Beclecto

A fixed  platform 80 miles off the louisiana coast has caught fire and exploded.  The rig is located around 200 miles west of BP”s Deepwater Horizon location.  Details are sketchy at the moment with the Coast Guard in route to rescue 13 rig workers from the water.  All rig workers are accounted for with  one of the 13 is injured.

The “Vermillion 380″ is a fixed manned production platform that does not perform drilling operations.  Owned by Mariner Energy out of Texas, it is located in the South Timbalier Block 316 in 450 ft  deep water.

According the company’s 10-K Report:

At year-end 2009 estimated proved reserves attributed to our Vermillion 380 field were 33.2 Bcfe, consisting of approximately 47% oil and NGLs and 53% natural gas. During 2008 and 2009, we drilled five wells and added additional production capacity on the “A” platform. Hurricane Ike damaged the structure with the rig on the platform, causing us to suspend drilling while underwater structural repairs were made. We brought the platform back on production at reduced rates until the facilities upgrade was finished. The platform is currently producing approximately 28 MMcfe per day. Our working interest in this block is 100%. Production at Vermillion 380 was approximately 1.1 Bcfe in 2009.

According to the Department of homeland security, the rig is sitting is 2500 feet.  The company states it sits in 450 feet of water.

According to AP, seven helicopters, two airplanes and three Cutters were en route from Coast Guard stations in New Orleans and Houston,

When you insult scientists who have built their entire career with passionate curiosity and ethical research, and on top of that, attempt to shush them, there is bound to be some backlash. When our own country tries to quiet ethical research that may reflect negatively on the current government spin on the oil in the Gulf of Mexico, you get a lot of scientists ready to shout their findings from the rooftops, as it should be.  The St Petersburg Times reporter Craig Pittman reported on this on August 10th.

“I got lambasted by the Coast Guard and NOAA when we said there was undersea oil,”

This, from USF marine sciences dean William Hogarth.   Some officials even told him to retract USF’s public announcement, he said, comparing it to being “beat up” by federal officials. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve always been fascinated by the the Amazon River.. who isn’t?  However, walking the entire 4000 miles of just didn’t seem to be an option for me.   But, In what must be one of the most amazing adventure stories ever, 34 year old  Ed Stafford a former Captain of the British Army has completed a 4000 mile trek of the Amazon.  He started the trek in April of 2008 and has completed it TODAY, 848 days later!  What an adventure this must have been!  I admit I have not been following Ed’s journey, I actually heard of it only today but I went immediately to his blog of the journey and started reading.  It is a fascinating account and highly recommended. Start here to read completely. The server is crowded with visitors right now and crashes are frequent but it is worth it.. some highlights are below with my review.

Ed began  in Southern Peru at the Pacific Ocean, with a friend Luke.  The first month of the trek took them on narrow trails through the Andes,passing  ancient Inca  ruins and small communities of people living high in the Andes Mountains.  While in the town of Unon, High in the Andes with no roads to connect them to civilization, the villagersthere discussed the  noticable  effects of climate change on their way of life.  Instead of 4 rainy months, the rainfall was reduced to one month with crops becoming affected by the change, despite their interesting irrigation system.   Read their blog post on this here. Read the rest of this entry »

North Carolina is always alluring to Floridians. It beckons us with visions of mountain vistas, cool waterfalls, rushing rivers.  Sounded like just the right trip.  We searched online for cabins, and settled on our cabin “Sadie’s Retreat.”   We left Lutz at 6 am, arriving just before the sun set over the mountains in full view from the front porch of our new home away from home.   We were thrilled!   We spent almost all evenings cooking on the grill and watching the sunset which inspired my vacation painting below.

Porch View From Sadie's Retreat

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The nights were cool and refreshing compared to our Florida home, but the days were still pretty dern hot. The solution was simple: Lets Tube down the Broad River.  Our search brought us to River Creek Campground.

The Broad River and its tributaries feed beautiful Lake Lure with over 10 million gallons of water per day. Like many lakes created by damming one end of a river, The water needs to be released on the downstream side. The release is calculated based on the water height in the lake, Releases can be daily in the event of heavy rain or snow melt. In the event of drought, water may be released only every several days. On days when the downstream Broad River is dryer, tubing is impossible. On release days, however, the river boldly flows and water levels increase above the level of the many rocks in its bed creating small rapids and a really good time tubing. Read the rest of this entry »