Φόβοι για διαρροή πετρελαίου στην Αλάσκα

Πλατφόρμα που μετέφερε τρυπάνι της πετρελαϊκής εταιρείας Shell προσάραξε την περασμένη Δευτέρα στις ακτές της Αλάσκας, λόγω κακοκαιρίας.
Σύμφωνα με ανακοίνωση αξιωματούχων της εταιρείας και της κυβέρνησης το πλοίο «Kulluk» ξέφυγε από την πορεία του και χτύπησε σε βράχια κοντά στο νησί Κόντιακ.


Τα 18 μέλη του πληρώματος είχαν ήδη εγκαταλείψει το πλοίο από το Σάββατο με τη συνδρομή της Αμερικανικής Ακτοφυλακής λόγω των κινδύνων από τις κακές καιρικές συνθήκες, καθώς έπνεαν άνεμοι με ταχύτητα 100 χιλιόμετρα την ώρα και η στάθμη της θάλασσας στον Κόλπο της Αλάσκας είχε ανέβει κατά 11 μέτρα.
.protothema.gr
2/1/13
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ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ:

• Attempts to save drilling device which has run aground postponed

• Η διάσωση της εξέδρας γεώτρησης της Shell αναβάλλεται

• No oil spill seen at Shell drill ship in Alaska

• Shell Drill Ship Runs Aground On Island Off Alaska

   

  
  Pictures: Errant Shell Oil Rig Runs Aground Off Alaska  [.nationalgeographic.com (+PICS) ]
• Drift of Thunder
  Photograph courtesy Sara Francis, U.S. Coast Guard

  The oil rig Kulluk is seen here at sea on Saturday, 80 miles south of Kodiak, as its crew is airlifted to safety. The 20-year-old conical rig was named in 1982 by an Inuvik schoolgirl; the word means "thunder" in her native language.
  The ship has a draft of 41 feet (13 meters); it is beached in water that is 24 to 48 feet deep (7 to 15 meters), about 1,648 feet (500 meters) from shore, says the Coast Guard (see map). The Coast Guard says that the Kulluk is upright and stable with no signs of environmental impact.
  But on Tuesday, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation official Steve Russell warned, "The Kulluk still presents a significant threat to Ocean Bay and the surrounding areas."
  The joint government-industry task force, the Unified Command, planned multiple flyovers on Wednesday to assess the site. Once conditions are deemed safe, the plan is to place a team aboard the vessel to get a better view of its condition. But weather conditions continued to be severe, with flight restrictions in place. The Coast Guard was maintaining a safety zone of one nautical mile around the vessel this morning.
  The Coast Guard said it had no immediate estimate of the costs of the response operations, but said that Shell was assuming responsibility for the effort.
  Coast Guard Captain Paul Mehler said the response effort had benefited from the extensive oil-spill planning and joint training in advance of Shell's first Arctic drilling last summer. But when asked if the plans had ever anticipated events like those unfolding this past week, he said, "This particular scenario—certainly not. I don't think we could have come up with a scenario as this has played out. This has been that challenging."
  

  Published January 2, 2013