"Heavier Oil Flow Threatens Louisiana's Sensitive Barrier Islands" PBS Newshour Transcript 5/25/2010
(Newshour video at link)
Excerpt
JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour): With the situation in the Gulf of Mexico remaining grim and amid concerns that the oil spill may be getting worse, the White House announced today President Obama will travel to the region on Friday. At the same time, internal investigations by BP and by the government raised new questions.
The latest sign of trouble came from live video of the oil spewing a mile below the surface. It appeared darker, suggesting less natural gas and more heavy oil may be escaping into the ocean. That would signal even more difficult days for beaches and marshes already damaged.
But BP played down the change in the oil flow as only temporary. The company's latest map projections show the oil expanding its spread. A Florida State researcher estimated it's now as large as Maryland and Delaware combined. And video from 20 miles off Louisiana gave grave testimony to what's going on below the surface.
Photographer Matt Ferraro made a dive on Monday.
MATT FERRARO, director of photography, Ocean Futures Society: I was surrounded by oil. I thought there would be more fish. And, you know, when you're traveling across the ocean on a boat, you see all kinds of life -- birds, dolphins, things like that.
JUDY WOODRUFF: In the meantime, BP said its siphoning operation is collecting much more oil now, after two days of falling totals. At the same time, use of the chemical Corexit 9500 to break up the oil was cut back.
The Environmental Protection Agency ordered BP to find something less toxic. But White House energy adviser Carol Browner said today there may not be many other good options.
CAROL BROWNER, assistant to the president for energy and climate change: As it turns out, there are not as many being manufactured as people thought in the quantities that are needed. What EPA did yesterday was direct BP to use less of this dispersant while they continue to study what other alternatives may be available.
JUDY WOODRUFF: While that search is under way, engineers continued preparing the so-called top kill procedure to seal the blown-out well. BP said it could happen tomorrow or later.
The oil giant also reported its findings on what went wrong back in April, when the oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank, and the spill began. The report pointed at the failure of the blowout preventer, owned by Transocean, and the cementing of the wellhead, performed by Halliburton.
BP's chief executive, Tony Hayward, stopped short of directly assigning blame. Instead, he said -- quote -- "A number of companies are involved, including BP, and it is simply too early and not up to us to say who is at fault"
Separately, the U.S. Interior Department reported numerous rule violations by staffers for the federal Minerals Management Service in Louisiana. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar called it "deeply disturbing" and -- quote -- "further evidence of the cozy relationship between some in MMS and the industry it regulates."
JUDY WOODRUFF: And, on a somber note, family and friends held a memorial service in Jackson, Mississippi, for 11 oil workers killed on the Deepwater Horizon.
JIM LEHRER (Newshour): The dangers to the marshlands and the coastline have increased as higher levels of oil are reaching the wetlands around Plaquemines Parish in Louisiana.
And that's where, tonight, "NewsHour" correspondent Tom Bearden filed his latest report.
TOM BEARDEN: This is one of the many small barrier islands off the Louisiana coast that are threatened by the oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. Brown pelicans crowd on to the tiny bit of land that stands only a few feet above sea level. The birds nearly went extinct in the early '70s because of DDT. Their numbers surged after a restoration program, enough to take them off the endangered species list.
But now their nesting ground is in danger. The booms that surround the island are supposed to keep the oil away, but they haven't been entirely successful.
DAVE CVITANOVICH, resident of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana: A lot of pelicans lying over there.
TOM BEARDEN: Dave Cvitanovich spent most of his life in these waters. He's working with the Plaquemines Parish as a consultant on the oil spill.
Does it look like there's a lot of oil on shore?
DAVE CVITANOVICH: Yes, sir. Yes, over there on that point. And you can see on this white boom how it's collected, how it's become dirty. And these booms, all those white cotton-looking booms, very clean, and these booms were deployed yesterday morning. And they have soaked up very well. The thing about it, how much more oil is coming?
"Jindal demands accounting for oil spill" by JOSEPH GOODMAN, Sun Herald 5/24/2010
U.S. Cabinet officials charged with overseeing the Gulf of Mexico oil spill met with Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal and other state and local officials today in southern Louisiana, less than 24 hours after Jindal demanded more help from the federal government to protect his state's delicate and complicated coastline. Solidarity between the federal government and Louisiana is being tested as heavy crude oil begins to lap upon beaches and damage wetlands. With Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano standing by his side, Jindal said during a press conference that "we need to make the federal government accountable."
Meanwhile, the messages of Napolitano and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar continued direct blame at BP. "We came to see what BP has done and not done," Napolitano said. "We continue to hold BP responsible as the responsible party, but we are on them watching them." Napolitano said that a government-run leak-estimate committee has been been created to determine how much oil has spilled into the Gulf. "We have formed an independent estimates group with the best scientists available within the federal government with peer reviews by others to estimate how much oil overall BP has now spilled," Napalitano said.
Salazar said the president's directive is clear.
"We have a pause in place and so until we make another announcement that the President will make some time in the future we are bringing things to a halt to learn some of the lessons putting safety measures in place and decide how we are going to move forward," Salazar said. "This President has always been thoughtful and he wants to make sure we are getting it right. The lessons from this will be learned."
UPDATE
"BP Moves Ahead with Tricky 'Top Kill' Procedure to Stop Oil Leak" PBS Newshour 5/26/2010 See this IMPORTANT video
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