Thought I would start this thread to provide anyone interested with an "on the scene" report and to find out what your thoughts are on this man-made eco-disaster.

Hopefully Dean will weigh in on this topic to provide some expertise as well.

At this point the hole in the gulf floor is still spewing almost a quarter million gallons of raw crude into the sea each day. The slick hasn't reached our coast yet, although they are already dealing with it in south Louisiana. For the last couple of days I have caught an occasional scent of crude in the air, when the wind is just right.

 

A real disaster. I hope they find a way to stop the leaks soon and break up all that oil. Bad, bad news...

 

Real bad news, from what i understand BP is fabricating a dome that will
cover the well head, this will contain the the oil where it can be pumped to the surface into vessels. Then a relief well will have to be drilled to intercept the old well bore. This is not looking good for the Gulf coast.

 

I was thinking about you guys earlier on this topic.
Even if they capped it today, I suspect oil will be washing up on your beaches for several months.
Most of the gulf coast will get some degree of it depending on the wind, waves, etc.

 

I just read that the Santa Barbara off shore oil leak in 1969 released about 200 thousand gallons over eleven days. This sucker is releasing that much daily. Definitely a disaster of Biblical proportions.

 

Very sad situation!

The biggest problem is that there are NO beaches and with the marshes surrounding the coasts, it will be almost impossible to clean it up!

 

and everyone thought the valdez was bad, that in comparison is going to be nothing by the time this one is over. Its sad that we cannot find an alternative energy where we would not have to place ourselves into the peril that we have here.

 

let's just hope it gets under control before hurricanes getting cranking in the Gulf.

 

Sunday, May 2.

Actually, Mississippi has a 28 mile man made beach extending from Pas Christian to Biloxi, plus some natural beach here and there in Ocean Springs and Bay St. Louis. The barrier islands (Ship, Round, Cat, Deer, etc.) all have natural sand beaches.

Cleanup of the beaches will be relatively easy compared to the wetlands of Louisiana. And we do have a large wetland at the mouth of the Pascagoula river. Of course the fishing industry will take a huge hit. The Gulf Coast provides about a third of the nation's seafood.

Everyone here is very much concerned that this could cause our local economy, which is really just recovering from Katrina and has been hurt by the recession, to colapse. Fishing and tourism both figure to take a hit and those are the twin backbones of our economic life here.

Yesterday you could smell crude in the wind again. Heading down to the beach in a little while.

 

This is all extremely sad. I hope the cause is quickly determined, not to place blame, but to assure this never happens again.