Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Keys Oil Spill Update

This is a email that came to me this afternoon:




Dear Scotty,

Please forward this "Oil Spill" update to everyone you know in the
Keys and ask friends to volunteer to help protect our environment
and economy at http://keysspill.com/ We need boat captains,
boat owners and anyone that wants to volunteer to help in any way.
Please download, print and handout flyers from keysspill.com

PAST 24 HOURS

* Meeting at Key Largo Government Center

A special Workshop on the Oil Spill was held at Monroe County
Nelson Govt Center Bldg, MM102, Bayside, Key Largo today at 1 pm,
a video link of the meeting will be up soon.

* New links and documents added to www.keysspill.com today

* The President Meets with Cabinet Members in the Situation Room

President Obama met with a number of Cabinet members and senior
staff in the White House Situation Room to review BP’s efforts to
stop the oil leak as well as to decide on next steps to ensure all
is being done to contain the spread, mitigate the environmental
impact and provide assistance to affected states, including
individuals, businesses, and communities.

The President asked Secretary Chu to lead a team of top
administration officials and government scientists to Houston this
week for an extensive dialogue with BP officials to continue to
aggressively pursue potential solutions.

In addition, to deal more generally with the harms created by oil
spills, the President has requested that legislation be sent to
Congress to toughen and update the law surrounding caps on damages.

* EPA Administrator Jackson Returns to the Gulf Coast

Administrator Jackson made another visit to the Gulf region to
oversee efforts to mitigate the environmental and human health
impact of the ongoing BP oil spill visiting Baton Rouge, La., to
receive a briefing by Louisiana State University scientists; and
Robert, La., to receive a briefing by federal agency scientists.
Secretary Salazar Dispatches Top Land Management Official
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced today that Director of the
Bureau of Land Management Robert Abbey has been dispatched to the
Gulf Coast to support ongoing response efforts to the BP Deepwater
oil spill.

* Navy Supports Skimming Operations

The U.S. Navy is providing assistance in the areas of skimming and
salvage operations including 16 Modular Skimming Systems deployed
to Gulfport, Miss. 1,400 total associated Department of Defense
personnel have been deployed in support of spill cleanup and
mitigation.

* New Staging Location Opens in Amelia, La.
14 staging areas have been set up to protect vital shoreline in all
potentially affected Gulf Coast states (Biloxi, Miss., Pascagoula,
Miss., Pensacola, Fla., Panama City, Fla., Dauphin Island, Ala.,
Grand Isle, La., Shell Beach, La., Slidell, La., Venice, La.,
Orange Beach, Al., Theodore, Al., Pass Christian, Ms., Amelia, La.,
and Cocodrie, La.).

* Property Damage Claims Processed

BP reports that 5,710 property damage claims have been opened, from
which $2.4 million has been disbursed. No claims have been denied
at this time. Approximately 60 operators are answering phones, and
average wait time is currently less than a minute. To file a claim,
or report spill-related damage, call BP helpline at (800)
440-0858. For those who have already pursued the BP claims process
and are not satisfied with BPs resolution, can call the Coast
Guard at (800) 280-7118.

* NOAA Conducts Research and Evaluation

NOAA Research is evaluating the information obtained from the NOAA
P-3 (hurricane hunter) aircraft flight over the Gulf of Mexico Loop
Current on May 8.

* Lessons Learned from Exxon Valdez Examined

Alaska and Louisiana Sea Grant personnel are meeting regularly with
Alaska Oil Spill Responders to explore lessons learned from the
Exxon Valdez incident and possible applications to the Deepwater
Horizon. NOAA's Sea Grant is a university-based network of more
than 3,000 scientists, engineers and educators.

* Fish & Wildlife Field Crews Respond

Eight field crews have been deployed from the Dennis Pass Wildlife
Staging Area to observe the impact on wildlife due to the spill.
Wildlife search and capture teams conducted boat operations from
the Lake Borgne to the Southwest Pass of the Mississippi River and
west to Cameron, La. Four helicopters conducted aerial surveys to
observe wildlife and determine if rescue operations are needed in
potentially affected areas.

* Water and Sediment is Sampled

The U.S. Geological Survey completed water and sediment sampling at
16 sites along coastal Alabama and Mississippi. USGS is preparing
for sampling in Texas and Florida, and also for sea-grass bed
surveys.

* Plans Begin for Bioremediation

USDAs Natural Resources Conservation Service is assessing the
capabilities of Plant Materials Centers and asking commercial
growers to ramp up plant propagation efforts for potential future
bioremediation efforts.

* Aerial Dispersant Spray Missions Flown

Modular Aerial Spray System (MASS) aircraft flew multiple
missions dispensing the same dispersant chemical being used by
BP and the federal responders. These systems are capable of covering
up to 250 acres per flight.

* By the Numbers to Date:

Personnel were quickly deployed and approximately 10,000 are
currently responding to protect the shoreline and wildlife.

More than 290 vessels are responding on site, including skimmers,
tugs, barges, and recovery vessels to assist in containment and
cleanup efforts in addition to dozens of aircraft, remotely
operated vehicles, and multiple mobile offshore drilling units.

More than 1 million feet of boom (regular and sorbent) have been
deployed to contain the spill and more than 1.3 million feet are
available.

Nearly 3.5 million gallons of an oil-water mix have been
recovered.

Approximately 325,000 gallons of dispersant have been deployed.
More than 500,000 gallons are available.

14 staging areas have been set up to protect vital shoreline in
all potentially affected Gulf Coast states (Biloxi, Miss.,
Pascagoula, Miss., Pensacola, Fla., Panama City, Fla., Dauphin
Island, Ala., Grand Isle, La., Shell Beach, La., Slidell, La.,
Venice, La., Orange Beach, Al., Theodore, Al., Pass Christian, Ms.,
Amelia, La., and Cocodrie, La.).

* Resources:
For information about the response effort, visit
www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com.

For specific information about the federal-wide response, visit
http://www.whitehouse.gov/deepwater-bp-oil-spill.

To contact the Deepwater Horizon Joint Information Center, call
(985) 902-5231.

To volunteer, or to report oiled shoreline, call (866) 448-5816.
Volunteer opportunities can also be found here.

To submit your vessel as a vessel of opportunity skimming system,
or to submit alternative response technology, services, or
products, call 281-366-5511.

To report oiled wildlife, call (866) 557-1401. Messages will be
checked hourly.

For information about validated environmental air and water
sampling results, visit www.epa.gov/bpspill.

For National Park Service updates about potential park closures,
resources at risk, and NPS actions to protect vital park space and
wildlife, visit http://www.nps.gov/aboutus/oil-spill-response.htm.

To file a claim, or report spill-related damage, call BPs
helpline at (800) 440-0858. A BP fact sheet with additional
information is available here. For those who have already pursued
the BP claims process and are not satisfied with BP's resolution,
can call the Coast Guard at (800) 280-7118.


Abritt Publishing, 13484 SW 144 Ter, Miami, Fl 33186, USA

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So you think the oil spill is not going to hurt the Keys?

The spill is all ready hurting the Keys with a decline in tourist



Spill fears have potential tourists calling

By KEVIN WADLOW
kwadlow@keynoter.com
Posted - Saturday, May 08, 2010 11:00 AM EDT
Even if the Gulf of Mexico oil spill never reaches the Florida Keys, the local tourism economy has already felt its effect.

"We're telling people it's beautiful here and they should come on down," said Amelia Thigpen, a fishing-trip booker for Almost There Charters in Key West. "Most people who call just want to know what's going on, but a few have canceled."

Islamorada offshore captain Kevin Brown said he hasn't had customers cancel booked trips aboard his Gold Reserve boat, "but the phone isn't ringing like it was."

"I've had a few regulars call to ask what's happening, and to say they hope we're OK," Brown said. "I tell them the spill is 1,000 miles away."

Barbara Hewlett, who works with husband Butch to run the Miss Barbara Ann charterboat in Marathon, said customers from the northern states have been alarmed by reports on the Keys.

"One woman told me she heard on the news up there that the Keys were wiped out," Hewlett said. "People are asking if we're OK, and we say that [the spill] is still way up there, and we're fine."

If the spill does make its way to the Keys, Hewlett said, the Miss Barbara Ann already has registered as a response boat. "We've got to protect our fishing grounds," she said. "It's the right thing to do."

No effects to Florida water were expected within the next two days. Although parts of the spill were moving eastward toward Pensacola, the spill there appeared to remain about 60 miles offshore.

Still, Key West Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President Virginia Panico said some visitors have called to ask about the spill's effects on the Keys, and Panico said her staff is honest and tells them it's not known what will happen in the long term, but everything's fine in the Keys now.

"We've gotten suggestions on how to clean up the oil," she said, "and we explain that we don't have an oil situation."

Callers also hear that visitors to the Keys have plenty to do on the land as well as on the water. "People are listening and understanding," Panico said.

The county's other chambers of commerce report receiving a few calls of inquiry or concern.

However, numerous lodgings are getting calls from potential visitors, but only one had a cancellation due to the spill, says Jody Weinhofer, president of the Lodging Association of the Florida Keys and Key West.

The Tourist Development Council is trying to keep everyone apprised of the situation on its Web site and through Facebook and Twitter, and it's sending out information blasts to attractions and hotels.

Most people are just waiting to see what happens in the gulf.

"It doesn't seem like there is a whole lot we can do about it here. We are so utterly helpless," Luke Abbey, a staffer at Subtropic Dive Center in Key West, told the Associated Press. "If there is an oil slick on the water, there is no diving."

Abbey cited the main sports in Key West: "Drinking, fishing and diving. In that order. The only thing that is not going to be affected [if oil reaches the Keys] is drinking."

Keys Sunday Editor Karen Quist contributed to this report.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Oily Mess

Blue Iguana Charters makes it living on the reefs and coastal waters of the Florida Keys. We are concerened about thats going to happen with all of this mess.



The following was posted on the Coral Listserve, a moderated forum for professionals...
------------------------------------------
I am going to contribute something that may well be unpopular, but I believe it must be said. I implore the scientific community to abstain from crying wolf about the BP oil spill. Cries of “disaster” and “destruction of fisheries” will, I believe, ultimately return to bite us in our collective asses.

Look, I am not stupid or uninformed. My Ph.D. dissertation research at the UW (Seattle) concerned toxicity of Prudhoe Bay crude. I have responded to several oil spills and I managed the year-long field sampling response to the Ekofisk Bravo Blowout in the North Sea – at the time the largest spill in history. I have participated in training oil spill responders, and I evaluated IMO response procedures and policies to the Desert Strom spills in the Persian Gulf.

The BP spill is of course a problem that should not have happened. Spilled crude oil makes a mess; it oils birds and turtles and is potentially devastating to air-breathing marine mammals. BP must be held accountable for its shortcomings, which are many and profound. BP should be encouraged to return to the days when its Environmental Affairs Department reported to its Chairman of the Board rather than its PR Department Head – as it did when BP earned the respect of the world’s entire environmental community.

However, we must remember that crude oil is not as toxic as refined petroleum products. It is a mix of many hydrocarbons, including many heavy complex compounds as well as lighter fractions. Leaving aside potential carcinogenicity, it is the latter that generally exhibit toxicity. Fortunately, crude oil floats, and in doing so it provides opportunity for the more toxic lighter fractions to differentially evaporate into the atmosphere, removing them from the water column environment. These same lighter fractions tend to dissolve into the water column, but fortunately they do so only to a limited extent. They are, almost by definition, hydrophobic. The only light component that dissolves to an appreciable extent is benzene, which, if I remember correctly, can reach 17 ppm in a super saturated state. This means that there is a profound limit to the depth at which these compounds can exert their toxic impacts. They are generally limited to the top few centimeters of the water column, which is of concern for floating eggs and some other planktonic components.

Yes, the rough weather and wind following the spill will tend to exacerbate these issues, causing more mixing and potentially affecting availability of toxins to marine organisms. And yes, the extreme depth at which this oil is released in the marine environment may well create unprecedented opportunities for mixing and dissolution. These factors may well enhance impacts of the spill in the GoM, but what concerns me much more profoundly is the wholesale use of dispersants. The furor to control the spill, and BP’s concern for its public image with a view to oil-coated shorelines, have resulted in pouring amounts of dispersants into the marine environment that I would have personally thought unthinkable before this spill. Dispersants are in themselves toxic and run the risk of disrupting lipid-based cell membranes of fish eggs and other plankton. They also emulsify spilled hydrocarbons, making them more biologically available in the water column.. I question whether BP would have used so much of these ill-advised compounds if public pressure had been more measured.

Oil spills are nasty when they reach shore. There is no question about it, and the oil will indeed cause many environmental problems in these environments for many years to come, depending on how much oil reaches these areas.. But the oil will most likely NOT cause destruction of all GoM fisheries for the foreseeable future. Deepwater fisheries likely will be affected more by fouling of gear by oil than by oil killing the target fish.

Yes, this spill is awful and was almost certainly preventable. And yes, it will likely cause very unfortunate damage to the marine environment and marine fisheries, especially in shoreline environments that it may strike. And yes, BP and its partners must be held fully accountable. But the spill will not turn the GoM into a biological desert. By screaming “Murder” I believe well-meaning environmentalists run the risk of providing “Drill Baby Drill” people an argument when the ultimate environmental effects fail to measure up to extreme panic calls. Let us please be measured and realistic so as to not provide a free advantage to those who would overlook the real issues involved here.

Steve LeGore


Steve LeGore, Ph.D.
LeGore Environmental Associates, Inc.
2804 Gulf Drive N.
Holmes Beach, Florida 34217 USA

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Ten Top Tips for preventing Ear Problems while Scuba Diving

We at Blue Iguana Charters want your liveaboard experence to be the best possable. Here are some helpfull tips....

Ten Top Tips for preventing Ear Problems while Scuba Diving

It's one of the basic skills . . .

•Equalizing to prevent ear problems is something you need to do every few feet as soon as your head goes underwater. If you do happen to get an ear problem, tilt your head to one side, blocked ear to water surface to clear.

•The ear equalization process should begin even before you get into the water. To pre-pressurize using the Valsalva maneuver, blow through your nose gently before you begin descent.

•If you have a cold or a runny nose, don't dive as this will make equalization a challenge. Descending is one issue, but even while ascending, you could experience a phenomenon called "reverse squeeze" which happens as cold medications run out. Some people with colds continue to dive using cold medications, but do be aware of reverse squeeze.

•If you have trouble trying to clear your ears, go up a few feet to see if ascending helps. Try a few feet each time until you clear. If you can't clear, abort your dive to prevent possible permanent ear injuries. Be sensitive to your ears. This is probably the most important rule there is in scuba diving. Remember too, that while using the Valsalva method, blow gently, never forcefully to prevent ear injury.

•Ear Drum Pain (Myringitis) is commonly caused by clearing too hard, or striking the water too hard, or just a lot of going up and down during diving. You can prevent this by wearing a hood and gently clearing the ears. Myringitis can sometimes be relieved by plain olive oil or any soothing ear drop such as auralgan.

•Too much mucus can block your Eustachian tube. Avoid eating food that can increase mucus production such as dairy products before the dive. Alcohol and tobacco should also be avoided because they can irritate your mucus membrane and will produce more mucus that causes blockage.

•Look up to help you clear your ear. Extending your neck will open your Eustachian tube thus preventing blockage.

•Using a decent line is a good way to help you control the speed of your descent and avoiding pressure to your ear. It also helps you to quickly stop your descent if feel any pressure in your ear.

•Equilize often during descent and before you even need to. Remember that the deeper you go without equalizing, the harder it will be for your because the pressure increases as you go further down.

•Make sure that your mask is always clear of water. Water inside your mask can irritate your mucus membrane causing an increase in mucus production that can clog your nose and sinuses making it difficult to equalize.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Whats going to happen with this oil mess?

I can't really call it a oil spill because it is still growing as I am writting this.  I was interviewed today by the local news in Miami NBC6.  They asked why when they interviewed the people at the Key Largo chamber of commerce they where told we had nothing to really worry about.  How can they say this? We make our living diving in the Florida Keys. When Katrena hit the gulf trash washed into the Palm Beach Inlet for weeks afterwards.  What is to stop this oil mess from doing the same?  A fellow diver friend of me Rick Iossi has done a great job pulling a lot of info about the path of the mess on his website  Florida Kite Boarding Forums