Tropical Storm Alex forces halt to skimming, booming operations

by Jed Lewison

Tue Jun 29, 2010 at 05:00:04 PM PDT

Yet another example of just how immensely difficult it is to contain the damage from oil disasters like BP's gusher:

Tropical storm halts Gulf oil skimming, booming efforts

Rough seas and high winds from Tropical Storm Alex, churning in the Gulf of Mexico far west of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, forced the suspension Tuesday of skimming and booming operations off the coasts of Louisiana, Alabama and Florida, a BP spokesman said.

Inclement weather did not affect operations at the site of the well head, about 41 miles off the Louisiana coast, where large ships are capturing oil from the ruptured pipe, and drilling relief wells that offer the best chance to seal the undersea gusher.

But smaller ships, or so-called vessels of opportunity — contracted by BP to skim oily water, lay boom and transport personnel — were called in for the day, said Bryan Ferguson, a BP representative manning the Unified Command station in New Orleans.

I'll guarantee you that Bobby Jindal will attack Obama for not building a one thousand mile wide umbrella to keep the storm away from the Gulf. And he'll say the reason is that Obama won't waive Davis-Bacon.