Updated thread: Giant oil slick headed for Gulf Coast

Looks like today the spill is no longer moving as quickly toward the shore. So while it might not pollute the beaches as much as expected, it's still going to fuck up commercial and recreational fishing for a while.

 

Really? Besides calling for Aquaman or some or other member of the Super Friends, what exactly would you have done differently?

It seems the ultimate solution is put another well nearby, start drilling and then pump the old well full of concrete and call it a day.
From what I read, the quickest that could be done is four weeks. Well, one week has passed and if they have started that process, it is three weeks.

Interestingly enough, one of the doomsday scenarios predicted by futurists is the response to an offshore oil well spill and the different "solutions" to fix it.
Several are to release some sort of goop that would eat/process the oil in the water and then they can't be turned off the world's oceans get turned into sludge.

 

The issue is whether you believe the feds should have taken over cleanup and operations the moment the blow-out took place. The initial mistake, if you want to call it that, was believing BP that this was no big deal, and that the company could handle the cleanup. Of course, the mistake, made long ago, was the government believing BP in that nothing like this would ever happen. Geez, when you say stuff like that, you're playing with karma. Of course, had the feds stepped in from the word go, the complaint would have been that it was interfering too much with private business, so the criticism is going to come no matter what.

Between the Wall Street blowout and the BP blowout, big business is certainly, inadvertently, making the case that it needs to be regulated heavily.

 

Let the free market decide!

 

I believe, by law, the Feds can't get involved until the state or the company requests help (aside from the Coasties doing SAR, of course). So when did BP and/or Jindal request Federal assistance?

 

Good question. I remember that it was the same issue with Katrina. The state needed to request help and the Gov waited too long.

 

From what I understand the Coast Guard was involved almost right away and the military was involved like a day or two later. That's pretty swift. Within the week, EPA, Homeland Security and others were there. Its not like Katrina where there was a week's warning.

Short of going down there and wiping down little birdies full of oil, what else was Obama supposed to do?

 

The Coast Guard was involved in SAR immediately. As far as helping deal with/contain/stop the leaking oil, the Feds couldn't do anything until a request was made.

For example, the governor of Tennessee has to request for the flooded counties to be declared a Federal disaster areas. If he doesn't ask, Obama can't just do it anyway.

 

Exactly - just like Katrina. There is nothing more Obama could have done short of capping the well himself.

 

Sorry to interrupt the political pissing match here, but can anyone direct me to the best sources you're seen for impact on the various Gulf Coast towns? the NW Florida Daily News seems to have some pretty thorough coverage, but it seems they are mostly just waiting for the impending disaster to happen; no current crisis.

I'm wondering, with Memorial Day kicking off the summer travel season in just a few weeks what is the tourism industry expecting to be the impact on beach destinations from Gulf Shores to Orange Beach to Pensacola to Destin to Santa Rosa Beach to Panama City Beach. Do they expect oil to be washing up on those beaches? A fetid smell? Any fish to serve in restaurants? What about New Orleans' food supply? Etc.

I guess these are all largely unknown right now but I'd love to see any good stories you've seen on these things.