Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
From the Shores of Louisiana: Dredging
Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana -- The French-born helicopter pilot zooming low over the Gulf is focused on two things: Whether he can find more fuel in Venice and whether or not the brown streaking we're seeing north of the Chandeleur Islands is oil or just the transition of muddy Mississippi River water mixing with salt water.It's his first day flying out of Plaquemines Parish and, with maps piled on his lap, he admits to being a bit confused by both the landscape zipping past below at 100 mph – over solitary oil rigs, marsh and sand islands and a half-dozen shrimp boats trailing skimmers -- and just how deeply the oil has penetrated up the mouth of the Mississippi.
From five hundred feet above sea level, with a mid-afternoon sun streaking in the window, it is admittedly hard to distinguish oil from muddy water. But when veteran Gulf photographer Gerald Herbert, riding shotgun, points worriedly below, it's clear we are seeing a new stain heading inland, which we estimate to be about 12 miles long.
Everywhere you look in this area where Gulf waters meet fresh water, looking west towards the town of Grand Isle and the entry to Barataria Bay, you see oil.
My goal though is the Chandeleur Islands, about 50 miles off the coast. I want to parallel the length of the small island chain to see just how much oil has surrounded its 50-mile length. The Chandeleurs are the only bits of land standing between the still-gushing oil and landfall and for the past decade, thanks to storms and erosion, have been disappearing at a rate of about 300 feet a year. Now, thanks to the BP spill, the long-ignored islands have become a kind of secondary ground zero in the fight between locals and the federal government over how best to slow the spread of oil.
Gallery: From the Shores of Louisiana: Cleanup Efforts
It's not a great leap to think that if energy had been put into building the islands up over the years to act as better barriers against big storms they'd also be better prepared to act as blockades to all this oil.
Governor Bobby Jindal, Plaquemines Parish president Billy Nunsegger and several other top Louisiana politicos have sent cranes to the islands – which are federally protected wildlife habitats – and not the kind that swoop and soar but the kind that trench and roar.
The federal government has already stopped the plan a couple times, concerned that any hasty digging, sucking and relocating of sand has the potential to do far more harm than good; the locals, led by an increasingly vociferous governor, argue that doing something – anything!! -- Is better than doing nothing.
The local's plan, to be paid for initially with state funds since neither the fed nor BP is backing it, is to suck sand off the bottom of the Gulf and pile it at the ends of the islands, extending their blocking ability. But the Interior Department, as well as several Louisiana environmentalists, contends the work is being done at overly sensitive sections of the island and that building up one end of the island will only weaken the spot where the sand is being taken.
My instinct as we fly over the islands at 2,000 feet – we've had to climb since this is federally protected air space – is that with evidence of oil having arrived yesterday on Lake Ponchatrain in New Orleans (80 miles up the Mississippi River) it seems that the oil has already evaded the barrier islands. Louisiana government statistics suggest that 337 miles of its coastline are now oil-inflicted. Maybe the hundreds of millions Louisiana is attempting to spend to try and block the oil could be better spent on coordinating its clean up.
But Bobby Jindal and team seem to be in a building frenzy; the fed has yesterday stymied another effort to build rock jetties or dikes in the shallow ocean in front of Grand Isle; 75 barges piled high with boulders sit parked on the Mississippi River, waiting the outcome of another squabble. The concern regarding the dike building is what will happen to them once the spill dissipates. If it ever does.
Governor Bobby Jindal, Plaquemines Parish president Billy Nunsegger and several other top Louisiana politicos have sent cranes to the islands – which are federally protected wildlife habitats – and not the kind that swoop and soar but the kind that trench and roar.
The federal government has already stopped the plan a couple times, concerned that any hasty digging, sucking and relocating of sand has the potential to do far more harm than good; the locals, led by an increasingly vociferous governor, argue that doing something – anything!! -- Is better than doing nothing.
The local's plan, to be paid for initially with state funds since neither the fed nor BP is backing it, is to suck sand off the bottom of the Gulf and pile it at the ends of the islands, extending their blocking ability. But the Interior Department, as well as several Louisiana environmentalists, contends the work is being done at overly sensitive sections of the island and that building up one end of the island will only weaken the spot where the sand is being taken.
My instinct as we fly over the islands at 2,000 feet – we've had to climb since this is federally protected air space – is that with evidence of oil having arrived yesterday on Lake Ponchatrain in New Orleans (80 miles up the Mississippi River) it seems that the oil has already evaded the barrier islands. Louisiana government statistics suggest that 337 miles of its coastline are now oil-inflicted. Maybe the hundreds of millions Louisiana is attempting to spend to try and block the oil could be better spent on coordinating its clean up.
But Bobby Jindal and team seem to be in a building frenzy; the fed has yesterday stymied another effort to build rock jetties or dikes in the shallow ocean in front of Grand Isle; 75 barges piled high with boulders sit parked on the Mississippi River, waiting the outcome of another squabble. The concern regarding the dike building is what will happen to them once the spill dissipates. If it ever does.
Filed under: Activism, Arts and Culture, History, Learning, North America, United States, Ecotourism, Consumer Activism
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Thanh T. Aug 3rd 2010 7:29AM
(Sorry I have not posted in a while friends, I took some time off after a tragic death in my family. Hope I can contribute to this discussion.)
Insane Nerds Thinking Past-historical events….
hmmm interesting…
-- In the late 1970’s there was an drilling platform accident in the North Sea which spewed millions of gallons of crude oil into the ocean, the cause of the accident was believed to have been the blowout prevention mechanism, later it was suggested the blowout prevention mechanism was installed incorrectly.
However, the data on the conditions of affected coastlines-environments nearby were lost, not recorded, or never studied. A few years later within the same region, an oil rig collapse due to a bad storm-a severe weather system, (trivia) what was the name of the oil rig?
A) Mick Dundee
B) Alexander Kielland
C) Phillips Petro
D) Paul “Red” Adair
E) None of the above
--In 1543, Spanish Explorers discovered a group of island near the Americas and large amounts of an unknown substance floating on the surface of the water, which was called “seeps or black gold.” Many of the explorers within the region fell ill after a few weeks and later died due to unknown causes, perhaps, by drinking contaminated water or from other unknown circumstances.
The seeps or black oil was believed to have been used to treat ailments, waterproof canoes, to lubricant machines, and provide cheap heating-lighting applications. But how was seeps-black gold collected during this era??? Was there a unique collection method(s)??? Perhaps, Native tribes or the explorers found a specific way to collect this vital resource...
--Hmmmm, interesting...??? (The Space program is at idle for a little while...) I wonder if Engineers at NASA could design new proto-types... UWaves robots (Under-water aquatic viewing and evaluation system) to study marine life-underwater ecosystems for scientific research purposes...?
I’m also curious to see if an old school design can be implemented to help clean up a modern day spill? Old school thinkers vs. new school technology ....(sounds like a new episode for Myth busters on the Discovery Channel...Heehe, just kiddin.)
Thinkers and Technology... (Archimedes screw vs. Skimmers)???
--During the 3rd century BC, one of the greatest minds in science-history designed a unique device which shaped the course of history; this device was known as “Archimedes screw.” Throughout history many designers-creative thinkers studied Archimedes’ inventions to help provide transfer of water, build cities attractions, and develop historical civil engineering projects.
Could an Archimedes’ screw application be implemented to collect large amounts of spewed crude oil in today’s Gulf region and help clean up fragile coastlines???
(An Archimedes’ screw could reach different levels of water within the ocean...water/oil transfer collection method. Archimedes Screw-->holding tank on ship-->separate oil/water or evaporation process-->production products)???
Water/oil could be transferred to a shipping vessel where the mixture be separated?
The oil-water mixture could be evaporated through a natural cycle of progression... (perhaps, by another historical invention-steam engine approach--boil oil/water mixture to produce steam to begin a natural evaporation process or steam to turn Archimedes screw.)??? Is steam better for the environment, an alternative to control burns at sea???
Could Archimedes screw application-design be implemented to pump vital oxygen molecules from the surface of the water down to lower-deeper ocean depths (low oxygen areas in the ocean)?
Hmmm, interesting...still a lot of questions, old school -new school???
Jon Aug 6th 2010 6:36PM
I'm convinced there have been oil spills since man first accidentally discovered fossil fuels below the surface of land and sea. In Louisiana, there are spills on a near-daily basis, which are considered just part of doing business in a state with a $70 billion a year gas and oil industry. But usually the spills are measured in hundreds, maybe thousands of gallons, not millions ....