Gulf Coast Disaster: Afternoon News Roundup, June 9

Highlights

-More ships heading to Gulf to collect oil
-Oil giant denies underwater oil plumes exist
-BP lists a deceased scientist as expert
-Rolling Stone: The spill, the scandal and the President
-Scientists find signs of dead zones in Gulf
-Coast Guard to monitor BP claims payments

This afternoon’s summary:

Will BP really keep its promise and pay up? The giant oil company got plenty of high marks with its promise right out of the box that it will pay all legitimate claims from the devastating Gulf oil spill. Now, government officials are beginning to question that claim. Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-SD, told MSNBC Wednesday that BP should be putting $10 billion in a trust fund to make sure that promise is a true one. If BP refuses to do this, he said, it would be a telling signal about what they are really up to and would prompt Congress to do something definitive to make sure it happens. Meanwhile, there are other signs that BP is not being cooperative in the oil spill relating to claims. In a letter to BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward , Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said the government needed "more detail and openness from BP" to ensure it was meeting its commitment to restore the Gulf Coast. The letter comes amid complaints that BP had been slow to pay claims by residents affected by the spill. There are plenty of pundits out there who say that BP will be the concerned citizen as long as the media is paying attention and then will become delinquent once the spotlight is turned off.

Quotable quote:

"It's clear that prior to the explosion at the Deepwater Horizon rig neither the companies involved nor the government adequately appreciated or prepared for the risks involved in a deepwater drilling operation of this type," said Sen. Jeff Bingaman, chairman of the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee.

National News

AP: More ships heading to the Gulf to collect oil
The BP ship collecting spewing oil from the Deepwater Horizon is about to get some help. That vessel is able to collect 630,000 gallons of oil a day. But the oil giant is bringing in a second vessel that will increase capacity, as well as the North Sea shuttle tanker that will assist in the transport of the oil.

Read more by Ray Henry:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gIXWYBTpLtSayJtg41LKXpxSxVPAD9G7QTE81

Also see: BP plans to burn off some oil captured
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100609/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill


New York Times: Coast Guard to monitor BP claims payments
The Coast Guard told BP on Wednesday that it wanted to monitor the process of paying out compensation claims from the country’s worst oil spill. “We feel it’s our responsibility, from the oversight role we have with BP, to make sure this is done effectively,” Adm. Thad Allen said.

Read more by Justin Gillis:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/us/10spill.html?hp


Courthouse News:  BP denies underwater oil plumes exist
When is a plume not a plume? When it’s discovered underwater in the Gulf of Mexico, BP claims. BP is denied the existence of giant underwater plumes of oil despite the conclusions of government scientists. The oil company claims that if those plumes do exist, BP scientists are studying whether they should be a concern, but that the plumes are not from BP's use of chemical dispersants to sink the oil.

Read more by Samantha Canfield:
http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/06/01/27704.htm


The Street: Scientists: Yes, those oil plumes exist
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association Administrator Jane Lubchenco confirmed Wednesday that tests conducted at three sites by a University of South Florida research vessel confirmed oil as far as 3,300 feet below the surface 42 miles northeast of the BP well site. Yes, scientists say, those plumes exist.

Read more:
http://www.thestreet.com/story/10770971/1/bp-oil-spill-update-oil-plumes-real-bp-claims-unpaid.html?cm_ven=GOOGLEN


WSJ: Scientists find signs of dead zones in Gulf
A research team said it had found evidence of dead zones being drained of life-giving oxygen deep in the Gulf of Mexico, as scientists on Tuesday reported new details of vast submerged clouds of oil and natural gas billowing from a well on the sea floor.

Read more by Robert Lee Hotz:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703302604575294562962339570.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLETopStories


AP: BP lists a deceased scientist as expert
A professor listed in BP's 2009 response plan for a Gulf of Mexico oil spill as a national wildlife expert. He died in 2005. The names and phone numbers of several Texas A&M University marine life specialists are wrong. So are the numbers for marine mammal stranding network offices in Louisiana and Florida, which are no longer in service, AP is reporting.

Read more by Justin Pritchard:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100609/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_sketchy_plans


Rolling Stone: The spill, the scandal and the President
Like the attacks by Al Qaeda, the disaster in the Gulf was preceded by ample warnings – yet the administration had ignored them. Instead of cracking down on MMS, as he had vowed to do even before taking office, Obama left in place many of the top officials who oversaw the agency's culture of corruption. He calibrated his response to the Gulf spill based on flawed and misleading estimates from BP, Rolling Stone writes.

Read more by Tim Dickinson:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/111965?RS_show_page=0


WSJ: The blame game goes on and the disaster continues
Frustration over the spill could cost BP and its oil industry rivals heavily in the years to come. The costs will come in the form of new regulations—such as those issued Tuesday by the Obama administration as the prerequisite for companies to resume offshore drilling in waters shallower than 500 feet. But that long term prediction doesn’t stop the daily blame game from going on. So does the backlash.

Read more:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703302604575294523724355994.html


WSJ: BP shareholders brace for dividend suspension
BP shareholders are now increasingly bracing for the possibility that BP will be forced to reduce or even cancel its dividend on June 21. No surprise either that shares in BPPLC tumbled as much as 6 percent Wednesday, down to its lowest level in 7 years.

Read more by Guy Chazan:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704575304575296263469609340.html?mod=igoogle_wsj_gadgv1&


Washington Post: Poll: Many fault fed regulators for oil spill
When in doubt, blame the regulators. The new Post-ABC poll reveals a widespread perception that poor federal regulation was at fault in the Gulf spill. Some 63 percent point a finger at inadequate enforcement of current regulations, and 55 percent see an overall weak regulatory structure.

Read more by Juliet Eilperin and Jon Cohen:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/09/AR2010060903547.html


Editorial

Aurora Sentinel: Save some tough talk for regulators
Obama made headlines this week talking tough to BP. It’s entirely possible that Obama might want to start first with the regulatory agencies that failed to ensure that offshore rigs like Deepwater Horizon operated with the bare minimum of safety onboard, the Aurora Sentinel writes.

Read more:
http://www.aurorasentinel.com/articles/2010/06/08/opinion/editorials/doc4c0ed3561e8b0145244916.txt


Dallas News: Don’t halt deep-sea oil drilling. Make it safe
The United States can't afford to permanently abandon deepwater drilling anytime soon. Companies aren't drilling a mile below the ocean's surface for the fun of it.

Read more:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/DN-drill_09edi.State.Edition1.764f35.html


Politics

Guardian: Turf wars reign over BP investigations
Lawmakers are sort of coordinating their investigation of the BP oil disaster. At least fifteen house and Senate committees have held, or are planning, hearings into the disaster. Is that a turf war or what? "You have all of the house, a third of the Senate and a very motivated White House eager to look responsive," said Kevin Book, an analyst with ClearView Energy Partners. The bottom line: Will there be enough investigating beneath the surface to get to the source of the disaster?

Read more by Graeme Wearden:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/09/battle-bring-bp-account-oil-spill


USA Today: Expect something new from Obama every day on oil spill
Team Obama has woken up to the importance of the Gulf oil spill. Expect news out of the Obama White House every day on its efforts to cope with the Gulf Coast oil spill, USA Today writes.

Read more by David Jackson
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2010/06/obama-and-the-oil-spill-expect-something-every-day/1


Feature

USA Today: Keeping the morale up along Gulf Coast
Crisis counselors have deployed throughout the Gulf to provide help to those who need it in the wake of the oil disaster that shows no end in sight.  In the fishing community of Grand Isle, a mental health counselor rides around town striking up conversations with fishermen who may be too shy or too macho to seek help. Mental health experts say that anything that can distract Gulf Coast residents from the trauma of the oil spill — whether it's prayer, a party or just venting their anger — may help prevent the long-term mental health consequences that have plagued previous disasters, including the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989,

Read more by Brian Winter:
http://www.usatoday.com/NEWS/usaedition/2010-06-09-oilmorale09_ST_U.htm?csp=34


Regional

PalmBeachPost: First signs go up warning people to stay out of water
There was a 1950s Doomsday novel and movie called On the Beach, about the aftermath of a nuclear war. While this is a little bit different, the feeling could be the same when people began seeing signs on Perdido Beach, Fla., warning them to stay out of the water.

Read more by Dara Kim:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/first-signs-warning-people-to-stay-out-of-735404.html


Graphic:

Huffington Post video: Reporter takes a dip without Hazmat suit
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/09/gulf-oil-spill-dive-repor_n_605582.html?ref=email_share


NOAA: Oil spill trajectory through Friday
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/06/noaa_gulf_of_mexico_oil_spill_16.html

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