Static Kill Moved Back To Late Monday, Early Tuesday; Allen Defends Dispersant Regulation
Sunday, August 1, 2010 at 7:24PMby Miles Wolf Tamboli - Talk Radio News Service
National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen briefed reporters Sunday afternoon in his daily update on the BP-Deepwater Horizon oil spill, providing details about the upcoming “static kill” effort and addressing fears over dispersants.
The discovery of some forty feet of debris in a relief well stifled hopes that the joint disaster response team could have been able to begin the “static kill” Sunday or early Monday.
“The entire casing is clean … they will start cementing the casing in place, probably about four or five hours from now. Following that, we will be in a position to start with the static kill as early as [Monday] night or into Tuesday,” said the administration’s point man on the spill response.
Allen continued that the “bottom kill” will begin five to seven days “minimum” after this attempt. The former Coast Guard official sent a reminder that, “the static kill is not the end-all be-all.” Although the well has not leaked a significant amount of oil in some two weeks, Admiral Allen will not consider the leak plugged until the “bottom kill” has been completed.
The US Coast Guard has been attracting criticism recently over their regulation of BP’s use of chemical dispersants in the Gulf over the past three months. Although the Coast Guard had promised to cut back dispersant use by 75% and heavily regulate their use to extreme circumstances, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass) released a letter Friday, claiming that the Coast Guard had granted BP permission to use high levels of dispersants 64 times in a 48-day period.
“These exemptions are in no way a ‘rare’ occurrence,” said Markey in a letter to Allen on July 30th. The Representative questioned, “whether the Coast Guard made sufficient efforts to verify the information BP provided in support of its requests, and whether it exercised appropriate oversight surrounding the use of these toxic chemicals.”
Allen responded to criticism with a statement that decisions to allow the use of chemical dispersants are made by the Federal On Scene Coordinator, and are “closely supervised.”
“Sometimes there is no other way to attack the oil - they had to use dispersants,” said Allen; “I’m satisfied that we only use them when they’re needed”
Use Of Dispersants In Gulf Questioned By Presidential Commission
Mathy Stanislaus, Assistant Administrator for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response for the Environmental Protection Agency, cautioned that, “despite dispersants being a tool … [dispersants] must be the tool of last resort.” Stanislaus continued that the federal government has repeatedly advised that chemical dispersants must only be used in the event that containment booms and burns are insufficient.
Stanislaus revealed that the EPA and the U.S. Coast Guard raised concern over BP’s “skyrocketing” use of surface dispersants as far back as May, requiring that BP cut back on dispersant use by 75%. According to Stanislaus, BP has reined in their application of the chemicals by 69%.
The official did not comment, however, on the safety of controlled burn methods, which have raised concerns by many in the general population due to possible air polluting effects, which may reintroduce toxic chemicals into the water column by natural climatic processes.