Gulf of Mexico Oil Slick

[thunderfoot]

As I sit here writing this I can just catch a whiff of the smell of oil on the air. The slick and efforts to contain the damages are all anyone is speaking of down here. The slick is now the same size as the island of Puerto Rico and can be see as a distinct object from space. Several members of my extended family have made their living as commercial and for hire charter fishers. One of my very favorite ways to spend a Saturday is being about fifteen miles due south of Horn Island in a spot where the lemon fish seem to congregate to the point where they'll jump in the boat and fish with you. Mmmm. Lemon fish. Grilled over open coals with just a hint of garlic and salt and pepper. That's all done. The Gulf is closed for any type of fishing as of right now by the federal government. Katrina was bad. I lost a sister to her. But this will be far worse.

I'll try to get down to the seafront to take and post some pics for Y'all later on this week.

Believe it or not, there are some tiny little bits of good news about this incident. Over half the slick is a rainbow colored surface sheen. This will cause the dangerous compounds in the oil to be broken down rapidly or dispersed by natural causes, such as sunlight, wave action and wind. Further, this type of slick seldom creates a sheet completely across the water surface. The film is what prevents the aeration of the water and is the greatest danger to larvae of oysters, shrimp, and crabs. The oil from the well is a variety known as "light, sweet". While this is the refiners preferred choice for making fuels such as gasoline or diesel it also contains far less concentrations of the most dangerous naturally occurring compounds.

Whatever spin gets put on this, it is still a disaster which will create a great deal of hardship for the wildlife and the people whom depend on the wildlife for a living and the people who depend upon them and so on and so on... I saw on the news where the US government has stated British Petroleum will pay for this cleanup which is about three weeks away from equalling that of the Exxon Valdez in amount of oil spilled. But will they really? Does anyone think for one second they'll not pass the expense of this along to the consumer as quickly as possible?

The oil rig which exploded and sank and started all this was one of the most modern in the world and specifically designed for this type of drilling. At the driving school I teach at, we get people all the time whom used to work offshore. I asked one recently how something like this could happen. He told me it is a very high probability it was human error, since details are so sketchy on what happened. As soon as blame can be affixed, a great many people will consider the issue resolved and move on.

But what about the sea life? Can it do so as well? Is there an attorney whom will bring legal action against British Petroleum on behalf of the brown shrimp or red snapper or least tern? And will BP settle out of court with them?

 

[dinosaurJR]

Oh my - the South is taking a real pasting lately, huh? I actually though about you, TF when this was on the news over here - Im a bit sketchy on geography, but I figured this slick was in your neighborhood.

I sure hope it all gets straightened out. And that BP are fined hard for their negligence.

From one fisherman to another, you have my condolences.

How long until its safe to eat the seafood again?

 

[Dan1025]

Yeah I was wondering how close you were to this TF, I hope it doesn't cause you too many problems. Either way my thoughts are with you.

As for what is going to be done about it, according to the latest news BP are taking responsibilty for cleaning up the slick, as well as giving compensation to those affected, so lets just hope they don't go back on that.

Overall I'd say this a disaster on a lot of levels; there's the environmental damage that will result, the damage that will be done to the fishing industry, not to mention the 11 people that were killed in the initial explosion.

So lets hope that the methods being used to contain and combat the spill are enough to mitigate some of the damage until the leak can be stopped.

 

[thunderfoot]

The people trying to cap the well had some partial success today. While they've not stopped the flow completely they have managed to significantly reduce the amount of oil being released. The weather in the region has also made a change for the better and the slick may be breaking up. This merely means the oil is going below the surface however. To balance this, there are now concerns the slick may be picked up by the Gulf Stream. This could allow it to contaminate beaches and fisheries all along the Eastern seaboard of North America. The oil smell is in the air but faint and the slick is still about one or two days out from the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where I live.

Something disgusting has also occurred. The politicizing of this event. In the tactical nuclear warfare which currently passes for political discourse in this country, some Democrats are blaming Republicans for allowing drilling in the first place and some Republicans are saying the Democrats are not doing enough to help the people in the affected region. This sickens me. Can we please move past the same tired old rhetoric here? It also makes me very ashamed right now I spent the first half of my adult life in uniform defending these people. My fellow Americans can act remarkably like a bunch of two year olds some days. This thing is bad enough for all concerned without someone trying to score a cheap shot on the other guys over it.