Tar ball fingerprinting

Captains,

Did you know oil has a finger print? The USCG Marine Safety Lab in New London CT eliminated the Deepwater Horizon well as the source of the tar balls found in Key West. Here's how they do it:

The Oil Identification System (OIS), developed during the mid-1970s at the Coast Guard Research and Development Center, is based on a multi-method approach to "fingerprinting" oils. In 1978, the Central Oil Identification Laboratory (COIL) was established as the operating facility to implement the OIS. In 1988, COIL was renamed the Marine Safety Laboratories (MSL), and in 1996 Marine Safety Laboratories became Marine Safety Laboratory. OIS is designed to determine the unique, intrinsic chemical properties of oils via analytical techniques and establish whether or not a common source relationship exists between samples of spilled oil and samples of oil from a suspected source.

The USCG MSL is just one of the little known resources that have aided the response in the Gulf of Mexico.

RADM W

Deepwater Horizon well control operations

Captains,

Well control operations following the MODU Deepwater Horizon accident have been compared to NASA's Apollo 13 accident operations. Leading engineers from BP and throughout the industry assembled in Houston for the unprecedented task of mitigating the outflow and ultimately stopping the flow from the well head which is a mile below the surface of the sea. Coast Guard Marine Safety Center and Minerals Management Service engineers are overseeing these activities. Marine professionals working above the well head are constantly exposed to the volatile organic compounds rising from the well as they maneuver remotely operated vehicles and specially designed tools to contain the outflow and seal off the well.

A riser insertion tool was installed at the open end of the 1500' long riser pipe yesterday and is currently working to bring some of the outflow to ships on the surface. A top-kill operation to stop the outflow at the well head itself will be tried next. In the mean time sub-surface dispersants are being applied with remotely operated vehicles to help reduce the amount of oil and volatile organic compounds from rising to the work area above the well.

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Deepwater Horizon oil spill shoreline ops

Captains,

Shoreline protection and cleanup is the last defense for oil spill responders. Ideally no oil will come ashore. Unfortunately some already has landed on the barrier islands in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama - mostly in the form of tar balls. Protective booming of sensitive shorelines and beach cleanup of tar balls and emulsified ribbons of oil has already begun.

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Deepwater Horizon oil spill boom ops

Captains,

About 2 million feet of oil spill boom has been ordered and deployed to be used for collecting oil or protecting the shorelines of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. The logistics, equipment and manpower associated with the Deepwater Horizon response boom operations is unprecedented.

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Deepwater Horizon oil spill mapping and planning

Captains,

The National Incident Commander for the Deepwater Horizon response is USCG Commandant Admiral Thad Allen. RADM Mary Landry and I have been in Louisiana performing the Federal On-Scene Coordinator function. BP and Transocean are active Responsible Parties in accordance with the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.

Thanks to modern imagery and mapping, the command and control during the Deepwater Horizon response has been excellent so far.

RADM W

Deepwater Horizon oil spill tactics

Captains

The offshore oil spill response tactics include using vessels of opportunity for skimming, USAF C-130s for aerial dispursants, and in-situ burn booms to corral high concentrations of oil for burning. These photos illustrate the various ongoing operations to reduce the quantity of oil that has been discharged into the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi Canyon 252 well site.

RADM W

Deepwater Horizon oil spill operations

Captains,

Tens of thousands of barrels of crude oil have surfaced from the exposed well head and severed riser that the MODU Deepwater Horizon had been drilling before it burned and sank. The oil spill response during the last three weeks has been one of the largest in history. Offshore operations include skimming, mechanical recovery, burning, and aerial application of dispersants.

Thousands of barrels of the escaping crude has been recovered or burned. Much more has been disbursed either naturally or with the application of oil dispersants. The remaining oil is becoming a reddish emulsification which threatens the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico. Hence the urgency to recover or burn as much as possible at sea.

RADM W

Deepwater Horizon accident

Captains,

I was dispatched to the Deepwater Horizon response Unified Area Command post in Robert LA on April 29 and continue to serve there as Deputy Federal On-Scene Coordinator with RADM Mary Landry. Yesterday, we finally received good news that the outflow of crude oil from the severed riser is being diverted into an injection tube an flowing to a surface ship. It had been free flowing for 3 weeks since the MODU Deepwater Horizon sank about 50 miles southeast of the Mississippi Delta in the Gulf of Mexico.

I hope to post a series on the Deepwater Horizon incident and our response and investigation. This incident is likely to have far reaching consequences for maritime professionals working in the offshore, deep water drilling, oil spill response, and Gulf of Mexico fishing industries.

Let us never forget the 11 brave workers on the MODU Deepwater Horizon who lost their lives in the explosion following the uncontrolled blowout on that occurred on 19 April 2010.

RADM W