Florida Keys Continue to be Physically Unaffected by Oil Spill
Aug. 16, 2010
Mud injected Wednesday, Aug. 4 in the Transocean/BP well and a tight-fitting cap on a failed blowout preventer continue to prevent new oil from gushing into the northern Gulf of Mexico.
Officials continue to monitor this “static kill,” and will determine whether or not to follow with concrete to permanently seal the top of the well.
Next, comes the “bottom kill,” where a drilled relief well will be used to pump in mud and cement. Exact timing for completion of the “bottom kill,” the final step, is not known, but officials targeted mid-August as the end date several months ago.
Meanwhile the risk remains “very, very low” for near-term Transocean/BP oil spill pollution threats to the Florida Keys and South Florida, according to officials involved in response efforts and, in fact, since the April 20 explosion, the Keys have not been physically impacted by the spill.
“For the past several months, there has been an eddy (Eddy Franklin) that has broken off from the Loop Current between the wellhead and where the current come north and turns towards the Straits of Florida,” said former Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the national incident commander. “So (that) eddy has created a hydraulic barrier between the well head and the loop current and the chances that oil will become entrained in the Loop Current are very, very low and will go to zero as we continue to control the leakage at the well with the cap and ultimately kill it.”
Further exemplifying Allen’s point is that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ceased producing offshore oil spill trajectory maps June 19.
Allen’s full comments can be heard in a video to the left of this story.
There remains no advisories recommending against travel to the Florida Keys or any other precautions advising visitors and residents not to engage in fishing, diving, swimming or other water sports, according to the Monroe County Health Department. Seafood from Florida Keys waters is safe to eat, officials said.
On Aug. 10, NOAA reopened a larger portion of the Gulf of Mexico previously closed to recreational and commercial fishing. The closest point of the closure to the Keys is more than 270 miles to the northwest of Key West.
