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PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. – For now the coast is clear, which is good news for tourists enjoying some fun in the sun this week on Florida's white-sand beaches.
But for residents whose livelihoods depend on a steady flow of summer vacationers, news that oil is within striking distance here left many with looks of pained resignation in their faces.
Sandy Gray grew up in the area. She donned a bikini and headed to the beach Wednesday – her digital camera in tow – to capture what she fears are the dwindling final days of pristine shoreline for quite a while.
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Like many, she hoped that winds and currents would keep the oil suspended in the open sea, giving crews time to clean up the spill before it washed ashore in some community. Hearing that an oil slick was spotted within 10 miles of Pensacola was jarring, she said.
“We thought we were going to get lucky. But this is really bad,” Gray said. “We have the most beautiful beaches in the world. This is going to take years to clean up. When it hits here, we have nothing.”
That, of course, is the fear for many in the tourist industry ahead of the peak summer. And while Chamber of Commerce officials were reporting a few hundred hotel/vacation property reservation cancellations, the expectation is that the number may explode, leaving more than a few businesses in the red by summer's end.
Beachside, there was no evidence of the frantic efforts Wednesday to lay down secondary containment booms in Pensacola Bay and offshore. Kids frolicked in the sand and in the warm water. Parents kept watchful eyes on both their young ones and the books they clutched in their hands. Screams of joy rose from nearly every pocket of the beach. Yet, underneath it all, was an obvious pall.
One tourist from Utah expressed regret that he'd only just gotten to Florida, though would try to make the most of his vacation by spending as much time in the sea as he could before the oil sludge and tar balls float in.
A couple, believing they’d spotted plumes of oil dancing in the waters off Fort Pickens National Park nearby, were seemingly enthralled to be close to such a big international story with historical ramifications, though there has not been an official declaration of oil at that site. “It was so cool,” one of them said.
Acknowledging the comment as the pair sauntered away, Gray simply replied, “No, it's not cool.”
And with that, she cupped her camera in her hand and headed home, hoping she really hadn't just taken the final photos of her postcard-worthy hometown beach in all its clean and glistening glory.
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Sad....so very sad for the people of the Gulf Coast from Florida to Texas.
sorry kaara but if this gets into the gulf stream it will go all the way up to Nova Scotia all courtesy of BP and their greed for that black crap. i say the only way to get off oil is for our country to go full scale and non stop on massive wind farms on and off shore and massive solar farms - something like we used to be able to do like during the WPA. it would put a lot of people to work and cut the throat of the oil companies and make our infrastructure more efficient too. all we would need oil for is for products, gasoline and oil for our cars and have our infrastructure run on wind and solar power
all the talk will not do one thing - we have to say lets do it and start already
Dan - I'm not sure I understand what it is "you" are sacrificing at the present time. There is no way this country can go without oil. Everything we have/use on an hourly basis was made by oil. Every product you own with plastic/pvc can't be made without oil. Not driving a car isn't going to make even the slightest dent. You said wind farms would put a lot of people to work? How many people do you think the Oil Companies are employing? It is ten times the amount of people you think would have jobs on these wind farms. Don't get me wrong. I'm all for the good of the land/country. But I have to say, I really love my microwave (plastic cover) and I really love my self-propelled lawnmower (gas/oil) and I like my computer/monitor (plastic) oh and I really like my clean water (oil is needed to run your water treatment plants and also chlorine is needed for clean the water - Cholorine Plants need oil to run). So you see DAN, wind farms is only a drop in a huge ocean of products. Unless the American people want to turn back time 1800's, your oil companies will forever be a BIG face on the American dollar. THANK GOODNESS. I sure would hate to get every drop of oil I needed to keep the stuff I like from the Middle East!
So what we need is not wind farms. We need plans in place to act on disasters like the one we have in the gulf.
Welcome to what we are all equally responsible for. Its not BP's greed for the black stuff, its our ever growing need for it. You want to fix this problem, come up with an alternative to oil. Until we do that this kind of thing will happen every once in awhile. Its the cost of how "WE" do things. WE as in you an me and everyone else. What do you think all those fishing boats use to run their engines? Everyone is against commercial fishing until something like this happens then its the poor fisherman. The poor tourist industry, the poor Gulf coast residents. I live here too and except this as part of the area. I am surrounded by stinking flame puking refineries and bug filled swamps. The rivers are so polluted by the time they reach the Gulf no one in their right mind would eat anything coming out of them. This oil spill has nothing to do with hurricanes or past inconveniences that go along with living here. Anyone who cries about a hurricane needs to move inland, its part of living here just like smog is a part of living in LA and tornadoes are part of the midwest. If you lose your job over oil spills or anything else like millions have over the past few years because of the failing economy and Wall Street greed, then you find another job. I am so tired of all the arm chair professors and engineers saying they should fix this or Obama should make them fix it. The best thing Obama could do is stay away from it because he is only a politician. Politicians thought they knew how to run a war too and we all know how well that worked out. Remember Vietnam? BP will make good on their promise to clean this up and they will stop this leak as quickly as they can. Do you really think they want this happening anymore than the rest of us? I hope that the people taking pictures of the oil soaked birds and those complaining about it are out there helping to clean them up. If your not willing to get out there and get dirty then shut up. I certainly dont need your sympathy and all I hear from the coast is "Wheres my Money" I expect to see a lot of brand new fishing boats or retired fisherman in the months to come. None of this is corporate greed, its our way of doing things just like the oil we import is said to support terroism. Think about this when you pull into the gas station and fill up your ride and then ask yourself who is ultimately responsible for oil spills.
Wind...and...Solar. Those will only cripple the Coal industry. Can't run an F-350 with a sail. The more appropriate technology would be hydrogen. Hydrogen developed through electrolosis and stored in solid state devices instead of high pressure. I've seen it...it's out there.
But for the time being we have a mess on our hands...and beaches. I think it's up to us Americans to protect our land once again. After all...we are the reason BP sells oil right? We are the largest consumer of petroleum based products in the world...right? So lets go grab a bucket and hit the beach. I'm sure all who helped out Hatti in it's time of need are generous enough to help their own country as well right? Am I right?
As far as your concerns regarding your F-350, Ford invented the Flex Fuel vehicle which can run on ethanol, a fuel that can be produced from a variety of agricultural crops. Also there are vehicles that can run on Methanol, a fuel derived from Methane.
They say all politics is local. Often, all disaster is local, and personal.
I would hope that LA doesn't wish this on any of our neigbors but indeed the fact that this dreadful situation has now spread to the beraches of Alabama and Florida may pressure any one and everyone who should have been concerned for many years.
The simple sad truth , save for special interest, is that no one really cares right now about the few bayou parishes already killed by this disaster. I doubt even those living in the state yet removed from direct impact yet know what lies ahead.
LA sold its soul to the devil nearly 80 years ago and, more relevant to this case, in 1947 when offshore drilling started in earnest.
Unfortunately, once one sells one's soul to the devil, there is no turning back. Now we must beg for the help of others(or more likely trudge ahead on our own) while at the same time beg for the oil companes and the government to proceed with offshore drilling.
Truly only God may help our children now.
Actually, the people living in those Bayou Parishes care deeply for the area as does anyone who has one bit of compassion for anyone and anything. People in the Gulf Region have suffered a great deal over the last 7 plus years and your lack of compassion should be directed to the companies that were driven by greed who did not take the precautions they should have to prevent this type of disaster.
I pray for people like you who have no feelings at all for others suffering!
Where in the heck did you come from.
Cheryl in Baton Rouge
I live here and every damn thing i have ever known is being destroyed. I HAVE LIVED THROUGH EVERY DAMN THING IN THE BAYOU REGION FOR THE LAST 50 YEARS .
MY POINT IS THAT NO ONE ELSE CARES ENOUGH ABOUT IT
GET A DAMN EDUCATION
Duet, talk about God one second and spread hatred and cursing the next. We call people like you "hippocrates!"
They're ancient doctors? . .... oh - you mean hypocrites
I am from Pensacola and am just as disturbed by the events we will face for years to come, but some of you people need to get real. Wind farms will only answer part of the problems. It's not that greed has caused this problem. Our automobiles still have to operate and wind is not going to help there, and for those of you that try to bring God into this as to say the people of LA is being punished in some way is foolish if not border line stupid. The God I know has made us in his image and placed us over the things in this world. If he is punishing people then you as well are being punished. We will get through this and be stonger.
Let's remember the human lives that were lost and their families. No amount of finger pointing, name calling, or hatred will ever bring them home to their loved ones. My prayer is that Jesus Christ was their personal savior and that this tragic event brings us all closer to Him!
God will forgive anyone who asks him of it. I personally don't believe he blew up the well. I believe we did. Now it's up to us to fix it. This is the land he gave us.
lol ... exactly which god were you made in the image of? ... personally, I would have preferred some of the greek gods to what is predominate in the US.
Wake up sheep and get off your knees! Superstition is not going to save you from the hydrocarbons you dug up and released. Its gonna take forward thinking and a personal sense of responsibility. Something I have noticed superstitious people lack.
hey there "irritated", Allah will be visting us soon,tell me how much you like him over the Christian God that most of the U.S. recognizies,this is without any doubt the worst thing I've ever seen,other than the last few decade's of Political change.
Having participated in the clean up of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and having visited the site two years later, I think I can allay concerns that this will "...take years to clean up." Two years after the Exxon Valdez dumped oil into the pristine wilderness of Alaska there were still signs of damage, but nothing that would be noticed if you did not know what you were looking for. Nature is MUCH stronger than humanity gives it credit.
This is still a tragedy of tremendous proportions for the time being. I only hope that BP is able to afford a total clean up before it goes into bankruptcy. I'm more concerned about the vegetation along the shoreline, the grasses, the mangroves, all that support the basis and the genesis of the shoreline wildlife, than I am the larger offshore birds and fishes.
Two years after the Exxon Valdez spill everything was fine?? Funny, I seem to recall just a few weeks ago reading about how there are still oil deposits in the sound that Exxon doesn't want to be responsible for since it's been "too long" for them to be accountable. Oil can hide in sediments and kill the organisms that live there, affecting the food chain. Just because it may *look* okay doesn't mean it's okay.
Why they aren't spreading hay in the water to collect the oil is beyond me.
This whole hay thing sounds like a good idea, but it does not actually work. Here is why:
Hay floats initially, due to a large amount of air in the center of it. When seas churn, and water is choppy, it DOES sink. Also, hay rots quickly in salt water. When hat rots it releases nitrogen into the water, increasing algal growth. This rotting, and subsequent rotting of algie consume oxygen. This reduces the oxygen content of the water in the area, which suffocates fish and other animals.
Also, the hay would not wash up on the beaches as easily as described in the video. Oil has been floating out in the gulf for well over a month now, and has only recently started coming into shore. Most of it is still out at sea. The hay would follow the same current and beach dynamics. It would end up as a huge mat of floating hay. This would also shade the waters of the gulf, cooling them, reducing the growth of bacteria that consume oil.
It is an idea that may work on small scale, but in the gulf there are many possible negative impacts.
from what i hear the country of japan has a preventive thing surrounding their islands to prevent something like this and guess where it is made - right here in the u.s.a. why the hell are we not using it. spreading hay will only make the mess much worst because there will never be enough people to clean the hay out of the gulf and other places the oil goes
BP executives should all be fired and thrown in prison
"BP executives should all be fired and thrown in prison "
How about "BP executives should all be fired and thrown in the Gulf?"
Off with their heads!
The people that live in Florida need to spread hay where the water meets the shore. The oil will attach itself to the hay. Then scoop up the hay once its saturated with oil.
What do they mean they have nothing???? These people know it's coming and are doing nothing. Where do they think they are Haiti..? Sitting around waiting for everyone but themselves to help.
They have nothing now because a large majority of the businesses along the gulf coast, especially Biloxi, Pensacola, Ft. Walton Bch, Destin, and Panama City Bch, rely on fishing and tourism for their livelyhood. Those are thousands of jobs that will be lost because of this!!! What do you expect the people to do instead??? Yeah, it is sad about the wildlife, but people are going to be homeless because of this mess!!!
Obviously this does not affect you, so go back to your cushy little sheltered life and let the rest of us deal with the real world.
I'm just as angry about the oil spill as the next person, but I, for one, am not so stupid as to think this is all BP's fault. We have a voracious appetite for petroleum. We consume more of it than any other country in the world. And our love of gas-guzzling SUV's just to haul a few bags of groceries around town doesn't help. Were it not for our insatiable hunger for oil, BP wouldn't've been drilling in the Gulf in the first place. And, no matter how well-built or -planned a system is, things can still go wrong. We can blame the government. We can blame BP. We can blame the manufacturers of the various parts that failed and allowed the oil to gush out uncontrollably. But, we must also blame ourselves. It's every bit as much our own fault as it is BP's and anyone else's. But, no. Americans are inculpable. We never accept responsibility for our own bad behavior. Just as that woman in L.A. is suing Google because she got hit by a car while walking down a busy stretch of highway with no sidewalks, we always want to hold others accountable for our own stupidity.
I think we, as the biggest consumers of crude in the world, should absolutely bear some of the burden of cleaning up this mess in the Gulf. We absolutely should feel the pinch in our own pockets for being the kind of society that creates the need for companies to be out there drilling for oil in the first place. We're just as much to blame for this disaster, and anyone who says otherwise is seriously messed up.
once again - our damn infrastructure uses hundreds of thousands times more oil to keep running than our automobiles - if we can change how we power our infrastructure to solar/wind power we will be off of oil forever except for our personal vehicles which will not cost us 40 - 60 to fill up because the price of oil and gasoline will drop like a lead weight
Unfortunately L. J. Rhodes...you are correct!
We live in a world where a majority of people dont take accountability for thier own actions, moreover, we have solutions and still fail to acknowledge them. Wind farms, Solar, Bio-technologies have been around for quite a while and we just cant seem to get off the tit of petroleum products. We always have excuses why we CANT..."gotta have cars", "gotta fuel those power plants" etc... If the people of this country would just STOP and actually see what is going on!!! We need to do whatever we can to fix this current problem, hold the negligent accountable, including ourselves and make sure that WE do our parts in making sure that this never happens again. Drill baby drill = Spill baby spill. Talk to your reps, tell them NO to oil and YES to the future. Failure to do so will end up in failure for this little spec we call Earth! Everyone has a choice and everyone has a voice, regardless of how small they may seem, together we can make the changes to take this country off life support and get it breathing again. Its going to take a long time as a lot of damage has been and is currently being done. Maybe our childrens' children will have a chance, at least!
L.J. Rhodes.....you are absolutely out of your mind for blaming "we"....who are "we"? NOT ME...and certainly not anyone I know. You want to blame America? Then go right ahead...but the blame begins and ends at the TOP, not the bottom...which is who the "we" you are referring to are. "WE" don't make the decisions. "WE" are using oil because the government makes it the most cost effective and easiest option across the board. THAT'S THE FACT....You really think Americans WANT to use oil as the main source of energy? Most will probably say no...but most know that oil is big $$$$ and government loves big $$$$....you really think writing to a rep, staging a rally, or sending emails out telling people not to buy gas on certain days will make any difference? Hahaha.....cmon...get off your darn soapbox before you hurt yourself.
I'm with Not My Fault-- I didn't ask to have oil crammed up my Asz since birth. Just because I love my car doesn't mean I love and am addicted to oil... the world doesn't have a choice because of the corrupt corporate CEO A-holes dreaming up ways for the world to eat, sleep, consume and have sex with oil.
1st of all Florida does NOT have the *most beautiful beaches in the world*, but getting past that point, the hurricane season should be interesting. Picking up the oil, and dropping it far inland via rain. Should smell quite different :(. UGH..
We the consumer *bear* some of the burden of cleaning up the mess ? Where do think their getting the money to clean it now ? From tax monies paid to the *helpers and beach strollers*, to even BP thru paying for their gas, we ARE bearing it, and will continue to do so for some time.
yep, you are overpaid
florida does so have the most beautiful beaches in the world - very clean and white power sand - as for the hurricanes - may they hit where you live you little insulting nitwit
Wow, aren't you touchy. I didn't *insult* anyone. No need for name calling, geesh. And yes I've been to many countries, and Florida can't hold a candle to many other places. I stand by my statement.
Because that was a very appropriate and tactful comment to make about the beaches in a time of crisis...might as well have said "F-you Florida, you were ugly anyway!!!"
...overpaid, but not too bright...
I lived in Pensacola for 14 years...had my children at Baptist Hospital, lived and worked in the Gulf Coast for the majority of my married life. What a beautiful beach; a beach I still find myself wandering back to, and what a shame, greed, again, has cast its greasy shadow on such a unique, and wonderous area of this planet. The animals, the ocean, the ecosystem, all damaged, probably forever, over the almighty buck....oil! "We hit oil!", and what a mess we've created. I'm glad my children enjoyed growing up on this beach, in the Gulf Coast area, but am sad, other young people will never experience "the way it use to be". Memories will be all we have left in the end....how sad!
I know how you are feeling, I was married on that beach...almost makes me wanna cry.
Yes, I understand how you feel. My fiance' and I are supposed to be married in Destin on the beach on September 11, 2010. Now, I fear for the worst. The worst thing about all of this is all of the deposits that have been paid on things such as weddings, vacations, etc. Our deposits are lost. I know that with the company that we paid our deposit through, and was paid several months ago will not refund our deposit. My compassion and sympathy goes out to the businesses in the gulf because of the great loss that they will deal with but, in the same sense we are at loss because we have lost money and will not even be able to have our dream wedding on the beach. Since the disaster we have had to come up with a new location and change all the plans made.
I sincerely hope that someone will come up with a brainstorm on how to stop this before this disaster hits and spreads to only God knows where. It is so sad for every living thing here on this earth.
YEARS ago I BEGGED Florida officals to reconsider...
http://www.theledger.com/article/20051015/NEWS/510150328
http://www.theledger.com/article/20060811/NEWS/608110326?tc=ar
They didn't listen then... now that the ecology and economy is in peril SUDDENLY they're scrambling.
We CANNOT drill out way out of this energy issue... !!!!!!!!!!
Terrible...and no we can't drill our way out of this...I also was making myself heard about offshore drilling for years. I have lived in Florida my entire life, and it is a truly unique and wonderful place.
As for BP, they should be run out of business after giving every cent to clean up affected areas and compensate people for their losses.
As for blame, shortsightedness is as much or even more to blame than greed, the pressure to exceed earnings expectations every quarter & maintain or up the dividend caused a lot of corners to be cut & KNOWN PROBLEMS were ignored, leading to loss of life and horrible environmental catastrophe. This type of thinking is rampant in all of our major public companies and can't end well...
to Cutlass- we know it's coming, and are doing all we can. Read the news and maybe trying doing some research before opening your mouth and inserting foot. We have scores of volunteers taking training every few days for cleanup, booms are being laid, people are donating hair for making more booms and yet - - what else can we do? Sometimes, all you can do is watch it come. How would you stop a snow storm or a tornado? Ignorant comments like yours make me burn.
I do think we have some of the worlds most beautiful beaches. Pure white sands and turquoise waters - if you don't think that's beautiful, maybe you don't know what beauty is or just have a bias because it's in the south, who knows or who cares. The point is, once it's gone, most of the income of people here goes, too, because our area's economy is tourist-based.
It's easy to be cold hearted when you're not in the middle of it. I ask that you try to have some compassion for the people here and understand what we're going through.
I live just minutes from Pensacola Beach. I used to go there, just to sit and take it all in. I hate that I haven't been down to the beach in such a long time. It truly is one of the most beautiful sights I've seen.
I also agree with the rest of your comments, too.
Ditto
We were the first folks to sound the alarms and start doing something. We have boomed the bridges inland and had Citizen and Government Emergency response teams active since the beginning in both planning and in doing. With years of hurricanes preparation and recovery experience in this area we understand better than anyone how to mobilize, prepare and respond. What else would cutlass have us do. Didn't that nitwit see the housing and financial collapse coming - I see he did a lot to prevent it - what a tool.
All minerals and oil exploration and extraction must stop at this point until we find out how far the corruption goes in the regulatory ranks. Right now, Michigan's Upper Peninsula is under heavy exploration by multi-national mining corps like Rio Tinto/Kennecott with one NICKEL mine started on pristine water plains of the Yellow Dog and Salmon Trout Rivers. This area feeds into 22 percent of the world's fresh water and even Michigan DNR says they do not have the money to monitor the situation! Shut it down, find out where we stand with the EPA and other regulatory agencies....EVERYWHERE- folks.....
To L.J. Rhodes;
You madam -or sir- have hit the nail squarely on its provervial head! This is a nation that has vast territory, but no comprehensive rail system. That has huge cities and spread-out suburbs, but no comprehensive transit system. That has wide areas of great climate, but no comprehensive cycling routes, nor sidewalk systems. Instead, as you so well put it, this is a nation of people who will drive everywhere, even to the convenience store around the corner in gigantic, gas-guzzling SUV's, all to carry just a few bags of groceries.
For my part, I live in the desert Southwest. Yes, I do own a car, but it is a small one. I only drive it when we hit the 100's plus temperatures here, or when we have a bad monsoon storm. And that is only because our transit system -while not bad- is far from good, since we have but few covered bus stops, which can make waiting for a bus right down dangerous in our extreme heat and/or lighting storms! Otherwise, I ride my bicycle everywhere.
Likewise, I use canvas bags when shopping (plastic bags are a petrolium-based product), recycle all I can, support my local farmers, ect... True, it is demoralizing to think that as just one individual all this is -not hard, by the way- effort to live more sustainably constitutes but an infinitesimal drop in the daily bucket of polluting muck that marks so much of everyday life. But millions , billions, of such daily "drops" could create a cleansing rain that would change not only our lives, but our world.
And that is also true.
get off the SUV thing you are way off base on that. our infrastructure runs on gas and oil and our automobiles run on gas/oil - anyone with a brain would figure our vast infrastructure uses much more oil/gas than all our vehicles could possibly hope to ever use. we need alternative power for our infrastructure such as wind/solar - vast farms of them on and off shore - clean, cheap power and you would see gasoline drop like a lead weight.
Hi Dan;
Infrastructure does not have to rely solely (or, eventually, at all) on petrol. Nor do transit systems, nor personal vehicles. As you yourself have stated, there are other technological options (solar/wind/electric) that we are, frankly, in sore need of agressively pursuing/exploring/implementing. But first, we simply must get away from this ridiculous American notion of car-is-king and the bigger the car, the better.
Also Dan, it is my opinion that most people's brains do function at more than acceptable levels. Certainly enough to appreciate an open, yet civilized discourse.
Dan,
The SUV thing is a perfectly pertinent (and valid) example of our wastefulness...our unnecessary consumption.
as a Pensacola resident and home owner i am totally pissed at BP and disgusted with the way things are being done - why do they resist on anything to do with capping/sealing that damn well instead of trying to get as much of the oil out of it and screw whatever happens on shore. it is now 45 days since this crap started to belch out of the pipe into our beautiful waters and it seems BP is so inept at what they are doing that the 3 stoodges could do a much better job.
what gets me really pissed is that Hyundai and the cruise terminal both came to Pensacola first to see if they can do business here - the jerk off politicians said no - why - now Alabama have both of them and are putting their people to work while these good for nothing politicians only care about the tourist trade instead of what the people of Pensacola wanted and that is jobs. how the hell do these scumbags get re-elected. i bet they are thinking the same thing ever since the oil spill started and i hope they cannot sleep at night too
The polititicians said no and get re-elected because people listen to their bull and vote against their own interests. The GOP has millions of those people......they don't think for themselves or do their homework, they just vote for the same good 'ole boys!!!
The whole system is totally jacked and all the politicians and executives should be lynched, tarred and feather etc etc. All BP's assets should be taken and used for clean up and be used to compensate the citizens of the gulf whose lives are destroyed. It is both parties who allowed this disaster to happen they should pay with their jobs and assets. I hope America and the world learns from this!
You can be pissed at BP all you want, but there is plenty of blame to go around including you and me. We live like pigs, and are all victims of our own greed. For the people of the Gulf, I am truly sorry about your plight, but you share in the blame. Many of you were the ones yelling Drill baby Drill! You elected your politicians, and yelled no more bailouts! Beleive me, I understand how you feel. I did 22 years defending this country, and moved back to my home in Detroit. When I left, we had close to 3 million people and now we have less than 1 million. Many of you did'nt care about us. Now you want a bailout. I hear demands for BP to make your lives whole. They won't. The time you are spending bitching could be better served retraining, moving, and finding a new line of work. That's what the people here were forced to do. You had a good run, while raking in those oil and tourist dollars, and many of you treated us like aliens when we came down to spend our hard earned dollars. As I said, I do feel your pain, but my sympathy will not help you. If your smart you will leave immediately and be ahead of the game. I mean that from my heart! Don't take my word for it, come up here for a visit and I will take you on a tour and show you what tragedy looks like. For those who remain, the sympathy will go away fast. BP and the Government will throw you an occasional bone to get you to shut up for political expediency while your cities and towns collapse around you. The tragic thing is it has happened before, and nobody cared. The good news is you will survive. Before you leave go save a few animals. They are the only true victims in all of this. Your politicians are calling for the lifting of the ban on deepwater off shore drilling as I write this. They claim it's to save your jobs. Keep beleiving that. The share holders of BP are demanding their dividend checks right now as well. Welcome to reality. I will watch it unfold, shed an occasional tear, as the Gulf is as much mine as it is yours. The Gulf will cleanse itself, BP will take the credit along with your Politicans, and then it will happen again. Bp is hoping that a hurricane hits so that they can blame God for half of the damages. I hope you are not still there when it hits. I will say a prayer for you which is more than most of you did for us.
They are not conserned about how they sleep. But as for how they got re-elected that issue rest on the sholders of the voters, who put these boys in office. This is a Frankenstine of our own makeing.
My family is supposed to head down to Gulf Shores on June 12th. Oil or no oil on the beach we will probably still go to support their economy. There are other things to do in the area, but it will be very sad for my children to not get to enjoy the beach this year. We are praying for the best. We have gone to Gulf Shores for the last 5 years. I hope we don't have to find a new destination in the future.
Why is Obama going back down there tomorrow? It costs the tax payers a small fortune to fly him around. Why doesn't Obama have the top dogs a BP hop on there jet and come to DC? He needs to tell BP they can forget about haing any net income util everyone is made whole and the entire mess is cleaned up and restored to the condition they found it in.
did you approve of bush flying all over the damn world and from washington, dc to texas to florida on a weekly basis for 8 damn years - obama is doing the right thing
because the National Press demand he be down there for photo ops.
I agree that he should not have to be down there, because it just gets in the way.
The problem with this is that the government doesn't know how to clean it up, nor should it. This was the job of private industry. Since the private industry has failed massively, we need to stop all deep water drilling until they can prove they know how to clean it up.
Kuddo's Jack!! Photo ops are ALL obama will be able to do. The traffic will become a mess, slowing down the 'real workers' trying to clean the place up.
Deep water drilling should be shut down. Had this happened in shallow water, the problem would have been solved within days.
Because if the President doesn't show up, he will be accused of neglecting the coast just as Bush was accused of neglecting the New Orleans resident after Katrina.
Some people will just be negative so let them.
The 747 he flies on gets better mpg per passenger than a minivan with one on board(driver)....however, this only holds true when there are 500 travelers on the plane, not Prez + 20.
To the people of the gulf, me and my families hearts go out to you. Not all of us are as insensitive as the couple that said how "cool" it is. Living as far away as I do from the disaster, I can only imagine how nerve racking and disparaging this all is. Good luck to all of you out there.
Maybe all the southern Red states can run to the polls in November and vote in a few more Republicans. After they block any and all efforts to make BP responsible for the clean up of this disaster, they can create a bill to pass the cost on to the tax payers. After all it might "hurt" the oil industry to lift a cap on their responsibility!
Boy, did you hit the nail on the head all right!! Let's all vote in more GOP; the party of "NO".
No regulation for drilling, no clean energy, no reform for Wall St., no reform for healthcare, no repeal of DADT, and whatever other "NO" they can come up with.
Yes, the Grand Obstructionist Party=the party of "NO"!!!!
How about we vote for Americans next time. Not just for what we WANT but for what this country NEEDS. I want a million dollars but i'm not voting for the next guy to promise me a Mill.
No Republicans No Democrats ... Americans.
my family heads down to PCB on the 19, as a FL native and a kid who grew up right there on the beach I go back home twice a year. This saddens me beyond belief and my heart bleeds for my old neighbors and the communities of the gulf. I will be there.
The richest most powerful nation on the planet in the process of destroying the planet for the benefit of few and the loss for many...the story of "us" continues...
I worry about the gulf like everyone but when I hear comments - Gray said. “We have the most beautiful beaches in the world." Sorry not true, that makes mother nature mad , your beaches are prettier than Fiji Islands or Hawaii or Virgin Islands? Er excuse me your so-so beaches in the Redneck Riviera will get the oil sleek it deserves
I want to comment on this so bad, but I'm afraid if I said what I really wanted to say, I'd get kicked off the vine.
While it may be true that Pensacola Beach may not be THE prettiest in the world, it certainly ranks very high. But peope defend their beach like many people who defend their home - like those that say their state is the finest in the country, or their city is the best in the country, or world, etc. It's kind of like taking pride in your area, even though it may not necessarily be true to everyone else. I'm fairly certain "mother nature" isn't mad because we're proud of our beaches.
And your last comment... seriously?! we will get the "oil slick (we) deserve"?! All I will say is, God help me if I ever develop an attitude like this toward other human beings.
hehehe...I'm a bored housewife, just wanted to cause a stir and I got one, from you ... hehe
Wow Gina. That was a horrible thing to say. Completely undeserved. Why do the beaches deserve to get an "oil sleek?"
I've been all over the world and seen many beautiful beaches. The Gulf Coast beaches are indeed beautiful. But you think that because you believe that they aren't as nice as Fiji they should be covered in oil?
I'm really trying to restrain myself from being as negative as you are.
lol - well, you did just make me smile. Something I don't do a lot of these days :)
Wow gina, you are a complete douche bag.
What if I think your home-town is ugly so it deserves whatever flood, or earthquake it gets???
"hehehe...I'm a bored housewife, just wanted to cause a stir and I got one, from you ... hehe"
...stupid...
are you allowed to wear shoes in that kitchen you cook in???
WOW...
So much wrong with this...
If your area was so affected, would you feel the same because YOU don't live in the most beautiful place in the world?
My advice is that if your IQ hits 50, SELL!
Will the people of this region now be more thoughtful when they go to the polls and maybe, just maybe, vote in some environmentally friendly Democrats instead of anti-regulation Republicans? This area of the country is as red Republican as you can get. I wonder how many of their delegates to the Republican convention were chanting "Drill Baby, Drill" just a year and a half ago!
A way to stop this oil, is that you mount a brand new fully opened Blowout Preventer on top of the improper functioning Blowout Preventer that is currently on the sea floor. After this is firmly secured on top of the improper functioning BOP you close this newly installed BOP, and stop this oil. The current faulty BOP should have activated itself automatically when the rig burnt and sank. X-ray imaging done on the BOP on 5/12/10 and 5/13/10 showed that this current BOP’s internal valves were only partially closed, restricting the flow of oil. The head of BP’s drilling and completion operations in the Gulf of Mexico, Charlie Holt, said that (after the explosion and sinking of the rig) there were some hydraulic leaks that were fixed on this BOP, now allowing a full closure of this six ram BOP. Clearly, this BOP is not stopping the oil. This Blowout Preventer was not and is not currently doing it’s job.
So, to stop the oil, you remove the top half of the Blowout Preventer Stack, which is called the Lower Marine Riser Package, along with the recently sawed off small riser pipe stub which is bolted on top of it. After this LMRP is out of the way, you get a brand new 18-3/4” six ram Blowout Preventer. You then fully open this new BOP. You then stack this new BOP on top of the improper functioning 18-3/4” BOP. After this new BOP is firmly secured on top, you close it. This new functioning Blowout Preventer will completely stop the oil.
Great idea if the BOP wasn't a mile down...these idots cant even get the saw to work and you want them to drop another BOP down there....Brilliant!!!
There was an APN Newsbreak yesterday (June 2) that I've seen nowhere else. Why is the media not covering this outrage. 1st 3 paragraphs copied and pasted below.....
"Federal regulators approved Wednesday the first new Gulf of Mexico oil well since President Barack Obama lifted a brief ban on drilling in shallow water, even while deepwater projects remain frozen after the massive BP spill.
The Minerals Management Service granted a new drilling permit sought by Bandon Oil and Gas for a site about 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana and 115 feet below the ocean's surface. It's south of Rockefeller State Wildlife Refuge and Game Preserve, far to the west of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that triggered the BP spill.
Obama last week extended a moratorium on wells in deep water like the BP one that blew out a mile below the surface in April and is gushing millions of gallons of oil. But at the same time, the president quietly allowed a three-week-old ban on drilling in shallow water to expire."
Gina, I am sorry. But you must be from another world where all is great and travel to Fiji and Hawaii is a normal occurrance. I have surfed beaches from Puerto Rico to North Carolina and up and down the gulf coast, and I can honestly say that Florida Beaches hold their own - I believe on the world stage. At least one Florida beach will be on the travel documentaries as some of the most beautiful. The "world's most beautiful" is maybe too much - but how about "Florida's abolutely beautiful powder sand beaches" ...where the sand is so fine it squeeks when you walk on it...
But I digress - thanks for your concern about the oil hitting beaches in America - but as an American citizen, I can honestly say - May a thousand flees infest your were you "deserve" it...
OMG - I needed a good laugh; thank you!
and you too...haha...I love Miami and own a condo there, I love Miami Beach but cannot claim it is pretty unlike Gray in the news story , it would kill me to see Miami's beaches destroyed, but like we say in Miami, the sharks in Miami Beach don't bite, they do in the gulf...didn't care much for Pensacola
Shhhh- don't tell anyone (it's a secret), but I'm thinking about moving to Miami (though not because of the oil). I'm coming down father's day weekend for a visit. And yes, the sharks in the Gulf - they do bite.
ahhh...that explains it, Gina is a rich housewife with condos everywhere...good for you.
I have been to many beaches all over, and I do have to agree that Pensacola beaches are some of the most unique, with the snow-white sand that literally feels like powder under your feet and the emerald green water so clear you can see to the bottom, the locals are friendly, the night scene is great and not a stuck-up snob in sight!!! one of the best in my opinion!!!
To say you don't like them is to admit that you have never been!!!