Heavy snow causes the roof of the Vision Missionary Baptist Church to collapse in Church Hill, TN

Too much snow': Hawkins church roof collapses during Sunday winter storm 

Jeff Bobo

December 10, 2018


CHURCH HILL, TN — 

Heavy snow Sunday forced Vision Missionary Baptist Church to cancel services, which was very lucky because shortly before sundown the roof collapsed on the unoccupied sanctuary under the weight of about a foot of snow.

Claudette McDavid, whose husband, Harland, is the church’s associate pastor, told the Times News that employees from the nearby Dollar General store on Carters Valley Road heard the roof collapse Sunday evening shortly before dark and contacted them.

"Evidently, it was just an act of nature," Mrs. McDavid told the Times News on Monday. "Just too much snow. The roof came down and buckled out the walls. It came down on everything. There's one little part of it still standing where the steeple was."

Aside from the sanctuary, the building at 5213 Carters Valley Road featured a nursery, sound room and restrooms, all of which were buried under snow and twisted metal.

"It looks like everything is gone," Mrs. McDavid said. "We're on the phone with insurance people now. It was so bad last night by the time some of the church people got up there you really couldn't see, but my husband said it looks like it would all be destroyed. It fell from the back to the front, and doing that it bowed out both sides of the walls."

Church member Rhonda Sellers said her husband and son were able to salvage a Bible from the 1800s, a church plaque and some pictures from the sanctuary.

Sellers said it was too dangerous to try to save more.

There's a large fellowship hall on the property for Sunday school, and that's where services will be held for the foreseeable future.

McDavid said she's just glad the Lord saw fit to let the roof fall when no one was inside the church.

"You never know what the Lord's plan is for us, but He always comes through," she added.

Aside from the church roof collapse, Hawkins County's weekend snow experience included a large number of fallen trees, power outages and one family evacuated when a tree fell through the roof of their mobile home in Poor Valley.

As of Monday afternoon, however, Hawkins County had no reported injuries attributed to Sunday's snow storm.

First thing Monday morning, Holston Electric was reporting more than 700 customers without power, but as of 2 p.m. Monday afternoon that number had been reduced to 538.

Hawkins County Emergency Management Agency Director Gary Murrell said this was a heavy, wet snow that caused an unusual number of fallen tree- and power-line issues.

"Holston Electric has been out working since early Sunday morning, but we've got places where it took poles down and everything," Murrell said. "We had one incident at 951 Poor Valley Road where a tree fell into the residence. We went and got those people, and the Red Cross has put them up in a motel last night and tonight. Fallen trees are everywhere right now."

As of Monday afternoon, War Valley Road between Goshen Valley Road to Burem Road was closed due to fallen trees, and Holston Electric was there working to get poles back up.

Route 31 above Mooresburg was closed Sunday evening due to a slide of fallen trees, poles and lines, and Murrell said he hadn't received an update on if that road had reopened.

BSEE Works to Ensure Safety for Deepwater Gulf of Mexico Production Start-up at Chevron’s Big Foot tension leg platform, moored in the Gulf of Mexico about 225 miles south of New Orleans

12/11/2018

NEW ORLEANS, LA - 

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement recently conducted its final pre-production inspection of Chevron’s Big Foot tension leg platform, moored in the Gulf of Mexico about 225 miles south of New Orleans. BSEE deemed it safe for operation on Nov. 15, 2018, and five days later it saw first oil.

“The mission of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement is to ensure offshore oil and gas companies operate in a safe and environmentally sustainable way,” said Amy Pellegrin, BSEE’s Houma District acting district manager. “Big Foot is the second deepwater production facility to come on line in our district this year and we’ve been monitoring their activities to ensure they meet all federal regulations.”

From the time an oil company decides to pursue a project until it actually begins producing usually takes about 10 years. In Big Foot’s case, that time was extended by a few years because of technical difficulties involving the 16 mooring tendons during the initial installation in 2015. Those issues had to be resolved before the platform could be attached and operated safely.

After the mooring complication, BSEE continued to monitor Chevron's plans to secure and stabilize the mooring lines.

Big Foot’s mooring tendons needed to better withstand a strong loop current, which is an ocean current that transports warm Caribbean water through the Yucatan Channel between Cuba and Mexico and up through the Gulf of Mexico.

“New technologies and innovation are brought into each new platform design,” said Devon Hillman, BSEE Gulf of Mexico petroleum engineer. “As operators take on more deepwater exploration and production, they adapt to the many challenges deepwater brings.”

BSEE’s role is to ensure those adaptations are safe and environmentally sustainable.

BSEE conducted several production safety system reviews and pre-production inspections prior to approving Chevron’s move to begin production on Big Foot.

“With each physical inspection, we confirmed that Chevron’s schematics, diagrams and plans were accurate and that the systems would operate as designed,” Pellegrin said.

The Big Foot platform is located in the Walker Ridge 29 area of the Gulf of Mexico in about 5,200 feet of water and it has a capacity of 75,000 barrels of oil and 25 million cubic feet of gas per day.

The Houma District is one of five district offices in BSEE’s Gulf of Mexico Region and regulates multiple shallow and deepwater oil and gas platforms, drilling rigs and subsea pipelines.

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Chevron announces first oil from Big Foot Project in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico; deepest tension leg platform
26 November 2018


Chevron Corporation announced that the Chevron-operated Big Foot deepwater project, located in the US Gulf of Mexico, has started crude oil and natural gas production. The field is located approximately 225 miles (360 km) south of New Orleans, La., in a water depth of approximately 5,200 feet (1,584 m).




The Chevron-operated Big Foot project (co-owners are Statoil and Marubeni) uses a 15-slot drilling and production tension-leg platform—the deepest of its kind in the world—and is designed for a capacity of 75,000 barrels of oil and 25 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.

A tension-leg platform (TLP) is a buoyant platform held in place by a mooring system. The buoyancy of the hull offsets the weight of the platform, requiring clusters of tight tendons, or tension legs, to secure the structure to a foundation on the seabed, which is kept stationary by piles driven into the seabed.

The mooring system allows for horizontal movement with wave disturbances, but does not permit vertical (bobbing) movement.

Chevron selected the ETLP, FloaTEC’s proprietary design, as the optimum floating production system for this field development. FloaTEC was contracted to provide detailed design of the hull and mooring system.

The Big Foot field was discovered in 2006, is estimated to contain total recoverable resources of more than 200 million oil-equivalent barrels and has a projected production life of 35 years.

Thousands of gallons of crude oil spilled at a Hilcopr Energy A10 Well in Port Sulphur, Louisiana when the wellhead equipment failed

Lake Washington A10 Well Leak

Port Sulphur, LA USA | 2018-Dec-09
 

Initial Notification: 

On December 9, 2018, the USCG Sector New Orleans contacted the NOAA SSC regarding an equipment failure on a wellhead casing in Lake Washington/Rattlesnake Bayou, near Port Sulphur, LA. The discharge amount is estimated to be ~129bbls of crude/water/gas per day. The source was not reported as secured. USCG is requesting a trajectory and potential resources at risk.

 

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NEW ORLEANS, LA – A Unified Command consisting of the Coast Guard, Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator’s Office and Hilcorp Energy continues to respond to a well that discharged a mixture of crude oil, gas, and water near Port Sulphur, Louisiana, Wednesday.
The Coast Guard and Hilcorp are both conducting aerial assessments of the area. Source control crews have controlled the leak, and continue to work to repair the well in attempt to prevent further discharging.

Approximately 11,000 feet of hard boom has been deployed. Approximately 4,830 gallons of oily water mixture have been recovered so far. There are 116 oil spill response personnel on scene conducting containment and clean-up operations.
Assets being utilized include:

• Ten response vessels
• Five work boats
• Ten marco skimming vessels
• Two drum skimmers
• Ten airboats
• Three drone packages

Also involved in the response are:

• Plaquemines Parish Sherriff's Department
• Plaquemines Office of Environmental Management
• Environmental Safety and Health
• Forefront Emergency Management
• OMI Environmental Solutions
• Coast Guard Gulf Strike Team
• Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality
• Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries
• National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration

Birds were observed in the affected area but were not able to be captured. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is conducting wildlife response operations.
Hilcorp Energy has published a claims line for those impacted by the incident:

• Claims Phone: (337) 216-4311
• Claims Fax: (337) 216-4435

700 gallons of marine diesel spilled after the fishing vessel Nordic Viking sank at the T Dock in Seward Harbor, Alaska

FV Nordic Viking

Seward, AK | 2018-Dec-10

Initial Notification: On 9-Dec-2018, FV Nordic Viking, a tender/processor, sank at the T Dock in Seward Harbor. The vessel is reported to be 76'. The vessel owner indicated that there was about 700 gallons of marine diesel on board the vessel (capacity 2,000 gallons). Absorbent boom was placed at the dock. Before booming a rainbow sheen ~60' by 1500' was observed. The sheen reportedly had black oil as well. NOAA SSC is consulting with the ADEC.

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The weekend sinking of a fishing vessel in the Seward Harbor has prompted a cleanup effort as plans to salvage the vessel unfold.



The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation said in a report that it is monitoring the response to the Nordic Viking, which sank at the “T-dock” in the Seward Harbor and was reported to DEC Sunday by the local harbormaster. It’s not clear why the ship sank.



The site of the fishing vessel Nordic Viking's sinking in the Seward Harbor on Sunday, Dec. 9, 2018. (From Alaska DEC)



“The harbormaster deployed absorbent boom and the salvage contractor, hired by the [vessel owner], deployed containment boom on Dec. 9,” DEC officials wrote. “Containment boom that was deployed [Dec. 9] failed when the vessel shifted and pulled the boom under.”



The report mentioned that an "unknown amount of marine diesel and other petroleum products" spilled into the harbor after the ship sunk. The vessel’s owner said the Nordic Viking was holding 600 to 700 gallons of fuel, as well as 50 gallons of gasoline.



Both salvage firm Stormchasers and oil containment responder Chadux have been called to the sinking site, which has been monitored by DEC staff since Sunday.



The site of the fishing vessel Nordic Viking's sinking in the Seward Harbor on Sunday, Dec. 9, 2018. (From Alaska DEC)



“An additional [U.S. Coast Guard] responder was deployed from Sector Anchorage and arrived on Dec. 10,” DEC staff wrote. “The salvage contractor conducted diving operations to plug fuel tank vents and retrieve the containment boom that was pulled under the vessel. The containment boom was again deployed around the vessel and will be monitored frequently as operations continue.”



Birds have been seen around the sinking site, according to DEC, but no soiled animals have yet been spotted. Sportfishing may still be taking place in the area, which is being transitioned by other vessels.

OSHA cited Turnkey Construction Planners Inc. - a roofing contractor based in Melbourne, Florida - for exposing employees to fall hazards. The company faces $199,184 in penalties.

December 13, 2018

U.S. Department of Labor Cites Florida Roofing Contractor
For Repeatedly Exposing Employees to Fall Hazards

PORT ST. LUCIE, FL - 

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Turnkey Construction Planners Inc. - a roofing contractor based in Melbourne, Florida - for exposing employees to fall hazards. The company faces $199,184 in penalties.

OSHA initiated an inspection as part of its Regional Emphasis Program on Falls in Construction. Inspectors observed employees working without the use of conventional fall protection at two separate worksites in Port St. Lucie, Florida. OSHA has cited the company four times in the past five years for similar violations.

"Repeatedly exposing employees to fall hazards that can lead to serious injuries or fatalities is inexcusable," said OSHA Fort Lauderdale Office Director Condell Eastmond. "Employers have an obligation to identify and eliminate known hazards that place their employees in harm's way."

Turnkey Construction has 15 business days from receipt of the citations and proposed penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to help ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education, and assistance. For more information, visit https://www.osha.gov.