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| This US Coast Guard handout image shows the M/V "A Whale" conducting a test of its oil skimming capabilities on open water as part of the Deepwater Horizon response July 4, 2010 in the GUlf of Mexico. The converted tanker ship is being evaluated on the effectiveness of its untested oil recovery systems. The ship was recently converted in Lisbon, Portugal in June with the hope that it could dramatically increase the amount of oil removed from the surface from the BP oil spill. [AFP] |
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Twelve-foot high waves have hampered the collection of oily water by the Taiwanese ship A Whale, which continued testing its prowess on Monday as the world's largest skimmer.
The effort is the latest in a series of urgent and desperate attempts to stanch the flow of crude flowing onto the fragile Gulf of Mexico coast, home to many varieties of waterfowl and sea life. The flow stems from the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig leased by BP PLC.
On Monday, Texas officials said tar balls from the BP spill washed up on state beaches for the first time. The number was small in comparison to the sticky goo that has coated the hardest hit parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.
Tar balls also were found Monday in one of two passes that connect New Orleans' Lake Pontchartrain with the Gulf of Mexico. As a precautionary measure state officials closed some fishing areas around the lake Monday. Last week, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Paul Zukunft said in a press briefing he was "losing sleep" over the prospect of oil entering Lake Pontchartrain.
The once-heavily polluted lake underwent a massive recovery effort during the last several decades that allowed it to thrive once again.
It wasn't clear Monday how successful A Whale's efforts have been since it was deployed Friday. Separately, about 25,000 barrels a day continue to be captured by a containment apparatus and funneled onto a ship, BP said. As much as 60,000 barrels a day are leaking into the Gulf.
With members of the Coast Guard aboard to gauge its effectiveness, A Whale was the only skimmer out on the rough Gulf seas. Its gigantic size—more than 1,000 feet long—lets it maneuver in the high waves.
Last week, Hurricane Alex brought fresh oil ashore. The 12-foot waves on Sunday and Monday came not from Alex, but from a less powerful tropical depression.
Waves as small as two feet have sidelined smaller skimmers. Bob Grantham, a spokesman for the Taiwanese shipping company TMT Group, the A Whale's owner, said it was significant that the A Whale was able to stay in the rough waters.
If the skimmer performs as expected, BP or the federal government will contract with TMT to work in the Gulf, the company said. TMT, a privately owned shipping company, invested tens of millions of dollars to turn the A Whale from a cargo ship into a skimmer.
The Coast Guard sent the A Whale to within 12 miles of the BP oil spill to work a five-square-mile area. That is much closer to the site of the fresh thick crude spewing from the broken well, 40 miles offshore, than the smaller skimmers have been able to venture.
The ship arrived near the spill Saturday and testing was supposed to take about 48 hours but the rough waves prolonged the effort. It's unclear when the results will be revealed.
Within a few days, TMT Group expects the A Whale to begin digesting more than 500,000 barrels of oil a day—roughly the equivalent of what all the skimmers have collected in the past two months. TMT is converting two more ships—B Whale and C Whale—into skimming vessels.
Meanwhile, the US Navy's MZ-3A airship was scheduled to reach the Gulf Coast on Tuesday to help detect oil, direct skimming vessels and search for threatened wildlife.
Separately, BP is erecting a huge sand-washing machine on Grand Isle, a beach and fishing community, that separates oil from sand at the rate of 50 tons an hour, according to BP project manager Christopher Lunsford. The machine is expected to begin operations Wednesday, he said.
