Gulf of Mexico Oil Disaster: Headline News

1. As BP stock plunges to a 14-year Low, UK PM fears the firm’s “destruction”

“It is also in all our long-term interests that there is some clarity, some finality, to all of this, so that we don’t at the same time see the destruction of a company that is important for all our interests,” UK PM David  Cameron told Canadian broadcaster CBC.

2. Gulf braces for storm, halt to oil containment

“Federal officials Friday say a tropical storm or hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico could shut down spill-containment operations at BP’s leaking oil well for two weeks, a report said.

3. Govt asks appeals court to keep deepwater drilling ban

Enemy of Earth Judge Feldman had ordered the moratorium be lifted because he decided it was “too broad” and did not justify the impact on the economy. “On Thursday, he denied a stay request by the Obama administration. ”

4. BP oil spill: Suicide of fisherman ‘distraught at spill’

“Captain William Allen-Kruse was found dead with a gun on board his boat by fellow workers. Coroner Stan Vinson told US media that witnesses believe Mr Kruse, who had been a charter boat fisherman for 20 years, had been distraught at the spill.”

Related Links:

• Tropical Depression One: Forecast
• Black Rain in Louisiana?
• Gulf of Mexico in BP Crosshair
• Methane in Gulf Million Times Above Normal

• Gulf of Mexico Worth More Dead Than Alive: Oil Industry
• World’s Largest Oil Tailing Pond – Satellite Images
• BP Hayward: Frankly, I Couldn’t Give a Damn!
• Oil Disasters

‘I Hate BP, Bog Oil, Obama, US Lawmakers, Oil Lobby!’

Image of the Day:

Oil Covered Northern Gannet Isn’t Amused

How would you feel if your air, water, food, soil and home was destroyed by greedy corporations, ineffective government and really nasty people all around?

“There’s enough oil out there that it is logical to think it will hit the shoreline. It’s just a question of where and when. Mother Nature gets a vote in this.” U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said.

A Northern Gannet bird is covered in oil, from a massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico, at a Clean Gulf Associates Mobile Wildlife Rehabilitation station in Fort Jackson, Louisiana April 30, 2010. Credit: REUTERS/Carlos Barria. Image may be subject to copyright.

Latest Development, News and Quotes:

• If the lawmakers had NOT pandered to the wishes of the Oil Lobby, allowing their clients to operate without an essential safety feature, a  sonar device that is deployed at drilling cites as a last resort to shut down the flow of oil from an underwater well, this disaster, in all probability, would have been averted.  While the law in Brazil and Norway requires oil companies to deploy such devices near the oil well, the the US regulations do not require oil companies to operate one.

• A “sheen” is approaching the Louisiana coast, Allen has confirmed.

• “The company, BP, seems to have been slow to ask for help, and, on Friday, both federal and state officials accused it of not moving aggressively or swiftly enough. Yet the administration should not have waited, and should have intervened much more quickly on its own initiative.” A New York Times editorial on Saturday.

• BP is ultimately responsible!” Said President Obama.  [We know that, but so are you and the government for allowing BP to do this, Mr president.]

• “This oil spill threatens not only our wetlands and our fisheries… This isn’t just about our coast. It’s about our way of life in Louisiana: our shrimpers, our fishermen, our coast that makes Louisiana a sportsman’s paradise. …This oil spill threatens our way of life. ” Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal warned. [Could you rephrase that to: More drilling in the Gulf threatens the collapse of Louisiana, neighboring states and the whole country? IF you want more proof just wait!]

• “Satellite images analyzed by the University of Miami suggest the slick has ballooned to an area the size of Puerto Rico.” A news bulletin said. [Note: Puerto Rico is the 169 largest country in the world with an area of about 9,100 square kilometer  (~ 3,500 sq miles).

• “We need to have something out there. Once it gets into the marsh it is too late. Once it gets behind these islands, through these little canals, you will never clean it up.” The president of Louisiana’s Plaquemines Parish area, Bill Nungesser said, warning that the oil pollution  could result to catastrophic harm to the area.

• The Gulf of Mexico nightmare enters a new phase—the first stage in the collapse of the Gulf states may have begun. —Fire Earth

NOAA Forecast of the Oil Spill for May 2, 2010. Click Image to enlarge.

NOAA Forecast of the Oil Spill for May 3, 2010. Click Image to enlarge.

Unified Command releases an image showing booming locations as of May 1, 2010. Creative Commons License. Click image to enlarge.

Continued …

Related Links:

• Obama’s energy security falls around his ankles
• Oil Disasters
• Just Before the Oil Attack …
• Reuters image gallery

–

Serial No 1,657. Starting April 2010, each entry on this blog has a unique serial number. If any of the numbers are missing, it may mean that the corresponding entry has been blocked by Google/the authorities in your country. Please drop us a line if you detect any anomaly/missing number(s).

Just Before the Oil Attack …

Image of the Day:

Sunset on the Louisiana Coastline , Just Before the Oil Attack

Freeze frame from a Reuters news video. Feel free to print the photo and send as postcard to the BP CEO:

Tony Hayward, CEO
BP Plc
International Headquarters
1 St James’s Square
London, SW1Y 4PD
UK

Feel free also to use strong language to describe your emotions to Mr Hayward …

Don’t forget to send copies of the photo to those of the lawmakers who pandered to the wishes of the Oil Lobby, allowing their clients to operate without an essential safety feature, a  sonar device that is deployed at drilling cites as a last resort to shut down the flow of oil from an underwater well.  While the law in Brazil and Norway requires oil companies to deploy such devices near the oil well; the law in the US does not require oil companies to operate one.

Related Links:

• Obama’s energy security falls around his ankles
• Oil Disasters
  

–

Serial No 1,656. Starting April 2010, each entry on this blog has a unique serial number. If any of the numbers are missing, it may mean that the corresponding entry has been blocked by Google/the authorities in your country. Please drop us a line if you detect any anomaly/missing number(s).

BP Leaks in Alaska, Again

BP pipeline in Alaska sprung another leak on Sunday

The pipeline delivers more than 30,000 barrel per day at Lisburne field at Prudhoe Bay, which has a total production of 400,000 bpd.

Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. Alaska Denali Fault trace passes beneath the pipeline (Dated November 2002). Photo: USGS.

“We are implementing the spill cleanup plan,” BP spokesman in Anchorage was reported as saying.

Alaskan officials believe that it could weeks to clean up the spill and determine if BP’s latest leak has caused serious environmental damage.

“It’s going to take a while, but they will clean it down to the tundra when they’re done. That’ll be a few days to a couple of weeks,” Dale Gardner, an Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation was quoted as saying.

“They won’t know until they clear everything away how far it penetrated and whether the tundra is affected or not.”

BP said they didn’t know what caused the pipeline leak or how much oil had spilled, but estimated that the leak had affected an area measuring about 800 square meters.

Cleanup is said to be hampered by extreme cold, short daytime and pipeline safety procedures (the line is partially pressurized, and is protected by a 3-meter safety barrier, preventing cleanup crews from getting too close), a spokesman said.

BP is under a three-year probationary period imposed by terms of a federal criminal settlement reached in 2007 after its Alaskan pipeline spills in 2006, which led to partial shutdown of  production in Prudhoe Bay.

State of Alaska map showing place names and Trans-Alaska pipeline route in red. US Govt Map.

More than 500 spills a year occur in the Prudhoe Bay oil fields and along the 800-mile route of the rusty old Trans-Alaska pipeline system, built about 35 years ago. (See 2006 story at  CS Monitor).

Related Link:

• Disasters Caused by Oil and gas Drilling, Oil Spills, Leaks, Land, Water and Air Pollution
• Kudos to Residents of Dimock, Pennsylvania