(CNN) -- A huge oil spill oozing toward the Gulf Coast on Thursday threatens hundreds of species of wildlife, some in their prime breeding season, environmental organizations said.
The Coast Guard said Wednesday that the amount of oil spilling from an underwater well after an oil rig explosion last week has increased to as many as 5,000 barrels of oil a day, or 210,000 gallons, five times more than what was originally believed.
The spill continues to grow as 42,000 gallons of oil leaks from an underwater well that was broken open when a drill rig exploded and sank last week. 11 workers are believed to have died in the blast. Their bodies have never been recovered.It will be interesting to see how many safety violations have occurred in the recent past with this drilling outfit. One would hope it would be better than that of the mine owners involved in the recent mining tragedy. Sadly I will not be surprised if it is as bad or worse.
The slick stretches for about 100 miles across the north-central gulf and is about 30 miles wide at some points.
It's within 16 miles of the mouth of the Mississippi, the U.S. Coast Guard reports.
Efforts to cap the well using remote-controlled submarines have failed. Louisiana officials fear the oil could reach the state's shoreline late Friday or early Saturday and damage shellfish and wildlife.
BP, which owns the oil well, is spending $6 million a day trying to control the spill. The company's CEO said today the explosion could have been prevented and he's putting them blame on the rig owner Transocean Ltd. A spokesman for Transocean has declined to respond to BP's comments. But Transocean's Vice President has said the oil rig had no signs of a problem before the blast.
The oil spill from last week's deadly rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico has increased to 5,000 barrels a day -- five times more than the original estimate, said Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry.
A third underwater oil leak has been located in the pipeline that connected the rig to the oil well, said Doug Suttles, chief operating officer for BP.
Coast leaders protest Bush visit and slow Katrina recovery
GULFPORT (Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2008) – Gulfport City Councilwoman Ella Holmes-Hines and other Democrats, residents and business leaders from Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties will hold a news conference at noon Wednesday in front of what used to be the Gulfport library.
While President Bush is set to meet privately with community leaders late Wednesday, Holmes-Hines, and other Coast Democrats, residents and business leaders will talk about how his Hurricane Katrina recovery effort has fallen way short. Many businesses have been unable to reopen and residents unable to rebuild or find affordable housing nearly three years after Katrina struck.
That’s not all: Coast residents and business leaders also plan to talk about how the failing national economy, skyrocketing gasoline prices and steady loss of jobs has affected their community, the state of Mississippi and the entire nation.
And we can expect more of the same if voters elect Republican John McCain as president and Roger Wicker as U.S. senator – both of whom have opposed Katrina recovery efforts and would continue the same, failed Bush policies of the past eight years.
WHAT: The Mississippi Democratic Party sponsors a news conference and rally in
reaction to President George W. Bush’s visit to the Mississippi Coast
WHO: Gulfport City Councilwoman Ella Holmes-Hines will lead the news conference;
other Coast Democrats, residents and business leaders will attend and speak
WHEN: Noon, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008
WHERE: Parking lot of the former Gulfport city library, heavily damaged by Katrina, 1300 21st Ave.
“There is no rhyme or reason as to why, when Republicans have an opportunity to help these small businesses and homeowners, they instead make their lives even harder.”
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld the convictions, rejecting the defendants’ arguments that evidence did not show a violation of the Clean Water Act.“Defendants made misrepresentations that directly contradicted inspecting buyers’ observations,” the 5th Circuit said.
“Wrigley misrepresented the dryness of the site, for example, when buyers noticed wetlands and wetlands vegetation and questioned her about the wetlands.”
Lucas’ two corporations were sentenced to five years’ probation and were subject to the US$1.4 million restitution and more than US$5 million in fines. Thompson, who designed and certified septic systems at the Big Hill Acres subdivision in Vancleave, and Wrigley, who sold the wetlands lots, were sentenced to seven years and two months in prison.
Federal prosecutors said the defendants knowingly polluted federally protected wetlands and area waterways by installing underground septic systems that malfunctioned in saturated soil; thwarted state and federal health and environmental regulators; and defrauded residents into buying uninhabitable land.
It appears that on-the-whole, the Coast did not come out as well as we should have in terms of committee chairmanships. For instance, the longest serving Senator and former President Pro Tempore- Tommy Gollott, was assigned the Chairmanship of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. While this is an important committee for the Gulf Coast, it is not considered to be one of the 6 most important committees. The newly formed committee on Housing has no members from the three coastal counties. The insurance committee does not appear to have any members who ran on the "insurance reform" theme.
Looking at the big picture, all of the important committees are chaired by Republicans, and most committees have a Republican majority. In our system, the victors get the spoils, and as Lt. Gov. Bryant gets to make the appointments, he can appoint anyone he wants regardless of the fact that Democrats outnumber Republicans in the Senate. On a less partisan note, my colleagues in the Senate seem to be willing to work with one another. Therefore, I remain optimistic that we will have a productive session.
Asked after the meeting if he is considering vacating his House seat to run for Lott's seat in 2008, Taylor said, "That's the worst rumor I've ever heard. The only possible worse rumor is that Britney Spears and I are eloping tonight -- and that's not true either," he said, laughing.
Even as the storm's debris was being cleared, this city's night sky was lighted up with the high-wattage brilliance of the Imperial Palace, then the Isle of Capri, then the Grand Casino. More followed, and so did vacation-condo developers.
Yet in the wrecked and darkened working-class neighborhoods just blocks from the waterfront glitter, those lights cast their colorful glare over an apocalyptic vision of empty lots and scattered trailers that is as forlorn as anywhere in Katrina's strike zone.
Earl Parrish, 72, a retired pipe fitter, and his wife, Betty, are still living in their grandson's home in Ocean Springs, the next town over, trying to put their Hoxie Street house back together on a limited budget.
They received about $50,000 from the housing grant program, but it was not nearly enough to complete the job. Katrina flooded their house with about six feet of water.
They have put in their own savings, and a Lutheran church group handled a lot of the labor. But their home is not quite ready for them to move in -- it has no furniture.
Like his neighbors, Earl Parrish opposes redirecting the housing aid to the port. But he seemed to regret making a complaint.
"We're grateful for what we got -- don't misunderstand," he said. "But the people around here were just working folks who didn't have much. You see all these empty lots around here? These are people who just can't afford to come back."
GULFPORT, Miss., Nov. 14 — Like the other Gulf Coast states battered by Hurricane Katrina, Mississippi was required by Congress to spend half of its billions in federal grant money to help low-income citizens trying to recover from the storm.
But so far, the state has spent $1.7 billion in federal money on programs that have mostly benefited relatively affluent residents and big businesses. The money has gone to compensate many middle- and upper-income homeowners, to aid utility companies whose equipment was damaged and to prop up the state’s insurance system.
Just $167 million, or about 10 percent of the federal money, has been spent on programs dedicated to helping the poor, mostly through a smaller grant program for lower-income homeowners.
And while that total will certainly increase, Mississippi has set aside just 23 percent of its $5.5 billion grant money — $1.25 billion — for these programs. About 37 percent of the residents of the state’s coast are low income, according to federal figures.
“people should think about where they will go if an evacuation is ordered and how they'll travel.”Oh, so that’s it? What is this?! Barbour’s admission that he has no evacuation plan?
