PRIMO's Horizon Oil Spill Report

PRIMO's Horizon Oil Spill Report - May 6, 2010

Welcome. I am Mark P Miller, P.E. from Gautier, MS. I kept hearing Media Hype about the Oil Spill about to come ashore, and even my path out of the West Pascagoula River was being blocked by Oil Booms. The Weather was laying down, so I decided to go take a look for myself in order to plan for what my homestead may encounter soon. I took my son Luke (12 Years Old) out of school to assist me on this journey. Initially I thought I would get out about 20-30 miles and find a bunch of oil and come back. However, I was prepared to spend the night and go as far as necessary to determine the extent of the situation. We ended up going all the way to the DeepWater Horizon Spill Site, 105 miles away (Straight Line). Our Trip encompassed 237 nautical miles, 27.5 hours, and 106 gallons of fuel.

The Oil Spill happened on April 20 and this Trip left the evening of May 5 and continued thru May 6. To summarize my findings, I believe the damage and forecasted damage is being way over exaggerated. While any Oil Spill should not be taken lightly, we found very little evidence of contamination until I reached about 30 miles from the Incident Site (75 miles from my home). In addition, most of what we found looked more like brown algae than oil. I believe Mother Nature has some very strong recuperation properties which is evidenced by the extreme Bioluminescence observed. I have never seen such strong Bioluminescence in my entire life (I am 50 years old). I hear that there is oil feeding bacteria and I can only assume this bacteria is what is creating this Bioluminescense. Also, most of what we did find was collecting in the Tidelines and there was not much evidence in between.

Our trip findings are summarized on a chart in the first picture below. Pictures and Video were also taken. The complete Video is in 4 parts, uploaded to Youtube. We also have a summary excert that is uploaded in 1 part. We brought back a piece of Floatsom that looks like a piece of floatation that is saturated with Crude. We also brought back 2 water bottles with samples of the brown algae looking oil. We caught fish and made a dive about 30 miles from the spill site (Salt-Dome) that shows life is abundant and flurishing. Even in the oil saturated areas fish seem undaunted by the incident. Portugese Man-O-War Jelly Fish float on the surface and did seem affected, but still alive. The fish that live among its tentacles seemed unaffected. Even the crude encrusted floatsom had crabs living on it. We found a patch of Sargassum at the spill site that was heavily contaminated, but even it had some sea life in it. Again, there was a multitude of fish swimming under this Sargassum. Another point to note is that a signifcant portion of this brown algae looking oil is below the surface. Particles of it can be seen going down through the water column. On our dive, 30 miles away, these particulates penetrated to a depth of about 40 feet. These particulates will not be captured at all by the deployed Oil Booms. Also note that we observed usual numerous sealife including, Turtles (2), Dolphins (>24), Sunfish (Mola Mola), Crabs, Krill, Jelly Fish, Sharks, Amberjack, Cobia, Flying Fish, etc. We caught some nice fish, but we did not even bring an ice chest on this trip and brought nothing home.

Some say this incident should be cause to cease all oil drilling and perhaps that is why this situation has exploded into more than it should be. They should take note that on my chart below that all those squares are Oil Rigs. There are over 30,000 Oil Rigs in the Gulf that have operated without incident for years. In addition, the Horizon was a cutting edge state-of-the-art piece of drilling equipment. It does not anchor to the bottom, but hovers above its target using computers, GPS equipment, and Thrusters. It is capable of drilling in up to 10,000 feet of water. If anything, we should learn from this incident to make it safer to use this kind of equipment. At the least, the only ban or increased regulations should be on deep water drilling. Perhaps the Oil Companies are pushing the envelope too far. Had this incident happened in less than 500 feet of water, I believe there would have been little problems in closing up the leak. The better question to ask is, "Do we really need to spend this kind of money and risk to drill in such deep water?".

Bottom line is that I am no longer taking the threat so seriously. I expect "Summer-as-Usual" to be in full force.
Book a fishing trip with me and you won't be dissappointed.

Interactive Oil Spill Map from WLOX & Google. Some good info here.

Pictures of Horizon as She Burns and Sinks

Oil Slick Forecast Maps

Gulf Islands National Seashore Status

Blog with some Great Photos

I still have some Videos to compile, but it is hard to make time. I may post some more in a few days.


~Chart	2957_Lightering_Ship	2960_Lightering_Ship	2961_Snapper_60Miles2Go

2962_Snapper	2965_Sunset	2974_Sunset	2976_Sunset

2977_Sunset	2979_Sunset	2981_Sunset	2987_Bioluminescence_50Miles2Go

2988_Bioluminescence	2991_Bioluminescence	2992_Bioluminescence	2994_Sunrise

2995_VK817_30Miles2Go	2996_VK817	2997VK817	2998_VK817

2998b_VK817	2999_VK817	3000_29Miles2Go	3001

3004	3005	3008_25Miles2Go	3010_25Miles2Go

3011_Crude_Debris	3021_22Miles2Go	3032_19Miles2Go	3033_19Miles2Go

3036_19Miles2Go	3039_Position	3043_10Miles2Go	3052_ManofWar10Miles2Go

3058_ManofWar	3062_ManofWar8Miles2Go	3063_Horizon_Scene	3064_HOS_Iron_Horse

3068_Chimney_Joe_Griffen	3070_Chimney_Joe_Griffen	3071	3072

3073_Development_Driller_III	3074_HOS_Iron_Horse	3075	3076_Luke_Checks-it-out

3077	3079	3081_Chimney	3082_Viking_Poseidon

3083_Joe_Griffen	3088	3089_Skandi_Neptune	3090_Viking_Poseidon

3092_HOS_Iron_Horse	3094_Ocean_Intervention_III	3095_BOA_SUB_C	3096_Development_Driller_III

3099_C-Fighter	3100_C-Fighter	3101_C-Fighter	3103_Cleanup_Crew

3104_Oil@Scene	3105_Oil@Scene	3106_Oil@Scene	3107_Coordinates

3109_Cleanup_Crew	3110_Cleanup_Crew	3111_Oil@Scene	3113_Oil@Scene

3114_Oil@Scene	3115_Oil@Scene	3116_Cleanup_Crew	3119_Infant_Jesus_of_Prague

3120_HOS_Iron_Horse	3122_Skandi_Neptune&Ocean_Intervention_III	3123_BOA_SUB_C	3126_Warrior

3127_Chimney	3129_Luke_With_Dolphins	3131_Luke_With_Dolphins	3132_Dolphin

3133_Luke_With_Dolphins	3134_Luke_With_Dolphins	3135_Bonito	3137_Bonito

3147_Mark_Fighting_Hammerhead	3153_Hammerhead	3159_Hammerhead	3161_Hammerhead

3164_Mark_Fighting_Hammerhead	3167_Hammerhead_30Miles_From_Scene	3168_Mark_Fighting_Hammerhead	3169_Luke_Fighting_Hammerhead

3170_Luke_Fighting_Hammerhead	3170_Luke_SaltDome_Bottom	3171_Cobia&Oil	3172_Cobia_35Miles_From_Scene

3175_Cobia	3176_Cobia_35Miles_From_Scene	3177_Cobia	3180_Cobia

3181_Cobia	3182_Cobia	3183_Cobia	3184_SpadeFish

GPS_Chart1	GPS_Chart2

This is fly over view and different perscpective than what I had. Interesting. It does look worse when viewed from above. This is the day after my trip. Still, all that brownish-redish stuff looks bad from above, but up close, I do not believe it is so oily and toxic. The fish are oblivious and the rig platforms are not the least tarnished by this stuff. My boat required some extra cleaning, but it was not what I envisioned from the media hype. I read in the paper how our crabs would be affected, but I found crabs all over that stuff out there. It is not killing animals. I believe birds are in the greatest danger, but there have not been a large perentage of the population affected. Not yet at least. They do need to get that leak stopped and they need to do more to cleanup offshore. All these boats working on the coast with booms need to go out and cleanup the tidelines. Scientists need to evaluate this brown morphing of the spill. We need to determine if there is something there breaking it down. If so, we could do more harm by cleaning it up. Perhaps it needs to be left there to do its work. If not, we need to get busy cleaning it up.

You know, as I look at the video of the leak itself, I just don't understand why they can't just bury it with concrete, mud, sand bags, whatever? Why not plug that 100 Ton Dome, place it over the leak and along with more steel and set off a Thermite Charge? Makes me wonder if they are more concerned about salvaging the well to tap the remaining oil than to stop the leak. They need to stop that oil as soon as possible. They can always drill another well, which they are doing anyway.

Tar Balls are now showing up on the Barrier Islands. BP needs to start cleaning these up. We need everyone to call the BP Hotline (866-448-5816) to report the Tar Balls. The squeaky wheel gets the oil - pardon the pun. Here is an email from Jeremy Hunt to the MS Press....

From: JEANINE HUNT Subject: Fw: I TOOK A BOAT RIDE TO BARRIER ISLAND TO SEE FOR MYSELF To: msnews@themississippipress.com Date: Saturday, May 15, 2010, 6:21 PM

From: JEANINE HUNT Subject: I TOOK A BOAT RIDE TO BARRIER ISLAND TO SEE FOR MYSELF To: rmathews@themississippipress.com Date: Saturday, May 15, 2010, 5:34 PM

Over the past few weeks I have heard conflicting reports regarding the state of the Mississippi coastline due to the BP incedent. Because of this, I invited my father to accompany me on a boat ride to Petit Bois island so that we may see for ourselves. (Petit Bois is one of Mississippi's barrier islands located approximately 12 miles south of Pascagoula, beween Dolphin and Horn Islands). On the morning of May 15th, we arrived at the west end of the island near the shipping channel to find about 4 to 5 vessels, consisting of 1 large tug boat and several smaller work boats staged near the channel. They appeared to be in "stand by" mode. I assume that they were there monitoring the oil boom in order to make adjustments if needed. We dropped anchor just to the east of their location on the north side of the island and walked accross to the south side. Immediately upon reaching the southern shoreline, we noticed a line of brownish colored foam. I jokingly said, "look dad, dispersant", and we had a quick laugh. We then began to walk eastward, following the line of debrise that naturally occurs do to the action of the waves washing shell fragment, weeds, sticks and anything else ashore. We traveled about 10 yards when my farther noticed a shiny black clump the size of a nickel with sand and shell fragments stuck to it. We both put on latex gloves and began to inspect what we had found. After a brief examination, we looked at one another and simultaniously said, "tar ball", although "grease ball" would be a more accurate description. We traveled approximately 500 more yards and recovered over 40 more of these clumps, ranging in size from 1/2 inch to 2 inches and passed over many more that were the size of my pinky fingernail and smaller. Now, with black greasy gloves, I decided to perform an experiment with the brown foam that we had joked about. I scooped up a handfull and began to wash my gloved hands as if using detergent. To my amazement it cleaned the greasy substance from my gloves. The brown foam had degreasing properties. We also found 7 more clumps that were predominately white in color with a bluish tint throughout. Once we arrived home, we performed a few controlled experiments with the clumps that we had retrieved. To me, there is no doubt that all of the clumps are patroleum products. They look, feel, smell, and even burn like patroleum. My father is going to get them into the correct hands so that they can be properly identified. Although, I do not have to wait for the results. I know what these items are. What concerns me as much as the greaseballs is the line of brown foam, although not continuous, does appear to be washing up sporatically along the entire southern shoreline of the island. I now believe that this foam that we jokingly referred to as dispersant, actually is. I now would like to invite you, Gov. Barbour, and anyone else that would like to come along, to join me on another expedition to Petit Bois island. Let me show you.

Jeremy C. Hunt

This is an email I received and my response. Some people just want to beleive in Doom and Gloom.

From: Susan Taylor Sent: Sunday, May 16, 2010 9:00 AM To: charters@primofish.com Subject: seriously?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37171468/ns/us_news-the_new_york_times

You're a moron if you think it's not serious. The scientists and real fishermen, will completely disagree with your silly assessment.

No, it's not summer as usual. I advise you to help with the clean-up rather than goof off.

Spend your time more wisely, fool.

My Response:

You are a moron for believing all this media hype. People are using this for political and monetary gain. This is why I made a trip out there for some actual hands on, real reporting of what is heading for our coast. The media had me and everyone else here believing this stuff was knocking on our doorstep. What I found is that it is much farther out than they are reporting. In addition, the stuff coming toward us is more like brown algae than an oily slick. It is going to be easier to cleanup than the Exxon Valdez.

Don’t misunderstand me, I do take this Very Seriously. Yes, there is a big problem out there and they need to stop the leak and clean up the mess. However, they are causing much more damage to our local economy by preaching all this doom and gloom. Do you realize how many people have cancelled their trips to the Coast? Not just for fishing and the beaches, but everything else. The Mississippi Tourism Commission is now asking BP to spend 7.5 Million Dollars per month to do positive Ads on TV to counteract all this negative media. Who is that going to help? And who ends up in the end paying for all this? All of us - at the Gas Pump.

We have a big advantage in that this spill Is located far offshore and enough credit is not given to Mother Nature and the amount of cleanup that has been effective. Having said that, BP is not doing enough to cleanup. I still haven’t been able to dispose of the material I brought back to keep it from leeching into the water. I called BP on May 12 and even got a response from their Attorney, but nobody has come to get it. Now it is raining all over it and it is leeching into my yard.

Yesterday, Jeremy Hunt found Tar Balls on Petit Bois Island. While they were picking up what they could, the Cleanup Boats were anchored nearby doing nothing. Believe me, I am in the Strike Zone for this Oil and I will be doing my share of cleanup. However, what my trip out there revealed is that the fish are completely oblivious and unaffected by this event. The waters should not be closed to recreational fishing and people should be allowed to fish if they want to. I can understand if their tests show fish become toxic and we can’t eat them (I don’t think the tests will show that), but we are used to catch and release now that the red snapper season is so short.

Also, I assure you I am not “goofing off”. I am a self employed Electrical and Computer Engineer and part time Charter Boat Captain. Not only was the trip expensive for me to conduct, but I lost a lot of revenue by conducting it. I have no regrets as it showed me the true nature of the event which the media refuses to report. I have sent my report to all the news agencies here and none of them have responded probably because it does not sell as well as “Doom and Gloom”.

Back on stopping the leak, I cannot believe it is taking the people in charge so long to stop this leak. I seriously believe that if I was in charge and had everything at my disposal, it would have been stopped by now. I think they are more interested in salvaging the well and reclaiming the oil than to stop the leaks. I think a Thermite Charge placed over the blowback preventer along with more steel and then bury the heck out of it will close it off. I am sure that there are elements I don’t understand or am aware of, but I can’t help but think the Military and Oil Industry should be able to stop this leak. They complained about ice crystals clogging their pumping of the oil to the surface, but why doesn’t that also clog the leak? They should be able to use the ice to their advantage with the right apparatus.

I am curious though - Where do you live? Are you on the Coast in the Strike Zone? And what is your occupation? Are you one of these Reporters?

Mark P Miller, P.E. http://primoengineering.com http://primofish.com 228-218-9523

May 16, 2010.
I was just looking at the latest figure of 1.29 million feet of boom deployed. That equates to 215 nautical miles. They could have made a circle around the rig that has a diameter of over 34 miles.That is about the distance where I started to see oil. They could also make a "V" containment shape that is over 100 miles long. Seems like this boom might be better used close to the site to assist in cleanup.

My Websites: PRIMO Engineering PRIMOFISH.COM