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Government Red Tape holds up Taiwanese Whale

post #1 of 11
7/5/10 at 5:00pm
Thread Starter 
http://www.wabcradio.com/news.asp?c=...b7657eacd2113d

According to this website, the big ship has been in the Gulf since last Wednesday. It was making test runs over a 25 square mile area. They were wanting to test it to see if it could do what it was supposed to do, which is skim up the oil and pump the water back out. They had to wait for the EPA to sign off on the water which would be pumped back because traces of oil might remain.

I am glad I am not Bobby Jindal and some of those folks down there who have had to put up with this for so long now. It must be very frustrating they had to watch that 3 1/2 story high ship being tested. To me this is a total waste of time. The problem the whole while has been that they wouldn't cut the red tape junk and do something. I am reasonably certain that water pumped out from this ship, even if traces of oil remained would not be as nasty as what has floated around out there all weekend while they tested this mammoth ship.
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post #2 of 11
7/5/10 at 6:47pm
So we're supposed to be upset that a skimmer ship has been skimming as part of a test?

Now, if they were pouring oil into the water to see if it would skim it back off, that would be another thing entirely.
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post #3 of 11
7/5/10 at 7:50pm
Thread Starter 
Who said anything about getting upset I think it is just one more example of bureaucratic red tape. I guess when the government grows by 25% the bureaucracy does too. Anyone with any smarts at all should be able to figure out that if they just turned that ship loose to do what it went to do, nothing was going to be made any worse. Instead they have to wait for the EPA to sign off on the water that will be pumped back overboard because it might have traces of oil in it. What a joke. Let's all pray we don't get another major hurricane like Katrina. Folks might have to sit on their roofs a lot longer this time.
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post #4 of 11
7/5/10 at 7:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by blueyedgirl5946 View Post
Who said anything about getting upset I think it is just one more example of bureaucratic red tape. I guess when the government grows by 25% the bureaucracy does too. Anyone with any smarts at all should be able to figure out that if they just turned that ship loose to do what it went to do, nothing was going to be made any worse. Instead they have to wait for the EPA to sign off on the water that will be pumped back overboard because it might have traces of oil in it. What a joke. Let's all pray we don't get another major hurricane like Katrina. Folks might have to sit on their roofs a lot longer this time.
Turn it loose to do what? Skim the middle of the gulf like it's been doing? That monster isn't going to be skimming any inlets or shoreline, ships that size can't do close maneuvering without a small fleet of tugs.
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post #5 of 11
7/5/10 at 8:28pm
Thread Starter 
The article stated it could not skim up close to the shoreline. No I mean turn it loose to go where ever the oil is that it can get to. It has only been skimming in a 25 square mile area. And I mean they should have let them get started when they got there, not wait for signatures from the EPA. That was just red tape, which was not necessary. The water they were going to pump out couldn't possibly be any worse than it was to start with. By turning the loose, I meant just let them do it with no hold up and wait time and in a larger area.
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post #6 of 11
7/6/10 at 6:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by blueyedgirl5946 View Post
The article stated it could not skim up close to the shoreline. No I mean turn it loose to go where ever the oil is that it can get to. It has only been skimming in a 25 square mile area. And I mean they should have let them get started when they got there, not wait for signatures from the EPA. That was just red tape, which was not necessary. The water they were going to pump out couldn't possibly be any worse than it was to start with. By turning the loose, I meant just let them do it with no hold up and wait time and in a larger area.
Ah, now I understand...I sorries. It does seem kind of a waste of time to have a resource like that pottering around for a review when there's so much desperate work to be done.

I've heard that there is a maritime "invasive species" law that prevents foreign ships from discharging ballast water in US waters and turning loose all sorts of little critters. I wonder if their "test" has something to do with that rule?
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post #7 of 11
7/6/10 at 7:28am
Thread Starter 
Mike, did you read the link I posted.? It just states that the EPA had to sign off on the water being dumped back out because it might still contain traces of oil. That is all that was mentioned. My thoughts were that even if the water still did contain some oil, it would be in better condition that before they skimmed oil out of it.
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post #8 of 11
7/6/10 at 11:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by blueyedgirl5946 View Post
Mike, did you read the link I posted.? It just states that the EPA had to sign off on the water being dumped back out because it might still contain traces of oil. That is all that was mentioned. My thoughts were that even if the water still did contain some oil, it would be in better condition that before they skimmed oil out of it.
I read it, I'm just wondering if the writer of the article may not have completely understood it...or, if they really were being that ridiculous.

I was wondering because there are oil-eating microbes. Would such microbes from one region be an invasive species in another? And can they survive inside a separator?

Just thinking out loud, basically. It's just hard to believe that they were concerned about trace amounts of oil. But, it's government...anything is possible.
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post #9 of 11
7/6/10 at 12:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by blueyedgirl5946 View Post
Mike, did you read the link I posted.? It just states that the EPA had to sign off on the water being dumped back out because it might still contain traces of oil. That is all that was mentioned. My thoughts were that even if the water still did contain some oil, it would be in better condition that before they skimmed oil out of it.
Wasn't this the issue that held up Kevin Costner's centrifuges? It left a few more parts per million (and I mean literally "a few", if I remember correctly) of oil in the water than was to be "allowed" by the EPA.

I guess it's easier to sit around and flaunt ones "high standards", than it is to actually do something. But when there's more death and despair with each passing minute, it's time to cut some corners, methinks.

Didn't this country used to pride itself on being resourceful?
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post #10 of 11
7/6/10 at 12:04pm
It's hard to say how much of the delay is due to red tape:

Day 76: The Latest on the Oil Spill
Quote:
Initial tests on a supertanker adapted to skim large quantities of oily water from the gulf’s surface were inconclusive, according to the shipping company that owns the vessel. Billed as the world’s largest oil skimmer, the supertanker, named A Whale, is supposed to be able to suck up 21 million gallons of oily water a day, but stiff winds and choppy seas have made that impossible so far. Offshore oil skimming along the coasts of Mississippi, Alabama and Florida came to a stop early last week because of choppy seas stirred up by Hurricane Alex. The weather also prevented a flotilla of smaller skimmers from working.
Despite choppy Gulf weather, optimism for oil cleanup efforts
Quote:
Also, a massive airship, or blimp, and a ship that can suck oil out of the ruptured well are expected to arrive in the Gulf region at the end of the week to aid in oil disaster response efforts. Their arrival had been delayed because of rough weather, said Stephanie Hebert, spokeswoman for the cleanup effort.

The U.S. Navy airship will be used to detect oil, direct skimming ships and look for wildlife that may be threatened by oil, the Coast Guard says. It had been scheduled to reach the Gulf on Tuesday but authorities have announced a delay to Friday.

The 178-foot-long blimp, known as the MZ-3A, can carry a crew of up to 10. It will fly slowly over the region to track where the oil is flowing and how it is coming ashore.
...
the A Whale -- billed as the world's largest skimmer -- is still being tested.

Its abilities so far are "inconclusive," meaning the massive converted oil tanker -- which is 3.5 football fields long -- has yet to prove its Taiwanese owner's claim that it can skim between 15,000 and 50,000 barrels of oil off the sea in a day.

The Coast Guard said the testing period for the A Whale has been extended through Thursday.

So far, crude oil floating in the sea has not been concentrated enough for A Whale to skim effectively, according to oil company BP, even though it appears the ship has been surrounded by pools of oil just a few miles from the gusher.

"We've got oil coming up from over a mile below the surface. And it doesn't always come up in one spot. It's not always predictable. So, in fact, we need to locate the oil first, and then assign the ship to the areas of heaviest concentration," BP spokesman Hank Garcia said.

Bad weather has hindered cleanup efforts, he said.

"When you've got 6-foot, 8-foot seas, it's not going to lend itself to good capture of the oil."
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post #11 of 11
7/6/10 at 12:53pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by jcat View Post
In the article from the NY Times, they were talking about the weather early last week. From what I saw, this big ship got there on Wednesday of last week. I thought the bad weather was over by then.
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