Gulf Coast Disaster - Thursday News Roundup, July 29

Day 101

Highlights in this issue:

- BP fights government over lawsuit venue
- Newsweek’s top 6 losers in the Gulf oil spill
- Senator seeks Lockerbie hearing in September
- Is the missing oil a good sign or a bad one?
- Why Dudley’s BP could be even riskier
- Barbour says Miss. escaped the worst of Gulf oil spill

This afternoon’s summary
There is progress being made in the Gulf of Mexico, that’s for sure. Barring a calamity, the oil won't start flowing again before BP PLC can permanently kill the well, which could happen in the next two weeks. Incident Commander Thad Allen announced that maneuvers were ahead of schedule and BP may start deploying the ‘static kill,’ before the weekend. That’s a temporary fix to plug the leak until the relief wells are completed in August. Allen said the Coast Guard expects oil to keep showing up on beaches four to six weeks after that happens. Then, he said, the Coast Guard may start redeploying some of the 11 million feet of boom, 811 oil skimmers and 40,000 people that have been part of the oil spill response. But the dark cloud of this crippling accident hangs over the Gulf. It’s still unclear what has happened to the millions of gallons of missing oil and just how the Gulf coast will recover. It’s hard to say what BP’s next step will be even with a new CEO at the helm. Lawmakers are intent on dealing with the release of the terrorist responsible for the Lockerbie bombing 21 years ago and whether BP made a deal for oil to get him released. And finally, legal action over the Gulf oil spill is beginning to move forward. Seven federal judges are deciding how to consolidate at least 300 lawsuits and where there will be trials.

Quotable Quote:
There will be more lawyers in that courtroom than exist in the entire city of Boise put together," Mark Lanier, a Houston-based lawyer on the Boise, Idaho, hearing to consolidate 300 class action lawsuits from the Gulf oil spill.


National News

AP: BP on verge of ‘static kill’
Incident commander Thad Allen, the government's point man for the Gulf oil spill, said Thursday preparations for an attempt to plug the gusher from above are going well enough that the timeline for the "static kill" may be moved up. Crews will lay in the casing for the relief well later in the day. He says that could accelerate the work on the static kill, which he previously said would begin late Sunday or early Monday.

Read more:
http://blog.al.com/live/2010/07/step_in_effort_to_permanently.html


Bloomberg: BP fights government over lawsuits’venue
There’s a very serious chess game going on right now between BP and the federal judiciary Thursday over the location where hundreds of lawsuits against BP will be heard. A panel of seven federal judges in Boise, Idaho, is hearing arguments Thursday on which city will host spill suits numbering 300 and counting.

Read more:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-29/bp-fights-u-s-government-oil-spill-victims-over-venue-for-gulf-lawsuit.html

Check this one out, too
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/7130280.html


Newsweek: Top 6 losers in the Gulf oil spill
Newsweek magazine says everyone knows the top loser in the Gulf oil spill catastrophe – the biggest is the Gulf Coast and its residents will be feeling the implications for years. But the magazine came up with its own top six losers. They include Tony Hayward, Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, and a comprehensive Energy bill.

Read more:
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/29/the-oil-spill-s-biggest-losers.html


MSNBC: BP protesters target London gas stations
London drivers got a hint on Tuesday of what anti-BP protesters can do. They locked metal fences around some gas stations and shut off fuel supplies at 46 BP gas stations across London just in time for the morning rush-hour."What BP needs to do is not just change CEOs, it needs to actually come up with a new strategy," Greenpeace U.K.’s chief executive John Sauven said.

Read more:
http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/07/27/4761038-eco-warriors-give-london-small-taste-of-spill-pain?chromedomain=fieldnotes


Propublica: Senate drilling bill would protect groundwater contamination
Tucked inside the Senate bill aimed at cracking down on oil drillers after the Gulf spill is a long-sought measure to protect groundwater from natural gas drilling. The bill, called The Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Company Accountability Act, would require that drilling companies make public a complete list of chemicals injected underground in proprietary formulas to break up rock deep underground and extract natural gas, a process called hydraulic fracturing.

Read more:
http://www.propublica.org/article/drilling-accountability-bill-would-regulate-fracturing-too


AFP: Senator seeks Lockerbie hearing in September
A US senator on Thursday pressed outgoing BP chief Tony Hayward and other witnesses who snubbed a congressional hearing into the Lockerbie bomber's release to take lawmakers' questions in September. “My hope is that giving these witnesses a longer lead time will allow them to reconsider participating and to work the hearing into their schedules," Sen. Robert Menendez , D-NJ) said in a statement.

Read more:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jfd6lvB1_Gul_y1QZpD_CkOnEp9Q


Washington Post: Is the missing oil a good sign or a bad one?
Up to 4 million barrels (167 million gallons) have leaked into the Gulf of Mexico since the Gulf oil disaster began on April 20. the vast majority of the spill remains unaccounted for in government statistics. "That stuff's somewhere," said James H. Cowan Jr., a professor at Louisiana State University. His research has shown concentrations of oil still floating miles from the wellhead."

Read more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/28/AR2010072806135.html?hpid=topnews


Bloomberg: Why Dudley’s BP could be even riskier
The changing of the guard at BP may not be everything it’s cracked up to be. Robert Dudley, the man charged with righting BP, won't sound a retreat. Despite the disastrous blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, BP will plunge even deeper into deepwater exploration

Read more by Stanley Reed:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_32/b4190021659892.htm


Time: How really bad is the Gulf oil disaster?
Time magazine is reporting that the Gulf oil disaster may be overblown. It's inflicting serious economic and psychological damage on coastal communities that depend on tourism, fishing and drilling. But so far — while it's important to acknowledge that the long-term potential danger is simply unknowable for an underwater event that took place just three months ago — it does not seem to be inflicting severe environmental damage.

Read more:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2007202,00.html#ixzz0v61WfJQO


Miami Herald: 10 lessons in 100 days
The Miami Herald came up with 10 clear lessons from the stained waters. Here are 10 big ones likely to influence future decisions on offshore exploration. Among them:  South Florida got lucky and didn’t bear the brunt of the oil spill. Not all oil floats and experts are still looking for millions of gallons that have gushed into the Gulf.

Read more:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/28/1751283/the-10-lessons-in-the-100-days.html#ixzz0v6CRHRFN


Regional

St. Petersburg Times: Economic fallout from spill will haunt Florida for years
A pair of reports Wednesday — a long-term economic forecast from the University of Central Florida and a University of Florida survey — stoke concerns that the economic fallout from the BP oil spill will haunt the state for years. One predicts the leisure and hospitality sectors won't start growing again until 2012, lagging even an improvement in construction.

Read more
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/tourism/economic-fallout-from-bp-oil-spill-will-haunt-florida-for-years-reports-say/1111704


Examiner: Gulf spill effects on tourism is Tampa; Obama vacations in the Gulf
With the First Family coming to vacation in the Florida Panhandle, the writer wonders how much can they help salvage the enormous damage the spill has done to Florida’s number one business-tourism.

Read more from Heather Jeffries
http://www.examiner.com/x-52915-Tampa-Environmental-Health-Examiner~y2010m7d28-Gulf-spill-effects-on-tourism-in-Tampa--Obama-vacations-in-the-Gulf


PNJ: Schools might be impacted by oil spill
Florida’s education commissioner is holding meetings with families to prepare for the new school year. With revenues down from lost wages and sales and mental health worries way up, school officials are girding for a very difficult year for students.

Read more from Carmen Paige
http://www.pnj.com/article/20100728/NEWS01/7280333/1006/NEWS01/Schools-might-be-impacted-by-oil-spill


San Francisco Chronicle: California delegation heads to coast
A four-member group from California, a state that knows something about natual disasters and tourism, headed to the Gulf to help their counterparts plan for a comeback.

Read more from Justin Ho
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/27/BA1V1EKHEO.DTL


Miami Herald: Barbour says Miss. escaped the worst of Gulf oil spill
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour told the nation's lieutenant governors that the Magnolia State will bear mostly financial scars from the BP oil spill. Barbour's comments came Wednesday at the opening of the National Lieutenant Governors Association annual meeting in Biloxi. Barbour said Mississippi has fared much better than Louisiana, which is much closer to the source of the oil. Barbour said Louisiana has more fragile marsh land lining its shores, while Mississippi has some buffering from the barrier islands.

Read more:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/29/1751807/barbour-talks-with-nations-lt.html#ixzz0v60YFxUK

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