Built in China and equipped in Singapore, the Italian-owned Scarabeo 9 is now on its maiden voyage from Asia to the Atlantic. The structure itself is designed to sustain 100-knot winds and waves almost 90 feet high, and the mobile platform is stabilized by hulking, submerged pontoons. Indeed, the rig itself doesn?t present unique safety concerns, but its target?the so-far-untapped oil reserves in deep Cuban waters?lies less than a hundred miles from the Florida coast. Scarabeo 9 is scheduled to arrive in Cuba by December and begin exploratory drilling by January, but U.S. officials are hurrying to figure what could happen, and who would respond, if an oil rig failed so close to Florida?s coast.
Cuba?s enormous offshore oil potential, discovered several years ago, lies in Gulf waters even deeper than those where BP?s Deepwater Horizon operated. Not long after the reserve was found, the Cuban national oil company, Cubapetroleo, briefed a number of environmental scientists on the projected aftereffects of the event they hope will never occur: a large-scale blowout. "Their models showed that 90 percent of an oil spill would end up in the Florida Straights, which becomes the Gulf Stream," says David Guggenheim, a marine biologist who has spent more than a decade working in Florida. A potential spill would hit the most sensitive areas in the Florida Keys before rounding the east coast of Florida, and heading farther north. "It?s coral reefs; it?s mangroves. Shallow areas that are very sensitive and already have gone through an incredible degradation over the last few years," Guggenheim says. "Almost half of that coral reef has died now due to other stresses. This could be the final blow."
Geography is only part of the problem. More than half a century has passed since the U.S. severed diplomatic relations with Cuba, which the State Department considers a State Sponsor of Terrorism. Disaster-response experts from industry, academia, and government are all concerned that the political standoff could hinder response should the worst happen. "To enter Cuban waters as a citizen, you need to have a license. To send equipment, you need special export licenses. We have a lot of items that you?d think would be totally innocuous that we cannot ship," Guggenheim says. The Coast Guard and other U.S. agencies don?t have authorization to operate in a foreign exclusive economic zone, and it could take hours?or worse, days?after a spill has taken place just to get that permission. And for a worst-case scenario, that?s just not fast enough. "It?s pretty ugly," Guggenheim says. "Those currents move so fast we would have to react incredibly quickly if we were going to deploy skimmers, say, to take some oil up."
In the year and a half since the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, advanced planning for future accidents has improved, according to John Slaughter, chief of planning, readiness, and response for the 7th Coast Guard District, which includes Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. Local stakeholders have developed regional plans to deal with pollution nearing shore, while organizations such as the Coast Guard are drawing up separate plans to deal with offshore oil. "When you get into an offshore environment, it?s kind of a new animal," Slaughter says. "You?re talking about offshore skimmers, dispersant use, in situ burning."
The U.S. has a written contingency plan with Mexico that prescribes how the two nations would work together to respond to an offshore spill. But as for a spill originating in Cuban seas? "Clearly, there are advantages in being able to address pollution at its source. We may or may not be able to do that immediately," Slaughter says. The moment a spill reaches U.S. waters, though, the green light is on. "We have a robust response plan put together by the Coast Guard with industry to address any pollution in U.S. waters."
The Senate held hearings on offshore oil spill response last month; the House has more scheduled today. But so far there?s little evidence that the U.S. government is interested in working with Cuban authorities. In the meantime, Scarabeo 9 is making slow progress toward the Caribbean. Under an agreement with the Spanish company Repsol, which will oversee the initial drilling, Coast Guard and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEE) inspectors will have a chance to examine the rig before it enters Cuban waters. (The newly renamed federal agency BOEE was formerly part of the Mineral Management Service, or MMS.) "Repsol offered to have us go onboard, and we accepted the opportunity to inspect all the equipment and relevant documentation," says Lt. Cmdr. Brian Khey, who will be leading the Coast Guard?s two-man inspection team.
Once Scarabeo 9 reaches Cuban waters, however, those inspections will cease, at least unless there?s a thaw in U.S.?Cuban relations. Cuban authorities are open to working with the U.S., Guggenheim says. But so, far the people doing the negotiating have been industry reps, environmentalists, and private citizens, such as former EPA administrator William Reilly, who visited Cuba as an independent citizen after his tenure as co-chair of the President?s BP Oil Spill Commission was up. (Among the Commission?s recommendations: Strong international standards and coordinated emergency-response plans.) "What we really need is a government-to-government meeting," Guggenheim says. "Right now the government is relying on people like me to serve as a proxy. That not good enough in an emergency."
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