Mariner Energy Rig Explosion Grand Isle Louisiana: Mariner Energy Platform Fire

Breaking news of an oil rig or platform explosion and fire somewhere in the area of Grand Isle, Louisiana, or 80 miles south of Vermillion. According to a report on Fox News, the rig is owned by Mariner Energy. According to a Coast Guard spokeswoman, 13 people were on the rig at the time of the explosion and 13 people were plucked from the water by rescuers. At this time there is no oil seen in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The platform is identified as Vermillion Oil Rig 360Stay tuned for ongoing updates. See new video below, first posted at about noon EDT.

In this update stamp-dated 1:23 p.m. CDT the Coast Guard reports seeing a mile-long oil "sheen." One injury is reported in the explosion that happened at about 9 a.m. EDT. At 1 p.m. the platform was still burning. Mariner Energy is disputing the Coast Guard report of seeing oil.

Coast Guard officials described the burning structure as a platform, not a rig, which means it was not actively engaged in drilling. However, it was actively producing oil and gas from seven different wells, Jindal said. The fire was sparked at one of those wells, and all seven of them have since been shut in, Jindal said....

Many of the crews that responded to the blast are those in the area for the cleanup of the BP oil spill, which followed the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20. 

Those rescued will be taken to Terrebonne Genearl Medical Center in Houma.

I've heard two estimates of the depth of the underwater operations: the first was 350' below the surface of the water, and the second is 2500' underwater.

Yesterday, the Financial Times reported employees from Apache and Mariner, along with thousands of oil industry workers, rallied in Houston to protest the Obama administration's offshore drilling moratorium.



Mariner Oil Rig Explosion and Fire (video)

Pelosi CLEAR Act Adds Billions in New Taxes: CLEAR TakeOver of State Authority on Permits: Pelosi Bans Oil Spill Investigation

Nancy Pelosi has said no to a House and Senate "independent" investigation of the BP Gulf oil spill. Her CLEAR Act poised to be voted on this Friday passed the House on July 30th. It adds billions in new taxes, a federal takeover of a state's authority to issue pertinent permits within their state, and builds a $500 million annually, slush fund for the Interior Secretary. That slush fund is provided by $22 billion in new taxes over ten years, which settles at $3 billion-per-year after the ten years. Are these people evil, or what? Have you heard anything coming from Republicans about this? I have not.

Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama

Connie Hair at Human Events has another blockbuster report. As the administration's illegal moratorium on drilling marches on, Pelosi wants no Republicans or petroleum experts sticking their noses into the disaster or how it was handled. Louisiana's Republican congressmen Cassidy and Fleming, are livid about CLEAR's new drilling standards, laws and regulations "that have nothing to do with offshore drilling," but everything to do with "unrelated" federal programs to spend billions on solar, wind and nuclear power. Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA) says Pelosi's move is intended to protect Obama.

 Both the House and the Senate have already approved an independent commission, with unanimous bipartisan votes:

Unlike the commission set up by President Obama -- packed only with environmental activists and no petroleum engineers -- the commission unanimously approved by the Natural Resources committee would be comprised of technical experts to study the actual events leading up to the Deepwater Horizon disaster....

“By deleting the bipartisan, independent oil spill commission that’s received bipartisan support in both House and Senate committees, Democrats have shown they are more interested in protecting the President than getting independent answers to what caused this tragic Gulf spill.  Some of the biggest failures that contributed to the Gulf disaster are the direct responsibility of the federal government... 

The CLEAR Act  is expected to be voted on Friday. The highlights:

1) Creates over $30 billion in new mandatory spending for two programs that have nothing to do with the oil spill 

2) Raises taxes by over $22 billion in ten years – with the taxes eventually climbing to nearly $3 billion per year.

3) Requires the federal takeover of state authority to permit in state waters, which reverses sixty years of precedent.

4) Allows 10% of all offshore revenues – an amount possibly as high as $500 million per year – to be spent on a new fund controlled by the Interior Secretary to issue ocean research grants (ORCA fund).

 The lesson is, the BP oil spill will be blamed for all energy and environmental woes in the future. Read an update from the MarineLog.

No Oil In the Gulf? Mother Nature Doing Her Job with the Gulf Oil Spill?

Water, water every where, and not a drop of oil...in the Gulf of Mexico. This is bad news for Obama, as people in the area are angry and motivated to get the administration's moratorium on drilling rescinded.

The BP oil spill is capped - after 86 days of releasing some 200 million gallons of the inky black crude into the Gulf of Mexico, there appears to be no oil. Clean up crews are on the scene and are finding mostly nada. In those worrisome Louisiana marshes, no oil to be found.

The numbers don't lie: two weeks ago, skimmers picked up about 25,000 barrels of oily water. Last Thursday, they gathered just 200 barrels.

Still, it doesn't mean that all the oil that gushed for weeks is gone. Thousands of small oil patches remain below the surface, but experts say an astonishing amount has disappeared, reabsorbed into the environment.

"[It's] mother nature doing her job," said Ed Overton, a professor of environmental studies at Louisiana State University.

The light crude began to deteriorate the moment it escaped at high pressure, andthen it was zapped with dispersants to speed the process along. The oil that did make it to the ocean's surface was broken up by 88-degree water, baked by 100-degree sun, eaten by microbes, and whipped apart by wind and waves. 

Either the oil has degraded both on the surface and below, or it is lurking. What do you think is going on beneath the warm waters of the Gulf?

Bobby Jindahl on Moratorium: Louisiana Wants None of Obama's Community Organizing

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindah speaks forcefully without a teleprompter or notes in sight. He demonstrates how out of touch with Americans, Obama and his administration are. The president is trying to organize Louisiana workers, like the community organizer he is, and they want none of it. See the video below.

Bobby Jindahl

Jindahl quotes Obama saying, "Governor, if people lose their jobs because of the [drilling] moratorium, they can file a BP claim. I said, with all due respect, what if BP doesn't pay. He said don't worry Governor, they can file an unemployment claim. I said with all due respect Mr. President, we don't want a BP check or an unemployment check, we want to go back to work."

Obama also told Jindahl if the drilling rigs leave, meaning if they are taken to other locations because of a lack of operation in the Gulf of Mexico, "the rigs will just come back." Jindahl tells the crowd - "as if you can turn it on and off like a switch." Jindahl said the rigs are gone for years, two are on their way to Africa right now.


Has there ever been a president in our history, besides Obama, who equates an unemployment check with a "real" check?



Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindahl (video)

Gulf Oil Spill Stopped: BP Still Testing Cap but No Oil Flowing

The new cap on the BP Gulf spill has stopped the flow of oil. Tests are continuing - may take another 24-36 hours to know if the cap can continue to contain the giant spew. Stand by.

Obamas to Fellow Americans: You Vacation in Gulf, We're Going to Maine

Michelle Obama showed up at the Gulf Coast's Panama City Beach, Florida and said the best way to help the people in the oil spill area is for "fellow Americans" to "come on down here and spend some money." After walking barefoot in the "sparkling sand," she returned to Washington D.C. to ready for the first family's vacation in...the state of Main. See a video below.

Michelle Obama

Since the Gulf spill, the Obamas have vacationed in North Carolina, Chicago and this weekend in Maine. Karen at The Lonely Conservative has the real story. InfoWars has some interesting commentary about the beach and MO's visit.




Tarballs on Panama City Beach (video)

Alabama Cop Keeps Videographers Off Public Beach with Ambulance, Paramedic and Fire Trucks

Marguerite Cravatt along with a co-producer and cameraman have traveled the Gulf coast area extensively. On what should have been a busy beach day, the only activity is that of the BP cleanup and "a medical emergency" needing ambulance and a fire truck.

The video below is of an Alabama beach in Gulf Shores. As Cravatt tried to video the action, out of the way of the "emergency," but in camera range and on public property, an Alabama police officer tried to stop her. During that time, more paramedics arrive, and another ambulance arrives and eventually takes someone out on a stretcher.

Marguerite says she is an "independent producer," and with her small crew is traveling the Gulf Coast area and documenting the oil spill:

We collected video footage from the epicenter - Venice, as well as Grand Isle, New Orleans, the French Quarter, and we toured the swamps and the marshes of Louisiana. We drove the coastline of Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, and we saw oil, oil, and more oil. Hundreds of miles of beaches destroyed.

Visit Cravatt Productions for the whole story.



Marguerite Cravatt Schools Alabama Cop on Rights of an American Citizen (video)
H/T BP Oil Slick
Linked by The republican Mother

States to Investigate Lockerbie Bomber Release: Did BP Secure Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi Release?

This week the "doctor" who was instrumental in securing the "compassionate" release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi under the guise of prostate cancer, now says the bomber may live another ten years. The states of New York and New Jersey want an investigation, saying new evidence has surfaced showing al-Megrahi was "not as sick as once believed." This amid speculation that BP had more than a little to do with al-Megrahi's release. Confirming the speculation: The UK Times OnLine reported it on August 15, 2009. About forty-five days later, Al-Megrahi was back in Libya.

Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi arrives in Libya

The short story to whet your memory, Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi was convicted of blowing up Pan Am Flight 103 over  Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. Everyone aboard died - 259 total. One hundred and eighty Americans met their deaths in the skies over Lockerbie, including 35 Syracuse University students.

Abruptly, in October 2009 we heard that a physician, Karol Silora, diagnosed Abdelbaset with prostate cancer and said he had only three months to live. The prison released him back to his home in Libya. The U.S. said little about, but Americans were dismayed.

Of course, he didn't die in three months, he didn't die in five months, and now eight months later he still isn't dead, and his diagnosing doctor said it is all very embarrassing that he is still alive...but you know, he might live another ten years.

There were rumors of bribes to gain his release, the doctor paid for a terminal diagnosis. There are many unsubstantiated connections to the U.S. You can read that here, but here is the portion that has to do with BP, perhaps:

Saif Islam [Muammar Ghaddafi's son] is praising the Brits for making an energy deal that allowed 57-year old Megrahi to come home to Tripoli.

Just a side note, when al-Megrahi was in the Scottish prison, he was in a "segregated" area, was believed to have a sitting room, and was served Halal food. His area was known as Gadafi's Cafe.

The Times OnLine - August 15, 2009:

The release of the Lockerbie bomber from prison would liberate Britain’s largest industrial company from a string of problems hampering its $900 million (£546 million) Libyan gas projects, industry sources claimed last night.

BP, the oil giant, signed a deal with Libya in 2007 to explore for gas in the west of the country and offshore. But since then it has faced a string of bureaucratic obstacles, including delays securing official permits and approvals to import equipment through Libyan customs, the sources said....

The close ties between politics and the oil industry in Libya, where 95 per cent of export revenues are from oil and gas, are irrefutable.

BP president Tony Hayward signed the deal with Libya in 2007:

Al-Megrahi’s release also comes amid a highly delicate battle for influence over Tripoli between Russia and the West. It is a struggle tied to billions of dollars worth of oil and arms deals, which could shape Europe’s energy security for years to come

So, if the Times report is correct, then it is possible Britain needed to find a way for BP's problems with Libya to be resolved, and the release of al-Meghrai happened in exchange for their drilling and exploration to move forward.

By the time of the release, Senator Obama, yearning to be President Obama had received $77,051 from BP. He was the "top recipient of BP PAC," - "the largest chunk" of employee's money also went to Obama. The Democrat party received millions from BP.

 Remember when the U.S. said little about al-Megrahi's release, with Obama telling Scotland it was a mistake. He had to know Britain was behind the release. No one believed Scotland would be willing to make the decision, unless Brits were backing it. It was shocking to some of us that there would not be a sharp retort from the U.S.

Obama asked that Libya downplay the bomber's arrival back to his home country so as not to inflame passions back in the states. There was a huge celebration underway as the airplane door opened and al-Megrahi appeared to a roaring crowd. That policy of Muslim outreach is a one-way street.

Perhaps Obama was paid-off with campaign funds, and the promise for future donations. Perhaps making a fuss about freedom for the murderer of 180 Americans wasn't worth losing donations to Obama's stash.

In September 2009, Hillary through the State Department, tried to "disburse $2.5 million in economic aid to Libya. Congress, in one of the few honest moves they have made in the last several years, shut-down that hand-out to Libya.

In one last twist, we've learned that the dispersant being used, Corexit, is a product of NALCO, which is owned by George Soros, Al Gore, Goldman Saches and Warren Buffet - and is connected to the University of Chicago:

NALCO is associated with the University of Chicago Argonne program. The Obamas both worked for the University of Chicago.  UChicago Argonne received $164,000,000 in stimulus funds this past year and just added two new executives to its roster: one from NALCO, the other from the Department of Education.

If you dig a little deeper you will find NALCO is also associated with Warren Buffett, Maurice Strong, Al Gore, Soros, Appollo, Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, Hathaway Berkshire.

Warren Buffet/Hathaway Berkshire increased their holding in NALCO just last November. (Timing is everything). The dispersant chemical is known as Corexit. What it does is hold the oil below the water's surface. It is supposed to break up the spill into smaller pools. 

At this time, I believe Corexit is still the only dispersant allowed to be used in the BP oil spill. Its stock took an 18% jump after it became public that it was the sanctioned dispersant.

Is this a story? The best source is the Times Online article, in print about 45 days before al-Megrahi's release. Now well see if these New York and New Jersey Senators can get the job done and see a "real" investigation through to the end. It appears their star witness will be alive for awhile...maybe for ten years.

Related and Background:
Bay of Rigs Scandal Leaking: Dispersants are Where the Money Is

Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi Alive 5 Months Later

Saif al-Islam is Muammar Ghaddaffis Son Megrahi Lockerbie Bomber Release Deal?

US Lockerbie Bribes? US Lockerbie Payments? Lockerbie Witnesses Paid by US?

Allen Kruse Death A White House Whitewash? Pensacola Beaches Black Water Bubbling Like Acid

The Pensacola Journal has a Gulf spill story from June 26th that has had only a smattering of attention by the mainstream media, from which at least one report was taken down shortly after it went up. We know that Captain Allen Kruse took his life aboard his own boat while working for BP, using his own craft to clean up the spill. What we haven't heard is that BP and their pathetic response to the clean up, their treatment of those working for them, and inane processes to get paid so the family can eat, is perhaps the bigger story. The beautiful beaches of Pensacola are now black with oil. The second video below is a local filming the waters, churning and bubbling as though they contain "acid." When he turns and walks toward the beautiful sugar sand beach, I had to ask, where are the photos of this.

Allen Kruse

The other story is that the White House is nowhere to be found, other than threatening BP just before a round of golf. The press is not allowed in the area now, so what will we not know? Residents are in need of counseling. Churches have added prayer times. And then there are conjectures that Kruse's death was not suicide. The coroner has only said it is "likely" a suicide. Kruse left no note behind.

A charter boat captain for 25 years, Allen Kruse, 55, left behind a wife and three children. I don't know how he thought his death might help his family. But all that aside, Tracy Kruse says he told her he had to "get out of this. I can't take it."

About 7 a.m., after a BP training meeting, he climbed into the wheelhouse of his 46-foot charter boat and ended his worry, his frustration and his anger with a single bullet to the head.

"Nothing was easy working with BP. Everything was hard, and it consumed him. He wasn't crazy," said his wife, Tracy, 41, sitting outside the couple's home in Foley on Thursday.

"He'd been a charter boat captain for 25 years, and all of the sudden he had people barking orders at him who didn't know how to tie up a boat to a pier. I think he thought, 'I've got to get out of this. I can't take it.' "

Mrs. Kruse said the paperwork to file a claim to be paid for his time was overwhelming. One invoice was 52 pages, and once a claim was completed, she says it was difficult to get it to BP. He had lost 30 pounds and wasn't sleeping.

 Pensacola Beach

Photo Credit AP

American Everyman says BP owed Allen Kruse $70,000 [also reported in the Washington Post article below], and this blog appears to have been following this story closely, including watching and reporting on the media-scrub.

The Washington Post quotes a Kruse employee:

 "We're helping cover up the lie. We're burying ourselves. We're helping them cover up the [expletive] that's putting is out of work... "

A spokesman for the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans said angst and domestic violence is rising in the area, including increased drinking. A social worker who "helps fishermen's wives said:

The oil spillis like a cancer or tumor. It is creeping and unpredictable from whether people will have livelihoods or health issues from helping clean it up. You just don't know whether it is benign or malignant.

 Oil is still pouring out, spreading, with an unmanageable toxicity that evokes comparisons to disease.

 Another fishing boat captain, Tom Ard, told the Washington Post everyone looked up to Kruse, who was known as "Rookie," after the name of his boat. He believes Kruse had no hope that any cleanup would work:

His quote to me was, 'Don't try to rationalize it...just sign you name and get on your boat, and don't try to tell anybody how to run the program, and don't try to tell 'em what the local knowledge is....the point was The cleanup is hopeless, and you'll just tire yourself out trying to improve the situation. 

The two men agreed it was like being in prison. Churches in the area are offering daily prayer and Masses

Tracey Kruse said in the minutes when her husband was preparing to shoot himself in the head, she does not believe he was thinking of his family, and she didn't think he was thinking of suicide. A friend of Mr. Kruse's said he passed the Captain as he left the BP Captain's meeting, and Kruse "had a look of horror" on his face.

In the first video below, you'll hear an interview with Allen Kruse, and how the area has survived hurricanes, and tropical storms, yet residents knew they would get past it. Today the future is murky, or worse. Many question if there can be future for these areas where most make their living by tourism and the seafood industry. Take a look at the beach pic above. How often have we seen that? I thought tarballs in Pensacola were the problem. See more of Pensacola beach in the second video. The narrator, apparently a local, ends with "God help us all.





Allen Kruse Suicide over BP's Lack of Action? (video) Pensacola Beach Boiling Like Acid (video)
Related and Background:Press Banned from Action at Oil Spill: First Amendment Suspended
A-Whale in Gulf and Being Tested - Video
Bay of Rigs - The BP Obama Connection to the Lockerbie Bomber

Press Banned from Action at Oil Spill: First Amendment Suspended

We can send our press into the heat of Iraq and Afghanistan, but their presence in the Gulf is forbidden by the administration - it's all about their "personal safety" dontcha know. This is outrageous, as you will see in the video. Is air space still closed?

 Obama is still looking for some ass to kick. He chose the press. If you don't see it, it didn't happen. I'd love to see Anderson Cooper this pumped about the border. We could sure use some press about the Arizona and Texas problem. Cooper says "we are not the problem here," but he and others in the mainstream media have become the problem because they won't tell the stories with any sense of thoroughness or urgency. Seriously, does anyone know if the airspace over the spill has been opened?

Thanks to my sculptor friend David Lemon for the First Amendment video. Have you ever traveled the Old Bozeman Trail along the Madison River in SW Montana? David says it has been traveled for 11,000 years. He videoed it for you. Also video of the bronzing of his War Medicine piece. Awesomely beautiful. If you haven't seen this process, you must. At about 3 minutes into this video you see David in the foundry, and the bronzing is going on, and in the background you hear Rush Limbaugh. Gotta love it!








Anderson Cooper First Amendment Suspended )video)

A Whale in Gulf Being Tested Video

The A Whale oil skimming rig arrived in the Gulf and is said to be about 6 miles out from the spill site. Today the vessel is undergoing tests of a 25 mile area. See the video of this giant ship below

A Whale Oil Skimmer

A Whale's project manager says the rig can skim up to 300,000 to 500,000 barrels of oil out of the water daily (a max of 21 million gallons), depending on weather conditions. God help him if his projections come in low. The government has had a bit of an attitude about it. The EPA and the Coast Guard have delayed the A Whale's arrival while checking procedure manuals to determine whether the giant vessel may damage the environment:

The ship arrived in the Gulf on Wednesday, but officials have wanted to test its capability as well as have the federal Environmental Protection Agency sign off on the water it will pump back into the gulf. 

Although the ship cleans most of the oil from seawater, trace amounts of crude remain.

The wait has frustrated some local officials, who say the mammoth skimmer would be a game-changer in preventing drifting streams of oil from washing ashore on vulnerable coastlines.

During a Thursday tour of the inlet to Barataria Bay, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said it was exasperating to have A Whale anchored offshore instead of being put to immediate use.

“They’ve used the war rhetoric,” Jindal said aboard a Louisiana state wildlife boat floating in oil-slicked waters near Grand Isle. “If this is really a war, they need to be using every resource that makes sense to fight this oil before it comes to our coast.”

Last week, Palquemines president Billy Nungesser said with the A Whale in the area, we could be "kicking butt," and also said, if we lose this war, it will be the President's fault. This is a great video.

Mammoth A-Whale Oil Skimmer Still Awaiting Approval from EPA Coast Guard

The mammoth A-Whale Oil Skimmer is creeping toward the Gulf area, but has still not received the red light from the EPA or the Coast Guard. The Plaquemines Parish president, Billy Nungesser, says with the A-Whale,  they could be "kicking butt." Nungesser says if we lose this war, it will be the President's fault. Biden walked in for a photo op and left. The parish prez had 30 seconds with the Veep. Day 71! See the video below.

Near the coast line of Chadeleur Islands, LA on June 23, 2010

"No sense of urgency to get it to work"

NORFOLK - After making a brief stop in Norfolk for refueling, U.S. Coast Guard inspections and an all-out publicity blitz intended to drum up public support, a giant tanker billed as the world's largest oil skimming vessel set sail Friday for the Gulf of Mexico where it hopes to assist in the oil-cleanup effort.

The Taiwanese-owned, Liberian-flagged ship dubbed the "A Whale" stands 10 stories high, stretches 1,115 feet in length and has a nearly 200-foot beam. It displaces more water than an aircraft carrier.

Built in South Korea as a supertanker for transporting oil and iron ore, the six-month-old vessel was refitted in the wake of the BP oil spill with 12, 16-foot-long intake vents on the sides of its bow designed to skim oil off surface waters

The vessel's billionaire owner, Nobu Su, the CEO of Taiwanese shipping company TMT Group, said the ship would float across the Gulf "like a lawn mower cutting the grass," ingesting up to 500,000 barrels of oil-contaminated water a day.

But a number of hurdles stand in his way. TMT officials said the company does not yet have government approval to assist in the cleanup or a contract with BP to perform the work. Source.

Also see the A-Whale at sea. The project manager says the ship can take in up to 500,000 barrels a day, and all the oil gathered so far is only 600,000 barrels.



A-Whale Oil Skimmer should be "kicking butt" (video)
More at Ace of Spades 

Judge Martin Feldman Receives Death Threats After Banning Drilling Moratorium

In a move that a New Orleans publication is calling "bold," - presumably for standing up to Eric Holder, the Judge who overturned Obama's moratorium on Gulf drilling, is receiving death threats. Judge Martin Feldman is now accompanied by a federal marshal security team.

Judge Martin Feldman

After Feldman's initial decision came down, the government asked for a "stay" of the decision until they can get their case through the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Feldman refused the "stay."

The Judge noted that just because the BP well was beset with problems and resulted in a massive oil spill, there is no reason to believe other wells would have similar problems. "If some drilling equipment parts are flawed, is it rational to say all are? Are all airplanes a danger because one was? All oil tankers like Exxon Valdez? All trains? All mines? That sort of thinking seems heavy-handed, and rather overbearing,” Feldman wrote.

While the Judge said  there was no "rational connection between the facts found and the choice made," distractors questioned Feldman's integrity. At one time he held stock in Transocean and Halliburton. According to Bayoubuzz News, he owned those stocks in 2008 and sold them long before issuing the ruling.

The 5th District Court uses a sophisticated computer system to check whether judges have a conflict of interest in any legal proceeding. This system automatically determines whether a judge needs to be recused from a particular case. In this lawsuit, Feldman was allowed to take the case because he did not own any stock related to the parties involved.

To the dismay of coastal residents, overwhelmed with the BP oil spill, Obama's moratorium on drilling has further threatened any chance of a livelihood in the area:

I think he's lost his mind. If they shut down the oil fields, I might as well shut down," said Joan Strohmeyer, who owns a hotel in Venice, Louisiana.

Before the moratorium, Obama instructed Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to convene a panel of experts to determine what needed to be done now to further protect the Gulf area. After the panel signed off on the final report, Salazar and Obama changed the report, indicating the panel agreed with to a moratorium. In fact, they did just the opposite and a Berkley professor (yes, Berkley!) called Salazar on it, who then admitted he AND Obama changed the report to suit their preference for a moratorium:

If anyone should be questioned, it is the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar who disregarded the advice of his own scientific experts in declaring the deep water drilling moratorium. In the wake of the Judge’s ruling, Salazar said he would issue a “refined” moratorium, ask for a stay of the ruling and appeal the decision. Some legal experts predicted the preliminary injunction would lead the government to compromise on the moratorium. In fact, Salazar decided to be confrontational instead of working with business interests in Louisiana to find common ground.

The lawsuit was brought against the U.S. Department of the Interior by "more than a dozen companies involved in offshore drilling operations.

Linked by Conservative Hideout - Thanks Matt!

Huge Methane Gas Bubble Under Gulf Floor?

For weeks I've been reading stories of the methane gas bubble, or the methane gas bubbles under the waters near, or under the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. I, of course, have no idea of the truth of any danger warnings for the area...but they ARE scary. See a video below. See updates below.

Methane Gas Bubbles Under Gulf Floor?

There seem to be two schools of thought. The most prevalent is that high methane gas levels can deplete the oxygen and kill all the sea life - that's all of the sea life. ATexas AandM University oceanography professor, John Kessler, has measured the methane levels in the spill area, and he says they are very high but have not yet reached a critical level. Two months from now might be a different story, he says:

Methane occurs naturally in sea water, but high concentrations can encourage the growth of microbes that gobble up oxygen needed by marine life.

This report out of New Orleans:

At least 4.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas — and possibly almost twice that amount — have leaked since April 20. That's based on estimates from the U.S. Geological Survey's "flow team" that 2,900 cubic feet of&

"This is the most vigorous methane eruption in modern human history," said John Kessler, a Texas AandM University oceanographer.

Small microbes that live in the sea have been feeding on the oil and natural gas in the water and are consuming larger quantities of oxygen, which they need to digest food. As they draw more oxygen from the water, it creates two problems. When oxygen levels drop low enough, the breakdown of oil grinds to a halt; and as it is depleted in the water, most life can't be sustained. 

The second 'event' being talked about is an explosion of a methane gas bubble near the spill site so large that it ruptures the ocean floor, explodes far above the water surface, causes wide death and destruction, with tsunamis following - not to mention that the existing well-head will be obliterated:

The stretching and compression of the earth's crust causes minor cracking, called faults, and the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico has many such fault areas. Fault areas run along the Gulf of Mexico and well inland in Mexico, South and East Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the extreme western Florida Panhandle. The close coupling of new fissures and cracks with natural fault areas could prove to be lethal.

A methane bubble this large -- if able to escape from under the ocean floor through fissures, cracks and fault areas -- is likely to cause a gas explosion. With the emerging evidence of fissures, the tacit fear now is this: the methane bubble may rupture the seabed and may then erupt with an explosion within the Gulf of Mexico waters. The bubble is likely to explode upwards propelled by more than 50,000 psi of pressure, bursting through the cracks and fissures of the sea floor, fracturing and rupturing miles of ocean bottom with a single extreme explosion.

Numerous documents on this subject say there is some belief that methane bubbles have been the cause of disappearing ships and airplanes in the Bermuda Triangle. Who knew?
The Daily Mail says a methane gas bubble actually triggered the explosion on the rig:

The Gulf of Mexico oil rig disaster was caused by a bubble of methane gas that shot oil 240ft into the air while BP executives were on board celebrating the platform’s safety record.

The highly combustible gas burst through several seals and barriers before exploding, according to interviews with rig workers conducted during BP’s internal investigation.

Workers on the Deepwater Horizon exploration rig, 50 miles off the Louisiana coast, told investigators that they set a cement seal at the bottom of the well, then attempted to put a second seal below the sea floor.

A chemical reaction caused by the setting cement created heat and a gas bubble which destroyed the seal.

Safety adviser Professor Robert Bea, of the University of California, said: ‘A small bubble becomes a really big bubble, so the expanding bubble becomes like a cannon shooting the gas into your face.’

Up on the rig, the first thing workers noticed was the sea water in the drill column suddenly shooting back at them, rocketing 240ft in the air, he said. Then gas surfaced and flooded into an adjoining room with exposed ignition sources.

‘That’s where the first explosion happened,’ said Professor Bea. ‘Then there was a series of explosions that subsequently ignited the oil that was coming from below.’

The BP executives at the party were injured but survived, according to one account.

A question: If the Gulf Coast area is found to be in danger of an enormous explosion that could kill or maim the people and demolish property in the affected areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida, would our Government believe it and evacuate the area? Just asking...

The Oil Drum is a web forum for industry workers. This entry [a small snippet] is making it's way around the Internet:

There are no "Disks" or "Subsea safety structure" 1,000 feet below the sea floor, all that is there is well bore. There is nothing that can allow the mud or oil to "escape" into the rock formation outside the well bore except the well, because it is the only thing there.

All the actions and few tid bits of information all lead to one inescapable conclusion. The well pipes below the sea floor are broken and leaking.

What does this mean?

It means they will never cap the gusher after the wellhead. They cannot...the more they try and restrict the oil gushing out the bop?...the more it will transfer to the leaks below. Just like a leaky garden hose with a nozzle on it. When you open up the nozzle?...it doesn't leak so bad, you close the nozzle?...it leaks real bad, same dynamics. It is why they sawed the riser off...or tried to anyway...but they clipped it off, to relieve pressure on the leaks "down hole". I'm sure there was a bit of panic time after they crimp/pinched off the large riser pipe and the Diamond wire saw got stuck and failed...because that crimp diverted pressure and flow to the rupture down below.

Contrary to what most of us would think as logical to stop the oil mess, actually opening up the gushing well and making it gush more became direction BP took after confirming that there was a leak. In fact if you note their actions, that should become clear. They have shifted from stopping or restricting the gusher to opening it up and catching it. This only makes sense if they want to relieve pressure at the leak hidden down below the seabed.....and that sort of leak is one of the most dangerous and potentially damaging kind of leak there could be. It is also inaccessible which compounds our problems. There is no way to stop that leak from above, all they can do is relieve the pressure on it and the only way to do that right now is to open up the nozzle above and gush more oil into the gulf and hopefully catch it, which they have done, they just neglected to tell us why, gee thanks.

A down hole leak is dangerous and damaging for several reasons.

There will be erosion throughout the entire beat up, beat on and beat down remainder of the "system" including that inaccessible leak. The same erosion I spoke about in the first post is still present and has never stopped, cannot be stopped, is impossible to stop and will always be present in and acting on anything that is left which has crude oil "Product" rushing through it. There are abrasives still present, swirling flow will create hot spots of wear and this erosion is relentless and will always be present until eventually it wears away enough material to break it's way out. It will slowly eat the bop away especially at the now pinched off riser head and it will flow more and more. Perhaps BP can outrun or keep up with that out flow with various suckage methods for a period of time, but eventually the well will win that race, just how long that race will be?...no one really knows....However now?...there are other problems that a down hole leak will and must produce that will compound this already bad situation....

What is likely to happen now?

Well...none of what is likely to happen is good, in fact...it's about as bad as it gets. ...

What eventually will happen is that the blow out preventer will literally tip over if they do not run supports to it as the currents push on it. I suspect they will run those supports as cables tied to anchors very soon, if they don't, they are inviting disaster that much sooner.

Eventually even that will be futile as the well casings cannot support the weight of the massive system above with out the cement bond to the earth and that bond is being eroded away. When enough is eroded away the casings will buckle and the BOP will collapse the well. If and when you begin to see oil and gas coming up around the well area from under the BOP? or the area around the well head connection and casing sinking more and more rapidly? ...it won't be too long after that the entire system fails. BP must be aware of this, they are mapping the sea floor sonically and that is not a mere exercise. Our Gov't must be well aware too, they just are not telling us.

All of these things lead to only one place, a fully wide open well bore directly to the oil deposit...after that, it goes into the realm of "the worst things you can think of" 

It's a race now...a race to drill the relief wells and take our last chance at killing this monster before the whole weakened, wore out, blown out, leaking and failing system gives up it's last gasp in a horrific crescendo.

Read more at The Oil Drum.

The video below describing the dangers of methane gas bubbles cannot be verified - at least by this blog. I don't know who is doing the talking - it sounds like a radio interview. It may be the biggest hoax in modern history, but it offers food for thought. If you have a comment about the veracity of the information, please share it with me in comments.


Methane Gas Explosions? Bulges in the Ocean Floor (video)
Others talking about the dangers of methane gas in the Gulf:
The Captain's Quarters - "Apocalypse Now"

Joy Behar Faith not Logic: Elizabeth Hasselbeck Behar is Bigoted Video

The View panel is apparently talking about prayer in the Gulf Coast region, although that is not made completely clear. Behar says faith is not logical, and Hasselbeck says Behar is bigoted, and explains how prayer really works. Behar seems unfamiliar with the whole process. See the video.

Joy Behar Says Prayer is Illogical - Faith is not Logical (video)

Tony Hayward Demoted: Svanberg the Face of BP

Carl-Henric Svanberg, the BP head who has enormous empathy for the "small people" of the U.S. will replace CEO Tony Hayward as the face of the Oil Spill Slayer.

Oil Boom Skimmer Ship

Hayward prompted the manufacturing of small fabric self-images, pierced with very long pins, when he infamously said: "I want my life back." Hayward enraged our Imperial U.S. Congress yesterday when he refused to say that BP had been reckless in their handling of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.  In other words, the facts are not yet in, but BP has consistently said they will pay all claims.

Here are a few undisputed facts:

1) Obama turned down help offered from the Netherlands three days after the spill. The Dutch government, with much of their country below sea level, offered to fly their oil-boom-skimming ships to the Gulf. They also offered a plan for building sand barriers to protect the marshlands. We turned it all down. The ships wouldn't work because American union workers would not be manning the boat. However, two months later, Obama is accepting the offer of the ships and oil skimming booms.

See video of the oil skimmer ships and a new invention to greatly pick up the pace of oil collection here.

2) The Dutch were not the only countries to offer aid. Thirteen countries offered, and Obama turned them all down.

3) Governor Jindahl tired to build 128 miles of sand berms to protect Louisiana's marshlands. The idea was rejected by the Army Corps of Engineers - because of environmental concerns. Dumping sand in the ocean must be a terrible threat. Forty-five miles of berm have now been approved. According to this report, even a low-intensity tropical storm will break-down the berms, but Jindahl will give it a try, because there are no more ideas:

Jindal said Friday: “We are moving ahead without BP. We gave them two choices: They can either send us a check, get out of the way and let us start this work, or they can sign a contract and do it themselves. We are going ahead without them.”

Although the berms will be 300 feet wide at their base, tapering to 25 feet at the top, a sand wall is not considered a robust structure under the Gulf’s extreme summer conditions.

4) Obama refused to utilize the help offered by the State of Alaska - who experienced and dealt with the largest oil spill in American waters.

5) Obama lied about the advice of his own panel of experts, changed a report after experts had already signed off on it, and called for a moratorium of drilling, leaving the Gulf Coast economy, and the quality of life of residents, further depressed by shutting down thousands of jobs and, of course, ending household income.

6) Escambia County, Florida, the home of some of Florida's most beautiful beaches tells us how the government red tape works, and shows the lack of respect of this administration for the people actually doing the hard lifting:

Santa Rosa Island Authority Buck Lee: “Escambia County sends a request to the Mobile, Ala., Unified Command Center. Then, it’s reviewed by BP, the federal government, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Coast Guard. If they don’t like it, they don’t tell us anything.”

7) Only one very controversial dispersant is being used. This subject would take a book to explain, but the bottom line is, there are many, many dispersants out there, some with substantial claims of their effectiveness, without toxicity. It appears the White House and BP have ignored them all.

Tony Hayward has his life back, and I bet this is one demotion he accepted willingly.

Megyn Kelly Robert Redford: Robert Redford Smacks BP - Gives Obama a Pass

Megyn Kelly plays a clip of Robert Redford smacking BP for the oil spill - says he wants to throw up. No mention of Obama's handling of the "man-made disaster." Kelly interviews Pajamas TV's Steven Crowder about Hollywood and their response to what is happening in the Gulf. See the video below.

Megyn Kelly with Robert Redford clip - Interview with Steven Crowder (video)

Platitudes Of Oil

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

Book of Obama:  Chapter 11

nd The Anointed One spoke unto the masses:

While I was fixing your economy, granting everyone Healthcare, and destroying this nation's alliances with our traditional  friends, my enemy (Republicans and Teabggers) destroyed a deep well in the Gulf of Mexico.

This happened due to the incompetence of the British and how it was caused by the evil done by Bush the Lessor.

This was not MY fault, The Anointed One he exclaimed!

It was BP, they lied to Me, they said they could plug the leak. For they had many plans, though none would work well, they all looked good when they proposed them.

It was the fault of Steven Chu, he is the smartest man I know after Me. He has a Nobel in Physics, head of MY energy policy and should have known how to solve this mess.  Chu failed Me!

And MY predecessor, Bush the Lessor, caused this disaster.  It was his policies that was the direct caused of this.  It was his lack of regulation, his people that let BP, that evil Corporation, to do what they wanted to.

Yet I will heal this mess.  I will require the passing of the Cap and Trade Bill.  Yes it will raise yourn electric rates by 30% but it will save the environment (At least MY poll numbers with them!).

I demand an end to all drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.  We can never allow an disaster like this to happen again (This will please MY Saudi masters.).

visited the Gulf, not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times.  I talked to the fishermen, innkeeper, tavern owner.  They cried they will go broke.  They have no income, no monies, it is all the fault of BP.  They will be destroyed.

I told them that I will force BP to put Billions of their dollars into a special account and a third party will settle all claims (I think I can get Andy "The Weasel" Stern to head it.).  They will get paid eventually, but not until I get MY share (It is the Chicago Way!).

I went to the Gulf, and held out MY arms.  I demanded the oil to stop spilling (It was keeping Me from MY golf game!), but nothing happened.  The oil kept flowing.  I am The Anointed One!  The Chosen of the People.  If I say stop, it will stop!

But the flow of oil did not stop.  Not when The Anointed One demanded it to, not when the people of the region prayed to their God, not for many months.  It flowed and destroyed the sea and land.  The birds and fish.  The hopes of the people. It destroyed all because of the hubris of  The Anointed One.

The people, those who follow God and those who reject his laws, started to turn from the false Messiah. "He has lied to us too many times."  They cried.  And the Holy Poll Numbers were dropping.  "Soon his numbers will be so low, he will not be able to rule us." The growing multitude sang to the world.

But until that had come to be, they watch and pray and worry.

Pray for the people living on the Gulf Coast!

Czar Alert: Desperate Obama Appoints Oil Recovery Czar

I understand Obama's affection for Czars now. What better way to place the blame than to turn a gunky mess over to someone else. Still looking for his bullhorn moment, which up to today has been only moments of bull crap, he will appoint an Oil Recovery Czar from the Oval Office - his first speech given from that vaunted and historic room.

 Czar of all Czars

The Bush playbook is still present in this administration. Bush gave the 9/11 speech to the nation from the Oval Office on the night of the terror attacks. Now Obama says he has his own 9/11 with the Oil Spill, but he missed the moment and forgot the bullhorn. And so the Oval Office image tonight should bring us all together, as we were when our nation was attacked almost nine years ago.

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, who was a former staffer for Bob Etheridge, the South Carolina Congressman who punched a student in the face two days ago, says Obama will "seek" to reassure anxious Americans over the Gulf catastrophe. An apology, like Etheridge's would be the Democrat way, and a czar should do it.

Apparently BP has announced they will be able to siphon 90% of the oil flowing from the wellhead by the end of June. Now we get an Oily Oil Czar. I have found this site the best place to stay current with the oil spill. Obama should have been checking in.

Lightening Strikes Oil Spill Containment Ship: Efforts Halted

Just heard a Fox News radio report. Lightening has apparently struck one of the ships siphoning the oil off of, and/or, out of the Gulf of Mexico. Efforts to recover the mess have been halted. Numerous observations come to mind. If the situation were not so dire for our country, our friends in the effected areas, and sea life, I would share them with you, but...