interview: Lt. General Russel Honore, Wednesday, May 26

2010-05-26T20:54:00.000-07:00

BP Graphic: How the Top Kill method should, could, would work ...

2010-05-26T08:07:00.000-07:00

BP sent cementing crew home hours before explosion without conducting final test

2010-05-25T05:12:00.000-07:00

Engineers for Schlumberger, the Houston-based oilfield service company with offices in Lafayette, were on the BP Horizon hours before the rig exploded to perform a final cementing test on the well.

But BP sent the workers home 11 hours before the explosion without performing the final check that one top Schlumberger official described as "the only test that can really determine the actual effectiveness" of the well's seal.

A spokesman for the testing firm, Schlumberger, confirmed Monday that BP had the crew on standby to conduct the cementing test, but BP never asked for the test and instead sent the crew home on a helicopter flight early that afternoon.

The crew had been on the rig for about a week, but last performed any tests five days before the explosion that killed 11 people and is pouring untold amounts of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

For more information, read this Times Picayune story.

Jean-Michel Cousteau joins Lou Rom Live this Monday to talk about the Horizon spill

2010-05-23T00:35:00.000-07:00

For more than four decades, Jean-Michel Cousteau has dedicated himself to protecting the world's oceans.

On Monday, Cousteau will join KVOL 1330's Lou Rom Live to talk about the environmental and economic impact of the Horizon tragedy, and offer his insight into how BP and the federal government failed before the Horizon tragedy – and what can be done now to ensure that they don't fail again in stopping the leak and protecting the Gulf of Mexico.

The son of ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, Jean-Michel has produced over 80 films, received the Emmy, the Peabody Award and the Cable Ace Award. And, he has helped bring Ocean Futures Society, a non-profit marine conservation and education organization, to the forefront of environmental policy.

In 1989, the year the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska, Jean-Michel began writing a syndicated column for the Los Angeles Times, and today reaches millions through that column – and his books, films and multi-media projects.

In 2006, Jean-Michel's initiative to protect the Northwest Hawaiian Islands took him to The White House for a meeting with President George W. Bush.

There, Cousteau and President Bush watched Voyage to Kure, a documentary on the islands. The visit so inspired Bush he declared the 1,200-mile chain of islands a Marine National Monument — one of the largest protected marine areas in the world.

Jean-Michel, who visited the site of the Horizon spill last week, will appear on Lou Rom Live this Monday, during the 4 o'clock hour.

Lou Rom, an award-winning journalist, with over 2,000 articles published, hosts Lou Rom Live weekdays from 4-6 pm on KVOL1330. Contact him at kvolou@yahoo.com

2010-05-20T11:20:00.000-07:00

PHOTO BY TED JACKSON / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser and La. Gov. Bobby Jindal tour through the Roseau Grasses that mark the coastline of Southeast Louisiana at Pass a Loutre at the mouth of the Mississippi River where oil has washed ashore, Wednesday, May 19, 2010.

One month later, EPA: Dispersants might be dangerous to Gulf wildlife. Really?

For weeks now I have been writing and talking about how BP has refused to release the chemical composition of the dispersants being used in the Gulf on the Horizon oil spill.

BP told the media the composition of said dispersants was a "trade secret" and was proprietary.

The truth is that, according to federal law outlined in EPA documents, chemicals that pose a risk to humans are not protected as trade secrets. Because, in this rare moment of EPA wisdom, the feds decided that the public's right to know trumped corporate America's right to profit at all cost.

Finally one month after the BP Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, the EPA has shown up and called for BP to reveal the composition of the dispersants or stop using them.

BP will choose the latter, I am told. They still have not yet revealed the chemical composition of the dispersants, but this is a step in the right direction.

For more, read this Washington Post story.

Lou Rom, an award-winning journalist, with over 2,000 articles published, hosts Lou Rom Live weekdays from 4-6 pm on KVOL1330. Contact him at kvolou@yahoo.com

New rule for Fed officials who duck hearings -- you're fired and lose your retirement

2010-05-18T08:10:00.000-07:00

As strong currents threaten to carry oil from the Horizon spill to the Florida Keys, officials with the Minerals Management Service -- the federal agency charged with regulating offshore drilling in US waters -- refused to testify Monday at the latest round of Senate hearings.

Which brings me to my first question ... WHAT?????

How can an EMPLOYEE of the federal government refuse to testify before Congress?

Oh, I forgot. MMS does not think it answers to the same code of ethics as other government agencies -- just see these 2007 and 2008 Office of Inspector General reports on the subject if you have any doubts about their take on those pesky ethics laws.

Maybe, after Sen. Joseph Lieberman is through annihilating BP and the Feds' non-response to the spill, he can author a bill that prohibits federal employees from refusing to testify at congressional hearings -- or they are fired and lose their retirement.

In his defense, Lieberman, who chaired yesterday's Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee hearing, criticized the no-show and said MMS, BP and all involved are obligated to share the back story on what happened.

“We owe it to the American people to learn from this catastrophe not only so that we can do everything we can to prevent anything like it from happening again but so we can guarantee that if it does happen again oil companies and the government will not be left to scurry about trying to figure out how to stop the oil leaking into the Gulf,” Lieberman said.

My take on the MMS No-Show?

I suspect President Obama and Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano needed time to get their story straight -- and find a new scapegoat -- after Chris Oynes conveniently announced his "retirement" yesterday. Oynes, for more than a decade, was responsible for policing offshore drilling, most recently serving as the associate director of the agency's Offshore Minerals Management Program.

Now, while the problems with MMS did not start with Obama, he had the chance yesterday to show even the slightest bit of leadership on what may be the biggest environmental disaster in our country's history -- and failed miserably.

Maybe if his administration wasn't so busy apologizing to China for our human rights violations (insert WTF here) he could have spent a little more time yesterday holding those responsible for gross negligence in offshore regulation accountable.

2010-05-17T03:56:00.000-07:00

More on the spill from America's best Political Cartoonist

Have we heard this before? BP Spill appears 'worse' than first feared

2010-05-16T17:39:00.000-07:00

One of the first groups of scientists allowed to visit the site of the BP Horizon tragedy say what lies beneath the surface is even more menacing than what's visible from the air.

“There’s a shocking amount of oil in the deep water, relative to what you see in the surface water,” Samantha Joye, a researcher at the University of Georgia, told the NY Times today.

Joye said the group found "enormous oil plumes" in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, including one as large as 10 miles long. That plume was estimated to be three miles wide and 300 feet thick in spots.

“There’s a tremendous amount of oil in multiple layers, three or four or five layers deep in the water column," Joye said.

The discovery comes as speculation within the scientific community -- about how forthcoming BP has been when assessing the seriousness of the spill -- continues to grow.

For more information, read the whole story in today's NY Times.

Here are three of the best stories published today, May 16, 2010:

Inspections of BP Horizon fell sharply before explosion -- Associated Press staff

Mile-long tube catching some of the oil -- NPR

'79 Texas spill may hold answers for Horizon watchers -- Tallahassee Democrat

MMS, Big Oil not only place where cozy bond exists between regulator and the regulated

2010-05-15T09:37:00.000-07:00

When I was a reporter for Gannett Louisiana I suggested several times since I joined the group in 1998 that we take a critical look at rig safety in the Gulf of Mexico.

I was tired of pumping out the typical Gannett puffery on rig counts, local promotions within the business, and new profit milestones year by year. (See Screenshot below from yesterday's paper)

"Why?" I was asked. "There have been no major accidents, no major spills, no news peg? What's the point?"

Well, I guess they get that point today.

It didn't take a rocket scientist familiar with the incestuous relationship between Minerals Management Service and the Oil & Gas industry to realize it was a time bomb waiting to explode -- figuratively, and, unfortunately, literally.

But, because it means so much to our economy, no one wanted to touch it.

I won't lie to you here, and claim this was my personal mission or that I was relentless in my pursuit of the story -- but it was an issue I brought up several times over the years, as a business and investigative reporter.

And I regret not having pushed for it more.

It's clear now that Obama is going to push to split up the MMS, as outlined in this NY Times article. He wants to separate the royalty-collecting arm of the department from the regulatory one.

Twelve years after I first brought this to an editor's attention I have one word for Clinton, Bush, Obama and countless media outlets who cover the industry yet ignored the obvious conflict:

Duh.

And, more importantly, I hope that the ridiculous lack of oversight evident within MMS serves as a clarion call for the federal government to review similar conflicts (and cozy relationships) within other federal agencies, such as the FDA, HUD and the Department of Labor.

Let's hope it doesn't take more fatalities and billions in damages or fines to turn the microscope to those departments.

Here are the three best stories on the BP Horizon spill published today, May 15, 2010:

Top Hat plan history, narrow tube up next -- The Huffington Post

Oil composition changing, breaking up -- Mobile Press-Register

Transocean seeks to mitigate financial responsibility -- Seattle Times

2010-05-13T21:43:00.000-07:00

Valdez documentary, screened in Lafayette today, focuses on how to cope

2010-05-13T08:25:00.000-07:00

For much of the last three weeks the media have focused on the environmental and economic toll of the BP Horizon tragedy, which continues to pour 200,000 gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico every day.

But few have touched on the human toll of such a tragedy.

Riki Ott, who served as union chief for fishermen in Prince William Sound when the Exxon Valdez ran aground in 1989, knows all too well the human toll of such a man-made disaster.

Ott, a marine biologist considered by many the preeminent expert on the Valdez spill, has lived it for 21 years. Over that time, she has watched the story unfold with friends and family -- the bankruptcies, home and business foreclosures, epidemic depression, even suicides.

"It's hard to get away from it," Ott told me in an interview last week on my radio program. "If you don't make a conscious decision to do so, to make time to 'not' talk about the spill, to not worry about it, it will consume you."

Today, at the LITE center, Ott will bring that message to a full house for a Q&A that will follow a screening of the 2009 film, Black Wave: The Legacy of the Exxon Valdez, which features Ott prominently.

For more information, read this Daily Advertiser report.

In other news, the investigations continue in Washington D.C. and here at home.

In Kenner, La., representatives of the federal Minerals Management Service -- the agency responsible for policing deep sea oil rigs such as the BP Horizon -- were grilled by officials yesterday for an absolute lack of oversight.

In testimony Wednesday, Coast Guard Capt. Hung Nguyen, asking about the relationship between MMS and the industry, said -- "Designed to industry standard, manufactured by the industry and installed by the industry, with no government witnessing or oversight of construction or installation, is that correct?"

"That would be correct," said Michael Saucier, MMS's regional supervisor for field operations in the Gulf of Mexico. Read today's Wall Street Journal for the full story.

And, here are the three best stories on the Horizon tragedy published today, Thursday, May 13, 2010:

BP says it's closer to a solution -- NY Times

Video of leak released; BP looks forward -- Mobile Press-Register

As BP stumbles, Feds step up response and responsibility -- CS Monitor

Does Big Oil need a dose of Bush Doctrine?

2010-05-10T07:29:00.000-07:00

Three weeks after the BP Horizon explosion, as oil begins to lap at the coast of Louisiana, so too do answers seem ready to emerge from the foamy surf.

In the days following the explosion several engineers I talked to speculated that a dangerous gas, possibly methane, caused the deadly blast. That story has been all but officially confirmed by the federal government and BP this weekend.

But it's really only half the story.

Congress, Big Oil and their lobbyists should accept much of the blame, too -- both for the loss of life and the eventual billions in lost revenue and cleanup costs.

As the world watches, Republicans and Democrats continue to fight over the virtues of "drill baby drill." But perhaps it's another famous Sarah Palin moment we should harken back to, and that is the Bush doctrine, which she had trouble defining in that epic interview with Charles Gibson.

The Bush Doctrine posits that the United States has the right to anticipatory self-defense, or, more specifically, to engage in preemptive strikes against a country we fear might harm us.

At the risk of sounding like a Big Government advocate, maybe it's time we took that approach toward Big Oil. The Bush Doctrine, I believe, is grounded in a simple, Texas adage -- "You can pay me now, or pay me later."

Unfortunately, when it comes to Big Oil they almost always choose later. For example:

The Deepwater Horizon cost $365 million to build -- for an additional $500,000 or for 1.3 percent more -- BP could have installed a remote shutoff valve like those required in the Netherlands since 1993. You think they wish they had that to do all over again?

In 2005. when BP spent some 40 million on 38 skimmers, they could have outfitted each skimmer with the proper gear -- pumps, hydraulics and brushes -- to clean up to 16,000 gallons of oil an hour. Instead, BP chose the less effective equipment that pumped half that, or about 8,000 gallons an hour. All to save about $1.5 million, according to the CEO of the firm that built the gear and sold it to BP at the time.

And finally, in January, a federal jury in Texas ordered BP to pay $100 million to 10 workers sickened by toxic chemicals at its Texas City plant. Plaintiffs in the suit had originally sought $10,000 -- yes, Ten Thousand Dollars each -- but after BP refused to budge from their offer of $500, they went to court and lost. Another low-ball gamble, perhaps?

BP and others in the oil and gas industry need a little dose of the Bush Doctrine.

As a country, we cannot afford to take the chance that BP hurts us again. We must, out of self defense, act now. We must launch a preemptive strike. One that will protect our country, our shoreline, and, frankly, our oil and gas industry, for years to come.

We must require, not encourage, that rigs and platforms in the USA are the safest in the world -- by enforcing laws already on the books, by writing new laws to plug loopholes, and by moving up deadlines for long-overdue safety measures, such as the requirement of double hull tankers.

Because, throughout its history, there is one inescapable fact: BP and Big Oil – like an alcoholic who cannot rationally assess his sickness – needs to be protected – from itself.

BP may not think so. It may be mad at us for a while and may not want to play. But some day, like a scolded child to a tough-love parent, it will come back to us and thank us for – and this is key – ordering it (not just pointing the way) in the right direction.

Lou Rom, an award-winning journalist, with over 2,000 articles published, hosts Lou Rom Live weekdays from 4-6 pm on KVOL1330. Contact him at kvolou@yahoo.com

Here are three of the best stories on the BP Horizon oil spill published today, Monday, May 10:

Experts brace for worst -- Miami Herald

Gulf Oil Spill: An Accident Waiting to Happen -- Yale E360

BP Stockholder sues Company Execs -- Mobile Press-Register

Feds' ignored own regulations, further endangering Gulfcoast

2010-05-07T11:13:00.000-07:00

The federal government likely could have contained the Deepwater Horizon oil spill had it followed its own guidelines drafted in 1994, according to a response expert who helped draft the documents 16 years ago.

Ron Gouguet, former NOAA oil spill response coordinator, told Beyond Horizon today that official guidelines called for fire booms (used for burns) to be on hand along the Gulf Coast to respond to a major oil spill.

Unfortunately, the government, on April 20 – the day the Deepwater Horizon exploded – had none on hand.

"I was disappointed when I read that (the federal government) didn't have the booms available, since they are particularly well suited for getting the oil right at the source," said Gouguet, a New Orleans native.

The 1994 regulations also gave the federal government, and responders, "pre-approval" to conduct a burn, according to Gouguet. It was eight days before the feds conducted their first test burn.

"We decided then that we wanted to have (pre-approval) done so when an event occurs you don't have to go out and get all these clearances,"he said.

Gouguet made a point to say that during the brief time Horizon was still afloat a burn would have been less effective.

"While it was still floating, you couldn't do much more than use dispersants," he said, adding that "each tool needs to be used for the right problem."

Still, Gouguet said that the fire boom could have captured up to 95 percent of the oil as it gushed from the leak and that the main response weapon now -- skimmers -- are quite ineffective.

Days after the explosion, the federal government purchased one fire boom from Elastec Marine, an Illinois company.

According to Elastec's CFO Jeff Bohleber, a single fire boom can burn up to 75,000 gallons of oil an hour.

"It should have been part of the initial response," Bohleber said, suggesting that it is possible the spill could have been contained without it ever reaching shore.

Phone calls to Unified Command, the Coast Guard and Minerals Management Service were not answered and, interestingly enough, no voice mailbox had been set up for the numbers available to the public.

Two BP officials -- press office manager Carolyn Copland and press officer Mark Salt -- refused to answer any questions from Beyond Horizon, advising me to contact Unified Command.

Here are three of the best stories on the BP Horizon oil spill published today, Friday, May 7:

BP Horizon survivors tell of fateful night -- Washington Post

Regulators deferred to Big Oil on safety -- NY Times

Shock, dismay, delay: How Congress responds to disaster -- St. Petersburg Times

BP's Response Plan: Separating Myth from Reality

2010-05-06T20:52:00.000-07:00

In its Initial Exploration Plan for the Deepwater Horizon, filed with the federal Minerals Management Service, BP claimed to have at least a dozen skimmers on hand in the Gulf of Mexico to respond to an oil spill.

Those skimmers, according to a Rom Report review, could clean up to 14,000 barrels of oil/water a day.

Which begs the question, if those skimmers were in place and were dispatched to the spill area -- and only 5,000 barrels a day are leaking from the riser -- then why is there an oil slick the size of Rhode Island floating on the Gulf of Mexico?

Representatives from BP declined to answer that question today and phone calls to Unified Command were not returned.

Based on BP's plan, the skimmers and other cleanup equipment such as dispersant were ready in two Louisiana cities -- Belle Chase and New Iberia. Port Fourchon and Morgan City were to serve as staging areas for a response.

Two companies, National Response Corporation and Marine Spill Response Corporation were to serve as primary responders or “primes” as per the plan, providing manpower and equipment.

Steve Candito, president of NRC, told The Rom Report on Wednesday that in addition to the equipment his company had staged, several subcontractors had more skimmers and much more dispersant -- up to 100,000 gallons of Corexit, in fact.

He said that "in ideal conditions" one gallon of Corexit could clean up to 100 gallons of oil.

Officials with Marine Spill Response Corporation confirmed with the Rom Report that they had the following equipment in place in Houma when the Horizon exploded on April 20:

1 Queensboro Skimmer, capable of collecting and storing up to 990 barrels of oil a day.

1 Shallow Water Barge

2 Shallow Water push boats

50 ft. boom

When asked about the small amount of boom, they declined to answer any questions. In Belle Chase, BP, through prime contractor NRC, had the following equipment ready to respond:

1 belt skimmer, capable of collecting and storing up to 24,000 barrels of oil a day
1 vacuum skimmer, used primarily on beaches, capable of collecting and storing up to 6,800 barrels of oil a day.
200 inflatable sweeps

In Morgan City, BP had the following equipment ready to respond:

7 skimmers capable of collecting and storing up to 14,000 barrels of oil a day.
42 Solid, 1800 units
Fire Boom, 500 'linear feet
2,400 gallons of dispersant, which could help clean up to 240,000 barrels of oil in ideal conditions.

Of that, 1,100 gallons of concentrated dispersant could treat, in ideal conditions, up to 550,000 gallons of oil.

In addition, while not stated in the plan, NRC had the following equipment in New Iberia and Sulphur ready to respond:

1 Disk Skimmer, capacity, 1,400 barrels per day
1 Vikoma skimmer, capacity, 2,100 barrels day
2 vacuum skimmers, for beach cleanup, combined capacity, 14,000 barrels per day

Earlier in the day, David Rainey, BP’s vice president of exploration for the Gulf of Mexico, said the company is poised to make significant progress toward what he expected would be a successful cleanup.

“We are determined to make this the best oil spill response the world has ever seen, ”Hayward told members of the House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment during a three-hour long meeting

While visiting with lawmakers, the Coast Guard confirmed that a thin sheen of oil had reached the Chandeleur Islands -- barrier reef islands off the southeast tip of Louisiana.

Lou Rom, an award-winning journalist, with over 2,000 articles published, hosts Lou Rom Live weekdays from 4-6 pm on KVOL1330. Contact him at kvolou@yahoo.com

Here are three of the best stories on the BP Horizon oil spill published today, Thursday, May 6:

BP Chief sees progress in containing spill -- NY Times

Gulf oil leak containment strategy never used in such deep water before - Times Picayune

Long road back for Alaska region hit by Exxon Valdez spill -- WSJ