Gulf Coast Disaster: Morning News Round-Up, May 20
Posted May 21, 2010 in Moving Beyond Oil, Reviving the World's Oceans, The Media and the Environment
HIGHLIGHTS
- NOAA confirms oil hits loop current
- Markey demands BP broadcast live video feed from source
- Moody’s: Oil spill won’t hurt national economy
- Credential plan sought for oil cleanup workers
QUOTABLE QUOTE
“It’s like a serial killer. It’s just tough to track:” – P.J. Hahn, director of coastal management, Plaquemines Parish.
THIS MORNING'S SUMMARY
A thick brown blanket of crude oil has now hit the Louisiana wetlands a month to the day after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon. Governor Bobby Jindal has called on the US Army Corps of Engineers for help. The spill continues with no end in sight, The Gulf states are bracing for economic disaster. What is shaping up is a face-off between scientists and the federal government. Scientists are angry at the federal government for keeping information from the public. Political rivals in Congress are playing a fierce blame game.
NATIONAL NEWS
AP: Gulf oil spill: Louisiana marshes blanketed with BP crude
The Associated Press describes it as chocolate-brown blanket of oil “as thick as latex paint.” Exactly a month to the day after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon, the oil spill has made impact on the delicate marshes on the southeastern tip of Louisiana. Governor Bobby Jindal says “The heavy oil is here. This is the day everyone was worried about.” The governor says about 30 miles of coastline are oiled so far and it will be very hard to clean up.
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LA Times: Gulf oil spill: NOAA confirms oil hits loop current
On Wednesday afternoon, NOAA confirmed that oil had entered the Florida loop current in the form of light oil sheen. There was still the possibility that atmospheric conditions could catch the oil in the middle of the Gulf and divert it from the Florida shore.
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CNN: BP told Feds in 2009 it could handle massive spill
BP said in a 2009 exploration plan that it could handle an oil spill 50 times larger than the one it is unable to contain now, according to documents released by Congress Wednesday,
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Times-Picayune: Scientist: BP’s estimate of volume of Gulf spill is dramatically low
There is no way the broken well in the Gulf is only spilling 5,000 barrels of oil a day, as BP claims, according to Steve Wereley, a mechanical engineering professor from Purdue University, He told the House Energy and Environment Committee Wednesday the number is more likely between 70,000 and 115,000 barrels. He was backed up by a scientist from Woods-Hole Oceanographic Institute who said BP has not supplied any pressure readings to let the scientists calibrate the spill.
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AP: Inventors say BP ignoring their spill ideas
BP put out the “suggestion box” – a call to the public for ideas on how to stop the spill. Hundreds of ideas have come in from academics, inventors, scientists, environmentalists and businesspeople, and they are being ignored. One inventor calls it a “publicity stunt.”
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Times Picayune: Costly time-consuming test of cement linings was omitted
A spokesman for a top oilfield service company said BP hired his firm to do tests on the Deepwater Horizon but sent his team home off the rig 11 hours before they could perform a crucial acoustic test on the well’s cement linings--the only test, he said, that would be able to tell if the cement seal was secure.
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AP: Gulf Oil Spill: Still no one knows how much oil is leaking or where it will head next
On the 30th day after the spill, nothing is for sure. This is a summary of the many possibilities of fixes and impacts.
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Huffington Post: Gulf Oil Spill: Markey demands BP broadcast live video feed from source
After hearing from scientists that they have no access to data that could help end this catastrophe and they should be able to see a real-time live feed from BP’s underwater cameras at the spill, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass) demanded that BP provide that live feed. BP agreed to make the feed available but to select members of Congress. Markey has promised to make it available on his website at www.globalwarming.house.gov.
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Huffington Post: Big Oil seeks to punish Tulane for environmental law group
The Louisiana State Legislature killed a proposed bill in committee that has alarmed environmentalists and university law professors across the country. Some state lawmakers had teamed up with the oil lobby to try to pass a bill that would strip funding from university law clinics that receive state funding if they have ever sued a government agency or a business. Opponents said the bill took was aimed specifically at the Tulane University law clinic—which has, in particular, helped many victims of Katrina.
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LA Times: Oil spill’s effect on wildlife difficult to tally
Scientists know the Gulf oil spill has to be killing wildlife, but, so far not many birds or fish have washed up on shore. Scientists believe that they are being killed far offshore. Environmentalists believe that the chemical dispersants being used underwater are breaking the slick into droplets which may harm marine life in the depths but also are preventing the appearance of oil-slicked birds on the shore. And it may be a long time before scientists are able to pinpoint oil’s impact.
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BUSINESS NEWS
ABCNews.com: Moody’s: Oil spill won’t hurt national economy
It’s hard to believe but Moody’s Economy.com says the Gulf oil spill won’t have a broad impact on overall U.S. employment. Moody’s says the spill is hurting businesses in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida but those states represent only 1 percent of the gross domestic product and national employment "so broad macroeconomic effects are unlikely, at least in the near term."
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Newsweek: BP continues stealth public relations campaign
The strategy is to be humble and helpful. The profile is low-key. After several dramatic missteps, BP is taking a stealth approach to public relations, directing affiliates not to create independent advertising. Bottom line—the cost could be colossal. BP is liable for fines of up to $1,000 per barrel per day spilled (that’s why the company insists on that low estimate of 5,000 barrels a day when scientists say it could be as much as 70,000 barrels spilled a day.) But the fines jump to $3,000 per barrel per day if the company is found to be guilty of gross negligence before the spill.
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FEATURE
AP: Minerals Management Service to be divided into 3 parts
What’s in a name? A whole lot of the repercussions from this disaster. The name Mineral Management Service is now abolished, and the agency is now being split into three parts. The Bureau of Safety and Enforcement to inspect offshore drilling rigs; The Bureau of Ocean Energy to for leasing and development offshore and the Office of Natural Resource Revenue to collect billions of dollars in revenue for onshore and offshore drilling. The problem with the MMS was that its agents were charged with all three at once which led to the conflicts and culture that contributed to this disaster. And it is an issue that will be thoroughly investigated by an independent commission being appointed by President Obama to find out what happened and why in the oil catastrope
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EDITORIALS
Huffington Post: Robert Redford: ‘Mr. President, now is the time for clean energy’
"This is the clearest picture we could have of our failed national energy policy -- which extends over many decades and administrations." – Robert Redford
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Salon: Rush Limbaugh needs a blowout preventer
Joan Walsh calls out Rush Limbaugh for blaming the Gulf oil spill on the Sierra Club.
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REGIONAL
Times-Picayune: Credential plan sought for oil cleanup workers
Concerned that the Gulf oil cleanup effort might bring out scam artists or fugitives, law enforcement officials from several Louisiana Parishes are meeting this week to figure out a way to credential oil spill cleanup workers.
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Also read:
GRAPHIC
Times-Picayune: Photos of oil on impact in Louisiana wetlands
Live feed from BP underwater cameras
Photo: NASA satellite photo of southeast oil slick arm heading to open ocean
New York Times: Tracking the spill
MSNBC: How much oil?
Yahoo.com: Seven shocking ways to visualize the Gulf oil spill
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Comments
grandpa1950 — May 22 2010 06:28 PM
I know that this may sound simplistic, but we are the nation that landed men on the moon and brought them home safely. Yes, the oil is coming from a great depth and under great pressure, but I cannot understand that back up plans were never orchastrated for an event of this nature. We know where it is and its destination is up. Is BP working in conjunction with other oil companies and their engineers to get a fix on this or are all of the other companies at as big a loss as to what to do and sitting back and saying, thank God it wasn't our rig.