OIL SPILL in the GULF of MEXICO ....... GAIA BLEEDS BLACK!!!

Dearest Star-Sisters and Brothers --

My heart is very sore and heavy over this catastrophe. Here's an article i just read about the effect on the wetlands in the area. SO tragic and unnecessary!!!

much love,

Inanna



Cleaning oil-soaked wetlands may be impossible
AP

Nesting pelicans are seen landing as oil washes ashore on an island that is home to hundreds of brown pelican nests as well at terns, gulls and roseat AP – Nesting pelicans are seen landing as oil washes ashore on an island that is home to hundreds of brown …
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By MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press Writer Matthew Brown, Associated Press Writer – Sat May 22, 8:28 pm ET

NEW ORLEANS – The gooey oil washing into the maze of marshes along the Gulf Coast could prove impossible to remove, leaving a toxic stew lethal to fish and wildlife, government officials and independent scientists said.

Officials are considering some drastic and risky solutions: They could set the wetlands on fire or flood areas in hopes of floating out the oil.

They warn an aggressive cleanup could ruin the marshes and do more harm than good. The only viable option for many impacted areas is to do nothing and let nature break down the spill.

More than 50 miles of Louisiana's delicate shoreline already have been soiled by the massive slick unleashed after the Deepwater Horizon rig burned and sank last month. Officials fear oil eventually could invade wetlands and beaches from Texas to Florida. Louisiana is expected to be hit hardest.

On Saturday, a major pelican rookery was awash in oil off Louisiana's coast. Hundreds of birds nest on the island, and an Associated Press photographer saw some birds and their eggs stained with the ooze. Nests were perched in mangroves directly above patches of crude.

Plaquemines Parish workers put booms around the island, but puddles of oil were inside the barrier.

"Oil in the marshes is the worst-case scenario," said Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the head of the federal effort to contain and clean up the spill.

Also Saturday, BP told federal regulators it plans to continue using a contentious chemical dispersant, despite orders from the Environmental Protection Agency to look for less toxic alternatives. BP said in a letter to the EPA that Corexit 9500 "remains the best option for subsea application."

The EPA didn't immediately comment on BP's decision.

Oil that has rolled into shoreline wetlands coats the stalks and leaves of plants such as roseau cane — the fabric that holds together an ecosystem that is essential to the region's fishing industry and a much-needed buffer against Gulf hurricanes. Soon, oil will smother those plants and choke off their supply of air and nutrients.

In some eddies and protected inlets, the ochre-colored crude has pooled beneath the water's surface, forming clumps several inches deep.

With the seafloor leak still gushing at least hundreds of thousands of gallons a day, the damage is only getting worse. Millions of gallons already have leaked so far.

Coast Guard officials said the spill's impact now stretches across a 150-mile swath, from Dauphin Island, Ala. to Grand Isle, La.

Over time, experts say weather and natural microbes will break down most of the oil. However, the crude will surely poison plants and wildlife in the months — even years — it will take for the syrupy muck to dissipate.

Back in 1989, crews fighting the Exxon Valdez tanker spill — which unleashed almost 11 million gallons of oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound — used pressure hoses and rakes to clean the shores. The Gulf Coast is just too fragile for that: those tactics could blast apart the peat-like soils that hold the marshes together.

Hundreds of miles of bayous and man-made canals crisscross the coast's exterior, offering numerous entry points for the crude. Access is difficult and time-intensive, even in the best of circumstances.

"Just the compaction of humanity bringing equipment in, walking on them, will kill them," said David White, a wetlands ecologist from Loyola University in New Orleans.

Marshes offer a vital line of defense against Gulf storms, blunting their fury before they hit populated areas. Louisiana and the federal government have spent hundreds of millions of dollars rebuilding barriers that were wiped out by hurricanes, notably Katrina in 2005.

They also act as nursery grounds for shrimp, crabs, oysters — the backbone of the region's fishing industry. Hundreds of thousands of migratory birds nest in the wetlands' inner reaches, a complex network of bayous, bays and man-made canals.

To keep oil from pushing deep into Louisiana's marshes, Gov. Bobby Jindal and officials from several coastal parishes want permission to erect a $350 million network of sand berms linking the state's barrier islands and headlands.

That plan is awaiting approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

After surveying oil-stricken areas Saturday, Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said the berms were the marshes' last hope.

"It's getting in between all the cane and it's working through from one bayou to the next," he said.

Smaller spills have been occurring in the marshes for decades. In the past, cleanup crews would sometimes slice out oiled vegetation and take it to a landfill, said Andy Nyman with Louisiana State University.

But with the plants gone, water from the gulf would roll in and wash away the roots, turning wetlands to open water.

Adm. Allen said that where conditions are right, crews could set fire to oil-coated plants.

Nyman and other experts, though, warn it's tricky. If the marsh is too wet, the oil won't burn. Too dry, the roots burn and the marsh can be ruined.

BP PLC — which leased the sunken rig and is responsible for the cleanup — said Saturday that cleanup crews have started more direct cleanup methods along Pass a Loutre in Plaquemines Parish. Shallow water skimmers were attempting to remove the oil from the top of the marsh.

Streams of water could later be used in a bid to wash oil from between cane stalks.

In other cases, the company will rely on "bioremediation" — letting oil-eating microbes do the work.

"Nature has a way of helping the situation," said BP spokesman John Curry.

But Nyman said the dispersants could slow the microbes from breaking down the oil.

White, the Loyola scientist, predicted at least short-term ruin for some of the wetlands he's been studying for three decades. Under a worst-case scenario, he said the damage could exceed the 217 square miles of wetlands lost during the 2005 hurricane season.

"When I say that my stomach turns," he said.
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TM
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TM 19 hours ago Report Abuse

Amazing. After all these years of writing up useless and apparently false environmental impact statements they find out that there is no viable way to clean up after an oil spill. In that case, the cost of clean-up is zero. See, oil spills are cheaper than we thought.

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Melinda
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Melinda 19 hours ago Report Abuse

And you hate the truth.

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Petercha
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Petercha 19 hours ago Report Abuse

Nature is very resilient. I am sure that the wetlands will recover naturally.

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the eye
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the eye 19 hours ago Report Abuse

Im speachless over this mess at this point.

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1534c
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1534c 19 hours ago Report Abuse

By far the largest source of world oil consumption is to make gasoline for cars. There are now over 500,000,000 cars in the world. Cars are easily the world's largest source of land, air and water pollution, not only from the gasoline to drive them, which is made from oil, but also from the mining of the earth to make metals to build them, which heavily pollutes river waters worldwide. The trucks, jets and ships used to transport automobiles around the world burns astronomical amounts of gasoline/oil.

The U.S. rate of oil consumption is roughly 20 million barrels PER DAY, and world oil consumption is roughly 85 million barrels per day, or 1 BILLION barrels EVERY 10 DAYS.

15-20 percent of U.S oil is consumed by the U.S. agricultural/industrial complex. Most American's, on average, get their food trucked in from 1300 miles away instead of buying it from local organic sources or growing our own. This burns massive amounts of gasoline/oil.

We have lived without cars for roughly 250,000 years since modern hominids (humans) first appeared on earth. We need to end our dependence on cars soon. The pollution to the land, air and sea...better known as our food and water supply...cannot stand much more of this poisoning.

Here's a quote from the King James version of the Christian bible, the book of Revelation, Chapter 9 verse 17-21, it seems to be concerning the appearance of automobiles shortly before Christ returns, the horseman are the drivers of automobiles, the fire in their mouths are the car engines combusting, their serpent tails are the tailpipes of the cars spewing brimstone which is exhaust fumes:

"And the number of the army of the horseman were 200,000,000: and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of Jacinth, and BRIMSTONE: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
By these three were the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails; for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.
And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk. Neither they repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts." ( I believe this is the biblical description of the worldwide ecological and human damage/death being caused by cars. THE "HORSES" DESCRIBED IN THESE VERSES ARE AUTOMOBILES. Cars are often described by the amount of HORSEPOWER they generate ).

We should all make an attempt to drive less or not drive at all if possible, also buying local/organic food which is not transported from thousands of miles away which burns massive amounts of gas/oil. Buy from your local farmer's market or grow your own. Avoid using plastic, if possible, plastic is made from oil. There is now a plastic debris field in the middle of the Pacific Ocean THE SIZE OF TEXAS. Write to your state senators and representatives and ask that they mandate the manufacture and sales of bio-plastics made from organic corn or other organic vegetable matter to stop global plastic pollution. Corn/vegetable based bioplastics degrade and break down quickly when thrown out.

Here is another quote from the King James bible chapter, the book of Revelation, chapter 18 verse 23:

"And the light of the candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for your MERCHANTS were the great men of the earth; for by THEIR sorceries were all nations deceived."

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springtime
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springtime 19 hours ago Report Abuse

The cane in some of those marshes have been there for centuries. In the blink of an eye, it has been destroyed. It is far reaching. Not only is this an environmental catastrophe for wildlife, but the fishing industry will suffer. So will tourism, so will the boat makers, so will those who suppy boat parts, so will the mechanics... and on and on and on. I hope BP is paying out the nose for years to come to those whose livelihoods have now disappeared.

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LillyWhite
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LillyWhite 19 hours ago Report Abuse

I hope BP is doing something to feed the fishermen whose income relied on fishing these grounds. Or will they just be more casulties of this terrible spill?

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JAMES F
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JAMES F 19 hours ago Report Abuse

Nature will always provide, but only under Charles Darwins' rules

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1534c
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1534c 19 hours ago Report Abuse

HOMELAND SECURITY SHOULD BE TREATING THIS OIL SPILL AS A CHEMICAL ATTACK ON THE U.S.

A NUCLEAR BOMB SET OFF IN THE MIDDLE GULF OF MEXICO BY OSAMA BIN LADEN WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN AS DAMAGING AS THIS.

NEGLECT OF OIL DRILLING RIG SAFETY AND OVERSIGHT SHOULD BE SEEN AS A NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT.

HOMELAND SECURITY SHOULD WATCH OVER THESE MULTINATIONAL OIL COMPANIES IN THE FUTURE AS IF THEY WERE AL QUEDA.

AL QUEDA AND THE TALIBAN MUST BE LAUGHING THEIR AS-- SES OFF RIGHT NOW

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Bustersmycat
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Bustersmycat 19 hours ago Report Abuse

the wetlands WILL recover naturally. that isn't the same as saying they won't be impacted, scarred, changed forever. And it doesn't mean there won't be an impact for some time to come on every living thing that is part of or depends on that wetland system. I don't see a lot of good coming from all this. But sure, the earth will eventually recover, if you want to take the long view. the sediments will continue to roll down, and will bury the goo. Eventually. But eventually isn't now and isn't right away.

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WHOOAAA! that's pretty eerie alright! thanks for sharing it, Rok.

love,

bobbi

This Racial Cleansing is a War Crime and there is a Reason They are not Fixing It ~ We May Hear This As A Call To Active Duty ~ BE LOVE!

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The Gulf Oil Spill crisis has been bothering me at a deep, deep level. I dreamt the other night that I was swimming in the Caribbean Sea and as I surfaced, there was sticky oil all over my arm.

My guides have told me to concentrate and meditate on sending rose energy of love and healing to this particular disaster. They have also pointed out that Nammu, playful Goddess of the Oceans and friend to whales and dolphins, can be called on for assistance. The indigenous Lakota Elders have made an urgent request that calls for all people of the Earth who care to continue living to go into prayer. They find the oil spill a dangerous threat to our species.

“The dystopian drama in the Gulf of Mexico, where a river of crude oil now bleeds wholesale, underscores a wider, ruder reality: our planetary eco-systems are beginning to collapse. In no way will our daily bread be insulated from this devastation.

If the industrial debacle of the Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf — about a million gallons a day of rank, tar-black petroleum — were not sufficiently toxic confirmation, the UN made it bureaucratically official on May 10. That’s the day they published the third Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-3), a comprehensive report warning — as so many other science-based reports have — that our planet’s vital signs are failing.

As GBO-3 puts it, “the five principal pressures directly driving biodiversity loss (habitat change, overexploitation, pollution, invasive alien species and climate change) are either constant or increasing in intensity.” (http://thecalloftheland.wordpress.com)

Carl Calleman called for a Conscious Convergence in July. I believe he’s about to receive what he asked for: a lot of people uniting in consciousness and fervently praying for plain survival. If a woman was in her eighth month of pregnancy and began to hemorrhage, she would be in danger of losing that baby. We are in danger of miscarrying our earth ascension and birth and must use all of our healing abilities to solve this predicament. My friends ask me, but what can we do?” I reply, “Never underestimate the power of prayer!” Incidentally, red roses are the correct herb/flower to use for hemorrhages during or after birth.

Although these are not my words, I find the message important enough to share with my readers.

“Today the Grandmothers woke me with this message and asked me to send it out. Please forward it on so we reach as many people as possible.

“We ask you to cast, anchor, and hold the Net of Light steady for the Gulf of Mexico,” the Grandmothers said. “This crisis is affecting the entire world, and humanity is asleep. Wake up!” they cried. “Animals are dying, plants are dying, and your Mother is writhing in agony. If you hold the Net of Light steady at this time you will help stave off further catastrophe.

“You have been lulled into a false sleep,” they said, “told that others(B.P.)will take care of this problem. This is not so,” they said. “And this is not the time for you to fall into oblivion. Determine now to stay awake, and once you have made that commitment, think of, cast, and hold the Net of Light. Hold it deep and hold it wide. Amplify its reach to penetrate the waters of the Gulf and dive deep beneath the crust of Mother Earth. Anchor it at the earth’s core and as you hold it there, ask it to unify with the mineral kingdom of this planet. It will do this and will harmonize with all the solid and liquid mineral states on earth-including oil and gas. The Net of Light will call these minerals back into harmony. Men have wreaked havoc. They have abused the kingdoms of life on earth for many years, but this time their destruction has reached crisis proportions.”

“Whatever human beings have damaged, human beings must correct,” the Grandmothers said. “This is the law. We repeat: This is the law. You cannot sit back and ask God to fix the mess humanity has created. Each of you must throw your shoulders to the wheel and work. We are asking for your help. Several years ago we gave you the Net of Light so you would be able to help the earth at times like this. Step forward now. /This is the Net of Light that will hold the earth during the times of change that are upon you,” they said.

“First move into your heart and call on us. We will meet you there. The Net of Light is lit by the jewel of your heart,”/they said, “so move into this lighted place within you and open to the Net of which you are a part. Bask in its calming presence. It holds you at the same time that you hold it.”

“Now think of magnifying your union with us. We, the Great Council of the Grandmothers, are with you now, and all those who work with the Net of Light are also with you. There are thousands, even millions now connected in light,” they said. “Along with this union, call forth the power of the sacred places on earth. These will amplify the potency of our joint effort. Then call on the sacred beings that have come to prevent the catastrophe that threatens to overwhelm your planet. We will work together,” they said, nodding slowly.

“Think of, cast and magnify the presence of the Net of Light in the Gulf of Mexico. See, imagine or think of it holding the waters, holding the land, the plants, the sea life, and the people. Holding them all!” they said. “The Net of Light is holding them steady; it is returning them to balance. Let the love within your lighted heart keep pouring into the Net of Light and hold, hold, hold. Calmly and reverently watch as the light from your heart flows along the strands of the Net. It will follow your command and continuously move forth. As soon as you think of it, it will happen. We ask you to practice this for only a few minutes at a time, but to repeat it throughout the day and night.”

“We promise that this work with the Net of Light will do untold good,” the Grandmothers said. “We are calling you to service now. You are needed. Do not miss this opportunity. We thank you and bless you.

Mother of the World”

I will join you there in the net of love and light,

Navajo

http://grtintelprivate.ning.com/
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Sui♥

FINALLY CRIMINAL PROSECUTION FOR INTERGALACTIC WAR CRIMINALS FOR RACIAL CLEANSING AND MASS GENOCIDE IN THE SEAS





Attorney General Eric Holder said today that the federal government has launched criminal and civil investigations into the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that is now the worst in U.S. history.


President Barack Obama sets up commission to examine cause of oil spill.
Holder declined to name the specific companies or individuals under investigation, but said the criminal investigation has already been going on for "some weeks," reported ABC's George Stephanopoulos , who attended the afternoon press conference. The Justice Department had already asked BP to preserve documents related to the spill, including emails and memos.

Holder, who was in New Orleans today to meet with the state attorneys general from Gulf Coast states, said federal environmental laws give him the power to pursue investigations into a "wide range of possible violations."

Obama Raises Possibility of Prosecution
Earlier today in Washington, President Obama nodded toward the possibility of criminal wrongdoing. The president met with the two menheading up his commission on the spill, former Sen. Bob Graham of Florida and former Environmental Protection Agency administrator Bill Reilly.

In comments following the meeting, the president said their job would be "to thoroughly examine the spill and its causes" and to protect the nation from future catastrophe.

In his first public comments on possible criminal actions related to the spill, Obama said, "If our laws were broken, leading to this death and destruction, my solemn pledge is that we will bring those responsible to justice on behalf of the victims of this catastrophe and the people of the Gulf region."

The National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling will report back with its findings in six months.


BP Begins 'Cut and Cap' Strategy
Today, BP began its seventh try to control the oil leak at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico after its previous strategies have failed to stem the oil spill.

Underwater robots equipped with a diamond-studded saw began cutting into the drill pipe on the ocean floor this morning, part of a plan to gather oil with yet another containment dome, the third that's been tried, which would siphon the oil to the surface.

"We're not talking about capping the well anymore, we're talking about containing the well," said Adm. Thad Allen at an afternoon press conference, expressing optimism that this latest "cut and cap" strategy can collect at least some of the oil.

The Coast Guard said it could take as much as three days before the containment dome is operational. Until then, oil will spew into the Gulf unobstructed, at a rate that could fill an average-size swimming pool every hour.

This third attempt with a containment dome comes after previous domes iced up in the freezing 5,000-feet-deep conditions, but this time, experts and government officials hope that a tighter-fitting dome will do a better job.

"My guess is this will be more successful by a large margin than the original insertion pipe," said Eric Smith, associate director of the Tulane Energy Institute.

Hurricane Could Derail Containment Dome
Even if the technique works this time, it's still far from a permanent fix. A containment dome offers no hope of permanently plugging the well, and the technique is at the mercy of weather conditions in the Gulf.

June 1 marks the first day of hurricane season, and at this afternoon's press conference Allen acknowledged that BP and the government would have to abandon the plan if a storm comes through, leaving the well spewing into the Gulf.

Forecasters predict this hurricane season to be the most intense since 2005, when Katrina ravaged the Louisiana coast and passed directly over the site where the oil leak began 43 days ago.

This morning on "Good Morning America," Carol Browner, assistant to the president for energy and climate change, admitted that hurricanes are a "very grave concern," and that a storm would leave the government with no backup plan. A permanent fix won't come until relief wells are completed, which BP and government officials said won't happen until August.

Not All Are Confident That 'Cut and Cap' Strategy Will Work
While Obama administration officials, some petroleum experts, and BP officials hope that the new "cut and cap" strategy will help contain the oil, others have lost all faith in BP's ability to perform this surgery and note that is has never been tried at such depths before.

"This is an uncontrolled science experiment which is unprecedented one mile below the sea," Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., said.

The fear is that the cap will not fit, and the oil will keep flowing, triggering an environmental domino effect.

"The whole face of the coast line could be impacted," Ed Overton, professor emeritus at Louisiana State University School of Coast and Environment, said.

BP Denies Oil Plumes Exist
Over the weekend, scientists discovered the largest oil plumes yet -- as long as 22 miles and located around 3,500 feet below the surface of the Gulf.
But on Sunday BP's CEO Tony Hayward denied the existence of these plumes.

"The oil is on the surface. It's very difficult for oil to stay in a column," he said. "It wants to go to the surface because of the difference in specific gravity."


Browner said the government has an independent team examining the plume and measuring the flow rate of the leak. "I think it is important for the public to understand that BP has a financial interest in downplaying the size of the [spill], and we are not going to let that happen. We are going to bring our independent panel into these questions," Browner said. "We will get to the bottom of this, the American people need to know what the number is and this number will become an important piece in the litigation going forward, because BP will be required to pay fines, a per-barrel per-day fine for what they are leaking."

Two Relief Wells Being Drilled
As BP attempts the latest fix, the Obama administration has ordered the company to continue drilling those two relief wells that are not expected to be ready for months.
BP will have to drill two miles beneath the surface of the earth and hit a target approximately the size of a dinner plate.

"They are looking at some technologies, some camera technology that they will use to locate the pipe underground, but obviously we wanted to make sure there were redundancies because we need to get this thing stopped," Browner told "Good Morning America." "We've always understood that the relief well was the way to permanently stop it."
Galacticroundtable.com
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Sui♥

BP Gulf Spill Now Equaling Exxon Valdez Every 3.5 Days!!!


May 24, 2010
Initially, BP reported a 1,000 barrels per day leak, then 5,000 after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) estimate, while independent analysis of company supplied video and satellite imagery suggest somewhere between 50 – 100,000 barrels, the consensus settling on 70,000 or an Exxon Valdez equivalent every 3.5 days – by far, America’s greatest ever environmental disaster, and growing worse daily.

The University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science’s satellite imagery analysis reported on May 18 that the spill covers 7,500 square miles, or about the size of New Jersey. Other accounts say 10,000 square miles or a Maryland equivalent. Either way, it’s huge and an ecological disaster of historic proportions.

New video footage “indicates that around 95,000 barrels, or 4 million gallons, a day of crude oil may be spewing from the leaking wellhead,” according to Purdue University’s Professor Steve Wereley’s May 19 testimony to the House Commerce and Energy Committee. He based his calculation on BP video, saying the spill could be from 76,000 – 104,000 barrels daily, but wants more footage over a longer period for a more precise calculation, what BP hasn’t released up to now and won’t, absent Interior Department pressure to do it.

Yet if the wellhead fails completely, these figures potentially could double, begging the question about how long Washington, BP, and the major media can deny the peril, pretending it’s minor.

Oil also now affects the South Pass Mississippi River entrance, the Mississippi delta, Gulf Shores and Dauphin Island, Alabama, Whiskey Island on the Chandeleur Islands south end, the protected bird breeding sanctuary Raccoon Island, and the Loop Current, a powerful clockwise conveyor belt heading it toward Florida, up the East Coast, and into the Atlantic, threatening Western Europe and perhaps West Africa. The potential devastation is incalculable but at minimum will be huge.

According to European Space Agency satellite images, visible proof shows its position, suggesting it’ll reach the Keys around May 25, America’s only living coral barrier reef – the world’s third most productive marine ecosystem with its patch and bank reefs, seagrass meadows, soft and hard bottom communities, and coastal mangroves.

Casey Kazan via:
http://baltimorechronicle.com/2010/052210Lendman.shtml
Source: http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2010/05/bp-gulf-spill-now-equaling-exxon-valdez-every-3-days.html
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Sui♥

Gulf Oil Spill: Oil Has Entered Loop Current, Officials Say

05-20-10 08:12 AM



MS]NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- An outer edge of the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill has reached a powerful current that could take it to Florida and beyond, according to government scientists.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Wednesday that a small portion of the slick from the blown-out undersea well had entered the so-called loop current, a stream of faster moving water that circulates around the Gulf before bending around Florida and up the Atlantic coast. Its arrival may portend a wider environmental catastrophe affecting the Florida Keys and tourist-dotted beaches along that state's east coast.

Even farther south, U.S. officials were talking to Cuba about how to respond to the spill should it reach the island's northern coast, a U.S. State Department spokesman said.

Florida's state meteorologist said it will be at least another seven days before the oil reaches waters west of the Keys, and state officials sought to reassure visitors that its beaches are still clean and safe. During a news conference, David Halstead, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, showed off a picture of a Coppertone bottle on a beach.

"What's the only oil on the beaches? Suntan oil," Halstead said.

Tar balls found earlier in the Florida Keys were not from the spill, the Coast Guard said Wednesday. Still, at least 6 million gallons have already poured into the Gulf off Louisiana since the April 20 explosion of an offshore oil rig that killed 11 workers and led to the spill, the worst U.S. environmental disaster in decades. The Exxon Valdez tanker spilled 11 million gallons in Alaska in 1989.

Tar balls have washed ashore as far east as Alabama, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declared Wednesday that heavier oil was now soiling his state's coastal marshes. Earlier waves of the slick had begun as a thin sheen before the thicker stuff starting washing ashore this week.
The governor, inspecting the Mississippi Delta by boat, swept a fishnet through water, holding up a chocolate-thick ooze. The delta region is home to rare birds, mammals and a wide variety of marine life in marshy wildlife refuges and offshore islands.

Billy Nungesser, president of coastal Plaquemines Parish, La., said the oil "has laid down a blanket in the marsh that will destroy every living thing there."

In Washington, environmental groups criticized how BP PLC, the oil giant that operated the Deepwater Horizon rig, has handled the response, and urged the government to take to take greater control of the situation.
"Too much information is now in the hands of BP's many lawyers and too little is being disclosed to the public," Larry Schweiger, president of the National Wildlife Federation, told the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. "The Gulf of Mexico is a crime scene and the perpetrator cannot be left in charge of assessing the damage."

BP has received thousands of ideas from the public on how to stop the oil gusher, but some inventors are complaining that their efforts are being ignored.

Oil-eating bacteria, bombs and a device that resembles a giant shower curtain are among the 10,000 fixes people have proposed to counter the growing environmental threat. BP is taking a closer look at 700 of the ideas, but the oil company has yet to use any of them.

"They're clearly out of ideas, and there's a whole world of people willing to do this free of charge," said Dwayne Spradlin, CEO of InnoCentive Inc., which has created an online network of experts to solve problems.

BP spokesman Mark Salt said the company wants the public's help, but that considering proposed fixes takes time.

"They're taking bits of ideas from lots of places," Salt said. "This is not just a PR stunt."

BP succeeded in partially siphoning away the leak over the weekend, when it hooked up a mile-long tube to the broken pipe, sending some of the oil to a ship on the surface. And the company said Wednesday it hopes to begin shooting a mixture known as drilling mud into the blown-out well by Sunday.

The "top kill" method involves directing heavy mud into crippled equipment on top of the well, then aiming cement at it to permanently keep down the oil. Even if it works, it could take several weeks to complete.

If it fails, BP is considering a "junk shot," which involves shooting knotted rope, pieces of tires and golf balls into the blowout preventer. Crews hope they will lodge into the nooks and crannies of the device to plug it.

About 70 BP workers are taking more suggestions at a tip line center in Houston. The company plans to test one idea from Kevin Costner, the "Waterworld" and "Field of Dreams" actor who has invested more than $24 million on developing a centrifuge that can be dropped into the slick and separate the water from oil, storing the petroleum in tanks.

"It's like a big vacuum cleaner," said Costner's business partner, John Houghtaling II of New Orleans, "These machines are ready to be employed. The technology is familiar to the industry."

Tracking the unpredictable spill and the complex loop current is a challenge for scientists, said Charlie Henry, a NOAA environmental scientist.

The loop moves based on the shifting winds and other environmental factors, so even though the oil is leaking continuously it may be in the current one day, and out the next. And the slick itself has defied scientists' efforts to track it and predict its path. Instead, it has repeatedly advanced and retreated, an ominous, shape-shifting mass in the Gulf, with vast underwater lobes extending outward.

"The key point is that we watch and study and monitor oil adjacent to the loop current and we model it to try to get ahead of it," Henry said. "Nothing is changing quickly and nothing is changing drastically over the next few days."
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
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Mother is bleeding!!...and what do they do? They put the killer in charge of the crime scene!!! Nice...Way to go PTB!!

This is NOT a localized problem...This is a GLOBAL environmental catastrophe! If something affects the waters of the Earth eventually it will affect all currents...It is all one big system of currents anyway. So it seems the best minds around the world are already coming up with possible solutions but BP's Lawyers are being left alone to decide this independently?? What the HELL is wrong with this picture?????
Oh yeah....how could I've forgotten? It's was all planned this way as part of their population control/Let's fuck up the planet to accelerate the 2012 doom-n-gloom scenario project. OuuKeeey.... I hope everyone is at least taking notice of how imbecile this situation is right now... I mean as we speak, the oil is already killing Florida Key's last Coral Reef (beautiful place good thing I was able to swim there before it disappeared from the face of the planet), not to mention all the flora and fauna of the area... but hey, who cares? If you can still fill your Hummer's tank to go on vacation right?

(I'm gonna need Xtra time meditating today to get rid of these *****energies!)

OOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Sui♥

Sui and Rok--

Thanks for keeping this thread alive and for posting so much wonderful stuff to give us hope and to help empower us all to do our part! I SO LONG to be at the Gulf right now .... my daddy was born in Pensacola, I vacationed there as a child and have many many wonderful memories of my times on the beautiful "silver sand." and the aquamarine water. Then .... with my own family during the 80's & 90's, we always vacationed in Destin and Navarre (a small island between Pensacola & Destin). i feel i BELONG there right now, but personal finances (lack of rent money, no job, etc.) prevent me from going right away. :(

the only car i can use only goes up to 60 mph, and i'm not insured in it ..... it would probably be about a 12-hour drive so i'd have to stop half way (Shane doesn't have his license), necessitating MORE $$'s (unless we can find a cheap camping ground in between .... we DO have a tent!). i would LOVE IT if ya'll would join your intention with mine ("where 2 or 3 are gathered") that i may be able to drive Shane there (he's never seen the beach/ocean ever), and "show-off" my little piece of ocean-beach heaven, before it's too sad or too oily or too late.

i am "all about" the July Harmonic Convergence (is that the right title?) event, Sui. maybe we could even do something together on one or all of our Thuban sites?!? and, if i can't go till mid-July, maybe there's Purpose in that (no AC in car, though). Anyway ..... i'm trying hard to "initiate, sustain, and enact" this creation -- Shane & I on the panhandle of Florida soon. And, of course, i'm doing the same thing with the Healing of the Gulf and her animal, plant, and human lives. I join with ya'll ..... join with me ..... and us with everyone else who "Sees" and Cares!

much love,

bobbi/inanna/kalika

James Cameron on BP's handling of the oil spill:
"Those morons don't know what they're doing!!!!"


June 3, 2010 | 11:54 am
Associated Press

I don't know about you, but personally, I feel that I can sleep better at night knowing that the indefatigable James Cameron is always at the ready, always on the case, always fully caffeinated, no matter what the crisis is at hand. Apparently making the biggest-grossing, game-changing movie of all time isn't enough to put this world-class filmmaker's insatiable energy at rest.

Cameron has already emerged as an outspoken environmentalist and defender of the Amazon rain forest. He's already on the science team for the 2011 Mars Science Laboratory. He's already -- gasp -- documented the unearthing of what is alleged to be the tomb of Jesus. But this is a man who never rests. A day after participating in a meeting at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington designed to "brainstorm" solutions for the disastrous BP gulf oil spill, Cameron took the stage at the All-Things Digital technology conference, where he blasted away at British Petroleum, saying that he has been "watching what's happening in the gulf and thinking those morons don't know what they're doing."

It turns out that Cameron offered to help BP and the U.S. government in dealing with the oil spill, but his volunteer efforts were ignored. As is widely known, Cameron isn't just an amiable dunce do-gooder. He's helped develop deep-sea submersible equipment and other undersea ocean technology for a series of documentaries he made involving undersea shipwrecks, including the Titanic and the Bismarck.

As this report from Reuters notes, Cameron thinks his help is needed, since his team of experts has operated underwater vehicles and electronic optical fiber systems, even if the undersea work didn't involve drilling for oil. "I know really, really, really smart people that work typically at depths much greater than what that well is at. Most importantly, they know the engineering that it requires to get something done at that depth."

All I can tell you is that it's time to let Cameron and his really, really, really smart cohorts loose and see if they can make a dent in this growing ecological disaster. With Spike Lee down in Louisiana, updating his Hurricane Katrina documentary, going on CNN and blasting BP ("It if was up to me, they would be going to the hoosegow, to the slammer," Lee told Anderson Cooper), it's only a matter of time before the oil spill reaches true catastrophic proportions. I mean, wherever Spike goes, doom and gloom follows, as any New York Knicks fan could tell you.

The time is clearly overdue to give Cameron a special presidential appointment as our new Disaster Guru. Give him some money, give him some technology, give him some troops. Hell, give him an honorary Oscar, if that's what it takes.

Let's face it. It's time for some can-do spirit in the gulf and if anyone is overflowing with can-do zeal, it's Jim Cameron. I say step out of the way and let a real man do a real man's business.
Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com

Sickining...

but a necessary wake up call for us.. to end this obstruction to our planet called gasoline...

would be lying if is said i dont harbor ill will to those of us who created this horse shit...