Scared Monkeys Discussion Forum

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/30/louisiana-oil-spill-2010_n_558287.html

The catastrophic explosion that caused an oil spill from a BP offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico has reached the shoreline early Friday morning. The leak is currently releasing 5,000 barrels of oil per day, and efforts to manage the spill with controlled burning, dispersal and plugging the leak were unsuccessful Thursday. This oil spill is on track to become the worst oil spill in history, surpassing the damage done by the Exxon Valdez tanker that spilled 11 million gallons of oil into the ecologically sensitive Prince William Sound in 1989. Unlike the Exxon Valdez tragedy, in which a tanker held a finite capacity of oil, BP's rig is tapped into an underwater oil well and could pump more oil into the ocean indefinitely until the leak is plugged.

Here are the first photos of the preparations for the oil hitting coastlines, which pose a serious threat to fishermen's livelihoods, marine habitats, beaches, wildlife and human health.
lot of photos at above link

this is just........
im thinking the the well head, is going to have to be blown up, in order to stop
the flow, the sea life, the spill has already taken, and is going to continue to take, i think will be far greater than what an explosion or 2 would do.
i spoke to a geolegest friend, she thinks the same thing. they know where the oil
resivor is,so it will never be lost, if they ever need to get back to it

the slick is going to follow the gulf stream current, if the well cant be capped
and the slick picked/cleaned from the water, the impact, is going to be
unimaginable, and as soon as it rounds florida,i think its gone to the point,of
a lost controled oppertunity
gulf stream map
http://www.heatingoil.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/gulf-stream-map-1.gif

http://industry.bnet.com/energy/10004288/gulf-oil-spill-the-seven-technologies-used-to-clean-it-up/?tag=shell;content

Seven Technologies Used to Clean the Gulf Oil Spill
By Chris Morrison | May 5, 2010

The oil spill at a BP drilling site in the Gulf of Mexico has morphed over two weeks from a horrific but localized accident to a full-scale environmental disaster. Following the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig, oil began gushing to the surface at an ever-increasing rate. In the worst case scenario, the daily outflow of oil is projected to reach as many as 60,000 barrels (2.5 million gallons) per day.

That means the Gulf spill is becoming far larger then the Exxon Valdez spill, in which about 10 million gallons were poured into the ocean. Recovery workers have been hard-pressed to stem the flow, with the oil first reaching Louisiana last Friday.

Yet there are a handful of techniques for cleaning up the mess, both through working beneath the waves — an immense challenge, at 5,000 feet — and atop, once the oil has surfaced. Here are seven

Blowout prevention — Within the oil industry, it’s an accepted fact that oil drilling rigs and platforms are unsafe. Despite all safety precautions, there’s always the possibility of an accident that could potentially destroy the entire rig, just as happened with the Deepwater. But when that does happen, a separate device is supposed to prevent an oil leak at the bottom: the blowout preventer. BP’s bad luck was doubled when the BOP failed to activate. Deep-sea submersibles are trying to fix the device or install a new one to stop the flow of oil at its lowest point, but have failed so far.

Containment domes – These devices, also called coffer dams, are the second of the three major methods BP hopes will eventually stop the leak entirely. Starting with one this week, BP will lower three 40-foot tall containment “domes” over the leaking sections of pipe on the seabed. Some oil will still escape, but the plan is to suck most of it up through the dome (which is actually more of a rectangle). This idea also reveals the essential crudity of our deep-ocean technology: there’s nothing subtle about dropping just under a hundred tons of concrete onto a leaking pipe

Relief wells — Even if the above two methods are successful, BP will still work on a relief well over the coming months that, when finally completed, will divert oil away from the spill site. Drilling the relief wells is a more involved process than the original well, because the drill bit must work at an angle once it penetrates the seabed. The company says its relief well will cost it $100 million.

Chemical dispersants — Combating an oil spill by dumping thousands of gallons of chemicals into the ocean sounds like a bad idea, but the “dispersants” that BP is using on the oil, sprayed from planes and helicopters, actually aren’t that far off from common detergent. The dispersant works by breaking up the heavy oils, just like you see in commercials for dishwasher fluid. At the source of the leak, submersibles are injecting more dispersants into the oil as it jets out, preventing some of it from ever reaching the surface

Oil skimmers — Since some oil sits on top of the water, a clever skimming system can separate the oil to be siphoned away (and potentially even sold on the market like normal oil). Skimming devices can range from small to massive, but despite advances in the technology, none are large enough to deal with a Gulf-sized spill, at least without months of work.

Fire — One of the oldest technologies known to man, this sounds like a quick solution to the oil: we all know that gasoline, at least, will burn off quickly and even explode. But the “sweet crude” welling up is actually a thick, heavy substance that doesn’t always burn easily or evenly. The Coast Guard attempted to burn enough oil to prevent it from reaching the Louisiana coastline, but failed.

Booms and barriers – Although incapable of actually cleaning up the oil spill, “booms” are floating barriers intended to keep the oil from spreading too far. The Coast Guard brought plenty to the spill, but rough seas rendered them ineffective when waves began sweeping oil right over the booms. Other barriers, more akin to fences, are sometimes used close to shore.

Of course, even if all of these methods worked perfectly to clean the oil, simply tracking where it is at any given time is a challenge unto itself. My colleague Erik Sherman just wrote up a good overview of the remote monitoring tools that help workers figure out where all the oil is going.

But as Erik points out, the monitoring technology is far short of perfect. That’s even more the case for the cleanup technologies I’ve listed above; in fact, little has changed since the Valdez spill, which rewrote US oil-industry policy but didn’t produce much innovation. Given the public outcry so far about the Gulf spill, however, we’re likely to see a wave of new spill mitigation technologies in the coming years.

[Some pictures courtesy of BP]

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/may2010/2010-05-06-02.html

BP Oil Washes Up on Louisiana's Wildlife Refuge Islands

HOUMA, Louisiana, May 6, 2010 (ENS) - Emulsified orange oil today washed up on the northernmost island in the Chandeleur and Breton Island chain, in one of the earliest signs that oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill has touched land along the Gulf of Mexico coast.

Breton Island and all of the Chandeleur Islands in St. Bernard and Plaquemine Parish, Louisiana are part of the Breton National Wildlife Refuge. Established in 1904, Breton NWR is now a nesting site for the Louisiana state bird, the brown pelican, just removed from the U.S. Endangered Species List last year.

Oil was seen at several other places along the islands on Wednesday by two teams of scientists who flew over the area, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association scientist Jacqui Michel told reporters during a teleconference today.

"That's the only shoreline oiling that we have been able to find," said Michel. "It is pretty amazing that we've had the oil in the water for this long a period of time and so little shoreline oiling."

U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry told reporters today, "We are starting to see the first impact of oil in the Chandaleur Islands. This is a very serious spill, she said, but there is a very committed effort to work together to stop the flow of oil and mitigate the damage."

"We have sent a crew of 22 with clean-up materials and absorbent boom," to the Chandeleur Islands, St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro said in a statement. He says the parish has not been provided with enough oil containment boom material to keep oil off vulnerable areas like the Chandaleur Islands.

Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Enforcement agents discovered two dead gannets, possibly killed by the ongoing Deepwater Horizon oil spill, on Wednesday. Gannets are large seabirds commonly found in Louisiana's coastal areas.

A determination has not been made on the cause of the birds' deaths, but agents confirmed that the birds were covered in oil when found near the Grand Gosier Islands off of Plaquemines Parish.

The agents gave the birds to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel in Venice, Louisiana who will be responsible for determining the cause of the deaths.

In Houston, Texas tonight Interior Secretary Salazar announced that new approvals for offshore oil drilling will be halted for three weeks until the Department of the Interior completes the safety review process requested by President Barack Obama. The department must deliver its report to the President by May 28.

The only exceptions to the new rule regarding permit approvals are the two relief wells that are being drilled in response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

In addition, Minerals Management Service Director Liz Birnbaum sent a letter today to Shell Oil Company President Marvin Odum confirming that MMS will not make a final decision on the requested permits for the drilling of exploration wells in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas in the Arctic until the Department of the Interior's report to the President has been submitted and evaluated.

Research by the Center for Biological Diversity research and the Washington Post expose have shown that the Minerals Management Service approved BP's drilling plan without any environmental review.

The agency "categorically excluded" BP's drilling, and hundreds of other offshore drilling permits, from environmental review using a loophole in the National Environmental Policy Act created for minimally intrusive actions.

"The three week time out is welcome news," said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, "but it is too little, too late. We need a permanent, nationwide moratorium on all new offshore oil drilling."

"President Obama should rescind his March, 2010 decision to open up Alaska, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Coast to dangerous, uncontrollable offshore oil drilling," he said

"If BP's disastrous spill had occurred in the Arctic instead of the Gulf of Mexico, the impact would orders of magnitude worse," said Suckling, "Salazar should immediate revoke Shell Oil's faulty permit. If he does not, the Arctic will be at risk of a massive oil spill as soon as this summer."

"This spill spells disaster for birds in this region and beyond," said George Fenwick, president of the nonprofit American Bird Conservancy. "The complexity of the Gulf coastline, with numerous bays, estuaries, inlets, marshes and creeks, will make cleanup extremely difficult. Impacts could last for decades for much of the habitat, and some species may suffer significant long-term population declines."

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is fed by oil gushing at the rate of 5,000 barrels a day from a broken wellhead on the sea floor about 51 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana.

The pipe was left uncapped by the fiery explosion aboard the oil rig Deepwater Horizon April 2O in which 11 crewmembers lost their lives. The rig sank on April 22 and is now lying on the sea floor about 1,300 feet from the wellhead. The rig is owned by the Swiss company Transocean and was leased by BP Exploration and Production, the party responsible for stopping the flow of oil and clean up the damage.

BP is using skimmers, controlled burns and chemical dispersants in an attempt to control the oil spill. On Wednesday the company deployed a 40 foot-tall containment dome to the site and plans to maneuver it over the wellhead with remotely operate subs. Then pipes will be lowered to direct the flow of oil up to a drillship on the surface. If all goes according to plan this system could be operational by Monday.

BP also plans to send material down the pipes to plug the well, stopping most of the oil from spilling into the gulf. The company must also deal with a second, smaller leak in the piping from the sunken rig now strewn across the seafloor.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2010. All rights reserved.
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reference for ship in pic
86 meters = 282.152231 feet
http://ships-for-sale.com/dry_cargo_carrier.htm

67 meters = 219.816273 feet
http://ships-for-sale.com/container_ship_for_sale.htm

Gulf Coast oil spill (Updated: Thursday, May 6) and map
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2010/05/06/GR2010050605448.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/04/AR2010050402980.html

After Gulf Coast oil spill, scientists envision devastation for region
By Joel Achenbach
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 5, 2010

The urgent question along the polluted Gulf of Mexico: How bad will this get?
No one knows, but with each day that the leaking oil well a mile below the surface remains uncapped, scientists and energy industry observers are imagining outcomes that range from bad to worse to worst, with some forecasting a calamity of historic proportions. Executives from oil giant BP and other energy companies, meanwhile, shared their own worst-case scenario in a Capitol Hill meeting with lawmakers, saying that if they fail to close the well,the spill could increase from an estimated 5,000 barrels a day to 40,000 barrels or possibly even 60,000 barrels.

Three scientists in separate interviews Tuesday said the gulf's "loop current," a powerful conveyor belt that extends about 3,000 feet deep, will almost surely take the oil down through the eastern gulf to the Straits of Florida, a week-long trip, roughly. The oil would then hang a sharp left, riding the Florida Current past the Keys and north again, directly into the Gulf Stream, which could carry it within spitting distance of Palm Beach and up the East Coast to Cape Hatteras, N.C.

For the moment, the oil flowing from the blown-out well in what the industry calls Mississippi Canyon Block 252 is still many miles north of the loop current. A three-day forecast by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration does not show the oil and the current crossing paths. But Robert Weisberg, an oceanographer at the University of South Florida who has been monitoring the situation, said a new filament of the current is reaching toward the oil slick.

"The loop current is actually going to the oil, versus the oil going to the loop current," Weisberg said.

The crisis in the gulf is shot through with guesses, rough estimates and murky figures. Whether the oil blows onshore depends on fickle winds. This oil slick has been elusive and enigmatic, lurking off the coast of Louisiana for many days as if choosing its moment of attack. It has changed sizes: In rough, churning seas, the visible slick at the surface has shrunk in recent days.

The oil by its nature is hard to peg. It's not a single, coherent blob but rather an irregular, amoeba-shaped expanse that in some places forms a thin sheen on the water and in other locations is braided and stretched into tendrils of thick, orange-brown gunk. There may be a large plume of oil in the water column, unseen.

A BP executive said the company has had success in treating the oil at the point of the leak with dispersant chemicals sprayed by a robotic submarine. A federal fleet has fought high waves in attempts to skim or burn the oil. Rough weather has actually been a blessing, said Ian MacDonald, an oceanography professor at Florida State University. In heavy surf, the oil has been breaking up, and toxic, volatile substances have been evaporating.

"It chews up the oil; some of it sinks," MacDonald said.

The good news ends there.

"What remains forms what's called mousse, which is like chocolate mousse. It's an emulsion, which is an emulsion of oil, air and water, in a thick, gelatinous layer, and that's nasty stuff," MacDonald said.

No one is sure how much oil is spilling. An early estimate by the Coast Guard of a 1,000-barrel-a-day flow was upped to 5,000 barrels with the discovery of an additional leak, but officials now caution against giving any estimate too much credence.

Page 2 of 2
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/04/AR2010050402980_2.html?sid=ST2010050405322
 
The oil so far has barely touched coastal islands and hasn't come ashore, but environmentalists are poised for a catastrophic impact that could last decades.

"It's going to have a ripple effect throughout the entire food chain, from the plankton to the fish that consume them, to the predators, like the pelicans and the dolphins," said Doug Inkley, a senior scientist with the National Wildlife Federation. "It's like a slow-moving train wreck about which you can do nothing, or very little."

At a news conference Tuesday, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) said he had asked federal officials to look for ways to increase the Mississippi River's flow to keep the slick at bay.

"Let's make no mistake about what's at stake here," he said. "This is our very way of life."

The crisis began April 20 with an explosion and fire on the Deepwater Horizon, a huge rig owned by Transocean and leased by BP. The South Korean-built rig, insured for $560 million, sank two days later; the riser, the pipe leading to the rig, collapsed. Three leaks have developed, the largest at the end of the drill pipe that extends from the end of the riser.

Robotic submarines have tried to activate a structure called a blowout preventer that sits atop the wellhead and has multiple tools for clamping the flow of oil in an emergency. So far those efforts have failed.

"It's really, really devastating," said Greg McCormack, director of the Petroleum Extension Service at the University of Texas. "On the political front, are we going to be allowed to drill in the deep water again? That's going to be more devastating to society than to the industry. We're going to have much higher oil prices because of that."

Few people have a more apocalyptic view than Matt Simmons, retired chairman of the energy investment banking firm Simmons & Company International and a 41-year veteran of the industry. Simmons, who will speak at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston this week, has been famous in recent years for warning that the industry is running out of oil. Now he sees a disaster on an epic scale as the pressurized subterranean reservoir known as the Macondo field, tapped for the first time by Deepwater Horizon, continues to vent into the gulf.

"It really is a catastrophe," Simmons said. "I don't think they're going to be able to put the leak out until the reservoir depletes. It's just too technically challenging."

He said BP's cleanup costs could ruin the company.

"They're going to have to clean up the Gulf of Mexico," he said.

Jindal's news conference Tuesday opened with an invocation from Randy Craighead, the pastor of a New Orleans area church. He asked for divine intervention.

"Father, we pray for a prevailing north wind," he said, "to drive that oil slick southward."

Staff writer David Fahrenthold in New Orleans contributed to this report.

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quoting my dingy self


map
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2010/05/06/GR2010050605448.html

well from looking at the map at link, i think im reading the map correctly
there can not be, any bombing, explosions ect,of that area
all the little grey specs, are wells and derricks,see jpg too
there has to be, over 200, in the gulf, mind blowing, how much
oil we use

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6430AR20100520?type=domesticNews&feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews

Florida tar balls not from BP well
Wed, May 19 2010
pics and tar ball video at above link

video
http://www.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=89098810&newsChannel=wtMostRead

(Reuters) - BP Plc said on Thursday it was siphoning off more of the oil gushing from its ruptured Gulf of Mexico well, but the energy giant faced "cover-up" allegations over its struggling response to the catastrophic month-old spill.

The oil plume escaping from the riser pipe has visibly declined today," BP spokesman Mark Proegler said after the company announced that a mile-long tube tapping into the larger of two leaks from the well was now capturing 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons/795,000 liters) per day of oil.

However, a live video feed of the leak, provided by BP, showed a black plume of crude oil still billowing out into the deep waters.

"It's just not working," U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, who heads the Environment and Public Works Committee, told CNN as she watched the BP video. The California Democrat denounced a "cover-up" of the real size of the oil spill.

The increased amount of oil BP reports being captured tallied with an estimate -- originally given by government and BP officials overseeing the spill response -- for the total crude leaking from the Macondo well that blew out on April 20. The resulting rig explosion killed 11 workers.

Proegler and other BP spokesmen made clear the increased containment, while an advance, was not siphoning all the escaping oil. "We're not claiming that we stopped it -- although that is our final objective. We're saying that this is what we're capturing now," he said.

DISPUTE OVER LEAK DATA

The U.S. government, grappling with a potentially huge environmental and economic disaster, said on Thursday it would not rely only on data given by well owner BP, but would make its own checks
per day or even more.

"The truth needs to be told ... At some point we need to stop all this cover-up," Boxer said.

With heavy oil sloshing ashore in Louisiana's fragile marshlands, heralding an ecological catastrophe, President Barack Obama's administration faces criticism that it has been too willing to accept BP's estimates of the gushing oil.

Popular anger against BP has risen, especially among Gulf Coast residents -- shrimpers, fishermen and tourism operators -- who fear their livelihoods will be devastated by the spill.

BP's shares, after initially falling in London trading, closed just over 1 percent up.

BP CEO Tony Hayward has been quoted recently by British media as playing down the size of the spill and its environmental impact.

"We're not depending on what BP is telling us," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told CNN.

Steve Wereley, associate mechanical engineering professor at Purdue University, said most independent estimates of the spill flow were "considerably higher than BP's."

"This is not rocket science," Wereley told a U.S. congressional panel on Wednesday.

BP spokesmen said the original 5,000 bpd estimate was given by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Salazar said BP was responsible for damages so getting accurate data was essential. "It's a grave and a very serious situation and we're taking nothing for granted," Salazar told NBC's "Today" show.

Wildlife and environmental groups have accused BP of holding back information on the real size and impact of the growing slick and on the quantity and toxicity of dispersants being used against the oil, both above and below the water.

A BP spokesman said the company had received a letter from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asking it to switch to other dispersants. "We are looking at what we can to do to comply," he said.

The spokesman was responding to a Washington Post report that said the EPA informed BP officials late on Wednesday that the company had 24 hours to choose a less toxic form of chemical dispersants to break up the oil spill.

The report, citing government sources, said U.S. officials worried about the environmental impact of the dispersants.

"BP'S MESS"

Sheets of heavy oil came ashore in Louisiana's wetlands on Wednesday for the first time since the rig exploded a month ago. The marshes are nurseries for shrimp, oysters, crabs and fish that make Louisiana the top commercial seafood producer in the continental United States. Fishing is banned in a large part of the Gulf waters because of the spill.

In Pass-a-Loutre, La., thick sheets of gooey brown oil swamped islands of marsh grass at the southern tip of a Mississippi River channel on Thursday.

"To see the extent to which it is oiled and and the depth into the island is stunning," said Maura Wood of the National Wildlife Federation's Coastal Louisiana Restoration Project.

The oil pollution covers only a fragment of the vast network of waterways, channels and islands that make up the Delta region, but environmentalists fear it is just the start.

"It's going to take a long time for us to recover from BP's mess," boat captain Richard Blink said. (Additional reporting by Jeff Mason, Tabassum Zakaria, Vicki Allen, Tom Bergin, Tom Brown and Pascal Fletcher; Writing by Jane Sutton and Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Doina Chiacu

live feeds of the oil spill, the first two are working well, but slow to load
just google bp oil spill live feed for more shots

Live video link from the ROV monitoring the damaged riser
http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/homepage/STAGING/local_assets/bp_homepage/html/rov_stream.html

 Local News > WKRG.com Live Oil Spill Cam
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wkrg
------------------------------------------
more info an vids
http://topics.nola.com/tag/oil-spill-gulf-of-mexico-2010/photos.html

another vid
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/live_feed_of_bp_oil_spill_in_g.html


BP shows Oil Spill Live Feed as slick scale estimates questioned
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULLHYmz98P0&NR=1

im trying not to freak out, over this but the more i read, the more
my panick button wants to go off
found this little tidbit, so what is millions of gallons of oil doing to the gulf

in: Rubbish/Contamination
A single quart of motor oil can contaminate up to 2 million gallons of drinking water. Interesting Ocean Facts
http://www.savethesea.org/STS%20ocean_facts.htm


Track the Gulf of Mexico oil spill movement in animated graphic
By Dan Swenson, The Times-Picayune
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/gulf_of_mexico_oil_spill_anima.html

more info
Graphic shows how leaking oil well could be plugged by 'top kill' method
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/graphic_shows_how_leaking_oil.html

How the Gulf of Mexico oil spill happened: a graphic presentation
http://media.nola.com/news_impact/other/oil-cause-050710.pdf
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/how_the_gulf_of_mexico_oil_spi.html

A timeline of the Gulf of Mexico oil rig explosion and spill
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/a_timeline_of_the_gulf_of_mexi.html

i guess there needs to be a new way of shipping oil, maybe I don't know what I am talking about but CW you have done a lot of research on this. I haven't read much but I think you would be able to find a new way to transport oil, imo.

folks all i can say is this is really important, and stay informed about this situation
in: Rubbish/Contamination
A single quart of motor oil can contaminate up to 2 million gallons of drinking water. Interesting Ocean Facts
http://www.savethesea.org/STS%20ocean_facts.htm

when you do a search for your own research google this
...Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico...

the problem is not just a spill,that needs cleaned up now,or the way we ship it
it is a massive ongoing oil spill,that needs capped plugged
stopped somehow from flowing.read below,and check the links
JMO this situation is going to impact, every living being on this planet
for yrs to come, we may never recover from this, if the ongoing oil spill
is not stopped, check out how the oceans currents work, water is our life
if the oceans are destroyed,this pretty blue and green place called earth
and our home, will be.........
im not trying to be the bearer of a doomsday scenario, but its not looking
good, the key is to stop that flow, i thought it could be done by an explosion
or two but.... see this post,
http://scaredmonkeys.net/index.php?topic=7735.msg1128797#msg1128797

you should really research this yourself
we are in trouble here, and somewhere in my posts was a hint of a BP cover up
WTH, its time to work together not cover up or bicker


and i think it is 3 leaks now, ill have to recheck that info


The Deepwater Horizon oil spill (also referred to as the BP Oil Spill, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, or the Macondo blowout)[3][4][5] is a massive ongoing oil spill stemming from a sea floor oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico. The spill started with an oil well blowout on April 20, 2010 which caused a catastrophic explosion on the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil drilling platform that was situated about 40 miles (64 km) southeast of the Louisiana coast. Eleven platform workers are missing and presumed dead; the explosion also injured 17 others. The gusher originates from a deepwater oil well 5,000 feet (1,500 m) below the ocean surface. Numerous estimates have been made for the amount of oil being discharged, ranging from BP's current estimate of over 5,000 barrels (210,000 US gallons; 790,000 litres) to as much as 100,000 barrels (4,200,000 US gallons; 16,000,000 litres) of crude oil per day. The exact spill flow rate is uncertain – in part because BP has refused to allow independent scientists to perform accurate measurements[6] – and is a matter of ongoing debate. The resulting oil slick covers a surface area of at least 2,500 square miles (6,500 km2) according to estimates reported on May 3, 2010, with the exact size and location of the slick fluctuating from day to day depending on weather conditions.[7] In addition, on May 15, researchers announced the discovery of immense underwater plumes of oil not visible from the surface.

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

here is a good start,for trying to understand, what  this spill/and still spewing/flow and travel of the oil,is impacting and going to impact
 
Sylvia Earle to U.S. Congress: Cheap oil is costing the Earth
http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/chiefeditor/2010/05/cheap-oil-is-costing-us-the-earth.html

once it goes down the coast of fl and around the keys, it will
be in the atlantic

Gulf Oil Is in the Loop Current, Experts Say
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/05/100518-gulf-mexico-oil-spill-loop-current-science-environment/

the spilling could destroy all of this
 
Florida Keys Reef Creatures Guide
http://frankosmaps.com/maps/product/Frankos-Florida-Keys-Reef-Creatures-Guide.html

Gulf Oil Leaks Could Gush for Years
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/05/100513-science-environment-gulf-oil-spill-cap-leak/

BPs spill of 2006
JMO, soon after that the polar bear plight,made world news
within one season the bears habitat, had a sharp increase
of food shortages, and ice flow,i think the spill had something
to do with that, i believe, bp is still on probation

http://newsjunkiepost.com/2009/06/18/justice-department-targets-bp-over-massive-2006-oil-spill/
-spill-cap-leak/

The 1979 blowout in the Gulf of Mexico near Cuidad del Carmen of a PEMEX well released at least ten times as much petroleum   as the BP Deepwater Horizon blowout has so far released.  This should provide some idea of the Gulf's recuperative capacity in the aftermath of massive environmental insult.  While it doesn't negate the gravity of the current situation, it does offer some hope for environmental restoration and recovery. 

From your typing fingers to God's ears, Steve!

I know this is too simple to have not been thought of, but I keep looking at it and thinking that if they inserted a flexible sleeve down to and past the hole, that it should at least really reduce the amount of oil spilling out.

http://www.al.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/
After BP inaction, Fairhope will deploy its own boom
By Russ Henderson
June 06, 2010, 7:09AM
(http://media.al.com/mobile-press-register/photo/fairhope-booms-9f7fcec22a9a36d2_large.jpg)
Booms are loaded into boats in Fairhope, Ala., on May 13, 2010, as part of preparations to deal with the continuing Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Frustrated by BP PLC's failure to do booming work it had promised, the Fairhope City Council voted Friday, June 4, 2010, to spend $625,575 to deploy two layers of boom in Mobile Bay from the Fairhope Yacht Club to the Grand Hotel Marriott Resort & Spa in Point Clear.
FAIRHOPE, Ala. -- Frustrated by BP PLC's failure to do booming work it had promised, the City Council voted Friday morning to spend $625,575 to deploy two layers of boom in Mobile Bay from the Fairhope Yacht Club to the Grand Hotel Marriott Resort & Spa in Point Clear.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100606/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill
Gulf containment cap closely watched in 2nd day

  By HOLBROOK MOHR and JOHN FLESHER, Associated Press Writers Holbrook Mohr And John Flesher, Associated Press Writers   – 3 mins ago

ON BARATARIA BAY, La. – A containment cap that sucked some of the oil from a blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico offered a small sign of progress for a region that has seen its wildlife coated in a lethal oil muck, its fishermen idled and its beaches tarnished by the nation's worst oil spill.

BP chief executive Tony Hayward told the BBC on Sunday that over the last 24 hours, the cap placed on the gusher near the sea floor trapped about 420,000 gallons of oil. It's not clear how much is still escaping — an estimated 500,000 to 1 million gallons of crude is believed to be leaking daily.

Hayward said he believed the cap is likely to capture "the majority, probably the vast majority" of the oil gushing from the well.

The next step is for engineers at BP PLC to attempt to close vents on the cap that were deliberately allowing streams of oil to escape the system so water cannot get inside. When water and gas combined in an earlier containment box, it formed a frozen slush that foiled the system.

The federal government's point man for the response, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, said the goal is to gradually increase the amount of the oil being captured. He compared the process to stopping the flow of water from a garden hose with a finger: "You don't want to put your finger down too quickly, or let it off too quickly."
While BP plans to eventually use an additional set of hoses and pipes to increase the amount of oil being  trapped, the ultimate solution remains a relief well that should be finished by August.

The urgency of that task was apparent along the Gulf Coast nearly seven weeks after a BP rig exploded and the wellhead a mile below the surface began belching millions of gallon of oil.

Pelicans struggle to free themselves from oil, thick as tar, that gathers in hip-deep pools, while others stretch out useless wings, feathers dripping with crude. Dead birds and dolphins wash ashore, coated in the sludge. Seashells are stained crimson.

"These waters are my backyard, my life," said boat captain Dave Marino, a firefighter and fishing guide from Myrtle Grove. "I don't want to say heartbreaking, because that's been said. It's a nightmare. It looks like it's going to be wave after wave of it and nobody can stop it."

The oil has steadily spread east, washing up in greater quantities in recent days.

Government officials estimate that roughly 22 million to 48 million gallons have leaked into the Gulf since the April 20 explosion that killed 11 workers.

A line of oil mixed with seaweed stretched all across the beach Sunday morning in Gulf Shores, Ala. The oil often wasn't visible, hidden beneath the washed-up plants. At a cleaning station outside a huge condominium tower, Leon Baum was scrubbing oil off his feet with Dawn dishwashing detergent.

Baum drove with his children and grandchildren from Bebee, Ark., for their annual vacation on Alabama's coast. They had contemplated leaving because of the oil, but they've already spent hundreds of dollars on their getaway.

"After you drive all this way, you stay," Baum said.
Alabama Gov. Bob Riley and Allen met for more than an hour Saturday in Mobile, Ala., agreeing to a new plan that would significantly increase protection on the state's coast with larger booms, beachfront barriers, skimmers and a new system to protect Perdido Bay near the Florida line.

At Pensacola Beach, Erin Tamber, who moved to the area from New Orleans after surviving Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, inspected a beach stained orange by the retreating tide.

"I feel like I've gone from owning a piece of paradise to owning a toxic waste dump," she said.

Back in Louisiana, along the beach at Queen Bess Island, oil pooled several feet deep, trapping birds against containment boom. The futility of their struggle was confirmed when Joe Sartore, a National Geographic photographer, sank thigh deep in oil on nearby East Grand Terre Island and had to be pulled from the tar.

"I would have died if I would have been out here alone," he said.

With no oil response workers on Queen Bess, Plaquemines Parish coastal zone management director P.J. Hahn decided he could wait no longer, pulling an exhausted brown pelican from the oil, slime dripping from its wings.

"We're in the sixth week, you'd think there would be a flotilla of people out here," Hahn said. "As you can see, we're so far behind the curve in this thing."

After six weeks with one to four birds a day coming into Louisiana's rescue center for oiled birds at Fort Jackson, 53 arrived Thursday and another 13 Friday morning, with more on the way. Federal authorities say 792 dead birds, sea turtles, dolphins and other wildlife have been collected from the Gulf of Mexico and its coastline.
Yet scientists say the wildlife death toll remains relatively modest, well below the tens of thousand of birds, otters and other creatures killed after the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Alaska's Prince William Sound. The numbers have stayed comparatively low because the Deepwater Horizon rig was 50 miles off the coast and most of the oil has stayed in the open sea. The Valdez ran aground on a reef close to land, in a more enclosed setting.

Experts say the Gulf's marshes, beaches and coastal waters, which nurture a dazzling array of life, could be transformed into killing fields, though the die-off could take months or years and unfold largely out of sight. The damage could be even greater beneath the water's surface, where oil and dispersants could devastate zooplankton and tiny invertebrates at the base of the food chain.

"People naturally tend to focus on things that are most conspicuous, like oiled birds, but in my opinion the impacts on fisheries will be much more severe," said Rich Ambrose, director of the environmental science and engineering at program at UCLA.

The Gulf is also home to dolphins and species including the endangered sperm whale. A government report found that dolphins with prolonged exposure to oil in the 1990s experienced skin injuries and burns, reduced neurological functions and lower hemoglobin levels in their blood. It concluded that the effects probably wouldn't be lethal because many creatures would avoid the oil. Yet dolphins in the Gulf have been spotted swimming through plumes of crude.

The prospect left fishing guide Marino shaking his head, as he watched the oil washing into a marsh and over the body of a dead pelican. Species like shrimp and crab flourish here, finding protection in the grasses. Fish, birds and other creatures feed here.

"It's going to break that cycle of life," Marino said. "It's like pouring gas in your aquarium. What do you think that's going to do?"

(http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/media/ALeqM5jr4qIhcbgWXzfbyx4DRKljxqUrLQ?size=l)
Plaquemines Parish coastal zone director P.J. Hahn lifts an oil-covered pelican which was stuck in oil at Queen Bess Island in Barataria Bay, just off the Gulf of Mexico in Plaquemines Parish, La., Saturday, June 5, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)


(http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/media/ALeqM5hP2D03IVCy1tHUiCwMgeLjq5VSlg?size=l)
People walk near the dark brown stain of beached oil in Gulf Shores, Ala., Saturday, June 5, 2010. Oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster has started washing ashore on the Alabama and Florida coast beaches. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

(http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/media/ALeqM5hWd41f7N3-gftVzI7skfh3zc5FsQ?size=l)
Oil slicks move toward the beach in Gulf Shores, Ala., Saturday, June 5, 2010. Oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster has started washing ashore on the Alabama and Florida coast beaches. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

(http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/media/ALeqM5gW_24YG8q5i8XbPXpUQb-NMONLag?size=l)
An oil-covered pelican tries unsuccessfully to fly off a post at Wilkerson Canal where it meets the north shore of Barataria Bay in Plaquemines Parish, La., Saturday, June 5, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

More photos at link.....   http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gIXWYBTpLtSayJtg41LKXpxSxVPAD9G5PA780

I'll be updating on this thread and JSM's what is TRULY happening from a local's point of view. As I posted yesterday the BP workers (all but two) spent the 6+ hours I was on the beach under a tent shooting the breeze while locals and Island Authority officials cleaned up the beaches :(  Granted when CNN, FOX, AP etc cameras are rolling whil Jimmy Buffet walked the beach with the governor they got out from the tent and actually worked, but the moment they were gone, back to the tent.........so sad because we have been told to not pick up the tar balls and let the workers do it, however if we listened to that our beach would still be littered instead of clean. It warms my heart to see even the tourist and small kids with their parents and locals out there with small shovels working all day to keep the beach clean. Today I am going out with the camera to document the "inaction" and upload them to Youtube and send to Fox News. At this moment the officials from BP are inland meeting (well, let me re-phrase that-they are getting their @ss chewed out by locals) so we shall see if it makes any difference, also the storm yesterday cleaned up what was left so I'll go search for tarballs myself because there have to be some out there, and pick them up while documenting the "paid worker" doing nothing. I personally had to take the tarballs I collected yesterday to the bums sitting under their tent to dispose of them.

Also, I am furious as this oil is easy to contain by the use of super tankers like the clean up of the 93 Persian Gulf oil spill, the tankers cleaned up 800 million gallons and still salvaged 85% of the oil. One has to wonder WHY the Federal Government has done jack chit to contain this spill, but I think I am beginning to figure that out. The dispersant used to break down the oil is toxic and made by Nalco, just google that with oil spill and look at the ties with NALCO to Gore, Soros, Rezko, University of Chicago and one has to wonder if it's more profitable since the stock price has increased big time since the use of the toxic dispersant is being used at mass proportions, so WHO profits from NOT containing the oil????? Follow the money and that's where the answers will be found. This is a Federal disaster and should be handled that way, obviously BP is to blame, but so is MMS the regulatory division of the government that regulates offshore drilling, and knew 6 wks before the spill that the well was unstable and hard to control, it should have been shut down ASAP at that point and I have to wonder why it wasn't...........could it be the political donations from BP to the Obama campaign??? Sounds crazy I know, but no crazier than the lack of inaction by the federal government in obtaining fire booms in the first days which can burn 75,000 gallons an hour, or the use of the SuperTankers that are able to hold over 1.4 million gallons and this is a KNOWN way to contain it, and has been submitted to BP and the Coast guard to help, so WTF didn't they jump on this instead of allowing the fragile ecosystem of the marshes and estuaries to be destroyed for decades to come (Aganda-cap and trade comes to mind)


http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/bp-oil-spill-cleanup-costs-060410




Forget the president's latest Friday-afternoon jaunt to Louisiana. Here's the news that really got buried headed into the weekend: Former Shell Oil President John Hofmeister had his first substantive and detailed talk yesterday with Coast Guard officials in Louisiana regarding the viability and importance of deploying supertankers to the Gulf in an effort to recover the oil in the water before it ruins any more coastline.

Hofmeister has been extraordinarily tenacious in pursuit of this idea, and hopefully this breakthrough signifies serious movement toward action.

After all, it is not as if BP would have trouble finding supertankers to clean up the Gulf.

In all the world, there are 538 VLCC's, or Very Large Crude Carriers. The English, especially those in the shipping trade, sneer at the term "supertanker" that we Americans have popularized for these massive vessels. "It's a bad tag," a wise young tanker broker in London told me this morning. They prefer instead to describe the ship's line and its DWT, or dead weight tonnage, because those things convey more useful information. Pardon me, but I prefer the term supertanker, because in the Gulf of Mexico we've got a super problem. Anyway, VLCC is a little dry.

In any case, as of this morning, of these 538 supertankers dotting the oceans of the world, 47 were basically inert, being used for something the young English broker called "floating storage." That is, they were full of crude oil, going nowhere. And half of these are full of Iranian heavy crude, which for various reasons no one seems to want. The point of this being that we've got a glut of crude on the market at the moment, and it is cheaper to store the oil on 47 of these tankers than sell it. This phenomenon is what is known in the petroleum business as a "contango," where the delivery price exceeds the market price that you can get for the oil.

Which is all to say that were BP to get supertankers into the Gulf of Mexico to pursue a suck-and-salvage strategy (which The Politics Blog has written about extensively) to get the oil out of the water before the worst of it comes ashore — or before it contaminates the sea floor — it is not as if the company would have a difficult time finding tankers. In fact, it's not as if it would even have to divert tankers from its own fleet, and remove them from their regular runs picking up and delivering oil.

That's where tanker brokers come in. The young English broker at EA Gibson shipbroking that I spoke with, as well as the very helpful tanker broker I spoke with from Simpson Spence & Young on Long Island, broke things down. It is a special knowledge they have, and many calculations go into determining what the services of one of these vessels is worth, but chartering a tanker isn't rocket science. And yes, diverting a tanker from commerce to cleanup will cost BP a premium, but that cost is nothing compared to the ruination of vital coastline and of whole economies. I mean, look at the size of this thing.

Basically, these guys told us that per day, these tankers earn their owners roughly $45,000. If you were to approach one of these brokers looking to charter, on behalf of their owners they would ask a premium, maybe $1,000,000 per day, according to the broker from SSY. Negotiations would bring that down to something more acceptable to both parties, this broker said, and he also indicated that as a premium it wouldn't be unusual for the ship's owner to ask for and get ten times what it normally earns on its daily runs.

So for argument's (and BP's) sake, let's say that when BP charters the necessary tankers (and they will have to, eventually), the tanker broker makes them a deal for $450,000 a day. And let's say that BP orders up six tankers, and for a problem the size of the one they've created, these supertankers and their pumping and storage capacity are needed for six months.

At that rate, six supertankers for six months comes to $494,100,000. Round up and call it a half-billion dollars. On the ghost of Lord Browne, we are here to say that that will be the best half-billion BP every spent.

Obviously, these are the roughest of calculations, as today's rate won't necessarily be tomorrow's rate, but you get the idea. And again, a drop in the bucket compared to the bankrupting settlements they'll otherwise have to pay for destroying whole coastlines, economies, and ways of life.

And, gentlemen, that just accounts for supertankers. There are thousands and thousands of smaller-capacity tankers that are certainly more plentiful and might even save BP a buck. Or if they get more ambitious about cleaning up the Gulf, there are even a handful of ULCC's, or Ultra-Large Crude Carriers, on earth. At 400,000 metric tons, they're even bigger than the supertankers.

But what becomes clearer by the day is that this solution, which would be difficult under the best of circumstances, gets harder as the oil in the water migrates and changes in character (thanks to environmental conditions and a million gallons of dispersant).

There is no time for further study or more data. Enough smart people think this idea is feasible and is not technically that challenging to merit trying it immediately.

The other efforts to mitigate the oil — burning, skimming, dispersing — have failed or are failing. Unless someone comes forward with a better idea, now, the only alternative to the tanker solution is to watch the worst of the oil come ashore, and say goodbye to so much



http://renergie.wordpress.com/2010/05/25/bp-is-not-the-only-responsible-party/


BP is Not the Only Responsible Party
Posted on May 25, 2010. Filed under: BP,Deepwater Horizon,Dispersants,Federalize,Oil Pollution Act,Oil Spill,Responsible Party,USCG |

BP is Not the Only Responsible Party

By Brian J. Donovan

May 24, 2010

INTRODUCTION

The U.S. Coast Guard has named both BP (owner of the well) and Transocean (the owner and operator of Deepwater Horizon) as “responsible parties” in the oil spill that resulted from the explosion on April 20, 2010 and subsequent sinking of the oil rig Deepwater Horizon on April 22, 2010. Cameron (the company that manufactured the blowout preventer that failed to function after the explosion) and Halliburton (which performed drilling services like cementing) may also be found to be legally responsible. Since April 20, 2010, “BP is the responsible party” has been repeated so many times by President Obama, Secretary Salazar, Secretary Napolitano, Admiral Allen, and NOAA Administrator Lubchenco that it has become the truth. The truth is, in addition to Transocean and possibly Cameron and Halliburton, the Minerals Management Service (MMS), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) are also responsible, although not legally liable, for heavy crude oil entering the Louisiana wetlands and the loop current.

Recently Renergie, Inc. submitted unsolicited proposals to U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL), the Governor of Louisiana, and the USCG for the purpose of: (a) collecting the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico with three Panamax crude tankers; (b) separating the oil and water onboard the tankers; and (c) transporting the separated crude oil to a shoreside facility. The three tankers employed by Renergie, Inc. would be capable of collecting 1,419,000 barrels of the BP oil spill; and, via a series of  onboard skid-mounted three-stage oil/water separators, be able to separate a combined total of 432,000 barrels/day of the BP oil spill.

To date, U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) has not responded.

The Office of the Governor of Louisiana forwarded Renergie’s proposal to BP and the USCG for their review.

The USCG response, sent via three emails, stated, “The Coast Guard is not currently hiring contractors.  BP, the responsible party, continues to handle all contracting requirements.” and “Unfortunately, the Coast Guard does not currently have a mission and is not hiring contractors. However, if BP requests names, I will recommend and forward your company.” As the BP oil spill continues to wash ashore in Louisiana, USCG futher explained, “I am the POC for unsolicited proposals for the Coast Guard. A valid unsolicited proposal must be an innovative and unique product or service that is not commercially available to the Government. Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.603 provides the specific criteria that must be met before an unsolicited proposal can be submitted. It appears that your product better fits the description of a commercial item offer, which is therefore not suitable for submission as an unsolicited proposal. We appreciate your interest in U.S. Coast Guard requirements.”

This article briefly discusses how MMS, NOAA, and USCG have abdicated their responsibility; reviews current oil response efforts; presents an overview of the Oil Pollution Act; and suggests a viable strategy for moving forward.

MMS

Background
The MMS, a bureau in the U.S. Department of the Interior, is the federal agency that manages the nation’s natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the outer continental shelf (OCS). The agency also collects, accounts for and disburses an average of $13.7 billion per year in revenues from federal offshore mineral leases and from onshore mineral leases on federal and American Indian lands. The MMS is comprised of two major programs: Offshore Energy and Minerals Management (OEMM) and Minerals Revenue Management (MRM).
OEMM
The MMS plays a key role in America’s energy supply by managing the mineral resources on 1.7 billion acres of the OCS. The OCS is a significant source of oil and gas for the nation’s energy supply. The approximately 43 million leased OCS acres generally accounts for about 15 percent of America’s domestic natural gas production and about 27 percent of America’s domestic oil production. The MMS’s oversight and regulatory framework are meant to ensure that drilling and production are done in an environmentally responsible manner, and done safely.

The offshore areas of the United States are estimated to contain significant quantities of resources in yet-to-be-discovered fields. MMS estimates of oil and gas resources in undiscovered fields on the OCS (2006, mean estimates) total 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of gas. These volumes represent about 60 percent of the oil and 40 percent of the natural gas resources estimated to be contained in remaining undiscovered fields in the United States.

MRM
The MRM collects, accounts for and distributes revenues associated with offshore and onshore oil, gas and mineral production from leased federal and Indian lands.

How MMS Abdicated its Responsibility
MMS fell well short of its own policy that safety inspections be done at least once per month, an Associated Press investigation shows. Since January 2005, MMS conducted at least 16 fewer inspections aboard the Deepwater Horizon than it should have under the policy, a dramatic fall from the frequency of prior years, according to the agency’s records. Under a revised statement recently given to the AP, MMS officials said the last infraction aboard the Deepwater Horizon occurred in August 2003, not March 2007 as originally stated.

The inspection gaps and poor recordkeeping are the latest in a series of questions raised about the agency’s oversight of the offshore oil drilling industry. Members of Congress and President Obama have criticized what they call the cozy relationship between regulators and oil companies.
NOAA has said on repeated occasions that drilling in the Gulf affects endangered species and marine mammals, but since January, 2009 MMS has approved at least three huge lease sales, 103 seismic blasting projects and 346 drilling plans. MMS records also show that permission for those drilling projects was granted without getting the permits required under federal law.

Earlier AP investigations have shown that the Deepwater Horizon was allowed to operate without safety documentation required by MMS regulations for the exact disaster scenario that occurred; that the BOP which failed has repeatedly broken down at other wells in the years since regulators weakened testing requirements; and that regulation is so lax that some key safety aspects on rigs are decided almost entirely by the companies doing the work.

MMS set aside requirements for documentation outlining what companies would do if a “worst-case scenario” spill were to happen. This documentation, which includes the disclosure of blowout scenarios and response plans, is required by law before exploratory offshore drilling is approved.

Reacting to the latest disclosures, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick J. Rahall, D-W.Va., said while he applauded Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s remedial actions, it seems “MMS has been asleep at the switch in terms of policing offshore rigs.” He said the committee, slated to hold hearings May 26-27, will examine these issues “in the context of what our offshore leasing program will look like in the future.”

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by AP, the agency has released copies of only three inspection reports, from Feb. 17, March 3 and April 1. According to the documents, inspectors spent two hours or less each time they visited the massive rig. Some information appeared to be “whited out,” without explanation.

MMS also routinely overruled its staff biologists and engineers who raised concerns about the safety and the environmental impact of certain drilling proposals in the Gulf and in Alaska, according to a half-dozen current and former agency scientists. These scientists said they were also regularly pressured by agency officials to change the findings of their internal studies if they predicted that an accident was likely to occur or if wildlife might be harmed. In a September, 2009 letter, obtained by The New York Times, NOAA accused the MMS of a pattern of understating the likelihood and potential consequences of a major spill in the Gulf and understating the frequency of spills that have already occurred there. The letter accuses the agency of highlighting the safety of offshore oil drilling operations while overlooking more recent evidence to the contrary. The data used by the agency to justify its approval of drilling operations in the Gulf play down the fact that spills have been increasing and understate the “risks and impacts of accidental spills,” the letter states. NOAA declined several requests for comment.

“You simply are not allowed to conclude that the drilling will have an impact,” said one scientist who has worked for the MMS for more than a decade. “If you find the risks of a spill are high or you conclude that a certain species will be affected, your report disappears and they find another scientist to redo it or they rewrite it for you.”

Another biologist who left the agency in 2005 after more than five years said that agency officials went out of their way to accommodate the oil and gas industry. He said, for example, that seismic activity from drilling can have a devastating effect on mammals and fish, but that agency officials rarely enforced the regulations meant to limit those effects. He also said the agency routinely ceded to the drilling companies the responsibility for monitoring species that live or spawn near the drilling projects. “What I observed was MMS was trying to undermine the monitoring and mitigation requirements that would be imposed on the industry,” he said.
NOAA

Background
The mission of NOAA is “to understand and predict changes in Earth’s environment and conserve and manage coastal and marine resources to meet our nation’s economic, social, and environmental needs.”

On NOAA’s website, NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco further explains, “NOAA is an agency that enriches life through science. Our reach goes from the surface of the sun to the depths of the ocean floor as we work to keep citizens informed of the changing environment around them. NOAA’s dedicated scientists use cutting-edge research and high-tech instrumentation to provide citizens, planners, emergency managers and other decision makers with reliable information they need when they need it. NOAA’s mission touches the lives of every American and we are proud of our role in protecting life and property and conserving and protecting natural resources.”

How NOAA Abdicated its Responsibility
A. Allowing MMS to Grant Permission to Oil Companies for Drilling Projects Without the Permits Required Under Federal Law

NOAA has said on repeated occasions that drilling in the Gulf affects endangered species and marine mammals. NOAA knew that MMS was granting permission for drilling projects to oil companies without the permits required under federal law. “MMS has given up any pretense of regulating the offshore oil industry,” said Kierán Suckling, director of the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental advocacy group in Tucson, which filed notice of intent to sue the agency over its noncompliance with federal law concerning endangered species. “The agency seems to think its mission is to help the oil industry evade environmental laws.”

B. Failure to Accurately Estimate the Amount of Oil Being Released

It has been estimated that approximately 5,000 barrels a day (bbl/day) of oil is being released into the Gulf of Mexico. Repeated endlessly in news reports, this figure has become conventional wisdom. However, the 5,000 bbl/day estimate was hastily produced in Seattle by a NOAA unit that responds to oil spills. It was calculated with a protocol known as the Bonn convention that calls for measuring the extent of an oil spill, using its color to judge the thickness of oil atop the water, and then multiplying. Alun Lewis, a British oil-spill consultant who is an authority on the Bonn convention, said the method was specifically not recommended for analyzing large spills like the one in the Gulf of Mexico, since the thickness was too difficult to judge in such a case.

Ian R. MacDonald, an oceanographer at Florida State University who is an expert in the analysis of oil slicks, said he had made his own rough calculations using satellite imagery. They suggested that the leak could “easily be four or five times” the government estimate, he said. Steven Wereley, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, analyzed videotape of the seafloor gusher using a technique called particle image velocimetry.  A computer program simply tracks particles and calculates how fast they are moving. Wereley put the BP video of the gusher into his computer. He made a few simple calculations and came up with an astonishing value for the rate of the oil spill: 70,000 bbl/day.

Dr. MacDonald believes NOAA  had been slow to mount the research effort needed to analyze the leak and assess its effects. Sylvia Earle, a former chief scientist at NOAA and perhaps the country’s best-known oceanographer, said that she, too, was concerned by the pace of NOAA’s scientific response.

The government has made no attempt to update its estimate since releasing it on April 28th. “I think the estimate at the time was, and remains, a reasonable estimate,” said Dr. Lubchenco, the NOAA administrator. “Having greater precision about the flow rate would not really help in any way. We would be doing the same things.”

Scientists have come down hard on BP for refusing to take advantage of methods available to measure the oil. The New York Times reported that BP was planning to fly scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute to Louisiana to conduct volume measurements. The oceanographers were poised to use underwater ultrasound equipment to measure the flow of oil and gas from the ocean floor when BP canceled the trip.

An accurate measurement of the flow of oil could change the way people remember this spill and their opinion of BP.  Once the leak is plugged and the oil is dispersed throughout the Gulf, who’s to say for certain whether BP’s blown well gushed 5,000 or 80,000 barrels of oil a day? By allowing BP to obscure the spill’s true magnitude, NOAA seems to agree.

C. Failure to Track and Monitor the Massive Oil Plumes Beneath the Surface

NOAA, whose job it is to assess and track the damage being caused by the BP oil spill that began four weeks ago, is only monitoring what’s visible - the oil slick on the Gulf’s surface – and currently does not have a single research vessel taking measurements below.

The one ship associated with NOAA that had been doing such research is back in Pascagoula, MS, having completed a week-long cruise during which scientists taking underwater samples found signs of just the kind of plume that environmentalists fear could have devastating effects on sea life of all shapes and sizes.

Frank Muller-Karger, an oceanography professor at the University of South Florida who testified before the House Energy Committee, said that testing for oil beneath the surface should be a top priority. “I think that should be one of our biggest concerns, getting the technology and the research to try to understand how big this amorphous mass of water is, and how it moves,” he said. “It’s like an iceberg. Most of it is below the surface. And we just have no instruments below the surface that can help us monitor the size, the concentration and the movement.”

“The fact that NOAA has missed the ball catastrophically on the tracking and effects monitoring of this spill is inexcusable,” said Rick Steiner, a University of Alaska marine conservationist who recently spent more than a week on the Gulf Coast advising Greenpeace. NOAA officials “haven’t picked it up because they haven’t looked in the right places,” he said. “There have to be dozens of these massive plumes of toxic Deepwater Horizon oil, and they haven’t set out to delineate them in any shape or form.” Steiner said, “NOAA is not only failing to fully measure the impact of the spill but, if they rationally want to close and open fisheries, they need to know where this stuff is going.” “And truly, they really need 20 or 30 vessels out there yesterday,” Steiner said. “And I think they know that. And so all the spin – that they have this under control, that there’s no oil under the surface to worry about – they’re wrong, and they know it.”

D. Conflict of Interest in Sample Testing

The question is whether a lab paid by BP can provide an unbiased assessment of the environmental damage from the BP oil spill.

Local environmental officials throughout the Gulf Coast are feverishly collecting water, sediment and marine animal tissue samples that will be used in the coming months to help track pollution levels resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake, since those readings will be used by the federal government and courts to establish liability claims against BP. But the laboratory that NOAA officials have chosen to process virtually all of the samples is part of an oil and gas services company in Texas that counts oil firms, including BP, among its biggest clients. Pursuant to OPA, BP is paying for testing the samples, which simultaneously gives BP control over this process. Some people are justifiably questioning the independence of the Texas lab.

USCG

Background
The USCG is one of the five Armed Forces of the United States and the only military organization within the Department of Homeland Security. The USCG protects against hazards to people, maritime commerce, and the environment, defends our maritime borders, and saves those in peril. It responds quickly to disasters to restore the nation’s waterways. It promotes resiliency of the Marine Transportation System. When called upon, it defends the nation at home and abroad alongside the other Armed Forces. In the heartland, in the ports, on the seas, and around the globe, the USCG is Here to Protect, Ready to Rescue.

The USCG is the principal federal agency responsible for maritime safety, security, and environmental stewardship in U.S. ports and inland waterways, along the coasts, on the high seas, and in other regions where our nation’s maritime equities are at stake. As such, the USCG protects our nation’s vital economic and security interests throughout the maritime domain, including the marine transportation system, our natural and economic resources, and our maritime borders.

The USCG provides the primary federal maritime presence to enforce laws, secure the maritime border, conduct response operations, protect the maritime environment (“by responding  to oil and hazardous substance accidents and reducing their impact on the marine environment”), and ensure the resilience of the Marine Transportation System that is vital to the U.S. economy.

How USCG Abdicated its Responsibility
USCG Admiral Thad W. Allen, National Incident Commander, said during a recent visit to Mississippi that he saw no reason for the government to assume control of operations from BP. “BP is the responsible party. They have to be in charge and they have to be accountable and we have to conduct oversight,” he said. “Personally, whenever I have problem I call (BP CEO) Tony Hayward” on his cell phone, Allen said.  LOL~So, the government trusts BP........this is absurd considering what they government KNEW 6 wks prior to the spill, and has to see nothing is really working at this point.

USCG responses to unsolicited proposals clearly state,
(a) “The Coast Guard is not currently hiring contractors.  BP, the responsible party, continues to handle all contracting requirements;” and
(b) “Unfortunately, the Coast Guard does not currently have a mission and is not hiring contractors. However, if BP requests names, (USCG) will recommend and forward your company.”

Although USCG has completely abdicated its responsibility, one has to admire the forthright and transparent manner in which it has done so.  WHY?????

OIL SPILL RESPONSE

USCG
The National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan, more commonly called the National Contingency Plan (NCP), is the federal government’s blueprint for responding to both oil spills and hazardous substance releases. The NCP is the result of our country’s efforts to develop a national response capability and promote overall coordination among the hierarchy of responders and contingency plans. So where the hell is the federal government other than finger pointing????

Secretary Napolitano has declared the Gulf Coast incident a “spill of national significance.” A spill of national significance (SONS) means a spill that due to its severity, size, location, actual or potential impact on the public health and welfare or the environment, or the necessary response effort, is so complex that it requires extraordinary coordination of federal, state, local, and responsible party resources to contain and clean up the discharge.

Admiral Allen has explained that the USCG has established four operational priorities:
(a) stop the flow of oil from the well; (b) attack the oil that is in the sea with all available means – mechanical skimming, dispersant delivery, in-situ burning; (c) protect the shoreside resources by deploying boom around the resources; and (d) recover and mitigate the impacted areas.

BP
Source Subsea Control and Containment
In its May 20, 2010 update report on subsea source control and containment, BP stated, “Subsea efforts continue to focus on progressing options to stop the flow of oil from the well through interventions via the blow out preventer (BOP), and to collect the flow of oil from the leak points. These efforts are being carried out in conjunction with governmental authorities and other industry experts.

The volume of oil being collected by the riser insertion tube tool (RITT) containment system at the end of the leaking riser is estimated to be about 3,000 barrels a day (b/d) of oil. The oil is being stored on the drillship Discoverer Enterprise, on the surface 5,000 feet above.

BP also continues to develop options to shut off the flow of oil from the well through interventions via the failed BOP. Plans continue to develop a so called “top kill” operation where heavy drilling fluids are injected into the well to stem the flow of oil and gas, followed by cement to seal the well. Most of the equipment is on site and preparations continue for this operation, with a view to deployment in the next few days. Options have also been developed to potentially combine this with the injection under pressure of a variety of materials into the BOP to seal off upward flow.

Work on the first relief well, which began on May 2, continues. The DDII drilling rig began drilling the second relief well on May 16. Each of these wells is estimated to take some three months to complete from the commencement of drilling.

Surface Spill Response and Containment
In its May 20, 2010 update report on surface spill response and containment, BP stated, “Work continues to collect and disperse oil that has reached the surface of the sea. Over 930 vessels are involved in the response effort, including skimmers, tugs, barges and recovery vessels. Intensive operations to skim oil from the surface of the water also continued. Some 187,000 barrels of oily liquid have now been recovered. The total length of boom deployed as part of efforts to prevent oil reaching the coast is now more than 1.9 million feet. In total over 19,000 personnel from BP, other companies and government agencies are currently involved in the response to this incident.”

BP’s surface spill and containment strategy primarily involves: (a) the use of dispersants; (b) skimming the oil from the surface of the water; and (c) deploying boom to prevent oil from reaching the coast.

Dispersants: An Out-of-Sight, Out-of-Mind Strategy
To date, 785,000 gallons of oil dispersant has been applied by BP since the April 22 sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig, an unprecedented application and for a duration and at depths also without precedent.

Dispersants break oil into droplets that decompose more quickly. But scientists worry that extensive use of the chemicals in the BP spill is increasing marine life’s exposure to the toxins in oil. Environmentalists consider their use effective for ridding surface waters of oil but say when the toxins are broken down and become embedded on the sea bed they pose a significant threat to marine life.

BP is using the dispersant “Corexit 9500.” While Corexit 9500 is on the EPA’s approved list, BP is using this dispersant in unprecedented volumes and has been using it underwater at the source of the leak, a procedure that has never been tried before. The EPA has acknowledged that “much is unknown about the underwater use of dispersants.” Moreover, of all the chemicals approved by the EPA for use on oil spills, Corexit 9500 is among the most toxic to certain organisms. It also is among the least effective in breaking up the kind of oil that is prevalent in the area around the spill site, EPA tests concluded. Corexit might also be contributing to the formation of large undersea “oil plumes” thousands of feet below the surface.  Again, who profits from the use of NALCO???

Sylvia Earle, the National Geographic’s explorer-in-residence and former chief scientist at NOAA, stated that “the instructions for humans using Corexit warn that it is an eye and skin irritant, is harmful by inhalation, in contact with skin and if swallowed, and may cause injury to red blood cells, kidney or the liver.” “People are warned not to take Corexit internally,” she said, “but the fish, turtles, copepods and jellies have no choice.”

Earle further states, “We don’t know what the effect of dispersants applied a mile underwater is; there’s been no laboratory testing of that at all, or the effect of what it does when it combines with oil a mile underwater.” One problem with breaking down the oil is that it makes it easier for the many tiny underwater organisms to ingest this toxic soup.

Pursuant to NCP Section 300.310, “As appropriate, actions shall be taken to recover the oil or mitigate its effects. Of the numerous chemical or physical methods that may be used, the chosen methods shall be the most consistent with protecting public health and welfare and the environment. Sinking agents shall not be used.” Sinking agents means those additives applied to oil discharges to sink floating pollutants below the water surface. The question is whether BP’s dispersants are “sinking agents” when they are applied a mile underwater at the source of the well leak.

Carl Safina, president and co-founder of Blue Ocean Institute, a New York-based conservation organization, believes BP’s dispersant strategy has more to do with PR than good science. “It takes something that we can see that we could at least partly deal with and dissolves it so we can’t see it and can’t deal with it,” he said. It’s not at all clear to me why we are dispersing the oil at all,” Safina said. “It’s an out-of-sight, out-of-mind strategy. It’s just to get it away from the cameras on the shoreline.

Skimming
Since April 22, only 187,000 barrels of “oily liquid” have been recovered by BP. This equates to collecting a total of only 19,000 to 28,000 barrels of oil. BP  states, “over 930 vessels are involved in the response effort…” By now, BP should realize that small boats are used for small oil spills, but large ships must be used for large oil spills.

The three tankers employed by Renergie, Inc. would be capable of collecting 1,419,000 barrels of the BP oil spill; and, via a series of  onboard skid-mounted three-stage oil/water separators, be able to separate a combined total of 432,000 barrels/day of the BP oil spill.  ONE HAS TO ASK WHY isn't this being done??????
Boom: Public Relations in Open Water
The use of the boom strategy is nothing more than “public relations in open water.” Deploying boom may be an effective containment strategy in the calm waters of rivers, lakes, or municipal swimming pools but, as has been demonstrated over the past month, in the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico the boom will be breached.

THE OIL POLLUTION ACT OF 1990

Pursuant to the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA), for an offshore facility the total of the liability of a responsible party and any removal costs incurred by, or on behalf of, the responsible party, with respect to each incident shall not exceed the total of all removal costs plus $75,000,000.

However, this limit on liability “does not apply if the incident was proximately caused by gross negligence, willful misconduct of, or the violation of an applicable Federal safety, construction, or operating regulation by, the responsible party, an agent or employee of the responsible party, or a person acting pursuant to a contractual relationship with the responsible party.”

OPA broadened the scope of damages (i.e., costs) for which an oil spiller would be liable. Under OPA, a responsible party is liable for all cleanup costs incurred, not only by a government entity, but also by a private party. In addition to cleanup costs, OPA significantly increased the range of liable damages to include the following:

• injury to natural resources,
• loss of personal property (and resultant economic losses),
• loss of subsistence use of natural resources,
• lost revenues resulting from destruction of property or natural resource injury,
• lost profits resulting from property loss or natural resource injury, and
• costs of providing extra public services during or after spill response.

OPA Section 4201 provides:
(c) FEDERAL REMOVAL AUTHORITY
(1) GENERAL REMOVAL REQUIREMENT
OPA Section 4201(c)(1)(B) amended Section 311(c) of the Clean Water Act of 1972 to provide the President with three options:
(1) perform cleanup immediately (“federalize” the spill);
(2) monitor the response efforts of the spiller; or
(3) direct the spiller’s cleanup activities.

OPA Section 4201(c) further provides:
(2) DISCHARGE POSING SUBSTANTIAL THREAT TO PUBLIC HEALTH OR WELFARE (A) If a discharge, or a substantial threat of a discharge, of oil or a hazardous substance from a vessel, offshore facility, or onshore facility is of such a size or character as to be a substantial threat to the public health or welfare of the United States (including but not limited to fish, shellfish, wildlife, other natural resources, and the public and private beaches and shorelines of the United States), the President shall direct all Federal, State, and private actions to remove the discharge or to mitigate or prevent the threat of the discharge.
(B) In carrying out this paragraph, the President may, without regard to any other provision of law governing contracting procedures or employment of personnel by the Federal Government -
(i) remove or arrange for the removal of the discharge, or mitigate or prevent the substantial threat of the discharge.

Oil spill response authority is determined by the location of the spill: the USCG has response authority in coastal waters, and the EPA covers inland oil spills. As the primary response authority in coastal waters, the USCG has the ultimate authority to ensure that an oil spill is effectively removed and actions are taken to prevent further discharge from the source. During response operations, the USCG coordinates the efforts of federal, state, and private parties. USCG response efforts are supported by NOAA. NOAA provides scientific analysis and consultation during oil spill response activities. Assistance can include oil spill tracking, cleanup alternatives, and knowledge of at-risk natural resources. Moreover, NOAA experts begin to collect data to assess natural resource damages during response operations.

A VIABLE STRATEGY

A viable strategy would be to establish three operational priorities: stop the flow of oil from the well, collect the oil that is in the sea, and restore the impacted coastal areas. Each task should be assigned to the entity with the most expertise in that particular area.

I. Stop the Flow of Oil from the Well
BP should perform this task. BP has in-house technical expertise and the ability to assemble a team of outside engineering and offshore oil & gas experts to cap the well. The only viable permanent solution is to drill a relief well. Hopefully, either the “top kill” or “junk shot” procedure will stop the flow of oil while the relief well is being drilled. MMS should merely monitor BP’s efforts.

II. Collect the Oil that is in the Sea
USCG should perform this task. Pursuant to OPA Section 4201, and given that the BP oil spill is a “discharge posing substantial threat to public health or welfare,” President Obama should federalize the collection of the oil that is in the sea. This could be done without having to federalize the operational priority of stopping the flow of oil from the well.

(1) Timecharter Crude Tankers to Collect the Oil
This would involve the following 3-step process: (a) collecting the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico with three Panamax crude tankers; (b) separating the oil and water onboard the tankers; and (c) transporting the separated crude oil to a shoreside facility. Three Panamax tankers would be capable of collecting 1,419,000 barrels of the BP oil spill; and, via a series of  onboard skid-mounted three-stage oil/water separators, be able to separate a combined total of 432,000 barrels/day of the BP oil spill. Since April 22, only 187,000 barrels of “oily liquid” have been recovered by BP.

(2) Discontinue the Use of Dispersants
BP has been using dispersant in unprecedented volumes and has been using it underwater at the source of the leak, a procedure that has never been tried before. The EPA has acknowledged that “much is unknown about the underwater use of dispersants.” Moreover, of all the chemicals approved by the EPA for use on oil spills, Corexit 9500 is among the most toxic to certain organisms. The volume that is being used is creating a toxic soup that is more dangerous than the oil spill. As noted above, BP’s dispersant strategy has more to do with PR than good science. It takes something that we can see that we could at least partly deal with and dissolves it so we can’t see it and can’t deal with it. It’s an out-of-sight, out-of-mind strategy. Again, if they stopped the use of dispersant, all those Chicago thugs would not profit as much since these are sold by NALCO

(3) Reposition Skimming o the Northern Edge of the Spill
BP claims, “Over 930 vessels are involved in the response effort, including skimmers, tugs, barges and recovery vessels.” USCG should immediately reposition several skimming vessels to the northern edge of the spill to mitigate the oil damage to Louisiana’s wetlands.

(4) Expand Coordination with NOAA
NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration should provide better scientific analysis of the incident. NOAA’s assistance should include an accurate measurement of the flow of oil from the well, oil spill tracking and monitoring (both surface and underwater), the collection of test samples and data to assess natural resource damages. Accurate information is crucial to our understanding of the true rate of flow, to improving our ability to gauge the amount of oil currently in the Gulf, and to preparing for the impacts this spill may have on our environment, fisheries and coastal communities.

(5) Deployment of Research Vessels
USCG should direct NOAA to immediately deploy 20 research vessels to identify, track and monitor the massive underwater plumes of oil in the sea. The undersea plumes may go a long way toward explaining the discrepancy between the flow estimates, suggesting that much of the oil emerging from the well could be lingering far below the sea surface. Depending on the depth of the plume, USCG could deploy a tanker to collect the underwater oil before it either reaches shore or enters the loop current.

(6) Discontinue Deployment of Boom
BP claims, “The total length of boom deployed as part of efforts to prevent oil reaching the coast is now more than 1.9 million feet.” The use of the boom strategy is nothing more than “public relations in open water.” Deploying boom may be an effective containment strategy in the calm waters of rivers, lakes, or municipal swimming pools but, as has been demonstrated over the past month, in the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico the boom will be breached. The use of boom in the Gulf of Mexico is a waste of time, money, and manpower. Since containment is not possible, all available resources should be used to collect the oil.

III. Restore the Impacted Coastal Areas
EPA should perform this task. Again, pursuant to OPA Section 4201, and given that the BP oil spill is a “discharge posing substantial threat to public health or welfare,” President Obama should federalize the restoration of the coastal areas impacted by the oil. This could be done without having to federalize the operational priority of stopping the flow of oil from the well.

CONCLUSION

The blowout of April 20, 2010 aboard the Deepwater Horizon was clearly preventable. The fact that the BP oil spill has been allowed to reach coastal Louisiana is inexcusable. BP’s surface spill response and containment efforts would be comical if they were not so devastating. The  environmental and economic damages suffered by victims of the BP oil spill will be enormous and on-going. The livelihoods of all persons whose businesses rely on the natural resources of the Gulf Coast are at risk. Commercial fishermen, oyster harvesters, shrimpers, and  businesses involved, directly or indirectly, in processing and packaging for the seafood industry will experience the end of a way of life that, in many cases, has been passed down from one generation to the next.

BP should remain in charge of stopping the flow of oil from the well. Pursuant to OPA Section 4201, and given that the BP oil spill is a “discharge posing substantial threat to public health or welfare,” President Obama should federalize the collection of the oil that is in the sea and the restoration of the coastal areas impacted by the oil. Both of these activities could be done without having to federalize the operational priority of stopping the flow of oil from the well.

Under OPA, BP, as the responsible party, is liable for all cleanup costs incurred, not only by a government entity, but also by a private party. In addition to cleanup costs, OPA significantly increased the range of liable damages to include the following: injury to natural resources, loss of personal property (and resultant economic losses), loss of subsistence use of natural resources, lost revenues resulting from destruction of property or natural resource injury, lost profits resulting from property loss or natural resource injury, and costs of providing extra public services during or after spill response.

Pursuant to OPA, trustees for natural resources can collect “the cost of restoring, rehabilitating, replacing or acquiring the equivalent of the damaged natural resources.” Such resources include land, fish, wildlife, wetlands, groundwater and drinking water. If a resource can’t be rehabilitated, the defendant has to provide something of equal value, for instance by creating a new wetland.

Given BP’s documented violation of federal safety regulations aboard the Deepwater Horizon, e.g., using an improper cementing technique to seal the well, failing to adequately test and maintain blowout prevention equipment and drilling deeper than BP’s federal permit allowed, there will be no limitation on BP’s liability.

However, now is not the time for finger pointing or litigation. It is now time to implement a viable strategy.

APPENDICES

References
EPA: http://www.epa.gov/oem/content/lawsregs/opaover.htm

Marine Log: http://www.marinelog.com/DOCS/NEWSMMIX/2010may00011.html

MMS: http://www.mms.gov/

National Contingency Plan

NOAA: http://www.noaa.gov/

Oil Pollution Act of 1990

USA Today: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/05/how-responsible-is-us-government-for-gulf-oil-spill/

USCG: http://www.uscg.mil/

About the Author
Brian J. Donovan is an attorney and marine engineer with over thirty-four years of international business experience.

Mr. Donovan, a member of The Florida Bar, The U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida and The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, holds a J.D. from Syracuse University College of Law (where he was recipient of the “Global Law & Practice Award” as the outstanding graduate in the areas of International Law and International Business Law) and a B.S., with honors, in Marine/Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering from the United States Merchant Marine Academy.

Mr. Donovan, with deep family roots in southern Louisiana, has first-hand knowledge of the catastrophic devastation of the Louisiana Gulf Coast caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. He fully appreciates that the damage caused by Katrina and Rita may pale in comparison to the massive and potentially unprecedented environmental and economic impact of the BP oil spill of April, 2010.

UPDATE No. 1

Oil Flow Rate Estimates

On May 27, 2010, USGS Director Dr. Marcia McNutt announced that the National Incident Command’s Flow Rate Technical Group (FRTG) has developed an independent, preliminary estimate of the amount of oil flowing from BP’s leaking oil well. Based on three separate methodologies, the independent analysis of the FRTG has determined that the overall best initial estimate for the lower and upper boundaries of flow rates of oil is in the range of 12,000 and 19,000 barrels per day. Measurement of the flow of oil is extremely challenging, given the environment, unique nature of the flow, limited visibility, and lack of human access to BP’s leaking oil well. As the FRTG collects more data and improves their scientific modeling in the coming days and weeks ahead, they will continue to refine and update their range of oil flow rate estimates, as appropriate.

UPDATE No. 2

Undersea Oil Plumes

On May 15, 2010, The New York Times reported that scientists are finding enormous oil  plumes in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, including one as large as 10 miles long, 3 miles wide and 300 feet thick in spots. Researchers from the University of Georgia, University of Southern Mississippi, University of South Florida and Louisiana State University have added to this preliminary body of evidence suggesting that some of the oil – no one knows what proportion – is dissolving into the water and forming huge plumes of dispersed oil droplets beneath the surface. This is worrisome because it raises the possibility that sea life, including commercially important species of fish, could be exposed to a greater load of toxins than conventional models of oil spills would suggest. The undersea plumes may go a long way toward explaining the discrepancy between the flow estimates, suggesting that much of the oil emerging from the well could be lingering far below the sea surface.

UPDATE No. 3

Dispersants: An Out-of-Sight, Out-of-Mind Strategy

Pursuant to NCP Section 300.310, “As appropriate, actions shall be taken to recover the oil or mitigate its effects. Of the numerous chemical or physical methods that may be used, the chosen methods shall be the most consistent with protecting public health and welfare and the environment. Sinking agents shall not be used.” Sinking agents means those additives applied to oil discharges to sink floating pollutants below the water surface. The question is whether BP’s dispersants are “sinking agents” when they are applied a mile underwater at the source of the well leak.

Invisible Threat

On May 28, 2010, Reuters reported that the toxic dispersants applied underwater by BP may work their way up the food chain.

David Hollander, a University of South Florida oceanographer, headed a research team that discovered a six-mile (10-km) wide “oil cloud” while on a government-funded expedition aboard the Weatherbird II, a vessel operated by the university’s College of Marine Science. “We were collecting samples down to two miles (3 km) below the surface,” Hollander told Reuters in an interview on Friday.

Hollander said the contaminants – which could eventually be pushed onto the continental shelf before shifting slowly down towards the Florida Keys and possibly out to the open Atlantic Ocean – raised troubling questions about whether they would “cascade up the food web.” The threat is that they will poison plankton and fish larvae before making their way into animals higher up the food chain, Hollander said.

The underwater contaminants are particularly “insidious” because they are invisible, Hollander said, adding that they were suspended in what looked like normal seawater. “It may be due to the application of the dispersants that a portion of the petroleum has extracted itself away from the crude and is now incorporated into the waters with solvents and detergents,” he added. He said dispersants, a cocktail of organic solvents and detergents, had never been used at the depth of BP’s well before, and no one really knows how they interact physically and chemically under pressure with oil, water and gases.

Roughly 850,000 gallons (3.2 million litres) of dispersant had been used by BP to combat the Gulf oil spill as of May 27, 2010, including 150,000 gallons (570,000 litres) released below sea level. BENEFITS NALCO


Sorry for the long post, but people deserve to know the facts !

 
Feds Knew Early Spill Was Worse Than They Let On: Reports
11:04 pm
June 3, 2010
By Frank James
Information is emerging that points to the federal government knowing more about the severity of the BP oil spill from the earliest stages of the disaster than it initially let on to the public.
For instance, ABC News reported Thursday evening that the Coast Guard and other federal agencies had access to BP's videos of oil spewing from the broken well on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. But for some reason federal officials didn't force BP to make it public. Neither did it communicate the magnitude of the leak to the public, according to the ABC News report.
An excerpt from the ABC News report:
But inside the unified command center, where BP and federal agencies were orchestrating the spill response, video monitors had already displayed hours of footage they did not make public. The images showed a far more dire situation unfolding underwater. The footage filmed by submarines showed three separate leaks, including one that was unleashing a torrent of oil into the Gulf.
BP officials said they made all the video available to federal officials.
"The video has been available to the unified command from the very beginning," said Mark Proegler, a BP spokesman. "It's always been here from the beginning. They had it."
Coast Guard officials told ABC News that BP refused to allow them to release the more startling images, arguing they were proprietary. But at the time, the agency was doing little to convey to the world what the images were showing. Coast Guard Admiral Mary Landry was sticking with estimates, calculated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which put the spill's size at about 5,000 barrels a day for several weeks. Coast Guard officials said they were focused on the response, and advised the public not to worry about just how much oil was pouring into the water.
Meanwhile, the Center for Public Integrity reported that the Coast Guard knew very quickly after the accident happened on April 20 that it had the potential to be the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
An excerpt:
Coast Guard officials grasped the potential threat of a catastrophic spill within hours of the explosion on board the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, estimating that 8,000 barrels a day of crude oil could possibly gush out of the well in the event of a complete blowout, according to Coast Guard logs.
Over the first three days of the crisis -- long before the public heard of a leak -- the minimum estimate for a total well blowout ballooned eight-fold and the president was warned by his top aides that a major spill larger than the 1989 Exxon Valdez might be coming, according to the documents and interviews...
Then there's this stunning piece of information:
... By April 23, the Coast Guard logs include a new estimate that a full blowout could result in a spill of 64,000 to 110,000 barrels per day, the logs show.
The federal government didn't give the public any inkling that these sorts of numbers were possible.
Why not? What was the problem with giving the public the worst-case scenario? If nothing else, it would have allowed the public to be prepared for the worst.
As the ABC News story reports, there was an incentive for BP to downplay the amount of oil being put into the ocean by their gusher.
Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, said the apparent suppression of the tapes prevented an independent analysis of how much oil was spilling, a move that might eventually save BP millions, since federal fines are based on $1,000 a day per barrel.
The difference between a spill of 5,000 barrels a day and 20,000 barrels a day is $15 million a day. "It clearly tells us why they drug their feet to release these tapes," Nelson said. "I guess they were hoping that they could get it under control and this whole problem would go away."
So BP's incentive for low-balling the estimates on the spill are readily apparent. But what was behind the federal government's decision to be less transparent than it could have been?

http://info.publicintelligence.net/BPGoMspillresponseplan.pdf

BP's spill plan: they knew where it would go, that ecology would never recover, "No toxicity studies" on dispersants

Above link is to pdf of 583-page "BP Regional Oil Spill Response Plan for the Gulf of Mexico" that I found.

Interesting reading, indeed.

Déjà vu ... 31 years ago!

A must-watch!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/37368377#37368377

I didn't look yet, but it must be Ixtoc 1 as it was also a well that had a blowout preventer explode and took almost 10 months to stop the oil from flowing and it was only in 150 ft of water :(

Yes, it is.

It is really worth watching, IM.

I will, I researched that spill to the nth degree about 5 wks ago as it was the only spill that was practically a duplicate of this one, they even tried all the same tecniques to stop the leak that BP has and the only true way to really stop one is a relief well, which in reality could take a yr at the depths they will have to drill down to:( And, even then to hit it the first or second time is almost unheard of. They keep telling us the relief wells are 2 months away, I have a better chance of winning the Florida lottery than BP successfully tapping into the well via a relief well that quickly. Even the workers I met from DEP on the beach today told me they may be here for a yr........

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/06/gulf_oil_spill_protection_meas.html
Full report: Gulf oil spill protection measures inadequate for Alabama, state officials say
By Mike Brantley
June 07, 2010, 5:20AM
(http://media.al.com/live/photo/bon-secour-oil-3jpg-d98e23acb1b06d3f_large.jpg)
Workers on June 6, 2010, clean up oil that washed ashore along the beach in the Bon Secour National Wildlife refuge.

MOBILE, Ala. -- Gov. Bob Riley said Sunday that as tar balls made it through Dauphin Island's Katrina Cut, heading toward vulnerable marshes, the federal government has not keep its most recent promises to the state.

U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Mobile, who joined Riley at the oil response facility in Mobile, said federal officials -- namely President Barack Obama and Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen -- are favoring other parts of the Gulf Coast, particularly Louisiana, over Alabama.

"It's becoming increasingly apparent that political decisions are being made to protect one part of the Gulf of Mexico but not the other parts," Bonner said. He called that "totally inexcusable and totally unacceptable."

Riley said Friday that Obama, who visited Louisiana, ordered the U.S. Coast Guard to get Alabama what it needs to protect its shores from invading oil. Obama invited Riley to come meet with him in Washington, D.C., this week if he did not get what he requested.
The governor met with Allen, the head of the government's spill response, Saturday and came up with a plan that included placing two, sometimes three, layers of boom at the entrances to the estuaries of Mobile and Baldwin counties and shutting off Perdido Pass.

It also would have meant increasing the number of boats performing skimming operations tenfold.

But by Sunday evening, it was apparent that there wasn't enough boom or skimmer boats available for Alabama to use, Riley said.

"We're still in exactly the same place we were two weeks ago," Riley said during a news conference. "We have no protection for Baldwin County's beaches. We have no protection for Mobile Bay. We have no protection for Dauphin Island. We have no protection for some of the most sensitive areas we have going into the Causeway."

About 86 percent of Alabama's most sensitive areas, including estuaries and marshes, are being protected by one layer of 18-inch boom, a floating barrier that can collapse in rough waters.
Meanwhile, the beaches, the mouth of Mobile Bay and other spots where the governor had originally planned to deploy boom remained vulnerable.

In contrast, Riley said Sunday, Louisiana has twice the amount of boom that it requested and enough boom on standby to complete its protection plan one more time.

Louisiana's coast has been inundated with oil over the last couple of weeks.

Allen told the Press-Register on Friday that Alabama's marshes and rivers were being defended. He said that if oil's going to come ashore anywhere, you'd rather oil come ashore on sandy beaches where it is easier to clean.

In the nation's worst spill, hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil have gushed daily from the Deepwater Horizon well into the Gulf of Mexico since the rig exploded April 20.

Globs of oil and tar balls continued coming ashore along Baldwin County's beaches and
Dauphin Island on Sunday.

"At this point, there's no confirmed additional spottings of oil, other than what we already had," said Malissa Valdes, a spokeswoman for the unified command center in Mobile.

"Gulf Shores is being further cleaned. In Orange Beach, there's a little bit. In Dauphin Island, there's constant re-addressing," Valdes said. "Once it's been done, they don't forget about it. There's constant assessing and cleaning."

She said 55 boats were out skimming for oil along the coasts in Alabama, Mississippi and the Florida panhandle Sunday.
And a total 506 boats in the Vessels of Opportunity program were dispatched in Alabama alone to skim, lay out boom and spot oil.

Also, 7,292 people are out working in the field in the three states, including the beach cleanup teams and others.

At the Bayou la Batre city docks about 1:30 p.m. Sunday, 16 men dressed in blue jeans, T-shirts, boots and bright orange life vests huddled around a supervisor.

They said they had been instructed not to talk to the media. But any ******* on the public docks could see and hear by their conversations that they were heading out to Dauphin Island to collect oil.

"You've got the coordinates," said the supervisor, who was wearing a red vest with the initials VOO -- Vessels of Opportunity. "We do have oil."

The men loaded clear garbage bags full of sorbent boom, which looked like giant rolls of white cotton, onto four shrimp boats.

The men were told to get out to the coordinates and call and ask what to do from there.

"I'm ready to get this stuff up," one of the men said.

About 30 minutes later, more shrimp boats came in from looking for oil. A crewmember of one said they'd found tar balls out in the water near Dauphin Island. Someone from another boat said they'd been out eight hours and didn't see anything.

Smaller boats were coming in and out all day, some getting supplied with orange and yellow floating boom to lay out.
Russell Collier, whose family owns the Bayou Bait Shop at the docks, said 200-300 boats have been going in and out every day. On a normal day this time of year, without the oil, he said, that number would be closer to 40.

He said Alabama needs the help, but he expressed concern that recreational fishers in small boats not suitable to be out in open water were doing work that's being denied to locals who are dependant on the fishing industry.

Collier said he has signed up to work but has not been activated.

"They've got boats no bigger than bathtubs going out there," he said, pointing to a small one as it floated by. "They're coming from everywhere to work."

BP buys "oil spill" ad words

If you search for news and information about the oil spill on the internet, your first result will be a link to BP's website that the tagline describes as "how BP is helping." That's because the company has purchased "oil spill" ad words through Google and Yahoo. "Oil spill" has been among the top searches on Google, Twitter and Yahoo for several weeks.

To add insult to injury, the better source of information is the website of the Unified Command, which includes BP and Transocean as well as the government agencies involved in cleanup.

On Friday, President Obama criticized BP for buying $50 million in television advertising, while continuing to push on a number of fronts to limit the amounts it will owe fishermen and taxpayers for its Biblical boo-boo in the Gulf.

Mother Jones reports today on mounting evidence that BP and Transocean ignored warnings of problems on the Deepwater Horizon rig.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/green/detail?blogid=49&entry_id=65205

The Amount Of Neurotoxin Pesticide Corexit Sprayed By BP Tops One Million Gallons

BP’s latest oil spill response update for June 4th says the total amount of the dispersant used in the Gulf of Mexico more than 1,021,000 gallons.

But what most people don’t know is that the active ingredient of the toxic chemical dispersant, which is up to 60% by volume, being sprayed by BP to fight the Gulf oil spill  is a  is a neurotoxin pesticidethat is acutely toxic to both human and aquatic life, causes cancer, causes damage to internal organs such as the liver and kidneys simply by absorbing it through the skin and may cause reproductive side effects.

In fact the neurotoxin pesticide that is lethal to 50% of life in concentrations as little as 2.6 parts per million has been banned for use in the UK since 1998 because it failed the UK  “Rocky shore  test”which assures that the dispersant does not cause a “significant deleterious ecological change” – meaning it can delete an ecology or more specifically delete the entire food chain.

Corexit has also earned the highest EPA warning label for toxicity which means the effects of the toxic chemicals to the eye are corrosive resulting in irreversible destruction of ocular tissue and other tissue with corneal involvement along with an burning that can  persist for more than 21 days and effects to human  skin are corrosive resulting in tissue destruction into the dermis and/or scarring.

Corexit was widely used after the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill and according to a literature review performed by the group the Alaska Community Action on Toxics  was later linked with widespread long lasting health impacts in people including respiratory, nervous system, liver, kidney and blood disorders.

The “Human Health Hazards” are said to be “Chronic” for Corexit  EC9527A according to the EPA.

http://beforeitsnews.com/news/74/010/The_Amount_Of_Neurotoxin_Pesticide_Corexit_Sprayed_By_BP_Tops_One_Million_Gallons.html

(http://i380.photobucket.com/albums/oo242/Brandi-Monkey/Image60.png)

All this messing washing up on shore is just so sad, I had to make this.

P.S. That is a tar ball.

It's really scary because the corexit is far worse than the oil itself:(  But, the shareholders should be reaping huge benefits including Goldman Sachs (who sold close to 5mm shares in March) and the usual Chicago suspects . It's made by NALCO, so now I am really curious why they chose to use the dispersant vs bringing in supertankers which could contain the oil and still salvage 85% of the oil.

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/Obama-knows-whose-ass-to.6346949.jp

Obama knows 'whose ass to kick' over BP oil spill
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Published Date: 08 June 2010
BARACK Obama said today he has been talking to experts and fishermen on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico about BP's catastrophic oil spill "so I know whose ass to kick".
The salty words, part of the US president's recent efforts to show Americans he is engaging with the crisis, came in an interview in Michigan with NBC Today TV show.

He strongly defended his role in dealing with the crisis that began with an explosion on 20 April on a BP-leased oil rig in the Gulf, killing 11 workers.

"I was down there a month ago before most of these talking heads were even paying attention to the Gulf," Mr Obama told NBC's Matt Lauer.

"I was meeting with fishermen in the rain talking about what a potential crisis this could be."

Some have criticised the president for not engaging passionately enough on the spill, even though he has been to the Gulf Coast three times since the disaster.

http://www.rightsidenews.com/2010060810491/energy-and-environment/coast-guard-database-makes-oil-spill-penalties-nearly-impossible-to-track.html
Coast Guard Database Makes Oil Spill Penalties Nearly Impossible To Track      Print      E-mail
Written by Ariel Wittenberg   
Tuesday, 08 June 2010 06:30
The U.S. government has investigated potentially thousands of BP leaks, spills and other incidents but the information is stored in a Coast Guard database that keeps key details such as investigative findings and penalties out of the public's reach.The U.S. government has investigated potentially thousands of BP leaks, spills and other incidents but the information is stored in a Coast Guard database that keeps key details such as investigative findings and penalties out of the public's reach.
More than 8,000 incident reports about BP's U.S. spills, emissions, and leaks of oil and chemicals have been filed with the National Response Center during the past decade. They range from minor clumsiness such as a tipped drum of jet fuel to the deadly April 21 explosion on BP's Gulf of Mexico rig. The center relays each new report to the Coast Guard or other relevant policing bodies for investigation. All Coast Guard investigations are stored in the agency's Marine Information for Safety and Law Enforcement  (MISLE) database.

BP had 550 incidents in Mississippi Canyon, where the now infamous Deepwater Horizon drilling platform was located, according to Bill Allison of the Sunlight Foundation. But MISLE records about investigations and any resulting penalties can be obtained only by filing a Freedom of Information Act request for each individual incident. This means 550 separate FOIA requests would have to be filed to obtain details about the BP incidents in the area surrounding the site where BP's drilling rig exploded in April, he said.
"Technically, it's a database because you can request data from it," Allison said, referring to MISLE. "But you can't query or search the database. You have to already know what you are looking for in order to find it."

This makes tracking trends in the Coast Guard's policing of BP's activity in Mississippi Canyon, nearly impossible, he said. "We would like to look and see how often BP was investigated, fined, caused trouble or had penalties, but we really can't do that the way the data is set up," he said. "Even if we FOIA-ed, it would just get us a pile of paperwork which would be a hassle to go through compared to a query on a database."

The MISLE reports are only accessible via FOIA requests because the Department of Homeland Security - which oversees the Coast Guard - says each report "contains sensitive personal information" of people involved in investigations, including their Social Security numbers. In addition to oil spills, MISLE also contains information about shipping accidents, vessel boardings, pollution discharges, drilling rig accidents, and search and rescue operations.

Representatives from the Coast Guard declined to specifically comment on MISLE access, referring questions to its FOIA webpage. According to the website, FOIA requests are necessary to "prevent individuals, businesses, and government from harm resulting from the release of certain information."

Still, Allison believes there should be a way for the government to protect personal information in the database while giving the public access to investigative reports and penalties assessed to oil companies for leaks and spills.

"It's just a silly way to run a database," he said.

ABOUT THE DATA

What:           Marine Information for Safety and Law Enforcement (MISLE)

Where:          Coast Guard/Department of Homeland Security

Availability:  Online database with 560 GB of data

Format:          General summary of information about each incident

Usability:      Details about investigations, penalties must be requested via FOIA n/a

 

SOURCE: Sunlight Foundation

The Data Mine is a joint project of the Center for Public Integrity and the Sunlight Foundation.

I LMAO~ is it even physically possible to kick his own ass, as he is just as responsible for the clean up because it's in federal waters (anything 3 miles off the coastline is federal, 3 miles in is state), and he knew as did MMS that the well was unstable on MArch 20th and even as early as June of 09, yet he didn't insist that MMS or BP shut this well down. They allowed (MMS) to let BP to continue to operate and even use pencils to fill the forms out.............LOL, heck even I know to erase it and fill out what I would want the record to reflect. They (MMS) put off inspections of this well and worst of all he's NEVER been on this since day one. It took him forever to make a trip to the Gulf Coast and then spent 1 1/4 hours "boots on the ground", guess since he had a mutlitude of scheduled Gold games, parties etc to attend. When he talks about talking to people who know how to stop this I must call BP, it's a FACT that supertankers can contain up to 800 million galllons of oil as it was done successfully in the Persian Gulf 20 yrs ago, so WTF is his reason for the inaction???? Lool at his ties to NALCO and the Chicago/Obama ties to NALCO and it's disturbing. NALCO FYI is the company that makes the toxic dispersant and look at who is tied in to this company, Soros, Gore, University of Chicago etc. Follow the money and it will lead you directly to the source of corruption in this gushing spill which in a worst case scenario could go on until the reseerves are depleted beacuse successfully drilling relief wells at close to 13,000 ft (8,000 of which) is actaully below the floor of the Gulf, and tapping in by intersecting the well pipe is an enginerring nightmare.............again google Ixtoc 1 and notice it took almost 10 months to succefully tap into the well and stop the gushing leak. In the meantime the LA coast has suffered devastating economic and enviromental losses that will further unemploment in that area and kill tons of marine life. So when he talks about kicking someone's ass, besides Tony Hayward he should look in the mirror and realize he allowed this spill to rage on for weeks on end while he has done nothing but point finger abducating his responsibility in it, FTLOG he didn't even know the head of MMS was fired/resigned.........yeah O you are really on top of it!!!!!!!!!


http://renergie.wordpress.com/2010/05/25/bp-is-not-the-only-responsible-party/


BP is Not the Only Responsible Party
Posted on May 25, 2010. Filed under: BP,Deepwater Horizon,Dispersants,Federalize,Oil Pollution Act,Oil Spill,Responsible Party,USCG |

BP is Not the Only Responsible Party

By Brian J. Donovan

May 24, 2010

INTRODUCTION

The U.S. Coast Guard has named both BP (owner of the well) and Transocean (the owner and operator of Deepwater Horizon) as “responsible parties” in the oil spill that resulted from the explosion on April 20, 2010 and subsequent sinking of the oil rig Deepwater Horizon on April 22, 2010. Cameron (the company that manufactured the blowout preventer that failed to function after the explosion) and Halliburton (which performed drilling services like cementing) may also be found to be legally responsible. Since April 20, 2010, “BP is the responsible party” has been repeated so many times by President Obama, Secretary Salazar, Secretary Napolitano, Admiral Allen, and NOAA Administrator Lubchenco that it has become the truth. The truth is, in addition to Transocean and possibly Cameron and Halliburton, the Minerals Management Service (MMS), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) are also responsible, although not legally liable, for heavy crude oil entering the Louisiana wetlands and the loop current.

Recently Renergie, Inc. submitted unsolicited proposals to U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL), the Governor of Louisiana, and the USCG for the purpose of: (a) collecting the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico with three Panamax crude tankers; (b) separating the oil and water onboard the tankers; and (c) transporting the separated crude oil to a shoreside facility. The three tankers employed by Renergie, Inc. would be capable of collecting 1,419,000 barrels of the BP oil spill; and, via a series of  onboard skid-mounted three-stage oil/water separators, be able to separate a combined total of 432,000 barrels/day of the BP oil spill.

To date, U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) has not responded.

The Office of the Governor of Louisiana forwarded Renergie’s proposal to BP and the USCG for their review.

The USCG response, sent via three emails, stated, “The Coast Guard is not currently hiring contractors.  BP, the responsible party, continues to handle all contracting requirements.” and “Unfortunately, the Coast Guard does not currently have a mission and is not hiring contractors. However, if BP requests names, I will recommend and forward your company.” As the BP oil spill continues to wash ashore in Louisiana, USCG futher explained, “I am the POC for unsolicited proposals for the Coast Guard. A valid unsolicited proposal must be an innovative and unique product or service that is not commercially available to the Government. Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.603 provides the specific criteria that must be met before an unsolicited proposal can be submitted. It appears that your product better fits the description of a commercial item offer, which is therefore not suitable for submission as an unsolicited proposal. We appreciate your interest in U.S. Coast Guard requirements.”AGAIN WTF??????????

This article briefly discusses how MMS, NOAA, and USCG have abdicated their responsibility; reviews current oil response efforts; presents an overview of the Oil Pollution Act; and suggests a viable strategy for moving forward.

MMS

Background
The MMS, a bureau in the U.S. Department of the Interior, is the federal agency that manages the nation’s natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the outer continental shelf (OCS). The agency also collects, accounts for and disburses an average of $13.7 billion per year in revenues from federal offshore mineral leases and from onshore mineral leases on federal and American Indian lands. The MMS is comprised of two major programs: Offshore Energy and Minerals Management (OEMM) and Minerals Revenue Management (MRM).

OEMM
The MMS plays a key role in America’s energy supply by managing the mineral resources on 1.7 billion acres of the OCS. The OCS is a significant source of oil and gas for the nation’s energy supply. The approximately 43 million leased OCS acres generally accounts for about 15 percent of America’s domestic natural gas production and about 27 percent of America’s domestic oil production. The MMS’s oversight and regulatory framework are meant to ensure that drilling and production are done in an environmentally responsible manner, and done safely.

The offshore areas of the United States are estimated to contain significant quantities of resources in yet-to-be-discovered fields. MMS estimates of oil and gas resources in undiscovered fields on the OCS (2006, mean estimates) total 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of gas. These volumes represent about 60 percent of the oil and 40 percent of the natural gas resources estimated to be contained in remaining undiscovered fields in the United States.

MRM
The MRM collects, accounts for and distributes revenues associated with offshore and onshore oil, gas and mineral production from leased federal and Indian lands.

How MMS Abdicated its Responsibility
MMS fell well short of its own policy that safety inspections be done at least once per month, an Associated Press investigation shows. Since January 2005, MMS conducted at least 16 fewer inspections aboard the Deepwater Horizon than it should have under the policy, a dramatic fall from the frequency of prior years, according to the agency’s records. Under a revised statement recently given to the AP, MMS officials said the last infraction aboard the Deepwater Horizon occurred in August 2003, not March 2007 as originally stated.

The inspection gaps and poor recordkeeping are the latest in a series of questions raised about the agency’s oversight of the offshore oil drilling industry. Members of Congress and President Obama have criticized what they call the cozy relationship between regulators and oil companies.

NOAA has said on repeated occasions that drilling in the Gulf affects endangered species and marine mammals, but since January, 2009 MMS has approved at least three huge lease sales, 103 seismic blasting projects and 346 drilling plans. MMS records also show that permission for those drilling projects was granted without getting the permits required under federal law.
Earlier AP investigations have shown that the Deepwater Horizon was allowed to operate without safety documentation required by MMS regulations for the exact disaster scenario that occurred; that the BOP which failed has repeatedly broken down at other wells in the years since regulators weakened testing requirements; and that regulation is so lax that some key safety aspects on rigs are decided almost entirely by the companies doing the work.
MMS set aside requirements for documentation outlining what companies would do if a “worst-case scenario” spill were to happen. This documentation, which includes the disclosure of blowout scenarios and response plans, is required by law before exploratory offshore drilling is approved.
Reacting to the latest disclosures, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick J. Rahall, D-W.Va., said while he applauded Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s remedial actions, it seems “MMS has been asleep at the switch in terms of policing offshore rigs.” He said the committee, slated to hold hearings May 26-27, will examine these issues “in the context of what our offshore leasing program will look like in the future.”

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by AP, the agency has released copies of only three inspection reports, from Feb. 17, March 3 and April 1. According to the documents, inspectors spent two hours or less each time they visited the massive rig. Some information appeared to be “whited out,” without explanation. VERY INTERESTING, SO WHY WOULD MMS (THE FEDERAL REGULATORS WHO OVERSEE DRILLING NOT QUESTION THISMMS also routinely overruled its staff biologists and engineers who raised concerns about the safety and the environmental impact of certain drilling proposals in the Gulf and in Alaska, according to a half-dozen current and former agency scientists. These scientists said they were also regularly pressured by agency officials to change the findings of their internal studies if they predicted that an accident was likely to occur or if wildlife might be harmed. In a September, 2009 letter, obtained by The New York Times, NOAA accused the MMS of a pattern of understating the likelihood and potential consequences of a major spill in the Gulf and understating the frequency of spills that have already occurred there. The letter accuses the agency of highlighting the safety of offshore oil drilling operations while overlooking more recent evidence to the contrary. The data used by the agency to justify its approval of drilling operations in the Gulf play down the fact that spills have been increasing and understate the “risks and impacts of accidental spills,” the letter states. NOAA declined several requests for comment.

“You simply are not allowed to conclude that the drilling will have an impact,” said one scientist who has worked for the MMS for more than a decade. “If you find the risks of a spill are high or you conclude that a certain species will be affected, your report disappears and they find another scientist to redo it or they rewrite it for you.”

Another biologist who left the agency in 2005 after more than five years said that agency officials went out of their way to accommodate the oil and gas industry. He said, for example, that seismic activity from drilling can have a devastating effect on mammals and fish, but that agency officials rarely enforced the regulations meant to limit those effects. He also said the agency routinely ceded to the drilling companies the responsibility for monitoring species that live or spawn near the drilling projects. “What I observed was MMS was trying to undermine the monitoring and mitigation requirements that would be imposed on the industry,” he said.NOAA

Background
The mission of NOAA is “to understand and predict changes in Earth’s environment and conserve and manage coastal and marine resources to meet our nation’s economic, social, and environmental needs.”

On NOAA’s website, NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco further explains, “NOAA is an agency that enriches life through science. Our reach goes from the surface of the sun to the depths of the ocean floor as we work to keep citizens informed of the changing environment around them. NOAA’s dedicated scientists use cutting-edge research and high-tech instrumentation to provide citizens, planners, emergency managers and other decision makers with reliable information they need when they need it. NOAA’s mission touches the lives of every American and we are proud of our role in protecting life and property and conserving and protecting natural resources.”

How NOAA Abdicated its Responsibility
A. Allowing MMS to Grant Permission to Oil Companies for Drilling Projects Without the Permits Required Under Federal Law

NOAA has said on repeated occasions that drilling in the Gulf affects endangered species and marine mammals. NOAA knew that MMS was granting permission for drilling projects to oil companies without the permits required under federal law. “MMS has given up any pretense of regulating the offshore oil industry,” said Kierán Suckling, director of the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental advocacy group in Tucson, which filed notice of intent to sue the agency over its noncompliance with federal law concerning endangered species. “The agency seems to think its mission is to help the oil industry evade environmental laws.”

B. Failure to Accurately Estimate the Amount of Oil Being Released

It has been estimated that approximately 5,000 barrels a day (bbl/day) of oil is being released into the Gulf of Mexico. Repeated endlessly in news reports, this figure has become conventional wisdom. However, the 5,000 bbl/day estimate was hastily produced in Seattle by a NOAA unit that responds to oil spills. It was calculated with a protocol known as the Bonn convention that calls for measuring the extent of an oil spill, using its color to judge the thickness of oil atop the water, and then multiplying. Alun Lewis, a British oil-spill consultant who is an authority on the Bonn convention, said the method was specifically not recommended for analyzing large spills like the one in the Gulf of Mexico, since the thickness was too difficult to judge in such a case.

Ian R. MacDonald, an oceanographer at Florida State University who is an expert in the analysis of oil slicks, said he had made his own rough calculations using satellite imagery. They suggested that the leak could “easily be four or five times” the government estimate, he said. Steven Wereley, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, analyzed videotape of the seafloor gusher using a technique called particle image velocimetry.  A computer program simply tracks particles and calculates how fast they are moving. Wereley put the BP video of the gusher into his computer. He made a few simple calculations and came up with an astonishing value for the rate of the oil spill: 70,000 bbl/day.

Dr. MacDonald believes NOAA  had been slow to mount the research effort needed to analyze the leak and assess its effects. Sylvia Earle, a former chief scientist at NOAA and perhaps the country’s best-known oceanographer, said that she, too, was concerned by the pace of NOAA’s scientific response.

The government has made no attempt to update its estimate since releasing it on April 28th. “I think the estimate at the time was, and remains, a reasonable estimate,” said Dr. Lubchenco, the NOAA administrator. “Having greater precision about the flow rate would not really help in any way. We would be doing the same things.”

Scientists have come down hard on BP for refusing to take advantage of methods available to measure the oil. The New York Times reported that BP was planning to fly scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute to Louisiana to conduct volume measurements. The oceanographers were poised to use underwater ultrasound equipment to measure the flow of oil and gas from the ocean floor when BP canceled the trip.

An accurate measurement of the flow of oil could change the way people remember this spill and their opinion of BP.  Once the leak is plugged and the oil is dispersed throughout the Gulf, who’s to say for certain whether BP’s blown well gushed 5,000 or 80,000 barrels of oil a day? By allowing BP to obscure the spill’s true magnitude, NOAA seems to agree.

C. Failure to Track and Monitor the Massive Oil Plumes Beneath the Surface

NOAA, whose job it is to assess and track the damage being caused by the BP oil spill that began four weeks ago, is only monitoring what’s visible - the oil slick on the Gulf’s surface – and currently does not have a single research vessel taking measurements below.

The one ship associated with NOAA that had been doing such research is back in Pascagoula, MS, having completed a week-long cruise during which scientists taking underwater samples found signs of just the kind of plume that environmentalists fear could have devastating effects on sea life of all shapes and sizes.

Frank Muller-Karger, an oceanography professor at the University of South Florida who testified before the House Energy Committee, said that testing for oil beneath the surface should be a top priority. “I think that should be one of our biggest concerns, getting the technology and the research to try to understand how big this amorphous mass of water is, and how it moves,” he said. “It’s like an iceberg. Most of it is below the surface. And we just have no instruments below the surface that can help us monitor the size, the concentration and the movement.”

“The fact that NOAA has missed the ball catastrophically on the tracking and effects monitoring of this spill is inexcusable,” said Rick Steiner, a University of Alaska marine conservationist who recently spent more than a week on the Gulf Coast advising Greenpeace. NOAA officials “haven’t picked it up because they haven’t looked in the right places,” he said. “There have to be dozens of these massive plumes of toxic Deepwater Horizon oil, and they haven’t set out to delineate them in any shape or form.” Steiner said, “NOAA is not only failing to fully measure the impact of the spill but, if they rationally want to close and open fisheries, they need to know where this stuff is going.” “And truly, they really need 20 or 30 vessels out there yesterday,” Steiner said. “And I think they know that. And so all the spin – that they have this under control, that there’s no oil under the surface to worry about – they’re wrong, and they know it.”

D. Conflict of Interest in Sample Testing

The question is whether a lab paid by BP can provide an unbiased assessment of the environmental damage from the BP oil spill.

Local environmental officials throughout the Gulf Coast are feverishly collecting water, sediment and marine animal tissue samples that will be used in the coming months to help track pollution levels resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake, since those readings will be used by the federal government and courts to establish liability claims against BP. But the laboratory that NOAA officials have chosen to process virtually all of the samples is part of an oil and gas services company in Texas that counts oil firms, including BP, among its biggest clients. Pursuant to OPA, BP is paying for testing the samples, which simultaneously gives BP control over this process. Some people are justifiably questioning the independence of the Texas lab.

USCG

Background
The USCG is one of the five Armed Forces of the United States and the only military organization within the Department of Homeland Security. The USCG protects against hazards to people, maritime commerce, and the environment, defends our maritime borders, and saves those in peril. It responds quickly to disasters to restore the nation’s waterways. It promotes resiliency of the Marine Transportation System. When called upon, it defends the nation at home and abroad alongside the other Armed Forces. In the heartland, in the ports, on the seas, and around the globe, the USCG is Here to Protect, Ready to Rescue.

The USCG is the principal federal agency responsible for maritime safety, security, and environmental stewardship in U.S. ports and inland waterways, along the coasts, on the high seas, and in other regions where our nation’s maritime equities are at stake. As such, the USCG protects our nation’s vital economic and security interests throughout the maritime domain, including the marine transportation system, our natural and economic resources, and our maritime borders.

The USCG provides the primary federal maritime presence to enforce laws, secure the maritime border, conduct response operations, protect the maritime environment (“by responding  to oil and hazardous substance accidents and reducing their impact on the marine environment”), and ensure the resilience of the Marine Transportation System that is vital to the U.S. economy.

How USCG Abdicated its Responsibility
USCG Admiral Thad W. Allen, National Incident Commander, said during a recent visit to Mississippi that he saw no reason for the government to assume control of operations from BP. “BP is the responsible party. They have to be in charge and they have to be accountable and we have to conduct oversight,” he said. “Personally, whenever I have problem I call (BP CEO) Tony Hayward” on his cell phone, Allen said. WTF

USCG responses to unsolicited proposals clearly state,
(a) “The Coast Guard is not currently hiring contractors.  BP, the responsible party, continues to handle all contracting requirements;” and
(b) “Unfortunately, the Coast Guard does not currently have a mission and is not hiring contractors. However, if BP requests names, (USCG) will recommend and forward your company.”

Although USCG has completely abdicated its responsibility, one has to admire the forthright and transparent manner in which it has done so.

OIL SPILL RESPONSE

USCG
The National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan, more commonly called the National Contingency Plan (NCP), is the federal government’s blueprint for responding to both oil spills and hazardous substance releases. The NCP is the result of our country’s efforts to develop a national response capability and promote overall coordination among the hierarchy of responders and contingency plans.

Secretary Napolitano has declared the Gulf Coast incident a “spill of national significance.” A spill of national significance (SONS) means a spill that due to its severity, size, location, actual or potential impact on the public health and welfare or the environment, or the necessary response effort, is so complex that it requires extraordinary coordination of federal, state, local, and responsible party resources to contain and clean up the discharge.

Admiral Allen has explained that the USCG has established four operational priorities:
(a) stop the flow of oil from the well; (b) attack the oil that is in the sea with all available means – mechanical skimming, dispersant delivery, in-situ burning; (c) protect the shoreside resources by deploying boom around the resources; and (d) recover and mitigate the impacted areas.

BP
Source Subsea Control and Containment
In its May 20, 2010 update report on subsea source control and containment, BP stated, “Subsea efforts continue to focus on progressing options to stop the flow of oil from the well through interventions via the blow out preventer (BOP), and to collect the flow of oil from the leak points. These efforts are being carried out in conjunction with governmental authorities and other industry experts.

The volume of oil being collected by the riser insertion tube tool (RITT) containment system at the end of the leaking riser is estimated to be about 3,000 barrels a day (b/d) of oil. The oil is being stored on the drillship Discoverer Enterprise, on the surface 5,000 feet above.

BP also continues to develop options to shut off the flow of oil from the well through interventions via the failed BOP. Plans continue to develop a so called “top kill” operation where heavy drilling fluids are injected into the well to stem the flow of oil and gas, followed by cement to seal the well. Most of the equipment is on site and preparations continue for this operation, with a view to deployment in the next few days. Options have also been developed to potentially combine this with the injection under pressure of a variety of materials into the BOP to seal off upward flow.

Work on the first relief well, which began on May 2, continues. The DDII drilling rig began drilling the second relief well on May 16. Each of these wells is estimated to take some three months to complete from the commencement of drilling.

Surface Spill Response and Containment
In its May 20, 2010 update report on surface spill response and containment, BP stated, “Work continues to collect and disperse oil that has reached the surface of the sea. Over 930 vessels are involved in the response effort, including skimmers, tugs, barges and recovery vessels. Intensive operations to skim oil from the surface of the water also continued. Some 187,000 barrels of oily liquid have now been recovered. The total length of boom deployed as part of efforts to prevent oil reaching the coast is now more than 1.9 million feet. In total over 19,000 personnel from BP, other companies and government agencies are currently involved in the response to this incident.”

BP’s surface spill and containment strategy primarily involves: (a) the use of dispersants; (b) skimming the oil from the surface of the water; and (c) deploying boom to prevent oil from reaching the coast.

Dispersants: An Out-of-Sight, Out-of-Mind Strategy
To date, 785,000 gallons of oil dispersant has been applied by BP since the April 22 sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig, an unprecedented application and for a duration and at depths also without precedent.

Dispersants break oil into droplets that decompose more quickly. But scientists worry that extensive use of the chemicals in the BP spill is increasing marine life’s exposure to the toxins in oil. Environmentalists consider their use effective for ridding surface waters of oil but say when the toxins are broken down and become embedded on the sea bed they pose a significant threat to marine life.

BP is using the dispersant “Corexit 9500.” While Corexit 9500 is on the EPA’s approved list, BP is using this dispersant in unprecedented volumes and has been using it underwater at the source of the leak, a procedure that has never been tried before. The EPA has acknowledged that “much is unknown about the underwater use of dispersants.” Moreover, of all the chemicals approved by the EPA for use on oil spills, Corexit 9500 is among the most toxic to certain organisms. It also is among the least effective in breaking up the kind of oil that is prevalent in the area around the spill site, EPA tests concluded. Corexit might also be contributing to the formation of large undersea “oil plumes” thousands of feet below the surface.

Sylvia Earle, the National Geographic’s explorer-in-residence and former chief scientist at NOAA, stated that “the instructions for humans using Corexit warn that it is an eye and skin irritant, is harmful by inhalation, in contact with skin and if swallowed, and may cause injury to red blood cells, kidney or the liver.” “People are warned not to take Corexit internally,” she said, “but the fish, turtles, copepods and jellies have no choice.”

Earle further states, “We don’t know what the effect of dispersants applied a mile underwater is; there’s been no laboratory testing of that at all, or the effect of what it does when it combines with oil a mile underwater.” One problem with breaking down the oil is that it makes it easier for the many tiny underwater organisms to ingest this toxic soup.

Pursuant to NCP Section 300.310, “As appropriate, actions shall be taken to recover the oil or mitigate its effects. Of the numerous chemical or physical methods that may be used, the chosen methods shall be the most consistent with protecting public health and welfare and the environment. Sinking agents shall not be used.” Sinking agents means those additives applied to oil discharges to sink floating pollutants below the water surface. The question is whether BP’s dispersants are “sinking agents” when they are applied a mile underwater at the source of the well leak.

Carl Safina, president and co-founder of Blue Ocean Institute, a New York-based conservation organization, believes BP’s dispersant strategy has more to do with PR than good science. “It takes something that we can see that we could at least partly deal with and dissolves it so we can’t see it and can’t deal with it,” he said. It’s not at all clear to me why we are dispersing the oil at all,” Safina said. “It’s an out-of-sight, out-of-mind strategy. It’s just to get it away from the cameras on the shoreline.

Skimming
Since April 22, only 187,000 barrels of “oily liquid” have been recovered by BP. This equates to collecting a total of only 19,000 to 28,000 barrels of oil. BP  states, “over 930 vessels are involved in the response effort…” By now, BP should realize that small boats are used for small oil spills, but large ships must be used for large oil spills.

The three tankers employed by Renergie, Inc. would be capable of collecting 1,419,000 barrels of the BP oil spill; and, via a series of  onboard skid-mounted three-stage oil/water separators, be able to separate a combined total of 432,000 barrels/day of the BP oil spill. AGAIN A PROVEN METHOD OF CONTAINMENT THAT HAS BEEN USED FOR OVER 20 YRS

Boom: Public Relations in Open Water
The use of the boom strategy is nothing more than “public relations in open water.” Deploying boom may be an effective containment strategy in the calm waters of rivers, lakes, or municipal swimming pools but, as has been demonstrated over the past month, in the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico the boom will be breached. PROVEN FACT THESE CONTAINMENT BOOMS DO NOT WORK IN ANY WTAER WITH A WIND OVER 1 KNOT, THE WIND AND CURRENT PUSH THE BOOMS ON SHORE AND THE OIL IS EASILY BREACHED BY THESE BOOMSTHE OIL POLLUTION ACT OF 1990

Pursuant to the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA), for an offshore facility the total of the liability of a responsible party and any removal costs incurred by, or on behalf of, the responsible party, with respect to each incident shall not exceed the total of all removal costs plus $75,000,000.

However, this limit on liability “does not apply if the incident was proximately caused by gross negligence, willful misconduct of, or the violation of an applicable Federal safety, construction, or operating regulation by, the responsible party, an agent or employee of the responsible party, or a person acting pursuant to a contractual relationship with the responsible party.”

OPA broadened the scope of damages (i.e., costs) for which an oil spiller would be liable. Under OPA, a responsible party is liable for all cleanup costs incurred, not only by a government entity, but also by a private party. In addition to cleanup costs, OPA significantly increased the range of liable damages to include the following:

• injury to natural resources,
• loss of personal property (and resultant economic losses),
• loss of subsistence use of natural resources,
• lost revenues resulting from destruction of property or natural resource injury,
• lost profits resulting from property loss or natural resource injury, and
• costs of providing extra public services during or after spill response.

OPA Section 4201 provides:
(c) FEDERAL REMOVAL AUTHORITY
(1) GENERAL REMOVAL REQUIREMENT
OPA Section 4201(c)(1)(B) amended Section 311(c) of the Clean Water Act of 1972 to provide the President with three options:
(1) perform cleanup immediately (“federalize” the spill);
(2) monitor the response efforts of the spiller; or
(3) direct the spiller’s cleanup activities.
OPA Section 4201(c) further provides:
(2) DISCHARGE POSING SUBSTANTIAL THREAT TO PUBLIC HEALTH OR WELFARE (A) If a discharge, or a substantial threat of a discharge, of oil or a hazardous substance from a vessel, offshore facility, or onshore facility is of such a size or character as to be a substantial threat to the public health or welfare of the United States (including but not limited to fish, shellfish, wildlife, other natural resources, and the public and private beaches and shorelines of the United States), the President shall direct all Federal, State, and private actions to remove the discharge or to mitigate or prevent the threat of the discharge.
(B) In carrying out this paragraph, the President may, without regard to any other provision of law governing contracting procedures or employment of personnel by the Federal Government -
(i) remove or arrange for the removal of the discharge, or mitigate or prevent the substantial threat of the discharge.

Oil spill response authority is determined by the location of the spill: the USCG has response authority in coastal waters, and the EPA covers inland oil spills. As the primary response authority in coastal waters, the USCG has the ultimate authority to ensure that an oil spill is effectively removed and actions are taken to prevent further discharge from the source. During response operations, the USCG coordinates the efforts of federal, state, and private parties. USCG response efforts are supported by NOAA. NOAA provides scientific analysis and consultation during oil spill response activities. Assistance can include oil spill tracking, cleanup alternatives, and knowledge of at-risk natural resources. Moreover, NOAA experts begin to collect data to assess natural resource damages during response operations.

A VIABLE STRATEGY

A viable strategy would be to establish three operational priorities: stop the flow of oil from the well, collect the oil that is in the sea, and restore the impacted coastal areas. Each task should be assigned to the entity with the most expertise in that particular area.

I. Stop the Flow of Oil from the Well
BP should perform this task. BP has in-house technical expertise and the ability to assemble a team of outside engineering and offshore oil & gas experts to cap the well. The only viable permanent solution is to drill a relief well. Hopefully, either the “top kill” or “junk shot” procedure will stop the flow of oil while the relief well is being drilled. MMS should merely monitor BP’s efforts.  AGAIN, THIS COULD TAKE A YR AS THE IXTIC SPILL RELIEF WELL TOOK ALMOST 10 MONTHS IN 160 FT OF WATER
II. Collect the Oil that is in the Sea
USCG should perform this task. Pursuant to OPA Section 4201, and given that the BP oil spill is a “discharge posing substantial threat to public health or welfare,” President Obama should federalize the collection of the oil that is in the sea. This could be done without having to federalize the operational priority of stopping the flow of oil from the well.

(1) Timecharter Crude Tankers to Collect the Oil
This would involve the following 3-step process: (a) collecting the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico with three Panamax crude tankers; (b) separating the oil and water onboard the tankers; and (c) transporting the separated crude oil to a shoreside facility. Three Panamax tankers would be capable of collecting 1,419,000 barrels of the BP oil spill; and, via a series of  onboard skid-mounted three-stage oil/water separators, be able to separate a combined total of 432,000 barrels/day of the BP oil spill. Since April 22, only 187,000 barrels of “oily liquid” have been recovered by BP.  AGAIN THIS TECNIQUE HAS BEEN USED SUCCESSFULLY IN THE PERSIAN GULF SPILL, SO WTF ISN'T THE GOVERNMENT DOING THIS, AFTER ALL IT IS IN FEDERAL WATERS, I'D GET IT DONE AND BILL BP

(2) Discontinue the Use of Dispersants
BP has been using dispersant in unprecedented volumes and has been using it underwater at the source of the leak, a procedure that has never been tried before. The EPA has acknowledged that “much is unknown about the underwater use of dispersants.” Moreover, of all the chemicals approved by the EPA for use on oil spills, Corexit 9500 is among the most toxic to certain organisms. The volume that is being used is creating a toxic soup that is more dangerous than the oil spill.  As noted above, BP’s dispersant strategy has more to do with PR than good science. It takes something that we can see that we could at least partly deal with and dissolves it so we can’t see it and can’t deal with it. It’s an out-of-sight, out-of-mind strategy.

(3) Reposition Skimming o the Northern Edge of the Spill
BP claims, “Over 930 vessels are involved in the response effort, including skimmers, tugs, barges and recovery vessels.” USCG should immediately reposition several skimming vessels to the northern edge of the spill to mitigate the oil damage to Louisiana’s wetlands.

(4) Expand Coordination with NOAA
NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration should provide better scientific analysis of the incident. NOAA’s assistance should include an accurate measurement of the flow of oil from the well, oil spill tracking and monitoring (both surface and underwater), the collection of test samples and data to assess natural resource damages. Accurate information is crucial to our understanding of the true rate of flow, to improving our ability to gauge the amount of oil currently in the Gulf, and to preparing for the impacts this spill may have on our environment, fisheries and coastal communities.

(5) Deployment of Research Vessels
USCG should direct NOAA to immediately deploy 20 research vessels to identify, track and monitor the massive underwater plumes of oil in the sea. The undersea plumes may go a long way toward explaining the discrepancy between the flow estimates, suggesting that much of the oil emerging from the well could be lingering far below the sea surface. Depending on the depth of the plume, USCG could deploy a tanker to collect the underwater oil before it either reaches shore or enters the loop current.

(6) Discontinue Deployment of Boom
BP claims, “The total length of boom deployed as part of efforts to prevent oil reaching the coast is now more than 1.9 million feet.” The use of the boom strategy is nothing more than “public relations in open water.” Deploying boom may be an effective containment strategy in the calm waters of rivers, lakes, or municipal swimming pools but, as has been demonstrated over the past month, in the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico the boom will be breached. The use of boom in the Gulf of Mexico is a waste of time, money, and manpower. Since containment is not possible, all available resources should be used to collect the oil.

III. Restore the Impacted Coastal Areas
EPA should perform this task. Again, pursuant to OPA Section 4201, and given that the BP oil spill is a “discharge posing substantial threat to public health or welfare,” President Obama should federalize the restoration of the coastal areas impacted by the oil. This could be done without having to federalize the operational priority of stopping the flow of oil from the well.

CONCLUSION

The blowout of April 20, 2010 aboard the Deepwater Horizon was clearly preventable. The fact that the BP oil spill has been allowed to reach coastal Louisiana is inexcusable. BP’s surface spill response and containment efforts would be comical if they were not so devastating. The  environmental and economic damages suffered by victims of the BP oil spill will be enormous and on-going. The livelihoods of all persons whose businesses rely on the natural resources of the Gulf Coast are at risk. Commercial fishermen, oyster harvesters, shrimpers, and  businesses involved, directly or indirectly, in processing and packaging for the seafood industry will experience the end of a way of life that, in many cases, has been passed down from one generation to the next.

BP should remain in charge of stopping the flow of oil from the well. Pursuant to OPA Section 4201, and given that the BP oil spill is a “discharge posing substantial threat to public health or welfare,” President Obama should federalize the collection of the oil that is in the sea and the restoration of the coastal areas impacted by the oil. Both of these activities could be done without having to federalize the operational priority of stopping the flow of oil from the well.

Under OPA, BP, as the responsible party, is liable for all cleanup costs incurred, not only by a government entity, but also by a private party. In addition to cleanup costs, OPA significantly increased the range of liable damages to include the following: injury to natural resources, loss of personal property (and resultant economic losses), loss of subsistence use of natural resources, lost revenues resulting from destruction of property or natural resource injury, lost profits resulting from property loss or natural resource injury, and costs of providing extra public services during or after spill response.

Pursuant to OPA, trustees for natural resources can collect “the cost of restoring, rehabilitating, replacing or acquiring the equivalent of the damaged natural resources.” Such resources include land, fish, wildlife, wetlands, groundwater and drinking water. If a resource can’t be rehabilitated, the defendant has to provide something of equal value, for instance by creating a new wetland.

Given BP’s documented violation of federal safety regulations aboard the Deepwater Horizon, e.g., using an improper cementing technique to seal the well, failing to adequately test and maintain blowout prevention equipment and drilling deeper than BP’s federal permit allowed, there will be no limitation on BP’s liability.

However, now is not the time for finger pointing or litigation. It is now time to implement a viable strategy.

APPENDICES

References
EPA: http://www.epa.gov/oem/content/lawsregs/opaover.htm

Marine Log: http://www.marinelog.com/DOCS/NEWSMMIX/2010may00011.html

MMS: http://www.mms.gov/

National Contingency Plan

NOAA: http://www.noaa.gov/

Oil Pollution Act of 1990

USA Today: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/05/how-responsible-is-us-government-for-gulf-oil-spill/

USCG: http://www.uscg.mil/

About the Author
Brian J. Donovan is an attorney and marine engineer with over thirty-four years of international business experience.

Mr. Donovan, a member of The Florida Bar, The U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida and The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, holds a J.D. from Syracuse University College of Law (where he was recipient of the “Global Law & Practice Award” as the outstanding graduate in the areas of International Law and International Business Law) and a B.S., with honors, in Marine/Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering from the United States Merchant Marine Academy.

Mr. Donovan, with deep family roots in southern Louisiana, has first-hand knowledge of the catastrophic devastation of the Louisiana Gulf Coast caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. He fully appreciates that the damage caused by Katrina and Rita may pale in comparison to the massive and potentially unprecedented environmental and economic impact of the BP oil spill of April, 2010.

UPDATE No. 1

Oil Flow Rate Estimates

On May 27, 2010, USGS Director Dr. Marcia McNutt announced that the National Incident Command’s Flow Rate Technical Group (FRTG) has developed an independent, preliminary estimate of the amount of oil flowing from BP’s leaking oil well. Based on three separate methodologies, the independent analysis of the FRTG has determined that the overall best initial estimate for the lower and upper boundaries of flow rates of oil is in the range of 12,000 and 19,000 barrels per day. Measurement of the flow of oil is extremely challenging, given the environment, unique nature of the flow, limited visibility, and lack of human access to BP’s leaking oil well. As the FRTG collects more data and improves their scientific modeling in the coming days and weeks ahead, they will continue to refine and update their range of oil flow rate estimates, as appropriate.

UPDATE No. 2

Undersea Oil Plumes

On May 15, 2010, The New York Times reported that scientists are finding enormous oil  plumes in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, including one as large as 10 miles long, 3 miles wide and 300 feet thick in spots. Researchers from the University of Georgia, University of Southern Mississippi, University of South Florida and Louisiana State University have added to this preliminary body of evidence suggesting that some of the oil – no one knows what proportion – is dissolving into the water and forming huge plumes of dispersed oil droplets beneath the surface. This is worrisome because it raises the possibility that sea life, including commercially important species of fish, could be exposed to a greater load of toxins than conventional models of oil spills would suggest. The undersea plumes may go a long way toward explaining the discrepancy between the flow estimates, suggesting that much of the oil emerging from the well could be lingering far below the sea surface.

UPDATE No. 3

Dispersants: An Out-of-Sight, Out-of-Mind Strategy

Pursuant to NCP Section 300.310, “As appropriate, actions shall be taken to recover the oil or mitigate its effects. Of the numerous chemical or physical methods that may be used, the chosen methods shall be the most consistent with protecting public health and welfare and the environment. Sinking agents shall not be used.” Sinking agents means those additives applied to oil discharges to sink floating pollutants below the water surface. The question is whether BP’s dispersants are “sinking agents” when they are applied a mile underwater at the source of the well leak.

Invisible Threat

On May 28, 2010, Reuters reported that the toxic dispersants applied underwater by BP may work their way up the food chain.

David Hollander, a University of South Florida oceanographer, headed a research team that discovered a six-mile (10-km) wide “oil cloud” while on a government-funded expedition aboard the Weatherbird II, a vessel operated by the university’s College of Marine Science. “We were collecting samples down to two miles (3 km) below the surface,” Hollander told Reuters in an interview on Friday.

Hollander said the contaminants – which could eventually be pushed onto the continental shelf before shifting slowly down towards the Florida Keys and possibly out to the open Atlantic Ocean – raised troubling questions about whether they would “cascade up the food web.” The threat is that they will poison plankton and fish larvae before making their way into animals higher up the food chain, Hollander said.

The underwater contaminants are particularly “insidious” because they are invisible, Hollander said, adding that they were suspended in what looked like normal seawater. “It may be due to the application of the dispersants that a portion of the petroleum has extracted itself away from the crude and is now incorporated into the waters with solvents and detergents,” he added. He said dispersants, a cocktail of organic solvents and detergents, had never been used at the depth of BP’s well before, and no one really knows how they interact physically and chemically under pressure with oil, water and gases.

Roughly 850,000 gallons (3.2 million litres) of dispersant had been used by BP to combat the Gulf oil spill as of May 27, 2010, including 150,000 gallons (570,000 litres) released below sea level.  TOXIC DISPERSANT

More info and follow up on Gulf of Mexico oil catastrophe.
Added: Saturday, June 5th 2010 at 2:10pm by JoAnneMor
5 / 5 ratings 
 
This oil disaster is looking more and more like an intentional incident. This I don't necessarily agree with but as Rahm Emanuel says "Never let a good crisis go to waste"


It has come to light, not only did Goldman Sachs sell their stock holdings in BP, 20 days before the alleged "accident", but it appears Tony Hayward, BP's CEO also sold his shares just prior to the incident. I will attach he Bloomberg snapshot I saved showing GS's sale.
The Telegraph in UK and Diaily Kos are reporting that info today.


BP chief Tony Hayward sold shares weeks before oil spill
The chief executive of BP sold £1.4 million of his shares in the fuel giant weeks before the Gulf of Mexico oil spill caused its value to collapse.
Tony Hayward cashed in about a third of his holding in the company one month before a well on the Deepwater Horizon rig burst, causing an environmental disaster.

Mr Hayward, whose pay package is £4 million a year, then paid off the mortgage on his family’s mansion in Kent, which is estimated to be valued at more than £1.2 million.

More:>

http://is.gd/cDKYs

BP’s Hayward sold 33% of stock AFTER company sought advice on how to respond to oil spills
Tony Hayward cashed in about a third of his holding in the company one month before a well on the Deepwater Horizon rig burst...

   Mr Hayward, whose pay package is £4 million a year, then paid off the mortgage on his family’s mansion in Kent...

   There is no suggestion that he acted improperly or had prior knowledge that the company was to face the biggest setback in its history. ...

   Since he disposed of 223,288 shares on March 17 , the company’s share price has fallen by 30 per cent.

 

However, evidence shows that BP executives were aware of the looming disaster before March 17.

According to the May 31 Bloomberg article 'BP Lacked Well Control Six Weeks Before Gulf Rig Disaster, E-Mails Show':

BP Plc told regulators six weeks before its well in the Gulf of Mexico exploded that workers were having trouble maintaining control, according to e-mails released yesterday by the House Energy and Commerce Committee investigating the spill....

   "We are in the midst of a well control situation on MC 252 #001 and have stuck pipe," wrote [BP executive Scherie Douglas in a March 10 e-mail] referring to the subsea block, Mississippi Canyon 252, of the stricken well. "We are bringing out equipment to begin operations to sever the drillpipe, plugback the well and bypass." ...

   The e-mails shows that as early as the second week of March, BP was enlisting help from J. Connor Consulting Inc., a Houston-based firm that advises some of the world’s biggest energy companies on how to respond to oil spills.

More:>

http://tinyurl.com/27verhm
Add this to Goldman Sachs selling their BP stock, and you have a real problem!

http://bit.ly/auUfyk

 Proof Goldman sold 4.6 million shares of BP March 31, 2010.
We already discussed the dispersants and how they have been been funded, as well as stockpiled and by who.


Now look at the selling of stock by the major players, just before an alleged accident.


As you know by my article yesterday, there are 3 confirmed ruptures.
First one at site of Horizon. Second 8 miles away. Third 22 miles away.
You see the recent advertisements by BP saying they are doing everything they cam and that BP has 1,300 boats in the water.


Have a look at live satellite sometime. There are not 1,300 boats in the water.


Bobby Jindall applied for permits to build 22 barrier islands. O gave him permits for 4.Said they wanted environmental impact study.
What study? That's an intentional stalling tactic.
Here's a study result: Oil bad for environment. Sand not bad for environment.


My advice La. Build the islands. To heck with permits. What politician would dare complain? That would be a fool's move on their part!


If you think this is only going to affect the Gulf region, you may want to have a look at this projected path:

This shows the graphic of the oil getting in the loop current, goind around the Keys and up the East coast which will cause an enormous enviromental disaster that is unprecedented on historic propotions that will most likely kill the Coral Reef :(


You may have noticed, O went to the Gulf yesterday. He never said a word about a containment plan, the toxicity of the dispersants or even mention the now known fact there are 3 separate ruptures.
http://tinyurl.com/2b339xs


He never mentioned help offered and refused from not only EXXON and Shell, but from other countries. Did you know the Saudis have and have offered their Supertankers, that are specifically designed to vacuum oil off the ocean surface? Why are they not welcome?
You see the oil is about to enter the Gulfstream current Loop. Why are we not preventing that?
Where are the resources.


Please note the deadly silence from the Enviro-Groups. Why?

I am bringing over some of the post I made in JSM's thread:


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quote from: joesamas mama on June 06, 2010, 09:35:12 AM
Quote from: islandmonkey on June 06, 2010, 01:58:52 AM
Quote from: Brandi on June 06, 2010, 01:51:24 AM
Yeah, I got your point about paid workers needing to do the work they were hired for, IM.

Some of the people paid are locals whose jobs have been displaced by the disaster, I hear.

This is a massive disaster, I don't know the answer to making the people who were hired to clean do their jobs, not just during media presence times.

People hired to do a job have the responsibility to do the job. Period.




Exactly! The workers here were transported in on buses and the locals hired for use of their fishing vessels have only had about 120 out of 1300 called upon to help (that was in LA). The ones here are bused in, put up in hotels and all their expenses paid which is why I was enraged to see them doing nothing unless the media is shooting video. I think Buck Lee is correct, we don't need them here since they aren't working, we can hire our own and bill it to BP, but the locals are more than willing to do their share. However after I get all the photos tomorrow of them sitting on the bum and upload it to youtube and send it to Fox, maybe someone will light a fire under them since that may be the only thing to move them from their tents.

You go GIRL!! Post the youtube here when you get it finished. I am proud to have you as a fellow monkey. I just saw that BP commercial about them cleaning up, blah, blah, blah. We don't have BP's here or I would certainly boycott them. <insert monkey mad icon>


I am working on it!!!!! Problem with boycotting the stations is they are mom and pop stores as BP hasn't run the gas stations in many, many yrs and it doesn't hurt BP just your average family struggling to get by, now other products made by BP such as Castrol motor oil etc. is another story. I did just hear Orlando Salinas who is ont he beach near my house say that BP was having a meeting inland and "getting an earful from angry locals", LOL!! They deserve it and more.......

 Re: JSM's BEGGING FOR BAN THREAD #16 5/30/10 -
« Reply #1416 on: June 06, 2010, 04:43:38 PM » Quote 

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Ok, just got back in from the beach and walked east to see if I could find the workers..........LOL, what was I expecting from that crew. I got on the beach before 12:00 and they were no where to be seen until about 1:30ish, I walked down and told them there were a few tar balls in front of where I live and they told me they couldn't clean them up?? Whatever, so I watched them again do nothing. There were 2 men standing in the very same spot as they were yesterday and shoveling about one tar bar a minute, hello-you have a freaking shovel scoop up as many as possible at a time and fill the bags. I finally went down and did it myself and it took me about 4 minutes to scoop it up witha seashell, and finally I resorted to using my hands beacuse I could get more with my hands than the seashell. I was able to clean it up and fill a plastic bag in that short period of time. I decided to walk west and was fully anticipating being pissed again at the next crew and was pleasantly surprised to see their entire crew working and they had about 130 bags filled before noon and another 50+ (from my estimate) filled and waiting to be hauled off. I introduced myself and they gladly gave me their crew name Northeast Tanker crew and even their names which shocked me because the other crew refused to answer anything at all, which is irrelevant since I have all thier faces on photographs. The Northeast tanker crew was the ones I saw at the public beach yesterday when the governor and Jimmy Buffet were here (they were pulled from their normal spot for the photo op and I assume it's because they are the only crew in the 9 blocks I walked that actually had NO TAR BALLS left). They told me they expect to be here a full yr and wanted to stay in the section of the beach they have been assigned and I hope they do because htey came down and cleaned up what I wasn't able to get without question. I also talked to a supervisor from DEP who told me that 130 men were fired yesterday because all of the complaints from locals after watching them do nothing and expected more to be fired this week, he also laughed when he told me that the crew that did nothing told him they were supposed to work 15 minutes and rest 30 minutes.......we laughed together and I found him to honestly seem to be equally pissed even though he doesn't live here. The Northeast tanker crew doesn't either, most are from the Boston area and they were telling me they had never seen a beach so gorgeous in their life and intended to do everything to keep it that way, I offered them anything they want, water, coke etc, since I truly appreciate a group that cares and want to keep them near my stretch of the beach. I took photos which I will send everywher I can of locals (which weren't out as much as usual due to the extremely rough surf and impending storm approaching) cleaing up the tar balls, pic's of the Northeast tanker crew and the "no name crew" that does nothing. They were none too happy with me taking pic's of them and their snail's pace style of work, but thay can bite me because this is my home, my backyard and expect you to do what you are paid to do. So, their it is - my extremely long post about another day cleaning up the beach. Here are a few pic's............can you guess which ones are the crew that work?? Also note, they seagrass washed up due to the storm and rough surf and was all over the beach, this is not the oil just a plankton like natural substance that comes in when we have rough weather.





The first group of pic's is a crew who won't tell me their name, answer any questions and bagged about 25 bags the entire day. I went out about 11:30 and their tent ws empty and they were no where to be found until 1:30 ish, where 2-3 workers took 2 days (I was out Sat and Sun watching this crew) clean a 5 x 5 area, while I cleaned up 150 tar balls in a matter of under 5 minutes, they have shovels and I just used my hands as other locals used seashells to scoop it up. The Northeast Tanker crew which is west of me had 230+ bags filled before noon that day and another 60 ish between 1:00 and 2:00 and yesterday had tons of bags even though we had no oil they were cleaning the sea grass so when oil does wash ashore it will be easier to clean. Of course they didn't mind telling me their name or where they were from (Boston area) because they were working their @ss off. I thanked them profusely and they actualy thanked me for coming out to the beach, WOW I was impressed by this crew, sadly they are an anomally and this was also the crew that was moved to the public area when Jimmy Buffet was on the beach with the governor........my guess, photo op because BP wants to potray how efficeint they are and since we have tons of reporters here from AP, CNN, FOX, CBS etc., it was best to have this crew in the background. Also theytold me they expect to be here for a year.

Totally forgot to post the proof of Goldman Sachs huge sell of BP stock after MMS learned the well was unstable and before the explosion................also remember Goldman Sachs is tied into NALCO who makes the toxic dispersant Corexit

‘Oil Rising Up from Seabed’ – People are Miscalculating Risks
By Nathan A. Martin|Jun 8, 2010, 1:07 PM
Senator Bill Nelson says that oil is now leaking from the seabed floor and that the casing used in the well may be broken or shattered.

This raises new questions about the possibility of inferior casing, about the amount of oil actually coming out of the ground, and about the likelihood of relief wells actually working and how long they will take to work.

Even if they do work, what will be the damage to the coastline, the food chain, and how far around the globe will it travel if it continues to spew for months, or if the relief wells fail, even years?

I contend that humans are vastly miscalculating RISK. We have miscalculate the financial risk and allowed private central bankers to create a money system that requires never ending growth – a mathematical impossibility. We poke hole after hole into the ground (2,500 wells in progress now) in more and more difficult places and do not require corporations to use redundant fail safe systems – like we do for airliners. We should have seen these possibilities and required nothing but the highest levels of safety. Just as we should require a money system that is not guaranteed to fail over time, one that only works to enrich the very few people who control money’s production.

Now we have oil gushing into the Gulf at extremely high rates and we fiddle fart around. If that casing is shattered and oil is leaking up through the seabed floor, this is an entirely different ballgame than the one we have been spooned.

If we even mention the word “nuclear” people freak out. Again, this is miscalculating the risk. The greater risk is poisoning the entire food chain and watching oil and chemicals travel the oceans of the world. If it turns out that oil is seeping up through the ocean floor, an underground explosion may be the only option – and it may be an option that we are fools not to use sooner than later. Using it AFTER the ocean is poisoned is simply moronic, no other word for it.

Concerns over radiation leaking are vastly over perceived. Mankind has set off HUNDREDS of underground explosions and never produced anything even remotely approaching the damage being done right NOW by this one oil well. We need to be examining the nuclear option and evaluating the soil between the well head and the oil reservoir. Call me nuts if you want, but we should have been prepping for this from day one. We should be drilling a parallel shaft to the well NOW in preparation.

Mankind invented a very dangerous thing in nuclear weapons. We now have the opportunity to put them to use on behalf of mankind, yet we refuse to help ourselves with our own technology. The greater RISK may very well be in letting the oil run. I say that collapsing the well and sealing the fissures surrounding it now may be the lower risk thing to do – at a minimum we should be discussing, evaluating, and preparing for it in light of the facts and not our emotions. This means that we need to know the full extent of what’s going on, and we need that transparency now.

Videos and more at: http://wallstreetpit.com/31174-oil-rising-up-from-seabed-people-are-miscalculating-risks

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/06/presidential_commission_on_bps.html
Presidential commission on BP's oil spill needs to start their work: An editorial
Published: Wednesday, June 09, 2010, 6:59 AM     Updated: Wednesday, June 09, 2010, 7:32 AM
President Barack Obama announced the creation of a special White House commission to investigate the BP oil spill 25 days ago.
A few days later, he named the seven-member commission's co-chairs: William Reilly, former EPA administrator under President George H.W. Bush, and Bob Graham, a Democrat who was governor of Florida in the 1980s.
Since then the names of two more members have surfaced -- both of them environmental experts and one of them an advocate for restoring Louisiana's coastline. The three other members have yet to be named, and no official appointments have been made other than the chairmen.

For a panel that is supposed to wrap up its inquiry in six months, and whose work will directly affect Louisiana's future well being, this is a terribly slow start.
President Obama said in his May 22 radio address that the purpose of the commission "is to consider both the root causes of the disaster and offer options on what safety and environmental precautions we need to take to prevent a similar disaster from happening again."

He said he was directing the commission to produce "recommendations on how we can prevent - and mitigate the impact of - any future spills that result from offshore drilling." Meanwhile, he ordered a six-month moratorium on deepwater exploratory drilling in the Gulf and tied it to the commission's work.

The commission, as described by President Obama, has a big task ahead. It is puzzling why it is still awaiting members and has yet to be fully launched.

If Mr. Reilly and Mr. Graham are going to be able to do what the president has asked, they need to get started. President Obama ought to name the remaining members of the commission immediately. We hope that list includes a Louisiana resident who understands the workings of our economy.
It has been seven weeks since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, setting in motion the worst oil spill in U.S. history. South Louisianians are simultaneously grieving the loss of lives and livelihoods. Oil is invading our fisheries and coating marshes and seabirds. Thousands of fishers are out of work and now thousands more oil service jobs are threatened.

We need to see the commission get on with its work.

http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/ap-exclusive-scuba-diving-in-the-gulf-oil-spill-20239801

AP Exclusive: Scuba Diving in the Gulf Oil Spill

47 minutes ago - AP 3:23 | 2852 views

A rare and different perspective at the oil spill from beneath the surface. The AP's Rich Matthews got an exclusive look at the spill by joining a dive team who explored how the oil is impacting the…

http://www.coosavalleynews.com/np85720.htm
Alabama Waterway Closed
CVN News

06-10-2010

The U.S. Coast Guard closed Perdido Pass, the main waterway into the resort town of Orange Beach due to thick waves of oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf.

BP had deployed several thousand feet of boom, but the oil seeped under it into the main channel and down the waterway. Many areas of the marshy shoreline are now coated with oil residue.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=10873470

Red Tape Vexes Gulf Residents Seeking BP Payments
As amount of oil collected at Gulf floor grows, so does frustration over BP claims process
 By BRIAN SKOLOFF and RAY HENRY Associated Press Writers
GRAND ISLE, La. June 10, 2010 (AP)
The reefs that David Walter makes for anglers to drop into the Gulf of Mexico   are fake, but his frustration as he tries to win compensation from BP for lost income is real.
State regulators stopped issuing permits for the reefs on May 4 because of the oil spill, effectively killing off $350,000 in Walter's expected business. It sent him into a labyrinth of archived invoices and documents lost by BP. Finally, an offer came: $5,000.

"I said that's not fair because if you say that, then I have to go out of business and I lose everything," said Walter, whose company is based in Alabama.

Fishermen, property owners and businesspeople who have filed damage claims with BP are angrily complaining of delays, excessive paperwork and skimpy payments that have put them on the verge of going under as the financial and environmental toll of the seven-week-old disaster grows.
Out in the Gulf, meanwhile, the oil company on Wednesday captured more of the crude that's been gushing from the bottom of the sea since April and began bringing in more heavy equipment to handle it.

The containment effort played out as BP stock continued to plunge amid fears that the company might be forced to suspend dividends and find itself overwhelmed by the cleanup costs, penalties, damage claims and lawsuits generated by the biggest oil spill in U.S. history.
n a federal filing Thursday, the company said the cost of its response to the oil spill has grown to $1.43 billion.

BP tried to reassure investors before the London Stock Exchange opened Thursday, saying it was in a strong financial position and it saw no reason to justify the U.S. sell-off, and many analysts agree that the company can withstand the crisis.

Shares in BP plunged Thursday in early trading in London. The stock had dropped as much as 11 percent to a 13-year low at the opening as experts warned dividend payouts would likely be postponed. However, it recovered some ground by midmorning, trading 4.3 percent lower at $5.47, as analysts suggested the sell-off was overdone.

continued here...http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wirestory?id=10873470&page=2

Today bring a really sad day for us here in Florida/Alabama.............after 3 days of no oil whatsoever, the oil has returned to the beach and far worse to the inland waters. Pensacola Bay has oil in it now and they are booming the mouth of the bay with containment booms which in reality are of no use except in extremely calm waters, and that definitely doesn't describe our winds. The oil simply goes over and under the booms and the inland waterways are so difficult to clean up as it creeps into marshes, estuaries etc., I would rather have it on the beach because that's the easiest to clean and is a natural barrier/boom to anything entering the inland waterways.

I am livid right now........WTF is the administration right now and WTH haven't they implemented what is in the Oil Pollution Act and Clean Water Act???? Quit pointing fingers and DO YOUR F'ING JOB, Peeps in LA are losing not only their way of life, their jobs, their wetlands and marshes, and it will take decades to return for them, by then it will be too late:(


While an oil company is legally responsible to clean up a spill under the Oil Pollution Act and Clean Water Act,  if they fail or if the spill causes a substantial threat to the public or the environment, then the law appears to  mandate the President get involved in accordance with his National Contingency Plan for removal of the oil.

This federal authority was put in place when the OPA amended section 311 of the Clean Water Act to clarify the federal government’s authority and responsibility after an oil spill.   Before the OPA, the law sort of deferred clean-up efforts to the oil company who caused the spill.  But the OPA mandated the President take action to ensure “effective and immediate removal of a discharge, and mitigation or prevention of a substantial threat of a discharge, of oil or a hazardous substance.”

33 USC § 1321(c)(1)(A) provides:

The President shall, in accordance with the National Contingency Plan and any appropriate Area Contingency Plan, ensure effective and immediate removal of a discharge, and mitigation or prevention of a substantial threat of a discharge, of oil…

Section 1321(c)(1)(B) discusses specifically what the President may do to carry out the responsibility for an oil clean-up, providing in part:

In carrying out this paragraph, the President may–
         (i) remove or arrange for the removal of a discharge, and mitigate or prevent a substantial threat of a discharge, at any time;
         (ii) direct or monitor all Federal, State, and private actions to remove a discharge; and
         (iii) remove and, if necessary, destroy a vessel discharging, or threatening to discharge, by whatever means are available.

Furthermore, if the discharge of oil from an oil spill is determined to be a “substantial threat to public health or welfare,” then the President must take action to either remove it or mitigate it.  Section 1321(c)(2)(A) provides:

If a discharge, or a substantial threat of a discharge, of oil or a hazardous substance from a vessel, offshore facility, or onshore facility is of such a size or character as to be a substantial threat to the public health or welfare of the United States (including but not limited to fish, shellfish, wildlife, other the President shall direct all Federal, State, and private actions to remove the discharge or to mitigate or prevent the threat of the discharge.natural resources, and the public and private beaches and shorelines of the United States),

http://blog.al.com/times-views/2010/06/editorial_on_oil_spill_trickle.html
EDITORIAL ON OIL SPILL: Trickle down oil economics
Published: Friday, June 11, 2010, 9:30 AM     Updated: Friday, June 11, 2010, 9:40 AM
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. _ The oil gushing from the blown well in the Gulf has triggered a tsunami of lawsuits from interests hurt financially by the destruction.

The latest potential plaintiffs: Alabama public schoolchildren.
State Superintendent Dr. Joe Morton announced Thursday that the spill's impact on Alabama's tourism and fishing industries is hurting tax collections, particularly sales, income and utility taxes that go toward public education.

So Morton plans to use economic experts to calculate monthly losses and send BP the bill. If the oil giant balks, Morton says he'll sue on behalf of the state's 745,000 public school students.

Under federal law, BP PLC is required to pay for a range of losses, including property damage and lost earnings. Unclear in that law, though, is how far the liability must stretch. BP already faces billions of dollars in bills for cleanup costs and compensation to fishermen and tourism businesses hurt by the spill.

Alabama is not alone in seeking financial relief for starved government coffers.

Local officials in the Florida panhandle are pushing for a special session of the Florida Legislature to recoup lost taxes.

Tax appraisers have been hired to calculate lost property tax revenues to local governments from properties devalued by lost tourism. The bill would give tax relief to affected property owners and the state would legally try to recoup that from BP.
The domino effect from the oil spill is a catastrophe of epic proportions.
The environmental impact is the most visible and perhaps the most emotional. Who wouldn't wince at oil-lathered waterfowl suffocating under the weight or of precious marshlands dying in the toxic stew of crude.

The financial toll, of course,  is much harder to calculate. And where would the legal liability end?

Could economic interests here, for instance, sue for lost business if some of those now unemployed Gulf fishermen cancel family trips to Huntsville?

Morton said Thursday a tax revenue slowdown was apparent in just weeks after the Deepwater Horizon offshore well explosion in April. When Orange Beach reported a 50 percent drop in tourism over Memorial Day weekend, Morton said concerns increased.

Alabama places an unusually high reliance on sales and income taxes for its state budgets.

So when commerce slows for whatever reason - the recession, the oil spill or a natural disaster that wipes out livelihoods - tax coffers suffer accordingly.

If Morton succeeds in getting BP to pay for lost education revenue, state services funded from the General Operating Budget might also have a case. Medicare? The Department of Public Safety? Public Health? The Department of Environmental Management?
Morton said Alabama's unique system of a separate budget for pubic education makes it possible to specifically track revenue losses.

Other states affected by the spill don't have separate education budgets, so proving loss of specific education revenue could be harder for them, Morton said.

But that's not going to keep them from trying. Everyone seems to be piling on and we understand the frustrations.

A challenge will be determining which losses are truly from the oil spill and which ones are part of a lawsuit-frenzy against a company with mighty deep pockets.

Put this one in the tank. State and federal courtrooms will keep busy over the oil spill for years to come.

By John Peck, for the editorial board. E-mail: john.peck@times.com

I have not read the entire board - but did anyone here see anything about the Jones act?  http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/06/10/jones-act-slowing-oil-spill-cleanup/?test=latestnews

Hi TBM!! I have and know it can be waived as it was in Katrina. Every day this continues, people here and elsewhere I'm sure are getting more pizzed.

Again we are blessed to have had another oilfree day........still only a matter of time before we are ankle deep in sludge as it looks like we are dead center in the eye of the trajectory:(

I live in Pensacola. WEAR TV posted these photos of Orange Beach on their Facebook page today. I'm so mad over this whole thing!!


(http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs593.snc3/31263_403093034346_72274029346_4041650_1618182_n.jpg)



(http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs533.ash1/31263_403094329346_72274029346_4041721_5778663_n.jpg)

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/06/plan_for_relief_well_aimed_at.html

Plan for relief well aimed at stopping Gulf oil spill has no specifics
Published: Sunday, June 13, 2010, 4:12 PM     Updated: Sunday, June 13, 2010, 4:13 PM
 The Associated Press
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View full size(AP Photo/Dave Martin)The Transocean Deepwater Discoverer drilling rig operates over the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico Sunday, June 13, 2010. Oil continues to flow from the wellhead some 5,000 feet below the surface.
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Share NEW ORLEANS -- In the chaotic days after the oil rig explosion, BP engineers and federal regulators desperate to plug the blown-out well scrambled to complete plans for a pair of deepwater relief wells that represent the best chance to end the disastrous spill in the Gulf of Mexico.


But BP didn't begin drilling the relief well until 12 days after the start of the disaster as the company and government rushed through environmental reviews, permits and other plans. The government does not require oil companies to have relief well plans in place ahead of time, and the lack of planning cost the company valuable time to get the spill under control.

And the plan ultimately approved by the government offers virtually no details outlining the relief well effort or what dangers might lurk in the depths as the company drills 18,000 feet below the surface -- the equivalent of 16 Eiffel Towers. Experts say the relief effort could be exposed to the same risks that caused the original well to blow out in catastrophic fashion, while potentially creating a worse spill if engineers were to accidentally damage the existing well or tear a hole in the undersea oil reservoir.

The gaps in the relief well process mirror other regulatory issues and oversights that have been exposed since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, killed 11 workers and sent tens of millions of gallons of oil gushing into the Gulf. The Associated Press earlier found that BP's voluminous spill plans for the Gulf and rig were riddled with omissions and glaring errors, leading to criticism that the company has essentially been making things up as it goes. Among the omissions were a lack of a clear plan for a relief well.

BP says the relief well has been a success and ahead of schedule, representing a welcome change for engineers who have been attempting one risky, untested maneuver after another. Relief wells are a more proven method in the industry, and engineers are comfortable and confident in the process.

Engineers plan to dig the well 18,000 feet below the surface and then drill sideways into the blown-out well and plug it with cement. Kent Wells, BP's senior vice president of exploration and production, said this week that more details would be released when the process nears completion in early August.

U.S. regulations are more lax than other countries when it comes to relief wells. In Canada, for example, energy companies must have plans and permits for relief wells before drilling is approved. These plans must describe exactly how engineers would drill a relief well if required to do so -- down to identifying the drilling vessel and spelling out how long it would take.

Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the government's point-man in the response, has taken it a step further, suggesting that it might be worth requiring oil companies to drill relief wells in tandem with the main well. He said the idea "would be a legitimate point to be raised" and put in front of a commission investigating drilling regulations.

That would be a considerable expense to oil companies -- relief wells can cost $100 million.

In the Gulf disaster, BP officials put together relief well plans on the fly in the days after the explosion. BP submitted a relief well plan six days after the blowout. It began drilling the well on May 2 -- 12 days after the explosion. The British oil giant also started drilling a second relief well on May 16 under pressure from the White House.

To get permits for the relief wells, the company used similar wording from earlier papers and submitted them to the federal Minerals Management Service. The plans lacked specifics about how it planned to drill the wells or how long it would take.

But the company underscored the danger of such hasty planning when it noted that a mishap could lead to another blowout that could leak more oil into the ocean. The permits also discuss a worst-case scenario that would involve inadvertently puncturing the reservoir.

BP did not respond to repeated requests by The Associated Press for more information about their strategy and approach in drilling the wells.

"The plan on file mirrors what they were likely asked to do by MMS to get the approval -- it's a pretty voluminous document that doesn't have a lot of meat on it," said Eric Smith, associate director of the Entergy-Tulane Energy Institute. "It's a bunch of people pushed for time, but then they've got pages of material about possible Co2 emissions, animals and archaeology. There's really no details about the relief wells."

Some oil company executives told the AP that submitting a "template procedure" with scant details is often necessary because the plans can change often depending on the type of relief well needed.

U.S. Department of Interior spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff said the MMS "approved the relief wells in accordance with our regulations and requirements." She added that the agency has applied rigorous inspections and oversight of the entire relief well process, including having an inspector and engineer on site when BP conducted tests on the blowout preventers in the two wells.

"We applied additional testing and safety requirements to the drilling of the relief wells because the situation demanded both urgency but also precision and the highest level of oversight and safety. We weren't willing to let BP move forward with the relief wells without raising the bar for safety on those wells," she said.

Ira Leifer, a University of California, Santa Barbara researcher who is on the government team measuring the amount of oil spewing from the well, has raised questions about the safety of BP's efforts to stop and contain the leak, including the relief well.

He said the many unknowns about the flow rate and pressure and quantity of oil coming from the well make it difficult to "design and engineer safe oil recovery systems, such as the 'cap,' nor design and engineer ultimate solutions safely such as the relief wells."

The company and outside experts alike say the tried-and-true method will eventually work, but it's no simple task. Engineers must drill more than three miles beneath the surface and hit a target only a few inches across before pumping in drilling fluids to plug the breached well.

As with any deepsea drilling effort, there are risks -- including the potential for a blowout in the relief wells just like what happened in April. BP said in a filing that if a relief well were to blow out, each could spew 250,000 gallons more crude into the Gulf's waters each day -- and force engineers to try to plug a new, separate leak.

The relief wells drilled into the blown-out Ixtoc well in Mexico three decades ago took about three months to quell the gusher. Engineers in the current spill are confident they can pull it off by August, although some are skeptical.

"The petroleum engineers seem pretty cocky about that," Ed Overton, a Louisiana State University professor of environmental studies. "It just strikes me that there are so many unknowns. My guess is that it's going to take more than one try."

The digging is a trial-and-error process. As the drill plunges deeper through the Earth's crust, crews will probe the area with a high-tech metal detector to guide their way to the shaft. If they punch it too far, engineers will have to reverse and then plug the hole with cement. Experts say each miss could take days or longer to fix.

"In order to do this perfectly you'd have to know exactly where the original well is," said David Rensink, incoming president of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. "And unfortunately the directional data that goes into this is not perfect."

(This report was written by Greg Bluestein and Jason Dearen of The Associated Press.)

Hi Flmom47~I live on P-Cola beach and I'm mad as hell too!!!!!!!!! Mad at BP, the Adminstration and the list continues.....such a lack of urgency as we are now closing in on 8 weeks and the Jones Act has yet to be waived and no supertankers (which is a tried and true method of containment) are in the Gulf...........if they had been, it may have never hit the shores as it successfully contained 800 million gallons in the Persain Gulf, that begs the question WTF hasn't the coast guard brought them in???

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/13/deepwater-horizon-oil-spill-obama

Obama heads to Gulf in hoping of exerting control over oil spill disasterAnger in Alabama over damage to tourism and presidential response locals compare to that after hurricane Katrina
   (8)Tweet this (18)Suzanne Goldenberg in Orange Beach guardian.co.uk, Sunday 13 June 2010 22.09 BST Article history
Barack Obama survey damage along the Louisiana coastline. Photograph: Larry Downing/Reuters
 
Barack Obama flies into the Gulf tomorrow to try to take charge of an environmental disaster that is spreading beyond human control, with a stinking tide of oil from BP's ruptured well now advancing on the white sand beaches of Alabama and Florida.

Obama's visit is his fourth since the gusher began, but the first so far to Mississippi, Albama, and Florida, which are now joining Louisiana on the frontline of the spill. Several miles of Alabama's beaches were splattered with a thick sludge of oil at the weekend, with a slick now three or four miles off the Florida resort of Pensacola. Two barrier islands off Mississippi were also covered in oil. In Panama City, Florida, 190 miles from the ruptured well, a steel tank was discovered, oozing oil, that appeared to come from the sunken Deepwater Horizon rig.

Obama's two-day visit is the latest attempt by the White House to assert the president's mastery over the spill crisis – a difficult case to make given that BP and his administration admit the oil will continue to spew until at least August.

He also has a tricky task of balancing public pressure to get tough on BP with economic and diplomatic concerns. That task will be put to the test on his return from the Gulf with a television address from the Oval Office on Tuesday night, and a meeting with BP's chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg, on Wednesday.

At Alabama's Orange Beach, at the western edge of a stretch of highrise hotels and condominiums that some call the Redneck Riviera, the oil was washing up in thick lumps faster than the hundreds of cleanup workers could shovel it up.

"This absolutely sucks," said Carolyn Kerin, coming off the beach with her three children. None were swimming. Two red flags were flying, indicating that swimmers would face fines and penalties – not that Kerin would let her children in the water anyway. "Ewww," she said.

Was she impressed with Obama's handling of the crisis so far? "I don't think he did everything he could do. I think he was way to slow to act like he was serious."

Further down the beach, opinion was divided. A man held up a sign for TV cameras reading: "We've been BPeed on." Overhead, a propeller plane flew a banner reading: "Look Obama 54 days and still nothing."
The summer holidays have just started here and normally the beaches would be a crush of umbrellas and tanned bodies, with traffic jams stretching for miles. But this weekend, the car parks were packed with pickup trucks and tractors from the cleanup crews.

The sands were mainly empty, barring the workers in their rubber boots and gloves shovelling up the clumps of oil that washed up to 3.5 metres (12ft) up the beach, and dumping the stuff in plastic rubbish bags. But the oil was landing ashore as fast as they could clean. A few workers admitted they had cleaned the exact same patch of sand earlier in the day.

"It is a liquid and it is very difficult to pick it up mechanically and pick it up physically," Alabama's governor, Bob Riley, told CBS television today. "We are trying to find something to coagulate it today so we can pick it up."

Others also had problems to attend to. At 3pm yesterday, Judy Robertson was so jittery, walking up to each new arrival to ask if they were with the wedding party she was organising. The event planner has had three brides cancel – and that was before any of the oil reached the beach.

Now she said she was expecting a wave of lost bookings. Looking down the beach at a tractor pulling bundled up bags, she said: "My grandkids are not going to know what a beach is if it continues like this. We are not going to be able to swim here. It's going to destroy our economy."

Robertson, like many of the people in this solidly Republican part of the country, was never a supporter of Obama. "To me he's not presidential material," she said.

Obama's earlier attempts to show his control over events, including the threat to "kick ass", may have made Robertson dislike him even more. "That's what teenagers say. It's not official. He talks like he's just some worker on a beach," she said.

Striking the right balance will be a difficult challenge for Obama during his visit. This was hostile territory even before the oil spill. On the ground a lot of people accuse their fellow Americans of rushing to New York's aid after 9/11 while ignoring hurricane Katrina and this latest tragedy to befall the Gulf. "It's like we are Haiti," said one popular US radio host.

BP is also less than willing to act as Obama's fall guy. As preparations got underway for the White House visit the oil company was moving to mollify local opinion, with BP's chief executive, Tony Hayward, appearing in local TV adverts to offer a personal apology for the spill.

"The gulf spill is a tragedy that never should have happened," he said. "We will get this done. We will make it right."

The governors of Mississippi and Alabama want reassurances that Obama will continue to support offshore oil drilling, and are pressing him to end his six-month moratorium on new projects. Florida's governor, however, wants the president to introduce an outright ban.

But all three want assurances from Obama that BP will make good on its promise to pay for the spill cleanup and any economic losses. Such fears have heightened in recent days, with Louisiana's treasurer warning that BP could face bankruptcy.

The governors are also trying to stave off the collapse of their tourist industries. "Most of the experience of coming to the Gulf coast is still as great as it's ever been," Riley said. "Rent a condo, play golf."

Or take souvenirs of the spill. At Orange Beach, a few people came with cameras to take snaps of the sludge. Kevin Kaullen, an environmental engineer from near San Diego, California, arrived with battles to take samples of the water.

Otherwise the idea of helping Alabamans out by taking an eco-disaster holiday was not finding many takers, even among neighbouring Louisianans, who are going through their own economic pain owing to the spill.

On a local talk radio station, a host mused about how much of a discount on a condo it would take to make a beach holiday without an actual beach experience an attractive proposition. "A 40% discount?" he said. "I don't think I would go for 40%. It would have to be at least 60."

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/06/oil_slick_in_mobile_bay_appear.html
Video: Oil slick in Mobile Bay appears several hundred acres large
Published: Monday, June 14, 2010, 5:00 AM     Updated: Sunday, June 13, 2010, 9:32 PM
Video  http://videos.al.com/mobile-press-register/2010/06/weathered_oil_near_gaillard_is.html

Pelicans dove on menhaden swimming in a huge oil slick dotted with globs of emulsified oil of all shapes and sizes Sunday morning in Mobile Bay. The slick appeared to be several hundred acres in size.
Also, an estimated 3-acre slick with a small amount of floating oil in it was seen just southeast of Little Sand Island, within two miles of the Causeway spanning the bay. The biggest globs of the floating oil were about the size of half a postage stamp.

The larger slick surrounded the south and east sides of Gaillard Island, home to one of the largest pelican rookeries on the Gulf Coast. At this time of the year, pelicans, terns and gulls are sitting on eggs on the island, and many young birds have already hatched.
(http://media.al.com/live/photo/oil-blob-june-13-2010jpg-a73fcd0045e6b916_large.jpg)
Hand-sized blobs of oil are seen in Mobile Bay on June 13, 2010.

Crews worked diligently to repair broken 6-inch-diameter boom around the island, even as the slick and oil globs floated north on the incoming tide.

Reporters in a boat examined a mile of boom on the island's east side and did not spot any oil caught in the boom or on the rock-lined shore.

At one point, a tugboat towing a large barge north toward Mobile passed through thick patches of oil, while sending large waves washing over the boom.

The thickest part of the slick and greatest concentration of oil lay in and across the ship channel to the east-northeast of marker No. 64.

Despite the large volume of oil and the presence of several spotter boats, there was no apparent effort to skim or collect the globs seen floating on the bay's surface as of 2 p.m.

Two boats were seen skimming in sheen a mile west of the Fairhope Pier during a fly-over of the bay earlier Sunday morning.

BP PLC spokesman Justin Saia said from the Unified Command Center in Mobile that the Coast Guard had concentrated the four skimmers working Mobile Bay at Fort Morgan.

"The skimmers are working the entry point to the bay and are focused there to stop the oil from entering the bay," Saia said. "That's the Coast Guard's point of attack. They want to keep the oil out. That's not to say they won't move skimmers or deploy more of them if large quantities of oil are confirmed farther up the bay."

Saia said the Coast Guard scheduled a fly-over of the Gaillard Island area and the northern part of the bay for later Sunday afternoon.
With so much oil now in the bay, Alabama Marine Resources Director Vernon Minton said he has given up plans to open the state's shrimp season later this week.
 
(This report was written by Outdoors Editor Jeff Dute and Staff Reporter Ben Raines.)

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20100611/NEWS/100619951?p=1&tc=pg
University science team joins oil clean-up effort
Federal grant funding research
By Jason Morton Staff writer
Published: Friday, June 11, 2010 at 2:19 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, June 11, 2010 at 2:19 p.m.

( page 1 of 2 )

TUSCALOOSA | Fueled by a federal grant, scientists from the University of Alabama are researching a method to hasten the clean-up of coastal areas contaminated by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
The research team is led by Behzad Mortazavi, assistant professor of biological sciences, and Patricia Sobecky, a professor and chair of UA’s Department of Biological Sciences.

Mortazavi said the aim of the year-long research program is to increase the rate at which organisms, in essence, “eat” the oil.

“We know that there are microbes in the ocean that can naturally degrade oil,” said Mortazavi, who is also director of the university’s master’s degree program in marine science. “What we’d like to do is speed up their metabolism to break down the oil.”

The team, working from UA’s Dauphin Island Sea Lab, is now collecting samples of water from the Gulf. Once that’s done, the researchers will test their methods in the lab, and the most effective microbes and organisms will then be tried in the field.

Mortazavi said the team is focusing on organisms found in the remains of dead fish and marsh vegetation.

“All of these are materials that already exist in the ocean, so we wouldn’t be introducing any new chemicals,” he said.
The research is being funded by the National Science Foundation’s Rapid Response Research program, which awarded the $125,000, one-year grant to UA earlier this month.

The program reviews and funds research proposals related to disasters and other unforeseen events for which a timely response is critical.
( page 2 of 2 )

TUSCALOOSA | Fueled by a federal grant, scientists from the University of Alabama are researching a method to hasten the clean-up of coastal areas contaminated by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Related Links:

    * Obama plans speech, victims’ fund for Gulf Coast
    * BP agrees to expedite payments to spill victims
    * Big flaws seen in BP response plans
    * Oil leak may be bigger than BP says
    * Red tape surrounds attempts to keep oil from river
    * More Stories

The research team is led by Behzad Mortazavi, assistant professor of biological sciences, and Patricia Sobecky, a professor and chair of UA’s Department of Biological Sciences.

Mortazavi said the aim of the year-long research program is to increase the rate at which organisms, in essence, “eat” the oil.

“We know that there are microbes in the ocean that can naturally degrade oil,” said Mortazavi, who is also director of the university’s master’s degree program in marine science. “What we’d like to do is speed up their metabolism to break down the oil.”

The team, working from UA’s Dauphin Island Sea Lab, is now collecting samples of water from the Gulf. Once that’s done, the researchers will test their methods in the lab, and the most effective microbes and organisms will then be tried in the field.

Mortazavi said the team is focusing on organisms found in the remains of dead fish and marsh vegetation.

“All of these are materials that already exist in the ocean, so we wouldn’t be introducing any new chemicals,” he said.

The research is being funded by the National Science Foundation’s Rapid Response Research program, which awarded the $125,000, one-year grant to UA earlier this month.

The program reviews and funds research proposals related to disasters and other unforeseen events for which a timely response is critical.

According to the NSF, the Rapid Response program has funded research on earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other events. Earlier this year, the program awarded grants for research on the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, and other awards are being made related to the Gulf oil spill, which began with the explosion and collapse of a deepwater oil drilling platform on April 20.

In the weeks since, thousands of gallons of crude oil have washed ashore, contaminating beaches and wetlands along the coasts of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle.

Mortazavi said these areas will be the targets of the research team’s findings. From there, the researchers will look for other areas that can use the newfound knowledge.

“Our shores are going to get impacted, and marshes act as a nursery for many marine organisms,” Mortazavi said. “They’ll be highly susceptible to oil contamination.”

Reach Jason Morton at jason.morton@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0200.

http://fieldnotes.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/06/14/4509459-us-explores-foreign-assistance-in-gulf
U.S. explores foreign assistance in gulf 2hrs ago
UPDATE: The State Department has just issued a statement adding to what it said about seeking foreign assistance in the gulf cleanup. The new statement acknowledges that the United States has already accepted foreign assistance with equipment from 17 countries and four international agencies, among them skimmers, booms and other equipment from Mexico, Norway, the Netherlands and Canada.

The State Department is now involved in the gulf oil spill cleanup, NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

In written responses to questions raised earlier in the day, the State Department acknowledged that it has sought information about possible foreign assistance in getting more booms to contain the spill and high-speed skimmers from foreign governments.

In particular, the State Department has asked foreign governments and the European Union about the availability of 18- to 24-inch containment booms and fire booms. So far, it has not issued a formal request, however.

The State Department said the United States would pay for whatever foreign assistance it received.

Following is the State Department response:
• The Department of State has sought information about possible sources of supply and equipment. We have not issued an appeal for assistance.

• The National Incident Command (NIC), headed by the U.S. Coast Guard, is working with the Department of State to support the Unified Area Command (UAC) as it sources equipment, supplies and expertise.

• Department of State assists in this effort to source equipment, supplies and services from foreign governments and international bodies in three ways: 1) receiving offers of assistance, forwarding these offers to the UAC through the NIC, and communicating with those governments and bodies about their offers; 2) reaching out through our posts abroad to locate potential sources of critical supplies and equipment; and 3) supporting BP's international sourcing through our diplomatic and consular functions, such as reaching out to relevant ministries and expediting visa processing.
The Unified Area Command has identified a need to locate sources of 18-24" containment boom and fire boom. On June 10, the Department of State requested information from foreign governments and international bodies, including the EU nations, about possible sources of this equipment and supply. We have begun to receive information and inquiries from governments and private companies worldwide and have shared that with the Unified Area Command. We are also in the process of contacting foreign governments and international bodies to identify possible sources of high speed, high capacity off-shore skimmers.

• With few exceptions, these international offers of assistance are made on a reimbursable basis, which means that the assistance is provided only if paid for by the recipient.

i feel for all that are on the coasts of the gulf of mexico. i just wish i could
do more than just donate info to the effort, i lived in tampa for 11yr, and im quite
fond of the west coast of fl, i spent a lot of leisurely hrs day sailing the coast.
i met several people that make their living from the coast, the thought that, could be lost is saddening. i wish and hope everyday, that the BP FLOW, does not wreck the
the lives and livelihoods of the gulf coast peoples

http://fieldnotes.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/06/14/4509459-us-explores-foreign-assistance-in-gulf

• With few exceptions, these international offers of assistance are made on a reimbursable basis, which means that the assistance is provided only if paid for by the recipient.
time to do it and BP should be footing the bill
=======================================
whats really happening in the gulf, look at the taxes lost if our gov moves
in haste, it appears to be all about the $$$$$$$$

How Much of the Gulf is Leased?
By Michael Mechanic
 Thu Jun. 10, 2010 2:34 PM PDT
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/06/bp-gulf-oil-lease-map

A BoingBoing commenter on my "Who Really Owns the Gulf of Mexico" post points out that there are plenty of non-leased cells in the map highlighted in that piece, and suggests that people check out the following map, too. This is just a detail; you can download the larger version here. But I think it just further underscores the notion of a corporate feeding frenzy around our Gulf resources. The leased areas are denoted in green. There are 6,652 of them, covering 35,637,392 acres--more than 22 percent of the leaseable Gulf.

larger version
http://www.gomr.mms.gov/homepg/lsesale/mau_gom_pa.pdf

Gulf under lease, big map
http://www.offshore-mag.com/etc/medialib/platform-7/offshore/maps-and_posters.Par.36859.File.dat/0110%20GOM%20OS%20Map-ADs.pdf

Who Really Owns the Gulf of Mexico?
By Michael Mechanic
| Tue Jun. 8, 2010 12:34 PM PDT
Here's another map that shows more clearly the proportion of the Gulf under lease
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/06/who-owns-gulf-BP-spill-oil-leases
==================================================
and they are not going to stop, here is how the gulf of mexico is veiwed by oil co.
http://articles.sfgate.com/2006-03-19/news/17287453_1_oil-boom-crude-oil-drilling-ship
snipped
"Let 'er rip," he said.

The Gulf of Mexico is in the midst of an oil boom.

Oil companies flush with the largest profits in their corporate lives -- $36.1 billion for Exxon Mobil last year, $14.1 billion for Chevron -- are spending billions to hunt for crude oil and drill more wells in the gulf, even as they struggle to repair what the hurricanes smashed.

In the search for oil, they are pushing to the edge of what is possible, exploring ever farther from shore and drilling deeper than before. Technological improvements let the oil companies bore wells 30,000 feet down. And with crude oil prices doubling in the last three years, projects that didn't make financial sense in the past now do.

The companies need the oil. Asia's hard-charging economies have strained supplies, and worldwide production has struggled to keep up. In most of the United States, including Alaska, oil production has dwindled for years.

But it has surged in the gulf, rising roughly 70 percent in the last decade. In 2004, the last year for which complete government statistics are available, the gulf produced about 531.9 million barrels of oil compared with 313.8 million 10 years earlier. In 2003, before Hurricane Ivan damaged rigs and undersea pipelines, production was even higher, 569.1 million barrels.

The gulf produces more than any other oil patch in the nation, even though its 4.1 billion barrels of proven reserves rank behind those in Alaska and Texas. And, compared with Saudi Arabia's 261.9 billion barrels in reserves, it's a mere pittance.

Still, if federal projections hold true, the gulf could pump enough crude in the next two or three years to raise America's overall production figures, even as other fields decline.

"We haven't gone up in decades," said Amy Myers Jaffe, an energy research fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute. "It's very important, not only to the companies but to the United States."

The companies know they are building multibillion-dollar projects in a sea prone to violent hurricanes. They are willing to take that risk. Despite the storms, the gulf is a far friendlier environment than many of the places where they work.

No armed insurgents roam the waters, kidnapping oil workers as they do in Nigeria. No populist president wants to hike the companies' taxes, as happened in Venezuela. OPEC doesn't control the gulf.

Chevron already owns or co-owns more than 3,000 oil and natural gas wells in the gulf. They account for roughly 8 percent of the company's worldwide production. The gulf will play a key part in the company's plan, announced earlier this month, to boost production 3 percent per year.

"We still feel there's a tremendous amount of resources to be found," said Scott Davis, Chevron's general manager of capital projects in the gulf.

The federal government may let the companies avoid paying some $7 billion in royalties on oil pumped from deepwater gulf wells in the next five years, although that arrangement has come under fire in Congress (see sidebar). And most states along the gulf welcome offshore drilling in a way that California emphatically does not.

Florida has resisted offshore drilling, but President Bush is pushing to open some of those waters for exploration.

The result: Oil companies are ramping up in the gulf, even as they brace for the next hurricane season, three months away.

"Where else are they going to go?" said analyst Jeb Armstrong with Argus Research. "This is the place that's open to them."
===================================================
Country Comparison :: Oil - consumption
This entry is the total oil consumed in barrels per day (bbl/day). The discrepancy between the amount of oil produced and/or imported and the amount consumed and/or exported is due to the omission of stock changes, refinery gains, and other complicating factors.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2174rank.html
 

 Offshore mag online
http://www.offshore-mag.com/index.html
http://www.offshore-mag.com/index/deepwater-horizon-oil-spill-2010.html

Here is the news story about the photos I took today when I drove home:

http://www.weartv.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wear_vid_8961.shtml

 Email  Bookmark | Share
PENSACOLA - President Barack Obama is scheduled to make stops in Pensacola and Pensacola Beach tomorrow. But tonight, the anger towards BP is growing. Channel Three's Liz Nagy continues our team coverage live from Pensacola Beach.

The sign posted here outside Key Sailing says it all. "Help us now." Everyone that drives onto Santa Rosa Island can see this, and they're hoping the President is one of them. This is one of at least five signs posted outside businesses here on the beach asking the President to waive legislation called "The Jones Act".

Business owners say the Jones Act keeps foreign vessels from coming to US waters and taking work from American boats. But today, during a visit to Pensacola, Senator Bill Nelson said that the Jones Act doesn't apply in times of emergency. Either way business owners on Pensacola Beach want President Obama to step in, demand more action and answers out of BP, and get money moving back into the Panhandle's economy.

"They are stealing our lifestyle, the livelihood of everyone here on the Gulf Coast, destroying out ecosystem, and not doing enough to clean it up. There's a lot that needs to be done, but it doesn't seem like we can do anything. Our hands are tied behind our back."

Levin Papantonio Law Firm also flew a banner over Pensacola beach today saying "Prosecute BP"

 One business' sign is inviting Mr. Obama in for a beer to talk about the oil spill. Tonight at ten, what these business owners say they need to hear from the President for his visit to be a game changer. Reporting live from Pensacola Beach, Liz Nagy, Channel Three News.
Signs for the President



LMAO.......they don't even call him Prez down here !!

After shutting down all major routes into and off the Island and thru Gulf Breeze, and Pensacola O spent maybe 40 minutes at the Beach........curious why there are no pic's with ANYONE mingling with O except Crist, and Thad Allen??? Odd, oh snap he's in hardcore conservative area I forgot!!!

(http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg246/chrysti756/Beach%20Bum%20Photography/beach%20oil%20spill/oabam.jpg)

(http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg246/chrysti756/Beach%20Bum%20Photography/beach%20oil%20spill/lol.jpg)

(http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg246/chrysti756/Beach%20Bum%20Photography/beach%20oil%20spill/ochit.jpg)


(http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg246/chrysti756/Beach%20Bum%20Photography/beach%20oil%20spill/ob.jpg)

Then pics from the meetings the day before in MS, AL....

(http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg246/chrysti756/Beach%20Bum%20Photography/beach%20oil%20spill/obamessiah.jpg)

(http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg246/chrysti756/Beach%20Bum%20Photography/beach%20oil%20spill/doublecht.jpg)



More at this link: http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=DP&Dato=20100615&Kategori=NEWS10&Lopenr=6150801&Ref=PH_blank

Finally a family on the beach with signs for O.........granted I'm sure they weren't able to get any closer than 500 yds of him.

(http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg246/chrysti756/Beach%20Bum%20Photography/beach%20oil%20spill/obamaaaa.jpg)

(http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg246/chrysti756/Beach%20Bum%20Photography/beach%20oil%20spill/obamaaaaa.jpg)

Forgot one............this shows how far back the people are????

(http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg246/chrysti756/Beach%20Bum%20Photography/beach%20oil%20spill/oba.jpg)

I haven't been following on this thread but will go back as time permits today and read.  Watching on TV, too devastating day in and day out and nothing being done.

I was extremely gratified yesterday to see Obama served lunch outside in the heat.  We had a heat index of over 105, lol.  He is so miserable from the heat and he has to be feeling the "love" from the locals as well.

.

I saw that yesterday, but he arrived around 9ish at the Island this morning and didn't stay long, LOL about feeling the "love", no love for him in this area, ZERO, ZIP, NADA unless they imported the love from inland:)

I didn't realize theseforeign offers were expecting to be paid.  Since we are never paid for disaster relief, this seems a bit much, more like they are looking for jobs and help to pay for their equipment.

Another disappointment.


/

(http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg246/chrysti756/Beach%20Bum%20Photography/beach%20oil%20spill/obamaaaaa11.jpg)

Over 700 cops, and national guard for a 20 minute photo op........EPIC FAIL

I'm unsure about all the offers to help, but any oil super tankers that have offered to help cost around 1mm a day in lost revenue so I can understand them expecting to be reimbursed by BP, too bad the admin didn't take advantage of these offers which came in around the 3rd day because each tanker can hold 1.4 million gallons of oil while salvaging 85% when the seperate it from the sea water. Fire Booms are 100,000 each and our government had NONE, they ordered one 8 days after the spill, and after non-stop calls to the company, the company started calling other countries trying to borrow them..........absolutely pathetic as the fire booms could burn 75,000 gallons an hour and have been tested since 1994.

IslandMonkey,

The article says they expect to be paid by the RECIPIENT of the service, not BP.  So once the states pay for the service, they would neve get the money back from BP.  Not even getting what BP claims they are paying now.

It just makes me mad that as much as this country has given in disaster relief, when we need it, sorry--must pay first!  Some friends we have.

.

But BP is liable no matter who pays out the claims or services........it's very common in oil spills around the world, this is the way it works because the tankers could be there for a yr, so that would be over 300 million in revenue lost to each tanker.

More pic's from O's visit, love the sign on the chair of the lady who is on the beach.....ROFLMAO


http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=DP&Dato=20100615&Kategori=NEWS10&Lopenr=6150803&Ref=PH

I suppose that explains why Alabama can't afford this .  We are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and were even before the spill.  And of course the feds won't pay for anything, not even the berms for Louisiana.  Really sad to sit and watch.

I did see video of some of the locals trying to steer dolphins away from the oil this morning.  But of course that's one small effort and they can't be there 24/7.

Sadly this disaster is going to bring many to the brink of bankruptcy if not push them completely to it at warped speed. I saw the same video myself and thought it was so wonderful, sadly in AL, and FL the crude is now in the bays and inland waterways which is next to impossible to clean up. But, Alabama shouln't be paying for it, the Federal GOvernment shoul and then bill BP, IIRC they have already billed them 62 million, I'll have to double check those numbers.  It's like watching a hurricane moving super slow headed toward our beloved coast, and watching the Fed do jack shit about it until AFTER it hits :(  For instance we in P-Cola Beach have 2 major plumes off the coast and Sunday there was a skimmer nor any boat to be seen, it's dereliction of duty and under the Oil Pollution Act, the Federal Government is supposed to step up to the plate regarding containment and clean-up, then bill the liable company.......not holding my breath after watching for weeks and seeing ZERO progress.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100615/D9GBL8CG0.html


Gulf Coasters skeptical of Obama, BP promises
 
 
 Email this Story

Jun 15, 6:21 AM (ET)

By BRIAN SKOLOFF and MATTHEW DALY
Google sponsored links
Transocean Explosion - $100 Million Verdict Against BP Top Attorney in the Gulf Coast
www.txattorneys.com
 
 
Wildlife Rescue Efforts - Learn How Wildlife Is Being Saved From The Recent Oil Spill.
www.Facebook.com/DawnSavesWi
 
 
 
 
 

 

PASS CHRISTIAN, Miss. (AP) - President Barack Obama promised that life would return to normal for people living on the stricken Gulf Coast, and BP said by the end of the month it would contain more than three times as much oil spewing from a ruptured undersea well.

The pledges didn't placate some residents.

"I think that as long as BP is still in control, there's not a lot he can do other than show support for the residents of these Gulf states," Jennifer Jenkins, 34, of Long Beach, said of Obama.
The president visited Mississippi and Alabama Monday as part of a two-day stop. He sought to assure residents - and the country - that the government will "leave the Gulf Coast in better shape than it was before." He visits Florida on Tuesday ahead of a national address on the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history, which has become a stern test of his presidency.

His trip coincided with BP announcing that it could trap a maximum of roughly 2.2 million gallons of oil daily by the end of June as it deploys additional containment efforts, including a system that could start burning off vast quantities as early as Tuesday.

It also came as documents revealed that BP made a series of money-saving shortcuts and blunders that dramatically increased the danger of a destructive spill from a well that an engineer ominously described as a "nightmare" just six days before the blowout in the Gulf of Mexico.

Investigators found that BP was badly behind schedule on the project and losing hundreds of thousands of dollars with each passing day, and responded by cutting corners in the well design, cementing and drilling mud efforts and the installation of key safety devices.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee released dozens of internal documents that outline several problems on the deep-sea rig in the days and weeks before the April 20 explosion that killed 11 workers and set in motion the catastrophe. The committee has been investigating.

"Time after time, it appears that BP made decisions that increased the risk of a blowout to save the company time or expense. If this is what happened, BP's carelessness and complacency have inflicted a heavy toll on the Gulf, its inhabitants, and the workers on the rig," said Democratic Reps. Henry A. Waxman and Bart Stupak.

During the address from the Oval Office, Obama will announce new steps to restore the Gulf Coast ecosystem, according to a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to upstage the president's announcements.

"I can't promise folks ... that the oil will be cleaned up overnight. It will not be," Obama said during a speech in Alabama. But, he added, "things are going to return to normal."

Residents, though, were skeptical that the economic and environmental destruction would improve any time soon.

Watching oil flow through Perdido Pass in Alabama's Gulf Coast, former Navy firefighter Clayton Ard said he wished Obama would break up the unified command responding to the crisis and let local governments handle it with more autonomy.

"It's just a huge bureaucracy that's slowing things down. ... We want to stop the oil now, but we can't do anything," Ard said.

The breached well has dumped as much as 114 million gallons of oil into the Gulf under the worst-case scenario described by scientists - a rate of more than 2 million a day. BP has collected 5.6 million gallons of oil through its latest containment cap on top of the well, or about 630,000 gallons per day.

To trap more oil faster, BP would continue to siphon off the flow from a containment cap sitting above the well to a drill ship sitting on the ocean surface. More oil from the blowout preventer - a stack of pipes sitting on the seafloor - also would be drawn through hoses and pipes to a drilling rig where it will be burned using a specialized flare.

Still, BP warned its containment efforts could be hampered if hoses or pipes clog and as engineers struggle to run the complicated collection system.

Also, BP spokesman Bill Salvin told The Associated Press that the company has contracted with actor Kevin Costner and Ocean Therapy Solutions to use 32 of their centrifuge machines that are designed to separate oil from water.

"We recognized they had potential and put them through testing, and that testing was done in shallow water and in very deep water and we were very pleased by the results," Salvin said.

Meanwhile, congressional investigators have identified several mistakes by BP in the weeks leading up to the disaster.

In the design of the well, the company apparently chose a riskier option among two possibilities to provide a barrier to the flow of gas in space surrounding steel tubes in the well, documents and internal e-mails show. The decision saved BP $7 million to $10 million; the original cost estimate for the well was about $96 million.

In an e-mail, BP engineer Brian Morel told a fellow employee that the company is likely to make last-minute changes in the well.

"We could be running it in 2-3 days, so need a relative quick response. Sorry for the late notice, this has been nightmare well which has everyone all over the place," Morel wrote.

BP also apparently rejected advice of a subcontractor, Halliburton Inc., in preparing for a cementing job to close up the well. BP rejected Halliburton's recommendation to use 21 "centralizers" to make sure the casing ran down the center of the well bore. Instead, BP used six centralizers.

Asked about the details disclosed from the investigation, BP spokesman Mark Proegler said the company's main focus right now is on the response and stopping the flow of oil.

"It would be inappropriate for us to comment while an investigation is ongoing."

---

This breaks my heart....I drive by Little Sabine Bay going to and from work, now it's littered with oil and in the estuaries.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/gulf-oil-spill-infests-harbors-10916852

This is also the backyard to everyone on the Sound side of the Island on the West side....I can't put my anger, frustration and sorrow into words right now:(

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RPrtxFa5R4

Video about the clean up crews doing jack chit, and the effects on Grand Ilse, LA..............warning, this is a very sad video about the wildlife statistics and shows a baby bird dying in the muck :(

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100616/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill
Obama: BP agrees to $20B fund; chairman apologizes
  By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer Ben Feller, Associated Press Writer   – 9 mins ago

WASHINGTON – After intense negotiations, BP on Thursday bowed to President Barack Obama's demand for a $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The humbled chairman of the giant British company apologized to the American people for the horrendous accident.

BP is suspending its dividends to shareholders for the rest of this year to help pay for the costs, said chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg.

Obama announced the agreement after a four-hour meeting between White House and BP officials, with the president participating for various portions.

He also announced the company had agreed to set up a separate $100 million fund to compensate oil rig workers laid off as a result of his six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling.

"The structure we are establishing today is an important step toward making the people of the Gulf Coast whole again, but it will not turn things around overnight," Obama said. He said the vulnerable fishermen, restaurant workers and other people of the Gulf "are uppermost in the minds of all concerned. That's who we're doing this work for."
Likewise, Svanberg, speaking for a company that has been assailed from every corner for the past two months, said, "I hear comments sometimes that large oil companies are — are greedy companies or don't care, but that is not the case in BP. We care about the small people."

After an initial 20-minute session at the beginning of the meeting, Obama and Svanberg met privately in the Oval Office for about 25 minutes, said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs. The president did not meet separately with Tony Hayward, BP's outspoken CEO whom the president has suggested he would fire if he could.

White House energy adviser Carol Browner said the meeting began with "an apology" from Svanberg. "It was not something we asked for." She said during the long meeting "there were sticking points. We had to take breaks at times. There were times when each side wanted to just talk among themselves."

The claims system sets up a formal process to be run by lawyer Kenneth Feinberg, who oversaw payments to families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Instead of vague promises by BP, there will be a White House-blessed structure with substantial money and the pledge that more will be provided if needed.

"This is about accountability. At the end of the day, that's what every American wants and expects," Obama said.

The news was applauded in the Gulf — a rare positive development in a terrible two-month period since the April 20 explosion that killed 11 workers and unleashed a flood of oil that has yet to be stemmed.

Company officials spoke outside the White House after the meeting.

Svanberg announced suspension of the next quarterly dividend — totaling about $2.6 billion and scheduled for June 21 — and said the company would not declare any dividend for the rest of the year.

And he expressed sorrow for victims of the spill. "This tragic accident ... should have never happened," he said, and he also used the occasion to "apologize to the American people."
BP is to pay $5 billion a year over the next four years to set up the $20 billion fund.

Obama emphasized that the $20 billion was "not a cap" and that BP would pay more if necessary.

BP's total potential liabilities, including cleanup costs, victims' compensation and civil fines, are breathtaking to consider and could stretch into tens of billions of dollars above the $20 billion fund.

Also, civil penalties can be levied against the company under a variety of environmental protection laws, including fines of up to $1,100 under the Clean Water Act for each barrel of oil spilled.

The $20 billion amounts to somewhere between $169 and $313 per gallon of oil spilled so far, based on calculations that the federal government has made. So far, the oil spill has dumped between 63.8 million and 118.4 million gallons into the Gulf.

The eight-week disaster in the Gulf, with oil still pouring from the broken well, is jeopardizing the environment as well as the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people across the coastal areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

BP has taken the brunt of criticism because it was the owner of the well and was leasing the Deepwater Horizon rig that sunk. But when the day of reckoning finally comes, BP may not be the only one having to pay up. That's because Swiss-based Transocean Ltd. owned a majority interest in the rig. Anadarko Petroleum, based in The Woodlands, Texas, has a 25 percent non-operating interest in the well.

Word of the fund was well received on the Gulf Coast. Applause broke out during a community meeting in Orange Beach, Ala., when Mayor Tony Kennon announced the agreement.
"We asked for that two weeks ago and they laughed at us," Kennon said. "Thank you, President Obama, for taking a bunch of rednecks' suggestion and making it happen." Obama visited Orange Beach on Monday.

In Washington, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., also sought to take some credit. "While this fund will in no way limit BP's liability, it is a good first step toward compensating victims," he said. Reid and other Senate Democrats proposed a $20 billion BP-financed fund earlier in the week.

Feinberg, the official who will direct the effort, is currently known as Obama's "pay czar," setting salary limits for companies getting the most aid from a $700 billion government bailout fund. He also ran the $7 billion government compensation program after the 2001 terrorist attacks. It was a job that lasted nearly three years as he decided how much families should get, largely based on how much income victims would have earned in a lifetime.

As pay czar, Feinberg has capped cash salaries at $500,000 this year for the vast majority of the top executives at the five major companies that received bailout funding: American International Group, GMAC Financial Services, Chrysler Financial, Chrysler and General Motors.

The president met at midday with the top BP leaders to press the London-based oil giant to pay giant claims.

Wednesday's White House meeting came the morning after Obama vowed in a TV address that "we will make BP pay for the damage their company has caused."

Obama said that during his private conversation with the BP chairman, he stressed that "for the families that I met with down in the Gulf, for the small business owners, for the fishermen, for the shrimpers, this is not just a matter of dollars and cents, that a lot of these folks don't have a cushion."

When the chairman is talking to shareholders or is in meetings in the BP boardroom, Obama said he told Svanberg, the BP leader should "keep in mind those individuals, that they are desperate, that some of them, if they don't get relief quickly, may lose businesses that have been in their families for two or three generations. And the chairman assured me that he would keep them in mind."
An Associated Press-GfK poll released Tuesday showed 52 percent now disapprove of Obama's handling of the oil spill, up significantly from last month and about the same as President George W. Bush's rating after Hurricane Katrina. Most people — 56 percent — think the government's actions in response to the oil disaster really haven't had any impact on the situation.

http://www.pnj.com/article/20100616/NEWS01/6160330/Crowds-gather-to-see-Obama-on-beach

Crowds gather to see Obama on beach
Crowd kept hundreds of feet away as Obama, Crist view beach
Louis Cooper • lcooper@pnj.com • June 16, 2010

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Twitter FarkIt Type Size A A A The president was the one in the blue shirt.




That's the most distinguishing feature the 250 or so spectators gathered on Pensacola Beach on Tuesday could make when President Barack Obama and Gov. Charlie Crist walked down to the surf line to assess damage from the BP oil spill.
Obama and Crist walked the beach just east of the Pensacola Beach Gulf Pier, with spectators on the beach kept more than a football field's length away, sectioned off by yellow tape, barrels and Escambia County Sheriff's Office deputies.
More onlookers gathered near the Casino Beach pavilion and in the parking lot, all keeping a safe distance from the presidential party.

Many of those who bore the 90-degree temperature — and 101-degree heat index — to get a glimpse of the president wanted to be a part of history, but they also realized the weight of the issue that brought Obama to the beach.
Janice Johnson, 47, of Pensacola arrived early Tuesday to see the president. She counts herself as a big Obama fan, but admits the oil spill is a "slight problem" for him.
"I think they shouldn't let BP handle things. I think the president should step up and let the government do it," Johnson said. "The government should do what needs to be done to clean it up, and then give BP the bill."
Greg Simonds, 27, of Pensacola was out with his son and mother. He said the oil spill has canceled a fishing tournament that he and son Gregory, 7, were scheduled to take part in.
"We just want some resolution. Everybody says they're doing something, but it doesn't seem like they are," Simonds said. "We've lived here our whole life, and it's going to be destroyed."
Heather Shimp, also a Pensacola resident, brought her 12-year-old daughter, Lily, in hopes of seeing Obama.
"I think a lot of it is show, but I guess I am glad he is here," Shimp said. "It's just a tough situation. It's hard to even wrap your mind around what is happening."
Mahaieleah Harris, 12, is visiting Pensacola Beach from Arkansas. She was disappointed she didn't get to speak to the president.
"I hoped to get through to him," Mahaieleah said. "I come here for vacation ever year. I just want him to save the beach because we're the next generation. I want to come here with my children, hopefully, and all of this will be cleared up."
Nancy Harris, Mahaieleah's mom, was hopeful that Obama's visit would be meaningful.
"You never can tell," she said. "We're hoping it wasn't just for show, and that something can be done."
Johnson praised Obama for coming to Pensacola.
"It lets him know our feelings — we the people. He can go home and take in everybody's opinion before he makes his decision," she said. "It helps the community. We know he came down here to our area, to our community, to visit our problem. That makes me feel good."

Ok, my mind is OFFICIALLY mush after reading this........I knew some of these other companies were involved, but dayum!!!!!!!

Why's BP taking all the blame?
By Richard Pendlebury
Last updated at 1:08 AM on 17th June 2010
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Last night Obama bullied BP into setting up a £13bn fund to compensate U.S. oil spill victims. Yet it's American firms that owned the rig AND the safety equipment that failed.
 
On Capitol Hill, Washington DC, at 10am local time this morning, the boss of the world's fourth largest company will take his seat before a sub-committee of American congressmen.
The inquisition that follows will be beamed around the globe. And if events of past weeks are a guide, BP chief executive Tony Hayward can expect a cross between the Battle of Bunker Hill and a Salem Witch trial.
Anger is understandable. Officially, today's hearing is slated to investigate 'the role of BP in the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico'.
But one word that is likely to be invoked repeatedly with a pejorative tone, and with a cynicism that is in inverse proportion to its actual relevance, is the adjective 'British'.
A decade has passed since the oil-producing giant changed its name from British Petroleum to BP, better to reflect its modern, multinational structure, rather than more parochial origins.

But, listening to President Barack Obama, you would think this wasn't the case. For he seems to have chosen to live in the past, as does his press spokesmen and a number of key Democrat allies.
If their public utterances are anything to go by, the company to blame and be held to account for anything up to $34 billion of clean-up and compensation costs is British Petroleum, not BP.

By stressing the word 'British', the Obama administration, whose own role in the oil spill is also subject to critical scrutiny, has chosen to present America's worst environmental disaster as being foreign, specifically British, inflicted.
This week President Obama even compared the spill to the 9/11 attacks, the most recent assault on the American homeland by external enemies. That analogy caused dismay even in the States.
However, close analysis of the parties involved in the accident on the rig on April 20, which claimed 11 lives and continues to pump huge amounts of crude oil into the Gulf, tells a somewhat different story.


It takes us from the tiny capital of the Marshall Islands in the West Pacific through Japan and Switzerland and the patrician environs of St James's in Central London, an address which has been the focus of Obama's populist politicking.
Last night BP bowed to the intense pressure from the American government and agreed to set aside £13.5 billion ($20bn) to pay U.S. claims for the catastrophe.
Yet what is inescapable is how the accident itself was and is very much an American affair.
The United States is the world's biggest and most oil-greedy economy.

With its love of petrol-hungry cars and other energy-greedy symbols of a vibrant consumer culture, it needs the fossil fuel like a newborn infant craves milk.
Every day the U.S. gobbles up 20 million barrels; more than any other country - in fact almost as much as the rest of the top ten consumer nations put together.
Its own reserves cannot cope with such demand. And so, while around two-thirds of domestic oil demand has to be imported, new fields within its own territory are constantly sought. Their discovery and excavation have becomes harder and more specialised. Today, rigs are drilling five miles below the sea-floor, itself 4,000ft below the surface.
The participation of global experts such as BP is vital; indeed, in the U.S. region of the Gulf of Mexico, which produces one-quarter of domestic production, BP is the largest oil and natural-gas producer. We shall come to the reasons later.

 
Capitol Hill is not just a concerned bystander in all this economic activity. The lease of oil drilling rights in its coastal waters is one of the U.S. Government's most lucrative sources of revenue.
Areas of seabed are auctioned off for tens of millions of dollars a tract by the federal Mineral Management Service (MMS).
It then charges 18.75 per cent royalties on the oil that is recovered. After that, both State and Federal governments will tax the gasoline which is the end product.
The mineral rights for one tract, the 5,700-acre Mississippi Canyon Block 252, were bought by BP in March 2008 in an auction held at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. It was called Lease Sale No 206.

BP beat nine other oil firms to the lease, paying the MMS $34 million. The company subsequently sold 35 per cent of the rights to two other oil firms.
The smaller of BP's two partners, with a 10 per cent stake, is MOEX Offshore 2007 LLC.
This firm's head office is in the U.S. oil capital of Houston, Texas. But, in fact, it is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Mitsui Oil Exploration Co, of Tokyo, Japan. The parent firm is 20 per cent owned by the Japanese government. So far, President Obama has not invoked the December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour.
BP's other partner in Mississippi Canyon Block 252 is Anadarko Petroleum Corp. It has the remaining 25 per cent stake. The firm is American and its HQ is near Houston.
Log on to the Anadarko website and you will struggle to find any reference to the Deepwater-Horizon disaster or the fact that Anadarko is directly involved. Unsurprisingly, Anadarko is keeping a low profile while BP takes the flak.
All this corporate angst and nationalistic backbiting can, of course, be traced back to what happened at the Macondo Prospect wellhead in Mississippi Block 252, 41 miles off Louisiana, almost two months ago.
BP had started drilling in 2009, but operations had been interrupted by Hurricane Ida. The semi-submersible rig Deepwater Horizon moved into position to resume exploratory operations in February.

The rig did not belong to BP. Inevitably perhaps, it was owned and operated by Transocean, the largest deepwater oil drilling specialist contractors in the world. Transocean has relocated its HQ to Switzerland (which has a more favourable tax regime for multinational companies), which is odd given the nature of its expertise and the fact that Switzerland is landlocked.

Transocean (motto 'never out of our depth') is as American as apple pie, able to trace its roots back to 1950s Alabama. There are a handful of Transocean employees based in an office in the Canton of Zug. But they are a fig leaf; the majority of their colleagues - some 26,000 in total - are Stateside.
Much to the chagrin of the American authorities, Transocean has moved its corporate HQ around the world purely to avoid, quite legally, paying tax.
Twenty years ago its registration was transferred from Delaware to the Cayman Islands. Two years ago, it moved to the land of the cuckoo clock, for a corporate tax rate of 17 per cent, down from the U.S. 35 per cent.
The move has apparently saved it some $2 billion, which would otherwise have gone to the U.S. Treasury, prompting a headline 'Transocean: Better at Tax Planning Than Oil Drilling. Transocean's Deepwater Horizon rig was built in South Korea by Hyundai Heavy Industries, ten years ago. The rig's port of register was Majuro in the Marshall Islands - a flag of convenience and just another moneysaving dodge in this tale of blurred national ties. Transocean was under contract to BP at a rate of $500,000 a day to drill the Macondo Prospect well: an estimated 50 million barrels of oil, five miles below seabed, which is 4,000ft below the waves.
That sounds deep, but it's not the record - the 33,000-ton leviathan once drilled the deepest well in oil industry history.
Aboard the deepwater-Horizon on the evening of April 20 were 126 crew. Only seven were employees of BP; 79 of the others worked for Transocean, including the rig's commander Capt Curt Kuchta. The rest were from a variety of other firms, including Anadarko, Halliburton and M-I Swaco.
Halliburton is one of the world's largest oilfield services suppliers. Yet another Texas-based firm, it made a fortune out of the Iraq war, being one of the U.S. military's prime supply contractors.
Most of the food and fuel trucked into the country from Kuwait was done so by a Halliburton subsidiary. The firm was also given a multi-billion contract to oversee the restoration of the Iraqi oil industry. Such deals caused an international furore because the then U.S. Vice-President dick Cheney, one of the architects of the war, had only recently been a Halliburton executive.
Four Halliburton staff were on the Deepwater Horizon to oversee the cementing of the oil well casing. Once that was finished, they would then plug the wellhead with cement, ready for later oil extraction.


The men from MI-Swaco were providing other engineering services. Their employer is another Texas-based multi-national, owned by another oil services giant, Schlumberger, which is itself incorporated for tax reasons in the Netherlands antilles, with an HQ in Houston.
The exact causes of the Gulf of Mexico disaster might never be known, but it is now clear that the rig was destroyed by what is known as a 'blowout.' A bubble of highly inflammable methane gas escaped up the shaft and ignited. A firestorm swept the rig and in a matter of minutes 11 men died and 17 were seriously injured. Nine of those killed worked for Transocean. The other two were employed by MI Swaco. All the dead were local americans.
The Deepwater Horizon sank two days later. Efforts to cap the ruptured pipe failed and as the slick spread ever wider, at a rate of up to 40,000 barrels a day, the blame game began.
BP has attempted to steer a good deal of the blame towards Transocean. Lamar McKay, the American chairman of BP America told a congressional hearing that Transocean had been carrying out the drilling, owned the rig and a crucial piece of safety equipment - the 450-ton blowout preventer - which failed to stop the accident.
The blowout preventer was manufactured and supplied by Cameron International, another Houston-based, American firm.
In turn, Transocean blamed BP and its contractor Halliburton, for a 'catastrophic' failure of the cement in the wellhead.
Cementing of wellheads has been the cause of 18 out of 39 blowouts in the U.S. between 1992 and 2006. At the same time,Transocean has attempted to limit its liability to just $27 million, citing a 159-year-old U.S. maritime law.
This move caused a firestorm of new criticism. a lawyer acting for injured rig workers said: 'Transocean has accepted more than $430 million in insurance proceeds related to the deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill, but has asked a Houston federal court to limit its liability to only $27 million ... This is a despicable action.
'This dishonors the families of the 11 men who were lost on April 20, but also those who were injured on the rig, and the many more affected by the oil spill.'
Transocean's attempt was thrown out by a judge earlier this week.
For its part, Halliburton has blamed BP for ignoring the advice of its staff on the rig, skimping on safety devices and design in order that further delays, costing $1 million a day, could be saved.
It said it had warned BP the well would have 'severe gas flow problems'. Other documents revealed that a BP employee had reported before the accident that the Mocando was a 'nightmare well'. It has also been alleged that the BP manager in charge of rig operations was not sufficiently experienced.
This week a congressional committee accused BP of a variety of risky corner-cutting decisions regarding the wellhead.
The federal government is also facing questions over its own role leading up to the blowout.
The Mineral Management Service had reportedly exempted BP's Gulf of Mexico drilling operation from a detailed environmental impact study 'after concluding that a massive oil spill was unlikely'.
MMS, which had already been tainted by allegations of kickbacks from the industries it was supposedly supervising - President Obama has called the relationship 'cosy' - is to be broken up. The lease-awarding, revenue collecting and safety maintaining arms will be separated at last.
Liz Birnbaum, director of the MMS, resigned at the end of last month. She obviously felt the 'British' were not entirely to blame.
But how British is BP? The answer is 'not very'.
Its shortened name and considerable presence in U.S. waters is a legacy of its 1998 merger with the American oil giant Amoco, founded as the Standard oil Company (of Indiana) by John D Rockefeller in 1889.
In 2000 the Anglo-American giant then snapped up Arco, another American oil firm.
Today, while its HQ remains in London, BP's corporate statistics are weighted towards the United States.
The board of 12 directors is split evenly between British and American nationals. But almost 23,000 of its other employees are American, compared to only 10,000 Brits. BP has 7,000 staff in Houston alone.
CEO Tony Hayward may be English, but BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg, who met President Obama yesterday, is Swedish. Ownership of BP is split evenly between Yanks and Brits; around 40 per cent of BP's shares are held on either side of the atlantic. More than $4 billion of BP's now disputed dividend was due to be paid to American pensioners and investors this year. Oil and politics are both dirty, reckless businesses.
While global oil reserves decline, the great maw that is the U.S. economy must still be fed. Where it comes from doesn't matter much.
Until things go wrong. In times of domestic political woe, pinning the blame on foreign interests is one of the oldest, most cynical tricks in the book. This week, congressmen have found that the disaster plans of all the big Gulf oil firms are as bad as each other. America's President has taken short-term advantage of the fact that the one involved in Deepwater Horizon used to have 'British' in its name.
But ultimately this transatlantic 'blame game' won't wash and it will be American jobs and pensions most at stake if he forces BP under.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1287226/RICHARD-PENDLEBURY-Whys-BP-taking-blame.html#ixzz0r4w9kJeP

http://www.youtube.com/v/dZHnStD690U&hl=en_US&fs=1&

BP Blocking Media Access? New Orleans interview

This video shows a BP-hired mercenaries working for "Talon Security" trying to keep WDSU-New Orleans reporter Scott Walker from talking to cleanup crews on a public beach. I would normally say something like, "Apparently they didn't get the memo last week from from National Incident Commander Thad Allen and BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles that the media is to have full access to oil-affected areas and to cleanup workers," - except that the mercs in the video are perfectly aware of the memos, and yet continue to obstruct the journalist!

I saw that one too, did you see the one with the CBS journalist that were threatened by the coast guard that they would arrest them?? Hello, I've been asking for days since when does a branch of the Homeland Security take orders from BP??

http://www.wdsu.com/news/23909922/detail.html

Officials: Cleanup Crews Trampling Pelican Nests
Broken Eggs, Dead Chicks Found In Plaquemines Parish
POSTED: 3:49 pm CDT June 15, 2010
UPDATED: 8:42 am CDT June 16, 2010
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BELLE CHASSE, La. --
Images: Pelican Nests Trampled During Oil Cleanup
Workers assigned to clean up stretches of the Louisiana coast that are contaminated by oil have been trampling pelican nests in the process, Plaquemines Parish officials charged.

Parish President Billy Nungesser and Sen. David Vitter met with leaders of the Humane Society of the United States to assess the situation. Nungesser said the Plaquemines Parish Inland Waterways Strike Force recently discovered broken eggs and crushed chicks on Queen Bess Island.

"The people BP sent out to clean up oil trampled the nesting grounds of Brown Pelicans and other birds," he said. "Pelicans just came off the endangered species list in November of last year. They already have the oil affecting their population during their reproduction time, now we have the so called clean-up crews stomping eggs.

"The lack of urgency and general disregard for Louisiana's wetlands and wildlife is enough to make you sick."

Nungesser called for a more "pro-active" approach to the clean-up as it regards local wildlife, including the use of veterinary volunteers to help rescue animals in oil-impacted areas.

"We want to improve our comfort level of knowing someone is out there looking for these birds and other animals -- doing all they can to save them," he said.

Are Journalists Being Kept From the Oil Spill?
More By Heather Horn on June 10, 2010 10:29am On Wednesday, the Jeremy Peters of The New York Times reported on a neglected aspect of the spill: the media's difficulty in covering it. Journalists "have repeatedly found themselves turned away from public areas affected by the spill, and not only by BP and its contractors, but by local law enforcement, the Coast Guard and government officials."
While reporting two sides of the story--both the journalists who are frustrated with "flight restrictions over the water" and the FAA's response that such measures aim "to prevent civilian air traffic from interfering with aircraft assisting the response effort"--Peters also lists a number of restriction cases that seem decidedly iffy. One example: "journalists being told they cannot go somewhere simply because they are journalists." Other reports have mentioned situations in which cleanup workers seemed to have been instructed not to talk to the media.

Yet at the same time, National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen, questioned by Mediaite's Tommy Christopher, has insisted he's instructed BP to let journalists go anywhere where safety and security are not a problem.


Meanwhile, BP has responded to allegations of interfering with the media with an unambiguous statement:

Recent media reports have suggested that individuals involved in the clean up operation have been prohibited from speaking to the media, and this is ismply untrue. BP fully suppots and defends all individuals rights [sic] to share their personal thoughts and experiences with journalists if they so choose.

So what's actually going on here? The Wire has collected three firsthand accounts of difficulties covering the spill, as well as a few opinions on how the effort to control information is playing out.

We Saw the Real Deal New York Daily News' Matthew Lysiak and Helen Kennedy tell the story of "a BP contract worker who took the Daily News on a surreptitious tour of the wildlife disaster unfolding in Louisiana. His motive: simple outrage." After mentioning the rotting dolphin carcass they saw, they quote the worker saying that "[BP] specifically informed us that they don't want these pictures of the dead animals. They know the ocean will wipe away most of the evidence." Lysiak and Kennedy see barrier islands protected by booms that are clearly failing to keep the oil out. "BP's central role in the disaster cleanup has apparently," they write, "given the company a lot of latitude in keeping the press away from beaches where the oil is thickest. On Monday, a Daily News team was escorted away from a public beach on Elmer's Island by cops who said they were taking orders from BP."
The People Who Won't Talk to Me At the end of May, Mother Jones's Mac McClelland wrote up her experiences trying to get to a wildlife refuge on Elmer's Island in Louisiana. "I've been stymied at every turn by Jefferson Parish sheriff's deputies brought in to supplement the local police force of Grand Isle," she writes. She tells of her wild goose chase contacting local authorities to request a press liaison, "only to get routed to voicemail for Melanie with BP." She also reports his interactions with the cleanup crew: "The spill workers staying at my motel later tell me they've been specifically instructed by BP not to talk to any media, but they're pissed because BP tried to tell them that the crude they were swimming around in to move an oil containment boom was red tide, dishwashing-liquid runoff, or mud."
Barred from the Beach Julie Dermansky for The Atlantic writes of her experience being invited by "Grand Island Street Superintendent Christopher Hernandez ... to see firsthand that BP is hardly doing all it can to clean up the oil." Hernandez "was dumbfounded when he was barred from stepping onto the oil-polluted beach without having his hands and shoes decontaminated. He found it absurd that his slightly soiled shoes could make the beach worse." She herself, walking along the beach, "withing minutes" found herself followed by "two men in a beach buggy":
They blocked my way and told me I would have to wait until a crew came to decontaminate me. I asked them whom they worked for, and they told me vaguely that they were under the umbrella of BP.
Why This Matters "The ability to document a disaster, particularly through images, is key to focusing the nation's attention on it, and the resulting clean-up efforts," explains Newsweek's Matthew Philips. "Within days of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, pictures of dead otters, fish, and birds, as well as oil-covered shorelines, ignited nationwide outrage and led to a backlash against Exxon. Consumers returned some 10,000 of Exxon's 7 million credit cards. Forty days after the spill, protestors organized a national boycott of Exxon. So far, no national boycott of BP is in the works." He also points to another problem with the spill management: "even when access is granted, it's done so under the strict oversight of BP and Coast Guard  personnel ... So the company is able to determine what reporters see and when they see it." Meanwhile, "local fishermen and charter boat captains are also being pressured by BP not to work with the press."
The Information Is Getting Out, but Slowly Clarissa Pinkola Estes, deputy managing editor for The Moderate Voice, is enraged at the sight of the few photos AP photographer Charles Riedel did manage to take in the past few days. They show birds completely covered in oil. Executive director of the Sierra Club Michael Brune, writing at The Huffington Post, is similarly furious.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/Are-Journalists-Being-Kept-From-the-Oil-Spill-3934

http://www.wkrg.com/alabama/article/are-bp-subcontractors-really-working/893951/Jun-07-2010_5-57-pm/


Are BP Subcontractors Really Working?
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Other Notifications »by Pat Peterson
Published: Mon, June 07, 2010 - 5:49 pm CST
Last Updated: Mon, June 07, 2010 - 5:57 pm CST

             

Pat PetersonGULF SHORES, Alabama -

News 5 watched a clean-up crew hired by BP to pick up tar balls in Orange Beach and found out the men only worked about an hour within a four-hour time-frame. We put our cameras up on a hotel balcony and watched the men gawk at sunbathers, talk on cell phones and joke around more than actually working. We set up the investigation after receiving countless phone calls and emails about how many clean-up crews are slacking on the job.


The men took a two-hour lunch break and when returning for lunch, shoveled tar for about five minutes then took a 15 minute break.


We confronted the crew supervisor. He says they're required to work 15 minutes then take a 15 minute break.

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/06/feds_refuse_to_provide_spill_r.html
Feds refuse to provide spill response plans for top oil companies drilling in Gulf
Published: Friday, June 18, 2010, 5:50 AM
MOBILE, Ala. -- A month ago, as BP struggled to contain an oil spill that it estimated at 200,000 gallons a day, the Press-Register reported that the company's federal permit documents stated that it could handle a spill of 12.6 million gallons a day.

BP's documents also said that it could skim 17 million gallons of oil a day; thus far it has skimmed just 2 million gallons in seven weeks.

The documents -- BP's Regional Oil Spill Response Plan -- are riddled with inaccurate claims and errors, including an online address for an equipment supplier that instead links to an unrelated Japanese website.
In May, the newspaper asked the Department of Interior and the U.S. Minerals Management Service for the response plans of the five major companies drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, arguing that the public had an immediate need to know whether permits for other deepwater wells had been granted based on similarly flawed claims.

Neither federal agency would supply the plans without a Freedom of Information Act request, which the newspaper then filed.

The act, often identified as FOIA, requires the government to make available a wide range of public documents.

The Press-Register went further to ask for immediate access via an expedited FOIA request.

On June 8, federal officials denied the newspaper's request, stating that the agency did not see "an urgency to inform the public."

The newspaper, meanwhile, shared its original findings regarding BP's Regional Oil Spill Response Plan with two members of the U.S. House of Representatives' Energy and Commerce Committee.

The committee then obtained the spill response plans from the Department of Interior. That committee has since begun hearings on the spill.

Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., has said that the plans for Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Shell Offshore Inc., and ExxonMobil were identical to the BP plan that the Press-Register reviewed. All were produced by same Houston-based company, and all contained similar outdated or incorrect information.

Asked Thursday why the Department of Interior did not view as urgent the public's need to see the various plans, Kendra Barkoff, spokeswoman for Interior Secretary Ken Salazar wrote, "The Presidential Commission and other reviews and investigations that are under way will help get to the bottom of what happened and what must be done to ensure that something like this never happens again.

"We have already begun to implement several immediate safety reforms and are working on others that we will be announcing soon," Barkoff wrote.

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/06/overlooked_bp_oil_spill_proble.html
Overlooked BP oil spill problem: Well gushes vast amounts of methane, could create Gulf 'dead zones'
Published: Friday, June 18, 2010, 7:12 AM
NEW ORLEANS -- It is an overlooked danger in oil spill crisis: The crude gushing from the well contains vast amounts of natural gas that could pose a serious threat to the Gulf of Mexico's fragile ecosystem.

The oil emanating from the seafloor contains about 40 percent methane, compared with about 5 percent found in typical oil deposits, said John Kessler, a Texas A&M University oceanographer who is studying the impact of methane from the spill.

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That means huge quantities of methane have entered the Gulf, scientists say, potentially suffocating marine life and creating "dead zones" where oxygen is so depleted that nothing lives.

"This is the most vigorous methane eruption in modern human history," Kessler said.

Methane is a colorless, odorless and flammable substance that is a major component in the natural gas used to heat people's homes. Petroleum engineers typically burn off excess gas attached to crude before the oil is shipped off to the refinery. That's exactly what BP has done as it has captured more than 7.5 million gallons of crude from the breached well.
A BP spokesman said the company was burning about 30 million cubic feet of natural gas daily from the source of the leak, adding up to about 450 million cubic feet since the containment effort started 15 days ago. That's enough gas to heat about 450,000 homes for four days.

But that figure does not account for gas that eluded containment efforts and wound up in the water, leaving behind huge amounts of methane.

BP PLC said a containment cap sitting over the leaking well funneled about 619,500 gallons of oil to a drillship waiting on the ocean surface on Wednesday. Meanwhile, a specialized flare siphoning oil and gas from a stack of pipes on the seafloor burned roughly 161,700 gallons.

Thursday was focused on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers chastised BP CEO Tony Hayward.

Testifying as oil still surged into the Gulf at between 1.47 million and 2.52 million gallons a day, coating more coastal land and marshes, Hayward declared "I am so devastated with this accident," ''deeply sorry" and "so distraught."

But he also said he was out of the loop on decisions at the well and disclaimed knowledge of any of the myriad problems on and under the Deepwater Horizon rig before the deadly explosion. BP was leasing the rig the Deepwater Horizon that exploded April 20, killing 11 workers and triggering the environmental disaster.

"BP blew it," said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the House investigations panel that held the hearing. "You cut corners to save money and time."

As for the methane, scientists are still trying to measure how much has escaped into the water and how it may damage the Gulf and it creatures.

The dangerous gas has played an important role throughout the disaster and response. A bubble of methane is believed to have burst up from the seafloor and ignited the rig explosion. Methane crystals also clogged a four-story containment box that engineers earlier tried to place on top of the breached well.

Now it is being looked at as an environmental concern.

The small microbes that live in the sea have been feeding on the oil and natural gas in the water and are consuming larger quantities of oxygen, which they need to digest food. As they draw more oxygen from the water, it creates two problems. When oxygen levels drop low enough, the breakdown of oil grinds to a halt; and as it is depleted in the water, most life can't be sustained.

The National Science Foundation funded research on methane in the Gulf amid concerns about the depths of the oil plume and questions what role natural gas was playing in keeping the oil below the surface, said David Garrison, a program director in the federal agency who specializes in biological oceanography.

"This has the potential to harm the ecosystem in ways that we don't know," Garrison said. "It's a complex problem."
In early June, a research team led by Samantha Joye of the Institute of Undersea Research and Technology at the University of Georgia investigated a 15-mile-long plume drifting southwest from the leak site. They said they found methane concentrations up to 10,000 times higher than normal, and oxygen levels depleted by 40 percent or more.

The scientists found that some parts of the plume had oxygen concentrations just shy of the level that tips ocean waters into the category of "dead zone" -- a region uninhabitable to fish, crabs, shrimp and other marine creatures.

Kessler has encountered similar findings. Since he began his on-site research on Saturday, he said he has already found oxygen depletions of between 2 percent and 30 percent in waters 1,000 feet deep.

Shallow waters are normally more susceptible to oxygen depletion. Because it is being found in such deep waters, both Kessler and Joye do not know what is causing the depletion and what the impact could be in the long- or short-term.

In an e-mail, Joye called her findings "the most bizarre looking oxygen profiles I have ever seen anywhere."

Representatives of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration acknowledged that so much methane in the water could draw down oxygen levels and slow the breakdown of oil in the Gulf, but cautioned that research was still under way to understand the ramifications.

"We haven't seen any long-term changes or trends at this point," said Robert Haddad, chief of the agency's assessment and restoration division.

Haddad said early efforts to monitor the spill had focused largely on the more toxic components of oil. However, as new data comes in, he said NOAA and other federal agencies will get a more accurate read on methane concentrations and the effects.
The question is what's going on in the deeper, colder parts of the ocean," he said. "Are the (methane) concentrations going to overcome the amount of available oxygen? We want to make sure we're not overloading the system."

BP spokesman Mark Proegler disputed Joye's suggestion that the Gulf's deep waters contain large amounts of methane, noting that water samples taken by BP and federal agencies have shown minimal underwater oil outside the spill's vicinity.

"The gas that escapes, what we don't flare, goes up to the surface and is gone," he said.

Steven DiMarco, an oceanographer at Texas A&M University who has studied a long-known "dead zone" in the Gulf, said one example of marine life that could be affected by low oxygen levels in deeper waters would be giant squid -- the food of choice for the endangered sperm whale population. Squid live primarily in deep water, and would be disrupted by lower oxygen levels, DiMarco said.

BP Oil Spill: Against Gov. Jindal's Wishes, Crude-Sucking Barges Stopped by Coast Guard
59 Days Into Oil Crisis, Gulf Coast Governors Say Feds Are Failing Them
 

June 17, 2010
Eight days ago, Louisiana  Gov. Bobby Jindal ordered barges to begin vacuuming crude oil out of his state's oil-soaked waters. Today, against the governor's wishes, those barges sat idle, even as more oil flowed toward the Louisiana shore.

Louisiana Governor Jindal frustrated over decision-making red tape.  "It's the most frustrating thing," the Republican governor said today in Buras, La. "Literally, yesterday morning we found out that they were halting all of these barges."

Sixteen barges sat stationary today, although they were sucking up thousands of gallons of BP's oil as recently as Tuesday. Workers in hazmat suits and gas masks pumped the oil out of the Louisiana waters and into steel tanks. It was a homegrown idea that seemed to be effective at collecting the thick gunk.

"These barges work. You've seen them work. You've seen them suck oil out of the water," said Jindal.


"The Coast Guard came and shut them down," Jindal said. "You got men on the barges in the oil, and they have been told by the Coast Guard, 'Cease and desist. Stop sucking up that oil.'"

A Coast Guard representative told ABC News today that it shares the same goal as the governor.

"We are all in this together. The enemy is the oil," said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Dan Lauer.

But the Coast Guard ordered the stoppage because of reasons that Jindal found frustrating. The Coast Guard needed to confirm that there were fire extinguishers and life vests on board, and then it had trouble contacting the people who built the barges. WTF???


Louisiana Governor Couldn't Overrule Coast Guard
 The governor said he didn't have the authority to overrule the Coast Guard's decision, though he said he tried to reach the White House to raise his concerns.

"They promised us they were going to get it done as quickly as possible," he said. But "every time you talk to someone different at the Coast Guard, you get a different answer."

After Jindal strenuously made his case, the barges finally got the go-ahead today to return to the Gulf and get back to work, after more than 24 hours of sitting idle.

Along Gulf Coast, Governors Ask, 'Who's In Charge?'
Fifty-nine days into the crisis, it still can be tough to figure out who is in charge in Louisiana, and the problem appears to be the same in other Gulf Coast states.

In Alabama today, Gov. Bob Riley said that he's had problems with the Coast Guard, too.

Riley, R-Ala., asked the Coast Guard to find ocean boom tall enough to handle strong waves and protect his shoreline.


"It was picked up and moved to Louisiana," Riley said today.

The governor said the problem is there's still no single person giving a "yes" or "no." While the Gulf Coast governors have developed plans with the Coast Guard's command center in the Gulf, things begin to shift when other agencies start weighing in, like the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"It's like this huge committee down there," Riley said, "and every decision that we try to implement, any one person on that committee has absolute veto power."


http://abcnews.go.com/WN/bp-oil-spill-gov-bobby-jindals-wishes-crude/story?id=10946379&page=2

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100619/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill
As oil spews in Gulf, BP chief at UK yacht race
  By RAPHAEL SATTER, Associated Press Writer Raphael Satter, Associated Press Writer   – 23 mins ago

LONDON – BP chief executive Tony Hayward, often criticized for being tone-deaf to U.S. concerns about the worst oil spill in American history, took time off Saturday to attend a glitzy yacht race off England's Isle of Wight.

Spokeswoman Sheila Williams said Hayward took a break from overseeing BP efforts to stem the undersea gusher in Gulf of Mexico to watch his boat "Bob" participate in the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race.

The one-day yacht race is one of the world's largest, attracting hundreds of boats and thousands of sailors.

In a statement, BP described Hayward's day off as "a rare moment of private time" and said that "no matter where he is, he is always in touch with what is happening within BP" and can direct recovery operations if required.

That is likely to be a hard sell in Gulf states struggling to deal with the up to 120 million gallons of oil that have escaped from a blown-out undersea well.

A pair of relief wells that won't be done until August is the best bet to stop the massive spill that was set off by an oil rig explosion that killed 11 workers on April 20. BP has been hammered for its response, in part because of comments by Hayward that Gulf Coast residents horrified by the spill consider insensitive.
By late June, the oil giant hopes it can keep nearly 90 percent of the flow from hitting the ocean. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen on Friday said a newly expanded containment system is capturing or incinerating more than 1 million gallons (3.8 million liters) of oil daily, the first time it has approached its peak capacity.

British environmental groups immediately slammed Hayward's outing. Charlie Kronick of Greenpeace said Hayward was "rubbing salt into the wounds" of Gulf residents whose livelihoods have been wrecked by the disaster.

"Clearly it is incredibly insulting for him to be sailing in the Isle of Wight," he said.

Hugh Walding, the coordinator of the Isle of Wight Friends of the Earth, said Hayward's choice of venue was sure to arouse anger.

"I'm sure that this will be seen as yet another public relations disaster," Walding said.

Hayward's public persona has already dented the company's image. Hayward angered many in the United States when he was quoted in the Times of London as suggesting that Americans were particularly likely to file bogus claims. He later shocked residents in Louisiana by telling them that no one wanted to resolve the crisis as badly as he did, adding: "I'd like my life back."

On Thursday, Hayward told lawmakers on a U.S. House investigations panel that he was out of the loop on decisions surrounding the blown well. Both Democrats and Republicans were infuriated when he asserted, "I'm not stonewalling."
The next day, BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg seemed to suggest that Hayward was being withdrawn from the front line of the oil spill response, although his comments were later qualified by company spokespeople.

"It is clear that Tony has made remarks that have upset people," Svanberg said in a U.K. television interview.

It was not clear whether Hayward actually took part in Saturday's race or attended as a spectator. Williams refused to comment beyond saying that the embattled chief executive was there with his son.

Peta Stuart-Hunt, a press officer for the event, said Hayward "wasn't listed on any of the crew list." She said she could not immediately who was on the crew list.

"If he is on the boat, he's in contravention of the rules," she said.


Hayward can go straight to he!!

Waive the damn Jones Act ASAP...........I am seeing here imcompetence at levels that nobody unless they live on the coast is watching although they hear about it, but seeing is another thing an it's infuriating to see the admin drag their f***ing heels while the shore all over the Gulf Coast is slowing being destroyed and the marshes and estuaries are ruined for decades.......the beaches will heal and are on a scale of 1-10 to clean a 2, so get your heads out of your ass O and waive the Jones Act ASAP

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Jones Act: Maritime politics strain Gulf oil spill cleanup
Pressure is building for President Obama to lift a 1920 protectionist law so that high-tech foreign oil skimmers can help with the Gulf oil spill. Why are 1,500 available US oil skimmers not on the scene?

 A fleet of oil skimmers collect oil from the broken oil well under the surface at the Gulf oil spill site, approximately 42 miles off the coast of Louisiana. The Coast Guard is calling in more skimming boats and equipment from the Netherlands, Norway, France, and Spain.




The Coast Guard Friday "redoubled" efforts to keep the Deepwater Horizon oil spill from impacting Gulf states by calling in more skimming boats and equipment from the Netherlands, Norway, France, and Spain after previously telling one Dutch official "Thanks, but no thanks," to an offer of help.

That revelation comes as Florida lawmakers beg for more skimmers to ward off Gulf spill oil approaching the state's white sand beaches and the Unified Command – led by Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen – struggles with chain-of-command issues as BP changes its on-scene leadership.
The news of more foreign ships steaming toward the Gulf also comes amidst a heated political debate over the role of the 1920 Jones Act, a protectionist law that prohibits foreign-flagged boats and crews from doing port-to-port duty within 3 miles of the US coast.

On Friday, Sen., Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R) of Texas filed legislation to waive the Jones Act to welcome more high-tech foreign clean-up boats, saying the Jones Act is standing in the way. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said last week "that we have not had [a] problem" with the Jones Act. At the same time, US marine interests complain that up to 1,500 US-flagged skimmers sit idle, and should be used first.


"We are still receiving reports of foreign-flagged vessels being turned away or their offers of assistance hanging in limbo. That should not be the case," Sen. George LeMieux (R) of Florida wrote to President Obama Friday. "There is a breakdown of communication and it is critically important the situation get fixed and we see an armada of skimmers at work."

Confusion has steadily built around the exact US skimmer strategy and the role of the 1920 Jones Act. President Bush waived the act temporarily to allow foreign ships to help with the hurricane Katrina relief effort.

Only a day after Fox News quoted Adm. Allen saying, "To date, nobody has come for a Jones Act waiver," Coast Guard Captain Roger Laferriere, the second-in-command, told ABC World News that both Allen and President Obama had, in fact, worked to waive the Jones Act to allow more foreign vessels to attack the spill. That is a BLATANT lie

"We have exhausted all our east coast supply of skimming vessels," Capt. Laferriere said. "We are now looking at Norway, France, Spain and other European vessels."
There are currently 447 skimming boats working the unabated spill area, the mass of which is now inching towards Florida. Unified Command last week implemented a "surge" strategy of moving the fleet to areas directly threatened by the spill.

Evidence built this week that Obama and the Unified Command are walking a political tightrope over the Jones Act and the role of foreign vessels in the Gulf oil spill cleanup. Some Republican congressmen, including Charles Djou of Hawaii, already oppose the Jones Act, saying it drives up consumer prices. Largely Democratic-leaning unions, meanwhile, support the act, and are carefully gauging Washington's reaction.

Maritime industry spokesmen say boat owners and longshoremen – who are tied to the AFL-CIO, one of Obama's biggest union supporters – have no issue with waiving the act if US vessels can't be found to do the job. Yet, "There are American vessels that are completely equipped to deal with this situation with no instructions to do anything," Mark Ruge, who works with the Maritime Cabotage Task Force, tells Human Events blogger Robert B. Bluey.  SNAP~There is one of the reasons, the damn unions , GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
In testimony last week to Congress, Ken Wells, CEO of the Offshore Marine Service Association, said the oil spill response threatens to "degrade" the Jones Act, even though the dozen or so foreign boats currently on the scene have American crews.

"We find that many of these vessels are blatantly ignoring the Jones Act," Mr. Wells testified. "Worse, we find that the agency charged with enforcing the Jones Act has failed to live up to its responsibilities to enforce the law and to interpret the law as Congress intended."

Proximity of the US skimming fleet could be complicating deployment, since many boats are staged along the west coast and in Alaska. But with Obama yet to publicly address the practical and symbolic Jones Act issue, the confusion is part of what Emory University political scientist Alan Abramowitz calls an "improvised response" to the spill in part due to BP's lack of preparation for an unprecedented wellhead event as well as slowness by the administration to grasp the scope of the disaster.

Grasping to boost the spill response as BP tries to contain a runaway wellhead spewing up to 60,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf a day, Adm. Allen announced Friday that Unified Command is outfitting 2,753 locally-owned boats with skimming equipment, a process that could take two months. That, at least, is likely to prove politically popular along the Gulf Coast, where many residents are clamoring for ways to help fight the spill – and to get paid doing it.

"This is something that is on a scale that far exceeds anything we've done in a domestic response before," Allen said.


http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0619/Jones-Act-Maritime-politics-strain-Gulf-oil-spill-cleanup/(page)/2

http://www.morrisdailyherald.com/articles/2010/06/18/94643053/index.xml


Far from blameless

ShareI watched the President brief the American public Tuesday evening on the Gulf oil spill. It amazes me how this President cannot accept blame for anything. Once again, the “Blame Bush Syndrome” is rampant in the White House.

Don’t get me wrong — the blame goes to BP. They messed up my favorite coastline.

The President once again said he was on the problem from the beginning. What problem was he on top of? When the Governor of Louisiana requested to build barrier islands to protect the marshes of that state, it took the Obama Administration weeks to approve a fraction of what was requested.

In his speech, the President said that if something wasn’t happening, he wanted to hear about it. Well, it is 50-some days after the Deep Water Horizon sank and the President has yet to waive the Jones Act.

The Jones Act states that all ships operating in U.S. territorial waters must be under the U.S. flag, been built in the U.S., and be crewed by U.S. citizen or permanent residents. When Katrina happened, President Bush waived the Jones Act almost immediately. Why has President Obama dragged his heels on this one? Is it to protect his union backers? If so, I don’t think this is an appropriate time for political payback. Do you?
As I said, once again the President had Blame Bush Syndrome. He spoke of how the Material and Mining Service was corrupt and told of his orders to Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to “clean it up” when he took office.

I agree the MMS was quite corrupt. What the President didn’t say was that the Deep Water Horizon missed 16 inspections the last two years, and the inspection it underwent two weeks before the disaster was by someone still in training. WHY???? Could  it be because BP basically helped write the Cap and Trade bill??

At the end, the President started his promotion for new environmental regulation with some flat-out lies. Yes, I said it. He lied to us. He said because we are running out of oil, we are forced to go to deeper waters to drill.

What? Remember ANWAR? The proposal for offshore drilling there would be in less than 150 feet of water. Remember that we are not allowed to drill off the west coast. Also remember there are places on land where we are not allowed to drill.

The environmentalists and the NIMBY crowd are forcing us to drill so far off-shore. Why has the Department of Interior bought up about a third of Nevada and Utah? All in prime oil and oil-shale country?  Mr. President, what was that about us running out of places to drill? It’s only because you and our government won’t allow us to drill where it is more convenient and safer.

Now that we are almost two months into the worst oil spill in our nation’s history, our President offers no solutions but to push through his progressive environmental agenda and tell us lies. Mr. President, you say you are in charge of this disaster. Since when?

Why did Obama turn down offers of help?
Friday, 18th June 2010
Amazingly, it looks like Obama deliberately exacerbated the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster to push his ideological agenda. Seems he actually refused offers of help from other countries to fix the bust oil well, refusing to waive the trade union-inspired protectionist legislation which normally prohibits such assistance from being taken  -- but which was waived by President Bush over Hurricane Katrina, as  had been done by other Presidents in the past. Notes Hans Bader:

In April 2009, the Obama administration granted BP, a big supporter of Obama, a waiver of environmental regulations.  But after the oil spill, it blocked Louisiana from protecting its coastline against the oil spill by delaying rather than expediting regulatory approval of essential protective measures.  It has also chosen not to use what has been described as “the most effective method” of fighting the spill, a method successfully used in other oil spills.  Democratic strategist James Carville called Obama’s handling of the oil spill “lackadaisical” and “unbelievable” in its “stupidity.”

Obama is now using BP’s oil spill to push the global-warming legislation that BP had lobbied for.  Obama’s global warming legislation expands ethanol subsidies, which cause famine, starvation, and food riots in poor countries by shrinking the food supply.  Ethanol makes gasoline costlier and dirtier, increases ozone pollution, and increases the death toll from smog and air pollution.   Ethanol production also results in deforestation, soil erosion, and water pollution. Subsidies for biofuels like ethanol are a big source of corporate welfare: “BP has lobbied for and profited from subsidies for biofuels . . . that cannot break even without government support.”
Sheesh. The disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is exceeded only by the disaster in Pennsylvania Avenue...




http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/6088220/why-did-obama-turn-down-offers-of-help.thtml

Dealing With The Oil Spill The Liberal Way




Personally I am absolutely astonished that President Obama, the consummate leftist that he is, is allowing his public standing to be denigrated by not taking decisive action to solve the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico the way liberals deal with all issues presented to them. And by that I mean that I am amazed that he has not simply issued a piece of paper with his signature on it proclaiming the spill cleaned up and the crisis over. You know, just like liberals do with almost everything else.

Health insurance rates and coverage a problem? Nope! Just sign a law, unconstitutional as it may be, to fix it. Well, ok, not really fix it, but at least proclaim it fixed and hope everyone believes it. The economy faltering after years of bad policies that encouraged banks to make bad loans to bad candidates or have their businesses threatened? That's ok, just get a piece of paper promising billions of dollars for nebulous and ill defined things to create a few thousand very temporary jobs and deem the whole thing fixed.

But just because President Obama has not acted in the preferred method that liberals chose whenever a crisis, real or concocted, arises it dose not mean that he hasn’t dipped into the liberal bag of tricks with regards to the Gulf oil spill. After weeks of diddling, claiming that he and his administration were large and in charge, blaming BP for everything despite claiming that it was he and his administration that was in charge and finding every excuse in the world to get in the way of private companies and even foreign countries who had offered to help clean up the mess and even standing in the way of State governments trying desperately to deal with the problem President Obama finally decided to put his boot down.

He summoned BP to the White House and told them how things were going to be. This included getting BP to set up a $20 billion dollar fund to help sort out claims and costs of the clean up. Boy, that President of ours sure is swell huh? Now he is touting how he, and he alone, was able to make BP responsible financially for this mess. However, did you know that President Obama is not as all powerful as he wants you to believe?

The truth is that BP was already liable for the spill under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. Under this act, passed before President Obama ever entered national office, BP was already liable fully for the containment and cleanup costs. Even so President Obama now wants America to believe that only by his grace is BP being held accountable. LOL~too bad the liberal sheeps don't get this.........BP should bear the cost of this disaster just incase any of you are thinking that I am going to defend that company and suggest that they should not be paying hand over fist the costs of the remediation and all legitimate claims of harm. But let us also remember that it was President Obama who refused to waive the Jones Act which prohibited foreign countries who offered help with advanced oil recovery technologies from sending vessels equipped to help the situation too. Then there is the fiasco over the fact that despite a 1994 plan requiring the government to use fire booms to contain and then burn the spill not a single such boom was in place to be used. This was all pre-approved but not done making everything worse. And then on top of that it took more than two weeks for approval to be granted for Louisiana to pile sand on the beaches to act as a barrier against the oil washing ashore. Two weeks! Why? Because bureaucrats needed to study the plan? My God, only a person with his head firmly up his posterior orifice would be doing so much to prevent further damage. Oh and let us not forget the Coast Guard mysteriously deciding that they had to inspect the skimmer barges and pull them out of service causing Governor Jindal to blow a gasket and get the story widely known that even more obstruction was occurring.

Meanwhile President Obama and his sycophants crow about how he is handling the situation and holding BP accountable. Yeah, the Great and Powerful Obama has spoken! His will be done! Even though the Oil Pollution Act, while it spells out BP’s liability, also directs the President to be helpful and not hinder efforts which this administration has clearly done. The law states:
“The President shall, in accordance with the National Contingency Plan and any appropriate Area Contingency Plan, ensure effective and immediate removal of a discharge, and mitigation or prevention of a substantial threat of a discharge, of oil or a hazardous substance ...” SO, WTF isn't he, and why is he making it as difficult as possible to contain the spill, it's his DUTY under the above referenced acts to contain the oil, and clean up-----then hold BP liable for the expenses. It's the damn law Mr. Obama, but I guess you snub your nose at laws that dis-favor the unions and don't hlep your agenda while we will have a dead zone in the Gulf due to not only the oil, but also the methane gas, we have prolly 100,000 out of work due to the spill who may never be able to go back to fishing, etc., and it's destroying the economy just to top it off, is it your position to make sure everyone is dependent on the Government for welfare etc so they will re-elect you to ensure they continue to rec'v welfare, unemployment etc???
But far from “ensuring effective and immediate removal of a discharge,” President Obama is getting the executive branch in the way. And when he is not getting in the way he is busy not doing pre-approved actions.

Now we are in a muddled mess because of this. BP is liable but the federal government has not been as helpful as it should have been, and is required to be by law, thus exasperating the situation causing damages to mount. President Obama summons the oil company to his left hand and coerces them into setting up a fund and exceeds his role as the Chief Executive of the federal government and acts like a Judge while assuming a role of the Judicial Branch by declaring BP’s liability to pay claims and how it shall be done.

We have actual courts for this and yes, while I realize that taking BP to court to recover damages is time consuming there is a reason for the process. That reason is so that by using the courts the awards are not arbitrary and based on claims that have not been vetted for their veracity. When mandates are made outside of the legal process invariably fraud and abuse skyrocket and money gets awarded where it should not be and for harms not real or at best exaggerated. Meanwhile that leaves less money to pay real claims. As individual citizens we certainly would not stand for our local Mayor deciding that we were liable for large sums of money to another resident of the same town simply because the claim that he was owed it from us was made would we? Heck no and we should not tolerate it from our President either.

The courts are there to make people whole from suffering when their rights are being trampled by the actions others. Circumventing that process violates a great deal of precepts of justice and puts America closer to a Latin American Banana Republic than a Constitutional one.

Meanwhile the oil still spills and States in the path of the slick fret about what is to come. My prediction as to what will be coming? More diddling, more finger pointing and more covering up for that diddling from the highest places within our government. We seem more worried about dragging BP up on a cross than letting them figure out how to plug the damn hole which continues to spew. We seem a lot more interested in obstructing efforts to clean the spill by any bureaucratic means possible. And we certainly don’t seem all that interested in getting to the bottom of how BP apparently received some very questionable waivers for activities under President Obama’s watch.
There will always be oil spills as long as we use oil. Some of them will be horrendous. And those companies responsible must pay to make those affected whole. But our government must not hinder efforts to contain the damage, make that damage worse and cost those companies more because of their own malfeasance. Because once they do they bear too much responsibility for additional costs and damages. And let's face it. We, the tax payers, cannot afford any more needless expenses.


http://www.webcommentary.com/php/ShowArticle.php?id=jacksonj&date=100619

http://vimeo.com/12673399

60 Days After Its Start UAB Biologists Reflect on Oil Spill Impacts
by uabnews plus
1 day ago 1 day ago: Fri, Jun 18, 2010 11:36am EST (Eastern Standard Time)

The fact that Obama did not just issue a blanket waiver for any ship that could help makes me sick. Meanwhile he is using this disaster as a political game. How sick is that?  I personally think that that alone should make him impeachable.

Jimmy Announces Free Gulf Concert
Jimmy Buffett announced a free concert on July 1, 2010 in Gulf Shores, AL to promote awareness and tourism in the Gulf area. Special guests will include Sonny Landreth, Zac Brown Band, Kenny Chesney, Jesse Winchester and Allen Toussaint. A special souvenir tee shirt will also be designed for the concert and sold onlne and at the show. More info coming soon!

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/06/21/bp-succeeds-pushing-demands/
BP Succeeds at Pushing Back Against U.S. Demands
Published June 21, 2010
| The Wall Street Journal
WASHINGTON
— BP PLC, despite being put under pressure by the U.S. government to pay for the oil-spill aftermath, has succeeded in pushing back on two White House proposals it considered unreasonable, even as it made big concessions, said officials familiar with the matter.

BP last week agreed to hand over $20 billion—to cover spill victims such as fishermen and hotel workers who lost wages, and to pay for the cleanup costs—a move some politicians dubbed a "shake down" by the White House. Others have portrayed it as a capitulation by an oil giant responsible for one of the worst environmental disasters in history. A more accurate picture falls somewhere between.

The fund is a big financial hit to BP. But behind the scenes, according to people on both sides of the negotiations, the company achieved victories that appear to have softened the blow.

BP successfully argued it shouldn't be liable for most of the broader economic distress caused by the president's six-month moratorium on deep-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. And it fended off demands to pay for restoration of the Gulf coast beyond its prespill conditions.
After the high-profile meeting
of administration and BP officials on Wednesday, it was in the interest of neither to discuss such details. BP wanted to look contrite and to make a grand gesture, and the White House wanted to look tough.
President Barack Obama came away touting how BP's money would be handed over quickly and impartially to those hurt by the spill. Not only did BP earmark the $20 billion fund but it promised an additional $100 million for Gulf workers idled by the drilling moratorium.

But BP didn't offer a blank check. The $100 million—0.5% of the total—won't come close to covering collateral damage from the White House's moratorium.

Slide Show  http://www.foxnews.com/slideshow/world/2010/04/21/coast-guard-responds-oil-rig-explosion-lousiana-coast/#slide=3

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20100620/NEWS02/6200341/Access-to-oil-spill-limited-for-media
Access to oil spill limited for media
Column by Sebastian Kitchen • June 20, 2010
BP and the federal government have claimed for weeks that they are opening cleanup efforts to the media on the coast after coming under fire for restricting access to the work, but the evidence does not support those claims.
Security and supervisors for BP contractors confronted Mont­gomery Advertiser photo editor Da­vid Bundy and me on at least two occasions during our brief trip to cover the effects of the oil spill on coastal Alabama. Our experience was similar to those of other re­porters who have been told to get off public property or who have been threatened.

Both incidents occurred on public property, once in a parking lot at the pavilion at Gulf State Park and the other was on a public beach in Orange Beach.

We did not encroach on the ability of the workers to do their work either time. In fact, the first time, I did not even make it out of my vehicle before a security guard, who later kindly helped me close my door, approached me.

While working on my story at the pavilion because of traffic re­lated to President Obama's visit to Orange Beach, Bundy and I heard supervisors talking to workers us­ing a public address system at the end of the parking lot. I walked over and listened to them. They talked to them about safety, pro­viding for their families and other issues before sending them onto the beaches to work.
The workers were wearing shirts with the logo of Plant Per­formance Services, or P2S.

After Bundy and I finished sending my story and his photos, he went to the beach to try to pho­tograph the cleanup work and I drove closer to where they origi­nally assembled.

The security officer approach­ed before I put the car into park and asked if he could help me. I told him I was a reporter and he told me I was not allowed there.

I informed him we were on pub­lic property and he said he would have to call the police or his super­visor if I did not leave. I asked if he could make a call to see if there was anybody I could talk to.

As we talked, another security officer approached the car.
continued here..    http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20100620/NEWS02/6200341/Access-to-oil-spill-limited-for-media

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Obama_s-thuggery-is-useless-in-fighting-spill-96684389.html


Obama's thuggery is useless in fighting spill
By: Michael Barone
Senior Political Analyst
June 20, 2010
 
President Barack Obama waves as he exits Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., on Friday. (Cliff Owen/AP) 

 
Thuggery is unattractive. Ineffective thuggery even more so. Which may be one reason so many Americans have been reacting negatively to the response of Barack Obama and his administration to BP's Gulf oil spill.

Take Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's remark that he would keep his "boot on the neck" of BP, which brings to mind George Orwell's definition of totalitarianism as "a boot stamping on a human face -- forever." Except that Salazar's boot hasn't gotten much in the way of results yet.

Or consider Obama's undoubtedly carefully considered statement to Matt Lauer that he was consulting with experts "so I know whose ass to kick." Attacking others is a standard campaign tactic when you're in political trouble, and certainly BP, which appears to have taken unwise shortcuts in the Gulf, is an attractive target.

But you don't always win arguments that way. The Obama White House gleefully took on Dick Cheney on the issue of terrorist interrogations. It turned out that more Americans agreed with Cheney's stand, despite his low poll numbers, than Obama's.

Then there is Obama's decision to impose a six-month moratorium on deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf. This penalizes companies with better safety records than BP's and will result in many advanced drilling rigs being sent to offshore oil fields abroad.

The justification offered was an Interior Department report supposedly "peer reviewed" by "experts identified by the National Academy of Engineering." But it turned out the drafts the experts saw didn't include any recommendation for a moratorium. Eight of the cited experts have said they oppose the moratorium as more economically devastating than the oil spill and "counterproductive" to safety.

This was blatant dishonesty by the administration, on an Orwellian scale. In defense of a policy that has all the earmarks of mindless panic, that penalizes firms and individuals guilty of no wrongdoing and that will worsen rather than improve our energy situation. Ineffective thuggery.

And what about the decision not to waive the Jones Act, which bars foreign-flag vessels from coming to the aid of the Gulf cleanup? The Bush administration promptly waived it after Katrina in 2005. The Obama administration hasn't and claims unconvincingly that, gee, there aren't really any foreign vessels that could help.

The more plausible explanation is that this is a sop to the maritime unions, part of the union movement that gave Obama and other Democrats $400 million  in the 2008 campaign cycle. It's the Chicago way: Dance with the girl that brung ya.

Or the decision to deny Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's proposal to deploy barges to skim oil from the Gulf's surface. Can't do that until we see if they've got enough life preservers and fire equipment. That inspired blogger Rand Simberg to write a blog post he dated June 1, 1940: "The evacuation of British and French troops from the besieged French city of Dunkirk was halted today, over concerns that many of the private vessels that had been deployed for the task were unsafe for troop transport."

Finally, the $20 billion escrow fund that Obama pried out of the BP treasury at the White House when he talked for the first time, 57 days after the rig exploded, with BP Chairman Tony Hayward. It's pleasing to think that those injured by BP will be paid off speedily, but House Republican Joe Barton had a point, though an impolitic one, when he called this a "shakedown."

For there already are laws in place that insure that BP will be held responsible for damages and the company has said it will comply. So what we have is government transferring property from one party, an admittedly unattractive one, to others, not based on pre-existing laws but on decisions by one man, pay czar Kenneth Feinberg.

Feinberg gets good reviews from everyone. But the Constitution does not command "no person . . . shall . . . be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law except by the decision of a person as wise and capable as Kenneth Feinberg." The Framers stopped at "due process of law."

Obama doesn't. "If he sees any impropriety in politicians ordering executives about, upstaging the courts and threatening confiscation, he has not said so," write the editors of the Economist, who then suggest that markets see Obama as "an American version of Vladimir Putin." Except that Putin is an effective thug.

http://www.pnj.com/article/20100621/NEWS01/100621001

BP Gulf spill costs hit $2 billion, no end yet
 — BP has spent $2 billion in two months of fighting its Gulf of Mexico oil spill and compensating victims, with no end in sight to the disaster or the price tag.



The British oil giant released it's latest tally of response costs Monday, including $105 million paid out so far to 32,000 claimants. The figure does not include a $20 billion fund that BP PLC last week agreed to set up to continue compensating Gulf residents and businesses. There are also scores of lawsuits piling up against BP for the April 20 rig explosion that killed 11 workers and ensuing oil spill that has yet to be capped.


Also Monday, the man President Barack Obama picked to run the $20 billion damage fund said many people are in "desperate financial straits" and need immediate relief.

"Do not underestimate the emotionalism and the frustration and the anger of people in the Gulf uncertain of their financial future," Kenneth Feinberg told interviewers. "It's very pronounced. I witnessed it firsthand last week."


Feinberg, who ran the victims claim fund set up in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, said he is determined to speed up payment of claims.


Shares of BP, which have lost about half their value since the rig Deepwater Horizon burned and sank off the Louisiana coast, were down nearly 5 percent Monday in London trading at $5.06. The rig was owned by Transocean Ltd. but run by BP.


BP also argued that its partners in the oil well project must share responsibility for the disaster costs. BP owned 65 percent of the well, while Anadarko Petroleum Corp. had 25 percent stake and a subsidiary of Mitsui & Co. Ltd. of Japan had a 10 percent stake.


Anadarko said Friday the joint operating agreement made BP responsible for any damage due to gross negligence or willful misconduct. BP shot back Monday that all the partners shared in liability for oil spill damages.


The best hope of ending the diasaster rests on teams drilling two relief wells meant to stop the seafloor oil gusher, a daunting task: Their drills have to hit a target roughly the size of a salad plate about three miles below the water's surface.


If the workers aboard Transocean's Development Driller II or its sister rig DDIII miss or move too slowly, oil will keep pouring into the sea. As much as 125 million gallons of oil has gushed into the Gulf.


No one on the rig has done this before because these deep sea interventions are so rare. But rig workers brushed off worries and the pressure to succeed.


"It's really not a tough thing to do," says Mickey Fruge, the wellsite leader aboard the DDII for BP, which was leasing the rig that blew up and is responsible for stopping the oil.


The relief wells are slowly grinding their drill bits 13,000 feet below the seafloor until they intersect the damaged well left by the Deepwater Horizon. A group of reporters that included The Associated Press had a rare chance to tour the rig Saturday.


Reporters flew by helicopter above the patchy wetlands along the Mississippi River Delta and past the floating boom and skimmers that have failed to protect the Gulf Coast.


About 40 miles from the coast, a fleet of ships becomes visible. They look like toys packed in a two-mile-square patch of dull water. The approaching drill rig is easy to spot with its 200-foot derrick.


After the Sikorsky chopper settles on its landing pad, the thwack of the rotors quiets down, and a rig worker steps into the helicopter cabin.


"OK, welcome to the DDII," he says.


Out in the distance, another drilling rig is siphoning off oil and natural gas from the undersea well and burning it in a multi-nozzled flare. It looks like the flames are radiating from an oversized showerhead. Other ships hose off that rig's deck to keep the heat from building.


Meanwhile, a boom attached to a drill ship called the Discoverer Enterprise flares off natural gas taken from a containment cap that is sucking up oil from the well head. The distant flames are a constant reminder that crude and gas are leaking beneath the feet of those aboard the DDII as they walk across the see-through grating on its floor.


The Enterprise sits where the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded. Some of the DDII crew knew Transocean workers on that rig.
(3 of 3)



It's "always, always on our mind," said Wendell Guidry, Transocean's drilling superintendent on the rig.


BP has said a relief well should be ready by August, and the DDIII is farther along, having reached a depth of nearly 11,000 feet below the seafloor. Still, Guidry said, it's unclear which rig will hit the target first.

"Never know what will happen," he said. "You never know."


Work goes on around-the-clock on the DDII, which can hold 176 people. Eight thrusters on the rig keep it precisely positioned over the well it's drilling. The ship is so large that those aboard cannot feel it move on the water most of the time.


Once one of the two relief wells intersects the damaged line, BP plans to pump heavy drilling mud in to stop the oil flow and plug the blown-out well with cement.


It's a tricky task and not guaranteed to work. A pair of relief wells took months to stop an undersea gusher in Mexico that started in the summer of 1979.


Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the top federal official in the spill response, has said construction on the relief wells remains ahead of schedule. But setbacks are routine on a drilling rig.


"It's business as usual, man," said Eric Jackson, a rig worker. "Everybody tells us to be, 'Hey, don't let the pressure get to you.' This is what we do for a living, man. We drill wells. It's the same as any other day."

http://www.pnj.com/article/20100621/NEWS01/6210309

Marine life may be fleeing oil spill
Animals gathering closer to shore, but no one's sure why
Kimberly Blair • kblair@pnj.com • June 21, 2010

Comments (16) Recommend (2) Print this page E-mail this article Share Del.icio.us Facebook Digg Reddit Newsvine Buzz up!
Twitter FarkIt Type Size A A A Next Page1| 2Previous PageDeepwater amberjack are showing up in shallower water around the Pensacola Beach Gulf Pier.





A large school of juvenile amberjack is hanging out in about a foot of water under the pier. A small sea turtle has been swimming around the feet of waders in knee-deep water at Casino Beach.

Shark fishermen are reporting larger numbers of the predators tugging on their lines off the shores of Gulf Islands National Seashore's Fort Pickens beach and down the beach to Navarre.

And on Wednesday, Destin anglers noted cobia heading east instead of their usual migratory path west.

Related
Oil spill: Clear sand and clean hands

"Everything is coming in closer," said angler John Swieder, as he tossed lines into the Gulf from the Pensacola Beach Gulf Pier. "This is unusual."

Researchers have seen the same type of unusual behavior in Gulf Shores, Ala., where they say sharks, dolphins and other sea creatures are fleeing the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and clustering in cleaner water near the shore.

Opinions are mixed on why.

Pensacola marine biologist Heather Reed believes the sheen and oily blobs from the Deepwater Horizon oil gusher are impacting the natural behavior of sea life around Pensacola Beach.

"There is a huge disturbance in the Gulf. There is a lack of food and a loss of oxygen in the water," said Reed, an environmental adviser for the City of Gulf Breeze. "The fish that would be in deeper water would come in closer to forage for food.

"I'm confident that all fish are looking for food that's not in their normal territory."

On Friday, she received calls from two longtime local fishermen who said they're catching "larger-than-normal" snapper and grouper in Pensacola Bay, size normally seen in the Gulf and not the bay, she said.

Gulf Islands National Seashore biologist Mark Nicholas is not convinced that more offshore sea creatures are moving closer to shore.

He believes people are observing natural migratory patterns, especially when it comes to sharks and the hundreds of cow rays that have been patrolling the coast in recent weeks.
(2 of 2)


"I think a lot of people are finally noticing what's out there," he said of people going to the beach and scrutinizing the water more closely as they look for the effects of the oil spill.



But he said that shorebirds have been abandoning their nests in the national seashore, and there is a major decline in number of sea turtles nesting this year.

"As of last night, we had three nests," he said on Friday. "This time last year, we had eight. I don't know if that's because of the oil spill or because of the downward trend we've seen the past a few years."

'Weird' is the word
Pensacola Beach resident and angler Mick Long, 20, is puzzled by the lack of mackerel.



"That's weird," he said while fishing for what he noticed is an abundance of flounder off the pier.

Avid angler and fishing tournament organizer Joe Zwierzchowski of Gulf Breeze said the fact that there are reports of many animals exhibiting unusual behavior is striking and leads him to believe it is oil-related.

"Cobia should all be gone now, breeding off of Texas," he said, though he has heard from angler friends that cobia were swimming east in Destin.

Amberjack near the Pensacola Beach Gulf Pier are unusual, and the large school of juvenile amberjacks hanging in the shallows under the pier is "weird," he said.

The large group of barracuda hanging out under the pier typically hangs out farther offshore, he said.

"Them moving in tells me they're following bait," he said.

OH CHIT!!!!!!!!!!

Not much will keep me off the beach or out of the water (I spent 6 hrs both days of the weekend in the water), sharks off shore~NO, rip currents~NO, tar balls~NO.............but sharks THIS CLOSE to the shore, he77 yeah-that will keep my arse on the beach if it happens here and I wouldn't be shocked, the dolphins are super close and Friday a sea turtle was only 15 ft maximum from shoreline. YIKES  


http://www.breitbart.tv/lots-of-sharks-lots-of-oil-seen-off-alabama-coast/

CMT News

Jimmy Buffett and CMT Present a Live Concert From the Gulf Coast
 
Free Tickets Available Wednesday (June 23) Via Ticketmaster

June 21, 2010; Written by CMT.com Staff

Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band will be joined by Kenny Chesney, Zac Brown, Allen Toussaint, Sonny Landreth, Jesse Winchester and additional special guests during a free concert in Gulf Shores, Ala. The event, titledCMT Presents Jimmy Buffett & Friends Live From the Gulf Coast, will take place July 1.

Tickets will be available from Ticketmaster beginning Wednesday (June 23) at 10 a.m. CT. There is a four-ticket limit, and tickets are required for entry. Organizers expect to accommodate up to 35,000 people at the event on the beach.

The concert is being organized to demonstrate support for and solidarity with residents, businesses and the culture of the Gulf Coast. Gates will open at 3 p.m., and the concert will start at 5 p.m.

A portion of the show will air live on CMT from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. ET/PT. Performances will be simulcast live on Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio and streamed live on CMT.com.

"There are always welcome breaks in every storm, but the unfortunate reality is that this disaster is not going away for a while," Buffett said. "But a few hours of fun, void of the constant reminders of the situation, is a good thing, and that is basically what I do."

"I thank Jimmy Buffett and these other great artists for coming to perform on Alabama's coast," said Alabama Gov. Bob Riley. "Their music will lift up spirits and help encourage visitors to come here and enjoy our world famous Southern hospitality."

"Music has healing powers, and who better than Jimmy and friends to summon them up?" said CMT president Brian Philips. "It is CMT's privilege to present this special. We send a message to the people of the Gulf Coast that our audience -- and the world -- stands beside them."

"Gulf Shores is at the center of the vast coastline affected by the oil spill, and we hope that people from all across this beautiful stretch of America will come down, support local businesses on the way and enjoy some great music to elevate an important cause," noted CMT senior vice president of music and talent John Hamlin.

CMT Presents Jimmy Buffett & Friends Live From the Gulf Coast is produced by the State of Alabama, the City of Gulf Shores, CMT, Live Nation and Land Shark Lager. Local promotional services are provided by Mobile-based Huka Entertainment.

CMT Presents Jimmy Buffett & Friends Live From The Gulf Coast will encore July 2 at 7 p.m., July 3 at 9:30 a.m., July 4 at 2 p.m. and July 5 at 11:30 a.m. Excerpts and artist interviews will be available at CMT.com.

http://blog.al.com/press-register-commentary/2010/06/editorial_ditch_the_self-serving_blather_and_pay_claims.html
Editorial: Ditch the self-serving blather and pay claims
Published: Tuesday, June 22, 2010, 5:33 AM
IS IT really good news that BP has pumped $16 million into Alabama’s economy and another $9.5 million into Mississippi’s in the form of claims payments?

Hardly.
For BP to even suggest that it’s boosting the Gulf Coast economy with the claims it’s paying demonstrates a supreme arrogance. The response from the coastal states can be: The least you can do is turn claims around quickly to make up for the damage you’ve done.

Indeed, if more help doesn’t come soon, a slick of bankruptcy will start tracking the Deepwater Horizon oil sheen as it moves along the coast over the next few months. Already, seafood processing is crippled and tourism is gasping for air. And that’s not counting the full effects of the disaster, which may not be measurable for years.

Eventually, hope for a speedier process could come in the form of pay czar Kenneth Feinberg, who was appointed by President Obama to take over management of the $20 billion claims fund from BP. Mr. Feinberg might be the man for the job, seeing as how he chaired the government’s compensation fund for victims of the 9/11 attacks.

On Monday, he said he wants BP’s claims process stepped up and made more transparent. He is right, and the states’ elected officials can see that he makes good on this call to action.
So far, BP says it has made more than 32,000 payments, totaling more than $105 million, on the more than 65,000 claims that have been submitted. The last word, however, was that the individual payments were relatively small — estimated at less than $3,000 in mid-June.

The smaller claims can usually be paid quickly. Take the condo owner who got a check within a day. But larger, more complex claims, like those typically filed by businesses, are taking much longer.

BP can do better by streamlining the process now and erring on the side of claimants who are in dire straits. Some local business people, for instance, have been told that they could get advance payments on their summer losses. If that’s so, then this help has to come quickly if many are to survive. They may not have the luxury of waiting until the government takes over the claims process.

Gulf Coast governors, meantime, have to get involved and demand that BP pick up the pace on claims immediately. Mr. Feinberg has already met with the governors from Louisiana and Mississippi. He meets today with Alabama’s Gov. Bob Riley. There may be no better time to demonstrate statesmanship than now, by reaching across geographical and political boundaries to demand action.

In the meantime, what are businessmen like Jerry Forte of Pass Christian, Miss., to do? He told The Associated Press on Friday that he hadn’t seen a dime from the claim he filed a month ago. Now his seafood processing business is all but shuttered.

To the east, on Alabama’s Fort Morgan Peninsula, Greg and Susan Miller can’t rent the 70 condos they manage or the eight they own themselves. How are they going to pay the mortgages on their properties?
There is only one answer to give them and others who are suffering: BP’s claim checks have to start flowing faster.

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/06/oil_spill_forecast_to_return_t_1.html
Forecast: Oil spill to return to Alabama coast today; 17,000 claims filed
Published: Tuesday, June 22, 2010, 5:00 AM
(http://media.al.com/mobile-press-register/photo/-88c4ec9263682a41_large.jpg)
Richard and Amanda Scott of Eight-Mile, Ala., look for tar balls as they walk along the beach in Dauphin Island, Ala., Monday, June 21, 2010. Hay bales line the beach to defend against oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill.
<snipped>

IM,that was a good video!

Thanks, it scared me!!!!!!! Like I said, I have no problem with the sharks out past the sand bar etc, but that close to shore and BULL SHARKS........that's a very bad combo:)

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/06/lots_of_sharks_and_lots_of_oil.html

http://media.al.com/live/photo/fort-morgan-tarballs-e8ceb70f869a548a.jpg

american-flag covered in oil in the water
http://media.al.com/live/photo/oil-covered-speckled-crab-with-american-flag-19ec3010204365e9.jpg


Lots of sharks, lots of oil seen off Bon Secour (with video)
Published: Saturday, June 19, 2010, 6:19 PM     Updated: Monday, June 21, 2010, 3:46 PM
Ben Raines, Press-Register

Submerged oil at Bon Secour shoreline
FORT MORGAN, Ala. -- A two-inch layer of submerged oil hugged portions of the Gulf seafloor off the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge on Friday, a week after a smothering layer of floating crude washed ashore there.


Collecting in pockets and troughs in waist-deep water, the underwater oil was looser and stickier than the tarballs spread liberally along the beach. The consistency was more like a thick liquid, albeit one made up of thousands of small globs.
Unlike tarballs, which can often be picked up out of the water without staining the fingers, the submerged oil stained everything that it touched. A hand passed through the material emerged covered in oily smears. A hunk of fabric hovering near the bottom was completely covered in oil.


The Press-Register found a number of patches of submerged oil 40 to 100 feet off the beach, apparently collecting along rip currents and sandbars. The carcasses of sand fleas, speckled crabs, ghost crabs and leopard crabs were spread throughout the oil, a thick layer of the material caking the bodies of the larger crabs. Their claws looked as if they been turned into clubs made of oil.


Thumb-size sand fleas burrow in the sand where the waves wash onto the beach. It appeared that they had suffocated. Other burrowing creatures, such as the small and colorful coquina clams, seemed unaffected. Unlike sand fleas, the clams are able to close their shells for extended periods, an ability that would offer a measure of protection as oil washed across the sand above them.


Dark patches seen in deeper water Friday might also have been oil, but exceptional numbers of large sharks meant diving down to investigate was not an option. Hammerhead, bull and other sharks were schooling around a boat anchored in 6 feet of water just outside the breaking waves.


Most of the sharks in the deeper water were 6 feet long or more. Smaller sharks could be seen inside the first sandbar, in one case in a school 27 strong.


Huge schools of bait hugged the seashore, attracting large numbers of birds. King mackerel, Spanish mackerel, mullet, ladyfish, speckled trout and other fish schooled in unusually large numbers amid the sharks.


Dead fish seen onshore seemed to have collected in the areas closest to the underwater oil. It was unclear if the fish died because of exposure to the oil.


The Dauphin Island Sea Lab measured large areas of low oxygen water just off the beach at Fort Morgan last week, beginning in water around 20 feet deep. Monty Graham, a University of South Alabama scientist, theorized that the population of oil-consuming microbes had swelled, and those tiny animals consumed lots of oxygen.


Sea life begins to die if oxygen levels drop below 2 parts per million.


"We saw some very low oxygen levels, some below 1," said Graham, of testing he conducted aboard a Dauphin Island Sea Lab research vessel.


He said that the layer of low-oxygen water closest to shore off Fort Morgan began at the bottom and rose up 30 feet.


Graham said he believed that the low oxygen levels were responsible for reports of strange behavior among fish.


"The low oxygen explains things we've been hearing, like reports of flounder swimming on the surface," Graham said.


The low oxygen levels offshore may also explain the dense aggregations of fish seen in the surf zone. The turbulent area near shore is naturally high in oxygen due to the influence of the breaking waves.


The Press-Register has heard numerous reports that suggest oil is moving beneath the surface in Alabama waters. State officials conducting shrimp trawls in the Mississippi Sound two weeks ago found oil on their nets when they pulled them. More recently, BP contractors working around Dauphin Island reported oil coming up on their anchors.

the american-flag covered in oil in the water, should be our alternative-energy
 logo/pic
more on alternative-energyhttp://www.alternative-energy-news.info/

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/06/lots_of_sharks_and_lots_of_oil.html

http://media.al.com/live/photo/fort-morgan-tarballs-e8ceb70f869a548a.jpg

american-flag covered in oil in the water
http://media.al.com/live/photo/oil-covered-speckled-crab-with-american-flag-19ec3010204365e9.jpg



http://www.dailypaul.com/node/138223

A really cool interactive map of impact on the gulf coast:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/oil-spill-environment-recreation-map.htm

Here's one example of it:
(http://i380.photobucket.com/albums/oo242/Brandi-Monkey/Image62.png)

brandi nice thanks
---------------
wow what if it would work

Is BP Smarter Than a 10-Year-Old?
11 hours ago - FOX News 3:25 | 854059 views
Boy explains how to fix Gulf oil leak

http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/is-bp-smarter-than-a-10-year-old-20467971

Banging my head against a wall......Florida is now renting their own skimmers since the Federal Government won't offer more than 20 for the entire coastline. Frankly in 60+ days I have seen ONE, and it sat there and never moved, now they (FEDS) say the skimmers in the US (forget the ones even available from foreign countries) aren't available because they have to keep them where they are just in case there is another oil spill..........ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDDING ME????????? That IS exactlt like stating the fire dept can't send a truck to your home that's burning to the ground because their "might" be another fire. GRRRRRRR, I am so going to get a drink ASAP!

http://www.wdsu.com/news/23997498/detail.html

Federal Gov't Halts Sand Berm Dredging
Nungesser Pleads With President To Allow Work To Continue
POSTED: 5:37 pm CDT June 22, 2010
UPDATED: 9:21 am CDT June 23, 2010
 Email  Print
 Comments (107)NEW ORLEANS --
The federal government is shutting down the dredging that was being done to create protective sand berms in the Gulf of Mexico.

The berms are meant to protect the Louisiana coastline from oil. But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department has concerns about where the dredging is being done.

Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser, who was one of the most vocal advocates of the dredging plan, has sent a letter to President Barack Obama, pleading for the work to continue.

Nungesser said the government has asked crews to move the dredging site two more miles farther off the coastline.

"Once again, our government resource agencies, which are intended to protect us, are now leaving us vulnerable to the destruction of our coastline and marshes by the impending oil," Nungesser wrote to Obama. "Furthermore, with the threat of hurricanes or tropical storms, we are being put at an increased risk for devastation to our area from the intrusion of oil.

Nungesser has asked for the dredging to continue for the next seven days, the amount of time it would take to move the dredging operations two miles and out resume work.

Work is scheduled to halt at midnight Wednesday.

The California dredge located off the Chandelier Islands has pumped more than 50,000 cubic yards of material daily to create a sand berm, according to Plaquemines Parish officials.

Nungesser's letter includes an emotional plea to the president.

"Please don't let them shut this dredge down," he wrote. "This requires your immediate attention!"

http://blog.al.com/jdcrowe/2010/06/double_jeopardy.html
Double Jeopardy
Published: Wednesday, June 23, 2010, 6:06 AM
Down here on the Gulf, we've got our hands full battling the oil spill disaster that's killing our economy.

Our drowning tourism and seafood industries are just the tip of the Romaine (our good restaurants don't use iceberg) lettuce of businesses that are already suffering.

How could it get any worse?

Don't look now, but there's a breeze blowin'  off the southwestern tip of Africa.

Board up the windows and grab your ankles, folks. It's hurricane season. How does oil mix with water and wind? This is Alabama. All bets are off.

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/06/far_from_gulf_a_cloudy_picture.html
Far from Gulf, a cloudy picture for oil fund czar
Published: Wednesday, June 23, 2010, 6:34 AM     Updated: Wednesday, June 23, 2010, 6:38 AM
NEW ORLEANS -- Is a strip club that caters to oil-rig workers entitled to a piece of the $20 billion fund for victims of the Gulf of Mexico disaster? How about a souvenir stand on a nearly empty beach? Or a far-off restaurant that normally serves Gulf seafood?

The farther the massive spill's effects spread, the harder it will get for President Barack Obama's new compensation czar to decide who deserves to be paid.
Fishermen, rig workers and others left jobless by the oil spill seem certain to get their slices of the pie, sooner or later. It's the people and businesses a few degrees -- and perhaps hundreds of miles -- removed from the Gulf but still dependent on its bounty who will have a tougher time getting their claims past Kenneth Feinberg, the lawyer who handled payouts for families of Sept. 11 victims.

"How can there not be a trickle-down effect?" said Jeffrey Berniard, a New Orleans lawyer who represents about 100 people and firms filing claims against BP PLC. "How can the businesses that serve all the people who work in the industry not be affected if all the people in these industries are out of work?"

The question of who gets paid also gets trickier with time. As the spill enters its third month, Berniard and other attorneys say they're hearing more from people who might not have been affected right away.
One of Berniard's clients is a health care consultant who makes her living matching doctors with hospitals looking to hire medical help. She usually places about a dozen doctors in a good year, he said, so one contract is a big loss.

The woman had a doctor lined up recently for a job at Florida Panhandle hospital.

"All of a sudden, the oil spill hits and the doctor says, 'I don't want to spend the next 10 or 15 years there,'" Berniard said. "I'm not overly optimistic her claim will be paid through the claims process. I think we'll have to go into litigation. But we'll see."

Charles Lavis Jr., another New Orleans lawyer, said he's fielded several inquiries from people worried the value of their recreational boats could drop if they are driven through an oil slick or if fewer people are interested in buying them because they don't want to cruise along an oil-spattered coast.

There has been so much confusion over who is eligible that Feinberg has had to respond to rumors about a New Orleans strip club putting in for a payout.

"I'm dubious about that claim. I'm very dubious about that claim," Feinberg told ABC's George Stephanopoulos. "But I don't want to prejudge any individual claim."

The business, called Mimosa Dancing Club, turns out to be a modest bar with a small dance floor in a Vietnamese enclave on the east side of the city, at least an hour from any oiled waters. The owner did not return messages seeking comment. A woman who identified herself as the owner's sister, but would only give her first name, said the establishment was not a strip club and said she did not know whether the owner had filed an oil spill claim.
BP spokesman John Curry said the company does not comment on individual claims.

Under pressure from the White House, the company will pay $20 billion into a compensation fund that will be administered by Feinberg. Curry said the company has not rejected any of the more than 67,000 claims it has received, although it has asked thousands of people for more documentation before cutting a check.

That could be a problem for many of those who need money most urgently, said Tuan Nguyen, deputy director of the Mary Queen of Vietnam Community Development Corp. in eastern New Orleans, where many immigrants and their families work in the seafood business.

"It's a very cash-involved industry. Some of the boat captains or boat owners, they sell fish on the side of the road or directly to families. They don't have records of that," Nguyen said.

Feinberg said that when drawing the line, he probably will try to determine if the law in the state where the claim is filed would recognize it if it were filed in court, a process he used in determining who had a legitimate claim to the 9/11 victims fund. He expects to use slightly different methods when fielding claims from different categories of businesses, say, fishermen versus hotels.

"We have to decide in this facility how far removed from the Gulf we will find legitimate, valid claims," Feinberg said Tuesday at an appearance alongside Alabama Gov. Bob Riley in Mobile.

"The buck stops with me in terms of an initial determination," Feinberg said, but the claimant can appeal to a panel of three retired judges, who will be appointed by him from the Gulf states. Those judges will rule in about 10 days, and claims applicants can sue in state court if they aren't satisfied.
BP can only appeal Feinberg's decisions on awards larger than $500,000, BP spokesman David Nicholas said.

The spill's financial waves start at the water's edge and spread inland.

In Pensacola, Fla., a linen cleaning firm that normally cleans sheets for hotels and condominiums rented to vacationers has lost $50,000 since the oil spill began, said Carol Moore, an investigator for a law firm representing the company.

A vending company whose machines supply candy bars, potato chips and prepackaged sandwiches has seen business drop by $25,000. About a dozen banks in the area are filing claims as customers who took out loans to fund condominiums and bait-and-tackle shops struggle to make payments, Moore said.

"It is so huge that you wonder if $20 billion is going to be enough," she said.

Near Chapel Hill, N.C., Gary Huey said he typically goes through two dozen, 125-count boxes of raw oysters and another 12 gallons of shelled oysters a week at Huey's Restaurant and Oyster Bar. His Mississippi-based supplier has been able to keep him stocked so far, but has told Huey he will have to cut him off in two weeks.

"In this area there are not many oyster bars, it is my niche so to speak," Huey said. "Or it was."

Since the spill started, the price of Gulf shrimp also has gone up and it has become harder to come by since many distributors are limiting how much they will sell, he said. Huey nonetheless is not sure whether he will file a claim with BP.
They could get in a situation that every restaurant that serves a little bit of seafood would be filing a claim, and I don't know where it stops at," he said. "I'm a fairly decent-sized restaurant, and seafood is our business, but I don't see how every restaurant could qualify."

While the prospect of lawsuits awaits, some who are missing out simply want to stay afloat.

Emma Chighizola, 68, is used to seeing dozens of tourists pouring through her doors at Blue Water Souvenirs in Grand Isle, snapping up T-shirts, rafts, shell jewelry and coolers. She and her husband filed a business claim with BP more than a month ago and "haven't gotten a penny."

Her husband went to a BP claims office over the weekend and was told the paperwork was still being processed.

"How much time do they need?" she wondered. "All I want is what I'm losing, I don't want any more."

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/06/23/people-involved-gulf-oil-spill-cleanup-died-coast-guard-reports/
2 People Involved in Gulf Oil Spill Cleanup Have Died, Coast Guard Reports
Published June 23, 2010
| FOXNews.com
Two people involved in the Gulf oil spill cleanup effort have died, the U.S. Coast Guard reported.

Meantime, hundreds of thousands of gallons more oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday after an undersea robot bumped a venting system and forced BP to remove a cap that had been containing some of the crude.

When the robot bumped the system, gas rose through the vent that carries warm water down to prevent ice-like crystals from forming in the cap, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said.

The cap was removed and crews were checking to see if crystals had formed before putting it back on. Allen did not say how long that might take.

"There's more coming up than there had been, but it's not a totally unconstrained discharge," Allen said
n the meantime, a different system was still burning oil on the surface.

Before the problem with the containment cap, it had collected about 700,000 gallons of oil in the previous 24 hours. Another 438,000 gallons was burned.

The current worst-case estimate of what's spewing into the Gulf is about 2.5 million gallons a day. Anywhere from 67 million to 127 million gallons have spilled since the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig that killed 11 workers and blew out a well 5,000 feet underwater. BP PLC was leasing the rig from owner Transocean Ltd.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration tried to sort out how to resurrect a six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling that was struck down by a federal judge a day earlier.

U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans overturned the ban Tuesday, saying the government simply assumed that because one rig exploded, the others pose an imminent danger, too.

Feldman, a 1983 appointee of President Ronald Reagan, has reported extensive investments in the oil and gas industry, including owning less than $15,000 of Transocean stock, according to financial disclosure reports for 2008, the most recent available. He did not return calls for comment.
The White House promised an immediate appeal of his decision. The Interior Department had imposed the moratorium last month in the wake of the BP disaster, halting approval of any new permits for deepwater projects and suspending drilling on 33 exploratory wells.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement late Tuesday that within the next few days he would issue a new order imposing a moratorium that eliminates any doubt it is needed and appropriate.

"It's important that we don't move forward with new drilling until we know it can be done in a safe way," Salazar told a Senate subcommittee Wednesday.

BP's new point man for the oil spill wouldn't say Wednesday if the company would resume deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

Asked about it Wednesday on NBC's "Today" show, BP managing director Bob Dudley said they will "step back" from the issue while they investigate the rig explosion.

Also Wednesday, BP said Dudley has been appointed to head the new Gulf Coast Restoration Organization, which is in charge of cleaning up the oil spill.

At least two major oil companies, Shell and Marathon, said they would wait to see how the appeals play out before resuming drilling.

The lawsuit was filed by Hornbeck Offshore Services of Covington, La. CEO Todd Hornbeck said after the ruling that he is looking forward to getting back to work. "It's the right thing for not only the industry but the country," he said.

http://fieldnotes.msnbc.msn.com/
2 oil spill workers die, 1 from gunshot

A boat captain who was working on the oil spill response died of a gunshot wound early Wednesday, the Mobile (Ala.) Press-Register is reporting.

"I'm very sorry to announce the death this morning of a captain in the vessel of opportunity program at Fort Morgan, Alabama," the newspaper quoted U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. Chuck Diorio as saying.

Diorio said the Gulf Shores Police Department was investigating the death.

Another worker involved in the oil spill response also has died, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said Wednesday. No other details were immediately available, but the Coast Guard said it did not appear the death was work related.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100623/ap_on_re_us/us_gulf_oil_spill
More oil gushing into Gulf after problem with cap
  MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, Associated Press Writer Michael Kunzelman, Associated Press Writer   – 2 hrs 18 mins ago

NEW ORLEANS – Hundreds of thousands of gallons more oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday after an undersea robot bumped a venting system and forced BP to remove a cap that had been containing some of the crude.

When the robot bumped the system, gas rose through the vent that carries warm water down to prevent ice-like crystals from forming in the cap, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said.

The cap was removed and crews were checking to see if crystals had formed before putting it back on. Allen did not say how long that might take.

"There's more coming up than there had been, but it's not a totally unconstrained discharge," Allen said.

In the meantime, a different system was still burning oil on the surface.

Before the problem with the containment cap, it had collected about 700,000 gallons of oil in the previous 24 hours. Another 438,000 gallons was burned.
The current worst-case estimate of what's spewing into the Gulf is about 2.5 million gallons a day. Anywhere from 67 million to 127 million gallons have spilled since the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig that killed 11 workers and blew out a well 5,000 feet underwater. BP PLC was leasing the rig from owner Transocean Ltd.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration tried to sort out how to resurrect a six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling that was struck down by a federal judge a day earlier.

U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans overturned the ban Tuesday, saying the government simply assumed that because one rig exploded, the others pose an imminent danger, too.

Feldman, a 1983 appointee of President Ronald Reagan, has reported extensive investments in the oil and gas industry, including owning less than $15,000 of Transocean stock, according to financial disclosure reports for 2008, the most recent available. He did not return calls for comment.

The White House promised an immediate appeal of his decision. The Interior Department had imposed the moratorium last month in the wake of the BP disaster, halting approval of any new permits for deepwater projects and suspending drilling on 33 exploratory wells.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement late Tuesday that within the next few days he would issue a new order imposing a moratorium that eliminates any doubt it is needed and appropriate.

"It's important that we don't move forward with new drilling until we know it can be done in a safe way," Salazar told a Senate subcommittee Wednesday.
BP's new point man for the oil spill  wouldn't say Wednesday if the company would resume deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

Asked about it Wednesday on NBC's "Today" show, BP managing director Bob Dudley said they will "step back" from the issue while they investigate the rig explosion.

Also Wednesday, BP said Dudley has been appointed to head the new Gulf Coast Restoration Organization, which is in charge of cleaning up the oil spill.

At least two major oil companies, Shell and Marathon, said they would wait to see how the appeals play out before resuming drilling.

The lawsuit was filed by Hornbeck Offshore Services of Covington, La. CEO Todd Hornbeck said after the ruling that he is looking forward to getting back to work. "It's the right thing for not only the industry but the country," he said.

how big is the oil flow compared to your city/state size

http://paulrademacher.com/oilspill/#

my map
http://paulrademacher.com/oilspill/#sandusky+ohio

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/06/brown_oil_spotted_near_alabama.html
Brown oil spotted near Alabama and Mississippi coasts during flyover (with video)
Published: Friday, June 25, 2010, 1:51 PM     Updated: Friday, June 25, 2010, 2:47 PM

possiably more bad news for the gulf of mexico

Tropical storm plus oil slick equals more fear and uncertaintyBy the CNN Wire Staff
June 26, 2010 8:30 a.m. EDT

SNIPPED,vids at link
Video: What will a possible hurricane do to
Video: Gulf storm threat
Video: Concerns over use of dispersants

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/26/gulf.oil.disaster/?hpt=T1

a snip

New Orleans, Louisiana (CNN) -- The disaster thousands of feet deep in the Gulf of Mexico may be exacerbated by a different type of calamity in the coming week -- a tropical storm -- that could push the oil farther along Florida's pristine Panhandle beaches.

Tropical Storm Alex -- the first named storm of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season -- formed in the Caribbean on Saturday. Alex had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph and was about 250 miles away from Chetumal, Mexico. It was moving toward Belize and over the Yucatan Peninsula.

"The greatest nightmare with this storm approaching is that it takes this oil on the surface of the Gulf and blows it over the barrier islands into the bays and the estuaries," Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, told CNN. "And that is where you really get the enormous destruction, because it's just very difficult to clean up those pristine bays."

Alex is heading is west-northwest direction and was not predicted to directly pass over the massive oil slick caused by the ruptured BP undersea well, though its path could change.

A tropical storm in the Gulf has the potential to disrupt BP efforts to collect gushing oil and drill relief wells. It would also complicate efforts to clean up miles of coastline. High winds and seas could distribute the oil -- still gushing from a blown deepwater well -- over a wider area while storm surges could wash more oil ashore, according to a fact sheet prepared by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

more
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/26/gulf.oil.disaster/?hpt=T1

topics covered in this 7pg article
The Oil’s Reach » | Plugging the Well » | The Cleaning Crew »
Dispersant » | Environmental Impact » | Economic Impact »
Political Fallout » | Liability » | BP and the Oil Industry »
Philanthropy » | Perspective »
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/26/us/26primerWEB.html

How Much Has Spilled, and How Far? Seeking Answers as Questions Mount
Oil off the coast of Alabama.

By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: June 25, 2010

The Oil’s Reach (a snip)

Q. How far has the oil advanced along the Gulf Coast? How far could it travel, and what variables are at play? Have any communities been bypassed and spared?

A. So far, oil has made landfall along hundreds of miles of the Gulf Coast, from Freshwater Bayou in the middle of Louisiana’s coastline, all the way to the Florida panhandle to just outside Panama City. The impact has not been uniform; some areas have been greatly affected, while others have been spared. For example, Mississippi’s mainland coast, excepting its barrier islands, has been largely untouched by heavy oil, though that appears likely to change in the next few days.

The oil, either in the form of tar balls, sheen or heavier “mousse,” is brought near the coast by currents, but the wind is usually responsible for the final push, bringing streams of oil onshore. Coast Guard officials frequently describe the oil as a series of spills rather than one big slick, and that is reflected in the impact: oil is heading in all directions at the same time.

Shoreline trajectories, based on currents and wind patterns, are only dependable for roughly 72 hours. But scientists using computer models at the National Center for Atmospheric Research have suggested that the oil reaching the loop current in the Gulf of Mexico could come around Florida’s southern tip within weeks.

After that, the modeling indicates, it would travel up the Atlantic Seaboard to North Carolina’s Outer Banks, before joining the Gulf Stream and heading east across the Atlantic toward Europe. They caution, however, that this is not a forecast but merely a possibility, and that it is unclear how much the oil would dissipate as it traveled in these currents

Reported by Felicity Barringer, John M. Broder, Robbie Brown, Damien Cave, Henry Fountain, Justin Gillis, Leslie Kaufman, Clifford Krauss, John Leland, Campbell Robertson, Elisabeth Rosenthal, John Schwartz and Tom Zeller Jr.


---------------------------------------------
(Page 2 of 7) a snip



Q. Doomsday scenarios described online suggest that the pipe that lines the well is deteriorating, or that there may be other problems with the well that may cause it to fail completely, leaving an utterly uncontrolled gusher that could prove difficult or impossible to control. Is this true?

A. There is a lot of speculation about the condition of the well, but it is not really possible to know what kind of shape it is in. BP suggested that one reason that a procedure called the “top kill” failed was because there may have been damage to the well lining about 1,000 feet down. But no one knows for sure.

What does seem clear is that there is enough concern about not making the situation worse that BP is now pursuing only the containment option at the top of the well. They have abandoned efforts to permanently plug the well from the top because that would build up pressure that might cause damage. The well will be permanently sealed starting from the bottom, using one or both relief wells
--------------------------------------------------------------
(Page 4 of 7) a snip
Economic Impact

Q. What will the economic impact of the spill be?

A. The final costs of the spill are difficult to predict. For now, as images of oil-coated wildlife on Louisiana’s islands fill the news, most parts of coastal Mississippi and Alabama have seen only intermittent tar balls, but the states are suffering the same blows to their fishing and tourism industries.

In May, Nathaniel Karp, chief economist for the Alabama bank BBVA Compass, projected eventual losses for the four gulf states at $4.3 billion, including $191 million in losses to Alabama. This month he raised that projection to $11.5 billion.

In Louisiana, seafood and tourism generate $2.4 billion a year and $8.3 billion, respectively, according to officials associated with the two industries.

--------------------------------------------------------


(Page 7 of 7) a snip
Perspective

Q. Is this the nation’s worst oil disaster ever? Its worst environmental disaster ever?

A. It is probably neither. If your criterion for the worst oil disaster is the greatest volume of oil leaked, then the Lakeview Gusher of 1910 released at least twice as much oil into a semi-desert area of California as this leak has released so far. This leak is without question the worst oil disaster at sea in United States history, but it does not yet match the volume of an Mexican oil-well blowout known as Ixtoc 1, also in the gulf, in 1979-80.

As for worst environmental disaster ever, this one so far does not come close to matching the human impact of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, which prompted one of the largest mass migrations in American history, with perhaps a half-million people abandoning the Plains. But that said, the damage is accumulating as the spill drags on. It seems likely to wind up as one of the worst American environmental disasters, if not the worst.

The Oil’s Reach » | Plugging the Well » | The Cleaning Crew »
Dispersant » | Environmental Impact » | Economic Impact »
Political Fallout » | Liability » | BP and the Oil Industry »
Philanthropy » | Perspective »
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/26/us/26primerWEB.html

sorry i meant to add these links to this post, instead of its own post
possiably more bad news for the gulf of mexico
---------------------------------------
Tracking the Oil Spill in the Gulf
interactive map
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/01/us/20100501-oil-spill-tracker.html?ref=us

UPDATED Friday, June 25, 2010
Where Oil Is on the Gulf Coast
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/27/us/20100527-oil-landfall.html?ref=us

Published: May 10, 2010
A History of Major Oil Spills
Oil slicks have historically been the most vivid examples of the risks inherent in both oil shipping and offshore drilling. While the industry has drawn on lessons from each successive spill, advances in extraction techniques present new challenges.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/10/us/20100510_OIL_TIMELINE.html?ref=us

Multimedia
Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Multimedia Collection
An interactive map tracking the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Plus: video, audio, graphics and photos.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/us/spill_index.html?ref=us

http://www.cfnews13.com/article/news/2010/june/114364/Alex-churns-toward-Mexico
(http://www.cfnews13.com/static/articles/images/2010/alex_8_p_m__6_28.jpg)
Last Updated: Monday, June 28, 2010 8:43 PM
MIAMI --

Tropical Storm Alex is expected to strengthen into a hurricane Tuesday.

Meanwhile, a hurricane watch is in effect for the south Texas and northeastern Mexico coast.

The storm's center is on a track from Yucatan headed for the Texas-Mexico border -- and away from the oil spill area off Louisiana.
8 p.m. Tropical Storm Advisory

A hurricane watch has been issued for the coast of Texas south of Baffin Bay to the mouth of the Rio Grande.

A hurricane watch is in effect for the coast of Mexico from Baffin Bay to La Cruz.

A tropical storm warning is in effect for the coast of Texas from Baffin Bay to Port O'Connor.
Discussion and 48-hour outlook

At 8 p.m. EDT, the center of Tropical Storm Alex was located near latitude 20.6 north, longitude 91.6 west.

Alex has been nearly stationary over the past few hours, but is expected to resume a north-nortwestwarn motion near 5 mph Monday night.

An increase in forward speed and a turn toward the northwest are expected on Tuesday, followed by a turn toward the west-northwest on Wednesday.

On the forecast track, Alex will move across the southern Gulf of Mexico and approach the coast within the Hurricane Watch area late Wednesday.
 
Maximum sustained winds are near 60 mph with higher gusts.

Some strengthening is forecast during the next 48 hours, and Alex is expected to become a hurricane on Tuesday.

A hurricane hunter plane is currently approaching the center of Alex.
 
Tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 70 miles from the center.

An automated station from the Mexican Navy at Cayo Arcas, located just to the southwest of the center of Alex recently reported a sustained wind of 38 mph and a gust of 45 mph.
 
The estimated minimum central pressure is 990 mb or 29.23 inches.
Hazards affecting land

Alex is expected to produce additional rainfall accumulations of 3 to 6 inches over the Yucatan Peninsula, southern Mexico and the northern portions of Guatemala through Tuesday. Isolated maximum amounts of 10 inches are possible over mountainous areas. These rains could cause life-threatening flash floods and mud slides.

Heavy rains could reach the coastal areas of Tamaulipas, northern Veracruz and south Texas Tuesday night and Wednesday.

Next complete advisory: 11 p.m.

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/06/jimmy_buffett_concert_postponed.html
Jimmy Buffett concert postponed to July 11 because of Tropical Storm Alex
Published: Monday, June 28, 2010, 4:27 PM     Updated: Monday, June 28, 2010, 5:22 PM
GULF SHORES, Ala. -- The highly anticipated Jimmy Buffett concert has been postponed until Sunday, July 11, because of concerns about Tropical Storm Alex, city officials told the Press-Register this afternoon.

"I know there's going to be some disappointed people out there, but no one is more disappointed than us," said Mayor Robert Craft.

The free concert was set to be simulcast on the CMT network at 7 p.m., featuring native son Buffett and a cast of friends and special guests. The show was an attempt to boost tourism and spirits in light of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The news came suddenly and with little warning.
As of lunchtime today, the Gulf Shores City Council was holding a special meeting to discuss plans for the show and a crane was lifting parts of the stage into place.

But while working on the staging, concert planners were also keeping an eye on the tropical system in the southern Gulf of Mexico.

While Alex is expected to go ashore in Mexico or Texas, forecasters believe the system could cause storm surge on the Alabama coastline on Wednesday.

Concert organizers are worried that the storm surge could send water up the beach and under the staging, undermining the stage's stability.

Some 35,000 tickets were made available for the show and were gone minutes after they became available online and at some TicketMaster outlets last Wednesday. Others were given to real estate companies to be offered as incentives for people to book rooms and bring tourism dollars to Baldwin County's beaches.
City officials said Monday afternoon that all ticketholders should hang on to their tickets and that the tickets that were issued will be the tickets used for the July 11 show. The rescheduled concert is likely to take place at the same time (7-9 p.m.)

The sudden change in plans is likely to throw local rental agencies for a loop as they were selling weekend packages for people to stay and see the show. With no concert and people likely to back out, there's precious little time to rebook rooms before the Fourth of July weekend.

Meanwhile, it will be up to people who are receiving tickets through their room or condo rental to work things out with the rental agency, said Herb Malone, president of the Convention and Visitors Bureau.

It was unclear Monday afternoon how the change in the date of the concert might affect the rest of the concert's lineup since other artists could have conflicting performance dates.

Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band were to be joined in the concert by his friends Sonny Landreth, Zac Brown, Kenny Chesney, Jesse Winchester and Allen Toussaint.

Meanwhile, the city of Gulf Shores' fireworks display is still scheduled to take place Sunday night. Fireworks and Montgomery Gentry show at The Wharf on the Fourth likewise is still a go, officials said.

Monday's announcement came on the same day as the opening of Buffett's new Margaritaville Beach Hotel in Pensacola Beach, Fla.

DEEPWATER HORIZON OIL SPILL POINT ADDED TO NHC WIND PROBABILITY PRODUCT
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/DWH_PWS_text_product.pdf

...ALEX NOW MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHWEST WITH WINDS JUST BELOW HURRICANE STRENGTH...
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/index.shtml?

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100704/ts_nm/us_bp_new_investors
BP launches search for new investors: report
 40 mins ago

LONDON/DUBAI (Reuters) – Oil major BP Plc is seeking a strategic investor to secure its independence in the face of any takeover attempts as it struggles with a devastating oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, newspapers said on Sunday.

Britain's Sunday Times said the company's advisers were trying to drum up interest among rival oil groups and sovereign wealth funds to take a stake of between 5 and 10 percent in the company at a cost of up to 6 billion pounds ($9.1 billion).

Abu Dhabi newspaper The National said BP could get a reprieve from Middle East financial institutions looking to make a strategic investment, citing informed sources.

Proposals from the region have already been submitted to BP advisers in London, the newspaper reported, and could involve Middle Eastern investors purchasing key assets from BP, which has lost more than half its market value since an explosion at the Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20 started the still-gushing leak.
The paper said regional financial institutions might also give financial backing to any capital-raising BP might be considering to reinforce its balance sheet following the environmental disaster, which could cost as much as $60 billion to clean up.

The report did not indicate which Middle Eastern financial firms issued the proposals or what the size of investments could be.

Regional sovereign wealth funds, such as the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), have supported Western companies in times of financial crisis by purchasing stakes in western banks and effectively halting declines in their share prices.

Separately, British newspaper the Guardian said BP was holding talks with the Kuwait Investment Office about raising its 1.75 percent stake in the oil company to potentially as much as 10 percent.

Rival oil majors ExxonMobil, Total and Royal Dutch Shell have been mooted as possible bidders.

BP declined to comment on the speculation.

The New York Times reported on Sunday that BP is asking its partners in the ruptured well, Anadarko Petroleum Corp and Mitsui Oil Exploration Co, to contribute nearly $400 million to the clean-up effort.

BP sent out demands for $272 million from Anadarko and $111 million from Japanese company Mitsui on June 2. That represents roughly 40 percent of the $1 billion BP spent in May, according to the newspaper.

BP owns 65 percent of the well, Anadarko owns 25 percent and Mitsui 10 percent.
"We have said that other parties besides BP may be responsible for costs and liabilities arising from this oil spill and we expect those parties to live up to their expectations," BP spokesman Toby Odone said in Houston.

Anadarko and Mitsui did not immediately respond to calls for comment.

Meanwhile, the Sunday Telegraph reported BP was facing fresh criticism over its approach to safety as it emerged it did not use an industry standard process, known as a safety case, to assess risk at the Deepwater Horizon rig.

A BP spokeswoman confirmed to Reuters that it did not use the procedure, developed in Britain after the Piper Alpha oil rig explosion in 1988, at any of its U.S. wells as there was no legal requirement in the U.S. to use it.

BP shares closed down at 322 pence in London on Friday, valuing the business at 60.5 billion pounds.

(Reporting by Matt Scuffham and Shaheen Pasha; Additional reporting by Caroline Copley; Editing by Will Waterman and Todd Eastham)

http://www2.nbc13.com/vtm/news/local/article/orange_beach_prepared_to_launch_oil_skimmers/164753/
Orange Beach prepared to launch oil skimmers
The Associated Press
Published: July 5, 2010
ORANGE BEACH - Orange Beach officials are putting the finishing touches on a plan to deploy a fleet of small skimming vessels to collect sheen and light streams of oil from the area’s backbays.

Work also was continuing on Monday to complete a 3,200-foot-long barrier of floating pipe across Perdido Pass.

Orange Beach Coastal Resources Manager Phillip West said that at least one of the boats, which utilize absorbent pads, should be in the water by Tuesday morning and as many as five could be working by the end of the week to pick up oil from the massive Gulf spill.

West says as many as 30 of the boats eventually could ply the area’s inshore waters.

He says the vessels were developed and are being built by a Baldwin County company.

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20100706/news/100709797&amp;tc=yahoo
Buffett hopes to boost Gulf spirits with concert
Jay Reeves, The Associated Press
Published: Tuesday, July 6, 2010 at 1:57 p.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, July 6, 2010 at 1:57 p.m.
ORANGE BEACH (AP) — Singer Jimmy Buffett is just another mad Gulf Coast native when it comes to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, but with an exception: He's got millions of fans and a way to help lift spirits over the seemingly endless crisis.
Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band will play Sunday on the beach in Gulf Shores, which has been sporadically hit by oil for weeks. The show already has been postponed once because of Hurricane Alex, and Buffet is hoping bad weather lurking in the Gulf doesn't create problems this weekend.

Known for laid-back tunes like "Margaritaville" and "Cheeseburger in Paradise," Buffett told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday that it's perfectly normal for people to be mad when they see oil washing up on beaches and marshes.

"If you're born and raised on the Gulf Coast and it's kind of in you, and you don't feel anger and rage initially over what's going on down there, I think you're a hypocrite," he said in a telephone interview from New York. "That's the way I felt. Now, what you do with that is a big question."
Buffett said a beachfront concert seemed like the right thing to do after talking to people on the coast.

"People were going, 'What are you going to do about things?' I mean, hell, I can't stick my finger in that hole. Everybody wishes they could," said Buffett.

"But there's a huge amount of frustration and probably it will boil over in summertime anger, and I know what I've done for years is entertain. What I'm best at is two hours of escapism for people that have to go back and either live jobs that they don't like or whatever," he said. "It's that Mardi Gras mentality."
Born in Mississippi and raised in Alabama, Buffett has lived all over the Gulf Coast. He said memories of the region are laced through his music.

"I have pretty much surrounded myself with Gulf Coast influences for a long time, and ... if you listen to those songs, I think it's pretty much in there," said Buffett, 63.

Buffett, a supporter of President Barack Obama, said the roots of the spill lie with the administration of former President George Bush, which was often criticized for being too cozy with the petroleum industry.

"To me it was more about eight years of bad policy before (Obama) got there that let this happen. It was Dracula running the blood bank in terms of oil and leases," he said. "I think that has more to do with it than how the president reacted to it."

The beach concert on Sunday will also feature Jesse Winchester and Allen Toussaint, who also were in the original lineup. Country singers Kenny Chesney and Zac Brown had to drop out because of prior commitments. Buffett said he is still making phone calls trying to add additional acts for Sunday, but he's not sure of the final roster.

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/07/jimmy_buffett_brings_joy_son_o.html
Jimmy Buffett brings joy: Son of a son of a sailor returns to Gulf Coast to promote tourism
Published: Monday, July 12, 2010, 5:30 AM
GULF SHORES, Ala. -- Jimmy Buffett starred in a triumphant homecoming Sunday evening in Gulf Shores, leading a mammoth concert that appeared to run smoothly despite advance concerns about weather and traffic.

The "Jimmy Buffett and Friends" show, much of which was broadcast live by the cable music channel CMT, had been postponed from July 1 by Hurricane Alex, and fears of scattered thunderstorms lingered into the weekend.
But they never developed, and neither did substantial traffic jams, despite the fact that 35,000 tickets were handed out.

Many concertgoers booked rooms in local condominium buildings, others arrived early and thousands made use of an extensive shuttle system that allowed them to park miles from the gates.

Buffett, no stranger to large, adoring audiences, seemed astonished at the reception.

"This is cool, man, this is cool," he told his audience early in the set. "Turn around and look."

They didn't have to: At times the video screens flanking the stage carried images from a helicopter that showed the sea of humanity stretching back from the stage.

That audience, for its part, was thoroughly mellow, cheering signature Buffett tunes from the opener, "Pascagoula Run," to "When the Coast is Clear," which ended the 90-minute first set after the inevitable "Margaritaville."

In between, Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band tipped their hats to Zac Brown and Kenny Chesney, two star guests who had to drop out because of the show's postponement. Despite widespread rumors that superstars, such as Alan Jackson or Brad Paisley might pop up, none did.

"We're OK, we've got it covered," Buffett assured listeners. Buffett let several others take turns in the spotlight: Mobile native Will Kimbrough, Mississippi songwriter Jesse Winchester and New Orleans composer/songwriter Allen Toussaint.

He also made a point of dedicating "Come Monday" to Mobilian Milton Brown, "who kind of discovered me, all those years ago."

Buffett focused squarely on delivering his good-time music rather than using the occasion to stand on the soapbox about the spill. He did, however, slip in the line that "it's all BP's fault" during "Margaritaville," to a tremendous ovation.

After the televised first set, the band took a short break and returned for a 40-minute second set that focused less on Buffett's own music. Selections included Kimbrough's "Piece of Work;" "Southern Cross," a song made famous by Crosby, Stills and Nash; and Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl," his last tune of the night.

For Buffett fans, it had been a good day. And for many of them, one that started early.

Hours before the gates opened at 3 p.m., Buffett's "Quietly Making Noise," echoed along Third Avenue, where Glenn Halstead of Pensacola had parked his camper about 9 a.m.

His daughter, Jacqueline Halstead, said just after noon that while some fans were lining for admission when they arrived, their group had decided to wait.

"We wanted to tailgate," she said. "We usually do this for Auburn games, but in the off-season, we like to do things like this. We're having a great time even if we did get stuck in the sand for about an hour."

She said one friend and one family member each managed to get four tickets online, so eight people made the trip.

Two blocks from the concert site, within sight of the beach stage, another group of a dozen friends enjoyed a tailgate party around the stretch limousine they rented for the drive from Dothan.

"We didn't want to drink and drive, so we took the limo," Trip Wheelless said. Wheelless said the Gulf Shores beach event was the 10th Buffett concert he has seen.
Tracy Knolls of Dothan said this was his seventh concert.

"We wanted to come down and see Buffett, but we also wanted to show support and be part of this," Knolls said. "In a way, the main thing is being here."

While all 35,000 free tickets had been snapped up within minutes of being offered on the Internet, police and admission workers reported few problems with people trying to get in without tickets.

Rosemary Harris of Foley gave away a ticket outside the gate.

"The people who were coming with me couldn't make it. They had car trouble, so I just wanted to see if it would help someone else," Harris said.

Tim Eads of Tuscaloosa said he was thrilled to get the ticket from Harris.

"I was going to give my ticket to her (his daughter) and go back and listen to it from the balcony at our condo, so this is great," Eads said. "That was so nice of her to do that."

Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft said no problems had been reported with crowds and traffic before the event.

"It's going great," he said. "The weather's looking good, and all the people in the venues are saying they're in good shape."

Craft said he hoped the concert will continue to provide an economic boost for the area after the music is over.

"It's going to make for a good weekend that we would not have had if this hadn't happened, but we're also hoping that all the national media coverage will show people that if we can take care of 35,000 people, then we can take care of you and your family."

Ten miles to the north in Foley, Parrotheads descended on the city's Heritage Park on Sunday afternoon, hoping for a Buffet concert experience without the crowds of Gulf Shores.
The city was going to show CMT's live coverage, complete with truckloads of sand and, instead of water, grass painted blue.

Event organizer Kathy Danielson of the Foley Visitors and Convention Bureau said the first fans arrived at the park before 3 p.m. Sunday for the 6 p.m. broadcast.

Danielson said the event went well, despite some technical challenges.

About half of the 300 or so in attendance left after bright sunlight rendered the images on the city's jumbo video screen invisible.

Organizers recorded the 90-minute CMT telecast and showed it after dark to a much smaller audience.

"We were disappointed when the people left," Danielson said, "But we did the best we could."

The event was "more about community camaraderie than the concert," attendee Terry Burke said

Video at link
Photos from concert http://photos.al.com/4464/gallery/jimmy_buffett_performs_in_gulf_shores/index.html?fromentry=4757276&fromblog=914

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/07/bp_said_to_be_ahead_of_schedul.html
BP said to be ahead of schedule with new oil spill cap but status uncertain
Published: Monday, July 12, 2010, 6:21 AM     Updated: Monday, July 12, 2010, 6:30 AM
NEW ORLEANS -- BP underwater robots steadily assembled heavy metal pieces in what could be the most significant progress yet toward containing the gushing Gulf of Mexico oil well, watched warily by residents onshore.

The oil giant was ahead of schedule as it went into the 83rd day of the environmental and economic disaster today. Across the Gulf region, repeated failures to fix the disaster have taken their toll, breeding skepticism among fishermen and politicians alike.

"At this point, there have been so many ups and downs, disappointments, that everybody down here is like, 'We'll believe it when we see it,'" said Keith Kennedy, a charter boat captain in Venice, La.

In a regulatory filing today, BP said the installation of the sealing cap was proceeding as planned. A transition spool had been installed on the existing flange. The next step was to install a capping stack that has three closing rams.

It was unclear from undersea video feeds and the comments in the filing if the process of lowering the new cap had begun early today. Several spokesman did not respond to e-mails and phone calls seeking comment early this morning, and people who answered phone calls to vessels involved in the containment effort declined to comment.
Also today, BP said in the Securities and Exchange Commission filing that the cost of the response to date has risen to roughly $3.5 billion. That includes the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid, and federal costs.

Once the new cap was placed atop the gusher it was expected to provide a tight seal that should eventually allow the oil giant to capture all the crude leaking from the well for the first time since an April 20 oil rig explosion set off the environmental crisis. But prior failed attempts to stop the leak have made BP PLC careful to keep expectations grounded.

BP has tried and failed to counter the gusher with a giant concrete box over the well, mud and shredded rubber pumped into it and a pipe to siphon the crude. A converted supertanker specially equipped to skim huge amounts of oil from the surface has been hampered by bad weather.

Gulf residents and politicians reserved judgment about BP's latest effort and said damage already done to the environment, fishing and tourism will haunt the region.

"I'm not a scientist, but I know a lot of people are praying that they get that flow stopped," said Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who was attending a Jimmy Buffet beach benefit concert Sunday in Alabama.

In Louisiana's coastal Jefferson Parish, Councilman Chris Roberts said officials expected oil to keeping hitting the shoreline for up to three months after the flow stops, possibly stretching the cleanup into the fall.

Matthew Peterson, a crabber in Yscloskey, La., hasn't put out his traps since oil began washing ashore. Even if BP is able to prevent any more crude from leaking into the Gulf, Peterson said, it won't make much difference.

"Until it's cleaned up, nothing's going to get back to normal," he said.

Vicki McVey, 44, a bartender at Artie's Sports Bar in Grand Isle, La., said nothing will improve until the waters are reopened for fishing.

McVey says this summer is already shot. Every local fishing tournament has been canceled, including the biggest at the end of July.

"The damage has been done," she said.

Roughly 81,000 square miles of federal waters in the Gulf have been closed to fishing since the beginning of the disaster, about 44 percent of the total.

"You look around, and it's like my life, my little island, my tranquility. It's gone," McVey said.

The well has been gushing largely unchecked since an old, leaky cap was removed from the wellhead Saturday afternoon to make way for the new one.

BP senior vice president Kent Wells said Sunday he's pleased with the progress, but hastened to add the operation was still expected to last up to six more days.

Officials won't be satisfied the cap is working until they've run tests on whether it can withstand the tremendous pressure of oil pushing up from below the seafloor.

Asked during a conference call if the new cap and collection efforts would end the spilling of oil into the Gulf, Wells said only that BP will capture all the oil "at some point."

The new cap will be aided in containing the leak by the arrival of the Helix Producer, a vessel that should be able to take in about 1 million gallons of crude per day after coming online. The Helix connected to flexible pipes from the well Friday, and crews have been running tests since then.

Ultimately, the plan is to have four vessels collecting oil from the leak with a combined capacity of about 2.5 million to 3.4 million gallons a day -- enough to capture all the oil leaking, if federal estimates are right. Getting all the vessels on the task will take about two to three weeks.

The new, tighter cap is not intended to be the permanent solution to the problem.

Relief wells are being dug for the final fix, a "bottom kill" in which heavy drilling mud and cement are pumped in from below the broken wellhead.BP and government officials have said the relief wells are expected to be completed sometime around mid-August.

BP set for key tests in effort to stop oil gushing into the gulf
By Joel Achenbach
Washington Post staff writer
Tuesday, July 13, 2010; 12:49 PM

The newly recapped gulf oil well will undergo an "integrity test" that could temporarily halt the flow of the oil, for the first time in 85 days, and possibly allow BP engineers to "shut in" the well permanently.

The gulf crisis wouldn't be over, because huge quantities of oil already remain in the water and on beaches and marshes, but the Macondo well, drilled earlier this year by the now-sunken Deepwater Horizon rig, would pollute the gulf no further. Nor would any more oil and gas be siphoned to surface ships.

That's the best-case scenario.

The well could also fail the integrity test. If the pressure in the well doesn't build steadily and predictably as the valves in the sealing cap are slowly closed, BP engineers and government scientists will have compelling evidence that the well is damaged somewhere below the gulf floor, and oil and gas are leaking into the rock formation.

Then the well's valves would be opened up again, the gusher would be back, and BP would resume its previous strategy of trying to contain as much oil as possible, using three different surface ships attached via lines and another "top hat" waiting it the wings. The well would remain alive as BP continued to drill a relief well that would intercept Macondo near its base and kill it with mud and cement. The relief well is close, but the final stages are painstaking and the bottom-kill is likely still weeks away.

"Everybody hope and pray that we see high pressures here," BP senior vice president Kent Wells said in a Tuesday morning conference call with reporters. "Bear with us. Let's do this test."

The new cap, a 150,000-pound structure named the "3-ram capping stack," was lowered without a hitch onto the reconfigured blowout preventer Monday night. A new surface ship, the Helix Producer, was also connected to the well via the "kill line" on the blowout preventer, and by Tuesday morning was siphoning oil at a rate equivalent to about 12,000 barrels a day, Wells said. Another roughly 8,000 barrels a day has been siphoned and burned through the surface rig Q4000.

Those containment efforts will be halted to conduct the integrity test, Wells said. At 11 a.m. Tuesday, the video feed from a remotely operated submersible showed oil and gas still billowing from a chimney atop the new cap.

The test will last from between six and 48 hours, or possibly longer, BP executives have said.

more
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/13/AR2010071302967.html

video
http://abcnews.go.com/wnt/video/cap-hold-11147619&tab=9482931&section=4765066

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100714/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill
Gulf oil to keep flowing while cap is analyzed
  By COLLEEN LONG and HARRY R. WEBER, Associated Press Writers Colleen Long And Harry R. Weber, Associated Press Writers   – 1 hr 51 mins ago

NEW ORLEANS – The plan to start choking off oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico was suddenly halted as government officials and BP said further analysis must be done Wednesday before critical tests could proceed.

No explanation was given for the decision, and no date was set for when testing would begin on the new, tighter-fitting cap BP installed on the blown-out well Monday.

In the meantime, oil continued spewing into the Gulf.

The oil giant had been scheduled to start slowly shutting off valves Tuesday on the cap, aiming to stop the flow of oil for the first time in three months. BP was initially ahead of schedule on its latest effort to plug the leak. The cap was designed to be a temporary fix until the well is plugged underground.

A series of methodical, preliminary steps were completed before progress stalled. Engineers spent hours on a seismic survey, creating a map of the rock under the sea floor to spot potential dangers, like gas pockets. It also provides a baseline to compare with later surveys during and after the test to see if the pressure on the well is causing underground problems.

An unstable area around the wellbore could create bigger problems if the leak continued elsewhere in the well after the cap valves were shut, experts said.
It's an incredibly big concern," said Don Van Nieuwenhuise, director of Professional Geoscience Programs at the University of Houston. "They need to get a scan of where things are, that way when they do pressure testing, they know to look out for ruptures or changes."

It was unclear whether there was something in the results of the mapping that prompted officials to delay. Earlier, BP Vice President Kent Wells said he hadn't heard what the results were, but he felt "comfortable that they were good."

National Incident Commander Thad Allen met with the federal energy secretary and the head of the U.S. Geological Survey as well as BP officials and other scientists after the mapping was done.

"As a result of these discussions, we decided that the process may benefit from additional analysis," Allen said in a statement. He didn't specify what type of analysis would be done, but said work would continue until Wednesday.

Assuming BP gets the green light to do the cap testing after the extra analysis is finished, engineers need to shut off lines already funneling some oil to ships to see how the cap handles the pressure of the crude coming up from the ground.

Finally, they would shut the openings in the 75-ton metal stack of pipes and valves gradually, one at a time, while watching pressure gauges to see if the cap would hold or if any new leaks erupted. The operation could last anywhere from six to 48 hours, once it gets started.

Scientists will be looking for high pressure readings of 8,000 to 9,000 pounds per square inch. Anything lower than 6,000 might indicate previously unidentified leaks in the well.

The oil giant was optimistic about the latest effort after other attempts failed, and White House officials earlier expressed optimism Tuesday.
But BP has said all along they were working carefully so as to not jeopardize the effort to stop the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history and one of the nation's worst environmental disasters.

If the cap works, it will enable BP to stop the oil from gushing into the sea, either by holding all the oil inside the well machinery like a stopper or, if the pressure is too great, channeling some though pipes to as many as four collection ships.

Earlier, Allen stressed there were no guarantees on the latest measure and urged patience from Gulf residents.

Along the Gulf Coast, where the spill has heavily damaged the region's vital tourism and fishing industries, people anxiously awaited the outcome of the painstakingly slow work.

"I don't know what's taking them so long. I just hope they take care of it," said Lanette Eder, a vacationing school nutritionist from Hoschton, Ga., who was walking on the white sand at Pensacola Beach, Fla.

"I can't say that I'm optimistic — It's been, what, 84 days now? — but I'm hopeful," said Nancy LaNasa, 56, who runs a yoga center in Pensacola.

The cap is just a stopgap measure. To end the leak for good, the well needs to be plugged at the source. BP is drilling two relief wells through the seafloor to reach the broken well, possibly by late July, and jam it permanently with heavy drilling mud and cement. After that, the Gulf Coast faces a long cleanup.

The leak began after the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling platform exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers. As of Tuesday, the 84th day of the disaster, between 90.4 and 178.6 million gallons of oil had spewed into the Gulf.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_oil_spill_feinberg
Gulf coast fishermen angry over oil claims ruling
By Leigh Coleman Leigh Coleman – Sat Jul 17, 12:46 am ET
BILOXI, Mississippi (Reuters) – Fishermen in Mississippi say they are angry that under the terms of BP's $20 billion oil spill fund, money they earn doing clean-up will be subtracted from their claim against the company.

The fishermen reacted after Kenneth Feinberg, the federal official in charge of administering the compensation fund, announced the decision at a town hall meeting in Biloxi on Friday.

Some walked out of the meeting in protest, arguing it was pointless to work under the Vessels of Opportunity program, set up by BP to help clean up the damage from the deepwater leak that started in April.

Oil stopped flowing from the leak on Thursday.

"I am furious about this," said Tuget Nguyen, who works with family members as a fisherman in Pass Christian, Mississippi.

"If he takes away the money we are making from BP when we get our claims, then nobody is going to work for BP to clean up this oil and we will not rent our boats to BP either. It is not fair," Nguyen said.

Thousands of fishermen in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, out of work because federal authorities have closed much of the Gulf to fishing, are working for the Vessels of Opportunity program, skimming oil from the water and protecting coastlines.
Vessels of Opportunity "workers can file a claim, but we will subtract the amount they are paid from BP from their claim. That is how it has to work .... Of course you can file a claim. You must file a claim, but you cannot get paid twice," Feinberg told the meeting.

Fishermen can earn between $1,000 and $3,000 a day renting their boats under the program and individuals can earn upward

of $1,400 a day. Charter boat captains can make even more.
The figures represent less than what could be earned at the peak of a shrimping season, curtailed because of the spill, but more than fishermen who have claimed against BP for economic losses have been paid.

As a result, the program has created division in some communities between those working on it and others still unemployed. Local fishermen also complain that outsiders have profited from the program at the expense of those who have lost their livelihood.

"This (Feinberg's ruling) means I am actually losing money because I have to pay my crew out of the money BP is paying me to clean up this oil," Larry Dossett from Biloxi said.

"If he only pays me the difference, I am in the hole. We are financially dead already."

(Writing by Matthew Bigg, editing by Stacey Joyce)

http://news.yahoo.com/video/business-15749628/20924531
Could This Be the End of the Oil?
2 hours ago - ABC News 2:32 | 278 views
BP enters the final testing stages of the cap.

http://www.wesh.com/money/24299755/detail.html
Official: Seep Found Near BP's Blown Out Oil Well
Officials Overseeing Gulf Disaster Now Pondering Next Step
COLLEEN LONG, Associated Press Writers

POSTED: 7:33 am EDT July 18, 2010
UPDATED: 5:46 pm EDT July 18, 2010
NEW ORLEANS --
A federal official said Sunday that scientists are concerned about a seep and possible methane seen near BP's busted oil well in the Gulf of Mexico.

Both could be signs there are leaks in the well that's been capped off for three days.

The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Sunday because an announcement about the next steps had not yet been made.

The official is familiar with the spill oversight but would not clarify what is seeping near the well. The official said BP is not complying with the government's demand for more monitoring. BP spokesman Mark Salt declined to comment on the allegation, but said "we continue to work very closely with all government scientists on this."
Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen will make the final decisions on the next step. The official said Allen would issue a letter to BP shortly allowing testing to proceed in 24-hour increments, but also requiring more analysis of the seep and the possible observation of methane over the well.

If Allen doesn't get the response he wants, the testing could stop, the official said.

The custom-built cap that finally cut off the oil flowing from BP's broken well three days ago was holding steady Sunday.

A BP official said the company hoped to leave the cap in place until crews can permanently kill the leak.

That differs from the plan the federal government laid out a day earlier, in which millions more gallons of oil could be released before the cap is connected to tankers at the surface and oil is sent to be collected through a mile of pipes.
Federal officials wary of making the well unstable have said that plan would relieve pressure on the cap and may be the safer option, but it would mean three days of oil flowing into the Gulf before the collection begins.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gulf_oil_spill
BP, feds clash over reopening capped Gulf oil well
  By COLLEEN LONG and HARRY R. WEBER, Associated Press Writers Colleen Long And Harry R. Weber, Associated Press Writers   – 8 mins ago

NEW ORLEANS – BP and the Obama administration offered significantly differing views Sunday on whether the capped Gulf of Mexico oil well will have to be reopened, a contradiction that may be an effort by the oil giant to avoid blame if crude starts spewing again.

Pilloried for nearly three months as it tried repeatedly to stop the leak, BP PLC capped the nearly mile-deep well Thursday and wants to keep it that way. The government's plan, however, is to eventually pipe oil to the surface, which would ease pressure on the fragile well but would require up to three more days of oil spilling into the Gulf.

"No one associated with this whole activity ... wants to see any more oil flow into the Gulf of Mexico," Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer, said Sunday. "Right now we don't have a target to return the well to flow."

An administration official familiar with the spill oversight, however, told The Associated Press that a seep and possible methane were found near the busted oil well. The official spoke on condition of anonymity Sunday because an announcement about the next steps had not been made yet.

The concern all along — since pressure readings on the cap weren't as high as expected — was a leak elsewhere in the wellbore, meaning the cap may have to be reopened to prevent the environmental disaster from becoming even worse and harder to fix.

The official, who would not clarify what is seeping near the well, also said BP is not complying with the government's demand for more monitoring.
When asked about the official's comments, BP spokesman Mark Salt would only say that "we continue to work very closely with all government scientists on this."

Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the Obama administration's spill response chief, insisted Sunday that "nothing has changed" since Saturday, when he said oil would eventually be piped to surface ships. The government is overseeing BP's work to stop the leak, which ultimately is to be plugged using a relief well.

Allen decided to extend testing of the cap that had been scheduled to end Sunday, the official who spoke on condition of anonymity said. That means the oil will stay in the well for now as scientists continue run tests and monitor pressure readings. The official didn't say how long that would take.

Officials at the Department of Homeland Security referred questions to a statement issued by Allen; neither he nor BP officials could explain the apparent contradiction in plans.

Suttles' comments carved out an important piece of turf for BP: If Allen sticks with the containment plan and oil again pours forth into the Gulf, even briefly, it will be the government's doing, not BP's.

The company very much wants to avoid a repeat of the live underwater video that showed millions of gallons of oil spewing from the blown well for weeks.

"I can see why they're pushing for keeping the cap on and shut in until the relief well is in place," said Daniel Keeney, president of a Dallas-based public relations firm.

The government wants to eliminate any chance of making matters worse, while BP is loath to lose the momentum it gained the moment it finally halted the leak, Keeney said.
They want to project being on the same team, but they have different end results that benefit each," he said.

Oil would have to be released under Allen's plan, which would ease concerns that the capped reservoir might force its way out through another route. Those concerns stem from pressure readings in the cap that have been lower than expected.

Scientists still aren't sure whether the pressure readings mean a leak elsewhere in the well bore, possibly deep down in bedrock, which could make the seabed unstable. Oil would be have to be released into the water to relieve pressure and allow crews to hook up the ships, BP and Allen have said.

So far, there have been no signs of a leak.

"We're not seeing any problems at this point with the shut-in," Suttles said at a Sunday morning briefing.

Allen said later Sunday that scientists and engineers would continue to evaluate and monitor the cap through acoustic, sonar and seismic readings.

They're looking to determine whether low pressure readings mean that more oil than expected poured into the Gulf of Mexico since the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig exploded April 20, killing 11 people and touching off one of America's worst environment crises.

"While we are pleased that no oil is currently being released into the Gulf of Mexico and want to take all appropriate action to keep it that way, it is important that all decisions are driven by the science," Allen said in a news release.

"Ultimately, we must ensure no irreversible damage is done which could cause uncontrolled leakage from numerous points on the sea floor."
Both Allen and BP have said they don't know how long the trial run will continue. It was set to end Sunday afternoon, but the deadline — an extension from the original Saturday cutoff — came and went with no word on what's next.

After little activity Sunday, robots near the well cap came to life around the time of the cutoff. It wasn't clear what they were doing, but bubbles started swirling around as their robotic arms poked at the mechanical cap.

To plug the busted well, BP is drilling two relief wells, one of them as a backup. The company said work on the first one was far enough along that officials expect to reach the broken well's casing, or pipes, deep underground by late this month. The subsequent job of jamming the well with mud and cement could take days or a few weeks.

It will take months, or possibly years for the Gulf to recover, though cleanup efforts continued and improvements in the water could be seen in the days since the oil stopped flowing. Somewhere between 94 million and 184 million gallons have spilled into the Gulf, according to government estimates.

The spill has prevented many commercial fishermen from their jobs, though some are at work with the cleanup. Some boat captains were surprised and angry to learn that the money they make from cleanup work will be deducted from the funds they would otherwise receive from a $20 billion compensation fund set up by BP.

The fund's administrator, Kenneth Feinberg, told The Associated Press on Sunday that if BP pays fishermen wages to help skim oil and perform other cleanup work, those wages will be subtracted from the amount they get from the fund.

Longtime charter boat captain Mike Salley said he didn't realize BP planned to deduct those earnings, and he doubted many other captains knew, either.
"I'll keep running my boat," he said Sunday on a dock in Orange Beach, Ala., before heading back into the Gulf to resupply other boats with boom to corral the oil. "What else can I do?"

___

Weber reported from Houston. Associated Press writer Jay Reeves in Orange Beach, Ala., Tom Strong in Washington and AP video journalist Haven Daley in Biloxi, Miss., contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100719/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill
Feds let BP keep Gulf oil cap closed despite seep
  By COLLEEN LONG and HARRY R. WEBER, Associated Press Writers Colleen Long And Harry R. Weber, Associated Press Writers   – 35 mins ago

NEW ORLEANS – The federal government Monday allowed BP to keep the cap shut tight on its busted Gulf of Mexico oil well for another day despite a seep in the sea floor after the company promised to watch closely for signs of new leaks underground, settling for the moment a rift between BP and the government.

The Obama administration's point man for the spill, retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, said early Monday that government scientists had gotten the answers they wanted about how BP is monitoring the seabed around the mile-deep well, which has stopped gushing oil into the water since the experimental cap was closed Thursday.

Late Sunday, Allen said a seep had been detected a distance from the busted oil well and demanded in a sharply worded letter that BP step up monitoring of the ocean floor. Allen didn't say what was coming from the seep. White House energy adviser Carol Browner told the CBS "Early Show" the seep was found less than two miles from the well site.

The concern all along — since pressure readings on the cap weren't as high as expected — was a leak elsewhere in the well bore, meaning the cap may have to be reopened to prevent the environmental disaster from becoming even worse and harder to fix. An underground leak could let oil and gas escape uncontrolled through bedrock and mud
"When seeps are detected, you are directed to marshal resources, quickly investigate, and report findings to the government in no more than four hours. I direct you to provide me a written procedure for opening the choke valve as quickly as possible without damaging the well should hydrocarbon seepage near the well head  be confirmed," Allen said in a letter to BP Managing Director Bob Dudley.

When asked about the seep and the monitoring, BP spokesman Mark Salt would only say that "we continue to work very closely with all government scientists on this."

Early Monday, Allen issued a statement saying there had been an overnight conference call between the federal science team and BP.

"During the conversation, the federal science team got the answers they were seeking and the commitment from BP to meet their monitoring and notification obligations," Allen said.

He said BP could continue testing the cap, meaning keeping it shut, only if the company continues to meet their obligations to rigorously monitor for any signs that this test could worsen the overall situation.

Both Allen and BP have said they don't know how long the trial run will continue. It was set to end Sunday afternoon, but the deadline came and went with no official word on what's next.

Browner said Allen's extension went until Monday afternoon. She said on ABC's "Good Morning America" that monitoring was crucial to make sure the trapped oil doesn't break out of its pipe.

"Clearly we want this to end. But we don't want to enter into a situation where we have uncontrolled leaks all over the Gulf floor," Browner told ABC.
BP PLC said Monday that the cost of dealing with the oil spill has now reached nearly $4 billion. The company said it has made payments totaling $207 million to settle individual claims for damages from the spill along the southern coast of the United States. To date, almost 116,000 claims have been submitted and more than 67,500 payments have been made, totaling $207 million.

With the newly installed cap keeping oil from BP's busted well out of the Gulf during a trial run, this weekend offered a chance for the oil company and government to gloat over their shared success — the first real victory in fighting the spill. Instead, the two sides have spent the past two days disagreeing over what to with the undersea machinery holding back the gusher.

The apparent disagreement began to sprout Saturday when Allen said the cap would eventually be hooked up to a mile-long pipe to pump the crude to ships on the surface. But early the next day, BP chief operating officer Doug Suttles said the cap should stay clamped shut to keep in the oil until relief wells are finished.

After nearly three months of harsh criticism as it tried repeatedly to stop the leak, BP wants to keep oil from gushing into the Gulf again before the eyes of the world. The government's plan, however, is to eventually pipe oil to the surface, which would ease pressure on the fragile well but require up to three more days of oil spilling into the Gulf.

Both sides played down the apparent contradiction Sunday. Allen, ultimately the decision-maker, later said the containment plan he described Saturday hadn't changed, and that he and BP executives were on the same page.

The company very much wants to avoid a repeat of the live underwater video that showed millions of gallons of oil spewing from the blown well for weeks.

"I can see why they're pushing for keeping the cap on and shut in until the relief well is in place," said Daniel Keeney, president of a Dallas-based public relations firm.

The government wants to eliminate any chance of making matters worse, while BP is loath to lose the momentum it gained the moment it finally halted the leak, Keeney said.
"They want to project being on the same team, but they have different end results that benefit each," he said.

Oil would have to be released under Allen's plan, which would ease concerns that the capped reservoir might force its way out through another route. Those concerns stem from pressure readings in the cap that have been lower than expected.

Scientists still aren't sure whether the pressure readings mean a leak elsewhere in the well bore, possibly deep down in bedrock, which could make the seabed unstable. Oil would have to be released into the water to relieve pressure and allow crews to hook up the ships, BP and Allen have said.

Engineers are looking to determine whether low pressure readings mean that more oil than expected poured into the Gulf of Mexico since the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig exploded April 20, killing 11 people and touching off one of America's worst environment crises.

To plug the busted well, BP is drilling two relief wells, one of them as a backup. The company said work on the first one was far enough along that officials expect to reach the broken well's casing, or pipes, deep underground by late this month. The subsequent job of jamming the well with mud and cement could take days or a few weeks.

It will take months, or possibly years for the Gulf to recover, though cleanup efforts continued and improvements in the water could be seen in the days since the oil stopped flowing. Somewhere between 94 million and 184 million gallons have spilled into the Gulf, according to government estimates.

___

Weber reported from Houston. Associated Press writer Jay Reeves in Orange Beach, Ala., Tom Strong in Washington, AP video journalist Haven Daley in Biloxi, Miss., and Robert Barr in London contributed to this report.

http://www.wesh.com/news/24305356/detail.html
Cap On Oil Well Kept Shut Despite Leaks, Seepage
BP Promises To Watch Closely For Signs Of New Leaks Underground
COLLEEN LONG, Associated Press Writers

POSTED: 4:48 am EDT July 19, 2010
UPDATED: 3:21 pm EDT July 19, 2010
NEW ORLEANS --
The federal government Monday allowed BP to keep the cap shut tight on its ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well for another day despite news the well is leaking at the top and something is seeping from the sea floor nearby.

The Obama administration's point man for the spill, retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, said early Monday that the company promised to watch closely for signs of new leaks around the mile-deep well, which has stopped gushing oil into the water since the experimental cap was closed Thursday.

Late Sunday, Allen said something was detected seeping near the broken oil well and demanded in a sharply worded letter that BP step up monitoring of the ocean floor. Allen didn't say what was seeping. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Monday afternoon the seepage was about two miles from the well head. He also said the well head is leaking.
The concern all along - since pressure readings on the cap weren't as high as expected - was a leak elsewhere in the well bore, meaning the cap may have to be reopened to prevent the environmental disaster from becoming even worse and harder to fix. An underground leak could let oil and gas escape uncontrolled through bedrock and mud.

"When seeps are detected, you are directed to marshal resources, quickly investigate, and report findings to the government in no more than four hours. I direct you to provide me a written procedure for opening the choke valve as quickly as possible without damaging the well should hydrocarbon seepage near the well head be confirmed," Allen said in a letter to BP Managing Director Bob Dudley.

When asked about the seepage and the monitoring, BP spokesman Mark Salt would only say that "we continue to work very closely with all government scientists on this."

Shares of BP PLC were down slightly Monday as investors worried about the seepage and an apparent rift between the oil giant and the U.S. officials in charge of the spill.

Allen said BP could continue testing the cap, meaning keeping it shut, only if the company continues to meet their obligations to rigorously monitor for any signs that this test could worsen the overall situation.

Browner said Allen's extension went until Monday afternoon.

http://www.wesh.com/news/24335284/detail.html
Oil Cleanup Itself Damaging Gulf
Many Say Untested Cleanup Methods Wreaking Havoc Along With Traffic
CAIN BURDEAU, Associated Press Writer
The 5,600 vessels taking part in the oil spill operation on the Gulf of Mexico make up the largest fleet assembled since the Allied invasion of Normandy, according to the Coast Guard.

Hordes of helicopters, bulldozers, Army trucks, ATVs, barges, dredges, airboats, workboats, cleanup crews, media, scientists and volunteers have descended on the beaches, blue waters and golden marshes of the Gulf Coast.
That's a lot of propellers, anchors, tires, and feet for a fragile ecosystem to take, and a tough truth is emerging: In many places, the oil cleanup itself is causing environmental damage.

Part of that is inevitable - the oil has to get cleaned up somehow, and BP and the government will be subject to second-guessing no matter what.

"Absolutely nothing you do to respond to an oil spill is without impacts of its own," said Lisa Jackson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded April 20, killing 11, and oil began gushing into the Gulf, federal, state and BP officials say they have been guided in their response by picking the less damaging cleanup method.

Still, environmentalists and veterans of other spills say the torrent of untested cleanup methods rushed into practice by panicked officials and unqualified experts is wreaking havoc and, at least in spots, may be unnecessary.

"The more you disperse (with chemicals), the more you bring in these big machines, the more you bring in inexperienced people and the more sand berms you build, the less chance you have of letting Mother Nature and skimmers and booms do the job," said Mike Brewer of Buras, La., who ran an oil spill response company and is working on the BP cleanup.
For starters, the EPA allowed BP PLC to spray a chemical dispersant, a product called Corexit, to break up oil right as it came out of BP's broken well nearly a mile below the surface. The idea is to save shorelines from being clobbered with vast waves of crude.

In practice, the use of dispersants that had never been tested that far beneath the surface has made the oil much more difficult to track than it would have been in a single, massive slick. And environmentalists and marine biologists still aren't convinced the chemicals are safe for sea life.

The EPA halted underwater spraying while it tested samples collected by BP, then allowed it to resume once the results came back to the agency's satisfaction. Further tests are ongoing, and crews quit spraying dispersant once the well was contained this week, Jackson said.

"Basically, we conducted uncontrolled experiments in the open ocean - that does not seem like a good idea to me," said John Hocevar, the oceans campaign director for Greenpeace USA.

Jackson said there was little evidence that the chemical dispersants had caused damage and called their effects "relatively mild."

Eager to be seen as taking charge, Gov. Bobby Jindal began building a series of untested sand islands and other barriers along the Louisiana coast, making construction of these berms a personal crusade. In theory, sand berms and jetties will stop the oil from entering sensitive estuaries.
But berms and jetties interrupt shrimp and fish migrations as well as tidal flows; the work can even undermine what little is left of Louisiana's gooey and sediment-layered shoreline.

"None of the coastal scientists have signed onto this thing," said Leonard Bahr, a former adviser to both Republican and Democratic governors in Louisiana on coastal restoration issues.

Fishermen and locals, however, almost unanimously agree with Jindal's unorthodox barrier plans.

"We know these (berms) stop the oil. It worked on Fourchon Beach," said Windell Curole, a levee manager in south Lafourche Parish, an area long struggling with erosion. "The people that are pushing for these things are more invested in it than the scientists."

In a move that put its compensation costs toward curtailing the spill's environmental effects, BP hired truckloads of inexperienced oil spill responders - shrimpers, unemployed workers, college students, and migrant workers. The manpower is essential, but their footprint can be huge, especially if they're not used to watching their step.

"It was like the Wild West there for a while, and it still is to some degree," said Drew Wheelan, a wildlife biologist with the American Bird Association Inc., a conservation group.
Wheelan said cleanup crews trampled on numerous nesting bird colonies, including at least one batch of least tern eggs he saw. Wilson's plovers and endangered black skimmers on Louisiana's Grand Isle and East Grand Terre islands were threatened by intensive beach cleanups.

"The whole entire area in the past two weeks has been completely crisscrossed by tire tracks. The entire cleanup there has been entirely sickening," Wheelan said recently of East Grand Terre. "There are tire tracks from the low tide line all the way up into the dune vegetation. Not an inch of that frontal beach has been spared from traffic."

Out on the Gulf, BP brought in a super-sized skimmer from Taiwan - the "A Whale" - capable of sucking up 20 million gallons of water a day, aiming to corral huge quantities of oiled water at once. Like some of the other methods, it had never been tested and scientists worried that it could cause serious damage.

"It will suck in a lot of biology," said James Cowan, a Louisiana State University fisheries scientist.

Coast Guard officials questioned its effectiveness, noting that it would be better for attacking a single huge slick than for the countless smaller pools that the dispersant helped create. Authorities announced last week that the massive ship was dropping out of the spill operation.
Forrest Travirca has seen the cleanup's side effects up close as a land manager for the Wisner estate, a public land trust that includes Fourchon Beach and a large marsh area that has seen some of the heaviest oil so far.

On an airboat cruise through marsh, signs of the messy cleanup jumped out. Reddish-brown and sticky tar coated the blades of marsh grass behind a beach lined with sand baskets brought in by Army dump trucks. Absorbent boom lay washed up against shorelines. Crews had staked down shade tents every few hundred yards.

Almost as soon as he stepped onto the sand, Travirca saw something he didn't like: Two ATV tracks meandering carefree across the sands. Someone with the cleanup had strayed from designated traffic corridors.

"This really upsets me," Travirca said, standing over the fresh set of tracks. "They're not supposed to be driving back here. They've got to drive along the front of the beach. Birds nest back here."

He walked a few paces away and pointed out another set of ATV tracks he discovered a few days before. "This track here was inches from a tern nest with eggs."

At least now, more than three months after the spill, the cleanup is becoming more organized.

In the beginning, he said, the beach "looked like the autobahn."

http://www.wesh.com/money/24502383/detail.html
'Static Kill' Appears To Be Going Well
Government, Oil Executives Not Ready To Declare Victory
HARRY R. WEBER, Associated Press Writer

POSTED: 6:03 pm EDT August 3, 2010
UPDATED: 8:43 pm EDT August 3, 2010
ON THE GULF OF MEXICO --
 
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A leader of the operation to plug up the blown-out oil well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico says the process is going well.

Wellsite leader Bobby Bolton said it's possible crews could finish the so-called "static kill" Tuesday after the process began around 3 p.m. Officials, though, have said it could take days.

The effort involves pumping mud and eventually cement down the broken wellhead to plug it up. Officials say they won't know whether it worked until they can finish a relief well nearby in the coming weeks.

Capt. Keith Schultz says he's "very confident we'll be able to kill this well."

But the government and oil executives won't declare victory until crews also shove mud and cement down an 18,000-foot relief well later this month to help choke the vast undersea reservoir that feeds the well. They say that's the only way to make certain oil never escapes again.

Tests for the static kill started a couple hours earlier as crews probed the broken well bore with an oil-like liquid to determine whether there were any obstructions in the well and to assess the pressure of the bore and the pump rates it could withstand.
The test "went exactly as we could have expected," but it's too early to tell whether the static kill is successful, said BP Senior Vice President Kent Wells.

"We're so early in the process, there's no way for me to give you any early indication," Wells said, adding: "We're extremely focused on this point on making sure we execute the static kill as best we can."

http://www.bp.com/sectionbodycopy.do?categoryId=9034366&contentId=7063636
Live feeds from the Gulf of Mexico ROVs 
----------------------
photos Faint streaks of weathered oil are seen
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Aug-162010-file-photo-faint-streaks-weathered-oil-seen-Gulf/photo//100817/480/urn_publicid_ap_org_e233af85dee242439e9a4b68bf8cb194//s:/ap/us_gulf_oil_spill
------------------------

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gulf_oil_spill
Gulf surface cleaner, but questions lurk far below

Gulf surface cleaner, but questions lurk far below
 Writer Seth Borenstein, Ap Science Writer – Tue Aug 17, 9:30 pm ET
WASHINGTON – Researchers are warning that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is a bigger mess than the government claims and that a lot of crude is lurking deep below the surface, some of it settling perhaps in a critical undersea canyon off the Florida Panhandle.

The evidence of microscopic amounts of oil mixing into the soil of the canyon was gathered by scientists at the University of South Florida, who also found poisoned plant plankton — the vital base of the ocean food web — which they blamed on a toxic brew of oil and dispersants.

Their work is preliminary, hasn't been reviewed by other scientists, requires more tests to confirm it is BP's oil they found, and is based on a 10-day research cruise that ended late Monday night. Scientists who were not involved said they were uncomfortable drawing conclusions based on such a brief look.

But those early findings follow a report on Monday from Georgia researchers that said as much as 80 percent of the oil from the spill remains in the Gulf. Both groups' findings have already been incorporated into lawsuits filed against BP.

Both groups paint a darker scenario than that of federal officials, who two weeks ago announced that most of the oil had dissolved, dispersed or been removed, leaving just a bit more than a quarter of the amount that spewed from the well that exploded in April.

At the White House on Aug. 4, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Jane Lubchenco said: "At least 50 percent of the oil that was released is now completely gone from the system, and most of the remainder is degrading rapidly or is being removed from the beaches."

That's not what the scientists from South Florida and Georgia found.

"The oil is not gone, that's for sure," University of South Florida's David Hollander said Tuesday. "There is oil and we need to deal with it."

University of Georgia's Samantha Joye said: "It's a tremendous amount of oil that's in the system. ... It's very difficult for me to imagine that 50 percent of it has been degraded."

Marine scientist Chuck Hopkinson, also with the University of Georgia, raised the obvious question: "Where has all the oil gone? It hasn't gone anywhere. It still lurks in the deep."

NOAA spokesman Justin Kenney defended his agency's calculations, saying they are "based on direct measurements whenever possible and the best available scientific estimates where direct measurements were not possible." But the vast majority of it is based on "educated scientific guesses," because unless the oil was being burned or skimmed, measurements weren't possible, NOAA response scientist Bill Lehr said earlier this month.

What is happening in the Gulf is the outcome of a decision made early on in the fighting of the spill: to use dispersants to keep the surface and beaches as clean as possible, at the expense of keeping oil stuck below the surface, said Monty Graham, a researcher at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama who was not part of the latest work. Oil degrades far more slowly in cooler, deeper waters than it would at the surface.

At the surface and the top 100 feet or so, it is obvious why oil is harmful, fouling marshes and hampering sea turtles, fish, birds and other life. Deep down, the effects are subtler, less direct. Oil at that depth can chip away at the base of the food web — plant plankton — and that could cause animals to go hungry. Reduced oxygen levels from natural gas and oil could also starve creatures of oxygen.

At depths of 900 to 3,300 feet, the University of South Florida researchers found problems with plant plankton. About two-fifths of the samples showed "some degree of toxicity."

"We found general phytoplankton health to be poor," Hollander said. By comparison, in non-oiled southern parts of the Gulf, the plant plankton were healthy, researchers said.

That makes sense because past research has shown that when oil when gets into the cell membranes of plankton, it causes all sorts of problems, said Paul Falkowski, a marine scientist at Rutgers University who was not part of the research. However, he said plant plankton don't live long anyway. They have about a week's lifespan, he said, and in a few months this insult to the base of the food web could be history.

Still, the brew that is poisoning the plankton may linger and no one knows for how long, Hollander said.

The Florida researchers used ultraviolet light to illuminate micro-droplets of oil deep underwater. When they did that, "it looked like a constellation of stars," Hollander said.

He also found the oil deposited in the sea bottom near the edges of the significant DeSoto Canyon, about 40 miles southwest of Panama City, Fla., suggesting oil may have settled into that canyon. The canyon is an important mixing area for cold, nutrient-laden water and warmer surface water. It is also key for currents and an important fisheries area.

"Clearly the oil down in the abyss, there's nothing we can do about it," said Ed Overton of Louisiana State University. He said the environment at the surface or down to 100 feet or so is "rapidly going back to normal," with shrimpers starting their harvest. But oil below 1,000 feet degrades much more slowly, he said.

Joye has measured how fast natural gas, which also spewed from the BP well, can degrade in water, and it may take as much as 500 days for large pools to disappear at 3,000 feet below the sea. That natural gas starves oxygen from the water, she said.

"You're talking about a best-case situation of a year's turnover time," Joye said

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/08/201081885214868383.html
UPDATED ON:
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
14:33 Mecca time, 11:33 GMT

'Most oil from BP spill remains'

Two scientific reports have raised fresh fears about the environmental fallout from the BP oil spill, challenging government assurances that most of the oil from the ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico is already gone.

Researchers at the University of Georgia said about three-quarters of the oil leaked from the Macondo well is still lurking below the surface of the Gulf and may pose a threat to the ecosystem.

Charles Hopkinson, who helped lead the investigation, said up to 79 per cent of the 4.1 million barrels of oil that gushed from the broken well and were not captured directly at the wellhead remained in the Gulf.

"The idea that 75 per cent of the oil is gone and is of no further concern to the environment is just absolutely incorrect," Hopkinson said on Tuesday.

The report challenges a more optimistic assessment by the US government released on August 4, which said half the 4.1 million barrels of oil spilled by the April 20 blowout had been evaporated, burned, skimmed or dispersed.

At the time, Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the agency that conducted the government report, told a White House briefing that: "At least 50 per cent of the oil that was released is now completely gone from the system. And most of the remainder is degrading rapidly or is being removed from the beaches."

'Misconception'

But Hopkinson told the AFP news agency that one major misconception was that oil that had dissolved into the water was gone, and therefore harmless.

"We just reanalysed this report ... and then we calculated how much oil is still likely to be out there," he said.
 
"The oil is still out there and it will likely take years to completely degrade. We are still far from a complete understanding of what its impacts are."

On Tuesday, a spokesman from NOAA defended the government report, saying the calculation was based "on direct measurements whenever possible and the best available scientific estimates where direct measurements were not possible".

"Additionally, the government and independent scientists involved in the oil budget have been clear that oil and its remnants left in the water represent a potential threat, which is why we continue to rigorously monitor, test and assess short and long term ramifications," Justin Kenney said in a statement.

Toxic oil levels

Separately, a study released by scientists from the University of South Florida said experiments in the northeastern Gulf revealed that oil in sediments of an underwater canyon was at levels toxic to critical marine organisms.

However, David Hollander, university oceanographer, stressed that the University of South Florida mission's initial findings would need to be verified by more scientific testing.

For 87 days following the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion that triggered the oil spill, crude spewed into the Gulf, contaminating wetlands, fishing grounds and beaches from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle.

BP engineers provisionally capped the leak on July 15 and are working to permanently "kill" the well later this month.

several links in article,to past events concerning the trial of BP

Feds vow to prove BP's negligence in oil spill
September 5, 2012 2:00 PM

(CBS/AP) NEW ORLEANS - The Justice Department is urging a federal judge to ignore BP's assertion
that the Gulf Coast's natural resources are making a "robust recovery" from its massive 2010 oil spill.

In a court filing Friday, government lawyers also renewed their vow to prove at trial that BP engaged in
gross negligence or willful misconduct leading up to the deadly rig explosion that killed 11 workers and
spawned the nation's worst offshore oil spill. BP PLC faces billions of dollars in fines if U.S. District Judge
Carl Barbier ultimately sides with the government
more
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57506574/feds-vow-to-prove-bps-negligence-in-oil-spill/?tag=strip


i should have kept  this thread up on the spill,i go  and read on  the spill at least 2-3x a year
JMO,i think it will be a 20yr window, B4 we know the exstent of the damage the spill has caused
links for info
http://www.restorethegulf.gov/release/2012/08/30/coast-guard-resumes-bp-oil-spill-cleanup-operations
http://www.restorethegulf.gov/
http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle800.do?categoryId=9036585&contentId=7067606

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57507123/isaac-churned-up-old-oil-from-bp-spill-in-la-tests-confirm/
Isaac churned up old oil from BP spill in La., tests confirm
September 6, 2012

CBS/AP) NEW ORLEANS - Laboratory tests show that globs of oil found on two Louisiana beaches after Hurricane Isaac came from the 2010 BP spill.

Tests run by Louisiana State University for state wildlife officials confirmed that oil found on Elmer's Island and Grand Isle matched the biological fingerprint of the hundreds of millions of gallons of oil that spewed from BP's Macondo well.
On Wednesday, BP PLC said oil from its spill had been exposed by Isaac's waves and that the company would work to clean it up.

Ed Overton, the LSU chemist who did the state tests, said the oil found on Elmer's Island had not degraded much while oil at Grand Isle had.

"Both were good solid matches on Macondo oil," Overton said.
More...

http://www.wthitv.com/dpp/news/national/BP-says-old-oil-from-spill-exposed-by-Isaac_23944785
Oil from BP spill uncovered by Isaac's waves
September 5, 2012

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Waves from Hurricane Isaac uncovered oil previously buried along Gulf Coast beaches, exposing crude that wasn't cleaned up after the BP spill in 2010.

Since Isaac made landfall more than a week ago, the water the storm has receded and tar balls and oil have been reported on shores in Alabama and Louisiana, where officials closed a 13-mile stretch of beach Tuesday.

BP said Wednesday some of that oil was from the spill, but said some of the crude may be from other sources, too.

"If there's something good about this storm it made it visible where we can clean it up," BP spokesman Ray Melick said.

BP still has hundreds of cleanup workers on the Gulf Coast after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded, killing 11 workers and leading to the nation's largest offshore spill.

Melick said the company was working with the Coast Guard, state officials and land managers to clean up the oil on the Fourchon beach in Louisiana. He said crews would be there Thursday.
 ::snipping2::

i knew there was a reason i stopped buying BP

David v gOILiath - Exposing BP's Lies
David Clow
Published on Aug 13, 2012

Uncovering the truth about the death and destruction caused by the BP oil disaster.
Extended scenes from the upcoming new film by David Clow
'turmOIL - the other price at the pumps'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdsYBgwZb5I&list=UUiYzH1VRwctJjrz3-uY09BQ

BP, contractors start trial for worst U.S. offshore spill

By Kristen Hays
NEW ORLEANS | Mon Feb 25, 2013 6:14pm EST
 ::snipping2::
(Reuters) - A long-awaited trial over the biggest U.S. offshore oil spill began on Monday, with governments, businesses and individuals blaming BP Plc mostly for the 2010 disaster that killed 11 rig workers and spilled 4 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
 
"Not only was it within BP's power to prevent the tragedy, it was its responsibility," Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Underhill said at the trial over legal culpability for the blowout and spill.

The trial is being held with no jury before Judge Carl Barbier at federal court in New Orleans.
more @link
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/25/us-bp-trial-idUSBRE91O0KD20130225

United States District Court Eastern District of Louisiana
MDL No. 2179
IN RE: OIL SPILL by the OIL RIG "DEEPWATER HORIZON"
in the GULF OF MEXICO, on APRIL 20, 2010


Current Developments
Last Updated: 03/12/2013
Public Access to Trial Materials: Pursuant to the Court's Order of Feb. 22, 2013 (Rec. Doc. 8671), the public may access certain trial materials by visiting   www.mdl2179trialdocs.com.

MDL No. 2179 trial docs
http://www.mdl2179trialdocs.com/index.php


Current Developments
Last Updated: 03/12/2013
pdfs and docs
http://www.laed.uscourts.gov/OilSpill/OilSpill.htm


BP site
MDL 2179 In re: Oil Spill by the Oil Rig "Deepwater Horizon" in Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010 – Official Court-Authorized Website.
http://www.deepwaterhorizonsettlements.com/

guess it is always about the $$$$


Halliburton shares up despite destroying evidence
 Adam Shell, USA TODAY 10:34 a.m. EDT July 26, 2013

 ::snipping3::
Halliburton shares rise despite guilty plea related to destroying evidence in 2010 oil spill in Gulf of Mexico.
NEW YORK — Wall Street is shrugging off news that oil services firm Halliburton has admitted to destroying evidence related to the environmentally damaging 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, pushing shares up more than 3.8% in early trading.

After the market close Thursday, Halliburton said it will plead guilty to the criminal charged filed by the Justice Department and pay a fine of $200,000. It also made a voluntary contribution of $55 million to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
more
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2013/07/26/halliburton-shares-rise-despite-admitting-to-destroying-oil-spill-evidence/2589085/

http://www.local15tv.com/shared/news/features/top-stories/stories/wpmi_bp-ask-federal-judge-suspend-settlement-payments-1438.shtml
BP Asks Federal Judge to Suspend Settlement Program
August 7, 2013



MOBILE, Ala.  (WPMI) – BP said it has uncovered fraud and conflicts of interest inside the settlement program following the 2010 Oil Spill Disaster. BP attorneys outlined the allegations in a court filing on Monday. It asks a federal judge to temporarily suspend settlement payments during an independent investigation of the Court Supervised Settlement Program. The Oil Giants said two employees at a claim center in Mobile helped people file fraudulent claims. The company credits its fraud hotline for catching it and said it hopes the judge will grant its request to enter a preliminary injunction.
More...

Oh my gosh, it's Louis Freeh again!

http://www.live5news.com/story/23050394/bp-cites-new-fraud-allegations-in-spill-settlement
BP cites new fraud allegations in spill settlement
August 5, 2013

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - BP says it has uncovered new allegations of fraud and conflicts of interest inside the settlement program that has awarded billions of dollars to Gulf Coast businesses and residents following the company's 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In a federal court filing Monday, BP renewed its request for a judge to temporarily suspend settlement payments while former FBI Director Louis Freeh leads an independent investigation of the court-supervised settlement program.
More...