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Changed the title of the post. I’m currently listening to another hastily improvised press conference by the Unified Command from Anchorage.
The Shell Oil drilling rig went aground on the coast of Sitkalinak Island off of Kodiak Island at about 9:00 pm this evening.
Earlier part of the post:
The Unified Command reports that the Kulluk is now adrift. The Kulluk is estimated to be four miles from the nearest point of land.
The safety of personnel and the environment remain the top priority.
Difficult weather conditions are anticipated to continue throughout the day. Unified Command is considering all options.
This is an evolving situation. More information will be released as it becomes available.
I’ll keep you posted here at firedoglake too.
The weather situation is deteriorating rapidly. The nearest the Kulluk had been reported to land was around 20 miles, before this very recent information.
Minor update: I made a screenshot at 8:40 pm Alaska time of the positions of the vessels which have been attending the Kulluk, posted it on flickr, and put it at the top of this post. The white “X” is Port Hobron on Sitkalidak Island, off the coast of Kodiak Island. That is where they were hoping to find shelter sometime on January 1st. The vessels in the screenshot are U.S. Coast Guard cutter Alex Haley, and tugs Aiviq, Nanuq and Alert. The dotted lines are the track of the Aiviq today, as it maneuvered to get the rig back under tow.
Another minor update – Tuesday 9:55 am Alaska Time: Here is the section of a maritime chart the Unified Command has posted, showing where the Kulluk first hit when it grounded yesterday. The numbers are depths in fathoms (1 fathom = 6 feet). The asterisks are rocks, which can be of greatly varying sizes. The dot by “2048″ is where the rig was at time of impact.
My estimate – the white X – of the initial grounding position of the Kulluk – photographed on a much better day than yesterday or today. Or tomorrow …..
63 Comments
thanks for the continued reporting – not seeing much anywhere else.
Happy New Year! in spite of Shell
Shell posted a bunch of tweets about 45 minutes ago, alerting me to the turn of events. No Shell Alaska office party tonight.
If you go to this URL, you can observe the tugs and USCG cutter’s positions. It refreshes every 90 seconds. The Kulluk is not displayed, as they have no transponder for the live ships service.
Watching the live ship map, it appears possible that the tug Alert may have gotten a line back on to the Kulluk. Looking for confirmation.
This concerns me, from a press release by the USCG this early this afternoon:
Shell is indicating they will soon be giving a press briefing. No comment at the item yet, but …..
Lisa Demer from the Anchorage Daily News just e-mailed me that the people put back on to the Kulluk today were extricated successfully.
from the Unified Command:
That’s in about ten minutes. I’ll be there.
Been told I’ve joined Unified Command’s “news team.” Conference about to begin.
Aiviq’s line parted at 4. Alert had to drop. The Kulluk went aground at 9:00 pm.
We are now entering into the environmental impact and spill response phase of this operation. We’re ready to go – AK DEC
Wait this is not April first.
Aground on the northern tip of Ocean Bay on Kodiak Island itself. doesn’t make sense.
I asked for the longitude and latitude of the wreck. Nobody had it. I almost lost it. Fucking “Unified Command”!!!!
“We ARE the Unified Command!” – response to Yareth Rosen from Christian Science Monitor, after her critical question.
“Is there a reassessment by Shell on your Arctic drilling operations?” – Lisa Demer from ADN
No answer, and they cut off the conference as a couple of on-line commenters tried to ask questions.
Happy New Year, firepups!
Wishing you the best Mr Phil. This is a NEW year just like the old one. Thanks for keeping on.
You betcha, Homeroid.
Just called the Unified Command’s response hotline and got a recording asking me to leave a message, as I’m a valued something-or-another. I asked them to give me the coordinates of the wreck to the nearest second as soon as they have them. Wished the Unified Command a “Happy New Year.”
Unified something or other aint it.
Unified Command Release No. 12:
I have been watching this as i could today. Now this is a game changer in a larger picture. This could change some attitudes for many.
Perhaps.
I’m going to press Murkowski, Young and Begich for a full investigation. All three of Shell’s highly touted rigs for this op are basket cases – the Kulluk will be an unsalveable wreck by Wednesday; the Noble Discoverer is impounded in Seward; and the Arctic Challenger is being reinvented in Bellingham.
Let’s hope the whole concept of drilling in the Arctic is “reinvented”
By day light the Kulluk will be a beat to shit piece of history. Just like this year. Wishing You all the best. Bob.
As a former employee of Crowley Maritime, whose tug tried hardest and last to save this rig, until ordered to release the Kullik, I’ve got to say this to the people at Shell who concocted this event in the middle of winter:
Get the fuck out of Alaska’s waters!
Video courtesy of the Coast Guard; too early to listen here. Loads of conflicting information out there.
Your Get the fuck out of Alaska’s waters! is the best opinion piece I’ve seen.
Most articles note that this will negatively impact Shell’s profits or something. Holy shite.
Thanks, Phillip.
Nice. Way to go Shell. Wonder what kind of mess this is going to create. I used to work for a company that did marine weather forecasting for shipping. I was always amazed of the intensity of winter storms in the G. of AK. It wasn’t rare to see 50 ft seas. In some ways the storms could be as intense as hurricanes. For those interested in the meteorology of these huge storms check out these links:
tp://texmex.mit.edu/pub/emanuel/PAPERS/polarlows.pdf
http://polarlows.wordpress.com/
The first is a scholarly article published in Tellus by Dr. Kerry Emanuel of MIT – Pretty geeky and for the math freaks out there.
The second is a general public article that just came out in Oct. Its very well written and has some nice imagery and graphics.
BTW just looked up the weather and sea state forecast. From NWS Alaska, here’s the latest at 4AM AKST 1 Jan – See
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?zoneid=PKZ132&mp=0
Today: S wind 50 kt diminishing to 35 kt in the afternoon. Seas 30 ft subsiding to 22 ft in the afternoon. Rain.
Tonight: S wind 30 kt. Seas 15 ft. Snow and rain.
Wed: SE wind 30 kt increasing to 40 kt in the afternoon. Seas 13 ft building to 17 ft in the afternoon. Rain and snow.
Wed Night: SE wind 35 kt. Seas 16 ft.
Thu: S wind 30 kt. Seas 14 ft.
Fri: SE wind 30 kt. Seas 14 ft.
Sat: S wind 25 kt. Seas 13 ft
Forgot to add (where’s the edit function for previous posts – Grrrr) the title of Dr Emanuel’s paper is “Polar Lows as Arctic Hurricanes”. It was published in 1989 and is the first authoratative article on the subject that delved into the science as far as I know.
Oh good grief, I see an error in the link to Dr E’s paper. It should be:
ftp://texmex.mit.edu/pub/emanuel/PAPERS/polarlows.pdf
I missed a leading “f”.
And finally, here is a link to a satellite picture over the region taken 1 Jan 1430 GMT (0530 AKST). Note the low pressure center to the WSW of Kodiak IS.
http://www.arh.noaa.gov/arhdata/sat/hrpt/latest/s_4a1f.jpg
They do look like a bunch of amateurs. The federal permit for this proposed drilling, and the lease, needs to be revoked. It is entirely possible that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review of the impacts of this action did not address these kind of failures. If the NEPA was inadequate a federal judge can revoke the lease and permit on grounds that NEPA review was flawed. So sue them!
Ah, so the spill worries concern the diesel fuel carried to power the Kulluk? That makes sense. I knew that none of the rigs had to date actually been able to get any oil from the crust beneath the ocean.
And again, Shell: Is all of this hassle worth it for the Chinese market? Why don’t you get back into the solar business and work on that instead of risking lives (and other people’s tugs and tax dollars) on hare-brained schemes like trying to drill beneath the Arctic Ocean?
Thanks, techgeek!
Here’s the latest from the Unified Command:
The Unified Command’s statement tries to make it sound like the Kulluk is resting up on a nice beach. I wish that were true, but it is not. There should be some pictures soon. It is still dark in Wasilla, but it is probably getting close to full morning light in southern Kodiak.
Here’s a link to Yareth Rosen’s story on the grounding, for Reuters. Best full coverage yet.
Thanks for staying with this, Edward!
I just realized my ex-bodyguard may be on the crew of the Crowley tug Alert, that was ordered to drop its line to the Kulluk as it neared the rocky coast. We were going to see him at Christmas time down in Seattle, but he texted me he had to go to Valdez to replace a sick crewman on the response tug. That’s the Alert. He has crewed on it before. Tried to phone him, and the message is the user is out of service range.
Stay safe, Freddie!
Lisa Demer of the Anchorage Daily News has updated her Kulluk coverage story. Excellent read. She interviewed environmentalists this morning as part of the story:
Some information on the island’s ecology: http://www.alcnet.org/?q=Sitkalidak_Facts
Bravo that there is a group seeking to protect the island for natural cultural values.
Thanks for this very good reporting.
I want to write a new diary on this when I get a chance. Probably not in a while.
Got a meeting scheduled in an hour with my assistant on the Inuksuit project. I’m producing the Alaska premiere of John Luther Adams’ masterpiece, Inuksuit, on the evening of the 2013 Summer Solstice, on the University of Alaska Anchorage campus.
Anyway, there needs to be an investigation of Shell’s readiness to drill in the Arctic. Real soon.
Kulluk max. operating draft is 41 ft. or 6.8 fathoms
It was probably drawing about 35 feet at the time of impact, unless the water it was taking on was outpacing its rather huge pumps. Here’s a link to some tech specs on the Kulluk.
oops! – see you linked to the same article.
This may be a page that soon gets disappeared – Shell’s hubris is almost overwhelming. Makes me want to puke:
We “love” the challenge, especially at your fisherie’s and ecosystem’s expense. Ooops, sorry the challenge was too great!
While the Alaska US congressional delegation remains silent on this disaster on our coast, Rep. Ed Markey speaks out:
From Lisa Demer’s ADN update:
from Kulluk Tow Response twitter account:
from the Unified Command:
I added the bold. The UC may finally give me a hard time when I try to dial in today. We’ll see whether the magic word “firedoglake” keeps working …
KMXT Radio has posted a photo taken this morning by the USCG of the Kulluk on the rocks. It is far closer to shore than earlier indicated. Also, there are a lot of rocks on the bottom where it is.
This vessel is being seriously damaged and will prove difficult, if not impossible to salvage.
Shell’s spent at least $4.5 billion since 2005 on trying to drill in the Arctic Ocean. Think of what that money could have done if it were spent on their solar program instead.
That should be the soundtrack when somebody makes a movie of Shell’s folly.
I think their costs are more like $5.2 billion by now. The $4.5 billion figure was from before their farcical but expensive 2012 “drilling season.” Now they’re also the proud owners of $285 million dollars worth of future razor blades.
From the Alaska Dispatch’s updated article:
New paint job and remodeled crew quarters, that would reassure me./s
Once had to travel regularly (pilot) a small boat (under 20 ft) seven miles to a Great Lakes island throughout November for work. Cold water is heavy and dense, pounding with any wave action. Even with that knowledge, I can only imagine the forces there.
Thanks for the links and updates, ET.
The 2:00 press conference has begun.
Thanks ET
Hopefully some basic questions will be asked and answered at this closed press conference. 1) Why did they ignore the weather forecast and set sail in predicted hazardous conditions that exceeded the capabilities of this towing operation? Who ordered them to depart and why? Shell has consistently been late in everything it’s done in 2012 – what’s the rush now? 2.) This is now a marine salvage operation. Has the US Navy Supervisor of Salvage been notified or otherwise requested to assist? If not – why not? Who is going to conduct the salvage operations? Where are they? Why are they not at the Marriott? Or are they?
In answer to No. 1 – the weather reports when they left Dutch on the 21st appear to have been pretty good for this time of year. Regarding No. 2, I’m pretty sure the salvage will be done by private industry, rather than the U.S. Navy.
Working on a new post based on the conference.
Understand that a private company would conduct the salvage operation – but the USCG would be well advised to have US Navy open ocean salvage experts strapped to their side right now. All these people running and jumping around with fancy vests on in the Marriott may look impressive to people but this is going to be a really hard salvage operation to conduct and I’ve seen absolutely no move in getting it started. If waiting around like last year’s Christmas tree is the plan – I’m thinking its time to start the natural resources damage assessment for the injury caused by all the fuel and oil that will be washed ashore as the Kulluk is bashed apart. As for the weather leaving Dutch Harbor on 12/21 that changed soon after and there was an opportunity to nest that giant metal cork in Kodiak avoiding this debacle. Thank you for your work here btw.
Latest NWS Forecast (01/1600 AKST), for the region:
Tonight: S wind 30 kt. Seas 16 ft. Rain and snow.
Wed: SE wind 35 kt. Seas 14 ft. Rain and snow.
Wed Night: S wind 35 kt. Seas 15 ft. Rain and snow.
Thu: S wind 25 kt. Seas 15 ft.
Thu Night: S wind 25 kt. Seas 13 ft.
Fri: SE wind 30 kt. Seas 14 ft.
Sat: S wind 25 kt. Seas 13 ft.
Sun: NE wind 20 kt. Seas 14 ft.
More promising – merely a gale warning. But there is a 960 mb low off the Kuriles that looks like it is going to gather a lot of strength.
New post on this.