Tag Archives: BP oil spill
Gulf of Mexico Still Struggling 10 Years After BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
Blanchard operates one of America’s biggest shrimp distributors, Dean Blanchard Seafood, which has yet to fully recover from the aftereffects of one of the world’s worst oil disasters. The calamity began when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded off the coast of Louisiana on April 20, 2010, The environmental catastrophe devastated one of the world’s most productive aquatic ecosystems five years after Hurricane Katrina had decimated the region. Fishing industry devastated,,, Shrimper and oyster harvester George Barisich said he had to settle for 35% of lost income. “That oil’s basically created pavement at the bottom of the Gulf,” Barisich explained. “Some seafood likes to hide at the bottom, but they can’t burrow in pavement.” Blanchard blames the situation for shrimp hauls that continue to decrease annually. >click to read< 08:19
‘Invisible oil’ from Deepwater Horizon spill may have reached the Florida Keys, possibly as far as North Carolina
Nearly a decade after the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history killed 11 people and dumped 200 million gallons of crude into the ocean, researchers found discrepancies in the satellite footprint that was used to establish fisheries closures and data from sampling and field tests. They concluded that the real extent of the BP oil spill may have been 30 percent larger than originally estimated.,,, “We realized that the satellite footprint and the fisheries closure areas didn’t capture the full extent of the spill, and that the impact on marine life may have been overlooked,“ >click to read< 07:40
Thousands of cleanup workers that claim BP oil spill made them sick haven’t had day in court
In the sea of fines, fees and compensation BP has paid to individuals, businesses, governments and lawyers for its 2010 oil spill, one group of claimants stands out for missing out on the billions.,,, Another claimant is shrimper George Barisich. He received compensation for his seafood business losses under a separate settlement, and he filed a claim for a chronic illness from exposure to the oil and chemical dispersants used to break up oil particles in the Gulf. “There’s no justice here for people who actually worked, went out there to clean up their mess,, >click to read<12:49
Coast Guard responders “harmed by chemicals used to clean up BP’s spill”
Sometimes, there is absolutely nothing worse than being proven right. It is the one thing you dreaded. Ever since the horrendous Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010, I and many others warned against using the toxic chemical called Corexit arguing that it would do more damage than good. The potential evidence of harm, or lack of evidence of its safety, was clear for everyone from BP to the US Government to see to if they had bothered to look. Nearly one million gallons of the dispersant was dropped by air and a further 770,000 gallons injected into the well head to try and disperse in excess of 200 million gallons of oil that was spilt by BP in the Gulf of Mexico. >click to read<13:21
Seven Years Later, Deepwater Horizon Still Spilling Into Legal System
The BP oil spill has faded from the global headlines, but seven years later, the effects on residents of the Gulf Coast and the legal system nationwide are far from over. While the journey has been long and difficult, there are lessons for those injured and their lawyers. The Deepwater Horizon Claim Center will likely shut down this year after paying an estimated $13 billion in individual and business claims for economic and property damages. As it does, payments from related settlements, this time with Halliburton Energy Services Inc., Trans-Ocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling Inc. and other defendants, will start. Thousands of claimants are expected to divide $1.24 billion.,,, Those in the seafood industry received $2.3 billion in compensation for business and economic losses. Of that, $520 million was not paid until late last year, which means some people waited six-and-a-half years to receive all of their money. click here to read the story 11:40
BP spill cost fishing industry at least $94.7 million to $1.6 billion from May through December 2010
The BP oil spill may have cost the Gulf of Mexico’s commercial fishing industry between $94.7 million and $1.6 billion and between 740 and 9,315 jobs from May to December 2010, according a study released Wednesday (June 22) by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The study, conducted by The Vertex Companies of Boston, Mass., measured the impact of the spill during the same period of time that is being used to calculate claims being paid to fishermen under a 2012 court-approved settlement agreement between private parties and BP. The three-year study cost $355,888. Louisiana’s commercial fishing industry bore the brunt of the costs of the spill, compared to the four other Gulf states, the report found, with the highest costs affecting the catch of shrimp, oysters, crabs and menhaden. Read the rest here 10:34
‘We haven’t recovered,’ Coast fishermen say on 6th anniversary of BP oil spill
Members of the Coast fishing industry gathered Wednesday at Sherman Caan Back Bay Fishing Dock in East Biloxi to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the BP oil spill. Those in attendance were a mixture of fishermen, oystermen and members of the Vietnamese fishing community. The commemoration was organized by fishing activist Thao Vu of the Mississippi Coalition for Vietnamese Fisher Folks and Families. About 15 people attended the ceremony, carrying protest signs to show their continued frustration with the oil company. “East Biloxi used to be the fresh seafood capitol of the world,” Vu said with Biloxi Bay as her backdrop. “But look at it since the BP oil spill six years ago.” Read the rest here 19:26
10 Years Forward: Fishermen ride out rough waters after Katrina, clear skies ahead
Long before Hurricane Katrina roared through, south Louisiana’s commercial industry already faced major challenges. Katrina just became the next hurdle fishermen had to endure to stay afloat. In the decade since, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes have faced more storms, the BP oil spill, and the continued disappearance of valuable wetlands. Still, they’ve managed to survive and thrive. “I’m going to be dancing at 100! That’s my goal,” said Tommy Gonzales. All his life, he’s trapped and fished the waters of Delacroix Island and the Gulf of Mexico. For hundreds of years, commercial fishing has been a way of life in Shell Beach. Video, Read the rest here 10:43
Gulf states reach $18.7 billion settlement with BP over 2010 oil spill
The settlement announcement comes as a federal judge was preparing to rule on how much the British oil giant owed in federal Clean Water Act penalties after millions of gallons of oil spewed into the Gulf. BP was leasing the Deepwater Horizon rig in April 2010 when it exploded and sank off the coast of Louisiana, killing 11 crewmen and releasing some 200 million gallons of crude into the Gulf. Read the rest here 12:48
On BP oil spill anniversary, ex-NOAA director urges major changes in federal spill contingency plan
Five years after the BP oil spill, the National Contingency Plan used by federal agencies to respond to major environmental threats still needs to be revamped to adjust to the lessons from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster, said , a marine biologist who ran the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration during the spill. During the BP spill, Lubchenco said, federal responders were forced to adapt on the run. (They fell flat on their faces!) Read the rest here 12:06
Forum hosted by Vitter – Agriculture, forestry, seafood experts discuss key topics in Alexandria
Other topics Wednesday included the effect of government regulations, the slow recovery of commercial fishing following the BP oil spill, safety concerns about imported seafood and the risk to Louisiana’s timberland posed by a shrinking fire protection budget. “We spent millions of dollars on commercials convincing the rest of the country everything is ok, but it’s not really ok,” Barisich said, referring to the publicity campaign launched after the spill that was aimed at promoting Louisiana seafood. Read the rest here 08:46
Study claims 2010 BP oil spill left ‘bathtub ring’ on sea floor
The BP oil spill left an oily “bathub ring” on the sea floor that’s about the size of Rhode Island, new research shows. The study by David Valentine, the chief scientist on the federal damage assessment research ships, estimates that about 10 million gallons of oil coagulated on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico around the damaged Deepwater Horizons oil rig. Read the rest here 23:13
USF Study: Skin Lesions on Fish Decline Years After BP Oil Spill
Scientists studying the impact of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill on the health of fish in the Gulf of Mexico have found strong evidence that an outbreak of skin lesions and oil residue signatures discovered in fishes a year after the spill may be related to the catastrophe. Read more here 15:17
Court won’t stop BP oil spill claims payments
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — BP PLC must resume paying claims while it asks the U.S. Supreme Court to review its settlement with businesses over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a federal appeals court panel said Wednesday. Read more here 16:08
BP oil spill: methane persisted in sea after microbe cleanup
As much as half a million tonnes of natural gas, 80 percent of it methane, leaked into the deep sea as a result of the blowout on April 20, 2010, on BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig. The leak triggered a surprising “bloom” of marine bacteria that feasted on the gassy hydrocarbon plume. The bugs did indeed remove a significant amount of the gas, but their population crashed while the leak was still in progress, it said. Read more here 12:15
Fishermen say impacts still linger from BP oil spill – video
“We believe this disaster has greatly impacted the ability of fisheries to spawn. And that’s why they’re not seeing the fisheries they used to. They’re not catching what they used to. We believe that the spawning ability has been greatly impacted,” said Thao Vo, an advocate for fishing families. Read more here wlox 20:02
Virginian-Pilot Editorial: Real risks to Virginia coast
The April 2010 blowout at BP’s Macondo well gushed for 87 days, a total of 4.9 million barrels of oil, coating beaches from Louisiana to Florida. About 40 percent of the Gulf was closed to fishing. Petroleum industry advocates desperately hope people will forget such things. Virginia leaders, including Gov. Terry McAuliffe and his predecessors – including Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine – have been pushing hard to open territory off Virginia Beach to drilling for oil and gas. Read more here 12:55
More massive tar mats from BP oil spill discovered on Louisiana beaches
“I’ve been told by the ocean experts this stuff could hang out there on the bottom of the Gulf for more than 100 years. And as long as it’s out there, it can come ashore,” said Robert Barham, Secretary of the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, in 2010. “We might not see big black waves, but we may be seeing a smaller, but serious problem, for years and years to come.” The accuracy of that prediction is visible once again on the Lafourche Parish beach between Elmer’s Island and Port Fourchon, where a line of mud haulers waits to collect BP oil being unearthed by giant excavators digging just yards from the Gulf waves. READ [email protected] 19:27
Escambia and Santa Rosa counties get more BP oil money
A week ago, the two-county area got a dose of good news about our continued recovery from the BP oil spill. That kind of news is always worth sharing and discussing. BP continues to deliver on its promise to make whole the Gulf of Mexico and the affected states from the 2010 oil spill that fouled the water, smeared the shoreline and crippled the economy, especially tourism that year and in 2011. [email protected] 12:01
Gulf of Mexico Restoration projects proposed using BP funding
NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Titles and estimated cost of 44 projects proposed for funding from BP PLC’s $1 billion set-aside dedicated to recovery from its 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The 16 Florida projects marked with an asterisk have been added since a preliminary announcement last spring. more@kxxv 15:54
What is really happening in the Gulf? Declining seafood catches and deformities, and a legacy of psychological and social problems
“It’s disturbing what we’re seeing,” Louisiana Oyster Task Force member Brad Robin told Al Jazeera. “We don’t have any more baby crabs, which is a bad sign. We’re seeing things we’ve never seen before.” Robin, a commercial oyster fisherman who is also a member of the Louisiana Government Advisory Board, said that of the sea ground where he has harvested oysters in the past, only 30 percent of it is productive now. “We’re seeing crabs with holes in their shells, other seafood deformities. The state of Louisiana oyster season opened on October 15, and we can’t find any production out there yet. There is no life out there.” more@aljezeera
BP’s silent disaster – 2010 oil spill has left a legacy of psychological and social problems among residents in the impact zone. John Gooding, a fisherman and resident of the coastal city of Pass Christian, Mississippi, began having health problems shortly after the disaster began. He became sicker with each passing month, and moved inland in an effort to escape continuing exposure to the chemicals after being diagnosed with toxic encephalitis. More here 13:27
Sheeeit Judge! It was only 3.26 million barrels! (I think he’s lyin’)
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BP’s Macondo well spilled only 3.26 million barrels of oil during the 87 days that followed the April 20, 2010 blowout that sank the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, killing 11 workers, a witness for the company testified Thursday. Martin Blunt, an assistant professor of petroleum engineering at Great Britain’s Imperial College, said his estimate takes into account the geology of the area of the Gulf of Mexico where the Macondo reservoir was located, unlike the 5 million or more barrels estimated by expert witnesses for the Justice Department. more@nola 11:27
INEXCUSABLE! BP’s well control executive says he was unprepared for U.S. Gulf blowout
On day three of the second phase of a federal trial in New Orleans over the accident in the Gulf of Mexico, BP’s James Dupree also said “yes” when asked if the company was “starting from scratch” when it scrambled to stop the leak. BP lawyer Mike Brock sought to show the company was as well-prepared for the leak as any other firm. more@reuters 10:40
Haaay. This is GREAT News.The level of cancer causing pollutants left in the waters of the Gulf by BP was greater than reported by NOAA, who said they were safe!
That report questions whether some waters should have been opened to fishermen during the three-month spill, citing the unsafe levels of toxic chemicals to which fish and other sea life would have been exposed. The scientists determined that the levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a cancer-causing pollutant, was up to 3,800 times greater than levels considered safe for human consumption! SWEET! more@thedailycomet
NOAA Inaction in the Gulf of Mexico – http://www.fishnet-usa.com/NOAA_Inaction.htm
US government assessment of BP oil spill ‘will not account for damage’ – National Research Council
The US government cannot hope to arrive at a full accounting of the environmental destruction caused by the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico using its current methods, an expert panel has said. ontinued@the guardian
Lawyer accused of misconduct resigns from BP case
A lawyer working for the administrator overseeing a multibillion-dollar settlement from the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf resigned Friday after being accused of misconduct. Lionel H. Sutton III resigned Friday morning, Nick Gagliano, a spokesman for court-appointed administrator Patrick Juneau, told The Associated Press.Sutton has been accused of collecting portions of settlement payments from a New Orleans law firm to which he had once referred claims, a BP PLC official who reviewed a report outlining the allegations told the AP, which broke the story Thursday. continued@baynews9
Florida Governor Scott Announces $58 Million in Early Restoration Projects for Florida Communities
WJHG – Scott said, “We’re committed to restoring the environment and economy that families have relied upon in the Gulf for generations. These $58 million in Florida projects represent a critical step forward in recovering from the natural resource and recreational losses that resulted from the BP oil spill. We will continue to work with our state, federal and local partners toward solutions that ensure impacted areas are revitalized for families.” List of projects here
Louisiana Gov. Jindal: BP Agrees to Pay $340 Million for Restoration Projects
Myarklamiss.com – BP has agreed to fund approximately $340 million in restoration projects for Louisiana. This investment is part of the $1 billion that BP agreed to invest for early restoration of damaged natural resources resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. continued
Locals say blue crab catches plummeting – “The BP oil spill was in 2010. You do the math.”
Local blue crab catches are reported more scarce than ever this year, and nobody is sure why. “There are absolutely no crabs,” said Keith Watts, Crab Task Force representative for the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board. “We’re not catching anything. It’s ridiculous.” Watts has made up his mind the BP oil spill of 2010, which leaked roughly 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, is responsible for the declining blue crab population. “It’s just too much of coincidence for it not to be,” he said. “Crabs live for two to three years. The oil spill was in 2010. You do the math.” continued
Gulf Fishermen advocating for no tax on BP settlement money
The Plaquemines Gazette – At a meeting last week of the St. Bernard Parish Council, life-long shrimper George Barisich, President of the United Commercial Fishermen Association urged the council to pass a resolution that supports the exemption of commercial fishermen from paying taxes on BP settlement money. continued
