Yahoo and Yippee! Hurricane be good for oil cleanup. Make like washing machine.

A spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said that hurricanes have a washing machine effect. The major spinning and disturbance of the waters help to break down the plumes of oil. The stirring up of the water by a hurricane break the oil up into smaller droplets that microbes can more easily consume. This constant pounding on the oil break it down faster and to a greater extent.

http://fastfreenews.com

From the "Who Cares" department: New Video Game Lets You Stop The Leak

Now you can try your hand at stopping the oil spill in the Gulf Coast. A new game inspired by the ongoing BP oil spill has hit the Xbox Live games marketplace. Called Crisis In The Gulf, the game challenges gamers to stop the oil spill from an exploded oil rig owned by "DP" using whatever means necessary--from cannons and torpedos to high-powered lasers.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Passing Alex shuts cleanup down

Oil-skimming ships in the Gulf of Mexico steamed to safe refuge because of the rough seas, which likely will last for days. Officials scrambled to reposition boom to protect the coast, and had to remove barges that had been blocking oil from reaching sensitive wetlands.Officials worried the weather could hamper efforts to keep the oil out of Lake Pontchartrain, which so far has not been affected. The brackish body of water, connected to the Gulf by narrow passes, is a recreational haven for metropolitan New Orleans.
The containment system now in place is capturing nearly 1 million gallons per day from the well, which is spewing as much as 2.5 million gallons a day, according to the government's worst-case estimate. So far, between 70.8 million and 137.6 million gallons of oil have spewed into the Gulf of Mexico from the broken BP well, according to government and BP estimates. The higher estimate is enough oil to fill half of New York's Empire State Building with oil.

Alex may delay improved oil collection

Waves of 10 to 12 feet would prevent BP from connecting a third rig to an underwater containment system. That process needs three days of good weather, said Kent Wells, a BP senior vice president. The rig is expected to nearly double the amount of oil siphoned from the leak to between 40,000 and 50,000 barrels a day. The storm's winds are expected to stay far enough west of the spill to avoid any interruption to the drilling of two relief wells, which BP officials hope will completely cut off the flow of oil into the Gulf in August.

Wall St. Journal June 29, 2010

New Streamers about to hit Grand Isle

Poor BP. A hundred million bucks a day. The dead pelicans can really use that.

Over the weekend, as spending hit $100 million a day, the number of vessels helping with the clean-up had grown to 5,000 and a flotilla of expensive drill ships gathered on the surface far above the well head, as BP implemented plans to capture 90% of the leaking oil and continued drilling two relief wells.
Wall St. Journal Blogs

Oil companies are major shareholders in the American political and media machines

Open Secrets, whose mission is to track money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy, details the amount of money received by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, who is currently investigating BP, from oil and gas companies. In 2010, members of the committee received a combined $1,227,455. The ranking Elephant on the committee, Joe Barton, who stuck his oily foot in his foul mouth by apologizing to BP, received over $100,000 last year, the second only to an Elephant from Missouri, Roy Blunt.
bigthink.com

Palin packs Oil Palace, disses Obama

TYLER, Texas — Sarah Palin fired up an enthusiastic Texas crowd late Saturday by criticizing President Barack Obama's handling of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, saying he's falling short on leadership. "You asked for the job, Mr. President, so buck up," Palin said to voracious applause inside the nearly packed Oil Palace. Organizers said the event drew about 5,000 people. "I chant, 'drill baby drill,' because it will help make the country energy independent," she said.
http://www.chron.com/

Black Lexus joins protest

"In Mobile, about 40 people participated in the 15-minute peaceful protest. Sherri Wilson of Daphne said that the oil spill is a "tragedy of epic proportions" that the Gulf may never recover from. "It's important to let people know that we care about the environment, and offshore drilling is not something that I, now or ever, supported," she said. After 15 minutes in the sweltering heat, the attendees headed back to their cars, shouting, "Air conditioning," and "Ooh, that was warm." Two of the protesters climbed into a black Lexus sport utility vehicle -- left on and idling all 15 minutes -- and drove away."

www.alabama.com

And here's a thank you note from Steve...

stevenleonard wrote on 06/27/2010 07:15:03 AM:

I would like to thank the Judge on behalf of the nation for his quick action and wise decision. However we need to plug the hole the oil is leaking from. The russians had the same problem some years ago and used a small nuclear device to blow up the ocean floor to close it off. Can we do the same? Lets work on finding a resolution to the leak. The reason that BP doesn't close it off is because if the oil stops flowing from the hole, then their contract stops. The politics in that is why we continue to have an oil leak. We need to take actions on that as our nation is suffering!

Stockholding judge a bit of a folk hero

"HOUMA, La. -- Along the troubled waters of the Gulf of Mexico, U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman has become a bit of a folk hero. He's the Ronald Reagan appointee who overturned the Obama administration's six-month ban on deepwater oil exploration, siding with oil service companies and the state of Louisiana, which argued that the moratorium -- coming on the heels of the gusher in the Gulf -- would seriously weaken the state's economy. Feldman owned stock in Exxon Mobil -- an oil company affected by the ban -- even as he considered the case, The Washington Post reported."

The Miami Herald June 27, 2010

Here's a doomsday scenario for you. Enjoy.

"Let's say the oil blowout continues, and the Gulf of Mexico is carrying millions of gallons of crude oil as a massive hurricane approaches. It's a hot July day in the Gulf of Mexico, with temperatures soaring towards 110 degrees, accelerating the evaporation of volatile oils which get mixed in with hurricane-force winds. The hurricane makes landfall in New Orleans, let's say, dumping potentially hundreds of thousands of gallons of what is essentially "volatile fuel" on the city of New Orleans. Now, at first it's just a wet, slippery toxic mess that kills trees and grass. But what happens after the storm when the sun dries out the city?"
Natural News

Spill spurs activists

The April 20 Deepwater Horizon oil-rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, which killed 11 workers and triggered the nation's worst environmental disaster, created a powerful surge in environmental awareness. In Florida and elsewhere, activists hope it has staying power beyond the current catastrophe. Eric Draper, Florida Audubon's executive director, said that 16,000 people have signed up to volunteer with Audubon nationally ``as a response to the oil spill'' -- perhaps 1,000 from Florida. Most, he said, aren't Audubon members, but have ``seen the images of the wildlife or imagined the oil's effect on the beaches. They're people who love the beaches and want to do something.''
The Miami Herald June 26, 2010

Tropical storms heads for oil spill area

Coast Guard officials are making preparations for what could turn into a hurricane. A tropical cyclone is forming south of the Gulf of Mexico and is headed toward the oil spill area. Gale force winds could force at-sea workers to abandon their oil collection efforts in the Gulf of Mexico for two weeks, the head of the national response effort said Friday. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen described the cut-and-run plan in a conference call to reporters Friday as, “Realistically, out of an abundance of caution,” but the Deepwater Horizon well would remain uncapped for “14 days” if that happened.

Scott Brown: on the big oil dole?

Gulf Boat Captain Describes Turtle Rescue

Wildlife incinerated

Boat captain Mike Ellis described what he had seen at sea in a YouTube report. "They drag a boom between two shrimp boats and whatever gets caught between the two boats, they circle it up and catch it on fire. Once the turtles are in there, they can’t get out," Mr. Ellis said.
The Christian Science Monitor June 25, 2010

Raining oil in Louisiana?

This You Tube video claims it was raining oil on Thursday near Saint Louis Bay, La.

Oil: who needs it anyway?

Americans consume petroleum products at a rate of three-and-a-half gallons of oil and more than 250 cubic feet of natural gas per day each!

The largest "spills" in history