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James Carville is angrier then ever about the Gulf oil disaster. ‘We are at war,’ he says. And he’s taking no prisoners.
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Material on this page was originaly posted on the main Gulf Disaster News Page but has since been moved here. For current info please see: Gulf Oil Disaster News Page.
July 5 - The US government is expected to take over control of the central information website on the Gulf oil spill response that has been run jointly by various agencies and BP for the 2 1/2 months since the rig explosion. The deepwaterhorizonresponse.com site may still be maintained during the changeover, but ultimately it will be taken down altogether when the government moves the response information to its own website.
Oil leak is stopped for first time since April 20 blowout
NOTE: The Washington Post is reporting that Tom Hunter, [retired director of the Sandia National Laboratories and a member of the federal government's scientific team overseeing the test] who was in the BP control room says the pressure inside BP’s blowout preventer has only risen to about 6700 psi. This may indicate leaks in the well bore down hole, although he cautioned that it is to early to tell. BP and the Federal Government have repeatedly said that pressure should reach 8,000 to 9,000 psi and pressures around 6,000 psi would indicate leaks in the well bore down hole.
(July 14) - New Satellite Images of Gulf: Oil reaches Mexico’s Yucatan, near Cancun NOTE: We still do not have any reports of oil or dispersants near Cancun. We are skeptical of the above satellite image as it does not prove that what is in the image is indeed oil. (July 16) - Very large group of Whale Sharks at Aqua Azul today. Crews reporting no sighting of oil, oil/dispersants or oil-foam. (July 15) - No oil, oil/dispersants, oil-foam or anything unusual sighted today by the boats going North East out of Isla Holbox past Cancun. We have also received no reports of oil anywhere near Cancun or the Coasts of Quintana Roo and Yucatan. (July 15 - 18) -There was again nothing today in "Por Esto" [the regions main newspaper] or on Mexican TV about oil near Cancun. There still has been no sightings from Fishermen, Divers or Whale Shark tours yet pertaining to any oil related oddities in the water.
BP says oil has stopped leaking from Gulf well
Gulf Oil Spill Stopped: BP Says Oil Leak Is HALTED
No oil leaking in Gulf amid well test-BP exec
Kent Wells, BP's senior vice president of exploration and production, told reporters a new cap had completely shut in the flow while the company conducts a critical pressure test on the stricken well. (Reporting by Kristen Hays) Read Article
July 15 - Consequences of Dispersants in Gulf Oil Spill, Panel 1
After delay, BP gets OK to test new cap
The testing will begin Wednesday night, National Incident Commander Thad Allen told reporters. Read Article
After delay, BP gets OK to test new cap
The testing will begin Wednesday night, National Incident Commander Thad Allen told reporters. Read Article
Blow-out fears hit BP efforts to seal leak
BP Not Ready To Perform Test On Cap For Broken Well
Last week there was a grouping at "Aqua Azul"or the Blue Water. This group was North of Isla Contoy approx 45 miles away from Holbox and closer to Cancun side. These waters contained Bonito Eggs. Last year there was over 60 here and the boats from Cancun and Isla Mujeres had a field day with so many Whale Sharks. All you had to do was sit in the water and watch them swim by. Well this years grouping in that section suddenly disappeared?
U.S. Delays Test of Device That Could Seal Gulf Well
BP relief well blowout preventers needed fixes: Salazar
After days of progress, BP freezes work in Gulf
BP July 14 Update
(July 14) - Oil on Texas beaches confirmed by U.S. Coast Guard to be from BP Deepwater Horizon spill
July 13 - Coast Guard Lifts Media Restrictions in Gulf
BP Says New Well Cap Installed
BP Tests New Cap To Stop Gulf Oil Spill
BBC Video: BP Works to Install New Cap on Broken Oil Well
BP oil cap makes 'significant progress' - Coast Guard
Gulf Oil Spill: Containment Cap Could Stop Leak Within 3 Days
The work to replace a leaky containment cap on the well head with a tighter one will begin Saturday, National Incident Commander Thad Allen said. At the same time, a ship connecting to a different part of the leak is expected to come online Sunday. Read Article
Daily Kos (July 9) - Airborne Pollutant Increase in Florida
WHALE SHARK SIGHTING AT CABO CATOCHE
BP says does not expect to halt oil spill until August
Hopes of a quicker end to the worst oil spill in U.S. history had increased after the head of BP's Gulf Coast restoration unit, Bob Dudley, said it could be possible to stop the well between July 20 and July 27 "in a perfect world with no interruptions". Gulls wash themselves as oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill washes ashore in Waveland, Mississippi July 7, 2010. (REUTERS/Lee Celano) "He (Dudley) gave that as the very, very best scenario if everything went absolutely superbly according to plan and there are no interruptions but the expectation is that it will be August," the spokeswoman said.
Oil containment effort facing 2 key moments
WHALE SHARK REPORT
The Whale Sharks migrate back and forth depending on the food supply. The big question is when will that group of 100 leave the disaster area and head South!
(July 16) Oil and Gas Leaking Around Capped BOP Stack (1)
(July 16) Oil and Gas Leaking Around Capped BOP Stack (2)
OIL DESTROYING HABITATS, COULD ALTER ECOSYSTEMS FOREVER
TRANSOCEAN CRITICIZES OBAMA DRILLING MORATORIUM LA Times (June 29) - Reporting from Washington — The gushing BP oil well is a mystery still unfolding, and late last month, a team of scientists from the Energy Department discovered a new twist: Their sophisticated imaging equipment detected not one but two drill pipes, side by side, inside the wreckage of the well's blowout preventer on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. Read Article
BP Discussing a Backup Strategy to Contain Oil
Giant Oil Slick Headed For Grand Isle
Oil spill: Is Gulf safe for swimming? These moves send conflicting signals about how safe it is to swim in the Gulf of Mexico as the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill broadens. Read Article
MEDIA BLACKOUT INTENSIFIES
Reading first-hand eye witness accounts from persons out on boats in the gulf working on the catastrophe paint a horrendous picture. There is little confidence in the Relief Wells working. Skimmers are breaking down unable to cope with the thick viscosity and large amount of crude oil. The dispersants are converting the crude oil into different concoctions visible by their variance in colors. There is oil as far as the eye can see report some workers. Many feel that there is so much oil that their work is not making the smallest dent in recovery. Some workers who are coming in contact with dead or dying animals are sharing the horror that these poor animals are experiencing and it affecting them in no small way. Now in a further attempt to muzzle anyone from reporting on the catastrophe this story appears:
Media, boaters could face criminal penalties by entering oil cleanup 'safety zone'
(July 6) - BP & Government to Reporters: Leave
The US accepts oil spill help from Sweden
Gulf oil spill likely to reach Florida Keys, Miami, report says
BP Gulf Oil Spill Disaster, An Impossible Well to Cap?
Biologists find 'dead zones' around BP oil spill in Gulf
"The animals are already voting with their fins to get away from where the oil spill is and where potentially there is oxygen depletion," he said. "When you begin to see animals changing their distribution that is telling you about the quality of water further offshore. Basically, the fish are moving closer to shore to try to get to better water." Read Article
Apocalypse in the Gulf: Could a Sinkhole Swallow the Deepwater Horizon Well -- And BP?
BBC Panorama: BP - In Deep Water
AU 60 Minutes BP Oil Spill Video, Removed by BP Demand
inches under the sand at Pensacola Beach
But a University of South Florida geologist made a grim discovery Thursday morning, 24 hours after the worst oil onslaught in Florida so far. Ping Wang, 43, who has studied beaches for 20 years, dug a narrow trench perpendicular to the shoreline, about a foot deep and 5 feet long. A dark, contiguous vein of oil ran horizontally along the walls of the trench, about 6 inches beneath the surface. Read Article
METHANE IN GULF "ASTONISHINGLY HIGH": U.S. SCIENTIST (Reuters) - As much as 1 million times the normal level of methane gas has been found in some regions near the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, enough to potentially deplete oxygen and create a dead zone, U.S. scientists said on Tuesday. Texas A&M University oceanography professor John Kessler, just back from a 10-day research expedition near the BP Plc oil spill in the gulf, says methane gas levels in some areas are "astonishingly high." Kessler's crew took measurements of both surface and deep water within a 5-mile (8 kilometer) radius of BP's broken wellhead. "There is an incredible amount of methane in there," Kessler told reporters in a telephone briefing. In some areas, the crew of 12 scientists found concentrations that were 100,000 times higher than normal. "We saw them approach a million times above background concentrations" in some areas, Kessler said. The scientists were looking for signs that the methane gas had depleted levels of oxygen dissolved in the water needed to sustain marine life. "At some locations, we saw depletions of up to 30 percent of oxygen based on its natural concentration in the waters. At other places, we saw no depletion of oxygen in the waters. We need to determine why that is," he told the briefing. Methane occurs naturally in sea water, but high concentrations can encourage the growth of microbes that gobble up oxygen needed by marine life. Kessler said oxygen depletions have not reached a critical level yet, but the oil is still spilling into the Gulf, now at a rate of as much as 60,000 barrels a day, according to U.S. government estimates. "What is it going to look like two months down the road, six months down the road, two years down the road?" he asked. Methane, a natural gas, dissolves in seawater and some scientists think measuring methane could give a more accurate picture of the extent of the oil spill. Kessler said his team has taken those measurements, and is hoping to have an estimate soon. "Give us about a week and we should have some preliminary numbers on that," he said.
SIMMONS SAYS NUCLEAR DEVICE ONLY OPTION TO STOP OIL FLOW Matthew Simmons says they have found a 3 to 400 meter thick oil lake that is covering 40% of the the Gulf below the surface. He says they can't even find the well head because there is too much fire within 3 miles of it. He also says that the casing is gone, which means that the relief wells will not work.
(July 2) - The bubbling surf on Pensacola Beach indicates the presence of toxic chemicals in the water that evaporate in the air. While initially such was attributed to bubbles of methane gas, it is now clear that a chemical compound was formed between Corexit and methane at the bottom of the Gulf called 2-ethylhexane-1,3-diol. Read Article
LATEST WORD ON YUCATAN AND THE OIL SPILL For now, it looks as if any oil that comes our way will be below the surface and not in liquid form. It will also not be as toxic as it is near the blowout because of degradation caused by sun and wave action killing the bacteria it carries. That any possible oil coming Yucatan’s way will probably be subsurface, solid, and less toxic is good news because, as we know, the first casualties in Louisiana were the next generation of fish eggs and baby fish that covered the top of the water along the Louisiana coast. Yucatan will have 80 sampling stations around the peninsula, all at different depths and distances from the coast. If this oil spill reaches Yucatan, it is expected in October and November. A bad hurricane could bring it in as early as August. In either case, Yucatan is currently ahead of the game and everyone is working hard to see to it that she stays ahead.
Yucatan has a new director for our Oceanography Research Station over at the Armada. It is expected that he will have a good working relationship with CINVESTAV and ECOSUR, which is very welcome news for the immediate future of our coastal environment. Plus, we have learned that Mexico is getting ready to sue BP in order to get a $20 million USD contingency fund in place. There is some talk that this will be the initial request for cleanup and restoration in Tamaulipas, with the need spreading down the East Coast with time. The longer the oil is in the water, the less fluid and toxic it will be so, hopefully, Yucatan’s location will serve to somewhat protect our shores.
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WHALE SHARK REPORT
PENSACOLA BEACH (June 25) — The sugar-sand beach here appeared cleaner Thursday, after workers picked up tar balls overnight with shovels and nets. By noon they had collected 44,955 pounds of tar balls and oil material, according to the Escambia County Emergency Operations Center.
 Cancun
Mayan Riviera Playa del Carmen
Cozumel Isla Mujeres Isla Holbox Merida
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