Deepwater Horizon Update July 6, 2010

First major oil spill bill passed by House On Thursday July 1, the House passed the first major bill related to the Gulf of Mexico oil rig explosion, voting to allow families of those killed and injured workers to be compensated far more generously than current law allows. While families of the 11 killed and the 17 injured would benefit under the legislation, the bill also would apply to all companies operating on the high seas. The bill was passed on a voice vote, with no recorded vote. The bill now goes to the Senate. The only agreement on all sides is that companies directly responsible for the Gulf spill should not be allowed to limit damages under outdated laws. The bill would change two laws from 1920 and a third from 1851, all applying to deaths and legal liability on the high seas. Key provisions would:

• Permit recovery of non-economic damages, including pain and suffering, loss of care, comfort and companionship — not just lost income and funeral expenses.
• Repeal an 1851 limitation on liability, which caps company damages to the post-accident value of a vessel (including an oil rig) and its cargo. Transocean, which owns the Deepwater Horizon platform now at the bottom of the Gulf, has sought to limit its liability to $27 million under this law.
• Prevent parties responsible for oil spills from using bankruptcy to leave victims without adequate legal recourse.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce wrote lawmakers that the bill should not expose industries unrelated to the spill to new damage claims or additional liability. Thousands of claims, including maritime lawsuits related to asbestos, would come under the new legislation, the Chamber said. Tar balls found on Texas coast Tar balls collected from the Crystal Beach area of the Bolivar Peninsula on Saturday came from the Deepwater Horizon spill, tests have confirmed, but it is unclear how the material got to Texas. Investigators discovered very small tar balls in the surf, but not on shore, Saturday evening. The tar balls were collected and sent to the lab to be tested where they were determined to be associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The testing found that the oil was lightly weathered, raising doubts that the oil traversed the Gulf from the spill source. Boats carry oil collected during the response to Texas for processing raising the possibility the oil could have been transported on a vessel. The Coast Guard, Texas General Land Office (TGLO), and the City of Galveston patrolled the beaches by both helicopter and on foot over the weekend. On Sunday, teams discovered some dime-sized to nickel-sized tar balls on both Bolivar Peninsula's Crystal Beach and Galveston's East Beach. The Coast Guard hired a contractor to remove the tar balls. A total of approximately 35 gallons of sand/seaweed/tar balls was recovered in Crystal Beach on the Bolivar Peninsula and on East Beach in Galveston on Sunday and Monday. Crews estimate that of the 35 gallons of material recovered, there were about 7 gallons of tar balls contained within the waste material. The largest was ping-pong ball sized. Lab analysis continues on the tar balls recovered on Sunday and Monday. NOAA Expands Fishing Closures in GOM NOAA has expanded the closed fishing area in the Gulf of Mexico to include portions of the oil slick moving beyond the area’s current northwestern boundary, off the Louisiana federal-state waterline. This boundary was moved westward off Vermilion Bay. This federal closure does not apply to any state waters. Closing fishing in these areas is a precautionary measure to ensure that seafood from the Gulf will remain safe for consumers. The closed area now represents 81,181 square miles, which is approximately 33.5 percent of Gulf of Mexico federal waters. This leaves more than 66 percent of Gulf federal waters available for fishing. Click here to view the oil assessment map for July 5, day 76. A Whale Initial Tests are Inconclusive Choppy seas during the testing of the A Whale, modified tanker, led to inconclusive results on the effectiveness of this massive skimmer. The ship was converted from a tanker to a skimmer in Lisbon, Portugal, in June, according to the joint oil-spill response information center. At 1,100 feet long and 10 stories high, it is hoped that A Whale will be able to take up as much as 300,000 barrels of oil-water mixture every 10 hours. The ship allows an oil-water mix to enter through a series of slits near the bow, then puts the mixture through a series of tanks to separate oil from water.

Response From BP BP Tab to Date: $3.12 billion, includes the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid, and federal costs. Relief Well Drilling Operations: To view a technical briefing of relief well operations from BP,click here for the video. For a detailed graphic depiction of BP's progress of the relief well click here. Click on the image below to enlarge
Via: Travel Insurance