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Here is a link to watch the oil live from the floor of the ocean. I just looked and they are cutting the post off the blowout preventer.
http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_interne ... tream.html

Thanks, Reelcatch. Incredible video at times.

Is anybody watching this video right now? They just cut the pipe and there is oil EVERYWHERE!!!

Yeah I am watching too!!!!

They just screwed the pooch boys. They are now saying this is the worst disaster in recorded history. It will change the world before it is over. The Gulf might literally be a tar pit.

Natureboy wrote:. They are now saying this is the worst disaster in recorded history. It will change the world before it is over. The Gulf might literally be a tar pit.

Really? That sounds a bit extreme to me.

"They" say what will get the most attention so "they" can get advertising dollars... "they" speak of each and every hurricane as if it will end life on earth as we know it. "They" made it sound like oil would hit us the very week the spill started.

Amount spilled doesn't necessarily have a direct correlation with consequence. Hate it's happened, but EXTREMELY thankful it's 60 miles offshore and not like Valdez where much more coastline was quickly impacted with a shoreline spill.

JT's point has some merit as of the top 10 volume spills, several offshore ones ended up having little measurable impact. Bet this one ends up somewhere in the middle in impact... may be wrong... time will tell.

I hope your positive outlook is correct. I have a good friend who works for the government and he is leading a team down there. In fact he was interviewed on CNN yesterday. His outlook is not as positive as yours. In fact quite the oposite. But my Marine brother I hope you are right. One way to look at this situation is that we are all in it together. I have got cows to feed. Later

If oil is sighted on Florida’s coastline report it to the State Warning Point at 1-877-2-SAVE-FL (1-877-272-8335) or by dialing #DEP from most cell phones.

So the governor is saying that oil will reach Florida within 48 hours:

http://www.tallahassee.com/article/2010 ... n-48-hours

There are still a handful of folks around here that are still buying BP gas out of convenience, or possibly because of ignorance, or maybe they have a BP line of credit.

However, for those of you interested in sending them a message that only the consumer can send, BP also makes Castrol Motor Oil.. don't buy it!

Alright Devil Dogs, I'm gonna jump on in this conversation.
I too am here working the spill. Natureboy, I trust that your contact is a good person, however, I am not sure his/her messaging is correct. If he/she is operating out of the Mobile Unified Command (which covers MS, AL, and FL) I am fairly confident that he/she is working under me in some format or another. However, if he/she is operating out of Houma or Robert, he/she will not be in my chain of command. I'm not chest pumping or exclaiming my greatness by any means, I am just helping you understand that I am at a position in which I am not left out of the information flow. Yes this is the largest oil spill in our history, point blank. However, it is yet to be determined if it will be the worst environmental disaster in history. There are a lot of questions without answers at this point in the response, however, we should not speculate on the magnitude of the impact. It will take time to determine how negative the environmental impact is. I don't like the spill one bit myself, but I am glad to say that for the most part, given the length of time and the amount of product spilled, the shoreline environmental impact has been negated fairly well and I think that is a testament to the response efforts taking place. Is this due to dispersants, skimming, burning...... yes. Are there concerns with dispersants and burning...yes. Do we have to look at trade-offs...yes. Are decisions being made to ensure the net environmental and economic impact will be as minimal as possible....yes.

I hate that there are tar balls on the beach, that being said, anyone who has grown up in Florida has dealt with this their whole life. I'm not saying this spill isn't going to cause a whole heckuva a lot more, as well as other types of petroleum on the beach (tar mats, mousse, etc.). I'm just saying that I have seen the media go into an uproar over minimal amounts of tarballs over large land masses, that may have actually been occurring anyway without the spill. This type of coverage has hurt those businesses that rely on tourism dollars. That's just a shame.
It's gonna get worse before it gets better. Yes, cutting the pipe is allowing more oil out. That was a known risk. The goal is now to have a clean cut area to put the cap over. As stated in a posting yesterday, methodical steps are being taken based on risks to the environment and that this latest approach will not ensure all of the oil is captured. Only the relief wells will ensure that.
I guess my overall point is this: Let's just concentrate on the facts, some are uglier than others (largest oil spill, most amount of dispersants ever used, etc. etc. etc.), however, some of the facts are encouraging (at this point, minimal negative shoreline impact, minimal wildlife impact, minimal impact to our fishing areas at this point, lots of folks working hard to reduce the impact to the environment and the economy).
Stopping the oil from flowing is a daunting task that no one has a sure solution for. Protecting our environment and making sure the responsible party does everything they need to do to make sure the environment is protected to the extent possible is something that can and is currently being done.
I thought I would jump on the forum during a quick lunch break and look at some fishing reports (sure as heck beats watching the news). After seeing this thread, I felt compelled to give another view that hopefully will bring some sense of scope to the spill response from a first person account.
Ya’ll get back to fishing and posting reports….with pictures. Take Care.

Governor Charlie Crist to United States Department of Commerce Secretary Gary Locke requesting a determination of a commercial fishery failure under provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

http://www.flgov.com/release/11645

CrispyFishin wrote:So the governor is saying that oil will reach Florida within 48 hours:

http://www.tallahassee.com/article/2010 ... n-48-hours

There are still a handful of folks around here that are still buying BP gas out of convenience, or possibly because of ignorance, or maybe they have a BP line of credit.

However, for those of you interested in sending them a message that only the consumer can send, BP also makes Castrol Motor Oil.. don't buy it!

I would not go calling folks ignorant until we see who the ignorant really are...

In my opinion, you can say that only if you are riding a donkey to work and walk to go fishing.

Just my 2 cents worth...

Dubble

Thank you SO much for the report Scoop Sea. To have access to information from someone at your level is priceless. We are all very thankful to have you there and relaying back the real information.

Keep up the good work and hope you finish sooner than later.

Just to be devil's advocate, lets say BP's bad publicity causes them to just go bankrupt and just quit today! Who are you gonna get to try to fix the leak. Obama and company? LOL, can you imagine what a mess we would have then? Sometimes, it is best to have the lesser of 2 evils....

You can bet nobody wants this leak stopped worse than BP. Yes, their CEO is not a great PR guy, but there are LOTS of people in this country that depend on them for jobs.

Dubble