Tag: oil spill response

The grounded container ship TS Taipei split on two and spilled fuel off Keelung, Taiwan. The vessel suffered damages from the storm and hull cracked, spilling sufficient quantity of oil from ruptured bunker tanks. The ship’s wreck is on risk from capsizing, which can cause additional pollution from spillage of more heavy fuel and hazardous materials from the containers on board.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) tested a Geo-Referencing Identification Satellite (GRIDSAT) tag project at the U.S. Navy’s Ice Camp Sargo, a temporary station on top of a floating ice sheet in the Arctic as part of Ice Exercise (ICEX) 2016.

NOPSEMA rejected oil and gas company BP's proposal to drill in the Great Australian Bight as BP did not adhere to the environmental standards.

 Two annual marine pollution response joint exercises, this year code-named Oilex 2015 and the Maritime Hazardous and Noxious Substances (HNS) Exercise 2015, were held simultaneously on October 16 at Junk Bay to test local responses in the event of pollution caused by oil spillage and HNS in Hong Kong waters.During the exercises, response groups contained and cleaned up a mock spill situation that would have posed threats to the local environment and facilities. In the scenario used, a tanker collided with a container vessel. The tanker was found to be leaking fuel oil and later anchored in Junk Bay, while five containers loaded with ammonium nitrate fell from the container vessel into the sea, subsequently drifting into Junk Bay, and leaked ammonium nitrate.In the wake of the simulated oil spill, oil combat teams used floating barrier booms to encircle the tanker while salvage teams transferred the fuel oil and stopped up the leakage.Barrier booms were also set up near the tanker to prevent the spill from drifting. The exercise also demonstrated the spraying of oil dispersant from pollution control vessels and a Government Flying Service (GFS) helicopter onto the sea, as well as the use of oil skimmers and other ...

 Stronger rules and enforcement to protect beaches and marine environment are needed in the wake of new information that more than 360 oil spills have occurred in New Zealand waters since the 2011 Rena disaster, Green Party environment spokesperson Eugenie Sage stated.“With summer just around the corner, we need better ways of protecting the beaches and seas that are so important to Kiwi ways of life,” Green Party environment spokesperson Eugenie Sage said.“Every New Zealander has a birthright to swim in clean water, lie on clean sand, and catch fish that are safe to eat.“The fact that people and vessels have spilled nearly four tonnes of oil and fuel into New Zealand’s coastal waters, in 363 spills in the last four years, shows that the current system isn’t working. Stronger rules, enforcement, and response capability are needed.“The Green Party has a plan to protect beaches and the marine environment. Our plan includes through introducing compulsory shipping lanes like Norway and the UK have to reduce the risk of collision, improving Maritime New Zealand’s oil spill preparedness and response capability, holding people who spill oil financially accountable, and stopping risky deep sea oil drilling," said Ms Sage. Source: Green Party In the start, I was ...

 The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) was notified late October 7 and immediately responded to a fuel spill near the community of Salluit, West of Ungava Bay, in Northern Quebec. The M/T Sarah Desgagnés was transferring fuel to the community of Salluit in preparation for the winter months ahead. Strong winds and snow required the transfer be stopped for safety reasons. Following the standard emergency disconnect process, the fuel line was severed by the vessel’s propeller.  At that time, the fuel transfer had already stopped. Current estimates are around 3,000 litres of fuel spilled.Local governments and other partners were immediately informed and the CCGS Terry Fox was on-site at 08:30 local time October 8 to assist in initial assessments and any clean-up activities. Impacts to the shoreline, fish and wildlife in the area are being assessed by Environment Canada.The Canadian Coast Guard informs that the risk is low but as a precautionary measure, and to address any potential impact on clams/mussels since there is a subsistence harvest, the community of Salluit has issued an advisory notice to residents not to conduct harvesting activities near the area until further notice. The fuel discharged in the water is expected to dissipate quickly. No ...

 NTNU student entrepreneurs have joined up with an inventor from SINTEF to commercialize a new, green method for cleaning up oil spillsThe current standard cleanup method of oil spills uses chemicals to disperse the oil into small enough particles for natural bacteria in the ocean to be able to digest.However, research on this process shows that the chemicals can actually slow or stop the breakdown process, and adding unnatural chemicals to delicate ecosystems is less than optimal.“We really don’t know enough about how these chemicals affect the microbial ecosystems in our oceans, and there is some discussion as to whether these compounds prevent bacteria from being able to properly break down the oil,” says Anette Andersen of ChemFree, a new startup created by Andersen and two other students from NTNU’s School of Entrepreneurship in search of an environmentally friendly way to handle oil spills.No chemicals, just waterAs its name suggests, ChemFree does not rely on unwanted chemicals for cleanup. The technology involves spraying sea water into an oil spill with enough force to disperse the oil in tiny particles, allowing it to be properly broken down by ocean bacteria. Think of it like a giant high pressure washer. Lab tests ...

 The U.S. Coast Guard along with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, and other federal, tribal, state and local response agencies are participating in a functional oil spill response exercise coordinated by Enbridge in St. Ignace and Mackinaw City, Michigan, Thursday, September 24.More than 400 participants are involved in this exercise of a simulated worst-case discharge of light crude oil from Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline that runs on the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac from St. Ignace to Mackinaw City, Michigan.   The exercise includes many operations involved in an emergency response to an oil spill including creation of a Unified Command; establishing the incident planning, finance, logistics and public information components; multi-agency coordination; and oil recovery strategies.Other participants include representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, Michigan State Police, and Mackinac County Emergency Management.Planning for this exercise has been ongoing for 12 months and is part of regularly scheduled planning efforts between the federal government and industry as dictated by the National Preparedness for Response Exercise Program guidelines.  Source and Image Credit: USCG NewsIn the outbreak, I was frank with you propecia before and after has changed my existence. It has become much more ...

 Analysts and engineers from the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement’s (BSEE) Oil Spill Preparedness Division and Gulf of Mexico Region recently conducted an unannounced spill drill of Arena Offshore.The Sept. 9 one-day exercise simulated a loss of well control event from a platform in shallow water, approximately 35 miles south of Port Fourchon, La. These exercises test an operator’s response to an incident using their oil spill response plan.As part of the drill, Arena Offshore was required to respond to a simulated loss of well control due to a potential blowout of the well. During an exercise an operator demonstrates successful notifications and implements other elements included in its oil spill response plan. The operator worked from its offices in The Woodlands, Texas while coordinating simulated response actions with its contracted spill response company in Slidell, Louisiana throughout the exercise. BSEE staff observed the operator’s response in both locations. The U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also attended the exercise.Government Initiated Unannounced Exercises are designed to give BSEE the opportunity to evaluate, on a no-notice basis, an operator's access to necessary resources and test the viability of oil spill response plans. This was the 13th unannounced ...