Oil Spill
BP caps dome believed to be source of oil sheen
AP
NEW ORLEANS -- BP PLC said Thursday it has capped and plugged an abandoned
piece of equipment that is believed to be the source of a sheen spotted
near the site of its massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2012/10/bp_caps_dome_believed_to_be_so.html#incart_river
Source of new oil sheen near Deepwater Horizon site has been plugged, BP
says
Updated: Thursday, October 25, 2012, 1:10 PM
By Mark Schleifstein, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
BP announced Thursday that it has sealed a 40-foot-tall, 86-ton steel
containment dome that has been leaking oil below the surface of the Gulf of
Mexico, causing repeated sheens near the site of the disasterous BP oil
spill in 2010.
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2012/10/plan_to_cap_and_plug_containme.html
State News
Waste Management breaks ground on power facility
by Floyd Ingram
Chickasaw Journal
10.26.12 - 06:20 am
HOUSTON – A landfill in Chickasaw County is now producing enough
electricity to power 900 homes in the area.
Gov. Phil Bryant, Waste Management and local officials snipped the ribbon
Wednesday at the methane-powered, electricity generation facility at
Prairie Bluff Sanitary Landfill, a 500-acre site near Houston.
http://djournal.com/view/full_story/20620332/article-Waste-Management-breaks-ground-on-power-facility?instance=secondary_stories_left_column
Kemper County power plant on schedule
WLOX
Thousands of people are working at a feverish pace to construct Mississippi
Power's new Lignite power plant in Kemper County. Driving through the
plant, you can't help but notice the way the landscape is changing on a
daily basis.
http://www.wlox.com/story/19915168/kemper-county-power-plant-on-schedule
DMR under investigation by state auditor
Sun Herald
By DONNA HARRIS — dmharris@sunherald.com
BILOXI -- Officials from the State Auditor's Office were at the Mississippi
Department of Marine Resources offices Thursday, sifting through files in
the executive director's office.
http://www.sunherald.com/2012/10/25/4265648/auditors-office-in-biloxi-checking.html
Sixth graders take a walk in the wetlands at Gautier High School
Sun Herald
GAUTIER -- About 600 sixth-graders learned about the outdoors Thursday
morning at Gautier High School during My Two Boots: A Walk in the Wetlands,
a program the district has held for 11 years.
http://www.sunherald.com/2012/10/25/4266693/sixth-graders-take-a-walk-in-the.html
Main Street/KAB plan weekend clean-up and recycle events
By Ida Brown
The Meridian Star
MERIDIAN — The weekend's anticipated cooler temperatures will be the
perfect complement to two Saturday morning cleanup events in downtown
Meridian.
http://meridianstar.com/local/x253554530/Main-Street-KAB-plan-weekend-clean-up-and-recycle-events
National News
EPA decision Nov. 6 on final coal ash cleanup
Knoxville News Sentinel
By Bob Fowler
Friday, October 26, 2012
KINGSTON — The Environmental Protection Agency's decision on how to proceed
with the final phase of TVA's cleanup of coal ash spilled in a 2008
calamity will be issued Nov. 6, an official said.
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/oct/26/epa-decision-nov-6-on-final-coal-ash-cleanup/
Press Releases
Coast Guard approves plan to secure containment dome
10/25/2012 10:56 AM EDT
NEW ORLEANS - The Federal On-Scene Coordinator for the Deepwater Horizon
oil spill in New Orleans authorized BP to proceed with a plan to cap and
plug the containment dome.
In 2010, the 40-foot-tall containment dome was used as a part of an attempt
to capture oil and allow it to flow through a pipe to a barge on the
surface. The technique was unsuccessful and the equipment was moved away
from the well head and riser and set in its current position approximately
500 meters from the original Macando well head.
The operation, which began Tuesday, included BP mobilizing a remotely
operated vehicle from the offshore construction vessel Skandi Neptune to
the containment dome to place a cap on top of the stove pipe and plug the
ROV connection ports on the sides and top of the structure. The cap and
plugs were successfully put in place and no further oil emissions from the
containment dome were observed.
BP has collected data via satellite throughout the operation and will
continue to do so for a five-day period following, in order to detect
changes in the surface sheen and to evaluate the effectiveness of these
actions in abating or eliminating the sheen. In addition, the Coast Guard
plans an overflight of the area later in the week.
Representatives from the Coast Guard, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and
Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement and Gulf Coast Incident
Management Team's Department of Interior Liaison, as well as state on-scene
coordinators from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida observed the
controlled feed in New Orleans.
The FOSC has further directed BP to submit a feasibility plan that
considers the next steps toward either removing or remediating the threats
of oil posed by the riser pipe and containment dome.
The operation and proposed plan were in response to an oil sheen in the
vicinity of the Deepwater Horizon incident first reported to the National
Response Center Sept. 16. The Coast Guard issued a Notice of Federal
Interest to BP and Transocean after the reported sheen was correlated to
the oil that originated from BP's Macondo well.
The public is reminded to contact the National Response Center at
1-800-424-8802 to report all pollution incidents or the 8th Coast Guard
District command center at 504-589-6225 in the event of a marine emergency.
