Oil From Spill Is Reported to Have Reached the Coast

[Right Lane Cruiser]

Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana declared a state of emergency and to request the participation of the National Guard in response efforts.

Campbell Robertson - NYTIMES - April 30, 2010

Is it already too late? --Ed.

NEW ORLEANS —Coast Guard officials were investigating reports early Friday morning that oil from a massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico had washed ashore overnight, threatening fisheries and wildlife in fragile marshes and islands along the Gulf Coast.

Officials had not confirmed whether any tentacles of the oil slick had actually touched land, but Petty Officer Shawn Eggert of the United States Coast Guard said that officials were planning a flyover Friday morning to assess how the oil was moving, and whether it was making landfall.

As the oil crept closer to shore on Thursday, the response to the spill intensified abruptly, with the federal government intervening more aggressively.

Resources from the United States Navy were marshaled to supplement an operation that already consisted of more than 1,000 people and scores of vessels and aircraft.

Calling it “a spill of national significance” which could threaten coastline in several states, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced the creation of a second command post in Mobile, Ala., in addition to the one in Louisiana, to manage potential coastal impact in Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar ordered an... [Read More]

[noflash]

This is heartbreaking. I just read Obama banned any new offshore drilling "until they figure out what happened". Does this make him a flip-flopper?

I hope the outrage from this permanently halts new drilling. I also hope it spotlights the valuable and fragile wetlands of the gulf coast that we have been neglecting.

nf

[PaleMelanesian]

Drill, baby, drill!

Conserve, baby, conserve is what we should be saying.

[rhwinger]

"Asked whether the Coast Guard had confidence in BP’s efforts, Admiral Landry said, “BP, from Day 1, has attempted to be very responsive and be a very responsible spiller.”

Somehow, this didn't quite come out right?

[southerncannuck]

Not that I endorse profanity -- "Every a$#*%*e who ever chanted 'Drill baby drill' should have to report to the Gulf coast today for cleanup duty" -Bill Maher, on Twitter http://twitter.com/billmaher

[Blackbelt]

Bill Maher is an idiot.

Has anyone come up with a definitive cause of this disaster?
What would happen if it were determined to be sabotage?

[southerncannuck]

I agree that Maher is an idiot, and yes there is a definitive cause for this disaster. Commuting to work in a pick up truck, driving around in a 6,000# SUV, driving at high speed, insisting on 300 plus horsepower, not putting money in mass transit.....I could go on. We are the problem We create the demand.

[phoebeisis]

Hey, I favor drilling off CA FLA and the east coast.
No, I absolutely KNOW that we can't drill our way to energy or oil self sufficiency. We use 20,000,000 barrels/day- produce maybe 8,000,000-no way we can make up that deficit.

Now I do think we can conserve and boost efficiency and switch cars to wind/nukes power to the extent that we could use just 8,000,000 day someday. If we had the capacity to easily pump 8,000,000 or more then we could drive the price down enough that it would make sense to NOT PUMP OURS, and buy cheaper foreign oil giving those enemy economies just enough business to keep the taps open, but not enough for excess military spending(building NUKES). Maybe we could import 800,000 b/d (10%0 - not the current 12,000,000/d 60%.

It is necessary for other states to drill/pump so they get a bit of the energy producing pain-or at least the threat of disaster.

If there isn't any pain-other than $4/gal what is the motivation for say affluent folks in the NE(the Mercedes liberals who are trying to block the Cape Cod wind farm) to use less energy?? Plunk a rig off their coast-let them have that ruin their view-maybe they will turn off the lights!!

Yes, pump everywhere in the USA. Great motivator to conserve.Let them see the alternative to a wind farm-an oil rig.
Affluent folks have no motivation to conserve-$4/gal is nothing.Ruin the view for EVERYONE. Global warming or not-the coastal folks need to share the energy producing burden.
Charlie

[southerncannuck]

Charlie, the problem I have with drilling in the ocean is that mistakes are a lot harder to contain, and they truly become disasters.

[Earthling]

Originally Posted by Blackbelt

Bill Maher is an idiot.

Has anyone come up with a definitive cause of this disaster?

The "blowout preventer" didn't work:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/29/sto...eak/index.html

The blowout preventer -- a 48-foot-tall, 450-ton apparatus that sits atop the well 5,000 feet underwater -- will stop the flow if crews can get it to work. The device -- owned by the rig's owner, Transocean -- should have activated on the day of the blast, Tony Hayward, CEO of BP Group, told CNN's Brian Todd in an interview Wednesday.

Suttles said Thursday that workers aboard Transocean's rig, before it sank, tried to manually activate the blowout preventer.

"We actually don't know why the blowout preventer has failed to stop the flow," Suttles said. "Ultimately we'll recover [it] ... and we'll find out, but that could be quite some time."

It should be possible to have a remote "robot" turn the valve and crank it closed, stopping oil flow. For some reason, this has not worked. Perhaps some debris from the well is keeping the valve from closing.

In the old days, "blind rams" were used as blowout preventers. These were hydraulic rams that would come together to pinch off well casing and shut down a well.

Every single one of us who uses gasoline is partly responsible for this disaster, and especially those of us who use way more than reasonable by driving an oversized FSP hulk, and/or ramming and jamming instead of hypermiling.

Harry

PS: Transocean's stock price, symbol "RIG," is down a bunch, as expected