Donald Constantine of the Army Corps of Engineers is the canal captain at this pumping station in New Orleans. Since Hurricane Katrina three stations have been completely remodeled with custom steel gates that can withstand a Category 5 hurricane. (Imani M. Cheers/NYT Institute)

While the nation focuses on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, weather experts warn there’s a greater threat headed for the Gulf — a hurricane season that’s expected to be more active than normal.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting the most active season on record, with eight to 14 hurricanes, according to lead forecaster Gerry Bell. Three to seven of them are expected to be Category 3 or higher.

Some 14 to 23 tropical storms are projected.

Bell said area residents must not overlook the start of hurricane season Tuesday amid the angst of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. He urged residents to get prepared now.

“The impacts of hurricanes are far worse than the effect of oil on people,” said Bell. “When a hurricane comes on shore, a lot of things can happen.”

Bell said it’s unclear if hurricanes would push the free-flowing oil from the Gulf further inland. Nor could he estimate the kind of impact it might have.

The wind, temperature and warmth of the Atlantic waters are conducive to creating conditions where hurricanes can begin, gain momentum and pick up strength, said Bell. These factors combined raise the chance of frequent hurricanes and storms, he said.
Of preparation efforts, Bell said, “Now is the time. Find out if you are in an evacuation zone, and, if so, you should evacuate if called to do so.”

Bell advised making a plan and stocking up on survival supplies to last one to two weeks.

Hurricane season runs six months, through Nov. 30.

The 2009 season was the mildest since 1997, with nine named storms, including three hurricanes — two of them major — according to NOAA.

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The “top killing” began Wednesday afternoon — a procedure BP hopes will finally plug the open well that has leaked at least 7 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico for more than a month. Mud and cement are being pumped into the well to stop the flow of oil and possibly seal the leak.

BP officials say there’s a 60 percent chance the procedure will work, but it may take up to two days to find out.

Miles away from the action, the Coast Guard and the Minerals Management Service held joint investigative hearings in Kenner, La., to find out what caused the explosion. Doug Brown, chief mechanic on the Deepwater Horizon rig, which exploded April 20, testified on Wednesday.

Brown told a six-member panel that 11 hours before the rig exploded, a BP official overruled drillers from Transocean, the company that owns the rig. Brown said the BP official wanted to use seawater instead of drilling mud to plug the well until it was ready for production, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

Drilling mud is a manufactured claylike mixture used to exert pressure on the pipe and prevent oil and gas from escaping from the top. Using seawater, which is lighter than the mud, allowed gas to escape, igniting a fire, according to documents from the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Capt. Carl Smith, a former Coast Guard captain serving as an expert witness for the panel, said using seawater made no sense.

“That’s something you learn at well control school,” Smith said. “If you’re circulating fluid, you need to monitor how much is going in and how much is coming out. If you get more fluid out than in, it’s an indicator that something’s going on.”

Hearings will continue through Saturday.

BP said its response to the oil spill has cost the company more than $750 million so far. The company has hired more than 20,000 people to assist with the cleanup efforts as contractors, subcontractors and boom laborers, said John Curry, BP spokesman.

The company said 25,000 claims for damages have been filed so far, and 12,000 claimants have received about $29 million in payments.

Meanwhile, the state is threatening to take over the handling of the cleanup, saying it is dissatisfied with the federal government’s slow response and BP’s inability to stop the leak. However, the state has minimal experience managing disasters of this magnitude.

As Louisiana’s frustrations mount, the number of people who have lost jobs because of the spill is adding to the state’s unemployment rate. Louisiana labor officials estimate nearly 18,000 jobs have been lost in manufacturing, construction and the petroleum industry already, and unemployment will continue to rise as a result of the oil spill.

Louisiana also fears its natural wildlife and multi-million-dollar seafood industry could be destroyed for years to come, the Associated Press reported.

President Barack Obama is expected to arrive in Louisiana on Friday to review the status of the cleanup efforts continuing along the coast. He will address a Department of the Interior review of offshore drilling. The department is expected to suggest stricter protocol and inspections for the oil industry.

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Nearly 40 oyster fishermen met Tuesday with state officials, lawyers and a representative from an oyster crop insurance company at the University of New Orleans to discuss how the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has impacted their industry.

The Louisiana Oyster Task Force comprises officials from the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, the Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and commercial fishermen. The task force, a division of Louisiana’s Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, hopes to meet with BP representatives next week to express concern about the future of the seafood industry.

Oil has been spotted on the beaches and coastal wetlands of Louisiana, forcing 13 of 28 oyster beds to close.

The fishermen are especially concerned about the chemical dispersant BP is using to quell the oil spill. Task force members said they were fearful that the chemical, Corexit, would limit the reproduction of oysters, a key product for the fishermen.

“There are a lot of ‘what ifs,’” said Dr. Jimmy Guidry, a public health officer. “There are a lot of unanswered questions.”

Patrick Banks, a marine fisheries biologist for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, shared a similar sentiment, but said it’s too early to tell if the chemical dispersants being used are having an effect on oyster reproduction.

Guidry said the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals has submitted a seafood safety plan to the governor requesting that BP pay to test seafood for the next five to 10 years to determine if it is safe to eat, and help fund seafood marketing efforts. BP has already given the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board $2 million for public service messages saying that seafood is safe to eat.

“We’re trying to keep our market alive,” said Ewell Smith, executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board.

Lawyers at the meeting encouraged affected fishermen to file joint claims for loss of business. The claims may be the only way many of the fishermen will be compensated.

Robert Cerda, president of Crop Insurance Systems, explained that crop insurance was designed to protect against natural disasters and that the oil spill was excluded from insurance coverage.

“Crop insurance is not going to help,” said Cerda.

As a result, the fishermen voted at the meeting to request that the U.S. Department of Agriculture waive their insurance premium on their crops.

The federal government Monday declared a fisheries disaster for Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana per a request from the governors of Mississippi and Alabama. The declaration will allow the Gulf states to qualify for additional relief money from the government.

“The disaster determination will help ensure that the federal government is in a position to mobilize the full range of assistance that fishermen and fishing communities may need,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said in a statement.

Locke noted that the $2 billion fishing industry provides important jobs in the Gulf and is essential to the area’s culture and heritage. He assured business owners that the administration “stands with America’s fishermen, their families and businesses in impacted coastal communities during this challenging time.”

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Oil pollutes the water on Elmers Island on May 22, 2010. (Thaisi H. Da Silva/NYT Institute)

After contentious debate between the Environmental Protection Agency and BP regarding its use of a particular dispersant in the Gulf of Mexico, BP has agreed to lessen the amount it is using to help clean up the massive oil spill.

“They’ve asked us to scale back on the amount we’re using,” said Graham MacEwen, a spokesman for BP. He said the company made the decision Tuesday to comply with the EPA’s request.

BP will cut back its use of the dispersant Corexit, which it has been spraying in the Gulf, by 50 to 75 percent, MacEwen said. He said the company would make up for the decrease in the chemical’s use by increasing skimming the oil off the water and the laying of booms to block the oil.

The EPA feared that Corexit contained high levels of toxicity and offered a list of dispersants it deemed safe. MacEwen said BP didn’t use any of those because it couldn’t get them in the quantities required for the large-scale cleanup.

Meanwhile, in Jackson, Miss., thousands attended a memorial service for the 11 rig workers killed in the Deepwater Horizon explosion on April 20. The men were honored in a memorial service with tributes from country music stars and drilling company executives.

“This is the one of the most difficult days for many of us here,” said Steven Newman, chief executive of Transocean Ltd., the Swiss-based owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig. “But for the families of our 11 lost colleagues, this is just another of many difficult days.”

A new report from the Interior Department’s acting inspector general found that an inspector for the Minerals Management Service, which oversees oil-well drilling, admitted using crystal methamphetamine and said he might have been under the influence of the drug at work. The report cited a variety of violations of federal regulations and ethics rules at the agency’s Louisiana office, which has jurisdiction over the Deepwater Horizon well.

On Wednesday, BP will try to stop the leak with a “top kill” of the well. It includes pumping heavy drilling mud through a device that sits atop the oil-well opening at the sea floor, plugging the leak. BP began testing the “top kill” method Tuesday. If that fails, cement will be used instead.

The top kill method has been used before by BP, but never at the depths where the Deepwater Horizon well is leaking, nearly a mile below sea level. The chances of success are 60 to 70 percent, The Associated Press reported.

Earlier Tuesday, BP told the House subcommittee on energy and the environment that the company would be blacking out its live television feed during the top kill procedure on Wednesday. Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., blasted BP, saying, “This BP blackout will obscure a vital moment in this disaster.” Later in day, the company backpedaled and said the live feed would continue.

On Friday, President Barack Obama will be making his second trip to Louisiana since the spill, following a host of administration officials who have come to the state.

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Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar in a news conference about the Gulf oil spill, with Janet Napolitano, the secretary of homeland security, second from left, and Gov. Bobby Jindal, third from right. (April Buffington/NYT Institute)

This story has been updated.

After flying over the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, two Cabinet officials joined Gov. Bobby Jindal in angry criticism of BP for failing to stop the ongoing spill and said the government was considering taking emergency measures to prevent oil from reaching Louisiana’s fragile wetlands.

Janet Napolitano, the secretary of homeland security, and Ken Salazar, the interior secretary, expressed their frustration with BP. They were accompanied by a bipartisan Senate delegation that included Louisiana’s two U.S. senators.

In a speech at the Greater Lafourche Port Commission, Napolitano said the response to the oil spill was the largest ever in the nation, pouring an estimated 200,000 gallons a day into the Gulf.

“We came to fly over the site of the spill and see for ourselves what BP has done and not done,” Napolitano said. “We came to listen to the people of this area because they are directly impacted by the fact that this spill is still ongoing and is still not solved.”

In a news conference that followed, Napolitano and Jindal said the group wanted to explore all options to save Louisiana’s coastline, including burning oil at sea, trapping it with booms or building sand barriers along the shoreline.

“We have to take action into our own hands if we’re going to win this fight,” Jindal said. “Our goal is not to just clean up this oil once it hits our marshes. Our top goal must be to keep this oil out of our wetlands and marshes.”

The governor said the state had begun building sand barriers to block the oil, but continues to press the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for emergency permission to build them, which would help release federal funds. Without the barriers, he said, oil could start to kill the marshlands within five to seven days.

In their overflight of the Gulf, Jindal said, the group saw the thick, brown and black oil, which, they said, has already started to reach the nesting grounds of brown pelicans. The state bird, the pelican was removed from the endangered species list only a few months ago.

Salazar said the U.S. would press BP to pay reimbursements and damages to the many businesses affected by the spill.
“BP is the responsible party,” he said. “It is a horrible mess. They will be held accountable. We will keep our boot on their neck until the job gets done.”

Officials for BP did not respond to a request for comment on the officials’ remarks.

Until now, Louisiana has been protecting its shoreline with miles of long, white gauze-filled tubing, which soaks up the oil. This afternoon, for example, on Elmer’s Island near Grand Isle, work crews were collecting soiled tubes and putting them in plastic bags for disposal.

Jindal used the news conference on Monday to continue pressing federal officials for a more effective approach to blocking the oil. He stressed that Louisiana does not have the resources to protect the coast and that the problem is national in scope.

“These are America’s wetlands,” Jindal said. “This is not just about keeping oil off a rocky land, or a beach, but this is about a way of life for our people and our state.”

An earlier version of this article incorrectly said that the spill was the largest in the nation.

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Federal officials said on Friday that they have found 60 birds and 186 sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico that they believe are victims of the oil spill crisis, according to The Associated Press. As an underwater well continues to spew thousands of gallons of oil into the Gulf, the impact of the spill is becoming more visible.

The public beach at Grand Isle, La., was closed Friday as visible blobs of oil washed ashore. Another portion of the seas off the Louisiana coast were closed to recreational and commercial fishing at sunset Friday. These areas are off of lower Jefferson Parish, from the eastern shore of Barataria Pass to the western shore of Caminada Pass. These closures come as the result of a field survey and seafood testing of the area, according to Robert Barham, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

As the effects of the spill widen, it’s still a numbers game as to how much oil is being disgorged. Tim Crone, a research scientist at Columbia University, has estimated that 1.68 million gallons to 4.2 million gallons a day was flowing into the Gulf. Steve Wereley, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, said he will likely cut his estimate of 3.9 million gallons a day, after BP said about half of what is flowing out of the pipe is gas, not oil. His estimate, which has a 20 percent margin of error, includes about 1 million gallons coming from a leak at the blowout preventer, away from the main leak.

Ian McDonald, a Florida State University oceanographer and expert tracking the spill, said the spill’s surface slick is now more than 14,600 square miles, larger than the states of Maryland and Delaware combined.

The Unified Area Command for the Deepwater Horizon/BP Response said that as of Friday it had recovered more than 8.94 million gallons of oily water and set up 17 staging areas including those at Grand Isle, La., Biloxi, Miss., and Pensacola, Fla.

The command also announced it will not use human-hair booms in its response efforts, saying they were less effective than commercial products.

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Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana speaking to the media during a news conference on Friday in Cocodrie, La., in Terrebonne Parish. (Imani Cheers/NYT Institute)

Visitors to the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium in Cocodrie on Friday received more than an education about the marine research center. They also got to hear the state’s governor explain why they could not go to a popular nearby beach.

As of noon Friday, the almost deserted seven-mile-long Grand Isle beach had been closed by state officials because it was contaminated by oil residue. Now, residents of the coastal parishes are worried the oil could reach more of the coastline in the coming days. Grand Isle is only one of many beaches harmed by the explosion more than a month ago of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig.

On Friday, Gov. Bobby Jindal joined officials from the Coast Guard and Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet to get a firsthand look at the impact of the oil along the coast in Grand Isle, Elmer’s Island, Thunder Bayou and Fourchon Beach.

From a helicopter, the governor and his group saw miles of oil pooled at a land bridge of sandbags, which the National Guard just completed days ago at Thunder Bayou.

Jindal conducted a series of flyovers of the Gulf region during the week to spread awareness of the results of the Guard’s work, which he called effective. He has called for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approval of a state plan to create miles of sand barriers around the coast. So far, that approval has not come. Friday’s flyover and public meeting focused on the impact of the oil-laden water on Terrebonne Parish specifically and served to put public pressure on the Army Corps to approve his request.

Along with the governor, many government agencies, including the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Coast Guard and the Minerals Management Service, are also pressing the operator of the well, BP, for more assistance in responding to the April 20 explosion and subsequent spill.

On Friday, Jindal and Claudet were joined by State Rep. Gordon Dove, R-Houma, and Capt. Ed Stanton and Lt. Commander Dan Lauer of the Coast Guard.

The governor said that his office has asked BP to drop more boom, a type of material that is laid across a water body to collect and contain the oil residue. “Certainly boom is only one tool in our toolbox, but we need more boom,” the governor said. Terrebonne Parish has received 76,667 pounds of hard boom and only half of it has been dropped on the coast.

BP has been using several methods to collect the oil or contain it, as well as seeking to plug the leaking well entirely. None has been entirely effectively to date. For the past two weeks, BP has provided a live video feed to state and federal government entities that has been widely shown on media outlets.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has estimated that approximately 54 miles of Louisiana shoreline has been impacted by oil to date. Residents of the nine parishes along the coast, fishermen and many businesses that rely heavily on Louisiana maritime have seen their livelihoods jeopardized by the spill.

On Friday, the Department of Environmental Quality confirmed that oil has been seen on the barrier islands of Chandeleur, Whiskey, Raccoon and South Pass, as well as the Pass A Loutre area in Plaquemines Parish.

In his remarks following his flyover tour, Jindal stressed the urgency for dispersing additional boom and creating more land bridges with sandbags for the remaining shores of Terrebonne Parish as well as other sensitive areas in danger of contamination. He also stressed the need for approval of the emergency permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that would allow for the construction of more sand barriers.

According to the governor, 425 sandbags have been dropped onto Pelican Island by the National Guard as of this morning, filling gaps in coastal barrier islands with rock and sand. More than 2,500 cubic yards of rock and sand have been placed at a 420-foot gap near Thunder Bayou. Jindal pointed to this work as evidence of the need for federal approval of more sand buildup.

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For the first time in its 63-year history, the Golden Meadow Fourchon International Tarpon Rodeo, scheduled for July 1 to 3, has been canceled. Though it’s still a month away, it has become a victim of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that has closed fishing grounds and put hundreds out of work in the seafood industry.

For some coastal areas that oil from the huge spill has not yet reached, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals has given the OK to harvest from oyster beds. The department said its goal is to give the harvesters as much time as possible to collect their product before the beds are contaminated.

Gov. Bobby Jindal said that efforts in keeping the oil from the shore will continue. He visited Grand Isle, Thunder Bayou and Fourchon Beach on Thursday, areas newly affected by the spill. Grand isle has a multibillion-dollar fishing industry.

As the oil spread, the operator of the leaking well, BP, said it planned to try a “top kill” at the site beginning on Sunday. Heavy fluids will be put into the well in an attempt to stem the flow of oil. The fluids will be followed by cement to seal the well.

BP has been using dispersants to break up the oil, which has began flowing into the Gulf after an explosion at the drilling rig on April 20. Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency instructed BP to use a chemical dispersant that is less toxic to break up the oil. BP has 24 hours to report back with a chemical that meets specified toxicity limits and can be found in large quantities.

Over 700,000 gallons of Corexit dispersant, a chemical with a high toxicity, have been repeatedly injected a mile beneath the water into the opening of the gaping well. Though BP has not declared what its chemical alternatives are, a significantly large order was placed Thursday with U.S. Polychemical Corp. of Spring Valley, N.Y. The company’s dispersant called Dispersit SPC 1000, produced at Polychemical, is less toxic than Corexit.

Dispersants are used to break up the oil, causing it to sink to the bottom of the ocean. Once there, the ocean currents can dilute the oil easily.

A simpler method was also being employed, by the 225th Engineer Brigade of the Louisiana National Guard, who shifted 2,500 cubic yards of rock and sand to dam off part of the marsh on Elmer’s Island in Grand Isle.

British Petroleum also said Thursday that there is more oil pouring into the Gulf than originally estimated. Mark Proegler, a spokesman for BP, said that 210,000 gallons of oil are captured daily through a mile-long tube. The tube inserted into a leaking pipe caught some but not all of the seeping liquid. The question remains how much oil is still escaping.

If the oil continues down the shores of the Gulf, it will cause losses across a wide area. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on Wednesday that a portion of the slick has entered the loop current, a torrent of rapid water that could send oil circling the Gulf, around Florida and up the Atlantic coast. Florida’s state meteorologist has projected that it will take at least seven days for the oil to reach the Florida Keys.

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Gov. Bobby Jindal is pushing for the creation of barrier islands to protect the delicate marshlands from oil creeping towards the Louisiana coast, but environmentalists said Wednesday that they doubt the plan will work.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which would approve the proposal, is reviewing it and is expected to respond within days.

If approved, Jindal’s plan would require both the federal government and BP to cover the estimated $350 million it would cost to dredge the Gulf of Mexico to fill the gaps in the barrier chain.

Jindal, who shunned the spotlight after his disastrous response to President Barack Obama’s address to Congress in February of last year, has drawn national attention by declaring a state of emergency, seeking federal assistance in the cleanup effort and holding almost daily news conferences on the spill.

During a boat tour Wednesday in Plaquemines Parish, whose coastline is threatened by the approaching oil slick, the governor said the spill “fundamentally threatens Louisiana’s way of life.”

“The oil is here, and the time to act is now,” the governor said in a press release Wednesday. “We are asking the Corps to approve our dredging plan without any further delay.”

But environmentalists are questioning the feasibility of the governor’s levee plan, saying dredging could take several months to build the barrier, which would need to be about 300 feet by 6 feet tall, to be effective.

“Seems a little late in the game,” said Mary Lee Orr, executive director of the Louisiana Environmental Action Network. “It doesn’t seem the most thought-out plan.”

BP officials, who have reviewed the plan, said they have identified several outstanding issues that need to be addressed before considering the proposal, including the effectiveness of the measure, the pace of construction and potential opposition from environmental groups that may delay the process. BP would be left in the lurch if it paid millions to build the barrier levees and then faced delays because of lawsuits brought by environmental groups.

“If permits are granted for this project,” asked Tom Mueller, BP spokesman, were officials certain that groups such as Sierra Club or Greenpeace “won’t sue to overturn permits, thus delaying the project for an indeterminate period of time?”

In addition to the buildup of the barrier islands, the governor is proposing other alternatives to contain the spread of the estimated 210,000 gallons of oil flowing into the Gulf each day. His alternatives include flexible tubes called “tiger dams” that are used to keep floodwaters at bay; metal baskets called “HESCO barriers” that have fabric sides and are filled with soil; and freshwater diversions, which is simply an injection of fresh water into the Gulf.

Paul Orr, an activist with the group Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper, called the governor’s plan ambitious and said it would take more than six months to dredge and build the barrier islands.

“It’s a huge engineering undertaking,’’ Orr said. “We’ve got 70,000 miles of coast if you take into account all the nooks and crannies.” He added, ”We appreciate that the governor is trying to think of ways to sum this up, but this doesn’t seem like the best answer that we’ve heard so far.”

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