BP Oil Spill Approaching Gulf Coast

The Oil spill that took approximately 11 lives is now approaching the coast and about to severally effect the fisherman in Louisiana and ruin the environment along the coast of Louisiana, Alabama and Florida. See how this could effect you.

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2010/gulf.coast.oil.spill/

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/29/interactive.spill.tracker/index.html?hpt=T1

I'm in North Florida and Wednesday I saw men out in the bay putting up the orange barriers in the coastal waters. They think the oil will impact our coastline staring on Monday. Such a shame for all the wildlife that thrives here on our coast. Also, I can't help but wonder if any of the bodies of the men who are missing will wash in. I know that's a morbid thought, but their families need closure and it would be a better thing to have a their bodies to bury. Saying a prayer for everyone and everything that has and will be impacted by this.

This is really bad for our shrimpers and fishermen here in Louisiana, Mississipi, Alabama, and Florida. GB them all.

I forgot to mention Mississippi sorry. They have already found one bird covered in oil . They say this is the worst time for birds because they are migrating and the fish are spawning. This is not to mention the shrimp , oysters and turtles. This won't be an easy fix. They can't find the shut off valve for the oil rig. So now they may have to dig and attach another line into the spewing oil that is said to be pouring over 43,000 gallons daily.

I'm in the same area as Gypsy. Our newspaper has lots of coverage of the oil spill:

http://www.pnj.com/section/NEWS10

My nephew's ship the "Wasp" has been ordered to help out at the scene...he just e-mailed us last night as he was leaving for NY for a weekend pass but was called back...

This is so horrrible. I hate the most what it does to the creatures, epecially the birds. Birds are my favorite brings on earth and I can't even watch and see them covered and helpless in this stuff.

Why can't the butt rich oilmen do something about this? It happens over and over again and it seems this has not been any kind of a priority. Why haven't they used some of their big bucks to find a way to deal with these things and develope methods to keep them from becoming disasters?

I feel bad for all the people and animals involved.

Just got finished watching our news (Florida Panhandle), and I just want to cry. They say the size of the oil slick is the size of Jamaica, and is going to impact Louisiana to Florida not just in the next week, but for weeks to come, months, maybe even years. It's a mess! This is going to devastate our shores, our wildlife, the livelyhood of families who depend on the water for jobs. Our news reported that a confidential report is saying it could be as high as 50 thousand barrels (about 2 1/2 million gallons) a day coming out of that well! This is so sad. I can't believe this happened! I can't stop thinking about all the wildlife that is going to be affected by this! Authorities have posted info in our local paper (Daisy7 linked it above) for anyone who can or wants to help volunteer with cleaning the shores. They will have training available.

I just added a post on prayer thread..... this is a nightmare!!!!!!

"Dispersants are still being aggressively applied. Over 100,000 gallons have been applied."
FYI, "dispersants" can be translated to mean Dawn dishwashing liquid!

http://response.restoration.noaa.go...pic_topic)=2&topic_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=1

http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/se...ry=NEWS01&ArtNo=100430011&Ref=AR&Profile=1006

Thank you so much noZme. When it first happened, BP indicated the leak wasn't that bad. They kind of down played the spillage almost, and it's like all of the sudden this thing grew, or we just weren't told the true extent of it. They are saying it could be worse than the Valdez spill. They have been unsuccessful caping it off so far. Keep praying for all the little creatures and for the families this will effect.

[video=youtube;-BL07aQL7dU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BL07aQL7dU[/video]

Everyone keep praying-the effects of this catastrophe will be felt by everyone (in various ways) in the US (not just gulf coast residents) for decades!!:snooty:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q7BqeDCLSY

graphic of daily trajectory:
http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/book_shelf/1893_TM-2010-04-30-2145.pdf

latest news
http://www.incidentnews.gov/incident/8220


satellite images:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=43768


concern over this is making me ill.... national wildlife areas, estuaries & bays are sitting on a ticking bomb!
Lord, hear our prayers.

I am so sick over all of this and enraged as well. If they are going to drill out in the ocean there should be better means to stop this from happening then what apparently is in place now. This is catastrophic in more ways then one ....

I am saddened about all the lives lost as well from this and my prayers go out to all of the loved ones who have lost someone.

I have always been against off shore drilling this is my main reason why. When you are drilling on land and something like this happens you can at least reach it to fix the problem, and it is not as devestating.

If people would pull their head out of you know where there are plenty of alternatives to sustain our oil dependency alot that are reusable. I am so sick of standing by watching in disbelief the destruction of our planet when will people get a clue ?

I have to go before I really get on a rampage ... sorry

mysticrose said:

I am so sick over all of this and enraged as well. If they are going to drill out in the ocean there should be better means to stop this from happening then what apparently is in place now. This is catastrophic in more ways then one ....

I am saddened about all the lives lost as well from this and my prayers go out to all of the loved ones who have lost someone.

I have always been against off shore drilling this is my main reason why. When you are drilling on land and something like this happens you can at least reach it to fix the problem, and it is not as devestating.

If people would pull their head out of you know where there are plenty of alternatives to sustain our oil dependency alot that are reusable. I am so sick of standing by watching in disbelief the destruction of our planet when will people get a clue ?

I have to go before I really get on a rampage ... sorry

Click to expand...

This is a prime example of why I am opposed to drilling in environmentally sensitive areas.

I wish I could remember exactly what was said, but there was a talking head on last night on Anderson Cooper saying that the US is the only country who does not require some sort of safety device on these rigs that could prevent a catastrophe of this magnitude. All other countries who drill for oil have to have these devices installed by law. The device cost 1/2 million dollars - which is really nothing when were talking oil and oil companies. I'll go see if I can find a link....

We're just kind of watching a waiting here in North Florida. No one knows quite what to expect or how to prepare.

Well I didn't find a link at Anderson Cooper, but people are all over the web talking about it. It's an automatic shut off valve of some sort. Sounds like most all other countries who have off shore drilling have these things (required by law), but US oil companies have fought against them for some reason.

It seems the bad news keeps getting worse..... failures plugging the leak, much more volume than reported the first few days, weather conditions hampering preparatory efforts, yadayadayada....

Times-Picayune reporter's update, an informative video:

http://videos.nola.com/times-picayune/2010/05/saturday_oil_spill_update_vide.html

interesting comments from a photography site:

1. The light oil sheen reached the lower delta this morning with heavier slicks approaching. Rough seas from strong southeast winds are pushing the oil north and making containment extremely difficult. This oil is a light crude and is easily mixed into the water column by the wave action,,,,think of shaking a bottle of salad dressing,,,,so skimming becomes less effective. Also the wave action makes containment by floating booms less effective.

I was down on the coast this morning at Port Fourchon (no oil yet to the west of the river) and tides were above normal which is also not good. The entire LA coast is made up of low sand barrier islands and marsh. If oil gets into the intricate maze of grassy waterways that comprise the marsh, it will be catastrophic. The inland marsh is the nursery that drives life in the gulf and the barrier islands are the major seabird rookeries. This is right in the middle of the nesting and migration season for birds, spawning season for fish and oysters and the beginning of the brown shrimp season. All we can do now is hope they can stop the flow and minimize the damage that is sure to come. (underlined for emphasis by me)

2. Horrible. Just horrible. Don't forget too, that tourism in the redneck riviera is about to hit it's seasonal peak. No one will go to the gulf coast beach towns this summer. How will the beach towns be compensated? I think back to my past life as a nuclear engineer designing reactor safety systems, where critical safety items had to be triple redundant. No two failures could put the reactor at risk. Why can't we implement similar design concepts in the equipment we use to drill and pump oil? There ought to be three independent ways to plug that hole in place before the first drilling is done. One would be nice in this case... Environmental stewardship cannot take a back seat to our need for energy independence. They must co-exist peacefully.

http://www.naturephotographers.net/...SSID=5c55160439e5dc46417b0a3df3065130&u=10246

I'm friends with some people in the 155th in Mississippi. They're on stand-by to be deployed to the coast to clean up. They're not happy about it, because they JUST got home from Iraq, and have barely had any time with their families, and now they're about to be deployed again for no telling how long.

This whole thing SUCKS. I hate off-shore drilling and irresponsible corporate greed.

People all over this area are making runs on the seafood markets to buy up and freeze any shrimp and oysters that they presently have. Might not taste a delicious, succulent raw oyster for a decade or more. Our Gulf supplies so much seafood to the rest of the country, and so many people from Hammond south make their living off of the bounty of the Gulf. This will be devastating to the coastal economy, which has never really healed since Katrina.

I'm sick to my stomach! My family and I were looking forward to a beach vacation in sept. We love the beautiful alabama coastal beaches. Caught delicious whiting and even a pompano right off the shore last time we were there. Bought marvelously fresh shrimp and blue crabs from the local sea food shops. Ate the best fried oyster I've ever had at a small restaurant. Swam in the warm blue green ocean, built sand scuptures in the white pristine sand. Sat on the beach under an umbrella and watched the dolphins playing in the waters, the herons hunting small fish. Hubby and I planned to buy a starter condo there in a couple of years....now what will happen?

The local people have been dealt blow after blow by the hurricanes. Twice they spent millions of dollars to renourish the beaches. Not to mention the homes, businesses etc destroyed by nature. Then the people had their insurance rates skyrocket. I don't know how the locals have withstood such hardship and yet they rebuilt and endured. I admire them, I think I would have crumbled.

I think the heads of BP ought to have some of the thick gooey oil return to their offices and homes. Let them live with the mess they created.

Some good photos at the link:

Louisiana governor: "We are seeing sheens" of oil hit coastBy the CNN Wire StaffMay 2, 2010 -- Updated 1213 GMT

Venice, Louisiana (CNN) -- President Obama is expected to visit the area of an oil spill near the Louisiana coast Sunday, as Gulf Coast residents brace for the arrival of a massive oil slick creeping toward shore.

"Now they're saying we are seeing sheens" hitting the coast, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Saturday, citing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "But they expect the heavier oil to be coming by tomorrow and Monday."

The oil company BP -- which operated the rig whose sinking caused the underwater oil gusher -- said two Louisiana communities, Venice and Port Fourchon, will likely be the first places hit by the oil slick.

Nearly a million feet of boom were deployed in an effort to protect precious estuaries and wildlife, even as thousands of barrels of crude oil continued gushing into the water.

"The oil that is leaking offshore, the oil that is coming onto our coast threatens more than just our wildlife, our fisheries, our coast," Jindal said at a news conference. "This oil literally threatens our way of life."

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/05/02/louisiana.oil.spill/