Bay County Deepwater Horizon update

All Bay County residents and visitors are asked to adhere to a 20-meter "safety zone" around boom and oil response vessels, particularly that which is part of the St. Andrew Pass project.

Around 4 p.m. Sunday, a pass project foreman rescued a pair of kayakers after they were expelled from their boats when they got too close to the boom.

According to U.S. Coast Guard Commander Mike Frender, the foreman reported that one of the kayakers was sucked under the boom - from the bay side during an outgoing tide - and was later found adrift in the pass, with no life vest or floatation device. The other kayaker was found clinging atop the boom. At least one of the kayaks, too, was sucked under the boom.

Neither boater was seriously injured, though they could have been, Frender said.

"The currents running through that pass are very, very strong," Frender said. "It's a very serious, dangerous situation."

As the pass project continues, more boom will be placed, making boater precaution critical, Frender said.

Currently, one segment high-density polyethylene (HDPE) boom pipe, about 600 feet long, is attached to the steel pilings in the pass, Bay County Public Works Director Ken Schnell said. Two more segments will be placed Tuesday, weather permitting.

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.

Approximately 1,800 feet of HDPE boom has been manufactured so far, Schnell said. Two pieces are staged in the water at the port, ready for deployment. The final of the four "sticks" of boom is being manufactured at the port, he said.

So far, he said, the boom is holding up well.

"The first section of boom has been performing exactly as it was designed to perform," Schnell said. "It's only one piece, but if there was going to be a failure in the boom, we would've seen it already. There have been some good tidal exchanges, and there's a pretty high velocity out there and it's holding up well."

Schnell said he believes the project will be substantially completed by the July 16 target date.

"I have a feeling we're going to have it all done except for the gates," Schnell said, adding that all of the pilings were completed as of last Friday night at about 10 p.m.

"At this point, that's just as well," he said. "We've got to put it all up and test it, and when we do, it's going to close the pass. It's going to take some coordination to do that."

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.

Crews began driving sheet piling on either side of the project last Thursday, he said, and the effort continued through the weekend and into Monday.

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.

The boom system is comprised of 18 42-inch free-standing steel pilings and another eight pile "dolphins" (each consisting of three pilings attached together with a cap on them) were 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.

Workers drive sheet piling on either side of the pass project to prevent pooling water from eroding around the piling.

Boom is being manufactured at Port Panama City.

A 600-foot segment of boom has been attached to pilings in the St. Andrew Pass. Another two pieces are scheduled to be attached Tuesday, weather permitting.

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