Scoop Sea's Oil Spill Thread

[Scoop Sea]

It appears that the threat of oil hitting the Ms and Al coastline has authorities looking at near-shore dispersent use. Let's hope it doesn't really come to this and I really hope that Florida is spared the same thing. Dispersents have their place and are an effective tool, but I hope we don't have to go that route here in Florida. North winds and effective response efforts (along with God's grace) are our best tools right now..

[Scoop Sea]

Unfortunately (or fortunately), I have been out of touch pertaining to the oil spill over the last couple of days, due to me concentrating on spending time with the family instead of work. I was fortunate enough to spend two days on the water with my family and we had a great time. We caught some mackerel, grunts, rock bass, etc., as well as spent some time lounging around over on Dog Island. Needless to say we had a great time. I am looking forward to one more week away from the oil spill and spending part of that time fishing the BBSC with my daughters. Let's hope we have the same great weather we enjoyed this past weekend.

Since I have been away the last few days and have not been keeping up constant contact with the folks over at the spill, I have been getting my information from the news. I must say, if you rely strictly on the news, the oil spill it's a down right scary event, with no rays of hope in sight. It's nice to see some of the folks on this forum researching articles, etc. that show that we will recover from this spill, like we have in previous spills. Thanks for offering up those threads.

I suspect that this will be an interesting week with the President making another visit to the Gulf (hitting MS, Al, and Fl this go around). Couple that with his speech scheduled for Tuesday evening and his meeting with BP on Wednesday and I imagine there will be a lot of harsh rhetoric coming forward (of course, Salazar saying they were going to put a boot on BP’s neck and the President’s comment about kicking arse last week seemed pretty harsh already). The media outlets are indicating that the parties involved with the response are starting to “stand apart” a little more. I feel confident that the troops in the field are still working shoulder to shoulder trying to resolve this matter even if the folks above them are posturing.

For those folks betting on BP going bankrupt I would have to say that this is probably a losing bet. If I am not mistaken, they pay out around 16 Billion or so a year in dividends. That’s a lot of money that they could hold back and use towards cleanup actions and future claims. When you factor in what their profits are as well, I just don’t see them going under. I myself am barred from buying BP stock, however, seeing how it is down roughly 50% from its year high, if not barred, I would be looking at jumping in. Before anyone jumps on me about this being a fishing site and this being a thread dedicated to the oil spill instead of a stock market thread, I am just trying to make a point. There has been a lot of media coverage about how BP may go belly up and the feds will have to foot the bill for the cleanup, etc. I myself do not think this will be the case. I am not basing this on any “insider” information, etc. I am basing this on a quick look at their financials, etc. The take away point is this: fear drives media coverage a lot of times and this appears to be another area in which the media is pumping total fear into Americans concerning this spill, i.e. British Petroleum is taking our natural resources, has caused a major spill, and will end up going bankrupt leaving Americans to pay for their mess. Up to this point, BP has been footing the bill for this response, excluding what the Government entities have been paying to respond to this event. The Government entities are being funded from the National Pollution Fund Center which is administered by the USCG. The NPFC turns right around and bills BP for these response costs. There has been no indication that BP will not be able to pay these costs back (I believe the total amount of money BP has given the States is more than the total costs of the Feds’ response thus far), in turn, the threat of BP not being able to pay for this cleanup seems very minimal, regardless of what the media wants people to believe.

This should be an interesting week ahead for the response with the political pressure. Hopefully the choke line and kill line will be able to be utilized this week to allow more oil to be recovered and the recovery rate can climb up to a high percentage.

As I posted before, ya’ll get out there and sign up for the Big Bend Saltwater Classic and let the Country see that we are moving forward with our lives down here in our neck of the woods.

Remember, the oil will continue to flow for at least a couple more months and more importantly, all you have to do is get to Heaven………

Take Care.

[Barhopr]

Which Agency do you work for Scoop?

[MudDucker]

He works for MIB!

[wevans]

Which Agency do you work for Scoop?

EPA

[Scoop Sea]

Dang Barhopr, with that right hook you threw my way last week , I figured you already knew. MudDucker or Weavans was spot on. For the sake of not divulging the Agency myself, since that is probably against some rule, law, regulation, opinion, belief, statement, thought, etc. etc. etc. I'll let you guys figure it out. With a 50-50 chance, I'm sure even our friends from Gainesville can figure it out......

[Coastal Angler Mag]

Hi Scoop my email and phone have been blowing up over this and I was sent this link last night form a person in Texas about a company that produces microbs to eat oil, they have been used in open water and in-shore, I guess my question is has this been brought up to fight the spread into our waters. here is the link http://www.obio.com/ they were used in Texas with good results.

[Scoop Sea]

Hey CAG, first of all, sorry I didn't get back to you over the PM you sent, I was trying to get an "opinion" on that issue before I PM'd back. Still no word.

As for the microbes, etc. I do not know that the specific product you have linked in this thread has been used or not. I do know that there is an Alternative Technology Workgroup that is looking at various options, including the use of microbes. Please do not hesitate to shoot a copy of the links I provided earlier in this thread to folks who have suggestions, ideas, etc. Also, here is a number folks can use: TECH/SUGGESTIONS (281) 366-5511.
I hope this helps.

[Barhopr]

Well Scoop, since you have been out of the loop for a few days I thought I would be the first to break the news that "The Oil has been stopped". It seems that they put a wedding ring around the pipe and it almost imediately quit putting out. !!!!!

[Reel Cowboy]

Well Scoop, since you have been out of the loop for a few days I thought I would be the first to break the news that "The Oil has been stopped". It seems that they put a wedding ring around the pipe and it almost imediately quit putting out. !!!!!

BWAAAAAA
Mills made a funny.

[Scoop Sea]

Dang Barhopr, that was funny ...........

I caught a good video on msnbc.com today concerning the Mayor of Gulfport, Ms. (it's titled Gulfport, Ms. Mayor Defends BP)and how he has felt BP has treated them. Basically the Mayor says that they have been lucky to have had no impact yet and that they have been pleased with the response BP has been providing them. He goes on to say that BP is hiring the local fishermen, etc. to conduct surveillance, etc. at rates far above what the fishermen usually make. Overall, I thought the Mayor gave a good "first person" view of his dealings with BP. It's worth checking out if you can.

I met with the a member of the Harrison County Board of Supervisors (Gulfport is located in Harrison County) the week before last and she echoed the same sentiment towards the whole response. Having been stationed in Gulfport during the Hurricane Katrina response, I can attest that those folks hold the responders accountable and are not afraid to call them out if they have a problem with them. It's good to see that even though they are still concerned about the impact, etc., they are pleased with the response progress thus far.

I was questioned today on what I thought about the President asking BP to put up an escrow account, specifically, if he asks for too much money in the account, will it make BP go belly up? Well, first of all, I think having an escrow account set up and managed by a third party is a great idea for current and future claims. It allows that issue to be put to bed for the most part (you’ve got to remember the lawyers will try and make other cases outside of routine claims).BP has said that they aren't good at processing claims and have asked for assistance on this matter, in turn, by bringing in third party individuals they will get the assistance they need and hopefully the public will get their claims processed in a timelier manner. On the issue of will this make BP go belly up, I would have to defer back to my post last night. I think that BP is well positioned to set up this escrow account and handle these future claims. It's my personal feeling the President’s staff and BP have already worked on some agreed upon figures and this will be something that BP can readily absorb. If this deal wasn’t worked out (or at least heavily worked on) before the announcement was made, then somebody failed Political Science 101. Once again, that’s just my opinion.

Hitting the BP financial topic once again, I think that the only things that jeopardize BP financially in the future are the hits it may take related to the DWH explosion and what caused it. If they did cut corners on safety, they should start stretching now, because they are gonna have to bend over far to kiss their butts good-bye. Will it sink them, I really doubt it. Will it weaken them for the near-term future, yep. This is another good reason to go ahead and get the escrow in place now, before any financial upsets may take place. On a side note, their stock slid almost another 10% today due to concerns over them not paying a dividend. Like I said last night, I would be looking for a point to jump in if I could. Oh by the way, I’m not a stock-broker and I got killed in the tech bubble…. As a matter of fact, since I would be looking at buying BP, ya’ll should probably be looking to short BP, as that’s usually what happens, something I buy goes south soon afterwards.

Take Care,

[MudDucker]

And the government is better at handling claims???? How many criminal charges have they brought as a result of paying out to fraudulent claims?

The third party administrator does not need to be one of Obama's Chicago boys or the union pensions will be fat again and the gulf folks still starving!

[Scoop Sea]

Hey MudDucker, Heck no the government nor BP appear to be good at handling claims. I think if you will re-read my post last night, you will see I am not saying that BP was asking the Govt to handle the claims, they were looking for another avenue besides themselves because they realized that they weren't doing a good job of handling claims. I agree, the third party doesn't need to have any ties to either entity. If they are tied to the government, then it will give the appearance of "one of the cronies getting the work, skimming off the top, etc.". While if they are tied to BP, it will give the appearance that "any claim not paid is because they are tied to BP". I hope they do it right and get a reputable company that handles this matter fairly and properly.

[red_yakker]

Hey Scoop, I'm sure you know more than anyone else I know about the fish kills in Taylor County and in Panacea, and I was hoping you might share a little info. I read the article about the one in Taylor County (where I live), it calls it an isolated incident and makes it sound as though it were a natural occurence due to high water temperatures and lack of O2 in the water (which sounds reasonable considering the unusually hot weather this weekend). The article concerning Panacea makes it sound as though the chemical dispersants are to blame. Both articles were from WCTV.com.

A friend of a friend said that he saw millions and millions of pounds of dead mullet, trout, redfish, catfish, flounder and pinfish washed up in the grass, and that there was an "oily sheen" on the water yesterday (he's known for exagerating). Another buddy said all he saw were a couple hundred pinfish floating in the canal, and that the water looked normal to him.

I know that neither word of mouth nor the news are really good places to get factual information. I was hoping you might shed some light. Thanks.

[wevans]

You have to remember WHO WCTV was getting their opinion from!! Jack RutRoe is an alarmist and an opertunist who will blame everything on man and then introduce a way that one of his companies can fix things I would take the word of the town drunk before believing anything Jack says