Gulf of Mexico oil spill cleanup expected to remain on hold another day

High seas and strong winds associated with Hurricane Alex brought the effort to mop up oil in the Gulf of Mexico to a halt Wednesday, and the cleanup effort was expected to remain on hold for at least another day until weather conditions improved.

Oily waves come ashore in Orange Beach, Ala., on Wednesday, made larger by winds associated with Hurricane Alex.
While Hurricane Alex wasn't expected to tear through the spill site in the Gulf of Mexico as it made landfall in northern Mexico, the storm kicked up waves and winds Wednesday strong enough to force the suspension of oil skimming and burning as well as aerial dispersent usage, the three methods currently used to battle oil on the water's surface, according to Coast Guard Rear Adm. Paul Zukunft.

The storm also displaced the boom used to protect the shoreline, raising the prospect that areas along the Louisiana coast that had not been sullied with oil soon might.
Officials announced earlier this week that the storm's strong waves had also delayed plans to ramp up the oil containment effort at the well head.
"We've been held hostage here for the last two days by the prevailing weather," Zukunft said. "The weather has really impeded our effort to make a steadily aggressive recovery effort."
Winds were at 25 knots Wednesday and waves were as high as 10 feet, Zukunft said.
Skimmers, the vessels being used to gather oil on the water's surface, can't operate efficiently in seas higher than about three feet, Zukunft said. When the water gets rougher the vessels collect more water than oil. Similarly, surface burns were suspended because the waves made it impossible to gather enough oil in one area to burn, Zukunft said.

John McCusker, The Times-Picayune
Boom rests on a sandbar in Caminada Baby near Grand Isle on Wednesday. Surf and wind associated with Hurricane Alex drove the booms up on the beach rendering them useless.
Officials also decided to suspend use of aerial dispersant, chemicals that have been used to dilute the oil and speed up its disintegration. High winds have made that option unavailable because it's more difficult to target the spray.
With those efforts suspended Zukunft said he was concerned that oil would move into areas where boom and skimmers had previously been able to keep it from, particularly Barataria Bay. Before weather conditions worsened oil had been traveling toward Panama City, Fla., but southeasterly winds have shifted the oil more west.
"As we get these higher-sea states what it does is it causes some of that boom to break apart," Zukunft said. "As soon as the weather subsides, we will have a number of personnel out there to re-establish that boom."
While surface efforts to battle the oil flow were stymied, oil collection from the well site and the drilling of relief wells, the latter designed as the ultimate solution for stopping the oil flow, continued Wednesday without interruption.
Zukunft said relief well drilling could continue in seas of up to 15 feet.
Meanwhile, the current containment system captured 17,025 barrels of oil and flared 8,195 barrels Tuesday. The system to collect oil directly from the well consists of two vessels, the Discoverer Enterprise connected to a cap at the top of the well opening and the Q4000 connected to a hose attached to the blowout preventer.
The plan to add a third vessel and containment system has been pushed back until July 7, Zukunft said. The vessel, called the Helix Producer, had been scheduled to be hooked up and collecting oil Wednesday. But engineers are unable to connect it to a floating riser pipe installed on the sea floor because of the waves from Hurricane Alex.
It has the capacity to collect as much as 25,000 barrels of oil per day, double the amount of oil now being corralled before it spills into the sea. The addition of the vessel would increase oil collection capacity to as much as 53,000 barrels each day.
An estimated 35,000 to 60,000 barrels each day are leaking from the well.
A group of senior White House administration officials met with BP officials and a team of scientists Wednesday to discuss ongoing plans to increase oil containment at efforts. .

The meeting included Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, White House advisor Carol Browner and National Incident Commander Thad Allen.
The group is trying to decide whether the benefit of increasing oil collection to as much as 80,000 barrels by upgrading the cap blowout preventer with a tighter-fitting model is worth the risk of having thousands of barrels of oil escape from the well unrestricted during the transition period.
"We're going to have to, at some point, remove the current cap, unbolt that short stubby piece of pipe and put a new cap on," Allen said, referring to the jagged piece of riser pipe left behind after the pipe was cut to make room for the current cap. "During that time, there will be unfettered access from the well bore of oil for some period of time. We want to make sure we know the implications of that, the risks and the trade-offs associated with that and the potential we have to increase production and redundancy moving forward."
Results of the meeting were not announced Wednesday, but representatives from the group are scheduled to meet with President Obama today to review the situation and discuss plans.