Containment Device News

U.S. Coast Guard Commandant, Adm. Paul Zukunft presented at last week’s 6th Symposium on the Impacts of an Ice-Diminishing Arctic on Naval and Maritime Operations in Washington, DC. Summarizing Adm. In my role as the Commandant of the Coast Guard, I view the Coast Guard as the lead federal maritime agency when it comes to all things Arctic. By “all things Arctic,” I mean everything from safety of life at sea, to marine environmental protection, to fisheries enforcement and a whole host of Coast Guard missions. They all reside within one service, the United States Coast Guard.

According to a June 2 report from the Wall Street Journal, BP freed a saw blade that had jammed while cutting through a pipe in its latest attempt to contain the massive Gulf of Mexico oil leak that approached Florida's Panhandle shoreline. Overnight, the response team was able to make the first shear cut of the pipe, U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said at a news conference the morning of June 2. However, a specialized saw had got stuck while making a second fine cut that is needed before a containment device can be put in place. Allen said the goal was to finish the second cut, then a containment device would go over the top of the wellhead designed to channel oil up to a ship on the surface. (Source: The Wall Street Journal)