As U.S. officials and BP PLC negotiate to resolve the company's liability for the Deepwater Horizon spill, some local and state officials are citing a newly discovered oil slick as evidence that the full impact of the 2010 accident remains unclear.
As
U.S.
officials and BP PLC negotiate to resolve the company's liability for the
Deepwater Horizon spill, some local and state officials are citing a newly
discovered oil slick as evidence that the full impact of the 2010 accident
remains unclear.
Federal officials said late Wednesday that the oil slick, about 50 miles off
the
Louisiana
coast
near where the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded, matches crude that
gushed from the well, which was being drilled by BP. The source of the thin
slick, known as a sheen, isn't clear, and officials said it could be oil that
had been trapped in the wreckage of the rig, which was owned by Transocean Ltd.
BP and the U.S. Justice Department are currently in advanced talks to settle
the company's civil and criminal liabilities arising from the disaster,
according to people familiar with the negotiations. The rig exploded on
April 20, 2010
, killing 11 workers and
leaking 4.9 million barrels of oil into the
Gulf of Mexico
.
Talk of a new slick was making residents nervous in
Orange
Beach
,
Ala.
, one of the
Gulf
Coast
beach
towns sullied by the 2010 spill, Mayor Tony Kennon said Thursday. Mr. Kennon
called on the U.S. Coast Guard to investigate the source of the sheen, so
people in town would know what to expect.
"Is it a leak or is it a gusher?" he asked, adding, "We're
hoping it's nothing, but in the back of your mind, you wonder, 'What if?'"
The
Alabama
governor's office also expressed concern over the sheen. "We expect BP to
clean up any of their oil that is found in
Alabama
waters or on the beaches," a spokeswoman for Republican Gov. Robert
Bentley said.
Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat, wrote to the Coast Guard in August to
express concerns that federal officials had stopped actively monitoring parts
of the coast for lingering effects from the spill. The new sheen heightens
those concerns, a Landrieu spokeswoman said Thursday.
"One can only hope that the nightmare well has not come back to haunt the
people of the Gulf," said Rep. Ed Markey (D.,
Mass.
,),
the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, in a statement. He
called for reinstalling an underwater camera at the well, which was plugged in
July 2010, and said additional effects from the spill should be considered in
assessing monetary damages.
BP, in an internal presentation reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, indicated
that the slick likely came from a mixture of oil and a mud used in drilling
that was trapped inside a long pipe connecting the Deepwater Horizon rig to the
sea floor.
In a statement, BP defended the integrity of its sealed well and suggested that
the slick comes from residual oil contained in debris from the rig. The company
pointed to a federal inspection a year ago, after similar sheens surfaced in
the Gulf, which found that the well wasn't leaking. "We have seen no evidence
from this latest sheen that leads us to believe otherwise," the company
said.
A spokesman for Transocean pointed to a federal-court ruling earlier this year
that the drilling rig contractor wasn't responsible for an oil spill that
originated beneath the water's surface.
"We will rely on the lab analysis as to the origin of the oil, and defer
to the recent ruling of the federal court on the question of
responsibility," said Brian Kennedy, the Transocean spokesman.
The oil sheen was reported by BP on Sept. 16, and assessed by the Coast Guard
and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Officials took samples
that correlate to oil collected from the BP well. The sheen has stretched for
as long as four miles, but has varied in size with sea conditions.
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