Gulf Coast Disaster: Afternoon News Round-Up, May 21
Posted May 21, 2010 in Moving Beyond Oil, Reviving the World's Oceans, The Media and the Environment
Highlights
-Are lab tests objective for oil spill?
- BP collecting less oil from oil spill
- Rand Paul scorches Obama for criticizing BP
- Obama: Gulf spill underscores need for alternative energy sources
Quotable quote: "And I think it's part of this sort of blame-game society in the sense that it's always got to be somebody's fault instead of the fact that maybe sometimes accidents happen," said Kentucky’s GOP Senate candidate Rand Paul
This afternoon’s summary:
Offshore oil drilling was supposed to be the savior from the perils and politics of foreign oil. It was supposed to be safe and cheap and keep the U.S. from the manipulative world of foreign oil interests. But now the warnings of so many have come home to roost. There’s a spill in the Gulf of Mexico that is over a month old, that oil company BP has failed to plug and that is causing enormous environmental damage still to be tallied. "This is just heartbreaking," said a National Wildlife Federation worker examining stained reeds. It is far more than heartbreaking. It is going to force a reevaluation of U.S. energy policies and a new look at alternative fuels. President Obama Friday signed an order for trucks to improve their gas mileage. He said he still supports offshore oil drilling, an idea that he promoted just a few short weeks ago. But he also said he recognizes the need for alternative energy sources. It seems the US keeps wasting time on this subject. Twenty-one ago, when the Exxon Valdez hit a reef in 1989 in Alaska, spilling 10.8 million gallons of crude oil, people vowed it would never happen again. Well, it just did and in an incident looking far more treacherous. So just what is it going to take for us to clean up our act?
National News
WSJ: BP collecting less oil Friday from Gulf spill
BP PLC said Friday that the amount of oil being collected from a massive leak in the Gulf of Mexico has dropped since Tuesday to 2,200 barrels a day from then 5,000 barrels a day it had previously been collecting this week.
Read more:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704852004575258371387135554.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines
Also see:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-oil-spill-20100521,0,776162.story
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10139730.stm
New York Times: Are lab tests objective for oil spill?
Local and state environmentalists are busy collecting samples of water, sediment and marine life to test the impact of the oil spill. But the laboratory that officials have chosen to process virtually all of the samples is part of an oil and gas services company in Texas that counts oil firms, including BP, among its biggest clients, The New York Times reports.
Read more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/science/earth/21conflict.html?hp
AP: Rand Paul scorches Obama for criticizing BP
Kentucky's Republican Senate nominee Rand Paul jumped right into big league politics this week after he won a landslide primary. He criticized President Barack Obama's handling of the Gulf oil spill Friday as putting "his boot heel on the throat of BP" and "really un-American."
Read more:
http://www.latimes.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-us-rand-paul,0,3272657.story
USA Today: Obama: Gulf spill underscores need for alternative energy sources
Obama Friday signed an executive order to improve gas mileage for trucks. Obama reiterated his support for domestic drilling but added that the worsening oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico underscores "the need to develop alternative energy sources."
AP: Oil spill toll on wildlife still a guessing game
Gulf oil cleanup workers have found only a handful of animals injured by the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico but countless others may be feeling the effects. Ralph Morgenweck of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says many animals that have died will never be found. And others could be affected in less tangible ways, such as complications from inhaling the fumes.
New York Times: Scientists study oil spill impact on ecosystems
Scientists are scrambling to begin investigating changes that the oil spill will be bringing to marine life and food webs. It’s likely to have a long-term impact on ecosystems for many years, they say.
MSNBC: What’s next for the oil spill?
The people who are working on containing the spill are worn out, but this is just the beginning. From all quarters, the bottom line is this: the oil industry and the regulators were never prepared for the impact of an accident involving deeps sea offshore oil drilling. Some argue the hurricane season coming up will create a bigger disaster; others speculate a tropical storm might help the oil disperse. Meanwhile, 46,000 square miles of some of the richest fishing waters in the world are closed. Environmentalists say this is clear evidence that it is time for the nation to develop alternative energy sources. It is a depressing story with no ending yet.
Read more:
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msncom/archive/2010/05/20/2323040.aspx
Los Angeles Times: Kevin Costner’s spill cleanup system
It may be time for Hollywood to come to the rescue of the Gulf oil spill. BP and the U.S. Coast Guard plan to test an idea from actor Kevin Costner that he has been working on for 15 years. He’s invested $24 million in a cleanup system involving centrifugal oil separators. He is not the only celebrity getting involved in the urgent effort. "Avatar" director James Cameron has said that he would make his underwater vessels available, and actor-director Robert Redford appeared in a commercial, sponsored by the Natural Resources Defense Council, to call for clean energy.
Feature
The Daily Beast: How oil saved Bobby Jindal
Even in the worst of tragedies, there are winners and losers. And Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is being highlighted as a winner in the oil spill disaster in an article by Reihan Salam for The Daily Beast. “Jindal is filling a psychological need: if nothing else, many Louisianans feel helpless in response to the slow-motion disaster.” The article goes on to say that Louisiana has been able to look to Governor Bobby Jindal to give BP the tongue-lashing it badly deserves. And Jindal has all but declared the fight against the oil spill as the moral equivalent of war.
Read more:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-05-21/bobby-jindals-masterful-job-on-the-gulf-coast-oil-spill-boosts-his-political-prospects/
Regional
SunHerald.com: Mississippi shoreline may get a pass
The bulk of the spill appears to be moving further from Mississippi shores, and breaking up from the skimming, burning and dispersant use, the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources says.
Read more:
http://www.sunherald.com/2010/05/20/2198487/view-from-above.html#ixzz0oZbEJjaX
SunHerald.com: How Mississippi will spend $15 million from BP
The Mississippi Development Authority rather than Coast tourism officials will decide how to spend the $15 million BP gave to the state last week for tourism advertising to counter the negative effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Read more:
http://www.sunherald.com/2010/05/20/2198475/state-to-handle-oil-ad-money.html#ixzz0oZcL10dA
SunHerald: A rush for oyster harvesting
The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals has ordered the partial reopening of an oyster harvesting area to give harvesters as much time as possible to bring in their product before being impacted by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Read more:
http://www.sunherald.com/2010/05/20/2198173/dhh-partially-reopens-oyster-harvesting.html
Tuscaloosa News.com: Ala. Gov. says future of drilling a question mark
While the oil spill has yet to hit Alabama’s beaches, the future of offshore oil drilling will depend in large part on how well the Gulf of Mexico oil spill from the BP Deepwater Horizon site is contained, Alabama Gov. Bob Riley said.
Read more:
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20100521/NEWS/100529947/1007/news?p=1&tc=pg
Editorial:
Clarion-Ledger: Letter to editor – Oil spill no big deal
This is not Chernobyl, we will survive and if other spills are any indication, the long term effect may be minimal, says one reader’s letter.
Read more:
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20105200304
Times-Picayune: Disturbing findings point finger at BP
Findings suggest the company may have been trying to rush the capping of the well, in ways that helped precipitate the disaster, the Times-Picayune writes.
Read more:
http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2010/05/disturbing_findings_point_fing.html
Graphics:
Ø NOAA’s Gulf spill trajectory next 72 hrs
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/view_the_noaa_gulf_of_mexico_o_6.html
Ø Tracking the oil spill
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/01/us/20100501-oil-spill-tracker.html
Ø Spill’s effect underwater
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2010/05/05/us/05ecology_graphic1.html?ref=us
###
