[Delilahs Mommy]

Gulf oil spill swiftly balloons, could move east - Yahoo! News


It surely is heartbreaking, the loss of life and the loss of animals, etc.
We are suppose to be going to Sanibel in late July or early August. I am really thinking about canceling it and just go to Fripp instead. But they also say it can/may make it up to the east coast.

 

[theboyz]

Laura, it is very sad and with terrible consequences. It makes me mad!!!!!

 

[Delilahs Mommy]

Makes me so mad too! Our economy is already suffering terribly. I am afraid that this is really going to do us in. It makes me sick to my stomach to think about it.

 

[sophie]

I am livid about this whole mess. As I said in my original post about this the economical impact could be catastrophic! Lives have been lost, livelihoods passed down from generation to generation are on the brink of disaster. Living down here I may have a totally different take and reaction to this, though. And, I am aware of how much the nation depends on the Port of New Orleans even though the average American has no clue how important it is to our economy - it's amazing the percentage of what Americans buy at the store without a second thought and it arrives via the Gulf of Mexico and the Port of New Orleans and Baton Rouge - not to mention natural gas and gasoline.

Earlier this week it had already begun moving a east. The port of Mobile was being affected. Their ships have to go through it to get to port - their shipping channel runs through it. From what I understand they had already begun washing down the ships before bringing them into port - this takes time and could cause a back up which could cause shipping companies to send their ships to other ports of call leaving the Gulf Coast Ports with a huge loss in revenue which means a trickle effect of a loss of jobs. I could go on and on about the maritime impact.

But what upsets me the most is the toll it is going to take on our already fragile wetlands. We lose so much of our wetlands every day and since Katrina there has been a good effort to stop this loss and create new wetlands. This is going to put us back for I don't know how long. The price of seafood is going to go sky high. If the tankers coming up the MS to the refineries have to slow down to be washed before entering the river, then that cost will be passed along to the consumers - higher gasoline, higher heating oil, higher grain, the list could go on and on.

And, the federal government's response??? A little late. Makes me think that Brownie's in there somewhere still doing a "heck of a job."

Of course, I have to applaud the Coast Guard - once again they were the first to respond!!!!!

Okay, I'm off my soap box! Sorry.

Linda

 

[sophie]

If anyone is interested this is a pretty amazing slideshow of the rig on fire and actually collapsing in to the Gulf.
Edit: I couldn't get the link to work. If you really want to see the pics try this link and just scroll down a little and you'll see the thumbnail to click for the pictures.

http://www.wwltv.com/news/gulf-oil-spill

 

[Lacie's Mom]

Yes -- this is such a tragedy for everyone. Just what was said above. And BP will not step up to the plate. There will be years and years of lawsuits which will not help the animals or the people whose livelyhoods have been taken away by this accident.

Look at Alaska where the Exxon Valdese (sp?) spill was. That was like 20-30 years ago and the eco system is still a mess and the people have never been compensated for the losts they suffered.

I really thought that they had valves in place on the oil rigs to stop this type of accident from happening. I thought it was now required for off-shore drilling. Guess I was WRONG.

 

[mfa]

this whole thing is very upsetting!!!
birds are starting to show up with oil all over their little feathers.:angry:
plus, i dont necessarily think it was an "accident", JMHO.