CRIME BLOTTER
March 21, 2012Deepwater oil ship starts work in Gulf of Mexico
March 21, 2012
Shell Oil Company recently invested $500,000 to the The Greater Lafourche Port Commission to be used toward the Fourchon Beach Repair/ Re-nourishment Project, which will fortify the beach head at Fourchon Beach and create a dune to provide critical storm surge protection for the Port Fourchon area.
“The port services about 90 percent of all deepwater activity in the Gulf and services about half the oil rigs in the Gulf. Also, 18 percent of the nations oil supply comes through the port,” Port Director Chett Chiasson said. ”The $1 billion infrastructure at the port will be protected with this project.”
The investment was received at the port’s monthly meeting in March. Shell representative Mary Grace Anderson, the Mars development manager, presented the check to the entire community on behalf of the Mars B Deepwater Platform Project.
“We are pleased to make this donation to support preserving this unique environment and protecting the port,” Anderson said, “as well as enhancing the long-standing relationship Shell has with Port Fourchon. This investment will further Shell’s coastal restoration initiatives.”
The beach repair project, also known as the GeoTube Project, is estimated to cost about $5.4 million. FEMA will fund about $4.2 million to repair damage to the existing project caused by prior storms. The Port Commission will be responsible for the remainder of the cost, $1.2 million. Shell’s contribution of $500,000 will greatly enhance the port’s ability to fnd the project as designed.
“We don’t know yet when the work will start. The fact is that we have been planning this for a while,” Chiasson said. “We were ready to go to work when the BP oil spill occurred. The project would be complete if it were not for the oil spill.”
The project will take about four months to complete.
“We hope to begin work after this hurricane season. We will open the bids during hurricane season, but we won’t start during hurricane season,” Chiasson said. “The area could change if a hurricane would hit the area.”
Before any work begins, the port will secure access agreements and have soil in the area tested for oil.
Chiasson said the contractor would be out in the area in the next few weeks to finalize the design.
The geotubes, large tubes made of heavy-duty fabric that are filled with sand, will stretch 5,500 linear feet across Fourchon Beach at a height of six feet on a plus-2 elevation to fortify the beach head. Additionally, the geotube project will be completely covered with sand to create a dune built to a plus-10 total elevation. This dune will provide critical storm surge protection for an area that has been ravaged by multiple storms in the last decade.
“With FEMA not funding the total cost of repairing the beach project, the Port Commission was considering methods of reducing the project’s cost and perhaps its size,” Chiasson said. “Shell’s generous contribution gives us the additional cushion we need to complete the project without minimizing the beach’s health or our port’s protection.”
On hand for a $500,000 check presentation from Shell Oil were, from left, Shell Oil’s Eric Gilmore and Derek Newberry; Greater Lafourche Port Commission members Wilbert Collins, Chuckie Cheramie, Shell Oil’s Mary Gracy Anderson, GLPC board members Perry Gisclair, Donald Vizier, Larry Griffin, port executive director Chett Chiasson, GLPC board members Jimmy LaFont, Ervin Bruce, John Melancon Jr and Jimmy Guidry, as well as Shell Oil’s Ed Landgraf.
