Today Is a Big Day for the 'A Whale'

"The owner says the massive 'A Whale' will be joined by sister ship 'B Whale' in mid-July -- IF the foreign vessels are permitted to go to work cleaning up oil."

Today, July 1st, is a big day for the giant ship that promises major results to reduce the oil spill from BP's Deepwater Horizon.

The A Whale hopes to demonstrate that cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico may depend not on government, nor on the corporate giant BP, but on innovation and commitment to free enterprise. If so, it would be because Mr. Nobu Su of Taiwan, CEO of TMT Corporation, was undeterred when he got a cold shoulder from those in charge of the cleanup.

Thursday morning (today) he is to meet with Coast Guard officials in New Orleans to outline this weekend's trial run of the A Whale, the huge tanker/oil skimmer which Su has brought to America. He says the ship is the long-needed "big answer to a big problem."

Although he was dismissed when he originally shared his concept with BP and U.S. officials after the Deepwater Horizon explosion, Su forged ahead and spent millions to add intake valves on the bow of the 1,115-foot, 10-story tall ship. These allow it to gather 500,000 barrels daily of spilled oil and water -- 250 times the capacity of the other ships now engaged in the cleanup.

In a face-to-face meeting in Washington, DC, Su told me he still does not know how many millions he spent to sail the ship from near Shanghai to a Portugal shipyard, there to have its unique oil-skimming system installed, and then dispatch the ship to the U.S. He says he made the decision to act about May 1st and the ship arrived in the U.S. by June 25 -- a timetable that U.S. officials had considered impossible to achieve.

Su believes so firmly in its potential that he already has retrofitting underway in Portugal on the B Whale, a sister ship that he says could arrive in the Gulf of Mexico by mid-July. And the C Whale not too long afterwards.

The Not-Invited 'A Whale' Has Crashed the Cleanup Party. (Click to See More Images)

Despite the original rebuffs from BP and federal bureaucrats, Su charged ahead. Rather than waiting to be invited to help in the Gulf, he wrangled an invitation from Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell to make port in Norfolk for a media event. Once it was on the scene, it became impossible for the Coast Guard and other federal officials, plus BP, to overlook the Whale. And McDonnell's avid support was a big help.

In essence, the A Whale had crashed the cleanup party, rather than waiting for an invitation.

Su's team now has appreciative words for the Coast Guard's willingness to give the ship a chance. Greater concerns are whether others in the oil spill bureaucracy will create barriers, especially over the issue of discharged water. Because most (85-90%) of what is collected is water, the A Whale and other international oil skimmers separate out the oil and discharge the water. It's unclear whether the EPA would try to impose its strict standards that discharged water can only have 15 ppm of pollutants -- a requirement of 99.9985% purity that is impossible to meet on this scale and under these conditions.

So far, the Obama Administration has not issued environmental or Jones Act waivers that would remove any doubts about whether the A Whale can go to work, if its test runs prove successful. Then Su's TMT company could negotiate with BP for its services.

Could bad weather get in the way? Su says the mammoth vessel can withstand what others cannot, so it would be the last ship that had to leave due to weather--and the first to return to oil removal work. Because his company also operates oil drilling platforms in Asia, Su is familiar with the challenges of weather.

Su's team generously gives credit to the USA for creating his entrepreneurial and innovative spirit that he says is part of his Taiwanese upbringing. His senior vice president, T.K. Ong, says the environment for success was created by the "moral and material support" provided by the USA to the island nation after it broke from mainland China.

While we all hope that the A Whale will prove to be a great success, it's important to recognize that a system of free enterprise is necessary to create that success --and hopefully many more.

 

Follow Ernest Istook on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Ernest_Istook

Comments

[mapoleaf]

09:24 AM on 07/03/2010

Istook's anti-gover­nment slant is typical of those who make it their mission to disembowel government and infiltrate it with so many corporate hacks and lobbyists that it can no longer function effectivel­y, thus "proving" that Big Government (and by extension all government­) is useless. The prospect of A Whale lending a significan­t hand in all of this provides a much-neede­d ray of hope, and Mr. Su's determinat­ion to 'crash the party' makes for good copy, but make no mistake: if MMS had not been turned into the corrupt and flaccid entity it was allowed to become during the Bush/Chene­y years, if regulation­s had not been loosened, if BP had been required to model how it would handle a large spill emanating from the ocean floor rather than a comparativ­ely simple surface spill, if an acoustic blowout preventer had been required, we might not now be lauding praise on a system that relies on the willy-nill­y, johnny-com­e-lately, profit-dri­ven, insufficie­nt approach to problem solving we are now having to lean on. The American people, and this planet, deserve better.

[gregory cerniglia]

09:14 PM on 07/01/2010

this big ship is miracle. hopefully it isnt a trojan horse and in the belly warships and terrorist open the top an attack us?

[Swannie]

09:48 PM on 07/03/2010

o for goddess sake ........

[Overtone]

04:40 PM on 07/01/2010

The Gulf gusher may accelerate a life threatenin­g impact with a surprising­ly huge impact on the economy. Every available skimmer and other promising technology should be tried.

See What to do (updated) at http://www­.aesopinst­itute.org

Ironically­, moving beyond oil and other fossil fuels appears possible much more rapidly than is generally believed.

A very thin film of oil on the surface in the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans threatens to raise temperatur­es toward a catastroph­ic Tipping Point.

The White House must rapidly consider the possibilit­y that a massive mobilizati­on is needed to combat what might be looming if, as several qualified engineers believe, the leak cannot be capped.

An adequate response might, ironically­, generate an enormous number of jobs and provide the missing economic stimulus.

Little known breakthrou­ghs involving radically new energy technologi­es can supersede oil. See Moving Beyond Oil on the same Aesop Institute website.

Future cars can become power plants when parked, wirelessly selling electricit­y.

Within very few years, with 24/7 developmen­t, such vehicles might be able to sell sufficient power to pay their own way.

Cars and trucks would begin to cost-compe­titively supersede any need for gasoline and oil.

We need far more sensible steps to massively attack the oil in the Gulf and urgently reduce the danger as it flows toward the Atlantic ocean.

Better understand­ing of the facts and bold leadership is urgently needed now!

This catastroph­e is a wake up call! Time to throw every available emergency resource into action!

[Swannie]

09:47 PM on 07/03/2010

Every emergency resource should have been implemente­d from the beginning of this catastroph­e , when they were originally offered ; three days after the explosion, and continuall­y afterward. Even common sense would tell you that those offering the help, knew the nature and consequenc­es of such a disaster ; and that the sequelae and harmful after effects would be massive.
When the president announced his drilling plan, on March 31, he said it was "not a decision that I've made lightly" and that he and his advisers had "looked at (it) closely for more than a year." and he added later that he had done so only “under the assurance that it would be absolutely safe.”
That statement BO made is not congruent with someone familiar with the risks turning down such expeditiou­s help.
The disaster in chief has not looked at anything closely other than a putter .

[RTIII]

02:56 PM on 07/04/2010

Sad but true. Thanks for helping rebut the apologists­.

[BrianJDonovan]

12:07 PM on 07/01/2010

Collection of the BP oil spill has never been a "skimming" operation. Both underwater plumes and surface oil must be collected. Given its lack of maneuverab­ility and location of suction inlet ports, "A Whale" will merely be able to collect some of the surface oil in calm seas.

Since May 17, 2010, Renergie, Inc. has submitted unsolicite­d proposals for the purpose of using three Panamax class crude tankers for the collection and onboard separation of the BP oil spill to every federal agency, state agency, state elected official and federal elected official with even a remote interest in the BP oil spill. These tankers are capable of collecting and separating both surface oil and the underwater plumes of oil.

The USCG response to Renergie's proposal stated, “Unfortuna­tely, the Coast Guard does not currently have a mission and is not hiring contractor­s. However, if BP requests names, I will recommend and forward your company.”

The blowout of April 20, 2010 aboard the Deepwater Horizon was clearly preventabl­e. The fact that the BP oil spill has been allowed to reach coastal areas is inexcusabl­e.

For a clear understand­ing of the issues involved, visit:

http://ren­ergie.word­press.com/

[RTIII]

02:58 PM on 07/04/2010

"Both underwater plumes and surface oil must be collected. Given its lack of maneuverab­ility and location of suction inlet ports, "A Whale" will merely be able to collect some of the surface oil in calm seas."

Good point - I thought about that as I looked at the vessel, however, there's B Whale and C Whale about to be retrofitte­d so A Whale is a prototype. Hopefully they'll learn how to do it better pretty quickly.

[rbenjamin]

11:00 AM on 07/01/2010

The Heritage Foundation may be atwitter about A Whale, but I remain skeptical about it on a number of levels.

A Whale would be booking to do 30 km/hr. Assuming it can clear a swath of oil 100 meters wide that works out to 3 km sq per hr or 72 km sq per day. The slick has been estimated by various methods to cover 6500 to 24000 km sq, so a VERY! generous upper estimate of A Whales time to cover all that ocean surface is 90 to 330 days, with no stops for offloading­, resupply or repairs. The surface slick is growing and moves with the winds and tides, so multiple passes would be required. It's not like mowing your lawn.

Of course, much of the slick is underwater (all those dispersant­s) and the draft of A Whale is on the order of 25 m. A large fraction of the oil is going to end up on the sea bed or washed up on land.

I can see why clean-up command wasn't enthusiast­ic, but if Taiwan want's try on their dime, so be it. Maybe they just figure the market price of the oil they capture will outweigh operating costs. There may be unforeseen downsides to churning a surface slick with a super tanker wake, so I would monitor the operation carefully - and well out of the way.

[RTIII]

03:00 PM on 07/04/2010

There's B Whale and C Whale coming, and they'll be improved versions.

Besides, how long would it take the rest of the cleanup crew to finish WITHOUT A, B, or C Whale? (The answer is probably: never.)