Gulf Coast Disaster - Monday News Roundup, July 26

Day 98

Highlights in this issue:

> Hayward to step down in October, Dudley to be named CEO, huge problems remain for BP
> Exit Hayward and BP’s PR debacles
> Tropical Storm Bonnie is gone, but revealed big problems for booms and disaster communications in the Gulf > > Marine life remains in peril in the Gulf


This afternoon’s summary:

Hayward out
BP CEO Tony Hayward is out the door in October as the media has been reporting for the last 12 hours. He’ll be replaced by Mississippian Bob Dudley, but we’re not sure yet whether this is just another band-aid or a real change in leadership at the top. It’s hard to say that the Gulf oil spill rescue efforts are back to normal after a wild weekend ride to evacuate the region ahead of a tropical storm that never materialized. Though Tropical storm Bonnie had little effect on the oil in the Gulf, the storm's passage revealed some new problems with the booms used to protect the coastline, and it strained the relationships in the web of local and federal officials charged with defending the area from the oil. The pain of the oil spill is hardly over. It turns out that BP is holding up payments to economic victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Kenneth Feinberg, administrator of a $20 billion compensation fund, said over the weekend. He said he didn’t think the delay was about money, but paperwork.

Quotable quote:
“The new leaders of BP will have an uphill climb to correct the legacy left by Hayward.” Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA), Chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming

And this one, too:
“I can’t think of any new chief executive of an oil company stepping into a more complicated situation,” said Daniel Yergin, the chairman of IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates. “BP is going to be in a rebuilding mode, and the aftermath of the spill will go on for a long time.”

National News

AP: BP CEO Hayward to step down in October
AP reports that BP CEO Tony Hayward will step down in October and take a job with TNK-BP, the company's joint venture in Russia. In New York, BP shares rose almost 5 percent Monday as the stock market anticipated a formal announcement about Hayward. 

Read more from Harry R. Weber
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=11249030

Check out this one, too
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703700904575391251924699166.html


Bloomberg: BP’s Dudley will work to ensure U.S. future for British driller
Robert Dudley’s biggest challenge as the new CEO at BP Plc will be to ensure the London-based company’s survival in the U.S., where it’s the largest oil and gas producer. Dudley, poised to become the first American head of the former U.K. state oil company, will need to convince politicians BP should be allowed to keep drilling in the U.S. after the country’s worst oil spill. The Gulf is home to about 25 of the 40 production projects BP plans by 2015.

Read more from Eduard Gismatullin and Brian Swint 
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-26/dudley-would-work-for-bp-survival-in-u-s-after-leak-destroyed-reputation.html

Also see
New York Times: Road to new confidence at BP runs through U,S.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/27/business/27dudley.html?hp


CNN: Gulf crews make headway on relief well again
It’s back to business on the relief well Monday. The rig drilling the relief well was preparing to connect to existing subsea equipment Monday, as pressure within the previously leaking well continued to slowly rise.  BP said it will continue preparing this week to lay a casing crucial to further operations, including a stab at a "static kill".

Read more
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/07/26/gulf.oil.disaster/index.html


NPR: Gulf evacuations delay cleanup operations
Tropical Storm Bonnie ended with a whimper and not a bang, but the evacuations it caused will still put the cleanup in the Gulf a week behind schedule.

Read more from Carrie Kahn
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128764644


Times-Picayune: Storm’s passage reveals problems with oil spill response
Though Bonnie had little effect on the oil in the Gulf, the storm's passage revealed some new problems with the booms used to protect the coastline, and it strained the relationships in the web of local and federal officials charged with defending the area from the oil.

Read more from Jeff Adelson
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/07/storms_passage_reveals_problem.html


Politics

The Hill: Scaled-back version of the oil spill package may still hit rough waters
A Senate Democratic oil spill response and energy plan – scaled back to help ensure passage – may still hit rough waters on the Senate floor this week. The evolving package of new offshore rig safety and oversight rules may include provisions Republicans and pro-drilling Democrats argue could hurt small - and mid-sized independent companies that drill offshore.

Read more from Darren Goode
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/110813-scaled-back-oil-spill-package-may-still-hit-rough-waters


Business

Bloomberg Businessweek: Hayward leaves behind daunting tasks at BP
For BP, removing Tony Hayward is just the beginning. BP's tarnished reputation can't be repaired overnight, especially among lawmakers who want to ban the company from drilling another well in the U.S.  And it faces decades of cleaning up and paying for one of the worst environmental disasters in American history.

Read more from Chris Kahn and Emily Frederix
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9H6DDDO1.htm


The Daily Beast: Exit Hayward, BP PR debacles
Eric Dezenhall writes that with the expected departure of CEO Tony Hayward, the PR madness for BP might slow down and looks at how its arrogant attempts to manipulate the media - just in the last week - has led to its becoming “universally loathed” as a company.

Read more from Eric Dezenhall
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-07-25/tony-hayward-resignation-the-latest-in-bps-pr-debacles/?cid=hp:beastoriginalsC4


Regional

NPR: Gulf fisheries’ future in doubt
This week, the federal government is reopening about a third of the Gulf waters that have been closed to commercial fishing. That doesn't mean commercial fishing will return to pre-spill levels. Many fishermen and their boats are working with BP and the cleanup effort, and the coastal waters which provide some of the most productive fishing are still closed. NPR's Greg Allen reports, even after all the oil is gone, it will likely be years before the Gulf fishing industry is as productive as it once was.

Read more from Greg Allen
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128752952


AP: Gulf commissioners face conflicts over BP spill
A tiny fishing and tourist community along the Florida Panhandle coast potentially faces a huge economic threat because of the Gulf oil spill, yet three of the five county commissioners can't vote on issues related to BP because of conflicts of interest. One, hires out his boat to a BP contractor; another, is a foreman overseeing a BP work crew; and the third was advised by the Gulf County attorney that he couldn't vote because his son works for a BP contractor. That leaves two commissioners to make decisions on issues like how to seek economic claims from BP. The scallop-rich St. Joseph Bay and the St. Joseph Peninsula beaches, which have been ranked among the most beautiful in the country, are vital to the county's economy.

Read more
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/26/1747018/gulf-co-officials-face-conflicts.html


PublicNewsService: Oil spill controlled, future of bluefin tuna is uncertain
The bluefin tuna was already on the watch list for conservationists and sportsfishermen. Even though the spill may be contained, there are real concerns for the tuna, because this is its spawning season in the Gulf and that could already be affected by the spill.

Read more
http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/15124-1


AP: Biologists release endangered sea turtles in Gulf
Hundreds of endangered baby sea turtles embarked on a new life in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday with federal biologists hoping that by the time the tiny critters get as far east as the BP spill the toxic oil will largely be gone.

Read more from Ramit Plushnick-Masti
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/26/AR2010072601469.html


Editorial

San Francisco Examiner: BP Compensation fund gets right appointment
Columnist James Carafano on why Kenneth Feinberg as Claims Administrator is the best decision the Obama Administration has made since the oil spill began. “This son of a tire salesman is a high-powered lawyer who understands how tragedy affects common people. This experience is crucial, because Feinberg's work could make or break many small businesses.”

Read more from James Carafano
http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/columns/james_carafano/BP-compensation-fund-gets-right-apointment-1003528-99201974.html

Times Picayune: Gulf coast states should get share of offshore oil revenues now: an editorial
Louisiana and other Gulf states have historically received little of the mineral riches produced off the coast and were  finally scheduled to receive their share starting in 2017, but the states argue the time is now especially when they have to bear the cost of the oil spill disaster.

Read more
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/07/post_24.html


Feature

The Huntsville Times: Huntsville scientists developing synthetic solution to Gulf oil spill
Necessity is the mother of invention, and so an Alabama biotech, iXpressGenes, is racing to develop synthetic microbes that would literally eat the oil in the water of the Gulf. Naturally occurring microbes are eating the oil right now, but in the process they are sucking up much of the oxygen in the lower depths, causing problems for other marine life. Synthetic microbes would not need oxygen.

Read more from Paul Gattis
http://blog.al.com/breaking/2010/07/local_scientists_developing_sy.html


Map

NOAA forecast trajectory through Wednesday, July 28,2010
http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/book_shelf/2353_TMF72-2010-07-25-2100.pdf