Posted on 05/19/2010 7:45:08 PM PDT by Willie Green
(Reuters) - The first heavy oil from a giant Gulf of Mexico spill sloshed ashore in fragile Louisiana marshlands on Wednesday and part of the mess entered a powerful current that could carry it to Florida and beyond.
The developments underscored the gravity of the situation as British energy giant BP Plc raced to capture more crude gushing from a ruptured well a mile beneath the surface. The spill is threatening an ecological and economic disaster along the U.S. Gulf Coast and beyond.
"The day that we have all been fearing is upon us today," Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said after a boat tour to the southernmost point of the Mississippi River estuary.
"This wasn't tar balls. This wasn't sheen. This is heavy oil in our wetlands," he told a news conference. "It's already here but we know more is coming."
Officials had previously reported debris in the form of tar balls, or light surface "sheen" coming ashore in outlying parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
The marshes are the nurseries for shrimp, oysters, crabs and fish that make Louisiana the leading producer of commercial seafood in the continental United States and a top destination for recreational anglers. The United States has already imposed a large no-fishing zone in waters in the Gulf seen affected by the spill.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Millions, billions, trillions.
WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE.
Isn’t BP in charge of the clean-up not the government, or is that exclusively stopping the leak? It’s kind of an awkward situation with who is responsible for what and they aren’t letting others step in and help, and it doesn’t seem like they are listening to any outside ideas.
It will be used as a stick, to whip the Oil & Gas Industry for decades. Recycled pictures over and over. I've even seen FReepers posting Exxon-Valdez recycled oily bird pictures.
ROTFLMAO! Hehehe...good one!
You are right.
"It is an inconvenient truth that Gaia is now punishing us for not banning automobiles. She is sick and tired of humans drilling into her sensitive sea bed."
There is no heavy oil coming out of the well. It is light crude, mostly kerosene and gasoline, benzine and the like. That is why it cannot be found except in tiny portions. It evaporates and is dispersed soon after being exposed to the sea.
Same problem?
Horses don’t eat straw, it is the stalk, usually of wheat, used for bedding, but of little nutritional value.
Yah, I know. What I’m saying is that it would take probably the entire output of straw in the U.S. to cover any meaningful percentage of the many hundreds of square miles of ocean that has oil in it. The mere task of spreading that much straw (or hay) over that much ocean is a seriouly non-trivial problem. Much less the problem of picking it all up again.
Lots of things that sound easy, aren’t.
No doubt it would not be easy. The question is one of if it would be worth it. The priorities, imho are to stop the well/recover the oil being produced while that is being done, and to protect the coastal wetlands. Screw the beaches (I know that won’t be popular) but it is the marshes which are the spawning and feeding grounds for wildlife, including much of the commercial fisheries. The beaches will recover more quickly.
They are trying to sandbag the coast with choppers,,,
Not much beach here,,,(marsh),,,
Maybe straw would help there,,,
IMHO they will have to put pipe down to the wellhead and
pump oil/water to Port Fourchon by a special pipeline just
to cut the amount that goes into the Gulf,,,
They will try a “Junk Shot” soon (Fox),,,
If they can't cap it,,,?
Gunna be a Mess...Fo’Sho !...
It may not be that big a deal to you but trust me it is to the people who this is affecting. I happen to know some of them.
I have absolutely zero compassion for a media that will take this and blow it out of any reasonable sense of proportion.
The marshes are the most fragile and critical parts of the ecosystem. Sure, people will howl about beaches, but those are far easier to clean up, generally simpler (from a geometry and sedimentary standpoint), and less vital to the ecology than the marshes.
I hope whoever is setting priorities down there recognizes that, and gets it right. Of course, people will wail about tourism, economic impact, etc, and probably prevail in getting protections for beach areas over 'icky' marshes, but the marshes should be the priority.
Costly, time-consuming test of cement linings in Deepwater Horizon rig was omitted, spokesman says
Doesn't it bother you that BP has refused to allow people to see just how much oil was gushing until a couple days ago?
BP withholds oil spill facts — and government lets it
Oops!
BP concedes that more oil is gushing than first estimated.
I have a lot more I could post but I don't have the time. Part of being a conservative is being responsible for your actions. BP cut corners, lied about their ability to handle this type of incident, paid off the pols and cut corners with safety. So it would be nice if they would quit trying to save the well for later and worry about getting the mess they made cleaned up first.
Can we say, China!
You need to join the Department of Justice, maybe as lead attorney prosecuting this case, since you already have all the facts.
Now, in an effort to address this issue rationally, I can tell you that the effort going into fixing this blowout is on a scale that is unprecedented,and I'm seeing it from the inside (not BP). Throw stones all you want, declare guilt if you wish, but do not make a claim that is false. BP and thousands of others are trying to do both--clean up the mess and shut down the well.
Apparently you think throwing away an investment of close to a $Billion dollars is worthy punishment?
Part of being a conservative is also listening to voices other than a green leaning press eager to lynch a "greedy oil company".
I have seen way too many here on FR jump on the sue BP bandwagon, when their normal inclination would be to despise all trial lawyers.
Whatever. I am being rational. I’m just not blindly accepting the words of BP since I have a family member who helped commission a rig as an engineer and knows exactly how they cut corners on safety.
There are other multi-billion dollar industries being decimated as we speak because BP lied on their abilities to handle this type of accident.
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