A joint maritime investigation by the Coast Guard and the Interior Department is looking into the possibility that the firefighting response by private boats triggered events that caused the Deepwater Horizon to sink and the oil to spew. The Coast Guard’s actions are also part of this investigation.

According to the testimony outlined in a report by the Center for Public Integrity published this week:

” An official maritime investigation led by Coast Guard Capt. Hung M. Nguyen in New Orleans is examining whether the salt water that was sprayed across the burning platform overran the ballast system that kept the rig upright, changing its weight distribution, and causing it to list.”

The CPI report notes that while the investigators are taking testimony and looking at evidence about the mistakes made on the rig before the first explosion April 20,

“. . . the question of what caused the platform to collapse into the Gulf two days later remains unanswered and could prove vital to ongoing legal proceedings and congressional investigations.”

“That is because the riser pipe from which the majority of BP’s oil spewed did not start leaking until after the rig sank. Experts and some lawsuits have openly tied the sinking of the drilling vessel to the severity of the leak.”

If the firefighting efforts were the cause of the sinking of the rig and subsequent catastrophic oil spew, whose fault was this? And, could this end result been avoided?

According to the CPI report , the Coast Guard procedures state that the “[r]responsibility for fighting a fire aboard an offshore rig lies with its owner and operator . . . ” and Coast Guard vessels and aircraft focus solely on search and rescue of human survivors.

The Coast Guard, however, is required to set up an “Incident Command System” which includes having a firefighting expert supervise the private boats that responded to Deepwater Horizon distress call. The Coast Guard did not do that. In closed-door hearing, a Coast Guard search and rescue specialist testified that: ” . . .there was no attempt by the Coast Guard Command Center in New Orleans to designate a fire marshal to take charge.”

Without a person in charge, some experts believe that firefighting by the private boats was haphazard and dangerous. The continuous spraying of salt water on the rig allegedly filled the rig’s upper compartments causing its center of gravity to shift and the rig to list, and ultimately sink. It was only after the rig sunk, that the oil spew grew to a catastrophic amount.
At this point in the investigation, this scenario is still speculation. Other experts have noted that the best way to control this type of fire is with foam. For whatever reason, foam was not available.

Another expert quoted in the CPI article , Paul Bommer, a lecturer at the University of Texas and a 25-year oil industry veteran, believes that “the rig was doom by fire, regardless of how well or poorly the firefighting was coordinated.”

While there are some articles published this week claiming that the Coast Guard made the spill worse and that it’s lack of action may mitigate BP’s liability, at this point, those claims are premature. The only things to conclude from these hearings so far are: 1) that the Coast Guard did not assign a expert to supervise the firefighting efforts, and 2) it may or may not have made any difference. More facts are needed.
Further reading:

http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/2286/
http://www.redstate.com/erick/2010/07/28/did-the-federal-government-cause-the-bp-oil-spill/

General information about oil spill liability:
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/dpettit/what_bp_oil_catastrophe_legal.html

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/looking-for-liability-in-bps-gulf-oil-spill/

http://www.admiraltylawguide.com/ccpollution.html

Copyright 2010 — K.J.Collins

If you’re not watching the Tour de France, you’re missing an exciting duel between Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck, you’re missing the beautiful French countryside and incredible mountain climbs, and you’re missing this new commercial from Nissan and Lance Armstrong.  Although Armstrong is not in the competition for the yellow jersey this year (his final year), the most famous U.S. cyclist makes an effective spokesman for the new Leaf.

In another Nissan commercial, Armstrong announces that he will be one of the first new Leaf owners 
In other Nissan Leaf news – after General Motors announced last week that it would provide an eight-year/100,000-mile warranty for the Chevy Volt battery, Nissan quickly sent out survey to those who have signed up on the Leaf reservation list to get their opinions on battery warranties. Stay tuned.

Further reading:

http://www.letour.fr/indexus.html

http://green.autoblog.com/2010/07/17/nissan-asking-prospective-leaf-owners-how-long-battery-warranty/

Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7amAPvvMpY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn5IMPR4iBQ

Copyright K.J.Collins - 2010

One government beneficiary is Abengoa Solar, a Spanish engineering company, that has agreed to build a solar power plant in Arizona. The other beneficiary is Abound Solar, a Colorado company, which will use $400 million in loan guarantees to expand solar-panel manufacturing plant in Colorado and to open a new plant in Indiana.

Leaving aside for the moment the possible shenanigans abounding in the Abound Solar deal where one of its executives is Russell Kanjorski, the nephew of Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D. Penn.), chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises,
Mr. Obama is willing to risk $2 billion in taxpayer money on projects that, in total, will create only will 1585 permanent jobs according to the companies themselves. That’s $1.25 million per permanent job for those of you keeping count.

Perhaps that’s unfair - these are just two companies and two specific projects. What’s $2 billion when the deficit is a trillion.

Let’s look at the bigger picture. Where is the U.S. headed on solar?

Mr. Obama approvingly uses Europe as his model for renewable energy goals. But, as Mr. Obama pushes more solar investment by the federal government, Spain and Germany, two solar powerhouses in Europe, are cutting back solar subsidies. Does “Old Europe” know something that the Obama Administration doesn’t?

Europe has subsidized solar power through feed-in tariffs guaranteeing producers receive fixed wholesale prices for their output usually for 20-year timeframe. With budget deficits rattling Europe, Spain has cut subsidies for new solar projects and threatened to reduce retroactively subsidies in the solar sector by 30% “either by directly cutting the feed-in tariff or by capping the number of production hours receiving the subsidy.”

Spain probably will have to to backtrack from that “retroactive” proposal  as investors have voiced their  displeasure (to say the least ).

Nonetheless, Europe solar energy investments are under pressure as European governments look for any way to reduce deficits. It would be nice to think that the U.S. could learn something from Old Europe and take the good ideas and not make the same mistakes, but will we? Centralized decisions about the economy are always based on incomplete information as Hayek taught. Having the federal government picking the winners and losers in the renewable energy field may be treacherous.

Further reading:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-24/danish-pension-funds-with-37-billion-oppose-spanish-solar-subsidy-cuts.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/03/AR2010070302219_pf.html

http://hotair.com/archives/2010/07/10/obama-touts-400m-loan-to-solar-company-run-by-corrupt-congressmans-nephew/

http://dailycaller.com/2010/07/11/obama-awards-huge-loan-guarantees-to-solar-companies-with-questionable-track-records/

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/asterix/151969001/

Copyright 2010 - K.J.Collins

Further reading:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/debunking-myths-about-nuclear-fuel-coal-wind-solar-2

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14279744@N03/2202347246/

The Solar Impulse took off early this morning for a 24-hour test flight from an airfield in Payerne, Switzerland, approximately 80 miles northeast of Geneva.  Andre Borschberg, the pilot, will fly the plane at 28,000 feet throughout the day.

We reported on early test flights  of this solar plane here and here.

UPDATE - Success!  The Solar Impulse lands after 26 hours.

Further reading

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2010/07/08/VI2010070802780.html

http://www.solarimpulse.com/common/documents/news_affich.php?lang=en&group=news&IdArticle=71

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/07/07/solar.plane.test.flight/

http://greenlegals.com/2010/04/solar-impulses-successful-solar-powered-test-flight/

http://greenlegals.com/2010/01/solar-impulse-an-aircraft-powered-by-the-sun/

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nowxBfRb7g

KJC

A debate between Stewart Brand and Mark Z. Jacobson.

Video: http://www.ted.com/talks/debate_does_the_world_need_nuclear_energy.html

“U.S. Department of Labor Announces $100 Million in Green Jobs Training through Recovery Act

U.S. Department of Labor Announces $150 Million in “Pathways Out of Poverty” Training Grants for Green Jobs

U.S. Department of Labor Announces Nearly $190 Million in State Energy Sector Partnership and Training Grants for Green Jobs”

But wait there’s more -

Sen. Grassley noted that ” The Revovery Act contains more than $80 billion in clean energy funding to promote economic recovery and develop clean energy jobs.”

So, the Labor Dept has no problem spending money on green jobs, but just can’t tell us what those green jobs are.

“A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon it adds up to real money,”  to quote the late Sen. Everett Dirksen.

Should we be shocked, shocked . . . or just depressed.

Further reading: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2010-03-16/pdf/2010-5705.pdf

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Billions-for-_green-jobs__-whatever-they-area-96098934.html

Photo:

KJC

Here is the roll call at http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=2&vote=00184

Photo: http://murkowski.senate.gov/public/

KJC

A civilian scientist working for the Marine Corps thinks we can seal the Gulf oil leak by using the most powerful non-nuclear bomb in the U.S. arsenal.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Franz Gayl has circulated a presentation showing how the “mother of all bombs,” a 21,600 pound GPS guided bomb, could seal the leak and the water pressure at the well head depth of 5,000 feet would contain the blast.

Further reading: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/06/10/marine-corps-scientist-big-bomb-could-seal-gulf-oil-leak/

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/41267663@N00/12934928/