More Oil Arriving
First off, Pensacola Pass was closed at 7PM CDT tonight to block any oil entering overnight. This has been expected all day because of the entry of oil through Perdido Pass with the tide, and the fact that there is a Huge plume of weathered oil 9 miles south of Pensacola Pass
A large plume of weathered oil has been found nine miles south of Pensacola Pass. The plume is two miles wide and goes south for 40 miles, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
An additional plume of non-weathered oil has been verified six miles south of Escambia County, the DEP said in a press release.
The communications screw-up over Perdido Pass is just the latest problem that is causing the officials from many of the counties on the Florida Panhandle to talk openly about a split from oil unified command, and is causing state officials to start talking about demanding that BP put a significant amount of money into an escrow account to cover the costs of defending the state from the slimy assault of BP’s Well from Hell.
This new wave of oil is the rusty-brown “mousse”, rather than the black weathered tar balls. As the Pensacola Beach Blogger noted, the new stuff looks a bit too much like chocolate. He is concerned with children who find it putting it in their mouths.
A lot of people [alas, not including me until now] have realized that the large litter box scoops are an effective way of picking up tar balls. I would think that “pooper scoopers” would also work without as much bending over, and either would be more effective than picking it up by hand.
8 comments
40 miles LONG! These plumes are just huge, aren’t they?
What am I saying? Of course they are – this well has been billowing out crude and gas for over a month and a half.
Has any of the rusty-brown stuff gotten to your beaches yet?
We’ve gone from the black to the chocolate tar balls, but it’s only a matter of time because the oil is still pouring out. This stuff is already in the water, so, even if they stop the flow tomorrow, it is going to come ashore. The only thing that would save the beaches now is a week of wind out of the Northeast, and that isn’t likely to happen unless a tropical storm pops up and goes ashore to the East of us.
The best we can hope for is to keep it out of the bays and wetlands.
And there just seems to be no end to it.
You were right all along, BP is more concerned with retrieving the oil than they are with keeping the Gulf safe. That’s where the money is. That pipe won’t shut down until they’ve figured out how to get all that oil in their pockets. They’re going to need it for the lawsuits.
We’ve gone from the black to the chocolate tar balls,
more like the melted chocolate gloop globs, id say.
Juanita, they just don’t understand what this looks like to everyone else. They keep altering their PR without solving the problem. The whole effort would seem to be the result of someone saying that they might as well make some money while they wait for the relief well to be drilled.
Truth be told, I thought it looked more like a sign that you needed to change the cat food and make a vet appointment. That’s my reaction when I see it in a litter box.
I saw 60 Minutes last night and they did a special on the disaster. A news crew were alowwed for the first time into the area where the rig went down, and into the Louisiana swamps and mashes covered in miles of toxic oil and muck. The reporter created a blog about it:
Michael Usher: Oil ‘like melted tar’
I hope a video of the program becomes available, it should! It was quite powerful, and very sad. However, there is a full transcript available:
The Poison Tide
This about sums it up for me, from a Luisiana Shrimper and Restaurant owner:
A video would be better, her anger and disgust were very palpable and real.
And this:
I really hope BP and those other companies responsible, are destroyed.
I’d love to leave Hayward in a room with Arnesen!! He wouldn’t last a minute, and it would be just what he deserves. I know that every time I see his face, I wish I was there with my trusty old Weatherby! I’d very soon wipe the smug smile off!
And, yet, the politicians in Louisiana and Mississippi are now complaining about the moratorium. They haven’t stopped the leak and these fools think that more wells should be drilled – it boggles the mind.
Florida is looking at almost 200K lost jobs and over $10 billion in losses. We have never profited from the oil industry, but we are expected to put up with their mistakes? I don’t think so!
If British Tory politicians like the new PM, Cameron, and London mayor, Johnson, keep leaping to the defense of BP, people may decide that it isn’t just a problem with a corporation, but with a foreign government.
I have a news flash for the clowns trying to drum up sympathy for the BP shareholders – the system is called capitalism. You went for the profit, and now you have pay for the risk. BP has wiped out peoples’ businesses and way of life – they aren’t interested in the financial hardships of shareholders.