Posts from — July 2010

Jim Morin is an editorial cartoonist at the Miami Herald. He has branched out to doing animations. His latest, Oil and the Pelican, is 30 seconds well spent if you can view video without a problem.

The sound is a real clip from a May 31, 2010 news conference, all too familiar to those of us on the Coast paying attention. The effect is brutally honest… and I approve this message [as the politicians say, with the difference that I won’t attempt to disown it if someone has a hissy fit.]

The oil is flowing freely out of the Well from Hell as BP has removed their current jury-rigged cap and is unbolting the top of the blow-out preventer to attach a “new and improved” version that is supposed to carry all of the oil up to waiting vessels at the surface.

McClatchy reports on this development – Is it almost over? BP will try to stop oil flow next week

WASHINGTON — In a dramatic turn of events, the Obama administration has given BP the go-ahead to remove the containment cap atop the runaway Deepwater Horizon oil well and replace it with a tighter fitting one in an attempt to stop all the oil now flowing into the Gulf of Mexico, perhaps as soon as the middle of next week.

If successful, no oil would gush into the Gulf of Mexico for the first time since soon after the Deepwater Horizon exploded in flames on April 20.

Thad Allen, the Obama administration’s point man on the oil spill, said Friday that the current containment cap will be removed on Saturday and that installation of the new one would begin three or four days later.

This would probably have worked it it had been done immediately, but it is highly probable that oil is exiting the shaft to the same layers that caused problems during the drilling, and have allowed mud to escape when they tried “top kill”.

BP still hasn’t explained what the second pipe is doing inside the riser, and where it came from. Some have said that it is a section of the drilling pipe that dropped down when the Deepwater Horizon sank and broke the plumbing to the surface, but others suspect that it was casing that was pushed up from down in the well shaft. The ROVs have to tie the two pipes together so the new cap can be lowered in place.

Uruguay [La Celeste] versus Germany [Die Mannschaft]

While this is ostensibly a game to determine third and fourth places in the Cup, it is really a test of the ability of both teams to bounce back after losses.

Currently tied 1-1 in the first half.

Uruguay [La Celeste] 2-3 Germany [Die Mannschaft]

Die Mannschaft kept control of the ball and had more opportunities to score. They had control of the ball 58% of the time and scored 60% of the total goals.

Tournus – Station des Rousses

Distance: 165.5 kilometers.

Throw in a couple of climbs and things change. Sylvain Chavanel won his second stage and the yellow jersey again. A lot of people who have been in the top 10 have slipped well back in the pack.

Robbie McEwen “was left nursing a sore back, which required a hospital visit, when he crashed just after the finish line after a television cameraman got in his way.” Robbie slipped from 23 to 98. Some would have been because of the climbs, but you can’t ride well with a sore back.

1 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra-QST-131) [Yellow]
2 Cadel Evans (Aus-BMC-121)
3 Ryder Hesjedal (Can-GRM-054)
4 Andy Schleck (Lux-SAX-011) [White]
5 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz-AST- 009 )
6 Alberto Contador (Esp-AST- 001 )
7 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel-SIL-101)
8 Nicolas Roche (Irl-ALM-081)
9 Johan Van Summeren (Bel-GRM-058)
10 Denis Menchov (Rus-RAB-191)
11 Bradley Wiggins (GBr-SKY-031)
12 Roman Kreuziger (Cze-LIQ-044)
13 Luis-Leon Sanchez (Esp-GCE-161)
14 Lance Armstrong (USA-RSH-021)
15 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe-SKY-037)
16 Rafael Valls Ferri (Esp-FTS-219)
17 Levi Leipheimer (USA-RSH-025)
18 Juan Manuel Garate (Esp-RAB-194)
19 Janez Brajkovic (Slo-RSH-022)
20 Michael Rogers (Aus-THR-118)

43 Jérôme Pineau (Fra-QST- 135 ) [Polka Dot – 44 points] [Red numbers]
94 Thor Hushovd (Nor-CTT-095) [Green -118 points]

31 Geraint Thomas (GBr-SKY-039)
58 Fabian Cancellara (Sui-SAX-013)
73 David Millar (GBr-GRM-057)
98 Robbie McEwen (Aus-KAT-075)

Astana ( 001-009 ) [Yellow numbers]

They’ve gone 1,380.4 kilometers [857.7 miles] at an average speed of 41.8 kph [26.0 mph].

BP keeps telling people how they are going to make things “right”, that they are going to spend whatever it takes to clean up the oil and to reimburse all “legitimate” claims.

They are so concerned that people know how concerned they are that they are spending millions to tell the public. Mother Jones noticed: BP’s Big Ad Buys: At least $5.6 Million

Greenpeace kept track of BP’s ads throughout June and came up with a rundown of how much they likely cost. The company ran 12 ads in the Times, 15 in the Washington Post, and 11 in USA Today.

They also ran full page ads in the local newspapers along the Gulf Coast, with the notable exception of the Pensacola Independent News, which refused the ads, believing that the money would be better spent cleaning up the oil.

It’s “spare no expense” when it comes to the media, but people who have been impacted are seeing something different.

The Local Puppy Trainer wrote about a local business owner: Shalimar Yacht Basin owner: ‘I’m dying’

In the 10 years Steve Peterson has owned the Shalimar Yacht Basin, his business has survived five hurricanes and even more tropical storms.

But none of that compares to the devastating financial impact the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is having on his business. Peterson has lost 38 percent of his income, and 117 of the boats once stored at his facility have been removed by their owners and taken to fresh water locations unthreatened by the oil.

So, Peterson sent in a claim to BP with records to show his loss of $88,000, and they sent him a check for $5,000. To relieve some of the pressure on his business, Peterson contacted the Small Business Administration about converting his existing SBA loan from 7% to a 4% disaster loan, after the President announced that SBA disaster loans were available. The SBA turned him down because there was no physical damage to his business. [I have no idea what the SBA would consider “physical damage” from an oil spill.]

Montargis – Gueugnon

Distance: 227.5 kilometers.

This is longest stage in the Tour, and Mark Cavendish’s second stage win in row, which has moved him up from 107^th to …. 107^th place. Last year Mark won six stages, more than anyone else, and ended in 131^st place. In contrast, Fabian Cancellara, won the 8.9 kilometer Prologue, and has finished in the top 10 only once since, but was only out of the yellow jersey for one stage.

1 Fabian Cancellara (Sui-SAX- 013 ) [Yellow]
2 Geraint Thomas (GBr-SKY-039) [White]
3 Cadel Evans (Aus-BMC-121)
4 Ryder Hesjedal (Can-GRM-054)
5 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra-QST-131)
6 Andy Schleck (Lux-SAX- 011 )
7 Thor Hushovd (Nor-CTT-095) [Green -118 points]
8 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz-AST-009)
9 Alberto Contador (Esp-AST-001)
10 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel-SIL-101)
11 Nicolas Roche (Irl-ALM-081)
12 Johan Van Summeren (Bel-GRM-058)
13 Denis Menchov (Rus-RAB-191)
14 Bradley Wiggins (GBr-SKY-031)
15 David Millar (GBr-GRM-057)
16 Roman Kreuziger (Cze-LIQ-044)
17 Luis-Leon Sanchez (Esp-GCE-161)
18 Lance Armstrong (USA-RSH-021)
19 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Esp-GCE-169)
20 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe-SKY-037)

82 Jérôme Pineau (Fra-QST-135) [Polka Dot – 13 points]
107 Mark Cavendish (GBr-THR-111) – stage winner
145 Mathieu Perget (Fra-GCE- 167 ) [Red numbers]

Saxo Bank ( 011-019 ) [Yellow numbers]

They’ve gone 1,214.9 kilometers [754.9 miles] at an average speed of 42.4 kph [26.4 mph].

It’s the Jura foothills tomorrow, and the Alps after that, as the sprinters are replaced by the climbers.

Prelude to Attack

Yawn ——— Ready, Set…

[Editor: When I took the picture of Sleepy that I used two weeks ago, I missed Pita in the background. It’s hard to see at this resolution but Pita is staring intently (as in, intent to do bodily harm) and I have no doubt that as soon as I left there was an attack.]

Friday Ark

The Pensacola News Journal has a couple of Florida political stories that will really annoy Republicans: Gov. Crist calls special session for oil drilling ban this month

Rubio supporters in the House and Senate have blasted Crist for what they see as political grandstanding on the issue. They note that Florida law already prohibits offshore drilling in state waters and that a special session will cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars a day.

Crist denied that he is playing politics.

He noted that speaker-designate Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, and Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Melbourne, nearly passed legislation repealing the offshore drilling ban in 2009, with the help of powerful and anonymous industry backers.

“Politics has nothing to do with this,” Crist said. “This has everything to do with doing what’s right for a place that I love. I love Florida and I know it’s already barred statutorily but I also know that just a year ago they tried to change that statute and drill holes three miles off the coast of Florida and that’s why it’s the will of the people that should be heard on this.”

Charlie, it wasn’t just a year ago, it was also this Spring, and they didn’t pull the bill to open the coast to drilling until after the Well from Hell blew up. They tried to sneak it in without debate because it was backed by the Republican leadership in the legislature.

This is good news: Judge: Lawmakers’ redistricting amendment can’t go on ballot.

A citizens’ group has two amendments, 5 & 6, on the November ballot that will change the way the state does redistricting. For some reason they believe that districts should be compact and all parts contiguous, rather that the current flights of fancy that have a tendency to come out of the legislature.

To avoid these restrictions the legislature passed amendment 7 for the ballot which was designed to negate everything in amendments 5 & 6. Alas, their intent was a bit too obvious for this judge to buy. They will appeal, but the forces of good won the first round.

The BBC reports that a Solar-powered plane lands safely after 26-hour flight

An experimental solar-powered aircraft launched on Wednesday has landed safely in Switzerland after successfully flying through the night.

The feat is a step toward the makers’ aim of circling the globe using the power of the Sun to fuel the plane.

The aircraft used super-efficient solar cells and batteries to stay in the air after the Sun’s rays had faded.

The plane touched down at an airfield about 30 miles (50 km) from the Swiss capital Bern at 0900 (0700 GMT).

The plane landed at Payerne airport after a total flight time of 26 hours.

During the flight it reached a height of 8,700 m (28,543 ft).
…

The designers, the Solar Impulse team led by Mr Borschberg and fellow aviator Bertrand Piccard, say that this proves that a plane can be kept in the air around the clock.

Here’s their web site.

Bertrand Piccard is the third generation of a family that goes higher, lower, and further in balloons and deep submersibles than anyone else in the world. His grandfather, Auguste, held the balloon altitude record; his father, Jacques, still holds the records for the deepest dive in the ocean; and Bertrand was the first solo balloonist to circumnavigate the earth.

Epernay – Montargis

Distance: 187.5 kilometers.

The sprinters got a workout on this run through champagne country, but the same people are still wearing the jerseys, and Saxo Bank still has yellow numbers.

1 Fabian Cancellara (Sui-SAX-013) [Yellow]
2 Geraint Thomas (GBr-SKY-039) [White]
3 Cadel Evans (Aus-BMC-121)
4 Ryder Hesjedal (Can-GRM-054)
5 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra-QST-131)
6 Andy Schleck (Lux-SAX-011)
7 Thor Hushovd (Nor-CTT-095) [Green -102 points]
8 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz-AST-009)
9 Alberto Contador (Esp-AST-001)
10 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel-SIL-101)
11 Nicolas Roche (Irl-ALM-081)
12 Johan Van Summeren (Bel-GRM-058)
13 Denis Menchov (Rus-RAB-191)
14 Bradley Wiggins (GBr-SKY-031)
15 David Millar (GBr-GRM-057)
16 Roman Kreuziger (Cze-LIQ-044)
17 Luis-Leon Sanchez (Esp-GCE-161)
18 Lance Armstrong (USA-RSH-021)
19 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe-SKY-037)
20 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Esp-GCE-169)

83 Jérôme Pineau (Fra-QST-135) [Polka Dot – 13 points]

49 José Ivan Gutierrez (Esp-GCE-164) [Red numbers]

They’ve gone 987.4 kilometers [613.5 miles] at an average speed of 42.9 kph [26.7 mph]. The averages are down a bit as those sprints require recovery.

Position: 26.2N 97.2W [10 AM CDT 1500 UTC].
Movement: Northwest [305°] near 15 mph [24 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 35 mph [55 kph].
Wind Gusts: 45 mph [70 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1007 mb.

It is 25 miles [45 km] Northeast of Brownsville, Texas.

At 10:15AM CDT it was reported coming ashore. It just popped up off the mouth of the Rio Bravo/Rio Grande this morning. Its main impact will be to cause the floods in the river valley from Alex to get worse as it supplies more rain, and to aggravate the flooding along the Texas coast North to Louisiana.

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.]

The winds and waves are pushing the oil further west, washing tarballs ashore on Texas beaches, which leaves only Mexico and Cuba to complete the set of people with Gulf beaches.

The beach clean-up is garbage. Every time the tide comes in the oil under the sand rises and stains the beach anew. There are reports that in some places contractors are just moving clean sand over the top of the dirty to hide the problem. That, of course, just increases the total amount of sand that is contaminated.

The Pensacola News Journal carries a report on part of the problem: Oil buried in sand hidden from easy cleanup.

BP is still stalling paying for the clean-up. Rick Outzen writes about one of their gimmicks: BP says county boom contracts excessive

BP Incident Commander Bryant Chapman sent Florida DEP Secretary Mike Sole an email on June 30 regarding a request for reimbursement of $3.5 million of the operational costs incurred by Escambia County that were “above and beyond the costs covered by the $50 million granted to the state of Florida.” Chapman gave Sole a list of expenditures that BP would not reimburse.
…

Chapman wrote DEP: “Boom was contracted at rates above market levels and used a rental agreement versus the preferred method of purchasing.”

Yes, purchasing boom is probably cheaper than leasing it, but the contracts also cover installation and maintenance. Local counties don’t have the skills, equipment, or manpower needed for oil booms, nor would a county purchasing department know what the market price of booms was. Local counties in Florida, which has no off-shore oil wells, don’t have the experience to deal with the problem, so they have to hire outside companies. If BP didn’t want to pay for it, they should not have screwed up and had the well blow out. BP caused the problem, and they are responsible for the costs of their pollution.

Germany [Die Mannschaft] 0-0 Spain [La Furia Roja] at the end of the first half.

Not exactly the sort of high scoring game that has characterized Die Mannschaft, but they tend to wake up for the second half. La Roja definitely has more elegant ball handling, but that isn’t getting anything netted.

More later.

Final: Germany 0-1 Spain

Puyol of Spain headed one past Germany’s goalie, Neuer, off a corner kick and La Roja face the Oranje in the Final.

Cambrai – Reims

Distance: 153.5 kilometers.

Team managers and senior riders obviously decided that today would be a time to take it easy after surviving the cobblestones because there were no changes in much of anything including jerseys, although from the looks of pictures from yesterday, a number of people are wearing new helmets, and no few bandages.

1 Fabian Cancellara (Sui-SAX-013) [Yellow]
2 Geraint Thomas (GBr-SKY-039) [White]
3 Cadel Evans (Aus-BMC-121)
4 Ryder Hesjedal (Can-GRM-054)
5 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra-QST-131)
6 Andy Schleck (Lux-SAX-011)
7 Thor Hushovd (Nor-CTT-095) [Green – 80 points]
8 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz-AST-009)
9 Alberto Contador (Esp-AST-001)
10 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel-SIL-101)
11 Nicolas Roche (Irl-ALM-081)
12 Johan Van Summeren (Bel-GRM-058)
13 Denis Menchov (Rus-RAB-191)
14 Bradley Wiggins (GBr-SKY-031)
15 David Millar (GBr-GRM-057)
16 Roman Kreuziger (Cze-LIQ-044)
17 Luis-Leon Sanchez (Esp-GCE-161)
18 Lance Armstrong (USA-RSH-021)
19 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe-SKY-037)
20 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Esp-GCE-169)

83 Jérôme Pineau (Fra-QST-135) [Polka Dot – 13 points]
156 Dimitri Champion (Fra-ALM-083) [Red numbers]
Saxo Bank has the yellow numbers

So far the Tour has traveled 799.9 kilometers [497.0 miles] at an average speed of 43.3 kph [26.9 mph]. Only 35 minutes, 32 seconds separate the first rider to the last, and Rojas is only 2 minutes, 35 seconds behind Cancellara.