New Orleans, Louisiana. US officials on Wednesday approved a “controlled burn” to protect ecologically fragile coastlines from a spreading oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico, as the coast guard warned the deadly disaster could become one of the worst spills in US history.
The drastic move to set the sea on fire is seen as necessary after a giant slick growing by 42,000 gallons a day moved within 30 kilometers of Louisiana’s wetlands — an important sanctuary for waterfowl and other wildlife.
Southern states, including Florida, Alabama and Mississippi are bracing for the possibility that economically crucial beaches and fisheries could be gunked up as early as this weekend by oily ooze from a huge slick with a 965-kilometer circumference.
“The area commander has approved a plan for an in situ burn and they are talking to partners in the community and industry,” Coast Guard spokesman Tom Atkeson said.
The burning of oil captured in kilometers of inflatable containment booms floated to protect the shore could present its own environmental problems, sending huge plumes of toxic black smoke into the sky and leaving mucky residue in the sea.
Efforts by BP, which leased the Deepwater Horizon platform that sank into the ocean last week, failed on Tuesday to cap two leaks in a riser pipe that had connected the rig to the wellhead, despite the operation of four robotic submarines some 1,500 meters down on the seabed.
As a back-up, engineers are frantically constructing a giant dome, the first of its kind, that could be placed over the leaks to try and stop the oil from spreading as some 1,000 barrels of oil per day pours from the ruptured pipe.
“I am going to say right up front: The BP efforts to secure the blowout preventer have not yet been successful,” Rear Admiral Mary Landry said on Tuesday, referring to a 450-metric-ton machine that could seal the well.
Asked to compare the accident to the notorious 1989 Exxon Valdez oil tanker disaster, Landry declined but said: “If we don’t secure the well, yes, this will be one of the most significant oil spills in US history.”
The US government promised a “comprehensive and thorough investigation” into the explosion that sank the platform and pledged “every resource” to help stave off an environmental disaster.
The rig, which BP leases from Houston-based contractor Transocean, went down last Thursday some 200 kilometers southeast of New Orleans, still burning off crude two days after a blast that killed 11 workers.
BP has sent a flotilla of 49 skimmers, tugs, barges, and recovery boats to mop up the spill, but their efforts have been hampered by strong winds and high seas.
Northwest winds blowing the oil away from Louisiana were predicted to keep the slick from reaching shore through Thursday at least.
A rig is on standby to start drilling two relief wells that could divert the oil flow to new pipes and storage vessels.
But BP officials say the relief wells will take up to three months to drill, and with oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico at the rate of 42,000 gallons a day, the dome is seen as a better interim bet.
US Coast Guard spokesman Prentice Danner said the dome would take two to four weeks to build.
The drastic move to set the sea on fire is seen as necessary after a giant slick growing by 42,000 gallons a day moved within 30 kilometers of Louisiana’s wetlands — an important sanctuary for waterfowl and other wildlife.
Southern states, including Florida, Alabama and Mississippi are bracing for the possibility that economically crucial beaches and fisheries could be gunked up as early as this weekend by oily ooze from a huge slick with a 965-kilometer circumference.
“The area commander has approved a plan for an in situ burn and they are talking to partners in the community and industry,” Coast Guard spokesman Tom Atkeson said.
The burning of oil captured in kilometers of inflatable containment booms floated to protect the shore could present its own environmental problems, sending huge plumes of toxic black smoke into the sky and leaving mucky residue in the sea.
Efforts by BP, which leased the Deepwater Horizon platform that sank into the ocean last week, failed on Tuesday to cap two leaks in a riser pipe that had connected the rig to the wellhead, despite the operation of four robotic submarines some 1,500 meters down on the seabed.
As a back-up, engineers are frantically constructing a giant dome, the first of its kind, that could be placed over the leaks to try and stop the oil from spreading as some 1,000 barrels of oil per day pours from the ruptured pipe.
“I am going to say right up front: The BP efforts to secure the blowout preventer have not yet been successful,” Rear Admiral Mary Landry said on Tuesday, referring to a 450-metric-ton machine that could seal the well.
Asked to compare the accident to the notorious 1989 Exxon Valdez oil tanker disaster, Landry declined but said: “If we don’t secure the well, yes, this will be one of the most significant oil spills in US history.”
The US government promised a “comprehensive and thorough investigation” into the explosion that sank the platform and pledged “every resource” to help stave off an environmental disaster.
The rig, which BP leases from Houston-based contractor Transocean, went down last Thursday some 200 kilometers southeast of New Orleans, still burning off crude two days after a blast that killed 11 workers.
BP has sent a flotilla of 49 skimmers, tugs, barges, and recovery boats to mop up the spill, but their efforts have been hampered by strong winds and high seas.
Northwest winds blowing the oil away from Louisiana were predicted to keep the slick from reaching shore through Thursday at least.
A rig is on standby to start drilling two relief wells that could divert the oil flow to new pipes and storage vessels.
But BP officials say the relief wells will take up to three months to drill, and with oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico at the rate of 42,000 gallons a day, the dome is seen as a better interim bet.
US Coast Guard spokesman Prentice Danner said the dome would take two to four weeks to build.
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