Rough seas prevented contractors from attaching the first stretch of boom to pilings in the pass on Wednesday, but Bay County Public Works Director Ken Schnell said the effort will resume Thursday afternoon, weather permitting.
"Boom deployment has been postponed for today due to sea conditions," Schnell said. "It is rescheduled for tomorrow afternoon and this first 600-foot section will be attached on the state park side. We've got to have a slack tide."
Schnell said three of eight dolphin pilings have been completed, and the pile driving is currently ahead of schedule. Boom construction, he said, is slightly behind schedule.
"They're still working 24 hours a day on that. It's been a learning process manufacturing it, so we expect production to get much faster," he said.
He said additional manpower was brought on board Wednesday, and he believes the July 16 completion target for the project is still attainable.
A tugboat will pull the first 600-foot section of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe boom to the pass, and crews will attach it to the west pilings. Each side of the project will have two 600-foot boom attachments -- connected by a flange bolt, with a 400-foot gate in the middle, for a total of 2800 feet of boom across the pass.
Schnell said the boom seems to be functional, so far.
"It's very heavy, but it floats well," he said. "The skirt hangs well, and that part we're very satisfied with. We still have to get it out there and test it, though."
Once the system is tested; however, it will likely be staged nearby to reduce congestion in the pass if the oil remains a safe distance away.
The boom system is comprised of 18 42-inch free-standing steel pilings, which have already been place. Another eight pile "dolphins" (each consisting of three pilings attached together with a cap on them) will be driven in the center of the pass. The total of 54 pilings vary in length depending on the depth of the water, and extend at least 10 feet above the mean high tide level and about half their entire length is buried below the bay's floor. The boom is made of 30-inch diameter, two-inch thick HDPE pipe and will have a 48-inch long HDPE fabric weighted skirt hanging below the pipe. Some 2,400 feet of boom, along with the 400-foot-wide gates must be fused together, for a total of 2,800 feet of boom.
In the middle of the channel, a 400-foot hinged boom gate will allow for opening or closing the pass and diverting the oil products to the sides, where skimming vessels will be used on either side of the project to collect oil.
The hinged boom in the center of the pass will allow boat traffic to come and go with the outgoing tide and will be closed to traffic with the incoming tide, if oil is actively being removed from the area. The gates will remain open if oil is not a threat to the bay.
The more "robust" booming project evolved after it became apparent that more conventional booming plans to the west are ineffective. Bay County engineers worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Coast Guard, AshBritt -- a Florida-based disaster recovery company, and various engineers to develop and gain federal approval of the plan.
Boaters are asked to exercise caution when traveling through the pass.
BP Vice President Bryant Chapman, at a recent meeting with officials from several Panhandle counties, committed to funding Bay County's pass project, now estimated to cost about $5.1 million to construct and eventually remove and another $8,300 per day to manage.
The Tier 1, 2 and 3 booming plans will still be exercised.
A tugboat will tow a 600-foot section of boom to the pass project as early as Thursday afternoon. Click the photo above to download additional pictures of the pass project under construction.
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