Oil Spill in Gulf

[greenheadgrimreaper]

It's clear nobody on this forum joins the tree hugger groups very often. It's a touch and go situation especially with southern sportsmen. We'll be responsible for alot of the cleanup-both the physical labor and through license sales. I can honestly say, I'd be happy to help through license sales. Not only do we all believe in domestic drilling but we are sportsmen too. That's what makes this situation harder for us moreso than any other group of people in the US.

On a lighter note, if there ever were any: Do you know that in the years after major oil spills fish and shellfish catches skyrocketed to record levels? The reason why is because oil is natural and it acts as a fertilizer to ocean microorganisms which in turns boosts the whole food chain. I know this is true for the open ocean, I would imagine it's alot different for a marsh only a few feet to inches deep. However the realist in me knows that you can paint a terd and it's still a terd, an oil covered terd.

[South Woods]

I listened to a first hand account of a guy on the rig when it blew, some of you may find it interesting. http://www.marklevinshow.com/Article.asp?id=1790422&spid=32364

There are two parts to the audio clip.

I continue to pray for God to place his hand as a barrier to this oil and our coast/water, and for everyone affected, I urge all of you to do the same.

[cwink]

Listened to Haley on the Gallow show this morning.. He seemed a bit more opptimistic. He said the oil slick is still 40 miles from the MS coast and that not a drop of oil has touched the MS or LA coast as of yet, and that 80% of the slick is just a thin shean that is "manageable" He said it is still a 50/50 chance that we may get through this with a minor cleanup effort..

[blgros1]

Well I'm not sure where he gets his info from, but from local sources down tha bayou, it has already come a shore along the la coast near Pass a loutre. Frankly i don't know who to believe, but i like the optimistic mind set, hope for the best and deal with the reality when/if we have to. there are so many rumors and what if's floating around here, it's hard to distinguish any trueth in all of it.

Listened to Haley on the Gallow show this morning.. He seemed a bit more opptimistic. He said the oil slick is still 40 miles from the MS coast and that not a drop of oil has touched the MS or LA coast as of yet, and that 80% of the slick is just a thin shean that is "manageable" He said it is still a 50/50 chance that we may get through this with a minor cleanup effort..

[Po Monkey Lounger]

Mottlet, you are right. There will be plenty of time later to determine what went wrong and how we can stop this from happening again in the future. And there will be plenty of bipartisan blame to go around.

My post was intended to suggest that IT IS PAST TIME for the feds to light a fire under their booty to get this problem solved. PRONTO. Prior hereto, there has appeared to be a low sense of urgency on the federal government's part. The apparent lack of direct involvment by our administration creates this perception. Obama finally saw fit to interupt his golf schedule to visit the Gulf Coast this weekend. THIS is the type of thing that I expect our government to be able to protect us from ---similar to its defense responsibilities. They need to start doing their jobs and help get this thing solved. We'll worry about the blame and politics later.

[Take 'em]

heard all commercial and rec fishing is closed from ms river to panhandle of fl now. is this true? have a fishing trip leaving out friday in destin. this could be a rumor as many of them are going around now. figured some on here would know personally

[Relentless]

ALL FEDERAL WATERS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI...to the florida line. As far as I know state waters are open.

Friend of mine has a seafood processing plant in Biloxi, they've seen over 100,000 lbs. of contaminated shrimp they had to turn away...

BP is contracting people down here...but requiring them to sign a contract. Guess what's in that contract?? A clause saying that they accept the contract as a substitute for loss of pay and releases BP from the liability...

[Jeff]

Yes I have seen a copy of the contract they are asking people to sign. It is unbelieveable that they are saying they won't be liable for any damages/injury to people working for them to clean up their mess. Of course I heard on the news last night that this is an "error" in their contract, if they were serious about helping the fishermen a contract would never have left their office with that in it.

As I understand it a fisherman from Louisiana has already filed suit against BP for this wording in their contract.

[Relentless]

Hey I can't blame anyone...the fisherman for suing, BP from trying to snake anyone...you have to see it from there side. it's part of the game in my opinion. I wouldn't be signing anything unless it was a large check from BP that needed my signature for the deposit into my new trust fund...

they said that the US Attorney Genral has issued a statement telling people to "be cautious" when signing any contract, because that is about all he's legally allowed to say. However, all contracts signed prior to the statement could possibly be null and void.

[Deltamud77]

I think this entire deal will ultimately bankrupt BP. It might take ten years for all of the litigation to finish but when the US government hands them a bill for several billion dollars in a year or two, it will be the beginning of the end.

Of course Obama and crew have been slow to react. It is a balancing act for them. First, you have red states being affected...do he gains nothing by a quick response. A slow response on the other hand means the disaster gets even worse providing more political capital to essentially take control over another vital industry (they have control over auto, banks and healthcare already). He knows the media will not hold his feet to the fire like they did Bush over Katrina.

As Rahm Emanuel says, "never waste a good crisis."

[the doctor]

I think this entire deal will ultimately bankrupt BP. It might take ten years for all of the litigation to finish but when the US government hands them a bill for several billion dollars in a year or two, it will be the beginning of the end.

you would think so but if history is any indicator look at Exxon...civil lawsuits started in the billions and ultimatley sttled in the millions

not sure what their liabiltiy was in terms of cleanup and the damage could certainly be more catastrophic given the area in which BP has spilled, but Exxon dumped a whole tanker in the ocean and Im not sure they even missed a beat, if they did they have certainly recovered nicely

the doc

[Deltamud77]

I read on another forum that the Germans sunk over 60 oil tankers in the waters off of Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas during WWII with no remediation efforts thereafter. Don't know this to be true and obviously do not know what "oil tanker" in the 1940s means, but if true, I found this to be interesting.

Also, I am finding out that the overhead maps of the spill are a bit deceiving...these maps depict the sheen (sp?) not a blacked out area of oil coverage.

No doubt this is going to be bad and that there are already financial consequences for many good people, but I have hope that God's engineering of the planet will aid in a quick remediation on the ecological side of things.

[Relentless]

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/bp-vo ... 60372.html

[MudHog]

In general u-boats targeted fuel ships and oil tankers in hopes that if the supply boats and tanks, etc didn't have fuel, then it would help the Germans win the war. Now, whether that took place as much in the Gulf, that I don't know.

The first German submarine was the U-1 and was built in 1905. During World War one The first country to employ submarines in World War one was Germany. During World War 2 Germany was dominating the “Battle of the Atlantic” until the allies developed new antisubmarine tactics. Their targets are usually oil tankers, fuel ships and merchant vessels. The next paragraph will tell why. Britain. A country that helps the allies and depends heavily on imported food. If the Germans can get to the merchant vessels Britain might lose and be under German rule and the allies might lose everything. That is a reason for German U-boats to destroy merchant vessels. The reason to destroy fuel ships and oil tankers is that if they can get that the allies can’t fuel their ships, planes etc. Fuel ships and Oil tankers are easy targets because if the fuel or oil catches fire the ship might explode. But the allies figured how to defeat them and sent out ships to attack them like when medieval England sent out a navy to find pirates.

[MudHog]

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/bp-voids-fishermens-cleanup-contracts-in-la-cites-660372.html

The document was merely a standard safety waiver - not a work contract, Kinnaird said.