Video explanations really worth watching… http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/25/gulf.oil.disaster/index.html?hpt=T2 Weather could push oil spill farther along Florida's beaches By the CNN Wire Staff June 25, 2010 7:38 p.m. EDT New Orleans, Louisiana (CNN) — The disaster thousands of feet deep in the Gulf of Mexico may be exacerbated by a different type of calamity in the coming week — tropical weather — that could push the oil farther along Florida's pristine panhandle beaches. It all depends up whether a weather system now brewing off Honduras grows in intensity, possibly to a tropical cyclone, and where it heads. The National Hurricane Center upgraded the system to a tropical depression late Friday — the first of the Atlantic hurricane season. Meanwhile, there been some promising news for potentially tens of thousands of people seeking claims against BP. Kenneth Feinberg, who is administering the $20 billion fund set up by BP under White House prodding, says that people who work in support of oil rigs will be able to file claims — and not just fishermen and businesses along the coast. Employees of businesses that brings tools to oil rigs, for example, also would be able to file a claim. The company previously agreed to set aside the $20 billion in an escrow account for spill-related costs, a sum that does not cover fees and penalties that could be imposed by the federal government. BP had resisted approving claims by people who said they were affected by the moratorium on oil drilling, saying it was imposed by the Obama administration. But Feinberg said BP and the adminstration now have agreed those claims will be covered. “I now have discovered — I didn't realize this until yesterday, but the moratorium claims will fall under my juridiction,” he told CNN. To date, almost 74,000 claims have been filed and more than 39,000 payments have been made, totaling almost $126 million, according to the company. As for the weather, the National Hurricane Center said the tropical depression is heading west-northwest and packing winds of 35 miles an hour, with some higher gusts. If it becomes a tropical storm, it will be named Tropical Storm Alex, the first named storm of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season. An Air Force “hurricane hunter” plane headed into the storm Friday afternoon to learn more about the weather system. The tropical depression is centered between the northern coast of Honduras and Grand Cayman and is expected to move northwest, toward the Yucatan Peninsula — although it's unclear exactly what path it will take. Meteorologist Karen Maginnis says the “preferred scenario” actually would be for it to head to northern Florida. That's because the oil spill has been gradually rotating counterclockwise. If the storm heads to the east of it, it would send the oil farther out to sea. If the storm heads more directly towards the central Gulf and Louisiana, it might push the oil toward Florida. Of course, forecasting where oil spills are headed in not easy. “We're really in unchartered territory,” Maginnis said.”We've never been in this situation before. We've never seen an oil spill that encompassed the Gulf like this, end up so close to shore.” She noted that the latest models do point to the storm heading to the central Gulf. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, who's heading the federal cleanup operation, says he'll have to redeploy people and equipment to safer areas 120 hours (five days) in advance of gale-force winds. And he agreed there is “no playbook” when it comes to responding to a massive oil spill as a storm brews. “But I will tell you there's been an extraordinary amount of planning being done,” he told CNN. “We are going to try to merge two response structures. One has proven effective in the past, and that's a central coordination of search and rescue and how operations are conducted, and that's done out of Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida for hurricanes. And we are in the process of integrating our planning processes so the oil spill response is integrated fully within the search and rescue recovery operations.” Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Florida, issued a statement Friday saying there needs to be a detailed plan for a “surge” in ships, in case cleanup crews need to abandon their efforts because of a storm, leaving the crude gushing unabated until the weather lets up. In a letter sent Thursday to Allen, Nelson asked whether Navy and other vessels have been identified for prepositioning in order to most quickly respond in the aftermath. Allen responded, “At the time we would break away is the time you need to be seeking shelter. I understand the need to skim the oil as soon as we can but it's going to be after the storm passes. I don't think anybody wants a vessel out there trying to skim oil with the weather building beyond gale-force winds, so the goal would be to get to a safe quadrant of the hurricane, come in behind it and as soon as we can. We have the ability to do that.” Allen said he and some top Obama administration officials will be headed back to the Gulf region next week to assess the oil relief efforts. He said Vice President Joe Biden would travel to the Unified Command Center in New Orleans and to the Florida panhandle next Tuesday. Also, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and presidential environmental advisor Carol Browner will visit the region “next week,” said Allen. Meanwhile, there has been a promising new development in the effort to permanently stop the leak. BP said Friday its “ranging” process, by which it sends an electrical current that puts out an electromagnetic field down the well bore, detected Wednesday where the leaking well is in relation to the first relief well, at a depth of 16,275 feet. BP said subsequent ranging runs will be needed to more precisely locate the leaking well and figure out how to best intersect the two. “What they will do is continue to drill down in short intervals, withdraw the pipe, put that sensing device down and slowly close on the well bore to the point where they're ready to do the intercept drilling. This last part takes some time because they only do several hundred feet at a time.” said Allen. “They'll also have a vessel standing by full of mud on the top, so in the event there were to get really close and potentially nick the well bore, they could actually put the mud down to control any hydrocarbons that might come out.” Drilling and ranging operations will continue over the next few weeks toward the target intercept depth of approximately 18,000 feet. “Kill” operations are expected to begin when the relief well reaches the leaking well. BP said drilling also continues on a second relief well, which has reached 10,500 feet. Costs associated with the Gulf oil disaster have gone up more than $300 million in less than a week, BP said Friday. “The cost of the response to date amounts to approximately $2.35 billion, including the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid and federal costs,” a company statement said. BP put the tab at $2 billion on Monday. Meanwhile, Deepwater drilling could resume by the end of July. U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Thursday denied a request to keep a six-month moratorium imposed by President Barack Obama on May 27 in place, pending a government appeal. The government has 30 days to show it is beginning to comply with Feldman's order and start issuing permits. The appeals process can continue, but until the appeal, the government must act as if Feldman's order will be upheld. Government lawyers filed an appeal to the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Friday, asking the court to stay Feldman's order pending the appeals. CNN's Brandon Miller contributed to this report added by: EthicalVegan
