Posts from — June 2010

The Newport News, Virginia Daily Press has an article on one that is billed as the world’s largest: Giant oil skimmer makes stop in Norfolk on way to Gulf cleanup

NORFOLK — A giant tanker billed as the world’s largest oil skimming vessel will sail Friday to the Gulf of Mexico after a brief stop at the Port of Hampton Roads, with no guarantee it will be allowed to assist in oil-cleanup efforts.

The Taiwanese-owned ship, dubbed the “A Whale,” is one of the world’s largest supertankers at 1,115 feet in length and a nearly 200 foot beam. It was converted last week at a Portuguese shipyard to skim oil off surface waters.

The six-month-old, Liberian-flagged A Whale is designed to work 20 to 50 miles offshore where other, smaller skimmers have trouble navigating and ingest oily water into 12, 16-foot-long intake vents on both sides of its bow.

The vessel needs approval from the EPA and Coast Guard.

The EPA and Coast Guard aren’t the problem, the problem is BP agreeing to using the ship. Since it is so large, it will probably be expensive, which disqualifies it in BP’s plan. There are other large skimmers in the world, and BP hasn’t contracted with any of them. If they bring up the “Jones Act”, that is just bogus. There are no comparable US vessels, so it isn’t competing with anyone.

McClatchy reports what everyone who has been following the oil forecasts already knew: No skimmers in sight as oil floods into Mississippi waters.

But it did bring the governor back to the state for a change: As oil threatens Mississippi, Barbour at GOP fundraisers

BILOXI, Miss. — Gov. Haley Barbour rushed back to Mississippi from Washington early on Friday upon news that large amounts of oil is threatening the Coast, and said his national political work is not distracting him from guiding the Magnolia State through the BP disaster.

Barbour on Thursday held Washington fund-raisers for the Republican Governors Association, which he heads, and for one of his political action committees, which is raising money for GOP congressional candidates. His fund-raising is receiving some national media attention and fueling speculation that he is already gearing up for a run for president in 2012.

BP controls the money, so they allocate the resources, and they don’t do anything without a written report, as Pensacola found out. Many of the people complaining would raise hell if the Federal government just took over by requiring BP to set up another escrow fund.

Jimmy Buffett doesn’t even live on the Mississippi Coast any more but he helps out: Jimmy Buffett and friends present unique animal-rescue SWAT boat to USM

Called SWAT, for Shallow Water Attention Terminal, the shallow-draft boat boasts a silent electric motor contributed by Evinrude.

A canopy – built to 7 feet to accommodate 6-foot 7-inch research lab professor Jim Franks – provides protection from the sun, Jimbo Meador told a crowd of about 30 people gathered for the event that included christening, blessing by the Rev. Chris Cumbest and launch.

The vessel is 17 feet long and can easily carry three to four people, plus numerous animals.

The vessel delivery was followed by a reception on the beach. The lab plans to start using it in the marshes and estuaries of south Mississippi in the next several weeks, according to USM.

Jimmy is helping to rescue birds, while Haley Barbour is out-of-state raising money for Republican politicians. Maybe if the governor of Mississippi had spent a little time at the meetings on the problems and stopped complaining about people who criticize the oil industry, the state would be in better shape.

Good day for South America, and bad day for Asia as Uruguay beats the Republic of Korea 2-1 in the first game and heads to the quarter finals.

La Celeste hold their own in the very tough South American CONMEBOL, which has five teams in Stage Two.

I’ll update with the United States v. Ghana results later.

Well, they took it to overtime, but the final is United States 1-2 Ghana, so Africa has a team in the quarter finals of the first World Cup in Africa.

With Mexico facing Argentina tomorrow, things don’t look good for CONCACAF representation, but El Tri have beaten La Albiceleste before.

Position: 17.7N 88.4W [10 PM CST 0300 UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [290°] near 12 mph [19 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 65 mph [ 95 kph].
Wind Gusts: 70 mph [110 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 105 miles [165 km].
Minimum central pressure: 997 mb ↑.

It is 20 miles [30 km] Northwest of Belize City on shore.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the coast of Belize, the East Coast of the Yucatan Peninsula from Chetumal to Cancun, Mexico.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Team	Group	Points	Matches				Goals
			Played	Won	Tied	Lost	For	Against	Difference
	C	5	3	1	2	0	4	3	1
	C	5	3	1	2	0	2	1	1
	D	6	3	2	0	1	5	1	4
	D	4	3	1	1	1	3	6	-3
	E	9	3	3	0	0	5	1	4
	H	4	3	1	1	1	1	1	0

–
Well, four of the six made it through in the end, which is better than last time, but that will be short lived as Germany and England face each other on the second day of the knockout games.

Stage 2 Knockout [two games per day]

Uruguay – Republic of Korea
United States – Ghana

Argentina – Mexico
Germany – England

Netherlands – Slovakia
Brazil – Chile

Paraguay – Japan
Spain – Portugal

We now have a tropical depression added to the mix of problems in the Gulf. If it looks like it is going anywhere near the Well from Hell, they are going to be forced to shut down operations, including the relief well drilling, and wait it out.

Rick Outzen admits what some of us have known: We have lost our beach. He was shown that picking up the stuff on top may make things look better, but there is plenty of oil just below the sand. The sand acts like a filter, and even oil that you can’t see gets trapped as it passes through the sand. BP has no intention of cleaning up anything but the most obvious oil, which is why it spent so much on dispersants.

A lot of people [Corrente, Ellroon] are linking to the video of Kindra Arensen, but Susie’s version, What’s Going On In The Gulf, includes a transcript, and separate CNN video from an earlier interview she did.

You will note that Ms Arensen gave Fox News a free tour, but Fox hasn’t reported on it. It’s pretty interesting doing a search on “Kindra Arensen Fox” as all of these rightwing blogs keep saying things like “Fox should be all over this”, or “Beck should cover this”. Not going to happen.

Ms Arensen tells you what you should have figured out for yourselves – BP is out to spend the absolute minimum it can get away with, and couldn’t care less about what happens to anyone but themselves and their shareholders.

Position: 16.7N 84.4 W [10 PM CST 0300 UTC].
Movement: West Northwest [295°] near 9 mph [15 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 35 mph [55 kph].
Wind Gusts: 45 mph [70 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1004 mb.

It is 255 miles [415 km] East Southeast of Belize City.

A Tropical Storm warning is in effect for the coast of Belize and and the East Coast of the Yucatan Peninsula from Chetumal to Cancun, Mexico.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Tom McLaughlin is a reporter for the Local Puppy Trainer who has been having all the fun lately by covering the legal problems of our politicians. He has a blog on their website on which he announces: “I cover lawyers, politicians and salamanders. If it ain’t slimy I want nothing to do with it.”

His most recent post asks the burning question: Are BP executives from outer space?

Walton County Sheriff Mike Adkinson asked [BP vice president Bryant] Chapman if he could get an assurance that, in the event he gets tar balls on his beaches and there isn’t any BP crew around to pick it up, BP would be willing to pick up the tab when Adkinson sends out his public works people without going through “proper channels.”

Chapman nodded his head in the fashion universally known to mean yes. Then he said … “No.”

It is all about money, and BP controls the money. Because of all of the budgetary restrictions that Republicans have imposed on local governments, they can’t spend a penny that they don’t have in the bank. Everyone’s emergency fund is at or near empty, so they are stuck waiting for BP to reimburse them before they can do anything else. As long as BP controls the money, governments can’t do what they think they should.

Final Round

In Group G:

Portugal 0-0 Brazil
DPR Korea 0-3 Côte d’Ivoire

—

This was a very tough draw for Côte d’Ivoire, who played well. Brazil is obviously prepared to take the Cup with them and have it in place when they host in 2014.

In Group H:

Chile 1-2 Spain
Switzerland 0-0 Honduras

—

Alas the Nati just couldn’t get it done. Of course they would have had to win by at least 2 goals to get through, but they remained a moderate in all areas with a one in almost every column.

It Moves!!

I need coffee, maybe?

[Editor: Sleepy does do things other than sleep, just not very energetically until the sun is down.]

Friday Ark

While Pensacola Beach is under heavy assault, and tarballs are arriving at Destin and points East in Walton County, the beach on the Island from Navarre east to the Pass has been spared.

Okaloosa County has joined Walton County in issuing a health warning, advising people not to enter the Gulf where the tarballs are coming ashore.

Rick Outzen wants to know: Do you see it, too? “Every time a BP exec comes to Pensacola whatever he says ‘blows up’ the next day.”

The consistency of this is rather amazing. Whatever BP says, you know the polar opposite should occur within a day.

The editorial board of the Local Puppy Trainer is getting annoyed: Don’t sing the blues for BP. They can’t believe that there are people who live here who believe that BP is being “oppressed” by all of the criticism. Of course they quote Vince Bruner as one of those who thinks that BP is getting a bad rap.

Apparently Vince is now calling himself a “hotelier”, which indicates he got stuck with a project he couldn’t sell. A lot of history is involved, but I would check if Vince said the sky was blue.

The clean up that BP “has organized” for the beaches is brainless. They should be working at night, not during the heat of the day. Not only does it reduce the heat stroke/exhaustion problems, the cooler the oil the easier it is to pick up.

Of course I would be using one of my favorite yard tools ever, the Miller Dura Fork. It is sold for cleaning horse stalls, but it great for raking and loading all sorts of things other than manure. The head is a polycarbonate plastic that is tough, flexible, and lightweight and it comes with a 52″ handle. Think of a giant cat litter scoop. [Note: Miller did not give me the tool, and I don’t need a new one, I just like it a lot.]

Final Round

In Group F:

Slovakia 3-2 Italy
Paraguay 0-0 New Zealand

—

Blue is not a good color for European teams as the Azzurri follow the Bleus to the planes headed North.

The All Whites have a solid defense and four years to develop their offense.

Oh, I have no idea why the Group F teams played before Group E.

In Group E:

Denmark 1-3 Japan
Cameroon 1-2 Netherlands

—

The Oranje seem to be having a good time and winning without drama. Japan-Denmark was the hardest fought game in the group, and the Japanese came out on top.

No, not the one in Casablanca, Rick Outzen’s blog in Pensacola.

Rick writes about the continuing “failure to communicate” – BP fails Pensacola Beach

On the day the Pensacola News Journal gives front-page coverage to BP exec Doug Suttles, who assures readers that there is no oil near the shores of Pensacola Beach, the beach is covered with oil.

There was a complete breakdown in communication, yet again, from BP and the Unified Command Center in Mobile. Despite DEP and local officials sending the UCC photos of our white sand covered with mats of oil and several phone calls asking for help, the fellows in Mobile, Ala. wouldn’t send more help until a written report was filled out and sent to them.

I’m not kidding. BP and the Coast Guard wanted a written report before they would do anything. It finally took the Coast Guard admiral to drove over from Mobile for more equipment to be dispatched.

They keep warehousing stuff in strange places that move it away from where it’s needed. The maps are constantly updated and you can see where the oil is headed, so why doesn’t someone have it moved to where it is needed, before it is needed? What in hell kind of “expertise” is this?

Rick also noted that our Temp-Senator is making speeches: LeMieux is upset about Pensacola Beach .

LeMieux is operating under the delusion that the reason there aren’t more skimmers available is the 1920 Johes Act, and wants the Feds to issue a waiver. There’s no need for a waiver. Skimmers aren’t moving cargo from one US port to another.

Apparently LeMieux can’t figure out that the Deepwater Horizon was built in Korea, flagged in the Marshall Islands, and owned by a Swiss corporation, so the Jones Act obviously doesn’t apply. Whoever [BP?] told him that it did, was looking for an excuse not to spend money on more skimmers.

The Local Puppy Trainer notes that: No swimming on 6 miles of Walton beaches, health dept. says

While Pensacola got its worst oil impacts to date Tuesday, health officials in Walton County issued an advisory asking people not to swim on 6 miles of beach stretching from Miramar Beach to the east end of Topsail State Park.

Actually they advise that anyone not fit enough to run a marathon to avoid the air on the Gulf, but in a very tourist friendly fashion. They are getting masses of tarballs, and the air smells like one of those quick oil-change operations.

CNN highlights a major problem for fighting the spill: Frustrated Florida Panhandle counties find BP’s checks not in the mail

We have no money to fight the oil, but we do have money for a free concert:

In an effort to draw crowds to Okaloosa County beaches, the Emerald Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau will start a free concert series called “Rock the Beach” this Sunday, June 27, at the Boardwalk.

The bureau signed the Doobie Brothers to the 5 p.m. concert last Friday and added Kenny Loggins to the bill Monday night.

This is what Republicans do to government. Money is locked into specific functions and can’t be moved to do things that need to be done. The tourist development council has money, but they can’t give it to the emergency management people to fight the oil. School districts may have money to build schools that they don’t need, but can’t use it to pay teachers that they do need.

Republican politicians tell us that you have to do this because politicians are crooks and liars. Voters never seem to analyze the meaning of that statement.

So, we can’t implement the protections we want, and have approval for, because we have to wait for BP to cut us a check, but we can hold free concerts to attract people to the beach we can’t protect.