Latest NOAA Spill Extent Forecasts

Near Shore



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Emergency Fishery Closure

NOAA: The offshore forecast has been temporarily stopped due to small amounts of oil, the absence of recent observations confirming significant amounts of oil, and the large separation between the loop current complex and the oil slick. Forecasts will resume if the threat returns.
Read more!

Latest NOAA Spill Extent Forecasts

Near Shore



Click on thumbnail for full-sized image

Emergency Fishery Closure

NOAA: The offshore forecast has been temporarily stopped due to small amounts of oil, the absence of recent observations confirming significant amounts of oil, and the large separation between the loop current complex and the oil slick. Forecasts will resume if the threat returns.
Read more!

BP Agrees to Stop Burning Turtles

When I first saw the "BP is Burning Turtles Alive" blog posts, I immediately dismissed them as Internet rumors in the same vein as the breathless "Feds to Begin Taxing Email" messages that get forwarded around every few weeks. Not that I have any great regard for the ethics of BP, but this just seemed beyond believable.

And then, tonight, this headline comes across the Reuters feed:
"Deal struck to save turtles from Gulf oil burns"

NEW ORLEANS, July 2 (Reuters) - Environmental groups, BP (BP.N) (BP.L) and the U.S. Coast Guard reached tentative agreement on Friday on measures to prevent sea turtles from being incinerated alive in controlled burns of spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

What the hell is wrong with these people, that it takes a court of law to stop them from incinerating endangered wildlife?

Read the entire horrifying story here.
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Latest NOAA Spill Extent Forecasts

Near Shore



Click on thumbnail for full-sized image

Emergency Fishery Closure

NOAA: The offshore forecast has been temporarily stopped due to small amounts of oil, the absence of recent observations confirming significant amounts of oil, and the large separation between the loop current complex and the oil slick. Forecasts will resume if the threat returns.
Read more!

Bottom Kill

The latest briefing by National Incident Commander Thad Allen was held at the White House today. With respect to the upcoming "bottom kill" attempt, Cmdr. Allen told the gathered press that relief well being drilled by the Development Driller III now is at a distance of 11,641 feet below the seafloor and is continuing the delicate ranging and directional drilling required to intersect the Macondo well casing.

As Cmdr Allen described it:

"... they’re going through a series of operations which we call ranging. They’re into their fourth cycle of this. In ranging, they withdraw the drill pipe and put down an electrical cable and actually try and sense the magnetic field around the wellbore. They are within around 15 feet of the wellbore at this point. They will continue down 700, 800 more feet, slowly close into the wellbore, and when they know they’ve got it exactly in range, know exactly where the drill pipe is in relation to the wellbore, then they will attempt to move in and drill through the wellbore and then the casing as well. At that point they’ll be in a position to be able to try the bottom kill or to be able to insert the mud, and hopefully after that, put a cement plug in that will kill the well."

He also annouced that the backup relief well being dug by the Development Driller II is 6,720 feet below the seafloor and is continuing to make progress.

Click image for full-sized diagram

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Latest NOAA Spill Extent Forecasts

Near Shore



Click on thumbnail for full-sized image

Emergency Fishery Closure

NOAA: The offshore forecast has been temporarily stopped due to small amounts of oil, the absence of recent observations confirming significant amounts of oil, and the large separation between the loop current complex and the oil slick. Forecasts will resume if the threat returns. Read more!

IWC Talks Fail in Morocco

The International Whaling Commission's 62nd Annual Meeting in Agadir, Morocco ended on Friday without reaching a consensus on a 10-year peace plan. The proposed plan keeps the moratorium on commercial whaling.

Importantly, the three countries that at present set their own catch limits (Japan,Norway, Iceland) will have agreed to IWC-set sustainable catch limits that are substantially below present levels as well as to a rigorous oversight and enforcement arrangement. As proposed, several thousand less whales will be caught over the ten-year period than would have occurred if the present situation remained.

Under the proposed plan IWC members would:

• retain the the 24-year-old moratorium on commercial whaling;
  
• suspend immediately for the ten-year period, unilaterally-determined whaling under special permit, objections, and reservations;
  
• bring all whaling authorised by member governments under the control of the IWC;
  
• limit whaling to those members who currently take whales;
  
• ensure that no new non-indigenous whaling takes place on whale species or populations not currently hunted;
  
• establish caps for the next ten years that are significantly less than current catches and within sustainable levels, determined using the best available scientific advice;
  
• introduce modern, effective IWC monitoring, surveillance and control measures for whaling operations;
  
• create a South Atlantic Sanctuary;
  
• recognize the non-lethal value and uses of whales, such as whalewatching, as a management option for coastal states and address related scientific, conservation and management issues of such uses;
  
• provide a mechanism for enterprise and capacity building for developing countries;
  
• focus on the recovery of depleted whale stocks and take actions on key conservation issues, including bycatch, climate change and other environmental threats;
  
• set a decisive direction to the future work of the IWC including measures to reform the governance of the Commission; and
  
• establish a timetable and mechanism for addressing the fundamental differences of view amongst member governments in order to provide for the effective functioning of the Commission over the longer term.
  

Via the IWC:

The Commission completed its discussions on the Future of the IWC without reaching a consensus resolution of its main differences. However, it noted that the intense work over the last two years had led to increased understanding of the different views held and an improved atmosphere of trust. It agreed to a pause in its work on this topic to allow time for reflection until the 2011 Annual Meeting.

The plan to bring all whaling under the control of the IWC would also close the loophole that the Japanese fleet exploits to kill hundreds of whales each year in the Southern Ocean under the guise of "scientific research." The NY Times: Whaling Talks in Morocco Fail to Produce Reductions

Delegates of the commission’s 88 member governments had been discussing whether to maintain a 24-year-old moratorium on commercial whaling. A compromise plan proposed by the United States and other antiwhaling nations would have allowed the three countries to resume commercial whaling but at significantly lower levels and under tight monitoring.

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