U.S. activates hurricane response team in Gulf of Mexico

The top environmental oversight agency in the U.S. activated its hurricane response team Saturday and is monitoring all offshore oil and gas operations while the Gulf States prepare for Hurricane Ida.

The team will work with State and Federal agencies in coordination with offshore operators until operations return to normal and the storm is no longer a threat, announced the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

Workers have reportedly been evacuated from half of all unmanned offshore oil production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, with 279 of the 560 platforms now sitting empty.

BSEE noted that production platforms are separate from oil rigs in that they do not move from location to location, but remain stationary throughout the project duration. Oil rigs have also been evacuated in the Gulf.

Precautions have now been taken to shut in oil and gas from the wells located on the ocean floor in an effort to protect marine and coastal environments.

This involves the closing of the subsurface safety valves below the surface of the ocean floor to prevent the release of oil or gas, BSEE said in a statement. Shutting in oil and gas production is a standard procedure used by industry for safety and environmental reasons.

More than 90 percent of oil production and nearly 85 percent of gas production in the Gulf are estimated to have been shut up in preparation for the storm.

Ida is expected to become a Category 4 hurricane in the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale and is expected to generate winds of up to 140 miles per hour.

Residents in New Orleans and surrounding coastal area have been advised to evacuate or make preparations ahead of the storm.