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T&P please.
I haven't asked yet, but you all know what is going on here w/ the oil. It is disgusting. I'm not sure what the national news is saying, but we are on the front lines here and we are getting mostly truths even if it's not from the news...
I went to the island on Friday and the overall feeling is like someone died. I'll be going back this weekend and I'm sure that it will be even worse.
My familly's restaurant is in Grand Isle, La. It is the only inhibited barier Island in Lousiana. It's a tourist attraction in the summer and a ghost town in the winter. It's where I grew up. Our restaurant sells Louisiana seafood. Not chinese 'shrimp' that so many try to pass off b/c it's cheaper. This oil spill will probably kill our seafood industry, our tourist industry and our restaurant industry all at once. Forget hurricanes, we can deal w/ that, THIS might really do us in.
To say that BP has dropped the ball is an understatement. They were drilling at a depth that they had never drilled at before. They were actually celebrating that fact when the rig exploded. They had no plan if something went wrong at that depth b/c 'that will never happen." Then it did and over a month later oil is rushing out of a 2 foot round hole into the gulf of mexico as I type this. Two days ago parish officals commendeered 40-50 BP manned boats that were sitting idle while oil rushed into the marshes. They were just sitting there waiting on permission to go out and lay boom. After hours and hours parish officals had enough and took over. Oil in in the marshes now. The marsh will die and erode away. This spill has done in less than a week what coastal erosion would have taken years or decades to do and there is a month's worth of oil behind what is already here.
I can't even begin to think about hurricane season mixed w/ an oil spill. I can't even wrap my head around what that might mean.
Just pray for us.....and don't give your money to BP..
Re: T&P please.
There is a lot of national coverage and of course I am keeping up with everything via the family. I am very saddened by it all, but my perspective is:
1-BP BP BP. Sure they have a big role in what happened but what about the other companies involved (like TransOcean)? BP doesnt own the rig, so they were not the only ones without a plan. One thing I must say is that BP has owned up to the fact that they were not ready and they have been working from day 1 to try to come up with a resolution, albeit after the fact. Not once has their COO tried to minimize what's happened to the media or public and they have said from day 1 that they will pay for the damages, etc, and for that alone I have respect. Not this Exxon, "this fishing industry was not harmed long-term" crap. I still boycott Exxon.
2-Why hasn't the federal government stepped in to try to help come up with a resolution? I hear about "BP must be held accountable" on the news. There is a difference between holding someone accountable for their actions (or lack of actions) and helping them solve an immediate that is risking lives, destroying the environment, and not to mention tanking the economy of the Gulf coast via tourism, fisheries/seafood, etc. Especially with hurricane season coming!! Once the oil gets around the coast of FL it's coming up the east coast. Bye-bye Maine Lobster. It drives me insane that Jindal submitted all this paperwork to have dredging done to protect the marsh and the EPA sat on it and then said no cause dredging might hit an oil line?! Do they not mark those?! Give me a break.
I am incredibly upset at it all, but my anger is not so much directed at BP. I know my Dad's going to the camp today and is sad that he can't go fishing where he normally does because they have the lakes blocked off. I'm really surprised it's not at our camp yet (it's in Theriot) but when he actually gets there we may learn differently.
Tiff - seeing footage of the damage caused by the oil spill actually breaks my heart. The beautiful water being destroyed and all the animals covered with oil....it's just so tragic. Not to mention all the lives it will affect, like you and your family. I don't want this to turn into a political post but BP isn't the only one who's dropped the ball. Where is our gov't? Anyway, I am and will continue to pray that there is an end to this oil leak soon and that they can clean it up asap and minimize the damage as much as possible.
Keep us posted on your family's business.
Kellie - we must've posted at the exact same time. My thoughts exactly!
tiff, i'm so sorry. i actually heard a reporter on talk radio yesterday morning that was at grand isle and i immediately thought about your restaurant. i'm so sad about all this and like kellie said, can't believe the government hasn't stepped in yet! they mentioned on the radio that people in the area were saying if this had happened on the east coast around ny or on the california coast things would've been handled much differently.
praying for you guys and our coast!
The reason that BP is getting the blame is b/c they were in charge. Transocean built the rig, but they don't drill. That is BPs job. They contracted out to bp. It's like blaming the owner of a building for what their tenent did, does that make sense? Hallibourton is the ones who actually dug the well and did the cement job, but they were working for BP too. under their direction. They have all tried to blame each other, but BP was 100% in charge and they have owned up to that. We can't boycot transocean or halibourton b/c they don't have stores on every corner, but by boycotting bp you are boycotting them too.
Not only did they not have a plan, but they failed to stop an accident from happening in the first place. one that was VERY prevetable. How? This guy does a good job at explaining it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLJHTTOSkpg&feature=related
Their next attempt at shutting off the well will happen tomorrow. They plan to fill the well with mud and concrete. It's a temporary fix, but it should stop the leak until they figure something else out. They have tried a few other things already which have all failed. They last thing they wanted to do is plug the well. That means that the well will be distroyed and no longer usable to them in the future for them which means they are out millions..boo.hoo.
IMO, the federal govt has not stepped up in an acceptable way. This week the feds have come out and done some press conferences and hopped on back on their helicopters and flew away. They have the legal right to totally push BP out of the way, but they have not. They don't have a plan either. I'm sure there is more that they could do. I'm sure there is someone out there who they could hire (someone from the army core of engineers maybe? They needs some redeption around these parts) who could fix this right up, but they are sitting on their hands. We kinda feel like they don't care. We're used to it. I didn't mean to leave them out of my OP b/c I'm mad at them too! They are also stuck in a hard place b/c in the past these big oil companies have gone unregulated in some ways and that of course is the fed. govts fault. This has seriously made me rethink how I feel about govt regulating things as opossed to leaving it up to private companies..especially when a private company has the potential to effect millions of private citizens. The person in the cabnet who is resposible for the oil industry resigned the very day that oil started hitting land...if that doesn't tell you that he didn't know what he was doing from the start nothing does.
Our local govt, especially gov. jindal, has stepped up. Much more than I ever thought. Jindal has been out in the marshes and beaches everyday for weeks. He has taken over too by gathering a team to begin building sand bardges that will block the oil from hitting more marsh and beach in some places That is something that should have been started by the feds 4 weeks ago and was not...
it is all disgusting and heartbreaking.
I agree the whole thing is horrible. I work in the gas industry so I understand the consiquences that are going to be affected for years to come.
I read this morning that BP had 4 boats that were sitting idle in the water WATCHING the oil in the marshes. private citizens took action themselves and it was not until the marshes were almost covered that the boats started working. it is all ridiculous.
i know you have a better grasp of what is going on that any of us. i do know it will ruin tourism not only for la but ms and al bc in the news they had that the oil is making its way to al gulf coast.
It is really sad to see/hear everything that's going on over there.
The husband of my one of my coworkers is in the Coast Guard. He was sent to the Gulf the day this whole thing started, as he is trained to help with this kind of thing. Kate said, though, that he's literally sitting on the shore, watching things going on, waiting for someone to give him permission to help. Who the heck sends the Coast Guard to help with an oil spill and then doesn't let them do their job?!
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Well, we can agree to disagree on this, but I feel like I have to explain my reasoning for saying BP is not 100% responsible. Transocean was working the rig for BP. That we can agree on. In this video the guy says there was a meeting and the BP manager told the TransOcean manager 'drill faster.' No arguing that. The problem I have is that if that was not a safe thing to do, it is the responsibility of the TransOcean manager/people running the rig for BP to say "No. We can not drill any faster." Period. If it means they lose the BP account and the men lose their jobs, great. They may be unhappy for losing their jobs, but they are alive.
The reason I feel like people need to realize this is that I work in a scientific industry where we deal with engineers on a daily basis as to what we 'can' do and we handle toxic/caustic chemicals everyday. The 'managers' who 'call the shots' often do not understand what is involved on the scientific/engineer/worker end when they say....do _______. It is the responsibility of the people who understand those ramifications to stand up and say NO. We can not do that because of ____________. If they know the possible outcomes and know that it is not a safe practice and choose to do it anyway, then they are partly responsible.
In any case, it is clearly a disturbing situation and it makes me sad to see the reports. It is quite prevalent on my local news channel here in Boston and I wonder if it's because one of the anchors used to be an anchor in New Orleans?! I was shocked when I first saw her! Tiff, I am pretty sure you are younger than me, but you may remember her....Karen Swensen. I think she was on Channel 6 down there? I remember here from when I was in school down there.....