Coast Guard May Burn Parts of Massive Oil Spill

BATON ROUGE, La. (April 27) -- The Coast Guard is considering setting fire to parts of an oil spill that's been growing in the Gulf of Mexico since a massive oil rig exploded and sank off Louisiana's coast last week.

Rear Adm. Mary Landry said today that a "controlled burn," far from the coast, is one option she's considering for preventing the spill's spread. She said controlled burns have their risks -- including air pollution -- but have been used successfully to contain previous oil spills.

"I want to assure you ... if we have any concerns associated with the risks of this burn, we can stop at any time," Landry said at a news conference in Robert, La.

Meanwhile, undersea efforts have failed to plug the pipe that continues to pour roughly 1,000 barrels of oil -- or 42,000 gallons -- into the gulf daily, according to Doug Suttles, a chief operating officer for British oil company BP.

"We haven't been successful in the last 24 hours in controlling the flow" of oil from the pipe 5,000 feet under the gulf's surface, he said.

Suttles said BP is spending $6 million per day on the cleanup and efforts to plug the leaking pipe.

Since Monday, the spill has drifted 15 miles closer to the Louisiana coastline; it's now roughly 20 miles from Venice, La., Landry said. Louisiana state officials have ordered booms to be situated along coastal island refuges to collect oil in case the spill continues heading toward land.

The spill is the result of the explosion and sinking of the massive Deepwater Horizon drilling platform last week, from which 11 rig workers are missing and presumed dead. A pipeline previously connected to that rig has been leaking the oil at the seabed since last week.

Wind and ocean current forecasts show the spill -- 600 miles in circumference and growing -- will not hit land before Friday, said Charlie Henry, an environmental scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Henry said a controlled burn of the spills could burn up to 99 percent of oil in selected areas.

Hey said the environmental "downside" of burning the oil off the surface of the gulf would be a "black plume" of smoke. A burn is an effective method that has been used to control previous oil spills in marshy areas of south Louisiana, though never offshore, he said.

"The trade-off is you generate some air pollution issues," Henry said.

The spill, and its possible drift onto land, have generated fears of an environmental and economic disaster from Louisiana to Florida's panhandle.

"This thing scares the hell out of me, frankly," said Randy Lanctot, executive director of the Louisiana Wildlife Federation in Baton Rouge. "It's huge, but there are a lot of factors that will determine how serious this will be. It's hard to get a handle on that now."

Three whales -- believed to be sperm whales -- were spotted Sunday by federal Fish and Wildlife crews flying over the spill and dropping dispersants to break up the oil, Henry said. Pilots were told to avoid the whales, which were not inside the spill and did not appear distressed, he said.

Other species that could be at risk from the oil include the gulf's rich stocks of shrimp, crabs and oysters, plus shorebirds including pelicans, terns and sandpipers. Fishermen in particular said they're concerned the spill could ruin their livelihoods.

Commercial fishing in Louisiana is a $2.6 billion-a-year industry that supplies up to 25 percent of the seafood to states outside Alaska and Hawaii, according to the Louisiana State University Agriculture Center and the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

"If they can't contain it soon, it'll have a real major impact on us," said James Blanchard, a shrimp fisherman from Houma.

The Coast Guard, which is overseeing the cleanup of the spill, said today that more than 29,000 feet of boom is in the water to contain the oil. Another 80,000 feet of boom is available.

The fleet of 49 cleanup vessels includes skimmers, tugs, barges and recovery vessels, the Coast Guard said.

As a precaution, a drilling rig 10 miles northeast of the source of the spill has been evacuated, Landry said.

BP has been trying to plug the leaking pipe with undersea robots, though Suttles said that effort has failed thus far.

The company is also preparing to drill "relief wells" to plug the leaking pipe with cement -- an operation that would take months. One drilling platform to be used in that operation is at the scene, Suttles said, with another one the way.

To collect the gushing oil below the water's surface, BP is constructing a massive container that could funnel the petroleum to a vessel on the water's surface. Construction of that container will take at least two weeks, with no guarantee it would effectively gather oil at such a great depth, Suttles said.

BP, which leased the sunken drilling platform from Transocean Ltd., is responsible for all costs of cleanup and blocking the leak of oil.

The Coast Guard said 1,000 engineers and others are at work on the dual problems of containing the spill and plugging the leaking pipe.

"If we don't secure the well, yes: This could be one of the most significant spills in U.S. history," Landry said.