http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37444105/ns/gulf_oil_spill/?GT1=43001 As a Floridian this is a tough thing to watch.
Damn tough to watch!!!! I have fear for those immediately hit with suffering from this disaster in Louisiana, Alabama and now Mississippi. I have more concern for the long term effect it will have on the economy in general from tourism, fishing and property values. I have a friend who is a fishing guide out of Boca Grande that is taking my family out on Thursday to catch a few redfish, snook inshore and a few permit and kingfish offshore. He's a realist and expects the worse to happen once its acknowledged how bad the spill really is and what its effects will be. RC
They are saying this morning that a plume of oil is 8 miles off Pensacola beaches and is due to come ashore today. .....and to think we may be two months away from stopping this thing. 31% of the Gulf closed to fishing after six weeks of spill = 100% of Gulf fouled up by August?
Spill off Mexico in the 90's took them 9 months to stop, they are saying a relief well can be drilled in August....a lot of oil will go into the gulf. James Carville has been pretty hard on Obama, do you agree with him? He claims that if this spill had happened off of Palm Beach or Nantucket Obama would have taken quicker and more decisive action.
For Carville to be criticizing Obama is huge. I have heard him often on CNN stridently supporting Obama and the Democratic congress, but now he is an angry resident of LA whose feelings have overtaken his political ideology.
Absolutely.... I have said from the start I thought Obama was sluggish in his response. This is a mounting catastrophe unlike any that the US has ever seen.
Sending Holder down there to announce criminal investigations at this point is one of the stupidest in a long succession of bonehead moves Obama has made in the last 16 months. The only thing he accomplished was tanking the stock and sucking billions in working capital out of this company when they need it the most. The time to do this is after the gusher is plugged and the cleanup is well underway. But what else would you expect from this community organizer?
I totally agree George what mindless dolt had the idea to announce criminal investigations in the middle of the worst oil spill in America. Why not at least wait until the company has fixed the problem before killing the company stock.
I too couldn't agree more with George. The time for action against the company, against the government, or against the tooth fairy is after the disaster has been fixed. After the ongoing devastation to our environment has been snuffed out, then think about punishment for those responsible. Our litigious society sickens me almost as much as this oil in our gulf does. Is this the awakening that our country needs to rid ourselves of our dependancy on oil from any source? Applied Materials has made great strides in the effort to raise the efficiency of solar cells. Cindy and I are going to install solar roof panels on our house next spring (projected date based upon projected efficiency gains). I am hoping that electric cars will have made efficiency gains along the same pace as solar cells. We will be looking to upgrade to newer hybrid vehicles at the same time.
Interesting Tom, I have often thought about installing solar panels to make use of all this sunshine in the "Sunshine State" but the cost has been prohibitive. From my limited research the cost to panel my house would be around $42,000 before tax incentives which would total about $19,000. But at this time the state of Florida decided not to fund the tax incentive end of it and there is no money to reimburse citizens who invest the capital into their homes. The excuse is that they did not think many folks would actually consider going solar and have been put on a waiting list in hope that the funds will appear on the next yearly budget...? It would be nice to do this though.... RC
Love the solar idea......it should be made affordable to all Americans. But....I assume there is a huge oil lobby contingent in DC working against it.
This ......is the proper response as opposed to Obama's "unflappable" response: "It was hardly the outpouring that came from Louisiana Democrat Charlie Melancon, who broke into tears last week at a Capitol Hill hearing about the oil spill. "Our culture is threatened. Our coastal economy is threatened. And everything that I know and love is at risk," Melancon, who represents many of the affected Louisiana shoreline areas, told his Capitol Hill colleagues. Unable to finish reading his prepared statement, Melancon submitted it for the congressional record and then walked out of the hearing room as other lawmakers sought to comfort him."
"The latest order means 37 percent of the Gulf is now closed to fishing due to the spill, and it moves the boundaries of the restricted zone eastward to just south of Navarre, Florida, and southward to the edge of the Dry Tortugas, off Key West." It seems to me that we are going to see 100% of fishing areas closed by August.
100% of everyone's efforts should be directed to the singular goal of stopping this leak.... then the cleanup. To send the AG to the marshes shows how much Obama wants to politicize this and save his presidency.
...agreed And it seems to me they are letting a handful of BP buffoons be in charge of doing that. Is our government bereft of smart....mechanical engineering types? Don't we have some brilliance anywhere?
MCG, some people are into solving problems, others are into finger pointing and accusations. You are the latter. Here's a link to the partial cap. Partial Cap
"You are the latter." That is ********...... Which one of these involved parties that I have been critical of in the topic are you in line with on this... so much so that you feel the need to make this kind of inflammatory comment? BP......Obama?? Maybe you just don't get the impact of this. I spoke with a boat dealer yesterday in Orange Beach, Al. who sells Hatteras and Ocean Yachts....both very large offshore boats. His business has been zilch since the spill and he sounded pretty down if not despondent. Who is going make up for his loss? He is just one of probably millions affected in a similar way. If you don't think fingers need to be pointed then we have a vast disagreement.
I get the impact. I kind of based my statement on this quote from you. This is a really bad situation and I find it appalling that no one seems to know much about how to cap this well. It points out a real flaw in the design but I hardly think the BP people are more bufoonish than government types you want to call in. I am unhappy with BP and Obama's response. The people who came in last night and did the partial cap should have been there a long time ago. Why they weren't is a mystery to me.