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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Belize Trip Report Video

Countering Somali pirates

Captains,

Just a year since the Maersk Alabama incident, additional U.S. Government efforts to thwart piracy off Somalia were revealed this week. President Obama issued an Executive Order which includes certain named Somali pirates to whom it will now be illegal to pay ransoms or support in any way. The E.O. is "not targeted at the entire country of Somalia, but rather is intended to target those who threaten peace and stability in Somalia" and specified that "acts of piracy or armed robbery at sea off the coast of Somalia threaten the peace, security or stability".

In the mean time, 5 suspected Somali pirates captured on April 1 are being brought into the U.S. justice system after they actually opened fire on the USS Nicholas.

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April 13, 2010 Washington (CNN) -- Five suspected Somali pirates accused of attacking a U.S. Navy ship could be sent to the United States to face criminal proceedings, according to U.S. military officials.

This is only the second time U.S. authorities have brought pirate suspects from Somalia to the United States to possibly face trial.

The five are being held aboard the USS Nicholas -- the guided-missile frigate they are accused of attacking -- off the Horn of Africa and will be transferred to Department of Justice authority in the coming days, officials said.

Although the United States worked with Kenya to create a system to try pirate suspects in that country, the Kenyan government told Washington that its court system is overburdened and cannot accept more cases.