BP Complaints

AG seeks commitments from BP in oil spill
Associated Press – May 5, 2010 4:44 PM ET BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell has joined with attorneys general from other Gulf Coast states asking for assurances…

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Some oil spill events from May 4, 2010
A summary of May 4 events related to the vast oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon

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Tampa Tribune

Wind likely to keep oil slick from Florida's shores until Thursday Tallahassee.com Wind and currents will likely keep a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico from hitting Florida's shores until Thursday, and BP is making progress with a … Governors of Gulf states to discuss oil spill disasterMiamiHerald.com all 126 news articles »

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Southwest Floridians were wondering why strong odors of color crayons were wafting about late Monday night. Some described the smell as melting plastic or lamp oil. Complaints and concerns came from Cape Coral to Everglades City and everywhere in between.

Strong winds from the west since Sunday could connect the odor to the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last week. “It’s certainly a possibility,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Todd Barron, quoted the Naples Daily News. He said winds are expected to turn today from out of the north.

Crews have been in a quandary how to stop thousands of barrels of oil from pouring into the ocean. The spill is now within 20 miles of Venice, Louisiana and covers an area as wide as 42 miles across, and up to 80 miles in length with long reddish-orange ribbons of oil.

On Tuesday, officials speculated the slick would not reach land for a few days due to wind conditions. Exactly where along the Gulf Coast it will first arrive is still a guess. Environmentalists and others fear oyster beds, delicate wetlands, and sugary white beaches could all be damaged.

“If we don’t secure this well, this could be one of the most significant oil spills in U.S. history,” said Rear Adm. Mary Landry yesterday, quoted the Naples Daily News.

The April 20 blast destroyed the Deepwater Horizon, which was drilling about 50 miles southeast of Venice, La. Eleven missing workers are presumed dead, and the cause of the explosion is still unknown.

According to the Naples Daily News, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) released a statement Tuesday prompted by odor complaints throughout the Gulf coast area. They are measuring air quality at their monitoring stations, but say no “abnormal result” for particulate matter is indicated at this time.

However, the DEP’s stations do not measure VOCs, volatile organic compounds, that would be produced in an oil rig fire. The Pinellas County air quality division did take VOC readings at its monitoring stations and is expecting results later this week, said the DEP, wrote the Naples Daily News.

The last major oil spill in the Gulf was in June 1979, when the offshore drilling rig Ixtoc I blew up in Mexican waters, dumping 140 million gallons of oil before the well was capped in March 1980. A lot of spillage contaminated Texas shorelines and U.S. waters.

“In the worst-case scenario, this could also last months,”said Richard Haut, a senior research scientist at the Houston Advanced Research Center. A twenty year veteran of Exxon, Haut spent 10 of those years on an offshore platform in the North Sea, according to the Naples Daily News.

Presently, thousands of egrets, brown pelicans, and other birds are nesting on barrier islands near the rig’s wreckage. Billions of fish eggs and larvae coating the Gulf’s surface are also threatened.

If the well cannot be closed, about 4.2 million gallons of oil could pour into the Gulf before workers can drill a relief well. The Exxon Valdez, America’s worst oil disaster, leaked 11 million gallons into Alaska’s Prince William Sound in 1989.

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ABC News

Gulf Oil Spill Update: Siphoning Oil From Sea Floor, Sea Turtle Deaths, Obama … Audubon Magazine (blog) “We're dealing with a massive and potentially unprecedented environmental disaster,” he told media at Coast Guard Station Venice. “The oil that is still … BP Will Pay For Gulf Oil Spill Disaster, CEO SaysNPR Gulf oil spill: BP calls disaster 'inconceivable'Los Angeles Times (blog) Oilpocalypse Is Obama's…. A. Katrina. B. TMI C. None of the aboveThe Atlantic The Associated Press –Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone –Wall Street Journal (blog) all 26,592 news articles »

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Ooh that smell: Petroleum stench invading Southwest Florida could be from oil rig
A weird smell described as petroleum or lamp oil is wafting across parts of Southwest Florida, including northern Collier County, according to reports this afternoon.

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CBS News

Lessons from the Gulf oil spill Seattle Post Intelligencer But this disaster needs to drill a fundamental truth into the heads of Americans. Don't trust Big Oil, and don't let it set America's agenda. … So Does Obama Still Drill, Baby, Drill?ABC News (blog) An object disasterBennington Banner Nelson: Oil Companies said Rigs Couldn't FailWOKV 411mania.com –Examiner.com –AlterNet (blog) all 38 news articles »

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The Corporate Whistleblower Center Offers To Help Gulf Coast Fishing Industry & Property Owners From Massive Oil Spill
The Corporate Whistleblower Center is one of the most quoted sources in the US on pollution, and is offering to assist Louisiana and Mississippi fishing boat owners, oyster industry participants, wildlife tour guides, and property owners who are now affected by the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf Coast. The group is saying, “we think this disaster will destroy much of the gulf fisheries and …

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Officials warn of potential catastrophe from Gulf of Mexico oil spill
Top federal officials said Sunday that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is a potential catastrophe and defended the Obama administration’s response so far.

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