Drift wood not lookig good.

[dusty]

I lived in Biloxi, Ocean Springs, and D'Iberville, MS for a total of five years or so and during that time knew several families who survived on the daily catch. When they could not fish they did not eat. Hurricane Camille, in 1969, brought on some tough times for those folks. This oil spill is going to be just as bad. Even if the spill never comes ashore, the fishing areas will be seriously impacted and some families will not eat.

[cv3]

We are scheduled to get oil into the Mississippi and Alabama coast by the weekend. They are putting booms along the beaches and estuary as fast as they can. No one really knows what will happen. But it will not be good. Hurricane season is coming in a few weeks and we have had tem in early June and July. If that happens the storm surge would put those booms a long way inland. People I know that work off shore say they will be lucky to stop the flow in the next 3 months. Sea food industry down here is all but shut down now.

[swampgator]

Having lived here most of my life (since 1971) it is very true that many poor folks eat from the local waters. The oil will kill and make that food unfit for human consumption. Besides, with all the Navy ships going into and out of Pensacola port and the Naval Station, we never had this kind of problem. This incident will kill wildlife for many years. The fish will become contaminated killing the turtles that live in the marsh land where the shrimp, oysters, crabs, muscles and mudbugs live. This will effect all the varieties of birds that come here, also effecting the alligators and other wildlife. I will probably be buried at the National Cemetery before this all gets restored. The beaches will not be white again in my lifetime. That will effect the business of tourism that has been the dominant business here for 100 years or more. But, having seen miniscule situations in the Navy in the Gulf of Tonkin, this stuff will also have negative effects on those who enter the water whether native or visitor. What we dont' know, how long and how serious will this effect life for all of us here.

[Ed in Tampa]

Tampa is on the west coast or Gulf coast of Florida and they tell us that there will be no slick. What we will see is tar balls or tar paddies.

I have found many such tar balls in the past, they were once blamed on ships dumping bilge but now they say it is oil that naturally leaks into the water from various spots.

I'm left with the impression that to have an oil slick reach shore the oil can't travel too far. If it travels any distance it is broken up or formed into tar balls.

I guess we will have to wait and see. But after living in Florida for over 30 years and going through many hurricanes I know the News loves to cry wolf. I hope the damage is minimal

[heathicus]

Interesting interactive map of the oil spill. Shows a timeline of the oil spread in the Gulf.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/files/spec ... MULTIMEDIA

[cv3]

So far the winds have been favorable for us. They are doing all they can to prepare the best they for what ever comes our way. But know one knows what that is really going to end up being. One of the people with the Dolphin Island Sea Labs tells us things are better in the area than they thought they would be at this time.

[swampgator]

Ed, I agree with you, we hope that none of Florida will be effected by this oil slick. Some will go to the bottom, some is being broken up by dispersments, some is being burned on top of the water, but Louisana outer shores are already being contaminated by this slick. Last Thursday before the rain came, the winds from the south brought the smell of the raw oil into Pensacola. While I was in my yard, I could smell whiffs at times that oil as it was closer then than it is now. It has backed out into the Gulf. There is some potential that it can be caught in the current toward Tampa, go around the Keys and out into the Atlantic. While the news may be making a big deal, we have many folks working overtime here to observe, prepare for arresting it and preventing as much damage as possible. Right now, many or our restaurants are about to stop serving local fish. And, way too many fishermen are not fishing. One fifth of the nation's seafood come from this area including along the Florida coast where you live. While there is more news to report, we are bombarded with local news about this situation. I know if they don't get it cleaned up soon, it will be many years before it will return to what it has been in my lifetime. Mississippi should get a leading edge of the slick this weekend alway up to Bayou Labatre in Alabama. Hoping we have a larger window of time. Please keep this situation in your prayers. Thanks.

[swampgator]

Just wanted to post the last info posted by NOAA and our local news: oil paddies and tar balls have washed up on Alabama shores today. It is being sent to a lab to see if it is from this oil well that is leaking hundreds of gallons of oil daily into the Gulf. Fishermen from LA, MS and AL are out of ther normal work. Some fishermen are trying to skim the oil off the water.

Another issue that has surfaced in the last couple of days is that much of the oil will stay near the bottom of the Gulf and we don't have any solid ideas which direction it is headed. Right now, the oil on the surface seems to be headed toward LA. Not good for all the sea harvesting in the area. So, CV3, you may not be able to get any good driftwood in your area.

Let's pray that BP and the Coast Guard can get a hold of this goo before it gets out of hand.

[jdramsey]

My oldest son works for a group that the oil companies contract with for services on oil rigs. He was on a rig that was about 30 miles from the Deepwater Horizon when it blew up. I exchange emails with him a couple of times a week and have had several telephone conversations with him during this time. He has an interesting point of view, based on his limited knowledge of the oil industry and conversations with people who currently work in the oil industry.

The spill is bad, but not as bad as the media is making it out to be. The accident that caused the spill was just that, an accident. BP did nothing wrong and was following procedure. There might be an issue with the type of mud (lubricant) used on the drill bit but that is a minor issue. Most of the people being interviewed by the news media as being "experts" in the oil industry are not experts and are getting it wrong. They are the type of people "who have just enough knowledge to be dangerous". Congress and the president are over reacting. The fishing industry is going to take a hit for a while but it will recover. Most of the commercial fishermen down there are viewed as crooked and are overstating their losses and damages in hopes of scoring a big out-of-court settlement from the oil companies.

Just one man's point of view.

[heathicus]

Just one man's point of view.

And I have no doubt that it is pretty darn close to the truth too.