Locals ‘cautiously optimistic’ about cap

The ruptured oil well might have been capped but latest reports of leakage at the top are sending mixed messages to local government officials in south Louisiana. But officials remain undeterred and are optimistic in tackling the long-term affects from the Gulf oil disaster that are far reaching.

When retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, point man by the Obama administration for the spill, detected the so-called seepage late Sunday night, he demanded that BP administer better ocean-floor monitoring near the well.

“When seeps are detected, you are directed to marshal resources, quickly investigate, and report findings to the government in no more than four hours. I direct you to provide me a written procedure for opening the choke valve as quickly as possible without damaging the well should hydrocarbon seepage near the well head be confirmed,” Allen wrote to BP Managing Director Bob Dudley.

BP will continue testing the cap, according to Allen, but only if they meet their obligations to monitor the test site – if the testing could worsen the situation, it should cease to continue. If tests go well, and the well stays shut, it could mean starting to blast mud and cement to block off the well permanently, but if oil and gas seep out of the well from elsewhere, it could make the ocean floor unstable and the well could collapse.

“I am very happy that BP got the well capped, even though the news says differently,” said St. Mary Parish President Paul Naquin.

According to an AP wire report at press time, the federal government allowed BP to keep the cap on the oil well notwithstanding the possibility of seepage from the sea floor, about two miles away from the ruptured well. That may mean reopening of the cap to prevent oil and gas from escaping elsewhere and pumping crude oil to ships on the surface of the water.

On the local front, Naquin is not alarmed after conversing with a BP representative Monday.

“I called BP for myself, and the representative who answered the phone said that oil was just forming some kind of condensation around the cap, and they said that was normal,” said Naquin. “They said it was only building up about a pound of pressure an hour.”

St. Mary Parish director of Homeland Security Duval Arthur echoed that sentiment.

“There is nothing coming out of the wheel or casing surrounding the cap, so that makes me feel comfortable that everything is going to be okay,” said Arthur.

After a conference call with ICP Houma, Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet said the leakage reported was noted before the well was even capped.

“They said the cap is maintaining its integrity, and the leak is about a mile away,” he said, who is happy to see the well capped, and heard from ICP Houma that they plan to penetrate and kill the well as early as this weekend.

Claudet remains focused on the people of Terrebonne Parish.

“As parish president, it’s my job is to make certain that Terrebonne is indemnified as much as possible for damages that we’ve sustained and will be sustaining in the future,” he said.

Lafourche Parish President Charlotte Randolph told WWL’s Spud McConnell last week she was “cautiously optimistic” BP’s latest attempt to cap the well will work.

“Hallelujah,” she said of initial news that the cap was in place. “But we’ve still got to see the cap contain the oil completely before we can breathe a sigh of relief,” she told the broadcaster.

– Staff reporters Jenna Farmer, Richard Fischer and Howard J. Castay Jr. contributed to this article.

This image provided by BP PLC Saturday afternoon shows the containment stack at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Federal officials said Monday the well was showing signs of leaking. AP PHOTO

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