Thar She Blows! Another Oil "Geyser" in Gulf of Mexico

According to news accounts and reports coming through the SkyTruth Alerts system, a work boat struck a wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico about 9 miles southwest of Port Sulphur, Louisiana, about 8pm on Tuesday.  [NOTE: keep your distance - this well poses a hydrogen sulfide risk.] The well has been intermittently discharging an oily mixture ever since, in a semi-spectacular way judging from this photo provided by the Coast Guard:

Oily geyser erupting from wellhead damaged by a work boat Tuesday. Photo courtesy U.S. Coast Guard.

This is reminiscent of a similar incident in the Gulf back in August 2010, when an abandoned wellhead in Barataria Bay was also struck by a vessel and spouted oil 100 feet into the air.

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Sierra Club Requests Public Hearing on Delaware City Refinery

The Delaware Chapter of the Sierra Club is requesting a public hearing on changes to the Delaware City Refinery air emissions permits. Without a demonstrable increase in capacity, the facility is requesting permission to increase emissions of substances such as sulfuric acid and lead, as well as overall particulate matter and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).  This facility came under scrutiny by the media in October 2011 for repeated hydrogen cyanide releases noticed by our Office Administrator and Alerts subscriber Teri. 

Full-Text of the Sierra Club's Request to the Secretary of the DNREC: 

http://delaware.sierraclub.org/sites/delaware.sierraclub.org/files/documents/2013/02/2013-02-18-refinery-title-v-permit.pdf

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