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Old 06-06-2010, 11:23 AM
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NOAA pulls Fishery Closure zone back westward into the Gulf away from the Dry Tortugas and the Florida Keys while moving it eastward into Florida's Panhandle.



Details: "NOAA Opens 16,000 Square Miles of Fishing Closed Area in Gulf of Mexico
Closes 2,200-square mile stretch
June 4, 2010

NOAA has opened more than 16,000 square miles of previously closed fishing area off the Florida coast. The most significant opening is a 13,653-square mile area just west of the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas. It was initially closed on June 2 as a precaution because oil was projected to be within the area over the next 48 hours. However, the review of satellite imagery, radar and aerial data indicated that oil had not moved into the area.

Additionally, the agency closed a 2,275-square mile area off the Florida panhandle federal-state waterline, extending the northern boundary just east of the western edge of Choctawhatchee Bay. For what it is worth, not much at this point, I was out a couple of miles offshore between Hillsboro Inlet and Hallandale Beach Blvd. yesterday. Fair quantity of sargassum mats but no overt evidence of tar balls or unusual oil slicks. Hope it stays that way."
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories...4_opening.html

...



"Efforts to contain the flood of oil into the Gulf of Mexico showed the first signs of progress as 6,000 barrels of oil were pumped to the surface after the fitting of a containment cap over the blown well, officials said Saturday, but it was an incremental step that offered no guarantees of long-term success.

At a morning news briefing, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, commander of the national response to the disaster, said BP officials still had not closed the four vents of the containment cap, which would allow the well to begin pumping oil to the surface at far greater capacity.

In the meantime, thousands of gallons of oil are flowing into the sea as the massive slick hits shorelines and marshalnd in areas including Louisiana’s fishing towns and Florida’s white-sand beaches, where rust-colored globs are began washing ashore.
Allen said it was crucial to close the vents slowly to avoid putting too much pressure on the cap, which is being held in place with the help of a rubber gasket. “They’re easing the pressure up to the vessel … so they can maintain control of the oil,” said Allen.
As the vents are closed, officials must also ensure that water is not filtering in to mix with the oil and create hydrates, which led to the failure of an initial capping effort last month.
That requires the pumping downward of methanol, meaning officials must maintain a delicate balance at depths of 5,000 feet in conditions that could be disrupted in the event a major storm or hurricane forms. Hurricane season began Tuesday.
Allen said the full closure of the vents and the ramping up of oil production would depend on various conditions.
“They’re making sure they don’t increase the production rate until it is safe to do so,” said Allen. He also noted that the containment cap was only an interim, partial solution that was never guaranteed to fully plug the leak. A cap can only go so far – the only real solution is the completion of two relief wells currently being drilled. When they are finished, it will enable BP to plug the blown well and stop the spill, the worst in U.S. history.
One of the relief wells has been drilled to about 7,000 feet beneath the sea floor, less than half the distance it needs to go. The wells are not expected to be finished until early August."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/gree...-cautious.html

...


"Containment cap on spewing Gulf oil well offers hope even as slick spreads to new shores
RAY HENRY, 12:38 p.m. EDT, June 6, 2010

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A device sucking some of the oil from a blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico offered a bright spot Sunday for a region that has seen its wildlife coated in a lethal muck, its fishermen idled and its beaches tarnished by the nation's worst oil spill. The containment cap placed on the gusher near the sea floor trapped about 441,000 gallons of oil Saturday, BP spokesman Mark Proegler said Sunday, up from around 250,000 gallons of oil Friday. It's not clear how much is still escaping; an estimated 500,000 to 1 million gallons of crude is believed to be leaking daily.

While BP officials registered optimism, government officials monitoring the response to the spill were more cautious, wary of drumming up promises they couldn't deliver on. BP chief executive Tony Hayward told the BBC on Sunday that he believed the cap was likely to capture "the majority, probably the vast majority" of the oil gushing from the well. The gradual increase in the amount being captured is deliberate, in an effort to prevent water from getting inside and forming a frozen slush that foiled a previous containment attempt."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/flo...,7641682.story
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Last edited by ricki; 06-06-2010 at 12:26 PM.
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