Massive US oil slick threatens nesting birds, spawning fish

Mira Oberman Yahoo News 2 May 10;

FORT JACKSON, Louisiana (AFP) – The massive oil spill bearing down on Louisiana's fragile coast wetlands comes at the worst time for untold numbers of nesting birds and spawning fish whose young are most vulnerable to the toxic sludge.

Nearly all migratory birds in the Western Hemisphere stop over in the marshes surrounding the mouth of the Mississippi river and tens of thousands are currently guarding eggs laid along the shores.

There are brown pelicans - which were only recently removed from the endangered species list. There are terns, and gulls, and herons, and egrets, ducks and sparrows.

If they get coated in oil they can die in a matter of days or even hours. And since they fish close to the nests, they can also carry the oil back to their young.

The timing will make it harder to reach and rescue oiled birds because of the risk of trampling the eggs, said Jay Holcomb, director of International Bird Rescue Research Center.

"We've had times when we've had to leave oiled birds because it would kill more birds to get them," said Holcomb, one of a handful of specialists who have set up a triage center in Fort Jackson, Louisiana to clean and treat rescued birds.

The rich delta surrounding the mouth of the Mississippi River also provides prime spawning grounds for the fish, shrimp, crab and oysters which support a 2.4 billion dollar a year commercial and recreational fishing industry and supply a large chunk of the nation's wild catch.

And the oil is toxic to larvae.

The very topography which makes the bogs, marshes and swamps so appealing to wildlife makes it incredibly difficult to protect from an oil spill.

High tides and high winds can push the oil deep into the wetlands, which are accessible only by boat and offer few footholds for rescue workers and plenty of places for the frightened animals to hide.

Holcomb spent six months in Alaska treating birds oiled in the Exxon Valdez disaster.

About 1,600 were rescued. At least 500,000 died.

He's hoping it won't be that bad this time. It could, in fact, be much worse.

Nobody knows when the oil will stop gushing from a deep water well cracked open after an explosion sank an offshore oil platform run by British Petroleum on April 22.

The massive slick has spread to 3,500 square miles (9,000 square kilometers) - about the size of Puerto Rico - and an estimated 210,000 gallons are leaking into the Gulf of Mexico every day.

The coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida are threatened and the first wave of oil is expected to inundate the fragile wetlands south of New Orleans.

Miles of boom barriers have been placed to protect three of the most sensitive wildlife refuges which are home to about 34,000 nesting birds.

But vast stretches of sensitive coastal areas remain utterly unprotected and it's unclear how well the booms hold up against the high winds and rough seas, said Tom MacKenzie, a spokesman for US Fish and Wildlife Service.

"I've done oil spills before but they're normally a one-time event where they start and they stop," MacKenzie told AFP.

"In this case it's not over. It's not stopped. It's very difficult for us to say when is this going to finish."

A brown northern gannet was the first oiled animal to be discovered, but will surely not be the last.

He was rescued on Friday by crews surveying the spill out in the Gulf after they spotted the large seabird approaching their boat and tried to snare him with a fishing gaff.

"He kind of jumped onto the gaffe and they were able to haul him in," said Rebecca Dunne, senior coordinator for Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research, which is also assisting with the rescue efforts.

Once at the center, he was hydrated and force-fed Pepto-Bismol to help protect his stomach from any ingested oil and allowed to rest overnight.

The team plucked seven feathers from the bird before they found the right method to get rid of the oil. They spent 36 minutes washing him carefully with dish soap him Saturday morning.

It takes four people and up to 300 gallons of water to clean an oiled bird and the center has the capacity to treat and hold a few hundred.

They are usually able to be released after about ten days, but with oil still threatening their habitat it's unclear when and where that can happen.

Fishing ban imposed in oil-affected Gulf of Mexico
Allen Johnson Yahoo News 2 May 10;

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AFP) – Louisiana's 2.4-billion-dollar a year commercial and recreational fishing industry was dealt its first major blow from the oil spill Sunday, as the US government banned activities for 10 days due to health concerns.

"NOAA is restricting fishing for a minimum of ten days in federal waters most affected by the BP oil spill, largely between Louisiana state waters at the mouth of the Mississippi River to waters off Florida's Pensacola Bay. The closure is effective immediately," said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Louisiana accounts for an estimated one-third of the country's total oyster output, and the Gulf of Mexico are prime spawning waters for fish, shrimp and crabs, as well as a major stop for migratory birds.

"NOAA scientists are on the ground in the area of the oil spill taking water and seafood samples in an effort to ensure the safety of the seafood and fishing activities," said NOAA administrator, Doctor Jane Lubchenco, quoted in the statement.

"I heard the concerns of the Plaquemines Parish fishermen as well other fishermen and state fishery managers about potential economic impacts of a closure," said Lubchenko, who met with more than 100 fishermen on Friday night.

"Balancing economic and health concerns, this order closes just those areas that are affected by oil. There should be no health risk in seafood currently in the marketplace."

Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke said in the statement: "We stand with America's fisherman, their families and businesses in impacted coastal communities during this very challenging time.

"Fishing is vital to our economy and our quality of life and we will work tirelessly protect to it."

According to NOAA, 3.2 million recreational fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico took 24 million fishing trips in 2008 and commercial fishermen there harvested more than one billion pounds of finfish and shellfish in 2008.

"There are finfish, crabs, oysters and shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico near the area of the oil spill," said NOAA regional administrator Roy Crabtree. "The Gulf is such an important biologic and economic area in terms of seafood production and recreational fishing."

Harlon Pearce, chairman of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, backed NOAA's measure, saying the move "is a necessary action to ensure the citizens of the United States and abroad that our seafood will maintain the highest level of quality.

"We Support NOAA's precautionary closure of the affected area so that the American consumer has confidence that the seafood they eat is safe," he said.

George Barasich, president of the United Commercial Fishermen's Association, meanwhile Sunday, filed an emergency request for a temporary restraining order against BP's contract for oil clean-up workers, which his lawyers said would allegedly preclude them from suing the oil giant.

BP is hiring fishermen to help clean up from the spill and deploy boom in the Gulf of Mexico.

The legal documents BP is asking the volunteers to sign would "seriously compromise" any spill-related legal claims against the oil giant, said Barasich's attorney Stuart Smith.

"That BP would attempt to force this one-sided and egregious agreement on volunteers in the midst of this environmental disaster shocks the conscience," Smith said in a press release.

NOAA said it was working with the state governors to evaluate the need to declare a fisheries disaster in order to unlock millions of dollars in federal aid to fishermen in these areas.

Louisiana and Mississippi have already requested that NOAA declare a federal fisheries disaster.

An estimated 210,000 gallons of crude a day has been streaming from the wellhead below the Deepwater Horizon rig that sank on April 22, two days after a massive explosion that killed 11 workers.

Cost of oil spill could exceed $14 billion
Tom Bergin, Reuters 2 May 10;

LONDON (Reuters) - The total bill related to the oil spill drifting toward Louisiana from a well operated by BP Plc in the Gulf of Mexico, could exceed $14 billion, analysts said.

Since an explosion almost two weeks ago on the Deepwater Horizon rig, a disaster scenario has emerged with hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil spewing unchecked into the Gulf and moving inexorably northward to the coast. The responsibility for the cleanup operation lies with the owners of the well, led by 65 percent shareholder, London-based oil company BP Plc.

BP said last week that it was spending $6 million a day on the clean up but admitted this figure would rise sharply when the slick hits land.

Neither the company or its 25 percent partner, explorer Anadarko Petroleum, have put an estimate on total costs, although BP CEO Tony Hayward told Reuters in an interview on Friday that he would pay all legitimate claims for damages.

The final bill for cleaning up the spill could be $7 billion, Neil McMahon, analyst at investment firm Bernstein said.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley put the figure at $3.5 billion, while analysts at Citigroup, Evolution Securities and Panmure Gordon put cleanup costs at under $1.1 billion.

Compensation that must be paid to those impacted by the slick could also amount to billions of dollars.

The cost to the fishing industry in Louisiana could be $2.5 billion, while the Florida tourism industry could lose $3 billion, Bernstein predicted.

BP will also have to spend $100 million to drill a relief well to try and stem the flow of the well, while the loss of the Deepwater Horizon well represents a hit of around $1 billion for its owner, Swiss-based drilling specialist Transocean.

COMPENSATION FOR WORKERS

Eleven workers are missing, presumed dead, following the rig explosion and compensation will have to be made to their families.

BP was forced to pay out $2 billion in compensation after 15 workers died in an explosion at its Texas City refinery in 2005, although Peter Hitchens at Panmure said it was likely liabilities related to the rig would be Transocean's responsibility.

BP and its partners in the oil block where the leaking well is located will have to cover the cleanup costs and damages on a basis proportionate to their shareholdings, which will leave BP with 65 percent of the bill.

The company self-insures through its own insurance company, named Jupiter. Contrary to press reports, Jupiter does not lay off risks onto reinsurers or syndicates at Lloyds of London, a spokesman said on Sunday.

Hence, BP will end up paying any costs out of its own pocket.

However, it is possible BP and Anadarko could seek to reclaim any damages from Cameron International Corp, the supplier of the well head equipment which has been blamed for the accident or companies involved in maintaining the drilling machinery.

The oil is leaking because a shut-off valve that should automatically kick in when a problem occurs, has not functioned.

The valve, known as a blow-out preventer, was supplied by Cameron and operated, as an integral part of Transocean's rig.

Oil services provider Halliburton said it performed a variety of work on the rig.

If BP could prove that Halliburton or Cameron did something wrong, they could lay part of the blame on them, Mike Breard, an energy analyst with Hodges Capital Management in Dallas said last week.

Shares in BP have fallen around 13 percent since the accident, wiping out $20 billion of the company's market value.

Shares in Anadarko, Transocean, Cameron and Halliburton have also been hit.

If regulators find any wrongdoing or incompetence on the part of the companies involved, it could levy fines, although analysts said that going by previous fines, these would likely be in the range of tens of millions -- immaterial to the total bill.

In such a situation, the courts could also award punitive damages.

Exxon Mobil was hit with $5 billion in punitive damages after the its tanker Valdez leaked 258,000 barrels of heavy crude into Prince William Sound in Alaska in 1989. The award was based on the fact Exxon had not taken due care when it employed a man with a drinking problem to skipper its tanker.

However, the damages against it were subsequently reduced to around $500 million on appeal.

All analysts agreed that the final bill for the Deepwater Horizon incident will depend on how much damage is caused.

Bernstein said the experience from the first Gulf War in 1991 suggested the damage across Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi

and Florida could be less than many expect because of the warm water in the area.

"The Iraqi army opened valves on the Sea Island terminal, dumping up to 450 million gallons (around 11 million barrels) of crude into the sea in order to obstruct a potential landing by coalition forces," McMahon said in a research note.

"While the magnitude of the spill was vastly greater than the Exxon Valdez, it actually did relatively little long-term damage, as it dispersed in the warm waters," he added.

(Reporting by Tom Bergin, editing by Bernard Orr)