Oil Leak at Gulf of Mexico Oil Well

[Guest NOAA]

NOAA has opened more than 8,000 square miles of previously closed fishing area in the Gulf of Mexico, because the agency has not observed oil in the area. The most significant opening is an area due south of Mississippi which was closed Monday, June 21.

 

Additionally, some smaller areas were opened off the Louisiana and central Florida coasts.

 

These areas were initially closed as a precaution because oil was projected to be within those areas over the next few days. However, the review of satellite imagery, radar and aerial data indicated that oil had not moved into these areas.

 

The federal closed area does not apply to any state waters. Closing fishing in this area is a precautionary measure to ensure that seafood from the Gulf will remain safe for consumers.

 

The closed area now represents 78,597 square miles, which is approximately 32.5 percent of Gulf of Mexico federal waters. This leaves more than two-thirds of Gulf federal waters available for fishing. The closure will be effective at 6 p.m. EDT. Details can be found at http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/. The last closed area modification was June 21, when 86,985 square miles were closed to fishing, or roughly 36 percent of federal waters of the Gulf.

 

Federal and state governments have systems in place to test and monitor seafood safety, prohibit harvesting from affected areas and keep oiled products out of the marketplace. NOAA continues to work closely with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the states to ensure seafood safety, by closing fishing areas where tainted seafood could potentially be caught, and assessing whether seafood is tainted or contaminated to levels that pose a risk to human health. NOAA and FDA are implementing a broad-scaled seafood sampling plan. The plan includes sampling seafood from inside and outside the closure area, as well as market-based sampling.

 

According to NOAA, there are approximately 5.7 million recreational fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico region who took 25 million fishing trips in 2008. Commercial fishermen in the Gulf harvested more than 1 billion pounds of fish and shellfish in 2008.

 

Fishermen who wish to contact BP about a claim should call 800-440-0858.

 

NOAA will continue to evaluate the need for fisheries closures based on the evolving nature of the spill and will re-open closed areas as appropriate. NOAA will also re-evaluate the closure areas as new information that would change the boundaries of these closed areas becomes available.

 

NOAA has a number of new methods for the public to obtain information or be notified when there is a change to the closed area:

 

* Sign up to receive Southeast Fishery Bulletins by email at SERO.Communications.Comments@noaa.gov

* Call 1-800-627-NOAA (1-800-627-6622) to hear a recording of the current coordinates

* Listen to NOAA Weather Radio for messages about the closure

* Receive text messages on your cell phone about changes to the closed area by texting fishing@gulf to 84469 (visit http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/2931/558107 for more information)

* Follow us on Twitter: usnoaagov to get a tweet when the closed area changes

 

NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Visit us at http://www.noaa.gov or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/usnoaagov.

[Guest Bartle]

Why did the Federal Government stop building the barrier islands in Louisiana? It makes no sense. The oil is predicted to come in Friday.

[Guest American4Progress]

BP replaced a cap on its broken oil well in the Gulf of Mexico "after a deep-sea blunder forced crews to temporarily remove what has been the most effective method so far for containing" the massive spill. The cap captured 700,000 gallons of oil in one day before a robot bumped into it late yesterday morning.

 

Donald Valdrine, the BP manager aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that exploded nine weeks ago, "has been placed on leave while at least four federal agencies probe the disaster." Just hours before the disaster, Vidrine "overruled objections" from Transocean representatives "about how to finish the well."

 

BP is moving ahead with a new "controversial and potentially record-setting project" to drill three miles off the coast of Alaska. Regulators exempted BP's project, "Liberty," from President Obama's offshore drilling moratorium because "it sits on an artificial island...built by BP" and thus qualifies as "onshore."

[Guest BP]

The lower marine riser package (LMRP) cap containment system was successfully reinstalled on the Deepwater Horizon's failed blow-out preventer (BOP) at approximately 1830 CDT on June 23. This containment system is connected to the drillship Discoverer Enterprise on the surface.

 

The system resumed collecting oil and gas at 1900 CDT on June 23.

 

The LMRP cap containment system was moved off the BOP at approximately 0845 CDT on June 23 as a precaution following observation of an unexpected discharge of seawater from a diverter valve on the Discoverer Enterprise.

 

Capture of oil and gas through the BOP's choke line via a manifold to the Q4000 vessel on the surface has continued uninterrupted throughout the day.

[Guest Deepwater Horizon Response]

The Ongoing Administration-Wide Response to the Deepwater BP Oil Spill

 

Prepared by the Joint Information Center

 

PAST 24 HOURS

 

Carol Browner Meets with Top BP Officials

 

Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change Carol Browner today met with BP executives Bob Dudley, Lamar McKay, David Nagel and Karen St. John to discuss a number of key issues, including containment, redundancy, the claims process and scientific monitoring. Dudley recently assumed the lead role for BP in the Gulf restoration.

 

Browner reiterated the President’s commitment to the people of the Gulf—that the administration will not rest or be satisfied until the leak is stopped at the source, the oil in the Gulf is contained and cleaned up, and the people of the Gulf are able to go back to their lives and their livelihoods—and reminded them that their work and response will be based on that bar.

 

Regional Incident Commanders Provide Operational Update on the BP Oil Spill Response

 

Coast Guard Captains Steven Poulin and Roger Laferriere, the Regional Incident Commanders for the Mobile and Houma sectors, respectively, today provided operational updates to inform Gulf Coast residents on the progress of the administration-wide response to the BP oil spill.

Containment Cap Operations Resume; Preparations are Made for Third Vessel

 

Yesterday, as a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of operations, the use of the lower marine riser package (LMRP) containment cap was temporarily suspended when a discharge of liquids was observed. Upon completion of the inspection, the LMRP was reconnected to the Discoverer Enterprise around 8 p.m. last night and resumed operations this morning.

 

The capture of oil and gas through the blowout preventer’s choke line to the Q4000 vessel on the surface has continued without interruption.

 

The first of four free-standing risers has been installed and is being tested. The vessel Helix Producer, which is expected to be operational by late June, will be used to produce oil and gas through the first free-standing riser.

 

FWS and NPS Continue Their Efforts to Recover and Rehabilitate Oiled Wildlife

 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife and National Park Service personnel continue efforts to protect Gulf Coast wildlife and habitats from the effects of the BP oil spill. On Wednesday, FWS rescue and recovery teams responded to calls to the Wildlife Hotline reporting oiled or injured wildlife along the Gulf Coast. To report oiled wildlife, call (866) 557-1401.

 

Approved SBA Economic Injury Assistance Loans Top $6 Million

 

SBA has approved 101 economic injury assistance loans to date, totaling more than $6 million for small businesses in the Gulf Coast impacted by the BP oil spill. Additionally, the agency has granted deferments on 481 existing SBA disaster loans in the region, totaling more than $2.2 million per month in payments. For information on assistance loans for affected businesses, visit the SBA’s Web site at www.sba.gov/services/disasterassistance, call (800) 659-2955 (800-877-8339 for the hearing impaired), or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov.

 

Administration Continues to Oversee BP’s Claims Process; Payments Surpass $125 Million

 

The administration will continue to hold the responsible parties accountable for repairing the damage, and repaying Americans who’ve suffered a financial loss as a result of the BP oil spill. To date, 75,106 claims have been opened, from which more than $125.9 million have been disbursed. No claims have been denied to date. There are 787 claims adjusters on the ground. To file a claim, visit www.bp.com/claims or call BP’s helpline at 1-800-440-0858. Those who have already pursued the BP claims process and are not satisfied with BP’s resolution can call the Coast Guard at (800) 280-7118. Additional information about the BP claims process and all available avenues of assistance can be found at www.disasterassistance.gov.

 

On Wednesday, a meeting was held with representatives from the State of Florida, top BP claims officials and the Integrated Services Team—which was established by the National Incident Command to coordinate interagency support services for individuals and small businesses impacted by the BP oil spill—to ensure that BP's claims process is transparent, prompt, and responsive to the unique needs of the impacted communities citizens and businesses.

 

By the Numbers to Date:

 

* The administration has authorized the deployment of 17,500 National Guard troops from Gulf Coast states to respond to this crisis; currently, 1,640 are active.

 

* Approximately 37,000 personnel are currently responding to protect the shoreline and wildlife and cleanup vital coastlines.

 

* More than 6,200 vessels are currently responding on site, including skimmers, tugs, barges, and recovery vessels to assist in containment and cleanup efforts—in addition to dozens of aircraft, remotely operated vehicles, and multiple mobile offshore drilling units.

 

* Approximately 2.6 million feet of containment boom and 4.24 million feet of sorbent boom have been deployed to contain the spill—and approximately 850,000 feet of containment boom and 2.26 million feet of sorbent boom are available.

 

* Approximately 25.6 million gallons of an oil-water mix have been recovered.

 

* Approximately 1.48 million gallons of total dispersant have been applied—977,000 on the surface and 502,000 subsea. More than 422,000 gallons are available.

 

* 275 controlled burns have been conducted, efficiently removing a total of more than 10 million gallons of oil from the open water in an effort to protect shoreline and wildlife. Because calculations on the volume of oil burned can take more than 48 hours, the reported total volume may not reflect the most recent controlled burns.

 

* 17 staging areas are in place to protect sensitive shorelines.

 

* Approximately 179 miles of Gulf Coast shoreline is currently oiled—approximately 34 miles in Louisiana, 42 miles in Mississippi, 42 miles in Alabama, and 61 miles in Florida. These numbers reflect a daily snapshot of shoreline currently experiencing impacts from oil so that planning and field operations can more quickly respond to new impacts; they do not include cumulative impacts to date, or shoreline that has already been cleared.

 

* Approximately 78,600 square miles of Gulf of Mexico federal waters remain closed to fishing in order to balance economic and public health concerns. More than 67 percent remains open. Details can be found at http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/.

 

* To date, the administration has leveraged assets and skills from numerous foreign countries and international organizations as part of this historic, all-hands-on-deck response, including Canada, Germany, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization and the European Union's Monitoring and Information Centre.

[Guest Iambay]

Although the crude oil is more toxic than the authorized dispersants, much is unknown about the long term environmental impacts of dispersants when used in these unprecedented volumes on the surface and in the subsea. Because of this and due to the effectiveness of subsea applications, EPA and the U.S. Coast Guard directed BP to significantly ramp down their use of dispersants. BP has complied and has significantly reduced dispersant use.

 

“It is the consensus of the group that up to this point, use of dispersants and the effects of dispersing oil into the water column has generally been less environmentally harmful than allowing the oil to migrate on the surface into the sensitive wetlands and near shore coastal habitats,” said Nancy Kinner, University of New Hampshire co‐director of the Coastal Response Research Center.

 

http://www.epa.gov/bpspill/dispersants/science-meeting.pdf

 

Not so fast

 

The EPA still is allowing BP use Corexit dispersant. The amount approaches 1.5 million gallons as of this writing. Corexit has only one use at this point; to try and hide the oil. Why is the EPA still allowing its use?

 

This toxin is being ingested by the sea life, which is then eaten by the birds to bring back to their chicks. Many birds are being coated in oil before they can get back to the babies to feed them poison. It is unknown how many birds are dying at sea.

[Guest Yoda]

On June 26 the world will join hands across the sand to oppose near and off shore drilling.

 

click on to the site,handsacrossthesand.com for details. Please help us.

[Guest Idris Suleman]

With so much spillage,what is the possibility of putting a large inverted funnel on this leak so that the oil comes through the stem and at the end of the stem some pumps to safe ground.

[Guest State of Louisiana]

Today, Governor Bobby Jindal issued a proclamation declaring June 27th as a “Statewide Day of Prayer” for perseverance through the oil spill crises.

 

Proclamation on Statewide Day of Prayer:

 

WHEREAS, Louisiana is entering the 66th day of an economic and environmental crisis caused by the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which is the largest oil spill in American history; and,

 

WHEREAS, The Deepwater Horizon oil spill already has a profound effect on Louisiana, its coastline and its people and our entire Louisiana way of life; and,

 

WHEREAS, The people of coastal Louisiana are being directly impacted by the closure of our waters for fishing and oyster harvesting and many are struggling to make ends meet or provide for their families; and,

 

WHEREAS, The continuing BP oil spill disaster follows the damage caused by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike, which impacted many of the same communities now being struck by oil; and,

 

WHEREAS, Louisiana, known around the world as the Sportsman’s Paradise, is blessed with a bounty of natural treasures, including unique wildlife and fisheries and vibrant communities and traditions that are now threatened due to the ongoing catastrophic damage to our wetlands; and,

 

WHEREAS, The suffering of Louisiana’s state bird, the brown pelican, which was only recently removed from the endangered species list, has become symbolic of the continuing damage caused by the BP oil spill to our fragile coastline and the entire ecosystem it supports; and,

 

WHEREAS, Louisiana’s people are coming together to help each other now during this time of crisis just as they have persevered through losses before; and Louisiana fishermen, shrimpers and oyster harvesters are now on the frontlines of the oil spill, fighting to protect our coast; and,

 

WHEREAS, Hundreds of members of the Louisiana National Guard are working tirelessly to shield our fragile marshland from oil that continues to hit our shores – even as many of them just recently returned from fighting for our country overseas; and Louisiana scientists, biologists, veterinarians and wildlife agents battle against the oil every day to rescue and rehabilitate wildlife that survive being impacted by the oil; and,

 

WHEREAS, Coastal parish leaders from all along the coast have come together to implement their own ideas to protect our waters and our shores, often fighting to convey the sense of urgency and quick action that this crisis demands; and,

 

WHEREAS, The American people continue to offer their support through prayers and charitable donations, and business owners and scientists share their ideas for stopping the oil; and,

 

WHEREAS, Louisianians all across the world are united in hope for an end to this catastrophic event and pray for the recovery of our coastline, the rehabilitation of our fish and wildlife and the restoration of our extraordinary coastal areas that are unlike any other place in the world; and,

 

WHEREAS, Our collective fight to recover from this crisis and prevent future damage continues today;

 

NOW, THEREFORE,

 

I, Bobby Jindal, Governor of the State of Louisiana, do hereby proclaim June 27, 2010 as a Statewide Day of Prayer In the State of Louisiana and in the Gulf of Mexico.

[Guest State of Louisiana]

Oil Sightings Report June 24, 2010

 

Plaquemines:

Sighting: Oil located in between boom and shoreline in Hermitage Bay.

Date: 24 Jun 10

 

Sighting: Tar balls located S of Bayou Trouve.

Date: 24 Jun 10

 

Sighting: Thick grey sheen located near Four Bayou Pass.

Date: 24 Jun 10

 

Sighting: Oil in the grass located between Lake Grand Ecaille and Bay Batiste.

Date: 24 Jun 10

 

Sighting: Gray sheen with tar balls located in Pass Abel.

Date: 24 Jun 10

 

Sighting: Oil in the grass located in Lost Bayou.

Date: 24 Jun 10

 

Sighting: Oil in the grass located in Bay Jimmy.

Date: 24 Jun 10

 

Sighting: Thick gray sheen with tar balls located in Lost Bayou.

Date: 24 Jun 10

 

Sighting: Thick gray sheen with tar balls and oil in the grass located in Bay Batiste.

Date: 24 Jun 10

 

Sighting: Gray sheen with tar balls located in Pass Abel between Grand Terre Islands.

Date: 24 Jun 10

 

Sighting: Oil in the marsh grass located in N Bay Jimmy.

Date: 24 Jun 10

 

Sighting: Oil located in Scofield Bay.

Date: 24 Jun 10

 

Sighting: Light sheen located between booms in Sandy Point Bay.

Date: 24 Jun 10

 

Sighting: Oil sheen mile by 1 mile wide located S of Bay La Mer.

Date: 24 Jun 10

 

Sighting: Heavy rainbow sheen located near an island in Sandy Point Bay.

Date: 24 Jun 10

 

Jefferson Parish:

Sighting: Gray sheen with tar balls and oil in the grass located near Manilla Village.

Date: 24 Jun 10

 

Sighting: Thick Rainbow sheen with tar balls and oil in the grass located near Fort Livingston.

Date: 24 Jun 10

 

Sighting: Oil on the rock jetties located near Grand Isle.

Date: 24 Jun 10

[Guest Gary Long]

We live on a Florida bayou, where a lot of the fish in the Gulf are born, please do a better and quicker job of protecting our babies.

[Guest WLF]

Fishing Closures

 

http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/oilspill/map/fishing-closure/

 

Oyster Closures

 

http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/oilspill/map/oyster-closure/

[Guest SpillFighters]

There is one simple and natural solution. "Oil Eating Microbes".

Microbes occur in nature (in fact humans have over a pound of microbes in their bodies) and each type of microbe is programmed to do certain tasks. Some decompose plant matter, others help break down toxins. In the last 20 years scientists have been able to find and 'harvest' these naturally occurring oil-eating microbes from around the world and increase their reproduction cycle so that trillions are now available to help us!

These microbes are commercially available and have been tested successful on large oil spills around the world. These microbes can be supplied immediately in large enough quantities to 'bioremediate' the oil that is now washing up on the beaches and in the marshes of the Gulf Coast. The microbes are simply mixed with water and sprayed on the oil as it reaches the calmer waters near shore or on shore itself. Once applied to the oil, the microbes eat it—leaving a natural waste product that is harmless to marine life. Their waste is non-toxic and can actually be beneficial to the plants and sea creatures that feed on it.

The process to completely clean an area of oil is dependent on a few things—but it can usually be accomplished in just a few weeks—not years. If we can adopt this solution immediately, we have a chance to save the Gulf—if we wait, we'll just be cleaning up corpses of our precious wildlife and bailing out millions of individuals and businesses again.

If you are a local, state or federal government official, press or media representative or an oil company executive, please contact us and we'll provide any information you need to make an informed decision about how to implement this process.

SpillFighters
21699 Hwy 40
Golden, CO 80401
JBrentTuttle@Gmail.com

[Guest Defenders of Wildlife]

Why did the Federal Government stop building the barrier islands in Louisiana? It makes no sense. The oil is predicted to come in Friday.

 

Gov. Jindal has brazenly disregarded the parameters of the dredging permit issued by the federal government, putting in jeopardy the very islands and sensitive coastline he claims to be protecting. The permit specifically notes that the dredge materials cannot be taken from the shoreline of the vulnerable Chandeleur Islands, based on recent science used to expedite the governor’s request, yet Jindal has done just that.

 

“The Department of the Interior and the Corps of Engineers worked hard to ensure that this project would be done in a way that would support the long term restoration so desperately needed in the region. Unfortunately, Louisiana blatantly violated the core principle of where the materials should come from to build the berms and now is only magnifying the problems associated with stabilizing the coast and armoring it from the onslaught of oil.

 

“Bullying and cowboy politics are not going to help the situation in the Gulf. Sloppy work got us into this Gulf oil disaster. Sloppy work by Gov. Jindal is not going to get us out of it. He needs to read and follow the permit his own state requested.”

 

###

 

View the permits at these links:

 

* Breton Special Use Application and Permit

* Breton Compatibility Determination

* Breton Section 7 Permit

[Guest LAW]

Congressional Record

June 23, 2010

 

Mr. AKIN. Mr. Speaker, I think we were just talking a little bit about the situation in the gulf that’s gotten everybody’s attention.

 

My background is engineering, gentleman, and my first reaction when there’s a problem is, how do you fix it? That’s the first thing I’m saying. What has puzzled me and actually made me pretty frustrated is it seems that the administration is more interested in affixing blame than they are in fixing the problem.

 

I recall that President Bush took a whale of a beating after Hurricane Katrina because it took him about 2 or 3 days after he had been rebuffed by the Governor and the Mayor of New Orleans,

it took him a couple of days before they sort of got going. And then of course our FEMA didn’t respond very well; the Federal response was a bit weak in terms of the magnitude of the disaster. And yet, by comparison, what we’re dealing with here in the gulf is it took 50 days for the President to call the head of BP. Now, he had the power, if I’m not mistaken, is it right, he had the power to basically declare that a national emergency, get together a team of people, a fusion cell, get the very top resources in America. They could have pulled that together, they could have processed the different questions, sorted through the conflicting

claims and started to put this thing together, put together a series of, We’re going to do this, this and this. If this doesn’t work, this backup plan is already getting set up.

 

We could have managed the process. Instead, after 50 days he calls the head of BP and just wants to ream the guy out. Well, BP did a terrible job, but after the crisis started it was the administration’s problem to deal with, and I didn’t see it fixing the problem. Am I mistaken in that? I mean, that’s just an outsider looking in. I’m up in Missouri, we don’t have too much

coastline up there.

 

Mr. SCALISE. Well, obviously you’ve been studying this. I know you, and I have spoken about the problems on the ground, and I appreciate your concern and the interest you have in trying to

help us. I wish that the President had that much interest in helping us in the day-to-day problems we’re facing. Just the other day I was talking to one of the local fire chiefs who was there on the ground after Katrina, who is there on the ground right now battling the

oil, and he said that the level of government dysfunction is higher today—more dysfunction today—than it was during Katrina. A case in point just happened yesterday when this sand

barrier plan that our Governor and our entire congressional delegation fought for over 3 weeks to get the President to finally approve. In fact, last week, when the President gave his address to the Nation from the Oval Office, he actually bragged about the fact that he

approved this sand barrier plan. Well, yesterday the Federal Government shut it down.

 

Mr. AKIN. Wait. The President approved the sand barrier plan that we’ve been waiting a month to get approved, and now it’s been shut down by the Federal Government?

 

Mr. SCALISE. It was shut down yesterday by the Federal Government. Spoke to our Governor’s office about it. They basically said it was a Federal agency that shut them down. I talked

to the Federal agency today, and they said they didn’t shut them down. We went round and round, and of course they were shut down by the Federal agency. Again, this is a classic problem

we have had every day.

 

Mr. AKIN. The Federal agency said they didn’t shut them down. Yet, in fact, they weren’t telling the truth. They did shut them down.

 

Mr. SCALISE. Yes. I don’t know whether the people in D.C. didn’t know what their Federal agents on the ground in south Louisiana knew what they were doing, but it’s happening every single day. It seems like we have problems like this every day, so you can’t just say it’s miscommunication. Clearly, it’s a lack of leadership. The President, under the law, is responsible for that leadership, and clearly, he is not doing his job, and he is not engaged.

 

Mr. AKIN. It is a vacuum of leadership, isn’t it?

 

Mr. SCALISE. It is very sad that it is a vacuum of leadership, because the law is clear that, under the Oil Pollution Act, when there is a spill, the President is responsible for directing

the recovery, and the responsible party, in this case BP, is responsible for writing the check.

 

Now, for whatever reason, the President is allowing BP to still make decisions on the ground even though they have proven they are incompetent. Yet he is not doing his job. The President is

not doing his job under the law. Now, if he doesn’t like that law, he should try to repeal it, but in the meantime, he ought to follow the law.

[Guest LAW]

Mr. AKIN. The thing that struck me about it was—because I heard about this sand barrier thing. I mean there are a lot of different ways you could try to mitigate the oil that is in the water. There are dispersants. You can put hay in the water. There are a lot of things. One thing you could do is you could dredge up a little sandbar, which is very flexible. I mean you could pump it away a week later if you wanted to. That sandbar could protect these very delicate ecosystems along the edge of the water. They could trap the oil.

 

You know, some years ago, there was a place that had some good food in Missouri. It was one of those truck stoptype places, and it had a picture that was kind of a cute one. It had a beautiful John Deere green wagon, and it had these two little kids dressed up in the high-bibbed, blue-and-white-striped overalls. One of them had a handle on the wagon and was pulling on it. The other one was pushing. Apparently, the wagon had sort of gotten stuck in a bump, so he is looking back over his shoulder, and the caption reads, ‘‘Are you pulling or pushing back there?’’

 

I’ve got to think of poor Governor Jindal. You’re trying to get permission to build a sand barrier to try to protect your environment, which is what the Federal Government is supposed to be demanding that we do. We have all of these expensive bills to supposedly protect our environment. He says let us build a simple sandbar to catch the oil on it, and then we can take it away later. Yet it takes the government a month to try to make a decision. The oil is already into all of these delicate ecosystems while the Federal Government is dithering around, trying to make a decision.

 

If I were the Governor of that State, I’d be jumping up and down mad. It’s just a vacuum of leadership is what we’ve seen. Now you’re saying the President said they could build them,

and then they can’t build them. There is no one in charge, it seems like.

 

Mr. SCALISE. You know, the gentleman is correct about not only the Governor but about the people, who all throughout the gulf coast are jumping up mad because they’re seeing this

kind of dysfunction, this lack of leadership from the President, every day in different ways, and there is no reason for it. The President is giving speeches, talking about how he is in charge, but any time anything goes wrong, you can’t find anybody who is in charge. Nobody takes responsibility. Nobody wants to be held accountable. Yet nobody wants to actually help us solve

the problem.

 

You were talking about food. Just Monday, I was in New Orleans. I ate at one of the great restaurants, Drago’s, and I was eating my shrimp po-boy. The seafood is still great to eat. Unfortunately, a lot of the seafood beds are closed right now. There are still seafood

beds open, and when you can find good seafood, it’s still good to eat, and the shrimp po-boy I ate was wonderful. The problem, though, is with some of those seafood beds we’ve been trying to

protect. Just weeks ago, some of those seafood beds had no oil. Today, oil is starting to come in.

 

That’s what this whole barrier plan is about—protecting our marshes, our estuaries, and the pelican nesting areas. In some of the other areas that haven’t been affected by oil, we are trying to keep the oil out, and so we’ve come up with a plan. Unfortunately, the Federal

Government didn’t have a plan. So you would think that they would be working with us to help us implement our plan. In fact, they’ve been fighting us. It took us over 3 weeks to get the

President to finally approve the Governor’s plan, but he only approved 25 percent of it. He spoke last week in his national address as if he’d approved the whole plan. There is still 75 percent of that sand barrier plan that has not been approved, so there are still a whole lot of seafood beds and marshes that haven’t been protected.

 

Here we had at least 25 percent that we were working with to build up these barriers. Then yesterday the Federal Government comes and shuts it down. Again, this is something we fought for

for over 3 weeks, and the Federal Government finally permitted. They were so successful, supposedly, that the President bragged about it on national TV. Then yesterday they just shut it

down quietly, but we’re not going to let this go by quietly because this is something that is their job, and they’re not doing it.

 

Mr. AKIN. The question that raises my blood pressure is it seems to me like President Bush was almost accused for bringing on Hurricane Katrina. Yet we’ve got one of the biggest leadership vacuums in terms of this oil spill every time you hear about something. There was also that moratorium about we’re not going to drill any more wells at all. The equivalent would be, if an airplane falls down, we’re going to cancel every air flight in America. You know, there were some reasons there was this disaster. From what we’re hearing, there were enough coverups and different things, so we don’t really know exactly what happened. Though, apparently, the equipment, at least if it’s functioning properly and has been properly checked out, should work. So there was some human error involved, clearly, and possibly some equipment that was not

properly inspected. There are some problems, but that doesn’t mean you shut every oil rig in the gulf down while you’re trying to figure out who did something wrong.

 

Wasn’t it over 100,000 jobs that were just going to, all of a sudden, disappear?

 

Mr. SCALISE. That’s exactly correct. In fact, when the President came out with this ban—and he calls it a temporary pause—if they do what the President said he wanted to do, which is for 6 months to allow no drilling in the gulf, ultimately, those rigs, each of them, will lose about $1 million a day. They’re being lured by other countries, countries that want these valuable assets and the skilled workers that go with them. Now some of them are starting to go to places like Brazil and West Africa. So, over the next couple of weeks, you will see a chipping away of

not only the ability to generate natural resources in America, which provides billions—$6 billion by last estimates—of Federal revenues that will go away but of also the jobs. In Louisiana alone, it will be over 40,000 jobs that we will lose.

 

Mr. AKIN. Is that 40,000 jobs just in the oil industry alone?

 

Mr. SCALISE. Just directly related to those rigs. Of course, you’ve got service industries, and you’ve got restaurants. You’ve got all of the secondary spending that goes along that

you can’t even calculate because it’s so big. These are high-paying jobs. These are skilled jobs that will leave our country, and some of them are already starting to.

 

Ultimately, if you go back, the President is trying to say this is a fight between safety and jobs. Unfortunately, he probably—or maybe he hasn’t even read the recommendations of his own

scientists who came up with a report. Right after the explosion on the rig, they asked to have a panel of scientific experts, who were assembled by the President and by the Secretary of the

Interior, put together a report. They asked for a 30-day report. Sure enough, this panel of scientists came back with a 30-day report of specific recommendations to increase safety, to make sure you go and you inspect every rig. For the ones that are working, fine, like every other one is, and you allow them to do what they’re doing. If there are any problems you find, you address those problems, but you don’t shut down an entire industry because one company didn’t follow the rules.

 

In fact, the Federal regulator, under President Obama, didn’t enforce the laws that were on the books. The recommendation came back and said to look at these safety guidelines we’re giving you, but don’t shut the industry down. Well, the President conveniently discarded, threw away, the recommendations of the scientific panel, and he recommended the moratorium. They actually pointed out, No, we didn’t. You’re misstating what we said. They apologized for that, but they still went forward with this moratorium.

 

Then, just yesterday, a Federal judge in New Orleans said, You cannot have this moratorium because it’s not based on fact; it’s not based on science, and it doesn’t help safety. In fact, it could decrease safety. Yet they still continue to ignore the fact that they are throwing

away science and are trumping it with politics. They are playing politics with this decision, and they are still going to try to ignore now a ruling of a Federal judge and of their own scientific experts to run 40-plus thousand jobs in Louisiana and over 150,000 good, high-paying jobs in this country to foreign countries and are going to make us more dependent on Middle Eastern oil.

[Guest LAW]

Mr. AKIN. Just from what we’ve talked about in 10 minutes tonight in terms of this leadership vacuum, we are seeing a threat to 40,000 jobs. Just in your State alone, it’s 40,000. We’re

not talking about the barbers and the restauranteurs and all of the other people who are supported by it. It’s just 40,000 hard jobs which are being thrown down the drain when a panel of people who really have studied and know the industry are simply saying, Look, go out to the different oil rigs. Make sure that they’re inspected and up to spec because, by the way, MMS, the Federal agency supposedly doing this, has not done that. Make sure that they’re up to spec, and then let them go ahead because there is nothing wrong.

 

We have drilled thousands of wells in water, and they have worked fine. Just because one goes bad, you don’t shut the whole industry down. So we are threatening 40,000 jobs. Also, in spite of what the panel recommended the President do, we are continuing to endanger the environment, and they are always screaming they care so much about the environment. Though, they are the

very ones preventing you from trying to protect the environment.

 

The thing that strikes me is: Why do we put so much trust in the competence of the Federal Government? That’s what is striking me. That’s part of the reason I thought it was good to take off a little bit and talk about the gulf situation.

 

We’ve got this proposal now. The President wants to use the fact that a company mismanaged its oil well and that he and his administration have made a complete mess of the management of that crisis to say now what we need to do is to have the Federal Government do this cap-and-tax bill, which is more taxes, more red tape and government regulation. When the last government

agencies didn’t even do their jobs, now he wants us to buy more of this, not to mention the fact that we’ve already passed this huge tax increase for health care. Now we’re supposed

to trust the Federal Government to take care of our own bodies. We took a look at what it’s doing down there in the gulf. I sure don’t want the Federal Government tampering with my body.

I’ll end up with two left arms, which would be a pretty terrible fate for a conservative like me.

 

Mr. SCALISE. You know, if you look at what the President said in his speech last week, I and many others were angered by the fact that he spent almost as much time trying to exploit

this crisis to promote his cap-and-trade energy tax as he did in talking about the oil spill and how we can battle the oil and keep it out of our marsh. In fact, if he just were doing his job and were focusing on what his responsibility is under the law, then he actually would be focusing exclusively on helping us battle the oil instead of, not only blocking our attempts on the ground, but of then diverting it and trying to exploit it to talk about this cap-and-trade energy tax.

 

Then you go into so many of the other things that are happening on the ground that are causing so much frustration for our local leaders, who should all be not only working with the government to battle the oil, but they should be empowered. They should be given ideas from Federal agencies.

 

Look, I’m for smaller government. Right now, we’ve got the largest government in the history of our country, but whether you’re for bigger government or for smaller government, I think we should all be able to expect competent government. Clearly, we are not getting that now.

[Guest LAW]

I don’t like being negative. I like fixing problems, and I know you’re the same kind of temperament. We’ve been kind of complaining about the fact of a vacuum of leadership in the administration, and it’s a vacuum that’s evident in the gulf oil spill. It’s evident in

Afghanistan, and it’s evident in a lot of policies. Let’s stop for a minute. I don’t want to be negative. Okay. Let’s say that we are President and that we have this oil spill. What would be an appropriate response?

 

My thinking is I know the military has these things they call ‘‘fusion cells.’’ They’re teams of people who get together. It’s a clearinghouse for all kinds of information. You get the top

resources all over America of what you need in different areas. You put a plan together and say, This is our first attempt to stop this well up. If this doesn’t work, we’re going to do this. That means we’ve got to have this, this, and this piece of equipment ready to go. It means we’ve got to clear this, this, and this with this agency.

 

We’ve got Governor this; Governor this; Governor this asking for permission. We’ve got to consider that, take a look at the law, move fast if we have to change the law or change some policy, and we need to get back to them within 12 hours. And you’ve got a whole team

that is on top of it, managing this thing. That’s my sense of where we would be going. You have to be able to look at all of the data, get the right people in the loop, and make decisions.

We’re not seeing any of that.

 

Mr. SCALISE. No. Another thing that needs to happen is you need to have a real clear command structure on the ground where decisions are made quickly and decisively; and if things go wrong, there are people you can hold accountable to go fix them. Not to sit around and point fingers, but to get things done. The problem that we continue to have—and we’re over 2 months into this now and there was no excuse for these kinds of delays 3 or 4 days after the rig exploded, but especially 2 months later, when everybody knows how important this is, how

much national significance it has not only for the 11 lives lost, for the environmental

damage, but now for the economic and energy security issues that are being raised, you would think that this would be the number one priority of this President and he would be focusing all of his resources.

 

And when local leaders have ideas like our local leaders have had ideas, the Federal Government is right there working with them saying, How do we get this done today instead of 3 weeks

going by, fighting with the Federal Government to get approval for things that should have been approved on day one, if this was the top focus. And then where the Federal Government is even

coming up with ideas.

 

I watched the movie ‘‘Apollo 13,’’ and it’s an inspiring movie. It’s one of those movies you watch if you really want to get your juices boiling. And you can see what American ingenuity

is all about. This was a case where the American spirit was alive and well and those NASA folks sat in that room and said, We’re not leaving until we get our men back home safely. ‘‘No’’ was not going to be an answer and no excuse was going to be accepted. You don’t have that same can-do spirit today by the Federal bureaucrats, who continue to block our attempts to protect our marsh, to keep the oil out of those seafood beds, to protect those pelicans and the other wildlife that are threatened every day, when we have ideas to protect them.

 

Again, if they’ve got a better idea, wonderful. We’d love to hear. Unfortunately, not only did they not have any ideas to help us, but they’re spending their time blocking our attempts to

save our marsh. And there’s no excuse for that.

 

Mr. AKIN. It’s got to be terribly, terribly frustrating. As I took a look at it, my daughter actually was taking a biology class and she did a paper on the whole oil spill and some of the different technologies for mitigating all this really raunchy oil that’s floating around. One of the things is there’s a company that has in barrels a powderlike yeast—these little critters that will eat that oil. When the critters eat the oil, when they get done eating it, if

there’s no more oil, they just die because there’s no more food and other creatures can eat them, and the whole thing just cleans up the mess biologically, naturally.

 

Now, I don’t know whether that’s a great solution or not, but it sure seems to make a lot of sense. And then you’ve got other people in the Midwest areas, we’ve got plenty of straw and hay. And there’s even these YouTubes and people are saying, Here’s one way to fix it. Put a bunch of straw and stuff in this water. All of this very sticky oil clings to the straw, you bring it in, pile it up, and burn it in an incinerator or whatever. But Americans have ideas how to do this, and our government is standing around saying, You can’t do it. No, we don’t like that idea either. In the meantime, the oil is piling up on the shores, and we’re just asking for some legitimate government.

[Guest LAW]

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Thank you, Mr. AKIN. I appreciate you yielding me some time. As you were talking about putting straw or hay on the oil, we can make electricity out of that. Just

think about that. What better source of electricity than doing that?

 

Before Mr. SCALISE leaves, I want to just tell him just for his edification—I think he knows what I’m fixing to tell the American people and Madam Speaker—is that we recently—in fact, just in the last day—sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service to ask them to give a special exemption for

taxes on the money of all the people who are being harmed economically by this disastrous oil spill. They won’t have to pay taxes on the money they get, which is absolutely fair.

 

We saw that happen. The Internal Revenue Service was going to tax the recipients money that they received in Hurricane Katrina, as you know, in your own home city there in New Orleans.

And Congress had to act to say to the Internal Revenue Service, Don’t tax that money. But I wrote the Internal Revenue Service and said, Please give a special exemption to all those businesses and individuals that have been harmed. And it’s absolutely critical because these people have been out of work, many of them for 2 months now. They’re struggling just to make ends meet. And it’s absolutely critical. And I hope that the Internal Revenue Service and this administration will immediately give a special exemption to all those people who are harmed—

those businesses and those individuals that are harmed. And I hope that the American people will just have a tremendous outcry and have a heart for those that are harmed and say to this

Federal Government, to the Internal Revenue Service, Don’t tax these folks. And I’ve made an appeal to the Internal Revenue Service and hope you all will join me in trying to get the Internal Revenue Service to not tax these people who are already damaged and already hurt, and it’s only fair to those people.

 

I just wanted to tell my good friend from Louisiana that we’re fighting for folks—not only those in Louisiana, but those in Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida, and all over the gulf coast. It may even affect people on the east coast. It may even affect my own home State of Georgia. So we’re fighting for those folks, and hopefully the administration will come forward to say, Don’t tax these benefits because they’re not benefits. They’re actually moneys to

just try to help them get their lives back on track.

[Guest LAW]

Mr. AKIN. That all goes to the same thing we’re just talking about. I don’t really naturally like to be dumping on people for mismanaging something, but this is so outrageous. I mean, the only thing that could top the outrageousness of BP is the outrageousness of the administration to be sitting here 2 months after this situation without a clear-cut plan. I would think the President would have some boards like this and say, Look, the first thing we’ve got to do—and this is just like somebody has been hit in an automobile accident. They’re bleeding. You’re a doctor, Dr. BROUN. And you stop the bleeding, is one of the first things you do.

 

I would say, Well, we’ve got to stop that oil coming out of the floor of the ocean, and here’s the plan to do it and we’ll do this, this, this, and this, in this order. And it’s going to require these resources and we’re putting the team together and the plan to do that. Now we’ve got this situation with jobs down there. And Congressman BROUN’s got an idea to help on the income tax side of it. Congressman SCALISE has got a plan as to what to do with some sand berms to stop this oil from coming into the harbor. And you put the team together to make decisions and deal with this. And so instead of fixing blame, you fix the problem. And all we’ve heard is the government getting in the way.

 

My understanding is private companies have more oil booms out there to collect oil than the Federal Government did. And there are types of booms—I heard they’re called fire booms—where they’re a material that’s more or less fireproof. It corrals the oil. Light the oil on fire and they can burn the stuff up before it drifts onto the shore and causes a lot of trouble.

 

And the thing that drives me crazy is here is this example of the government just totally failing and the gall of the administration to turn around and say we’ve got to pass a great big tax increase and we’re going to give the Federal Government power to tell you you’ve got to put a 220-volt plug in your garage for your electric car and you can’t build a wing on your house

without making sure the carbon footprint is right and we’re going to tax anybody every time you flip a light switch and we’re going to try and pass this piece-of-trash bill, and the excuse

for this is the fact that we haven’t dealt with the problem in the ocean. I don’t understand how people can have such great, great faith in the Federal Government. It just blows my mind.

[JT Allen]

DID YOU MEAN: "failed fail-safe blow out preventer"?

 

This morning at approximately 0845 CDT a discharge of liquids was observed from a diverter valve on the drillship Discoverer Enterprise, which is on station at the MC252 wellsite. As a precautionary measure, the lower marine riser package (LMRP) containment cap system, attached to the Discoverer Enterprise, has been moved off the Deepwater Horizon’s failed blow-out preventer (BOP) to ensure the safety of operations and allow the unexpected release of liquids to be analysed.

 

Capture of oil and gas through the LMRP cap is therefore temporarily suspended until such time that the cap can be re-installed. Capture of oil and gas through the BOP’s choke line via a manifold to the Q4000 vessel on the surface continues.

[JT Allen]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

You are correct, I read the law on it. Law I am sorry I was wrong.

Guest thank you. That's very liberating information to have.

 

Yes Tupur, all government work is in the public domain - our tax dollars at work - so feel free to post!

[Guest LAW]

Congressional Record

June 23, 2010 Cont.

 

Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. AKIN, you’re exactly right. The American people get it, though. The administration doesn’t. That’s the problem. In fact, whether it’s the oil spill and the

disaster that’s going on there and their disastrous response to that or forcing ObamaCare through against the will of the American people, all this administration is showing the American people is its arrogance, its ignorance, and its incompetence. That’s exactly what the American people have seen. In fact, just on the oil spill, just the other day I was talking to a fireman in my district and he asked me about this oil disaster and the poor response that

this administration has shown. This working guy, just a guy trying to make a living and take care of his family and struggling to make ends meet, asked me if this administration was purposely not responding to this oil spill just so that they could force through their cap-and-trade. I call it tax-and-trade. Because President Obama himself said this was about revenue. He

had to have that revenue from this energy tax to pay for his health care plan for ObamaCare. And that’s what we see over and over again.

[BlingBling]

Let's get the facts straight. The Republican leadership is a bunch snakes. The may look dumb, but that is just a disguise. They are masterminds at taking money from those with little.

 

HUGE LIE NUMBER 1

 

Republicans will tell you that President Obama turned down foreign offers of assistance in cleaning up the Gulf oil spill. They say he refused to waive Jones Act restrictions on foreign-flag vessels.

 

The truth is five offers have been accepted and only one offer has been rejected. Fifteen foreign-flag vessels are working on the cleanup, and none required a waiver.

 

 

HUGE LIE NUMBER 2

 

Republicans have been spinning the idea that Americans will lose jobs with the American Power Act, which they call the "national energy tax."

 

In a brief published by the Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics, estimated that the loss of jobs brought about by higher energy prices and reduced drilling and mining activities would be more than offset by added spending required in the electricity sector. As a result, their computer modeling predicts an average net gain of 203,000 jobs through the year 2020.

 

HUGE LIE NUMBER 3

 

Republicans will tell you that Democratic leaders do not care enough to go visit the Gulf disaster.

 

Republican presidential candidates, Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney have not even taken the time to visit the Gulf. So far no comments. I wonder why???

 

So, I do not need anymore Republican preaching that they care. Ask Joe Barton if he cares more for money than the safety and environmental prosperity for our country.

 

[Guest DHIJIC]

MEDIA AVAILABILITY: Airboat Tours of Oiled Marshland and Ongoing Clean-Up Operations in Terrebonne Parish, La., June 28-July 2, 2010

 

What: Tours of affected marshland in Terrebonne Parish, La., with opportunities to photograph and to videotape the progress and work of responders cleaning up the oil.

 

When: June 28-July 2, 2010, 9:30 a.m. Tours will last approximately two hours.

 

Where: Tours depart from Cocodrie, Louisiana. Specific directions will be emailed upon confirmation of a reservation.

 

Who: Representatives from the Coast Guard are available for interviews.

 

Space is limited and available on a first-come, first-serve basis for credentialed media only. Reserve seats by calling 985-493-7835. Tours are subject to cancellation or postponement based on weather conditions.