BP Oil Spill Approaching Gulf Coast

[bessie]

Sad; just beyond sad............we went to Pensacola for a dysfunctional family vacation when I was 4 months pregnant with our son and told hubby JUST TODAY; I want to take Jake back there because it is so beautiful. We stayed at the Porto Fino (very very HIGH class). SOB.........was hoping to take him in early July. This is just beyond sickening!

How can oboma say the White House is "on top of things" yet say he didn't know that the next step could actually worsen the current flow of oil be spilled into the gulf if it doesn't work. :furious:

Awww...I'm sorry your plans will be disrupted. Family vacations are important. The daily grind leaves wear and tear on all of us, and returning to a favorite spot with good memories is a great way to rejuvenate the spirit. Sadly, yours is one of many families who will have to rethink their vacation plans this year.

The timing of this mess could not be worse. It's the breeding season for coastal wildlife. It's the beginning of tourist season along the gulf coast beaches. And today is the first day of hurricane season, which is foreboding enough. Now I'm thinking Katrina, but with oil. But did you hear? Tony Hayward wants his life back.:banghead:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/01/bp-ceo-tony-hayward-video_n_595906.html

 

[butterfly1978]

its about time they start looking into criminal charges, but of corse nothing will be come of it, money always talks. I hate that they are expecting this to reach Florida by Wensday, I heard today that there has already been oil hitting the beaches here in Alabama. This is just so sad. My heart breaks for all the poor animals and the people who make their living in the waters.

 

[krt]

Awww...I'm sorry your plans will be disrupted. Family vacations are important. The daily grind leaves wear and tear on all of us, and returning to a favorite spot with good memories is a great way to rejuvenate the spirit. Sadly, yours is one of many families who will have to rethink their vacation plans this year.

The timing of this mess could not be worse. It's the breeding season for coastal wildlife. It's the beginning of tourist season along the gulf coast beaches. And today is the first day of hurricane season, which is foreboding enough. Now I'm thinking Katrina, but with oil. But did you hear? Tony Hayward wants his life back.:banghead:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/01/bp-ceo-tony-hayward-video_n_595906.html

I feel even worse for the families and businesses down there!

AND did you hear the latest from obama (DUMBAMA)? He had the audacity to say that if laws are insufficient and will be changed. He said that if government oversight wasn't tough enough, that will change, too. HELLO EARTH TO DUMBAMA..........I think not taking bribes; sexual favors and watching and actually conducting the already in place mandated inspections "might be tough enough"! I hope ALL of those individuals are criminally held accountable for their gross neglect!

 

[legalmania]

BP, Transocean and Halliburton have been getting away with negligence for to many years.

The U.S. Government has named BP as the responsible party in the incident, and officials have said the company will be held accountable for all cleanup costs resulting from the oil spill.[16][17] BP has accepted responsibility for the oil spill and the cleanup costs, but indicated they were not at fault because the platform was run by Transocean personnel.[18] The Deepwater Horizon blowout is the third serious incident at a BP-operated site in the United States in the last five years, following the Texas City Refinery explosion in 2005 and the Prudhoe Bay oil spill in 2006. These previous incidents, attributed to lapses in safety and maintenance, have contributed to the damage to BP's reputation and market valuation since the spill.[19][20]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill

 

[legalmania]

This is really so upsetting to know BP has been responsible for loss of life and ruining the environment for a long time:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_Refinery_explosion

On March 23, 2005, a fire and explosion occurred at BP's Texas City Refinery in Texas City, Texas, killing 15 workers and injuring more than 170 others. BP was charged with violating federal environment crime laws and has been subject to law suits from the victim's families. Later an $87 million fine was imposed by the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which claimed that BP had failed to implement safety improvements following the disaster.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prudhoe_Bay_oil_spill

November 2007, BP Exploration, Alaska (BPXA) pled guilty to negligent discharge of oil, a misdemeanor under the federal Clean Water Act and was fined US$20 million.[3]

 

[essies]

Gulf Spill Workers Complain of Flulike Symptoms
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/03/national/main6543835.shtml?tag=latest
<snipped>
In the past week, 11 workers who have been out on the water cleaning up oil from BP's blown-out well have been treated for what Dietrich calls "a pattern of symptoms" that could have been caused by the burning of crude oil, noxious fumes from the oil or the dispersants dumped in the Gulf to break it up. All workers were treated and released.

"One person comes in, it could be multiple things," he said. "Eleven people come in with these symptoms, it makes it incredibly suspicious."
And the victims of BP just keep on mounting! :banghead:
[video=youtube;gbS8uHJUUJM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbS8uHJUUJM[/video]

 

[legalmania]

EPA speaks out:
An EPA official told me yesterday that while dispersants were "pre-approved for deep water use," the agency is now "insisting that dispersants be used only in minimum amounts and that spraying of dispersants be an absolute last resort." On May 26, the EPA issued a directive to BP that dispersant spraying is the last resort and subsea dispersant use is limited to 15,000 gallons a day. According to an EPA official, "15,000 is much much less than BP was using." The agency said that surface burning, collection, booming and skimming "are much more effective and preferable to spraying dispersants."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/06/gulf_oil_spill_and_the_use_of.html

 

[legalmania]

James Cameron says 'morons' charged with fixing Gulf oil spill

"Avatar" and "Titanic" director James Cameron on Wednesday evening criticized those responsible for stopping the geyser of oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico and again offered the assistance of the private team of deep-sea experts with whom which he has worked on several underwater films and exploration efforts.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/livecoverage/2010/06/james_cameron_calls_bp_morons.html

 

[legalmania]

All 12 BP oil spillcams now available to view:

If you have insomnia this video is for you

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/livecoverage/2010/06/all_12_bp_oil_spillcams_now_av.html

 

[karma-girl]

Omg, I have to be at my son's baseball game in 15 minutes...I just saw oil-saturated birds on CNN...this is so horrible and I feel so terribly helpless for all of the beautiful wildlife that are truly suffering! I'm sorry for not posting a link or update, just needed to release some of my frustration and grab a hug from all of you!

Please God save the Gulf!

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

I know Karma girl...On Fox news I just saw some oil covered, dead pelicans...and some that were dying a very slow, agonizing death...they can hardly hold their beeks up out of the sludge. This is torture to those poor things....how disgusting and sickening.

 

[daisy7]

Oil sheen 4 miles from Pensacola Beach, 6 from Navarre Beach

Oil is moving toward the beaches of Northwest Florida, and two state leaders to make sure everything is being done to stop it before it reaches land.

Sen. Bill Nelson and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist visited the Santa Rosa County Emergency Operations Center in Milton today to listen in on the daily statewide conference call assessing the ongoing BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

No oil has reached Florida beaches yet, according to the state call. A light oil sheen was discovered about six miles from Navarre Beach Pier this morning. Crist reported seeing a light oil sheen four miles or less from Pensacola Beach during a tour today.

(snip)

http://www.pnj.com/article/20100603/NEWS10/100603033

 

[mysticrose]

Dont know if this was posted yet, but get your blood pressure meds for this one:

Thursday, Jun 3, 2010 14:45 ET
Jindal and the right on oil spill: Shill, baby, shill!
Faced with a devastating oil spill, Louisiana's governor demands ... more drilling?

A stunning new letter by the oil-addicted governor of Louisiana gives the lie to right-wing claims that environmentalists are to blame for the BP oil disaster.

On Wednesday, Bobby Jindal, who blames everybody but himself for the environmental disaster hitting his state, wrote to President Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar pleading with them to end the deep water drilling moratorium immediately.

He expresses "grave concerns" for the "economic impact of a six-month (or longer) suspension of activity" at 33 Gulf rigs -- "including and in particular the 22 deepwater drilling rigs currently in operation off the Louisiana coast." Jindal warns that the "announced moratorium of deepwater drilling activity creates a significant risk that many of these drilling platforms would be relocated to other countries -- along with the hundreds of high-paying jobs that they each create."

Jindal seems oblivious to the "significant risk" and potentially devastating economic impact posed by the drilling itself -- risk that will be present until we figure out all of the causes of the spill and how to make sure it never happens again.

Amazingly, Jindal writes:


I fully understand the need for strict oversight of deepwater drilling. However, I would ask that the federal government move quickly to ensure that all deepwater drilling is in proper compliance with federal regulation and is conducted safely....


Jindal omnisciently -- and mistakenly -- asserts here that current federal regulations are sufficient to avoid another blowout disaster. He has no way of knowing if this is true, whereas we have every reason to believe it is false.

Under the Cheney-Bush administration, efforts to strengthen regulation were blocked and the industry demanded and achieved essentially voluntary, "trust us" self-regulation and self-certification. For instance, when the Minerals Management Service considered requiring an acoustic backup system to shut off the blowout preventer in the event of a disaster, as Brazil and Norway require, lobbying by BP and other oil companies persuaded them not to.

READ MORE:http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/feature/2010/06/03/bobby_jindal_oil_drilling

 

[mysticrose]

US to send BP bill over oil spill
11:00 AM Friday Jun 4, 2010

Washington - The White House has slapped BP with a US$69 million bill and demanded prompt payment for the first instalment of government expenses incurred in the effort to halt the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Officials also on Thursday said they would keep billing the British energy giant for all associated costs from America's biggest-ever environmental disaster, under a US law requiring oil firms to pay for cleanups.

"The Obama administration today sent a preliminary bill for US$69.09 million to BP and other responsible parties for response and recovery operations relating to the BP/Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill," the government said in a statement.

"The administration will continue to bill BP regularly for all associated costs," the statement, issued by the oil spill incident centre said.

"The administration expects prompt payment and will take additional steps as necessary to ensure that BP and other responsible parties, not American taxpayers, pay all of the costs associated with the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10649679

 

[mysticrose]

Midland Woman Helps With Oil Spill Disaster in the Gulf Coast

MIDLAND - A local oceanic engineer has been assigned a huge role to help remove the contamination of the oil spill on the Gulf Coast. NewsWest 9 had the chance to talk with her as she explained how demanding this job can be.

Stephanie Brown has family ties in Midland, but lately she's been busy braving the ocean and doing what she's passionate about, but little did Brown know her knowledge would be put to the test as the country continues to watch millions of gallons of oil spill into the Gulf Coast every day.

"Over the weeks I've been out there, you can see that it's getting worse and worse," Stephanie Brown said.

Brown is sent out weeks at a time and works with the highest authorities of the Navy, Coast Guard and BP officials.

Her duty is off shore and near shore skimming as well as putting protective booms in environmentally sensitive areas.

"It's still leaking and so there's an increase in volume everyday, but we have 40 skimming vessels out there cleaning oil, so far we cleaned 5,500 barrels alone; that's 5,500 barrels that won't hit shore," Brown said.

http://www.newswest9.com/Global/story.asp?S=12592170

 

[mysticrose]

Contradicting BP's CEO, Feds say Gulf illnesses may come from cleaning fluid


WASHINGTON &#8212; Federal regulators suspect a cleaning fluid may have sicken seven workers last week who were employed to stem the spread of oil in the Gulf, according to health and labor officials.

If true, the cause of the illness contradicts claims by BP's CEO, Tony Hayward, who claimed the illness may be unrelated to the spill and instead could be the symptoms of food poisoning.

The theory is being pursued as a growing number of workers are beginning to voice concerns that a different chemical, the dispersant Corexit, is making them sick. The EPA has urged BP to scale back on the use of the dispersant in part because of its toxicity.

On May 26, seven oil spill workers on boats off the coast of Louisiana were hospitalized after they experienced nausea, dizziness and headaches. On May 28, the disaster response team sent four more workers to the hospital by helicopter, including two who complained of chest pains.

In the first incident, a solution used for cleaning oil contaminated vessel decks "may have been one of the factors that contributed to sickening the workers who were hospitalized last week," said Joseph T. Hughes Jr., the director of the worker education-training program for the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.



Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/06/03/95318/contradicting-bps-ceo-feds-say.html#ixzz0pq1ZrCDn

 

[mysticrose]

Idyllic Alabama beach life ruined as oil globs roll ashore
By Sheldon Alberts, Washington Correspondent, Canwest News Service


DAUPHIN ISLAND, Ala. — For 45 days, the oil stayed away. It stayed in a long, invisible slick far offshore — making it more rumour than reality.


But 19-year-old Andrew Lyle never doubted it would arrive here sooner or later.


"Knowing it would come, but hoping it wouldn't," said Lyle, who, when looking for sea turtle nests on the beach Thursday, found oil instead.


Lyle was describing his own feeling of dread about the oil that's been gushing from a ruptured well since BP's Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank on April 20.


But he might just as well have been speaking for the 1,300 other residents of this barrier island, a fragile strip of white-sand beach that presents the first line of defence — against hurricanes and now oil spills — for Alabama's coastline.


After weeks of watching images of oil polluting the marshes and estuaries of Louisiana's Mississippi River Delta, the people here are just now getting their first glimpse of what the worst oil spill in American history looks like.


It's not what they expected.


Instead of coming ashore as a solid wave of crude, the oil is washing up in small brown globs the size of pennies, quarters and dollar coins.



Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/I...+roll+ashore/3106293/story.html#ixzz0pq3DQl6g

 

[mysticrose]

Contract workers remove small globs of oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on a beach in Dauphin Island, Alabama June 3, 2010.

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/I...+roll+ashore/3106293/story.html#ixzz0pq45GW5b

 

[mysticrose]

June 3, 2010, 7:57 p.m. EDT · Recommend · Post:

Spill could mean dark times for Sunshine State
Bad timing: Oil oozes closer as Florida started seeing a rebound in visitors

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Already reeling from a real-estate crisis and deep economic slump, Florida faces yet another financial cataclysm if oil from the Gulf spill mars its famous shores, scaring away crucial tourist traffic and wreaking havoc on its fisheries.

Beaches are big business in the Sunshine State. At stake there alone are hundreds of thousands of jobs and perhaps billions of dollars in revenue, depending on when and where the oil from BP PLC's /quotes/comstock/13*!bp/quotes/nls/bp (BP 39.24, -0.03, -0.08%) runaway well makes landfall.


Is oil destined for East Coast?New supercomputer simulations suggest it is "very likely" that ocean currents will carry oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico around Florida and up along thousands of miles of the Eastern seaboard this summer, researchers say. WSJ's Lee Hotz joins the News Hub with more.
Although the beaches were still in the clear as of Thursday afternoon, widespread reports of vacation cancellations are already coming in. Also, the pace of new bookings in many areas has slowed, especially in the Panhandle, which looks likely to be the first -- and maybe the worst -- area affected.

Ocean tourism (as opposed to that offered by Orlando theme parks) and recreation are among Florida's main industries, contributing an estimated $20 billion a year to the state's economy, data from the National Ocean Economics Program show. In 2008, 84.2 million visitors spent over $65 billion in Florida, supporting the more than 1 million residents directly employed by the tourism industry, according to Visit Florida, the state's official tourism-marketing arm.

To stay ahead of the slick and reassure jittery travelers, Florida tourism officials are taking to the airwaves with an ad campaign -- funded by a $25 million grant from BP.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/spill-could-mean-dark-times-for-sunshine-state-2010-06-03

 

[mysticrose]

Obama To Make Third Trip To Oil Spill Area
Kent Klein | Washington 03 June 2010


U.S. President Barack Obama will return to the Louisiana coast on Friday, to review efforts to stop a catastrophic oil spill and contain the damage. It will be his third trip to the Gulf of Mexico region since the April 20 disaster, and his second in a week.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says the president will meet with Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, who is leading the government's efforts in the region, among others. "I think the president will speak with individuals and business leaders likely that have been affected directly by the economic consequences of the spill, and continue to get from Admiral Allen a first-hand update on our progress, both in dealing with the well and in dealing with the spread of pollution that has leaked from the well," he said.

Mr. Obama has been criticized for his trip to Louisiana last week, in which he was only seen speaking with government officials and visiting a beach which had been cleaned before he arrived.

http://www1.voanews.com/english/new...ke-Third-Trip-To-Oil-Spill-Area-95576784.html