Coast Guard report shows Shell was underprepared for ill-fated tow across Gulf of Alaska
A Coast Guard report released Thursday shows that while a series of events ultimately led to the grounding of a drilling rig designed to drill in the Arctic, an inadequate assessment and management of risks was the biggest cause of the Kulluk grounding.
In a letter outlining the report from U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Joseph A. Servido, the Coast Guard explained its findings related to the New Year's Eve 2012 grounding of the Kulluk, a conical drilling unit and then one of the centerpieces of Royal Dutch Shell's Arctic drilling operation.
The report comprises the final findings about the incident by the Coast Guard Investigations National Center of Expertise in Louisiana. It comes 10 months after investigators met in Anchorage for more than a week last summer to interview stakeholders in the response effort.
The findings in the 152-page report conclude that while bad weather in the Gulf of Alaska was the primary cause of the grounding, ineffectiverisk management and application of towing measures from Shell and Edison Chouest contributed to the grounding.
(I'm) most troubled by the significant number and nature of the potential violations of law and regulations identified in the Enforcement section of the investigative report,Servido wrote, including the failure to report marine casualties, failure to report safety-related vessel issues and improper/illegal bridge and engine room watch-keeping systems.
The report notes that there were at least two incidents on the Aiviq that warranted Coast Guard notification prior to the ship's departure from Dutch Harbor in mid-December. One of those incidents included a power blackout and engine failure on the ship as it tugged the Kulluk from exploration work in the Beaufort Sea in fall 2012.
The report concludes that civil penalties could be leveled against Edison Chouest, thoughit was unclear Thursday what those could be, according to Coast Guard headquarters spokesperson Lisa Novak. That decision will be left to the captain of the port in the Coast Guard's Anchorage sector.
Full Article: http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20140403/coast-guard-report-shows-shell-was-underprepared-ill-fated-tow-across-gulf-alaska
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Shell should have never been given the leases in the first place. They hadn't even fulfilled the requirements for the Department of the Interior yet.
When managers give orders to "get it done" they are rarely amenable to feedback ... things like "Let's wait till the weather breaks ."
And in Shell's case it's also safety be damned do what I say or your off the rig. They have no business drilling in arctic waters they are unprepared for that type environment and unwilling to make the needed changes for a safe operation.
Do you think there are other outfits more capable of dealing with the Arctic ?
Hmmm, let's see...
Looks like we're just waiting for the next fuckup, Petey...
Damn ... where's Halliburton when we need them .
Halliburton was a partner with Transocean and BP on the Deepwater Horizon.
I guess I needed to put up the sarc tag ...
OOPS...
No I don't actually. They have all shown a willingness to disregard safety for the all mighty dollar and absolutely no concern for the environment. (Land or Sea)