Gulf Coast Disaster: Afternoon News Round-Up, June 1

Highlights in this issue:

- Obama pledges to prosecute those responsible for oil spill
- BP shares take a dive on London market
- BP: New containment effort will work
- Feds worry about workers’ health

This afternoon’s summary:

Obama promised Tuesday there would be a full investigation into what happened on the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico before he allows expansion of offshore oil drilling. And he pledged to pursue criminal inquiries into the cause of the oil spill. But there’s one unknown that he has no control over – the hurricane season that began Tuesday. Once a hurricane appears to be heading for the Gulf, officials will have to retreat to port, leaving an unabated flow of oil into the water. Hurricanes are the “wild card” in this operation right now. And that just adds to the urgency for President Obama to take control of this situation that threatens to engulf his second year in office and for BP to finally figure out how to plug that leak.

Quotable quote:
“If our laws were broken, leading to this death and destruction, my solemn pledge is that we will bring those responsible to justice on behalf of the victims of this catastrophe and the people of the Gulf region,” Obama said


National News:

New York Times: Obama pledges to prosecute those responsible for oil spill
President Obama is getting stronger and tougher on the Gulf oil spill after weathering criticism that he hasn’t done enough since the disaster began on April 20. On Tuesday, he pledged to pursue criminal inquiries into the cause of the Gulf spill and prosecute anyone responsible for the catastrophe.

Read more by Helene Cooper:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/02/us/02spill.html

Check out this one, too
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38005.html


Huffington Post: BP shares take a dive on London market
Shares in BP PLC plunged on Tuesday on the London Stock Exchange after the failure of the oil company's latest attempt to block a massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. Shares were down 15 percent at midday. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reports the Deepwater Horizon disaster has taken a $100 billion bite out of the market capitalizations of the five key companies connected to the oil spill over the last six weeks, and it has dragged down the sector overall.

Read more by Jane Wardell:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/01/bp-shares-plunge-to-18yea_n_595796.html?ref=email_share

Also see:
http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/2010/06/01/gulf-oil-spill-clips-100-billion-from-value-of-connected-outfits/


CBS News: BP: New containment effort will work
We’re not sure if it’s the hot sun beating down on them in the Gulf, but BP executives were sounding pretty optimistic Tuesday morning about its latest effort to contain the massive oil leak. The maneuver to put a cap over the spewing oil like will work, according to Bob Dudley, BP's managing director. "I think you will see that these containment domes will work,” he told CBS Morning News. BP has appeared optimistic before.

Read more:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/01/earlyshow/main6537227.shtml


Washington Post: Feds worry about workers’ health
One major side effect of the Gulf oil spill may be the impact on workers hired to clean up the oil mess on shore. Federal health officials are now calling on BP to protect the health of these workers as reports are starting to surface that some of these workers are getting sick. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius sent a letter to BP urging the company "to take responsibility for the health consequences of the disaster."

Read more by Rob Stein:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/28/AR2010052803872.html


Huffington Post: Gulf spill oil companies fight over insurance
The fights over liability issues has already started. Transocean, which owns the oil rig, has a drilling contract with BP, which owns the underwater lease, which is written so that it is not liable for costs related to leaky wells, but is responsible for pollution that originates from the rig. And the question of who is responsible for what is beginning to appear in court documents, an issue that may take years to resolve.

Read more by D.A. Barber
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/da-barber/now-the-gulf-spill-compan_b_590593.html


Feature:

Fortune: It’s not just the biggest oil spill in U.S. history; It’s the biggest oil spill cleanup
Cleaning up the oil spill is backbreaking work. It will cost a lot of money, and the cleanup is just starting.. But fishermen are seeking these jobs because there is nothing else out there now. And BP is getting ready to spend billions. So far, it has spent $990 million on the disaster, but analysts estimate the costs will rise to $5 billion to $10 billion -- much of that involving containment, repair and litigation.

Read more by Scott Cendrowski
http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2010/05/29/at-the-scene-of-the-bp-oil-spill-cleanup-booms-busts-and-confusion/?section=magazines_fortune


Editorial

New York Times: It’s not Obama’s fault
This oil leak is not President Obama’s fault. Stopping the spill is BP’s responsibility... Obama’s most important job, though, is one he has yet to take on: shaping the long-term public reaction to the spill so that we can use it to generate the political will to break our addiction to oil, The New York Times writes.

Read more by Thomas Friedman
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/opinion/30friedman.html?ref=opinion


Washington Post: Obama takes the blame, sort of
Obama faced the press for the first time in months last week. He practiced every form of self-flagellation short of bringing out cat-o'-nine-tails over the expanding Gulf oil crisis, writes Dana Milbank.

Read more by Dana Milbank:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/28/AR2010052801331.html


Regional

Clarion Ledger: Mississippi lawmakers mixed on 6-month drilling ban
You can’t please everyone all the time even when it involves the future of offshore drilling in the wake of the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. Mississippi’s Gulf Coast lawmakers are voicing mixed reactions to the administration's six-month ban on new deep-water drilling permits, with some calling it a "knee-jerk" reaction and others calling it a necessary precaution, according to the Jackson Clarion-Ledger.

Read more by Deborah Barfield Berry:
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20105310316


AP: BP sets up “flotals” to house workers
At least BP has figured out how to solve one of its many problems: where to house the 500 workers hired to clean up the spill. The company and several subcontractors have set up To accommodate more than 500 workers hired to clean up the spill, BP and several subcontractors have set up floating hotels, or "flotels," made up of steel boxes resembling oversized shipping containers and stacked atop barges. At Port Fourchon, the oil industry's hub on the Gulf , a flotel there is the only way to station workers in a massive shipyard surrounded by ecologically sensitive marshes and beaches.

Read more by Ben Nuckols and Jane Wardell
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gIXWYBTpLtSayJtg41LKXpxSxVPAD9G2K9GO0


AP: Sandbags flown to shore up Louisiana barrier islands
Help is on its way to the Gulf coastal region by land, by sea and by air. In the latest outreach to stabilize the oil crisis, the National Guard in southern Plaquemines Parish, are helping to fasten a massive number of sand bags onto helicopters that transfer them to offshore barrier islands where they are being used to build sand barriers against the encroaching oil.

Read more:
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/06/sandbags_flown_to_shore_up_lou.html


Honolulu Advertiser: Hawaiian-based Coast Guard cutter heads to Gulf for cleanup
The Honolulu-based Coast Guard Cutter Walnut is on its way to the Gulf of Mexico to assist in oil spill response efforts.

Read more:
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100530/BREAKING01/100530016/Honolulu+Coast+Guard+cutter+to+assist+in+Gulf+Coast+oil+spill+response+efforts+



NPR: Florida fishing town: Case of bad nerves over oil spill
In Apalachicola, a fishing town on the Florida Panhandle, nerves are raw and uncertainty hangs heavy over daily activities. The reason is the economy: 90 percent of Florida's oysters are harvested in Apalachicola Bay, a nearly pristine estuary.

Read more by Greg Allen:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127246469


Politics Daily: Was this the last Plaquemines Parish Seafood Festival?
Louisiana's beleaguered Plaquemines Parish held its annual Seafood Festival this past weekend. And the event led some folks with doomsday on their mind to wonder if it would be the last one.

Read more by Ben Sandmel
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/05/30/was-this-the-last-plaquemines-parish-seafood-festival/

Graphic

Map overlay showing how big the oil spill is
http://www.manolith.com/2010/05/31/gulf-coast-oil-spill-map/

###

Comments