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New Oil Leak Reported as Barge Crashes Into Oil Well in Gulf of Mexico
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana - The US Coast Guard dispatched emergency teams Tuesday after a boat crashed into an oil well off the coast of New Orleans, reportedly sending crude spewing some 20 feet into the air.
The wellhead, located about 65 miles (104 kilometers) south of New Orleans, was ruptured when it was struck by a dredge barge being pulled by a tug.
The Coast Guard said it could not immediately confirm reports that a giant fountain of oil was now spewing from the damaged wellhead, which was situated only six feet (1.8 meters) below the surface of the sea.
A strike Coast Guard team from Mobile, Alabama had been dispatched by boat to the scene as well as a helicopter from New Orleans with a marine pollution investigator on board.
"There have been reports of oil from the elision and we are investigating those reports to mitigate any environmental concerns," petty officer William Colclough, a Coast Guard spokesman, told AFP.
"The oil spill liability trust fund has been enacted to provide monetary support for any clean-up operation."
Unrelated to the massive gusher recently capped by BP deep down on the seabed, the incident did occur in a nearby part of the Gulf of Mexico and could require clean-up vessels to be redeployed if reports are confirmed.
37 Comments so far
Show Allkatrine:
See my questions above to your post at 12:55 am.
Please add to them a request for some more technical detail on what you are saying in this post.
Thanks
Wow what a break for BP! Now BP can claim that all the oil in the GOM came from this accident. All your claims against BP are now summarily dismissed.
There's also this: "Battle Creek oil spill among largest in Midwest history"--1 million gallons, or almost 24,000 barrels. http://www.detnews.com/article/20100727/METRO/7270395/U.S.-Rep.-Schauer--Oil-spill-near-Battle-Creek-
largest-in-Midwest-history
Well at least it's all going to end up in Lake Michigan. It's not like there were any fish left there anyway. So sad.
"Mitigate any environmental concerns"?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Yup, you betcha. I feel a lot better now about the Gulf. The Deepwater Horizon deluge and the goddamn gong show of getting it fixed is ensuring that the Gulf is worse than a redneck bar toilet for more or less ever, but they're all over this one, so please don't be alarmed.
Exactly who in the name of Christ are all these arseholes that we have to hear from every day on these events?
It appears that the "Drill, baby, drill" chant will need to be changed to "Spill, baby spill."
LOL oh man. They really know how to kill the gulf don't they. It's gonna be raining oil for years lol. Goodbye USA.
The bad news is that they are not only in the USA waters. They blew a huge well in Indonesia last year, and two bad spills are in these islands from a recent typhoon.
There's just no escaping the slime from Big Oil CEO's and their caviler indifference to the shores and waters of the world. There are just so many crooks and monopolists, robber barons and resource raiders in the world today; It's a tsunami of corruption. We've got to get it under control.
Maybe we should do like in the old West and put up "WANTED: Dead or Alive: These CEO's. Reward: One Million Dollars leading to the arrest and conviction of these bankers and Defense Contractors who stole from the US Treasury.
TJ
LOL I'm rolling around on the floor ! There is also a big pipe leaking in Michigan, so three oil disasters all going at once....uh....I wonder if anyone is going to get it ! I hope the people can see, that the OIL is telling us, that this just isn't a good idea anymore! Everyone in this Country could have a JOB, if we just stopped the WARS, and spent our money changeing the entire Country over to Wind, and Solar Power, have Scientist, and Universities all working on the problems, with cars, Home heating etc. The type of JOBS this would generate would be across the board. Something for everyone. They can be good paying JOBS. We would need people anywhere from Scientist, to Engineers, Electricians, Builders, Artists, Office Workers, Drivers, Sanatation. Sales, anything you can imagine. We can stay home and build our bridges back up to safer standards. Instead of this being the worse time for America we can turn this into the Best time for America. We need to pull together and work on our Country. We can stop bullying the Mexicans, because they are NOT why we don't have jobs, The Rich White Man, the Boss. The American, he is the one that got rich on your backs, and then, wanting even more money, he sent Your Jobs to Foriegn Countries, for slave labor,also so he wouldn't have to pay taxes here in his own Country ! There are so many ways we can turn this all around. After all we are Yankees and Rebels that's how the world see's us. We always have done things to the extreme ! Let's pull together,and vote every person out of office that voted for Big Corporations Emmissions Bill, Iraq War, Lower taxes for the rich, Attacks on Iran using Isreal, No Regulation, Bank Bailouts, No Universal Healthcare, whatever if they didn't vote the way they should have then lets get rid of them ! Also we need to reel the Congress and Senaters in, get rid of Lobbying ! Anyways "THREE OIL SPILLS in AMERICA " If that isn't someone trying to tell us all something then I don't know what would be. Last month there was a big Natural Gas explosion in Texas actually two of them. This is no future, this is no way to live. this is stupid, and irrisponsible.We must start acting like the Greatest Country on Earth like we used to be....We still are, we were just led astray, and we followed, but we don't have to anymore. The American People are better than that !
This really helps in determining the source of polluting oil. The last word asked in a court of law: So who's oil is it?
This is just too convenient for BP.
Oh, no the Europeans are even getting further behind in saving the earth. Myself, and mine had fun today. Drove around our European visitor's Nation getting stuff we needed to do done. Had some lunch. Visited friends. Nice evening tonight.
Who knows maybe tomorrow you'll have the earth saved and maybe not? Sure wouldn't lay any bets in Vegas of that happening anytime soon.
Life is good. What an experience! It's always best to forgive.
Doesn't the car you drove around in use oil? or did you use a horse wagon?
Sure does use oil. Your one bright person. I am amazed at how bright you are with that question. Even need to get an oil change for one of our vehicles. Our vehicles are a necessity in the Europeans modern day world. We no longer live like the Tribes used to live upon the earth.
Got insurance on our vehicles an everything. Do you have some problem with those things that you would like to discuss with me at all as I live my life in your pay your bills and die world?
A woman of European heritage talked to me about something she called Saving The Earth 23 years ago. If I had been sitting I would have fallen out of my chair and rolled around on the floor laughing.
Did the computer you used to reply to me use electricity, duh? What are you going to do go out in the wilderness and live with the earth like the Tribes used to live without your money and stores?
I am not going to lay any bets on that happening in Vegas.
Life is good. What an experience! It's always best to forgive.
A hopeless situation gets hopelesser. But let's not stop drilling, we need the jobs!
We must stop drilling at least so much. We can create millions of jobs, building a whole new system all around this Country. The types of jobs that we would need are endless.If we stop these terrible wars and used our money to reconstruct the infrastructure of this great Country of ours, there would be plenty of jobs. Big oil just keeps telling you that we need them but we don't. When they did the New Deal after the Depresion they put that stuff together overnite and had Americans working and we can do it again. All our highways and bridges need rebuilding. We must get away from oil. Sure we will need some but only a portion of what we use today.
Ray Berthiaume
I find it amazing that the media continues to use the term "spill."
Oil, oil everywhere
Oil, oil in your hair
Renewable solar, wind, tidal, geothermal energy now!
About a week ago Google signed a 20 year contract to purchase electrical power from a NextEra wind farm. Some companies do seem to get it. Time to move beyond oil and coal.
katrine:
You seem to be rather well-versed on this stuff. Could you elucidate a bit about establishing liability and allocating funds and who has to do what in what order, and under what law? Also, you stated above that it was a shut down well. How do you know, and what's the significance of that?
Thanks.
"I find it creepy how you're popping out of nowhere and pressuring me for responses. There's no point in approaching me again because I won't respond. The only reason I've replied this time is to state my case and parameters. So in other words, get lost."
Translation, katrine doesn't want to prove her allegations with proof or evidence so her answer is to get lost or lie about names. How "progressive" of "katrine". NOT !
What in the heck do these guys mean, "clean up operation?" I don't see how millions of barrels of oil can get cleaned up. It's everywhere it shouldn't be, and it's not cleanable...and how in the hell do they think people are just going to take money and shut up about it?
What in the heck do these guys mean, "clean up operation?" I don't see how millions of barrels of oil can get cleaned up. It's everywhere it shouldn't be, and it's not cleanable...and how in the hell do they think people are just going to take money and shut up about it?
We should send for Dr Leaky. Maybe he can explain our aptitude for destroying our environment.
Now is the time: GREEN, BABY, GREEN!
Please, Barton of Texas, Corporates et al, no more of the "We need the jobs,." They're all going to China anyway.
If only we could enter a wormhole and return to a saner time.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Radio Address, April 1938:
"Not only our future economic soundness, but the very soundness of our democratic institutions depends on the determination of our Government to give employment to idle men. ( update for FDR, idle women too.)
"here have been reports of oil from the elision" ??
What in hell's name have unstressed vowels got to do with oil leaks?
Do they mean "collision" or am I spectacularly dense today and missing something?
Yeah, Sanctuary, it must be "collision." Me thinks, being French, it was mistranslated.
The whole Oil Industry is out of control. Starting Wars, dictating to the Coast Guard and the government..... No body of water is safe anymore.
I'm glad I'm getting old. I'd really hate to see this Chit hole Earth in 2050......
Are there no blow-out preventers on the shallow wells? All the more reason to stop all drilling until proven technology is in place to prevent this kind of event.
As a few other posters indicated, this is a gift for bp and their droves of lawyers. This oil mixing with their oil... "It's their oil, not ours..."
I wouldn't doubt that bp paid someone to do this. Maybe it was Tony Hayward escaping in the dark of night in his yacht. As he was counting his bonus dollars, he ran into the well.