AFFILIATE

Galapagos Taken Off Heritage Danger List While Still at Risk

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:48:48 -0700

BRASILIA, Brazil, July 29, 2010 (ENS) - The United Nations' World Heritage Committee has decided to remove Ecuador's Galapagos Islands from its list of globally important sites in danger, despite an expert recommendation to the contrary.

The Galapagos, known as a unique "living museum and showcase of evolution" were inscribed on the List of World Heritage Sites in Danger in 2007 because of threats posed by invasive species, runaway tourism and overfishing.

Meeting in Brasilia, the 21-nation panel today approved a Brazilian recommendation to withdraw the islands from the list, saying the government of Ecuador has made "significant progress" addressing threats to the Galapagos.

But the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which advises the UNESCO committee says the removal is "premature."

"The removal of this unique site of global importance to humanity is somewhat premature," says IUCN Director General, Julia Marton-Lefevre. "IUCN stands ready to continue its work with the Ecuadorian government to fully implement the recommendations of the World Heritage Committee."

"IUCN's recommendation for the Galapagos was that it should not be removed from the Danger List as there is still work to be done," says Tim Badman, who heads IUCN's World Heritage Programme. "But we recognize the major efforts of the Ecuadorian government to rectify the situation there."

Tourist gets a close-up photo of a giant tortoise on the Galapagos island of Santa Cruz. July 29, 2010 (Photo by Richard Choi)

"Threats from tourism, invasive species and overfishing are still factors and the situation in the Galapagos remains critical," Badman said today. "We will need continued strong commitment from the Ecuadorian government over the coming years to resolve these issues."

The Galapagos chain of volcanic islands were named the first World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1978.

Located at the confluence of three currents in the Pacific Ocean some 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) from the South American continent, these 19 islands and the surrounding marine reserve are inhabited by unusual animal life.

The land iguana, the giant tortoise and the many types of finch are among the creatures that inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection following his visit to the Galapagos in 1835.

Today, invasive species are the greatest direct threat to the Galapagos' unique ecosystems. People began introducing goats, pigs and cattle to the islands when they were first settled in the early 19th century. These livestock species, along with cats and dogs, have established wild populations and prey on, or compete with local species, driving some of them to extinction, such as the land iguana of Santiago island.

Feral dogs are a threat to tortoise eggs, native iguanas and penguins. Four goats introduced to the Santiago Islands in the early 1800s, have multiplied into an estimated population of 100,000. Due to their ability to feed on nearly any plant, goats alone may be responsible for the local extinction of up to five plant species and compete with the Galapagos tortoises for their food source.

A newly introduced wasp species has been sited on the islands, and may be responsible for a declining number of caterpillar larvae, a food source for finches.

"A growing number of introduced plant and insect species, along with micro-organisms which cause disease, pose an increasing risk to Galapagos biodiversity, driving up the cost of managing them by eradication or permanent control," according to the World Heritage Committee.

Increasing tourism and population growth in Galapagos have been linked to the difficulty of keeping introduced species out of the islands.

Some conservation progress is evident. The giant tortoises, a signature species in the Galapagos, were nearing extinction until scientists recently reintroduced tortoise hatchlings to Espanola, the southernmost island.

The conservation effort has resulted in a reproducing population of more than 1,500 tortoises, according to a survey conducted over 10 days in June by wardens from the Galapagos National Park Authority.

Preliminary results of the survey also found that albatross, cactus and woody plants have recovered somewhat, restoring the island to something resembling to what Darwin saw.

But the population of the Galapgaos is increasing, bringing with it problems of waste disposal and greater pressure on the islands' natural resources.

Hoping to find work, people from mainland Ecuador have moved onto the islands. The 1990 census showed the population at 9,735. Today, more than 20,000 people live on the islands.

The population is doubling every 11 years, which means that there will be 40,000 people on the Galapagos Islands by 2014.

The Charles Darwin Foundation, a Belgian international nonprofit organization that works with the Ecuadorian government, Wednesday announced a new Director of Terrestrial Science, Dr. Rodolfo Martinez.

Dr. Martinez is aware of the conservation challenges facing the island chain. "Several areas of Galapagos have been heavily impacted by agriculture, ranching, introduced plants and urban expansion," he said. "These activities have contributed to soil degradation which greatly affects the health of terrestrial ecosystems, reduces critical habitat for native flora and fauna, and facilitates invasion by introduced species."

UN Evaluates World Heritage Proposals from Hawaii to Tajikistan

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:46:36 -0700

BRASILIA, Brazil, July 29, 2010 (ENS) - Eight natural areas of outstanding global heritage value are being considered for inscription on the United Nations' World Heritage List by a 21-nation panel now meeting in Brasilia.

In addition, two areas of mixed natural and cultural value are under consideration, including one of the largest marine protected areas on Earth - Hawaii's Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.

Irina Bokova, director-general of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, and Brazil's Minister of Culture Joao Luiz da Silva Ferreira formally opened the 34th session of the World Heritage Committee here Sunday evening. The meeting continues through August 3.

In her opening address, Bokova highlighted the link between heritage and the world's major development challenges.

"I am convinced this committee can blaze new trails," Bokova said. "Sites can be testing grounds for innovative protective measures that closely involve communities" and can be "real laboratories of sustainable development in practice."

This is a "message that UNESCO is promoting throughout this International Year of Biodiversity," she said.

Minister da Silva hailed the fact that "heritage is no longer treated in an isolated way" but has become an integral part of national development planning.

During this annual meeting, the committee will review the state of conservation of 147 World Heritage properties, including the 31 sites inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger and another 36 that are causing serious concern.

The In Danger List includes sites threatened by pollution, urban development, poorly managed mass tourism, wars and natural disasters, which have a negative impact on the outstanding values for which the sites were originally inscribed on the World Heritage List.

The World Heritage Committee, responsible for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention, comprises representatives of 21 countries, elected by the States Parties for four years. The current composition of the committee is: Australia, Bahrain, Barbados, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Estonia, Ethiopia, France, Iraq, Jordan, Mali, Mexico, Nigeria, Russian Federation, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, and United Arab Emirates.

Before deciding which sites to inscribe on the World Heritage List, the committee takes recommendations on the proposals for natural sites from the International Union for Conservation of Nature and for the cultural sites from the International Council on Monuments and Sites.

Natural properties submitted for inscription to the World Heritage List:

Pirin National Park, Bulgaria, an extension to an existing heritage listing
Danxia, China - unique landforms in the foothills area of the south Yangtze River
Pitons, cirques and remparts of the volcanic Reunion Island, France
Phoenix Islands Protected Area, Kiribati
Dinosaur Ichnites of the Iberian Peninsula, Portugal and Spain - dinosaur footprints fossilized in rock
Putorana Plateau, Russia - steep mountains and deep valleys in the northern polar circle
Monte San Giorgio, Switzerland and Italy, an extension - fossil remains of fish and reptiles
Tajik National Park, Mountains of the Pamirs, Tajikistan

Mixed properties submitted for inscription to the World Heritage List for both cultural and natural values:

Central Highlands of Sri Lanka
Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, Hawaii, United States of America - The 2,000 km (1,200-mile)-long string of islands represents the longest, clearest, and oldest example of island formation and atoll evolution in the world.

In addition, several of the culturally significant sites under consideration have environmental relevance such as Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands where atmospheric nuclear tests were conducted and Tanzania's Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

Birds abound on the island of Nihoa in Hawaii's Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument (Photo by Jerker Tamelander courtesy IUCN)

Ahead of this committee meeting, a petition signed by 125,000 people around the world was presented to UNESCO in protest of the re-opening of a paper and pulp mill on the shores of Lake Baikal, a World Heritage site in the Russian Federation.

The petition was presented to UNESCO by Greenpeace and WWF, who agreed to bring it to the attention of the World Heritage Committee in Brasilia.

"The World Heritage Committee will discuss the Baikal issue at its meeting in Brasilia, and will offer recommendations and support to Russia to define the most appropriate solutions," said UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture, Francesco Bandarin.

"We have had, in the past, proof of the Russian Government's commitment to the conservation of World Heritage sites," he said. "We are confident that the authorities will understand that Lake Baikal requires decisions that will effectively protect its conservation."

Lake Baikal is the deepest, oldest and largest lake in the world, containing 20 percent of the planet's unfrozen fresh water. Over 25 million years it has developed a rich biodioversity, including a freshwater seal. It was inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1996.

This year the IUCN would like to highlight the conservation values of deserts, which cover one-third of the Earth's land surface.

The IUCN "wants to raise the profile of deserts in the World Heritage arena, and encourage the use of the World Heritage Convention to ensure the long-term conservation of the most valuable desert areas," said Tilman Jaeger, IUCN's World Heritage Project Management Officer.

"Deserts host unique and rare fauna and flora specially adapted to extreme conditions but they are often overlooked," says Jaeger. "For instance, few people know that the Bodele Depression in Chad is the largest source of dust on Earth delivering nutrients to the oceans and as far as the Caribbean."

Deserts and their inhabitants suffer from a variety of threats, including climate change, exploitation of scarce water resources for mining and irrigation as well as overuse of the sparse vegetation through grazing and firewood collection. Several deserts have a history of military and weapons testing, including nuclear weapons with on-going major contamination.

IUCN will dedicate a study to deserts to be published in September.

More needs to be done to protect wildlife in British Columbia's Flathead River Valley and adjoining areas, says a summary report issued today by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.

The report recommends development of a single conservation and wildlife management plan for the transboundary Flathead that straddles the border between the United States and Canada.

The UNESCO mission went to the Flathead last September after Sierra Club BC, Wildsight, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and eight other conservation groups petitioned the World Heritage Committee to draw attention to energy and mining threats in the Flathead, adjacent to the Waterton-Glacier World Heritage Site.

In its summary report, the committee commends British Columbia for banning mining and oil and gas development in the Flathead, and welcomes the February 2010 Memorandum of Understanding for the Flathead Basin, signed by the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Montana.

NGOs Apologize for Offending Saudi Arabia at Climate Meeting

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:44:52 -0700

BONN, Germany, July 29, 2010 (ENS) - The global environment organization WWF today apologized "unreservedly" for the actions of an employee who took offensive photographs of the official nameplate of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and distributed them at an international climate change meeting.

WWF has fired the man, who admitted sole responsibility for the incident.

The episode took place over the night of June 9-10, near the end of a two-week meeting of parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC, in Bonn.

A Saudi Arabian nameplate at the June 2010 UNFCCC meeting in Bonn (Photo courtesy Earth Negotiations Bulletin)

The employee of WWF-UK took the black and white nameplate of Saudi Arabia from a conference table, broke it, and photographed it in a toilet bowl. That photo was a feature of leaflets distributed around the conference.

The incident occurred after Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer, blocked a request by small island states for further studies into the effects of climate change, such as sea level rise.

The leaflets were gravely offensive to the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which called for an investigation, and to the meeting as a whole.

"The incident was completely unacceptable under the standards of the Convention and the standards of WWF," said WWF International Director General Jim Leape today. "We have apologized formally to the UNFCCC and the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

"The individual responsible has expressed deep remorse and apologized unreservedly for his actions," said Leape. "He is no longer working for WWF."

A WWF spokesman has declined to name the individual involved.

"We are deeply sorry for the offense caused by this incident, which we utterly condemn and cannot excuse," Leape said. "We are doing everything we can to ensure that nothing like this happens again."

Another employee of WWF, and an employee of the international aid agency Oxfam, were questioned by UN security investigating the incident. They have both been suspended pending the completion of further investigations.

Today Oxfam said it has apologized to the Government of Saudi Arabia and to the Bureau, secretariat and members of the UNFCCC.

The Oxfam employee did not take part in the act but was in the room when the nameplate was taken, Oxfam said in a statement today.

"The act itself was offensive, inexcusable and inappropriate. It broke UN rules that govern NGO behavior," said Oxfam International Executive Director Jeremy Hobbs.

"Oxfam has apologized to the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and to the UNFCCC and its members. Proper staff procedures broke down and we were too slow to respond," said Hobbs. "We have commissioned an independent review of our internal controls and management systems to ensure nothing like this happens again."

Oxfam has been in contact with the UNFCCC and members and has requested time at the UNFCCC meeting in Bonn next week to formally apologize to the plenary in a public session.

Hobbs said Oxfam understands the meeting may discuss possible penalties that the UN could take against the individuals and the NGOs concerned.

On behalf of WWF, Leape has written to the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties' governing body, the COP Bureau, outlining a new Code of Conduct that all WWF attendees at international meetings will be required to sign.

"This will ensure that both UNFCCC protocols and our own internal standards are adhered to," Leape said.

Leape also reaffirmed WWF's commitment to the UN climate negotiations process and the continuing negotiations towards solutions to the global issue of climate change, which resume August 2 in Bonn.

The negotiations process is leading to the annual UN climate summit, which takes place this year in Cancun, Mexico. Governments are attempting to agree on a treaty limiting the emission of greenhouse gases that drive global warming.

A new treaty is needed that would take effect when the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol expires at the end of 2012.

EPA Rejects Petitions to Reverse Climate Change Endangerment Finding

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:43:21 -0700

WASHINGTON, DC, July 29, 2010 (ENS) - The Environmental Protection Agency today turned back 10 petitions from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Commonwealth of Virginia, Peabody Coal and others that asked the agency to rescind its scientific finding that heat-trapping greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare.

In December 2009 the EPA determined that climate change is real, is occurring due to emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities, and threatens human health and the environment. This determination triggers the EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.

The petitions to reconsider EPA's Endangerment Finding claim that climate science cannot be trusted, and assert a conspiracy that invalidates the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the U.S. Global Change Research Program.

"After months of serious consideration of the petitions and of the state of climate change science," the agency said today that it can find "no evidence" to support these claims.

By contrast, EPA's review shows that "climate science is credible, compelling, and growing stronger."

"The endangerment finding is based on years of science from the U.S. and around the world. These petitions, based as they are on selectively edited, out-of-context data and a manufactured controversy, provide no evidence to undermine our determination. Excess greenhouse gases are a threat to our health and welfare," said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.

Greenhouse gases rise from Arizona's Apache power plant, which is fueled with coal and natural gas. (Photo by Lance and Erin)

The scientific evidence supporting EPA's finding is "robust, voluminous, and compelling," the agency asserts on its website.

"Climate change is happening now, and humans are contributing to it," the EPA states. "Multiple lines of evidence show a global warming trend over the past 100 years. Beyond this, melting ice in the Arctic, melting glaciers around the world, increasing ocean temperatures, rising sea levels, altered precipitation patterns, and shifting patterns of ecosystems and wildlife habitats all confirm that our climate is changing."

But Robin Conrad, executive vice president of the National Chamber Litigation Center, today said the U.S. Chamber of Commerce intends to appeal the EPA's denial of its petition.

"The U.S. Chamber, policymakers, numerous trade groups, state governments, and businesses throughout the country have collectively raised strong concerns about the significant negative impact EPA's endangerment finding will have on jobs and local economies," said Conrad.

"We are deeply disappointed with the EPA's failure to reconsider its flawed decision to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. We intend to appeal the ruling."

"Defenders of the status quo will try to slow our efforts to get America running on clean energy. A better solution would be to join the vast majority of the American people who want to see more green jobs, more clean energy innovation and an end to the oil addiction that pollutes our planet and jeopardizes our national security," Jackson said.

The nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists says the EPA made the right decision based on science.

"The EPA's decision to reject these claims is backed by decades of research and on-the-ground observations, including from more than 7,000 weather stations that take air temperatures around the world," said UCS President Kevin Knobloch. "Pronounced warming has occurred over the last 30 years, and the last decade has been the hottest in 130 years of recordkeeping."

"Anyone who sweltered through the recent heat waves can attest to the fact that extreme temperatures are a threat to human health," Knobloch said. "If we don't swiftly and deeply reduce our emissions, heat waves are likely to occur more often and be more severe, eventually making these temperatures commonplace in summer."

"Heat waves already have led to an increase in heat-related deaths and sicknesses, especially among the poor, children and the elderly, and this trend is likely to get worse," he warned.

The petitioners say that emails disclosed from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit provide evidence of a conspiracy to manipulate global temperature data.

The EPA responds that its review of every one of these emails found "this was simply a candid discussion of scientists working through issues that arise in compiling and presenting large complex data sets." Four other independent reviews came to similar conclusions.

The petitioners say that errors in the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, issued in 2007, call the entire body of work into question.

The EPA reponds that of the alleged errors, EPA confirmed only two in a 3,000 page report. The first pertains to the rate of Himalayan glacier melt and second to the percentage of the Netherlands below sea level. IPCC issued correction statements for both of these errors.

The errors have no bearing on Administrator Jackson's endangerment decision. None of the errors undermines the basic facts that the climate is changing in ways that threaten our health and welfare.

The petitioners say that because certain studies were not included in the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, the IPCC itself is biased and cannot be trusted as a source of reliable information.

The EPA responds that these claims are "incorrect." In fact, the agency says, "the studies in question were included in the IPCC report, which provided a comprehensive and balanced discussion of climate science."

Finally, the petitioners say that new scientific studies refute evidence supporting the Endangerment Finding.

But the EPA responds that the petitioners "misinterpreted" the results of these studies. Contrary to their claims, many of the papers they submit as evidence are consistent with EPA's endangerment finding.

"Other studies submitted by the petitioners were based on unsound methodologies," the agency says. Detailed discussion of these issues are found in Volume One of the response to petition documents, on EPA's website at: http://epa.gov/climatechange/endangerment/petitions.html.

Million Gallons of Oil Spill into Michigan's Kalamazoo River

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:41:47 -0700

LANSING, Michigan, July 29, 2010 (ENS) - Oil spill response workers said Thursday that they have stopped the spread of oil heading down the Kalamazoo River from a broken pipeline in southwest Michigan, but officials from various agencies differ on how far the oil has moved and whether or not the oil leak has, in fact, been stopped.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has assumed the role of Federal On-Scene Coordinator and EPA officials said Lake Michigan and drinking water sources for the city of Kalamazoo appear to be safe.

EPA has responsibility under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 for this spill because it happened inland, rather than offshore.

On Monday, a 30 inch pipeline belonging to Enbridge Inc. burst in Marshall, Michigan, releasing hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil into Talmadge Creek, a tributary of the Kalamazoo River.

The spill has affected up to 25 miles of the Kalamazoo River. The spill site, located between Marshall and Battle Creek, includes marshlands, residential areas, farmland and businesses.

Booms help to contain oil near the Talmadge Creek, Kalamazoo River junction, Marshall, Michigan. (Photo courtesy Government of Michigan)

Officials with Enbridge Energy Partners, said they had stanched the leak, but on Thursday afternoon a flow of oil could be seen beyond a containment dike moving into the Kalamazoo River.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said, "This is a serious spill that has the potential to damage a vital waterway and threatens public health. Staff from EPA's regional and headquarters office are on the scene and ensuring the leaked oil is contained and cleaned up as quickly and effectively as possible."

While the EPA says the oil leak has been stopped, the agency says over a million gallons of oil may have leaked into the river. The Kalamazoo River is a fast-moving river and EPA's focus right now is on preventing oil from the Enbridge spill from affecting sensitive shorelines and, ultimately, keeping the oil out of Lake Michigan.

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm today continued to push for sufficient resources to adequately address the oil spill. The governor has asked the U.S. Coast Guard to assess the situation and provide recommendations for stopping the advance of oil.

On Wednesday, EPA requested the U.S. Coast Guard make $2 million available to fund the federal government's operations in response to the spill. EPA can request additional funding if it determines more is needed. The federal government intends to seek full reimbursement for all money spent on this response from the responsible party, Enbridge, Inc.

Governor Granholm Tuesday declared a state of disaster in Calhoun County and potentially affected areas along the Kalamazoo River downstream of Talmadge Creek.

"Our focus is protecting Michigan citizens and our environment by providing any needed state resources to expediently address the situation," said Granholm. "Officials with several state agencies are actively engaged in this response effort and are working in concert with local and federal agencies to ensure that our response is timely and effective."

State agencies were on scene today meeting with local, state, federal, and private sector responders, and providing help to citizens and wildlife impacted by the spill. The state has activated a Joint Information Center to coordinate the dissemination of public information to the news media.

Michigan today launched a new website with response efforts and public information at: http://www.michigan.gov/oilspill.

The Michigan National Guard, 51st Civil Support Team is conducting air monitoring in conjunction with the EPA. All air monitoring results will be released by the EPA at http://www.epa.gov/enbridgespill/. Staff from the Michigan Department of Community Health will consult on necessary monitoring and possible health effects.

The Michigan Department of Agriculture has issued an irrigation and watering advisory for the entire length of the Kalamazoo River, which includes creeks or small streams entering the Kalamazoo River.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment is on site working with Focus Wildlife, a contractor hired by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to handle wildlife recovery and cleaning efforts. Citizens are asked not to try to clean any impacted wildlife, as one quart of oil can contaminate up to two million gallons of drinking water.

People who encounter impacted wildlife should call 1-800-306-6837. Persons wishing to donate items toward wildlife cleanup efforts can call the United Way's 2-1-1 free referral service.

People are advised avoid the general area of the spill, avoid contact with affected waterways and wildlife, and not to eat fish from Talmadge Creek or the Kalamazoo River.

Residents with concerns or those with oil on their property can call the Enbridge hotline at 1-800-306-6837.

BP's Tony Hayward Gets His Life Back

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:57:16 -0700

LONDON, UK, July 27, 2010 (ENS) - BP today announced that, by mutual agreement with the BP board, Tony Hayward will step down as group chief executive as of October 1, 2010. He will be succeeded by fellow executive director Robert Dudley.

Hayward was in charge of the company on April 20 when the Deepwater Horizon explosion that killed 11 men unleashed a three-month long oil spill from the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico. He was widely reviled in the United States for saying he "wants his life back" and for attending a yacht race at the height of the spill.

BP Group Chief Executive Tony Hayward testifies before Congress. June 17, 2010. (Photo courtesy House Energy and Commerce Committee)

But after their Board of Directors meeting today in London, BP officials said they are sorry to see Hayward go.

BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said, "The BP board is deeply saddened to lose a CEO whose success over some three years in driving the performance of the company was so widely and deservedly admired."

"The tragedy of the Macondo well explosion and subsequent environmental damage has been a watershed incident," said Svanberg. "BP remains a strong business with fine assets, excellent people and a vital role to play in meeting the world's energy needs. But it will be a different company going forward, requiring fresh leadership supported by robust governance and a very engaged board."

Commenting on the decision to step down, Hayward said, "The Gulf of Mexico explosion was a terrible tragedy for which - as the man in charge of BP when it happened - I will always feel a deep responsibility, regardless of where blame is ultimately found to lie."

"From day one I decided that I would personally lead BP's efforts to stem the leak and contain the damage, a logistical operation unprecedented in scale and cost. We have now capped the oil flow and we are doing everything within our power to clean up the spill and to make restitution to everyone with legitimate claims."

"BP will be a changed company as a result of Macondo," Hayward said, "and it is right that it should embark on its next phase under new leadership."

BP said that under the terms of his contract Hayward would receive a year's salary in lieu of notice, amounting to ₤1.045 million (US$1.62 million).

Hayward will remain on the BP board until November 30. BP also plans to nominate him as a non-executive director of TNK-BP, a Russian oil company that is among the top 10 privately-owned oil companies in the world in terms of crude oil production.

Dudley has been BP's point man for the Gulf oil spill for about a month, but now he will shoulder all the responsibility for killing the blown-out well, cleaning up the Gulf and compensating the victims.

"We are highly fortunate to have a successor of the calibre of Bob Dudley who has spent his working life in the oil industry both in the U.S. and overseas and has proved himself a robust operator in the toughest circumstances," Svanberg said.

Dudley is a main board director of BP and currently runs the recently-established unit responsible for clean-up operations and compensation programs in the Gulf of Mexico. He joined BP from Amoco after the merger of the two companies in 1998. He was president and CEO of BP's Russian joint venture, TNK-BP, until 2008.

"I am honored to be given the job of rebuilding BP's strengths and reputation but sad at the circumstances. I have the greatest admiration for Tony, both for the job he has done since he became CEO in 2007 and for his unremitting dedication to dealing with the Gulf of Mexico disaster," Dudley said.

"I do not underestimate the nature of the task ahead, but the company is financially robust with an enviable portfolio of assets and professional teams that are among the best in the industry. I believe this combination - allied to clear, strategic direction - will put BP on the road to recovery."

On his appointment, Dudley will be based in London and will hand over his present duties in the United States to Lamar McKay, chairman and president of BP America.

"In this change of roles, I particularly want the people of the Gulf Coast to know that my commitment to remediation and restitution in the region is not lessened. I gave a promise to make it right and I will keep that promise," Dudley said.

National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen told reporters on Monday that the company will be preparing to kill the well all this week and plans to begin pumping mud and other materials down from the top in a "static kill" operation on Monday, August 2. Five days later, BP plans to begin pumping mud and cement up from the bottom through a relief well to completely stop the disastrous oil leak.

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is proving to be costly for BP. After its Board of Directors meeting today, the company said today that it has taken a pre-tax charge of $32.2 billion for the spill, including the $20 billion escrow compensation fund announced this spring.

The company will tell analysts later today that it plans to sell assets for up to $30 billion over the next 18 months, primarily in the upstream business, and selected on the basis that they are worth more to other companies than to BP. This portfolio high grading will leave the company with a smaller but higher quality exploration and production business.

Meanwhile BP continues to access new business opportunities, with new agreements in Azerbaijan, Egypt, China and Indonesia announced since the end of the first quarter.

The company said it was taking a prudent approach to managing the balance sheet and its financial liquidity, in order to ensure that BP has the flexibility to meet all of its future financial obligations. As a result it plans to reduce its net debt level down to a range of $10-$15 billion within the next 18 months, compared to net debt of $23 billion at the end of June. Group capital spending for 2010 and 2011 will be about $18 billion a year, in line with previous forecasts.

"With the leak now capped we have reached a significant milestone," said Hayward. "This provides a firm basis for moving forward to reshape the company. By disposing of assets worth more to others than to BP we can better align our strategic footprint with our global strengths."

Delinquent Polluters Must Pay New Jersey Superfund Cleanup Costs

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:03:09 -0700

TRENTON, New Jersey, July 26, 2010 (ENS) - Champion Chemical Company, Imperial Oil Company Inc. and Imperial's two former officers have agreed to pay at least $1.4 million to cover cleanup costs at the Imperial/Champion Superfund Site in Morganville, New Jersey.

Under the settlement filed Thursday in federal court in Trenton, the two companies will pay more than $1 million and Imperial's two former officers, Scott Stevens and George Kulick, will pay $360,000 to satisfy the companies' obligations according to a 2001 legal settlement called a consent decree.

The 2001 consent decree resolved the companies' liability under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act for past cleanup costs incurred by the United States and the state of New Jersey in connection with the site.

Imperial/Champion Superfund site (Photo courtesy EPA)

According to the 2001 decree, the companies committed to make future monthly and annual payments based on Imperial's gross profits.

On March 29, 2007, the United States filed a motion to enforce the 2001 decree, seeking more than $1 million in payments that Champion and Imperial failed to make, as well as penalties.

The United States also filed a claim under the Federal Debt Collection Procedures Act against Stevens and Kulick, alleging that excessive salaries they received beginning in 2001 constituted fraudulent conveyances from Imperial of assets that should have been paid to the federal government.

The 15-acre site located in Monmouth County contained a facility that operated an oil reclamation process. Prior to Imperial Oil, other companies operated at the site, including a chemical processing plant which produced arsenical pesticides, followed by a manufacturer of flavors and essences.

The site contains a contaminated pond and a stream to the north, Birch Swamp Brook, that flows through a bog northwest of the site and then drains into Lake Lefferts, located 1.25 miles to the north. Wetlands and wooded areas are nearby.

The ground water at the site is contaminated by volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, and metals, among other contaminants.

Soil contamination consists of elevated levels of VOCs, semi-volatile organic compounds, petroleum hydrocarbons, PCBs, pesticides and the metals arsenic and lead. The surrounding wetlands are also affected.

Since 1991, the site has been addressed by EPA and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. EPA has conducted numerous cleanup activities at the site, including the removal of a waste clay pile and soil from adjoining residential properties that was contaminated with arsenic.

In December 2007, remedial funding was authorized for the removal and disposal of product, feedstock and waste materials, and associated tanks, pipelines, drums and containers. In January 2008, these activities were expanded to include the demolition and off-site disposal of buildings and structures which remain at the site.

"Under Superfund, parties responsible for damaging the environment are required to pay for the cost of the toxic cleanup," said EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck.

She said, "This New Jersey case is a testament to EPA's hard work to uphold a basic principle of the Superfund law - the polluter pays."

Under the settlement filed Thursday with the court and subject to court approval, the United States will receive all of the net proceeds from the sale of the site, which is owned by Champion, and proceeds from the companies' remaining insurance coverage, in addition to the $1.4 million payment.

The U.S. Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency said the settlement ensures that the United States will receive all remaining non-bankruptcy assets of both Imperial, which is in Chapter 7 bankruptcy, and Champion, which is a dormant company with no assets other than the site.

"The United States expects parties to honor their consent decree obligations and any failure to do so is a very serious violation," said Ignacia Moreno, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "This agreement will ensure that Champion, Imperial and their corporate officers live up to their prior obligations."

Hoosier Energy Will Spend Up to $300 Million for Cleaner Air

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:01:37 -0700

BLOOMINGTON, Indiana, July 27, 2010 (ENS) - Under a legal settlement with the federal government filed Friday, Hoosier Energy Rural Electric Cooperative Inc., an Indiana electric generation and transmission cooperative, has agreed to install state-of-the-art pollution control technology at its two coal-fired power plants.

Filed in federal court, the settlement requires Hoosier to reduce air pollution from the cooperative's Merom and Ratts Stations, located in southwest Indiana.

Hoosier estimates that it will spend between $250 and $300 million upgrading and installing pollution controls at the two coal-fired units through the end of 2015.

As a result, emissions of sulfur dioxide, SO2, will be reduced by almost 20,000 tons and nitrogen oxides, NOx, by more than 1,800 tons per year. The settlement will also reduce harmful sulfuric acid mist and particulate matter emissions.

To achieve these reductions, Hoosier will upgrade existing, and install new, pollution controls at the Merom and Ratts plants, and comply with annual tonnage limitations across its system.

Hoosier's Merom Generating Station in Sullivan County, Indiana (Photo Hoosier Energy REC)

Hoosier must also pay a civil penalty of $950,000 and spend $5 million on environmental mitigation projects, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday.

"Hoosier Energy remains committed to environmental compliance and stewardship, reliable service, and keeping costs and rates as low as possible," said Chief Executive Officer Steve Smith. "The settlement agreement is in the best interests of our members and their consumers in southern Indiana and Illinois. It removes litigation risk and uncertainty, enables us to focus on power supply operations and reliability, and minimizes cost and rate impacts to consumers."

The state of Indiana joined in the settlement and will receive $100,000 of the $950,000 civil penalty.

"The large reductions in harmful air pollutants including sulfuric acid mist emissions secured by this settlement will have a significant beneficial impact on air quality in Indiana and downwind states," said Ignacia Moreno, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division.

Sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides, two key pollutants emitted from power plants, have numerous negative effects on human health and the environment. These pollutants are converted in the air to fine particles of particulate matter that can cause severe respiratory and cardiovascular impacts, and premature death.

The two pollutants are also contributors to acid rain, smog and haze. In addition, air pollution from power plants can drift far downwind, affecting communities across a wide area.

Hoosier will spend $5 million on environmental mitigation projects in its service territory to address the impacts of past emissions.

Hoosier must direct $200,000 for projects to mitigate the harm caused by Hoosier's excess emissions at lands owned by the U.S. Forest Service.

The remaining $4.8 million will be spent on one or more of the following projects:

Coal Bed Methane: Hoosier will capture and combust methane from coal beds to generate at least 10 megawatts of electricity. Carbon dioxide emissions resulting from the combustion of methane will be supplied to a greenhouse for use as a fertilizer.

Wood Appliance Changeout and Retrofits: Hoosier will sponsor a wood-burning appliance changeout and retrofit project. Hoosier will provide incentives through rebates, discounts, and in some instances, actual replacement of old, inefficient, high polluting wood-burning technology.

Clean Diesel Retrofits: Hoosier will retrofit in-service, public diesel engines with emission control equipment designed to reduce air pollutants.

Solar Technologies: Hoosier will install solar power systems on public schools or non-profit groups in the company's service territory.

The settlement marks the federal government's 20th settlement under its national enforcement initiative to reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants under the Clean Air Act's New Source Review requirements.

"This settlement continues our important enforcement initiative to reduce harmful air pollution from coal-fired power plants and provide the public with cleaner, healthier air to breathe," said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.

"Pollution from these sources can cause severe respiratory and cardiovascular impacts, and are significant contributors to acid rain, smog and haze. Coal-fired power plants of all sizes are large sources of air emissions, and EPA is committed to making sure that they all comply with the law."

As part of the 1977 Clean Air Act Amendments, New Source Review is a preconstruction permitting program that requires existing sources of emissions to receive a permit when facilities are modified resulting in increased emissions.

What constitutes a modification has been a source of conflict among EPA, utilities, industrial groups and environmental interest organizations.

Conservationists Renew Legal Challenge to Jaguar Capture Permit

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:59:31 -0700

TUCSON, Arizona, July 27, 2010 (ENS) - The Center for Biological Diversity Monday filed a formal notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for issuing a permit to the Arizona Game and Fish Department authorizing the taking of endangered jaguars by setting traps and snares.

At the time of European colonization, jaguars were reported from California to the Carolinas. Clearing of forests, draining of wetlands, grazing of livestock and killing with traps, poison and guns removed jaguars until only one, Macho B, was known to live in the United States. He was killed in southern Arizona last year.

However, conservationists still hope that jaguars may return to the United States from Mexico.

Last U.S. wild jaguar, Macho B, with collar and satellite tracking device, February 2009. (Photo courtesy AZGFD)

The nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity argues in its notice of intent to sue that the federal permit was issued to the Arizona agency on June 14 without first establishing a required recovery plan to ensure that further killing, trapping or harming of jaguars would not contribute to their extinction.

Yet on Friday, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Arizona Game and Fish Department agreed to dismiss a federal lawsuit filed by the Center in 2009 regarding state agency's endangered species permit.

U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Marshall issued an order dismissing the lawsuit without prejudice.

"The Arizona Game and Fish Department has played a prominent role in the conservation of threatened and endangered species in Arizona and has allocated significant resources over the years to the conservation and recovery of federally-listed species," said Gary Hovatter, deputy director for Game and Fish.

"The dismissal of this case will allow us to again focus on those efforts rather than on litigation designed to hinder them," he said.

But both federal and state wildlife agencies have maintained for years that they do not intend to recover U.S. jaguars. They have held that there is no need to do so because jaguars in the United States are not a distinct population from those that live in Mexico and those living across the border are not endangered.

Finally, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced in January that it will designate critical habitat for U.S. jaguars and develop a jaguar recovery plan. The Service will propose areas for critical habitat designation by January 2011, according to an announcement in the Federal Register.

The reconsideration of the Bush-era policy was required by a court order in the last of three lawsuits brought since 2004 by the Center for Biological Diversity.

In this latest legal battle over a permit, the Center had alleged that the Game and Fish Department did not have a permit to carry out activities that might lead to the "take" of a jaguar under the Endangered Species Act.

The state agency contended that it did not need a separate permit because the "take" of threatened and endangered species, including jaguars, for purposes consistent with wildlife conservation objectives is already authorized under a section of the Endangered Species Act.

In an apparent attempt to bolster that authorization, the Fish and Wildlife Service issued a take permit to the Arizona agency in June and restated the department's authority to manage threatened and endangered species as authorized by the Endangered Species Act.

But Michael Robinson of the Center says that with this latest threat of a lawsuit his organization is attempting to convince the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to rescind the permit issued in June, saying, "We believe this "illegal permit will be struck down by the court."

If the permit is not rescinded within 60 days, the Center will file suit in federal district court in Tucson, Arizona, which Robinson says is the closest district to where jaguars might be found if they enter the United States from Mexico.

"The Fish and Wildlife Service appears to have learned nothing from the killing of the last known jaguar in the United States, Macho B, just last year," said Robinson. "Arizona Game and Fish should not be allowed to risk capturing another jaguar until there's a clear plan for ensuring the health and conservation of these extremely rare cats."

Macho B was captured on February 18, 2009 by a snare set by Arizona Game and Fish Department contractor Emil McCain, who was conducting a study of mountain lions and black bears.

The jaguar's health declined rapidly after the snaring, and he was recaptured 12 days later and euthanized. It was later revealed that McCain had illegally baited the trap with female jaguar scat.

Although the permit specifies that such baiting will not be permitted, it continues to allow the use of snares of a sufficient size to capture jaguars, which resulted in the death of Macho B as well as two other jaguars in Mexico in recent years.

"The Fish and Wildlife Service appears to have not just given a blank check to Arizona Game and Fish, but also the checkbook and pen," said Robinson. "The precarious status of jaguars in the United States means extreme caution should be taken to ensure that none are harmed, which is not the case with this permit."

Robinson says that at this point the Center is opposed to capturing a jaguar to place a radio collar on the animal that would track its movements.

"We believe it's premature to radio collar a jaguar," he told ENS. "It may be OK after a recovery team is appointed. If the team says we need this certain information in addition to what is already known, we would be OK with it under those circumstances."

For earlier ENS coverage of U.S. jaguars and Macho B, go to:
IG Report: Last U.S. Jaguar Captured, Killed Intentionally
Endangered U.S. Jaguars to Get Critical Habitat, Recovery Plan

Gulf Oil Spill Response Back on Track

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:22:16 -0700

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, July 26, 2010 (ENS) - Oil spill response vessels and drilling rigs are returning to their places above BP's blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico today after they were evacuated Friday to avoid the impact of Tropical Storm Bonnie.

But Bonnie weakened and was only a tropical depression with winds near 30 mph when it moved into the gulf on Saturday, according to meteorologists with the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

The center of Bonnie came ashore Friday near Cutler Bay, about 20 miles south of Miami. It moved into the eastern Gulf and was about 165 miles east-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River Saturday morning. The storm posed no danger to the vessels working to try and kill the runaway well.

At the order of National Incident Commander retired U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the containment cap over the damaged wellhead remained in place during the evacuation and no oil was released into the gulf.

Ships performing acoustic and seismic monitoring to ensure the integrity of the wellbore, and they have detected no problems with the containment cap.

By today, all assets are expected to be back in place. "The critical ones are out there right now," said Allen Sunday.

Vessels that have restarted their work include the Development Driller III, which is responsible for drilling the relief well.

Before suspending operations, Development Driller III had drilled the first relief well to a depth of 17,864 feet below the gulf surface and Development Driller II had drilled the second relief well, a redundancy measure taken at the direction of the administration, to a depth of 15,963 feet below the surface.

Allen also said the timeline for the so-called static kill procedure and the relief well will be delayed about a week, a decision that was made based on a series of recent meetings with the federal government science team, led by Energy Secretary Chu, and BP representatives in Houston.

"So generally the next week will be preps, making sure everything is ready to go... and then the week of the first of August is when we will attempt to do the static kill and then move back and finish the bottom kill," Allen said

The static kill would pump mud in from the top, and the relief well would allow mud and cement to be pumped in from the bottom of the damaged well. Allen explained that the two operations are linked.

"We believe that we should not start the static kill operation until we have installed the last liner run in the bottom of the relief well. And just to explain this, the relief well bore has been drilled, but the last final section that we want to reinforce with pipe needs to be done before we can begin the actual interception of the well. And that's called running a casing line or basically a hollow steel pipe that reinforces a well bore," he said.

John Dec, a civilian contractor, holds an operations meeting with the Coast Guard and civilian crew of the motor vessel Gulf Tiger prior to launching the dual Vessel of Opportunity Skimming System. July 2010. (Photo courtesy U.S. Coast Guard)

"Right now that well bore is open and does not have the casing in it. And it is not very far away from a place that we had concerns about regarding well integrity. And we did not want to run the risk of starting the static kill procedure, put pressure on the well, while we were in the proximity of a relief well that did not have the reinforcement of the casing," the admiral said.

"So for that reason, the sequencing will be we have to have the casing line run first on the relief well before we would attempt a static top kill," he said.

Onshore, the storm has caused some oil and also some containment booms to be displaced, damaging fragile marshlands.

"We expect some oil that was there before the storm to be displaced," Allen told reporters Sunday. Now response operations will be directed toward mitigating the oil's impact.

"We also have noticed with our air surveillance based on the movement of the storm and the prevailing winds a lot of the residual oil that was out there that had not been skimmed by our significant effort in advance of the capping stack a lot of that has moved northerly toward Mississippi Sound, the areas around the Chandelier Islands and Breton Sound in southeastern Louisiana, but we are up doing very, very intensive surveillance today to try and reestablish where the oil is at and also redeploy response equipment back into the area so we can resume response operations and be responsive to oil sightings."

The Coast Guard suspended skimming operations Saturday due to Tropical Storm Bonnie. Skimming operations will continue now that the storm threat has ceased. Statewide in Louisiana, there are 389 skimmers working to collect and remove oil spilled from BP's Deepwater Horizon well before it was capped earlier this month.

Oil Companies Plan $1 Billion Rapid Response System for Spills

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:47:18 -0700

WASHINGTON, DC, July 23, 2010 (ENS) - Four of the world's largest oil companies have committed $1 billion to build and operate a subsea containment assembly that will prevent oil from escaping into the water in the event of future deepwater accidents.

Galvanized by BP's disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell will form a nonprofit organization, the Marine Well Containment Company, to fabricate, operate and maintain the system, which can be deployed within 24 hours.

ExxonMobil has been designated to lead the engineering and construction efforts and other companies will be invited and encouraged to participate in this organization.

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Decisive patrols BP oil spill site just before these ships and rigs pulled out ahead of Tropical Storm Bonnie. July 22, 2010. (Photo courtesy U.S. Coast Guard)

"If we all do our jobs properly, this system will never be used," said Rex Tillerson, chairman and chief executive officer of ExxonMobil. "The extensive experience of industry shows that when the focus remains on safe operations and risk management, tragic incidents like the one we are witnessing in the Gulf of Mexico today should not occur."

The new system will be flexible, adaptable to a wide range of well designs and equipment, oil and natural gas flow rates and weather conditions.

It will be engineered to be used in deepwater depths up to 10,000 feet and have initial capacity to contain 100,000 barrels per day with potential for expansion.

BP's Deepwater Horizon well is located nearly 5,000 feet beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.

"The oil and gas industry has long been recognized as a technological leader, and the American public expects us to improve our ability to respond immediately to offshore incidents," said Jim Mulva, ConocoPhillips chairman and chief executive officer. "The creation and development of this sophisticated system will greatly enhance industry's ability to ensure a quick and effective response."

This planned system is better than current response equipment in that it will be pre-engineered, constructed, tested and ready for rapid deployment in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, the four companies said in a statement. It is being developed by a team of marine, subsea and construction engineers from all four companies.

The system will include specially designed subsea containment equipment connected by manifolds, jumpers and risers to capture vessels that will store and offload the oil. Dedicated crews will ensure regular maintenance, inspection and readiness of the facilities and subsea equipment.

"As an industry, we must rebuild trust with the American people in order to demonstrate that we can produce energy in a safe and environmentally responsible manner," said Marvin Odum, president, Shell Oil Company.

"Beyond Shell's absolute commitment to oil spill prevention and robust well designs, additional safeguards must be strengthened across the industry to develop the capacity to quickly respond and resolve a deepwater well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, regardless of how unlikely it is that this situation will reoccur," Odum said.

Work on the new containment system is being accelerated to enhance deepwater safety and environmental protection in the Gulf of Mexico, which accounts for 30 percent of U.S. oil and gas production and supports more than 170,000 American jobs.

"Immediately following the Deepwater Horizon incident, the oil and natural gas industry developed a number of task forces to focus on improvements to equipment, operations, subsea well control and spill containment," said American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Jack Gerard. "This effort complements the work already ongoing from the task forces, and we will continue to work together to regain the public's confidence in the industry."

NOAA Reopens One-Third of Gulf Area Closed to Fishing

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:46:01 -0700

WASHINGTON, DC, July 23, 2010 (ENS) - Fish caught in a wide area of the gulf near Florida are safe to eat, said federal officials Thursday as they allowed commercial and recreational fishing boats back into part of the Gulf of Mexico that had been off-limits due to the massive BP oil spill.

Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, announced the reopening of a third of the overall closed area Thursday night after consultation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and under a re-opening protocol agreed by NOAA, the FDA, and the gulf states.

At its closest point, the 26,388 square mile area to be reopened is about 190 miles southeast of BP's Deepwater Horizon wellhead, and the area where the majority of fishing will occur is about 220 miles from the wellhead, along the west Florida shelf.

Fishing once again permitted in the Gulf of Mexico near Florida. (Photo by Roger Bowin)

Lubchenco told reporters that no oil has been seen in the area for at least 30 days, the seafood tastes fine and rigorous testing of the fish shows no trace of oil or dispersants.

"At the time the area was originally closed, there was a concern that the light sheen observed in the Northeastern portion of the area might enter the Loop Current, a loop separating towards the Florida Keys. That fear, however, never materialized," said Lubchenco.

Before the area was reopened, NOAA had closed 83,927 square miles, approximately 35 percent of Gulf of Mexico federal waters.

Since mid-June NOAA data has shown no oil in the reopened area and the United States Coast Guard observers flying over the area in the last 30 days have also not seen any oil, Luchenco said.

NOAA's trajectory models show the area is at a low risk for future exposure to oil, she said, and fish caught in the area and tested by NOAA experts have shown no signs of contamination.

"Between June 23 and July 5, NOAA collected samples of fish including grouper, snapper, tuna and mahi mahi from the area where the heaviest fishing will take place. Sensory and chemical testing following the methodology and procedures in the reopening protocols show no detectable oil or dispersant odors or flavors," Lubchenco said, adding that the results of chemical analysis were "well below the level of concern."

NOAA and FDA have been working together on broad-scale seafood sampling that includes sampling seafood from inside and outside the closure area, as well as dockside and market sampling. That sampling will continue, Lubchenco said.

In addition, NOAA and university research vessels have been doing extensive testing for sub-surface oil throughout the gulf. "What we're finding is that there is sub-surface oil right near the vicinity of the well head and as one goes farther away from the well head the oil is highly dispersed. By the time you get out to the area where the fishery opening area is it is virtually undetectable."

Gulf fishermen have expressed concern that the reopening is happening too soon and that they might be blamed if someone gets sick from eating fish contaminated with oil or dispersants.

But federal officials are convinced that fish from the reopened area are safe to eat.

"We are pleased today to be able to fully support the reopening of these waters," said Dr. Margaret Hamburg, commissioner of food and drugs. "We know it is important to get people back to fishing quickly - this industry is the backbone of the Gulf region economy. At the same time, we need the American public to be confident in the seafood coming from the Gulf, and the testing that has been done as part of the agreed upon protocols has not indicated any level of concern."

At the same time, NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement and the U.S. Coast Guard continue to enforce the law in federal waters that have been closed to fishing.

"Stringent enforcement of the fishing closed areas is critically important to ensure product safety and consumer confidence in Gulf seafood during the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill event," said Eric Schwaab, NOAA assistant administrator for NOAA's Fisheries Service. "We share the fishing community's concern that their catch be recognized as not coming from the closed area and that it is free of oil contamination."

Office of Law Enforcement and Coast Guard actions have led to 13 illegal catches being abandoned at sea.

NOAA's first Notice of Violation and Assessment in connection to the oil spill was issued in response to a June 22 violation. The shrimp trawler involved has been assessed a $15,000 penalty for fishing in the portion of the Gulf of Mexico closed due to the BP oil spill.

"Today's decision is good news for Gulf fishermen and American consumers," Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said Thursday. "Following the best science for this re-opening provides important assurance to the American people that the seafood they buy is safe and protects the Gulf seafood brand and the many people who depend on it for their livelihoods."

Tropical Storm Bonnie Disrupts Gulf Oil Spill Response

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:09:17 -0700

MOBILE, Alabama, July 22, 2010 (ENS) - A tropical depression near the Bahamas has strengthened and become Tropical Storm Bonnie and is now heading west-northwest across the Gulf of Mexico, endangering the safety of responders to the BP oil spill.

National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen has decided to move some of the dozens of vessels and oil platforms working at the spill site, 40 miles southeast of Louisiana's Mississippi Delta.

"Due to the risk that Tropical Storm Bonnie poses to the safety of the nearly 2,000 people responding to the BP oil spill at the well site, many of the vessels and rigs will be preparing to move out of harm's way beginning tonight," Allen said.

"This includes the rig drilling the relief well that will ultimately kill the well, as well as other vessels needed for containment," he said. "Some of the vessels may be able to remain on site, but we will err on the side of safety."

The damaged Deepwater Horizon wellhead was capped Thursday, shutting off the flow of oil for the first time since the blowout on April 20. BP has been pressure testing the well's integrity with the cap in place.

"The decision has been made to leave the cap on even if the well is unattended," Allen told reporters this morning.

"As I stated earlier today," he said, "I have directed BP to continue with the well shut in procedure while the work to kill the well is temporarily suspended. I have also directed BP to take measures to ensure the vessels operating the ROVs are the last to leave, and the first to return in order to maximize monitoring of the well. Monitoring of the site during the well integrity test remains one of the government's highest priorities," said the admiral.

"While these actions may delay the effort to kill the well for several days, the safety of the individuals at the well site is our highest concern. We are staging our skimming vessels and other assets in a manner that will allow us to promptly re-start oil mitigation efforts as soon as the storm passes and we can ensure the safety of our personnel," he said.

Projected path of Tropical Storm Bonnie (Map courtesy National Hurricane Center)

Tropical Storm Bonnie is now located 165 miles southeast of Nassau in the Bahamas and about 385 miles east-southeast of Key West, Florida. Wind speeds have been clocked at 40 mph, but the storm is not forecast to reach hurricane wind force of more than 74 mph.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the Florida East Coast from Golden Beach southward, including the entire Florida Keys and Florida Bay and along the west coast of Florida north to Bonita Beach.

"The projected storm track would take it over the well site itself. Early morning on Saturday, we could have storm force winds at the spill site," Admiral Allen said.

The ship drilling the relief well Development Driller III has already withdrawn the drill bit and installed a device that holds the integrity of the well. Now that he has decided to move the ship off the spill site, Allen says the riser pipe also will be removed, a process that takes 8 to 10 hours. The 5,000 foot pipe must be brought up and detached in sections before the drill ship can leave.

Each of the dozens of ships at the spill site has a different withdrawal schedule, which Allen said he is coordinating by means of a complex spreadsheet.

At the surface, the oil has broken up into hundreds of thousands of small patches and Allen said skimmers are less effective and for the past six days have been finding less oil.

Oil gushed again unchecked for several days earlier this month when BP removed the poorly fitting top hat containment system that had been sending some of the oil to ships at the surface and before they put the current cap on.

"Then we had 40-50 skimmers," said Allen. "Now we're really having to look to find oil. There's a significant reduction of oil on the surface, but there's still oil out there."

"We have hundreds of thousands of patches of oil, some is weathered and can't be burned, and there's no large amounts of oil we can put skimmers on," said Allen. "With weather coming in, emulsification is taking place. Some of this oil could be driven into the marsh areas as it was when [Hurricane] Alex passed by." Hurricane Alex blew through the western Gulf of Mexico at the end of June, making landfall south of Brownsville, Texas.

Federal On Scene Coordinator Rear Adm. Paul Zukunft told reporters today that over the past seven days there has been "no release of new oil" from the damaged wellhead.

More than 100 overflights are conducted over the spill area every day to determine the location of oil concentrations. Zukunft said 15 heavy skimmer vessels collected about 25,000 barrels of oil from over well site last week, but on Wednesday only skimmed a net total of 56 barrels.

"Today there's blue water over the well site," he said. "We don't have any skimming targets of opportunity - oil patches."

The Unified Area Command center is tracking the tropical weather system near the Bahamas very closely and is constantly engaged in discussions with the National Hurricane Center, NOAA and FEMA to ensure the safety of more than 40,000 people currently assisting in the oil spill response and recovery efforts.

To prepare for the possibility of severe weather, Rear Adm. Zukunft has directed the movement of surplus response equipment to inland staging areas.

"We are repositioning assets away from low-lying areas to higher ground staging areas to protect our ability to respond to the dynamic requirements of the incident. The protection of the equipment and crew is paramount to ensure maximum ability to respond to any new challenges a storm may pose to the enormous mission. We are committed to following through with our response. There will be no reductions in effort, urgency or commitment even as we sustain the long-term relief effort," said Zukunft.

"We have sea states of four to six feet out there now," said Zukunft. "This particular weather system has been fickle, but we do not expect a hurricane, this is a tropical storm."

Activities that are underway for storm preparedness include evacuating specialized vessels from the path of any severe weather to prevent damage and ensure that oil recovery operations can resume as soon as possible after a storm.

Boom is being removed from marsh areas where oil is not threatening the shore to prevent damage from the heavy equipment getting pushed into the delicate area by strong winds and high tides.

It is necessary to begin moving equipment to inland staging areas well in advance of a potential storm. Zukunft said the consolidation of boom and other equipment at inland staging areas will in no way hinder current response operations, but will serve to protect as much of this vital resource from the elements as possible through the risky hurricane season.

AccuWeather.com Hurricane Expert, Joe Bastardi says there is still a possibility that the system will turn more to the northwest, over the Florida peninsula. This would mean less impact on the oil spill area and more rain and squalls for central Florida.

On April 20, 2010, a deadly explosion at BP's Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling platform that killed 11 crewmembers started a catastrophic oil leak that has poured millions of barrels of oil into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Oil Spill Response Interrupted by Tropical Storm Threat

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:19:51 -0700

MOBILE, Alabama, July 22, 2010 (ENS) - A storm called Tropical Depression Three is forming in the Caribbean near the Bahamas and forecasters predict it will blow across the Gulf of Mexico this weekend, affecting efforts to stem the BP oil spill.

Even if the storm forces some of the dozens of response ships at the site to leave, "The decision has been made to leave the cap on even if the well is unattended," National Incident Commander retired U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen told reporters today from the oil spill response center at Mobile.

Projected path of Tropical Depression Three (Map courtesy National Hurricane Center)

"The projected storm track would take it over the well site itself. Early morning on Saturday, we could have storm force winds at the spill site," Admiral Allen said.

If winds blow up to more than 39 miles per hour, the depression would become a tropical storm, but it is not forecast to reach hurricane wind force of more than 74 mph.

Admiral Allen and other officials are watching the storm pattern closely and will decide at 8 tonight whether or not to send the ship drilling a relief well back to shore.

The Development Driller III has already withdrawn the drill bit and installed a device that holds the integrity of the well. If the decision is made to send the ship away from the spill site, Allen says the riser pipe also would be removed, a process that takes 8 to 10 hours. the 5,000 foot pipe must be brought up and detached in sections before the drill ship can transit out of the area.

An evacuation at the spill site could force a delay of 10 to 14 days in efforts to kill the blownout well, as ships need several days to disengage from the operation and head to safety.