Deepwater Horizon Wildlife Ops: Day 2

Well, it is 10:30 pm in Houma and after a 16 hr day at the Command Post, I can almost guarantee that this evening’s blog posting will be shorter.

The day started off working with Dr. Heidi Stout (Tri-State) and the Industrial Hygienists for the response on health and safety training procedures for wildlife workers.  Our main goal in response, in addition to helping the oiled animals, is making sure that our workers are a safe as possible from the hazards of the oil (not to mention the pointy parts – note the medical term – of the animals themselves). In working with the response folks here, we were able to come up with a plan to get the necessary training to our professional responders (those with wildlife handling experience that come from a regional wildlife organization or agency) either in person or electronically.  These safety plans are also now being folded into the overall volunteer plan so that, if the spill becomes larger and we need “convergent” (or public) volunteers to assist, we can quickly request them through the volunteer coordinator. While seemingly easy on the surface, believe me, getting this plan together for possibly training large numbers of wildlife workers was huge!

Next on the agenda was further developing our emerging plan for sea turtle response.  Unlike marine mammals (pinnipeds and cetacea), sea turtles do not yet have extensive plans for oil spill response.  That being said, there is a huge amount of experience on turtle husbandry and medical care in this region, so the regional coordinators Wendy and Sheryan, with the help of Dr. Brian Stacy, have taken on the Herculean task of modifying existing plans for spill response.  Thank you all three of you!

With the protocols and data sheets being developed, next for the “turtle team” was confirming locations for facilities.  The first priority, due to the slick location and risk, was near New Orleans.  Audubon Aquarium of the Americas has stepped up magnificently, with Michelle and I working through equipment, supplies, personnel and plans necessary should we find turtles in the region.  I will be working on the more fun parts (such as hazardous waste disposal – yippee!) tomorrow with the Disposal Unit here at the Command Post.  The “Team” will also be touching base again on other regional facilities (likely at least two more spreading eastward) that we can prepare should animals be collected.

This afternoon, I was fortunate enough to get the assistance of Dr. Teri Rowles here at the Command Center.  Teri, whose schedule makes mine look positively anemic, is the Coordinator for NOAA’s Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Program and is a gold mine of information on the ecology of marine mammals, the stranding network, mammal research needs (and background info), and how best to navigate the often-confusing waters of the NOAA system.  Between us, we have come up with a checklist of at least 12 additional things we need to get done ASAP (we are both a bit driven that way it appears) and, with her help, I am sure we will.  Top on the list is to develop a document (that can be widely distributed electronically and in print) informing the public of what to do in case of spotting a live or dead sea turtle or mammal.  We found this extremely helpful for the Cosco Busan spill for birds, and will also help inform the public of the dangers (both to the person as well as the animal) of attempting to capture or collect oiled animal themselves.

Intermixed into all of this was a multitude of emails, meeting with Jay and Heidi before they headed out to the developing bird centers, interacting with the NRDA teams and the Environmental Unit to ensure all the reporting of mammals and turtles is across all the areas, completing the inevitable paperwork required by the system, answering approximately 231 phone calls (or at least it seemed that way) and, of course, checking in on the OWCN gang in Davis (at least briefly).  Where does the time go…?

Tomorrow should be another busy, busy day, getting additional facilities identified and supplied, finalizing the plans for animal collection, care and documentation, responding to anticipated reports of oiled animals that come across the Wildlife Hotline, checking off as many of the 12 items on the Teri/Mike checklist as possible, and the numerous other things that tend to pop up in the day.  Be back with y’all (yes, I am trying out my Southern) tomorrow.

And I am glad I didn’t bet this post would be shorter tonight…

- Mike

Scenes From The Front: Day 1 of the Deepwater Horizon

It has been a very interesting, eventful, frightening and downright scary 24 hr period.

As you have read, I am down in Houma, LA, assisting on the Deepwater Horizon spill response.  Rhonda Murgatroyd, Director of Wildlife Response Services and Wildlife Branch Director for the response, contacted me yesterday morning asking for me to come down immediately to help in the coordination of the sea turtle and marine mammal response aspects of the spill (Dr. Heidi Stout of Tri-State Bird Rescue already being here to help on the bird side).  Through the peculiarities of travel from the Left Coast to the Gulf Coast (in addition to it being Jazz Festival time here), the only flight available was a red-eye through Atlanta (the Right Coast, of course) then back to New Orleans, getting in at 0800.

So, after dealing w/ the Hertz counter and finding a LARGE coffee, I got to the Command Post at about 0930.  For those of you who haven’t been to one, imagine a very large room, maps and data everywhere on all walls, tables split out into many different areas, with the attendees all having colored vests assigning them to the different sections (Operations, Planning, etc.) and all working on different aspects of the response all at once.  This CP likely has 400-500 people in attendance, so the term “ordered chaos” comes to mind.  The Wildlife Branch actually has its own break-out room, where folks from NOAA, USFWS, Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries, National Parks Service, BP, and the rehabilitation groups are all working together, with us consulting regularly with the other areas involved with wildlife (natural resource damage assessment group and the environmental groups, mainly).  So, a sedate atmosphere it is not!

Since the start of the spill, I have been in contact with the leads of NOAA-NMFS’s Marine Mammal Stranding Program to help where I could, as Shawn Johnson and I wrote the National Oiled Marine Mammal Guidelines for them several years ago (and I just so happened to give a lead-off presentation on ICS in spills, as well as assist in an oil spill drill, at the National Stranding Meeting in Shepardstown, WV three weeks ago – that will teach me).  So when Rhonda requested my assistance, much of the initial discussions with key people were already in the works.  However, the first order of business for me this morning was to conference call with the key members of the Southeast Region Marine Mammal Stranding Network, the Sea Turtle Stranding Network and members of the Manatee response groups to determine what assets were available, what resources they needed, and how I could assist them in getting ready.  The wildlife folks in this area are a tremendous group.  Even in the face of this huge spill, everyone has been very positive, energetic and proactive.  Couldn’t ask for more.

The next order of business was to finalize a guidance Wildlife Response Plan to add to the spill’s Incident Action Plan.  This is needed to make sure the Unified Command (e.g., the big bosses) understood the extent of our operations, where we were going, and what our overall objectives were going to be.  As the team was waiting for me to add much of the mammal/turtle aspects, that was a furiously active writing/editing exercise!  But we got it done, into the Plan, with more edits (I am sure) to come tomorrow as the spill progresses.

Two of the current challenges that Rhonda, Heidi and I are working on relate to two familiar themes to us in California: required health and safety training requirements for wildlife personnel, and the use of volunteers in this spill.  We are hopeful that we can work through these issues tomorrow so that the response can continue to progress.

On the subject of volunteers, thank you to everyone who has offered support, assistance, fundraising and hands-on help so far! As we are still at the initial phases of the response, with bird facilities being established and search and collection efforts waiting for impacts to occur (we still have only the several sperm whales spotted in the slick as “effects” on larger wildlife to date), right now the efforts are still very much in the planning and readiness phase.  This could change very rapidly however; especially if (and/or when) the oil reaches shore.  Please stay updated on the spill efforts by checking the spill response pages, as well as this blog, and I will make sure that the info is updated as quickly as possible once additional assistance is needed.

Well, I meant for this to be a short blog entry but it ended up being more therapeutic for me to write it than I anticipated (and it can’t have anything to do with being up 36 hrs or so).  That and I can sense Kaiti and Alison both saying “Enough already!”.  I promise for the next ones to be shorter, and will try and snap some photos for visual interest (my camera is still buried in my suitcase).

Looking forward to seeing the IBRRC crew tomorrow before they head to the facility being developed in Venice.  Tomorrow will be a very telling day as to how the rest of the response will go, so stay tuned!

- Mike

Radio Interview from Louisiana

UC Davis professor and Oiled Wildlife Care Network director Michael Ziccardi, in the command center at the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, talked about the situation with San Francisco radio station KGO-AM at 4:15 p.m. on Thursday, April 29.

oilspillinterview.m4a

- Alison

Deepwater Horizon Spill Update

As mentioned yesterday, the OWCN’s director Mike Ziccardi is in Louisiana to assist with the wildlife planning and response activities.

Here at the OWCN the team is fielding phone calls and emails from individuals interested in volunteering to help in the Gulf spill response. We are sending them to the Deepwater Horizon Incident Volunteer Hotline at 866-448-5816.

For those of you interested in keeping up-to-date with the Gulf response effort, please check out the official Deepwater Horizon website.

If you are interested in being trained as a volunteer to help in California’s next oil spill, please read how to do that here.

-Nils and Kaiti

OWCN Director Deployed to Louisana

The OWCN’s director Mike Ziccardi flies to Louisiana tonight. Below is Sacramento Bee article highlighting his trip.

UC Davis expert to help wildlife rescue in face of Gulf oil spill

By Carlos Alcala

Michael Ziccardi, a UC Davis professor, is heading to Louisiana today to help oversee wildlife rescue efforts in light of the massive Deepwater Horizon oil spill off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico.

Ziccardi is director of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network, based at UC Davis. The network — made up of agencies around the state — has responded to dozens of spills since it was created in the 1990s in response to the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska.

The Gulf spill was initially considered not overly hazardous to most wildlife because it was many miles off the coast, away from most migratory aquatic bird and coastal marine mammal populations.

However, the spill is expected to reach fragile wildlife areas on the coast later this week, and Ziccardi will help identify most risky areas, how to protect them and coordinate response to any incidents involving animals caught in the slick.

The spill was caused by an explosion and sinking of the oil rig last week. The spill continues to leak more than 40,000 gallons of oil per day. Responders were planning to isolate and burn portions of the slick today.

-Kaiti

Job-Wildlife Care Specialist

Are you ready to join the OWCN’s team as the Wildlife Care Specialist? As blogged earlier, January Bill recently left the OWCN’s team to move to Humboldt county. Since that time the OWCN has hired a Response Veterinarian and is happy to announce that the Wildlife Care Specialist position has been posted. If you think you have the skills to join our team and uphold the OWCN’s mission of providing the best achievable capture and care of oil-affected wildlife during oil spill events in California, please check out the job description below.

Oiled bird about to be washed during the 2009 M/V Dubai oil spill. Photo Credit: Cheryl Reynolds

Under the direction of the Wildlife Care Coordinator, the Wildlife Care Specialist provides specialized support in the area of oiled wildlife rehabilitation activities for the Oiled Wildlife Care Network (OWCN). As part of the OWCN response team, this position will serve as a key animal health technician for oiled wildlife during emergency oil spill response. During non-spill periods, this person will help ensure oil spill readiness by maintaining equipment and supplies necessary for animal care operations, help to organize and lead wildlife rehabilitation training/informational workshops for staff and volunteers throughout California, participate in public outreach activities, and assist in research activities to ensure “best achievable collection and care” of oiled wildlife.

For more details please visit the UC Davis employment website and search the job requisition number 03002706. Direct link: https://www.employment.ucdavis.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=1272495707295.

-Kaiti

Deepwater Horizon Slick: Coast Guard Will Try Burning

Earlier today the New York Times (NYT) reported that Coast Guard crews will attempt to burn some of the oil. For the article please see below or check out the article on the NYT’s website.

Coast Guard Will Try Burning Oil Spill as It Nears

By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON and LESLIE KAUFMAN

Published: April 28, 2010

NEW ORLEANS — Crews struggling to contain the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will light some of the petroleum on fire at 11 a.m. Central time in an attempt to burn it off before it reaches shore.

A Coast Guard spokesman said on Wednesday that crews would begin with an initial burn in a confined area of the spill to determine the density of the oil.

According to a statement released by the group of industry and government officials supervising the burn, the oil will be consolidated “into a fire resistant boom approximately 500 feet long; this oil will then be towed to a more remote area, where it will be ignited and burned in a controlled manner.”

From there, officials will conduct “small, controlled burns of several thousand gallons of oil lasting approximately one hour each.”

“The big things that we have to pay attention to are the sea conditions,” Coast Guard Senior Chief Petty Officer Steven Carleton said. “Solid oil obviously has the ability to burn, but it doesn’t burn the same way that gasoline does.”

Officials turned to the burning option when the slick of oil, released when a drilling rig caught fire 50 miles offshore and sank last week, drifted to within 23 miles of the ecologically fragile Louisiana coastline on Tuesday.

Tony Hayward, chief executive of British Petroleum, which leased the rig, known as Deepwater Horizon, described slick the spilled oil as very light, like “iced tea,” and only one-tenth of a millimeter thick, as thin as a human hair.

“We will be judged primarily on the strength of our response,” said Mr. Hayward, who was in Southwest Louisiana to supervise the burn.

A joint government and industry task force had been unable to stop crude oil from streaming out of a broken pipe attached to a well that the rig had been drilling nearly a mile below sea level. The leaks in the pipe, which were found on Saturday, are releasing about 42,000 gallons of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico southeast of Venice, La.

Officials said on Tuesday that wind projections indicated that the oil would not reach land in the next three days, and it was unclear exactly where along the Gulf Coast it might arrive first.

“If some of the weather conditions continue, the Delta area is at risk,” said Charlie Henry, scientific support coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Rear Adm. Mary E. Landry noted that the coastal area near the spill contains some 40 percent of the nation’s wetlands and is the spawning ground for countless fish and birds.

Controlled burns have been done and tested before, Admiral Landry said, and had been shown to be “effective in burning 50 to 95 percent of oil collected in a fire boom.” The main disadvantage, she said, was a “black plume” of smoke from the burn that would put soot and other particulate pollutants into the air.

Other short-term efforts to control the oil have so far been unsuccessful, and the political pressure has intensified.

On Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said they were expanding the government’s investigation of the explosion that caused the oil rig disaster. The inquiry will have subpoena power and will look into possible criminal or civil violations by the operators of the drilling rig — Transocean, a Swiss company — and by related companies.

Administration officials also met Tuesday with top executives of BP, which is required by law to pay for the cleanup. Last fall, as the federal government was weighing tougher safety and environmental rules for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, BP objected, saying its voluntary programs were successful.

BP engineers have failed so far to activate a device known as a blowout preventer, a valve at the wellhead that is meant to stop oil flow in an emergency, and is the only short-term solution for capping the well.

Doug Suttles, the chief operating officer for exploration and production at BP, defended the company’s efforts, and said the cleanup was costing $6 million a day. He said engineers had not given up on engaging the valve and were exploring other possibilities as well.

Mr. Suttles said that a plan to use a type of tent or dome to collect the oil was progressing, and was two to four weeks from being operational. On Tuesday, the company received permits to drill a relief well, which would be started half a mile from the current well site. Crews plan to drill toward the current well and then inject it with heavy fluids and concrete to seal it. That solution is experimental at this depth, however, and is months away.

Coast Guard officials said they were not expecting landfall for the spill in the next three days. But Doug Helton, the incident operations coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s emergency response division, said winds would change Wednesday and start pushing the spill north and west toward the Mississippi Delta. “It is going to land eventually,” Mr. Helton said.

The prospect alarmed fisherman and ecologists along the Louisiana coast. Gov. Bobby Jindal requested that the Coast Guard set up protective booms around several wildlife refuges in the Delta.

Those delicate coastal rookeries and estuaries factor into the consideration for the surface burn. Such a burn would most likely ease the impact on wildlife.

The oceanic agency issued a guide to the burn that advised as follows:

“Based on our limited experience, birds and mammals are more capable of handling the risk of a local fire and temporary smoke plume than of handling the risk posed by a spreading oil slick. Birds flying in the plume can become disoriented, and could suffer toxic effects. This risk, however, is minimal when compared to oil coating and ingestion.”

A burn does not get rid of the oil entirely. It leaves waxy residue that can either be skimmed from the surface or sink to the bottom of the ocean.

Liz Robbins contributed reporting from New York.

-Kaiti

Deepwater Horizon Slick Doubles in Size

According to CNN:

“The oil spill from a leaking well beneath the sunken rig in the Gulf of Mexico doubled in size Tuesday, spreading to 3,360 square miles, according to the Coast Guard (MZ Note – One other media source states this is larger than the state of Delaware).

The slick is located about 36 miles from the Louisiana coast. It is growing larger as an estimated 42,000 gallons of oil a day continues to spew into Gulf waters.”

MZ – Still no reports of affected wildlife, just the five whales that transited the waters yesterday.

Stay tuned…

- Mike

NASA Photo of Deepwater Horizon Slick (Courtesy Newscom)

Deepwater Horizon Latest Update

From DeepwaterHorizonResponse.com:

Deepwater Horizon Spill (Courtesy Spill Incident Site)

“The response to the Deepwater Horizon incident continues as responders work to stop the flow of oil and minimize its environmental impact.

Efforts by BP and Transocean personnel to activate the blowout preventer using submersible remote operated vehicles began Sunday with the process expected to take 24 to 36 hours. Additionally, BP has mobilized two drilling rigs, one of which is expected on scene today, to prepare for relief well drilling operations. BP has filed permits with the Minerals Management Service for an engineering review and approval for drilling the relief well.

Sunday, an aircrew from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sighted five small whales during an over flight in the vicinity of the oil spill, which currently measures 48 miles by 39 miles at its widest points with varying levels of sheening, and is located 30 miles off the coast of Venice, La. The unified command is monitoring the situation and is working closely with officials from Fish and Wildlife, National Marine Fisheries Service and NOAA to understand the impact the spill and response activities may have on whales and other marine wildlife in the area. The use of dispersants has been adjusted to avoid areas where whales have been spotted.

Following adverse weather that went through the area, response crews are anticipated to resume skimming operations today. Assets currently being used to respond to the incident include:

- More than 1,000 personnel,
- 14,654 gallons of dispersant have been used with another 119,734 gallons on stand by,
- 21,340 feet of containment boom is place at the spill site,
- 10 offshore response vessels,
- 7 skimming boats,
- 1,152 barrels/48,384 gallons of oily water have been collected.

The unified command has established a Web site where photos, press releases and fact sheets are available at www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com

A toll free number has been established to report oiled or injured wildlife. To report affected wildlife call (866) 557-1401.The unified command urges people to not attempt to help injured or oiled animals, but to report any sightings to the toll free number.”

- Mike

MZ NOTE: The five “small whales” are now being reported by numerous sources as sperm whales transiting the area.

Days After Rig Explosion, Well Is Pouring Thousands of Gallons of Oil Into Gulf

Extent of Gulf Spill (Courtesy NY Times)

From NY Times.com-

“Officials expect to determine today or Tuesday whether they will soon be able to stop oil leaks coming from the deepwater well near Louisiana or will need months to stem the flow of what is now about 42,000 gallons of oil a day pouring into the Gulf of Mexico.

The response team is trying three tacks: one that could stop the leaks within hours, one that would take months and one that would not stop the leaks but would capture the oil and deliver it to the surface while permanent measures are pursued.

Officials determined through weather patterns that the sheen of oil and water, now covering 600 square miles, would remain at least 30 miles from shore for the next three days. But states along the Gulf Coast have been warned to be on alert.

The Coast Guard and other officials involved with the cleanup have scheduled a news conference for Monday afternoon.

“We have been in contact with all the coastal states,” Rear Adm. Mary E. Landry, the commander of the Eighth Coast Guard District, said at a news conference on Sunday. Emphasizing that the sheen was not estimated to hit shore anytime soon, Admiral Landry said contingency plans were being put in place.

“Everyone is forward-leaning and preparing for coastal impact,” she said.

Louisiana is erecting containment booms around sensitive coastal areas as a precautionary measure.

At the rate of 42,000 gallons of oil a day, the leak would have to continue for 262 days to match the 11-million-gallon spill from the Exxon Valdez in 1989, the worst oil spill in United States history.

The leaks were discovered Saturday in the riser, the 5,000-foot-long pipe that extended from the wellhead to the drilling platform. The riser detached from the platform after it exploded and sank, and it is now snaking up from the wellhead and back down to the sea floor. It is leaking in two places, both at the sea floor. The bends in the riser, like kinks in a garden hose, have apparently prevented a gush of oil. When the platform was on the ocean’s surface and the riser was still attached last week, oil and gas were shooting up through the riser, creating plumes of flame.

On Sunday morning, officials began using remote-controlled vehicles to try to activate the blowout preventer, a 450-ton valve sitting at the wellhead, 5,000 feet below the ocean’s surface. The blowout preventer can seal off the well, and is designed to do just that to prevent sudden pressure releases that possibly led to the first explosion on the oil rig on Tuesday night.

The authorities said it was still unclear what had caused the explosion. Eleven crew members are missing and presumed dead. If successful, engaging the blowout preventer could seal the well in 24 to 36 hours. But Doug Suttles, the chief operating officer for exploration and production at BP — which was leasing the drilling platform and is responsible for the cleanup under federal law — cautioned that the operation was “highly complex.”

“It may not be successful,” Mr. Suttles said.

Another effort described by officials Sunday — drilling relief wells nearby — would take two to three months to stop the flow.

BP is mobilizing two rigs that could drill the relief wells, which could send heavy mud and concrete into the cavity of oil and gas that drilling apparently punctured by accident.

If the blowout preventer does not seal off the well, officials intend to place a large dome directly over the leaks to catch the oil and route it up to the surface, where it could be collected.

This has been done before, but only in shallow waters, Mr. Suttles said.

“It’s never been deployed in 5,000 feet of water,” he said. “But we have the world’s best experts working on that right now.”

Rough seas halted the cleanup efforts on Saturday and most of Sunday. But as the weather cleared Sunday afternoon, aircraft resumed dumping dispersant, or chemicals that break down the oil. By evening, 15 vessels were headed to the area to resume skimming the oil off the surface of the ocean.

The Coast Guard said 48,000 gallons of oil-water mix had been collected by Sunday.

Doug Helton, a fisheries biologist who coordinates oil spill responses for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said the oil emanating from the riser was taking the shape of a giant ice cream cone as it drifted toward the surface. He said there were no reports of dead animals yet, although that was expected to change if the leaks were not sealed.

Mr. Helton added that wind data allowed officials to predict that the spill would not hit shore within three days, but that it was moving north.

“Louisiana is the closest area,” he said. “There is a potential for other Gulf states if the release continues unabated, but we have no indication in our trajectories that shorefall will happen in the next three days.”

Sea life that congregates at the surface and has no mobility of its own — like plankton and fish eggs — is the most vulnerable to the slick. A large-scale destruction of eggs could affect fish populations in the future.

Officials are monitoring the environmental effects of the spill by boat and planes.

“It will be more severe over time,” Mr. Helton said.”

- Mike