Gulf of Mexico oil spill could hit Florida Monday

[Heddi]

Source: 10 Connects, Tampa FL

Pensacola, Florida - U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson painted a grim picture for Gulf beaches if some 200,000 gallons of oil discharging daily from the severely damaged Deepwater Horizon rig off Louisiana reach shore.

"We are facing a very serious situation," the Orlando Democrat told a group of political and community leaders at the Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce Friday. "The winds over the next three days are moving the oil slick to the east and it is estimated it could be close to Florida by Monday."

....

The deadly Deepwater Horizon disaster also prompted Nelson to write the White House a letter this week strongly suggesting the Obama administration shelve its proposed five-year plan for drilling 75 miles within Florida's coasts.

"I think the White House has already acknowledged that no further drilling will be permitted until the investigation is concluded," Nelson said.

Read more: http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=131067

---

I live in St Pete, and the beaches here are...er, I guess now were beautiful. Fuck offshore drilling. I hope this wakes up the chuckleheads in this state that were DRILLBABYDRILL 3 months ago...

[Oceansaway]

1. hhmmm, dead intern joes area ?..nt

[jpak]

2. Lotsa Palin Nuts in PNS - and there will be PNS fundies that will blame this on teh gays

yup

[KILL THE WISE ONE]

4. teh ?

[HCE SuiGeneris]

24. It's a DUism.

However, you may want to rethink this, "I am not as crazy as some of my posts would make me seam".

[nebenaube]

3. sucks that this is happening...

but let Rush and Jeb's beach compounds be on the gulf coast... pleeeaze!

[KILL THE WISE ONE]

5. Jeb is on east coast don't know about Rush

[iamjoy]

11. East Coast May Get It...

Actually, according to this article, the east coast of Florida might see the the impact of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It has to do with the currents...

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20100430/ARTICLES/100439956?Title=Expert-Florida-East-Coast-could-get-the-brunt

It would be of little comfort if Rush and Jeb saw the affects of this disaster on their playground.

[Stuckinthebush]

6. Makes me sick...

Those beautiful beaches will be ruined but that's the least of it. The wildlife will be in serious danger and the fish industry down there will be destroyed.

Sad.

[iamjoy]

9. Yeah, It Hurts People Too

We can't lose sight of the human toll of this disaster. First, men died when the rig exploded and sank. Next, the fisherman who make (or rather, made) their living in the Gulf of Mexico are screwed. That's a rough life already. I don't think the fishing industries in Prince William Sound have recovered and it's been more than 20 years since Valdez. There's also the tourism industry - on which Florida depends.

I know conservation more important, etc. Sadly, too many Conservatives don't give a damn about sea turtles and birds. If you are dealing with one of them, don't let them minimize this disaster by losing sight of the human cost. The human, wildlife and environmental costs are all immense.

[Stuckinthebush]

10. Oh, indeed

It is devastating all around.

Sad.

[riskpeace]

15. Thanks for your post

Florida is just beginning to come out of recession. This disaster will just prolong and likely deepen the recession in this state. We've got a new airport in Panama City Beach slated to open on May 23rd. Southwest Airlines begins service to our area on that day. The timing for this region could not be worse.

[onethatcares]

7. I live in St Pete also and always take the time

to tell the beach walking tourists how nice it would look to have rigs 7 miles off the coast with their burn off fires lighting the sky while we watch a sunset. I also tell them the merits of having to wash your feet off with wd-40 after a jog.


Finally I tell them to talk to their hoteliers about fighting any type of drilling off the west coast, gauddammmmint, the upper part isn't called the "nature coast" for nothing.

Peace.

[izquierdista]

19. Oh, you've lived in Santa Barbara too!

[onethatcares]

32. no, never lived there

and I've never been to Spain, but I've been to Oklahoma.

[ConcernedCanuk]

8. "SPILL" is the wrong word

.
.

We created a LEAK from the bowels of the Earth

I see no way that we can hope to contain this.

It will leak it's guts into our ocean, and poison the coast

forever . . .

[Karenina]

25. Cassandra checking in...

Last fall there was a similar incident Australia/Indonesia way that received very little coverage in y'all's parts.

Full disclosure :tinfoilhat:

Since coming across articles decades ago that posited South American Native beliefs as oil being Mother Earths's blood, I've been on board. Makes sense to me. The "Earth Day" BLOWOUT occurred as those enlightened souls fighting for the rights of Mother Earth in Bolivia were marginalized and ignored. Mama gonna shake us off like fleas.

Anyway, back to that little "Incident"

My first thought was HOLY FUCK! What happens when they CAN'T cap it. Have they struck a major vein? It took them 3 months or so to cap the wellhead that was spewing oil. I've not casually run across any info addressing the environmental consequences, much better to maintain the fiction that there were none.

This time, capitalist hubris meets Her Majesty. Have they finally penetrated an aorta? The planet will remain but Her ability (and/or inclination) to support OUR life form will be greatly diminished. Hurricane season comin' up, will be splashing Her blood all around in case anyone missed what's been happening.

[ConcernedCanuk]

27. "Have they finally penetrated an aorta?" maybe

.
.
.

But if not now

sooner or later our greed will do us in.

Let's think of the Earth as a ball filled with fluid.

How long can we drain the fluid out before the ball collapses?

OH

and that little thing about polluting all along the way

Sad to think that out of the millions of species on the Earth,

there is only only one capable (and apparently willing) to destroy it.

YUP

That be us humans.

"Civilized" ??? .

I think not.

(sigh)

[Loge23]

12. Potentially devastating blow to Florida and Gulf Coast

It's probably a foregone conclusion that, at least, some coastline will be significantly impacted by this careless disaster.
But think what can realistically happen if this mega-spill brushes among the Gulf Coast, West Coast of FL, the Keys, and back up the East Coast. The best beaches, most fertile shellfish harvest area and fishery, and lifeblood of American warm-weather tourism will be effectively ruined for possibly decades. The economic impact is incalculable. Worse case scenario? I think this is entirely possible, if not probable.
This has to be the tipping point for oil dependency in this country or we sacrifice an enormous quality of life aspect along with a multi-billion dollar industries employing far more people than the oil industry.
We can no longer have it both ways.

[louis-t]

13. They'll just blame it on Obama.

[greenman3610]

14. No, this is caused by Gay Parades

I think science has established that beyond a doubt.

[louis-t]

18. Ha!

:rofl:

[lostnfound]

16. Brokenhearted to think about my beautiful FL westcoast beaches

being hit with this. Too depressing.
THe water down around Longboat Key down to Venice is a stunning aquamarine, fairly glows in the right light.

[JCMach1]

20. Maybe the Whole Florida coast and even further???...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8252574

[glowing]

17. This now after they decided to dump the Piney Point phosphates into

the Gulf Of Mexico mixing bowl.. and wondered why there were red tides the following years... Its completely disgusting. One big oscillating bowl swashing back and forth. Its too valuable to be pumping oil out of it... Its an ecosystem that will have huge devastating economic consequences for years. Pissing in the food bowl.

[roamer65]

22. delete.

[riskpeace]

21. This is what my friend, a charter fishing boat Captain in the Gulf,

just said on Facebook:

"It dont really matter what anyones opinion is now we are all in really big trouble together."

[roamer65]

23. 2,000,000 gallons a day...if the remainder of the well head blows off.

[Baclava]

26. new map of oil spill

This will be catastrophic - worse than a dozen Katrinas

[ConcernedCanuk]

28. Have you got a link for that so the rest of us can keep up to date?

.
.
.

This looks really bad

I guess Florida's real estate is gonna take a shit-kicking . . .

And the fisheries

and

and

it's an OMG moment . .

[Baclava]

29. Here you go

http://www.noaa.gov/

lots of maps and model projections here

http://ocgweb.marine.usf.edu/

[trof]

33. I live right above the 'r' in "Approximate".

That little hourglass shaped bay about 1/2 inch above the 'r' is Wolf Bay.
I'm about half way up, on the western shore.
We're not expecting the oil to work its way up here, but the coast is screwed and for a long time.
:-(

[totodeinhere]

30. This is such a tragedy. And a lot of us have been warning that this would eventually happen. n/t

[flamingdem]

31. Too early for silver lining, but this could have served to avert something worse

Though that's hard to believe, if we can end this kind of drilling long term we might be better off. And it's more likely under Obama.

[Baclava]

34. the problem in a nutshell

Potential ways to stop the leak

With 210,000 gallons of oil per day spewing out of the broken pipes of the Deepwater Horizon rig and threatening the Gulf coast, three plans for stopping the flow have been set into motion.

[Fool Count]

35. Why not consider the fourth option -

setting off a powerful deep charge to seal the well for good? Is it because they still want
to preserve the existing well for future oil production? Is it their calculation that the
cost of clean-up and any possible legal liabilities will still be less than the cost of drilling
a new well? They are still going to drill that "relief well" though. But of course with two
functioning wells they could double the rate of oil production after the problem is solved.
Just wondering, who is in charge and making all the decisions there - BP or US Government?

[IndianaGreen]

36. BBC's map of spill as of May 2

BBC is reporting that Interior Secretary Salazar said that it will take 90 days before relief oil well is completed to stop leak.

BBC's map of spill as of May 2


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8656627.stm

So today we’re announcing the expansion of offshore oil and gas exploration, but in ways that balance the need to harness domestic energy resources and the need to protect America’s natural resources. Under the leadership of Secretary Salazar, we’ll employ new technologies that reduce the impact of oil exploration. We’ll protect areas that are vital to tourism, the environment, and our national security. And we’ll be guided not by political ideology, but by scientific evidence.

That's why my administration will consider potential areas for development in the mid and south Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, while studying and protecting sensitive areas in the Arctic. That’s why we’ll continue to support development of leased areas off the North Slope of Alaska, while protecting Alaska’s Bristol Bay.

Barack Obama
March 31, 2010

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-energy-security-andrews-air-force-base-3312010

[daleo]

37. Tens of billions spent on submarines

To defend the U.S. from undersea enemies, and the real threat was from corporate negligence.

"We have met the enemy and he is us."

[recoveringrepublican]

38. I'm up by Howard Park and Sunset Beach. Took the kids today. nt