The disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spill pushed into the Mississippi River Delta yesterday with high winds and rough seas complicating efforts to slow the toxic sludge’s spread, as the first oil-slicked animals were found amid fears of an environmental nightmare.
Experts prepared for the worst as choppy seas threatened to force the goop deep into the marshlands along Louisiana’s southern coast over the weekend and push oily water over the booms put in place to contain it.
“It’s of grave concern,” said David Kennedy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “I am frightened. This is a very, very big thing. And the efforts that are going to be required to do anything about it, especially if it continues on, are just mind-boggling.”
EDITORIAL: THE WORLD’S LIFEBLOOD
VOLUNTEER NAVY OF FISHERMEN SET TO BATTLE SPILL
OBAMA’S ‘DRILL’ NOW HITS A PAINFUL NERVE
Among the developments yesterday:
* President Obama put all new offshore oil leases on hold for 30 days until safeguards are put in place, but indicated he did not plan to flip-flop on a drilling moratorium he recently lifted in other areas.
* Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said those responsible for the disaster — which could surpass the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill as the worst in US history — would be held accountable. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the federal government will continue to push BP — the oil company that owned the rig — for a strong response.
* In February 2009, BP wrote a report saying that an accident was “unlikely” to happen at the destroyed platform. Critics called it evidence the company wasn’t prepared for the catastrophe.
* The governors of Louisiana and Florida declared states of emergency, mobilizing the National Guard as the oil made landfall. Massive military cargo planes were set to dump oil-dispersing chemicals on the spill.
* The first oil-coated bird — a young northern gannet — was saved and brought into an animal-rescue facility where its blackened wings were scrubbed with soap. Experts said the slick could devastate the Gulf’s dolphin population, many of whom are giving birth now, and wipe out the endangered Kemp’s Ridley turtle.
* BP began using underwater chemicals to break up the oil before it reaches the surface.
* Experts estimated the cleanup could cost $3 billion or more.
So far, 1.6 million gallons of oil have been released into the sea.
Officials say more than 5,000 barrels — or 200,000 gallons — of oil a day were continuing to bubble from a well beneath the Gulf that was ripped open following the explosion of an offshore oil rig on April 20 that killed 11 workers. But some industry experts said the spill could be even five times larger than those estimates.
The oil slick had spread out over an area roughly 70 miles by 130 miles and the noxious smell of gas fumes could be detected in New Orleans.
Cade Thomas, a fishing guide from Venice, La., expressed anger at the government and BP.
“They lied to us. They came out and said it was leaking 1,000 barrels a day when I think they knew it was more,” he said.
So far, efforts to trigger an underwater shut-off valve have failed. BP is working on covering the well with a type of funnel that would capture much of the oil at the sea floor and channel it to a tanker ship, but that could take up to four weeks to put in place.
If that doesn’t work, the oil giant would be forced to drill a relief well to stem the flow — a process that could take up to three months. But by that time, anywhere between 450,000 and 2.25 million barrels would have spilled.
That would dwarf the Exxon Valdez disaster, in which 250,000 barrels, or nearly 11 million gallons of oil, were dumped into Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay.
Right in the slick’s path are at least six major coastal wildlife refuges as well as major fishing waters and tourist havens. The overall economic impact will likely be in the tens of billions of dollars, experts said.
The cause of the fatal explosion that triggered the spill has yet to be determined. Oil contractor Halliburton said yesterday that 20 hours before the blast, its workers had finished adding cement used to brace pipes carrying oil.
$oaked in slime
Impact of the disaster:
* Louisiana fishing industry could take a $2.5B hit
* Gulf shrimp industry could lose $500M
* Florida’s Gulf Coast could lose $3B in tourist dollars
* Cleanup cost could exceed $3B, depending on duration of spill
* 23 lawsuits — including 18 class actions — have been filed
* Will devastate dolphin population and could render some endangered species extinct