Bay County Deepwater Horizon update

Contractors were set to begin attaching the first stretch of boom to pilings in the pass late Thursday afternoon, according to Bay County Public Works Director Ken Schnell.

Schnell said six of eight dolphin pilings have been completed, and the pile driving is currently ahead of schedule. Boom construction, he said, is slightly behind schedule. Crews began driving sheet piling on either side of the project on Thursday, he said.

The sheet piling, 150 feet on each side, will run from the farthest piling on either end of the project onto the beach, thus preventing water directed toward the beach from eroding behind the boom. Schnell said crews were working on sheet piling on either side of the pass Thursday.

He said a tugboat was pulling the first 600-foot section of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe boom to be attached to the pilings on the west side of the pass, despite strong winds and a choppy bay.

"It's going to be a long ride," he said. "It's very windy out here right now, and we've got a lot of pipe to haul."

Schnell said the booming effort remains ahead of schedule and the boom construction is still slightly behind schedule, though crews are working round the clock to complete it. He said the 600 feet of boom in the water, plus another 600 feet at the port have been completed, out of a total of 2800 feet.

The next 600-foot section will be put in the water tonight and transported tomorrow, he said.

The first boom placed will be a good opportunity to test the project's capabilities.

"We want to see how this 600 feet works," he said. "We're taking all of the conceptual stuff off paper and putting it into reality."

Each side of the project will have two 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.

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 placed. Another eight pile "dolphins" (each consisting of three pilings attached together with a cap on them) are being 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.

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, and the boom may be staged nearby.

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.

The Bay County Commission approved a plan to protect the St. Andrew Pass. Click on the photo to download a .pdf of the plan.