Fears Gulf oil could strike Florida beaches

BP reported further progress yesterday in stemming the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, but new evidence showed part of the slick could be swept to Florida’s beaches and sensitive coral reefs.

The British energy giant, which has been struggling to contain a month-long environmental disaster, said a tube inserted into a leaking oil pipe is now sucking up about 40% of the crude, twice as much as a day earlier.

The company said its “riser insertion tube tool” is carrying about 2,000 barrels a day of oil up to the Discoverer Enterprise drill ship on the surface via a mile-long pipe.

BP reckons about 5,000 barrels, 210,000 gallons of crude, is spewing each day from the wreckage of the Deepwater Horizon rig, although analysis from independent experts suggests the flow rate could be many times that.

Worries over the ecological impact of the huge oil spill are growing, with the most recent fears focused on its possible spread into a “loop current” that could carry the pollution to the Florida Keys and nearby tourist beaches.

Satellite imagery “indicates that the main bulk of the oil is dozens of miles away from the loop current, but that a tendril of light oil has been transported down close to the loop current”, said top official Jane Lubchenco.

With hugely popular tourist beaches and fragile coral reefs around the southern tip of the peninsula, the loop current has the potential to take the economic and environmental impact of the spill to a whole new level.

“I think the threat to South Florida is real and we should get ready,” said Igor Kamenkovich, a scientist at the University of Miami.

There are also concerns that huge underwater plumes of crude could be starving the sea of oxygen, meaning that the slick is having a far greater impact on the marine environment than previously thought.

An expert from the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies told AFP that deepwater spills posed greater risks due to these plumes.

“Normally, in a shallow spill, everything pretty much shoots up to the surface and the impacts are primarily to surface organisms like turtles, dolphins, whales and birds,” explained Paul Montagna.

“What happens is we’re dealing with a different kind of situation than the past because under this really cold, high-pressure environment the oil is getting dispersed through the water column.”

Meanwhile in Washington, US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told lawmakers he expected BP to attempt a “dynamic kill” to further contain the oil spewing from the well.

“The expectation is that this Saturday or this Sunday the triggers will be pulled for a dynamic kill of the well,” Mr Salazar told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, explaining that this would involve injection of fluids and other materials to stem the flow.