MARCO SPORTFISHING CLUB

     
 
 

MSC GULF OIL SPILL DISASTER BLOG

...from the Sportfishing Club President’s Message, June 2010
Our club is going to take a pro-active role with the oil spill in the gulf.  Ed Vesely will be in contact with the State and inquire if there is anything we can do should the need arise.  The State maybe looking for volunteers with and without boats.  We will keep you posted as we get more information.
...Pete

If you come across anything appropriate for this page please send the information to marcoman357@aol.com or use the Contact Us tab on this website.

 

Posted

Here are some links that may be useful
(use your 'back' button to return to this page)

43 7/29

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews_excl/ynews_excl_sc3270

Mighty oil-eating microbes help clean up the Gulf

Also see: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-500803_162-20011964-500803.html
 

42 7/9

Somewhere along the way we have forgotten about the oil spill and turned this into a 'you said, he said' right wing-left wing circus.  Follow the links below to read the point and counter point. 
What to believe?

http://www.financialpost.com/Avertible+catastrophe/3203808/story.html

Why did our government refuse help from the Dutch?  Misplaced priorities and bureaucracy?  Fear of non-union labor?  Or just shear stupidity?  Follow the link above to read the article.

http://mydd.com/2010/6/26/obama-doing-all-he-can-for-the-gulf-despite-repub-criticisms

On the other hand this account says we have accepted foreign aid and that the administration has explained why for any that was refused.  And that much of the work is union free anyway.

41 7/9

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2010/07/08/ac.kaye.mississippi.landfill.cnn?hpt=C2

And just what do we do with the waste from the cleanup?  BP's dumping it in landfills across the south east.  When taken to task by locals worried about ground water pollution, etc, BP just says "trust us, we know what we are doing"...ya think?

40 7/5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74wULDaidyY&feature=digest

You might think that cleaning up oil and tar on the beach is possible.  Just scoop it with 'something' and haul it away to 'somewhere', right??  Watch the short video clip above from Pensacola, FL.  Once the oil has come ashore the tidal and wave action will tend to cover it in sand.  Now how do you clean it up?  When you can't even see it?  As the sands shift, oil will be uncovered and covered back up again indefinitely.  Unsuspecting people walking he beach far into the future may step through the apparently clean sand to squish into an oil patch. 

39 7/2

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-07-01/lord-browne-and-bp-oil-spill-outrage/?cid=hp:beastoriginalsL1

The Teflon Man -no oil sticks to him!

"The U.K. government has appointed former BP chief Lord Browne, who was forced to resign from BP, as its new efficiency czar. Tom Bower comments on the extraordinary insult of promoting the man who bears huge responsibility for the Gulf oil crisis."  ...click link above to read the article.
 

38 7/1 http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gIXWYBTpLtSayJtg41LKXpxSxVPAD9GMC2HG0
The oil that's spewed for two and a half months from a blown-out well a mile under the sea hit the 140.6 million gallon mark, eclipsing the record-setting, 140-million-gallon Ixtoc I spill off Mexico's coast from 1979 to 1980. Even by the lower end of the government's estimates, at least 71.7 million gallons are in the Gulf.

The EGGHEADS say:
"People will be fishing here again," Ogrydziak said. "It may take a while, but people may be surprised that it's not taking as long as they thought. Look at the (Ixtoc) oil spill in Mexico. It was massive and now people are back to using those waters."
..."a while" for Ixtoc turned out to be 30 years.  How old will you be then??

37 6/29

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAewnywj3yc
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDDZI_QpQJ8&feature=related
 

I think I've been in denial, believing that  surely this couldn't happen here, could it?  Watch the video above.  I was born in Pensacola.  I know those beaches. They will never be the same, certainly not in my lifetime.

36 6/28

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxDf-KkMCKQ

This short video will break your heart.  The government and BP are not sharing this kind of stuff with us.

35 6/27

http://www.floridadisaster.org/gis/kml/viewer.htm

FLORIDA – Members of the Marco Island Composite Squadron are flying photo missions to document the shape of Florida’s Gulf Coast as a “before” snapshot in the event oil from the offshore Deepwater Horizon drill site reaches the state’s shores.

The mission is being flown at the request of the state Department of Environmental Protection.  State and federal agencies will use the images for damage assessment purposes. 
Two Marco Island squadron pilots, Capts. Richard Farmer and Bob MacNeill, completed a five-hour flight May 27 over a section of the Gulf Coast east from Destin to a point southeast of Tallahassee.  A photo operator snapped what will represent a seamless composite photo of the coastline, assembled from nearly 1,800 photos. 

Thousands of images, many viewable online, have been captured by Civil Air Patrol aircrews in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.  CAP’s missions in support of the oil spill response also include VIP flights over coastal waters to inspect oil containment barriers, transport of vital mission equipment and data collection.

34 6/24
Here's an account from a relative of mine in Pensacola, where I was born.  Pensacola once had the finest beaches in the world, even better than Marco.  It's rapidly becoming a toxic waste land.

Until yesterday we were feeling really lucky with just a few tar balls here and there, but yesterday it all changed and the entire 30+ miles of beach has a layer washed up along the water line.  It's a mess but cleanable.  Our main concern is keeping it out of the bays, bayous, the sound etc.   Luckily our community has had plenty of warning so they've been working hard.  

 
We are very aware of the long term environmental and economic impacts, but are just now learning about the sociological impacts that can last for years, particularly with man-made disasters vs. natural disasters. Gulf Oil Spill: Officials Predict Mental Health Problems Similar To Post-Valdez Alaska   
 
I hope that your area is doing some planning as there is so much oil out there that I'm afraid is going to get everywhere eventually.  AND we're in the beginning of Hurricane season.  Lots to think about but we've got to stay positive and keep on keepin' on.

See also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAewnywj3yc
 

33 6/24 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/17/gulf-oil-spill-officials_n_616259.html
 

Gulf Oil Spill: Officials Predict Mental Health Problems Similar To Post-Valdez Alaska

32 6/23 The 'official' government site below (item 32) says it is no longer tracking the offshore oil spill.  Did our government wave the magic wand and make it go away, or did they just lose interest?

From the website:
"Additional Information: The offshore forecast was temporarily stopped on June 20, 2010 due to the small amount of oil offshore, the absence of recent observations confirming significant amounts of oil in offshore areas, and the large distance between the loop current complex and the Deepwater Horizon oil slick. Offshore forecasts will resume if the threat returns."

32 6/15

http://gomex.erma.noaa.gov/erma.html#x=-87.40723&y=28.03320&z=7&layers=3023+497

An interesting site from Ed Vesely

31 6/12

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/04/29/interactive.spill.tracker/index.html

Latest tracking map of the spill

30 6/12

Even using other numbers that federal officials and scientists call a more reasonable range would have about 63 million gallons spilling since the rig explosion. If that amount was put in gallon milk jugs, they would line up for nearly 5,500 miles. That's the distance from the spill to London, where BP is headquartered, and then continuing on to Rome.

By comparison, the worst peacetime oil spill, 1979's Ixtoc 1 in Mexico, was about 140 million gallons over 10 months. The Gulf spill hasn't yet reached two months. The Exxon Valdez, the previous worst U.S. oil spill, was just about 11 million gallons, and the new figures mean Deepwater Horizon is producing an Exxon Valdez size spill every five to 13 days.

read the rest of the article at:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/06/10/million-gallons-oil-flowing-day-researchers-say/
 

29 6/8

http://map.floridadisaster.org/gator/

Interesting site. In the past there was rarely anything interesting going on, but due to the Gulf spill it's "hopping" with quick updates on oil spill impacts county-by-county. The reports include specific observations and their locations.

-from Bob Dohm & Ed Vesely

28 6/5

Marco Civil Air Patrol (CAP) members fly missions in support of oil spill response.  
CLICK HERE to read the press release.

27 6/4

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/04/29/interactive.spill.tracker/index.html

Latest tracking map of the spill

26 6/4

http://www.cityofmarcoisland.com/Public_Documents/DeepSpill/index

City of Marco Oil Spill webpage

Call the City of Marco Island BP DeepWater Oil Spill Hotline
for daily updates: 389-CITY (2489)
25 6/1

A government report on what the oil spill means to us who love the clean water and fish.

David M. Rasmussen PE
     CLICK HERE

24 5/31

Closed area of the Gulf as of May 25

click here

23 5/30

http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/site/2931/

Deepwater Horizon Response
Official site of the Deepwater Horizon Unified command

22 5/30

http://www.volunteerflorida.org/

I didn't research this, but it's mentioned in the Coast Guard article below as a website where you can get on the volunteer list for Florida.

21 5/30

Coast Guard Frequently Asked Questions about the oil spill.
Click here
"Distributed by the Unified Command and endorsed by our chain of command please find attached for your information questions that you may, as a member of the USCG Auxiliary, be asked by the public regarding the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill.  Also included are approved answers as it regards the participation and involvement of the Coast Guard and Auxiliary. "

20 5/27

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/04/29/interactive.spill.tracker/index.html

Latest tracking map of the spill

19 5/27

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/27/scientists-gulf-oil-spill-surpasses-exxon-valdez-worst-history-plug-try-going/

Update on latest attempt to plug the well

18 5/25

Understanding Tar Balls  CLICK HERE

17 5/25

http://www.marconews.com/videos/detail/naples-prepares-respond-oil-spill/

Naples prepares to deal with the Oil Spill...from the Marco News

16 5/25

http://www.marconews.com/news/2010/may/22/marco-island-prepares-oil-possibly-spilling-shore/

Marco prepares to deal with the Oil Spill...from the Marco News

15 5/18

THE LOOP CURRENT...
COULD IT BRING THIS TO MARCO?
CLICK HERE for latest information
A tendril of oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill is "increasingly likely" to be captured over the next few days by the warm Loop Current, an extension of the Gulf Stream into the Gulf of Mexico, and could be pulled towards the Florida Straits and the rich coral reefs of the Florida Keys in eight to 10 days, a NOAA administrator said Tuesday.

14 5/17

Click here for a one page pdf with good pictures.
WHAT HAPPENED ON THE DEEPWATER HORIZON?
On April 20, Deepwater Horizon was two days away from temporarily capping the oil well it had drilled and handing off the pumping of the oil to a production platform or pipeline. But during this disconnection process the rig suffered a blowout, caught fire and sank to the bottom.
Here is what went wrong.

13 5/17

NOLA.com
I worked in New Orleans for a couple of years and since leaving I have kept up with the area thru NOLA.com  It's the local newspaper
 e-edition.  Since the oil incident it has devoted the entire section on updates and articles. 
-Allan, MSC member

12 5/16

NOAA Report  -updated daily
(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

11 5/16

Click Here
to see a 12 min video interview of retired US Army Lt Gen Russel Honore, of Hurricane Katrina fame, giving an interview on his take of the current oil crisis response.  The General paints a bleak picture.  He says "even if we stopped the oil today, we have a Chernobyl like event on our hands..."

10 5/16

http://www1.voanews.com/english/video-audio/69671867.html
A 4 minute video on the impact of oil spills.  It's unimaginable that
this could be coming to SW Florida, and might turn Marco into a ghost town.

9 5/15

http://bp.concerts.com/gom/vessels051010.htm
A 3 minute video about how the local people on the gulf coast are
helping out with their boats...something we may be called upon to do.

8 5/15

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3I-PVVowFY&feature=related
Watch this 2 minute video on You Tube! 
Congresswomen Maxine Waters D-CA
proposes to solve the Oil Crisis by SOCIALIZING the oil companies.
Pretty soon you'll be able to go to one place and get your Obama Care, pick up your mail, do your banking, buy a new car, and fill it with gas...one stop shopping at the government store!

7 5/14

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5SxX2EntEo
An interesting 7 minute video proposing to use hay
to absorb the oil at sea.

6 5/14

 

http://magblog.audubon.org/oil-spill-simple-graphs-explain-spill-size-wildlife-recovery-time-more
Some interesting charts and comparisons that will help you
get a grip on the magnitude of this disaster (as of May 14)

5 5/14

Oil Spill Trajectory map for May 16
from NOAA

4 5/14

Click here for an interesting technical report
provided by Fred Kouhi

3 5/13

A PDF document with some explanation
and a number of great of pictures of the disaster.

2 5/12

http://www.dep.state.fl.us/deepwaterhorizon/
Florida Department of Environmental Protection

1 5/12

http://gulfseagrant.tamu.edu/oilspill/index.htm
The Gulf of Mexico Sea Grant Program

0 4/20
2010

BP Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico
The rig belongs to Transocean, the world’s biggest offshore drilling contractor. The rig was originally contracted through the year 2013 to BP and was working on BP’s Macondo exploration well when the fire broke out. The rig costs about $500,000 per day to contract. The full drilling spread, with helicopters and support vessels and other services, will cost closer to $1,000,000 per day to operate in the course of drilling for oil and gas. The rig cost about $350,000,000 to build in 2001 and would cost at least double that to replace today.

If you come across anything appropriate for this page please send the information to marcoman357@aol.com or use the Contact Us tab on this website.