In Mississippi, Gov. Haley Barbour over the weekend angrily blasted news coverage that he said was scaring away tourists at the start of the busy summer season by making it seem as if "the whole coast from Florida to Texas is ankle-deep in oil."
Mississippi, he insisted on "Fox News Sunday," was clean.
That sounded about right to Darlene Kimball, who runs Kimball Seafood on the docks at Pass Christian.
"Mississippi waters are open, and we're catching shrimp," Kimball said. Still, her business is hurting because of a perception that Gulf seafood isn't safe, she said, and because many shrimpers have signed up to help corral the spill elsewhere.
The random, scattered nature of the oil was evident Monday during a trip across the state line between Alabama and Florida.
On the Alabama side, clumps of seaweed laden with oil littered beaches for miles. Huge orange globs stained the sand in places.
But at Perdido Key, on the Florida side, the sand was white and virtually crude-free. Members of a five-person crew had to look for small dots of oil to pick up, stooping over every few yards for another piece.
"It's beautiful here today," said Josiah Holmes, of Gulf Shores, Ala. He and his wife, Lydia, had driven across the state line because the beach was such a mess at home.
For some who are planning vacations in the region but live elsewhere, the spill's fickle nature is causing confusion.
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Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Oil Slick Scatters its Threats
In sensitive marshes on the Louisiana coast, oil thick as pancake batter suffocates grasses and traps pelicans. Blobs of tar the size of dimes or dinner plates dot the white sands of Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. Little seems amiss in Mississippi except a shortage of tourists, but an oily sheen glides atop the sea west of Tampa.
The oil spill plaguing the states along the Gulf of Mexico isn't one slick — it's many.
"We're no longer dealing with a large, monolithic spill," Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said Monday at a White House news conference. "We're dealing with an aggregation of hundreds of thousands of patches of oil that are going a lot of different directions."
Officials reported that a containment cap over the BP gusher at the bottom of the Gulf was sucking up one-third to three-quarters of the oil — but also noted that its effects could linger for years.
And as the oil patches flirt with the coastline, slathering some spots and leaving others alone, residents who depend on tourism and fishing are wondering in the here and now how to head off the damage or salvage a season that's nearing its peak.
At the Salty Dog Surf Shop in Panama City Beach, near the eastern end of the spill area, manager Glen Thaxton hawked T-shirts, flip-flops and sunglasses with usual briskness Monday, even as officials there warned oil could appear on the sand within 72 hours.
"It could come to a screeching halt real quick," Thaxton said. "So we've been calling vendors and telling them don't ship anything else until further notice."
The oil spill plaguing the states along the Gulf of Mexico isn't one slick — it's many.
"We're no longer dealing with a large, monolithic spill," Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said Monday at a White House news conference. "We're dealing with an aggregation of hundreds of thousands of patches of oil that are going a lot of different directions."
Officials reported that a containment cap over the BP gusher at the bottom of the Gulf was sucking up one-third to three-quarters of the oil — but also noted that its effects could linger for years.
And as the oil patches flirt with the coastline, slathering some spots and leaving others alone, residents who depend on tourism and fishing are wondering in the here and now how to head off the damage or salvage a season that's nearing its peak.
At the Salty Dog Surf Shop in Panama City Beach, near the eastern end of the spill area, manager Glen Thaxton hawked T-shirts, flip-flops and sunglasses with usual briskness Monday, even as officials there warned oil could appear on the sand within 72 hours.
"It could come to a screeching halt real quick," Thaxton said. "So we've been calling vendors and telling them don't ship anything else until further notice."
The Political Heat
Away from the action in the Gulf, the political heat remains intense in Washington with yet another congressional hearing set to bring BP and its peers under renewed scrutiny.
The Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing at 10:00 EDT (1400 GMT) on Tuesday titled: "The Risky Business of Big Oil: Have Recent Court Decisions and Liability Caps Encouraged Irresponsible Corporate Behavior?" Democrats in Congress have been looking at lifting such caps.
The Senate hearing follows one in Chalmette, Louisiana, where two women who lost their husbands in the April 20 rig explosion that unleashed the crisis urged members of Congress to hold BP accountable.
"I am asking you to please consider harsh punishments on companies who choose to ignore safety standards before other families are destroyed," said Courtney Kemp, whose husband, Wyatt, was one of the 11 workers killed in the explosion.
The gravity of the spill was spelled out by Admiral Allen, who said its environmental consequences could last for years.
"Dealing with the oil spill on the surface is going to go on for a couple of months" once the well is plugged, he said. "Long-term issues of restoring the environment and the habitats ... will be years."
The spill has now affected 120 miles of coastline.
After fouling wildlife refuges in Louisiana and barrier islands in Mississippi and Alabama, oil has hit some of the famous white beaches of Florida, where the $60 billion-a-year tourism industry accounts for nearly 1 million jobs.
Images of birds struggling through oil-soaked waters ringing Louisiana's ecologically fragile barrier islands and marshes have added to the public outcry and pressure on Obama.
One-third of the Gulf's federal waters, or 78,000 square miles (200,000 square km), remains closed to fishing, and the toll of dead and injured birds and marine animals is climbing.
The Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing at 10:00 EDT (1400 GMT) on Tuesday titled: "The Risky Business of Big Oil: Have Recent Court Decisions and Liability Caps Encouraged Irresponsible Corporate Behavior?" Democrats in Congress have been looking at lifting such caps.
The Senate hearing follows one in Chalmette, Louisiana, where two women who lost their husbands in the April 20 rig explosion that unleashed the crisis urged members of Congress to hold BP accountable.
"I am asking you to please consider harsh punishments on companies who choose to ignore safety standards before other families are destroyed," said Courtney Kemp, whose husband, Wyatt, was one of the 11 workers killed in the explosion.
The gravity of the spill was spelled out by Admiral Allen, who said its environmental consequences could last for years.
"Dealing with the oil spill on the surface is going to go on for a couple of months" once the well is plugged, he said. "Long-term issues of restoring the environment and the habitats ... will be years."
The spill has now affected 120 miles of coastline.
After fouling wildlife refuges in Louisiana and barrier islands in Mississippi and Alabama, oil has hit some of the famous white beaches of Florida, where the $60 billion-a-year tourism industry accounts for nearly 1 million jobs.
Images of birds struggling through oil-soaked waters ringing Louisiana's ecologically fragile barrier islands and marshes have added to the public outcry and pressure on Obama.
One-third of the Gulf's federal waters, or 78,000 square miles (200,000 square km), remains closed to fishing, and the toll of dead and injured birds and marine animals is climbing.
A Recent Poll Results
A Washington Post/ABC poll found that 69 percent of Americans believe the government had done a "not so good" or "poor" job handling the spill. Just over 1,000 people were surveyed in the poll, conducted between June 3 and 6.
BP's shares closed down slightly in London on Monday. It has lost about a third of its value since the crisis erupted in late April and it took another blow as Goldman Sachs downgraded its rating on BP to "neutral" from "buy."
While a complete halt to the flow of oil is not expected until August at the earliest, BP reported an increase in the amount of oil it is capturing from the well in its latest containment effort.
Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, who leads the government's relief effort, said London-based BP hoped to collect 20,000 barrels (840,000 gallons/3.18 million liters) per day in its latest effort.
BP said it had collected 7,541 barrels of oil in the first 12 hours of Monday. If it collected the same amount the rest of the day, the total for Monday would be more than 15,000 barrels, about 35 percent higher than the amount collected on Sunday.
Neither Allen nor BP gave an estimate of how much oil is still flowing into the Gulf. BP's latest attempt involves placing a containment cap on top of the gushing pipe on the ocean floor.
BP's shares closed down slightly in London on Monday. It has lost about a third of its value since the crisis erupted in late April and it took another blow as Goldman Sachs downgraded its rating on BP to "neutral" from "buy."
While a complete halt to the flow of oil is not expected until August at the earliest, BP reported an increase in the amount of oil it is capturing from the well in its latest containment effort.
Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, who leads the government's relief effort, said London-based BP hoped to collect 20,000 barrels (840,000 gallons/3.18 million liters) per day in its latest effort.
BP said it had collected 7,541 barrels of oil in the first 12 hours of Monday. If it collected the same amount the rest of the day, the total for Monday would be more than 15,000 barrels, about 35 percent higher than the amount collected on Sunday.
Neither Allen nor BP gave an estimate of how much oil is still flowing into the Gulf. BP's latest attempt involves placing a containment cap on top of the gushing pipe on the ocean floor.
Obama is Furious
President Barack Obama said he wanted to know "whose ass to kick" over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, adding to the pressure on energy giant BP Plc as it sought to capture more of the leak from its gushing well.
"I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar. We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answer so I know whose ass to kick," Obama said in an interview with NBC News' "Today" to air on Tuesday.
They were the angriest words yet about the catastrophe from Obama, who has been criticized for his response to the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Obama reiterated that all those affected should be adequately compensated.
In London, BP's share price lost 3.6 percent after Obama's remarks, reversing the previous day's gains. The company's shares are down more than a third from mid-April.
The stakes remain high for all involved -- from Gulf Coast communities devastated by the disaster to Obama and his domestic standing to BP and its battered reputation with the public and investors.
"I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar. We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answer so I know whose ass to kick," Obama said in an interview with NBC News' "Today" to air on Tuesday.
They were the angriest words yet about the catastrophe from Obama, who has been criticized for his response to the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Obama reiterated that all those affected should be adequately compensated.
In London, BP's share price lost 3.6 percent after Obama's remarks, reversing the previous day's gains. The company's shares are down more than a third from mid-April.
The stakes remain high for all involved -- from Gulf Coast communities devastated by the disaster to Obama and his domestic standing to BP and its battered reputation with the public and investors.
BP oil spill is still leaking
BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is posing a serious threat to not just BP financially but also to President Barack Obama whom many have accused of not taking proactive steps when the spill had begun.
It is around fifty days since the oil spill started in the Gulf of Mexico. We didn’t hear much from White House regarding the oil spill in the first two weeks of
Many thought that the spill was not as big as later revealed by scientists.
BP had initially said that only a very miniscule quantity of oil was spilling in the sea. It had said that only 1000 barrel of oil was going inot the sea from the ruptured oil pipeline.
But it was contested by scientists who put the oil gushing into the sea at 12000 barrel daily at the least. But right now around nineteen million barrels of oil is going into the sea and the top cap placement has been able to stop just a few thousand liters of oil into their ships from there.
This means that the remaining quantity of oil is still going down in the sea.
But even if the oil cap is able to stop even small quantity of the oil this is a major success for BP who has been facing uproar from all sides besides President Obama’s almost weekly rebuke.
Many thought that the spill was not as big as later revealed by scientists.
BP had initially said that only a very miniscule quantity of oil was spilling in the sea. It had said that only 1000 barrel of oil was going inot the sea from the ruptured oil pipeline.
But it was contested by scientists who put the oil gushing into the sea at 12000 barrel daily at the least. But right now around nineteen million barrels of oil is going into the sea and the top cap placement has been able to stop just a few thousand liters of oil into their ships from there.
This means that the remaining quantity of oil is still going down in the sea.
But even if the oil cap is able to stop even small quantity of the oil this is a major success for BP who has been facing uproar from all sides besides President Obama’s almost weekly rebuke.
Obama isn't a Bureacurat??
Barack Obama is an able administrator. He has won international praise for managing international affairs elegantly.
However, he has come under severe attack for the way he tried to handle the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. Now his ability to master the federal bureaucracy is being questioned. His critics say that he is the first US president since John F Kennedy to occupy the White House without enough executive branch experience and thus he is foundering. It is this that came in the way of handling the historic oil leak that has done immense damage to the environment, sea species and businesses in the region.
People who have been associated with Obama concede this fact. They say that he doesn’t think like a bureaucrat. He mostly banks on his close aides and some expert bureaucrats. Obama’s management style is under scanner for the first time since became the first Black president of the United States.
John Sununu, the former New Hampshire governor and who has worked with President George W Bush during his regime, said: "This is a centralized government power guy from the word go, and this may be the best education Obama may get on the ineffectiveness of government and just how hard it is to get the bureaucracy to solve problems."
John Burke, who teaches at University of Vermont and studied presidential management said: "He's strong on decision-making but weak on implementation and follow through,"
However, he has come under severe attack for the way he tried to handle the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. Now his ability to master the federal bureaucracy is being questioned. His critics say that he is the first US president since John F Kennedy to occupy the White House without enough executive branch experience and thus he is foundering. It is this that came in the way of handling the historic oil leak that has done immense damage to the environment, sea species and businesses in the region.
People who have been associated with Obama concede this fact. They say that he doesn’t think like a bureaucrat. He mostly banks on his close aides and some expert bureaucrats. Obama’s management style is under scanner for the first time since became the first Black president of the United States.
John Sununu, the former New Hampshire governor and who has worked with President George W Bush during his regime, said: "This is a centralized government power guy from the word go, and this may be the best education Obama may get on the ineffectiveness of government and just how hard it is to get the bureaucracy to solve problems."
John Burke, who teaches at University of Vermont and studied presidential management said: "He's strong on decision-making but weak on implementation and follow through,"
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