06-01-2010, 02:06 PM
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#290 (permalink)
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Junkie
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Originally Posted by Charlatan
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It begs the question who actually was or is in charge of this?
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According to the Mobile (Ala.) Press-Register (via al.com) , U.S. officials did not follow up on a 1994 oil spill response plan that recommended burning off oil in the event of a major spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The plan produced by federal agencies called for rapid deployment of fire-proof containment booms and setting controlled fires. The only problem? When the Deepwater Horizon oil well began spilling, there wasn't a single such specialized containment boom on the entire Gulf Coast.
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Oil spill burn plan in place, but fire booms weren't
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Such arguments are likely to be eclipsed, however, by the claim that the Government’s own burn-off plan could not be put into action because the equipment was not available.
A single fire boom of the kind required by the “In-Situ Burn” plan drafted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for Gulf Coast spills can burn up to 75,000 gallons of oil an hour – roughly a third of the estimated daily leakage from the Deepwater Horizon site.
“They said this was the tool of last resort,” Jeff Bohleber, a supplier of the booms, said. “No, this is absolutely the asset of first use. Get in there and start burning the oil before the spill gets out of hand.”
So far federal officials have authorized only one test burn eight days into the disaster, using a boom obtained from Mr Bohleber in Illinois, when it became clear that none was available in the Gulf region. Instead of burning, emergency workers are relying on chemical dispersants being injected by submersibles directly into the leaks in the collapsed riser pipe that connected the wellhead to the rig.
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US had burn-off plan for oil spills but the equipment wasn’t there - Times Online
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