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Mississippi delta threatened by oil slick

02 May 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The psalmist praises the "glorious splendor" of God's kingdom this Sunday, but the beauty and splendor of the fragile wildlife eco-system off the coast of four U.S. Gulf Coast states is threatened by an approaching oil slick. The U.S. Coast Guard Wednesday started a "controlled burn" to battle the giant oil slick from last week's deadly offshore drilling rig explosion, but strong, gusty winds and thunderstorms moving into the Gulf of Mexico Thursday could push the large seaward oil spill ever closer to the coast. At midday Wednesday the edge of the spill was only 23 miles off the coast of Louisiana, close to a delicate system of coastal estuaries and swamps teeming with birds and other wildlife. The leaking well, 5,000 feet under the ocean surface off Louisiana's coast, has created a growing oil sheen and an emulsified crude slick that has a circumference about the size of Jamaica--and growing, the Coast Guard said. London based British Petroleum, the oil company that contracted with Transocean to use the rig, has been unable to shut down the gushing crude. "We will not stop until we have exhausted every single option," company executive Doug Suttles said, adding that the company was spending $6 million a day in the effort. The drilling rig caught fire April 20, leaving 11 workers missing and presumed dead. The fire raged until the rig sank last Thursday, severely bending the pipe that connected it with equipment on the seafloor. Crude began to gush from the end of the pipe as well as from a hole in it. Thousands of feet of boom were being readied at staging areas in Venice, Louisiana, Biloxi, Mississippi, and Pensacola, Florida to keep the oil slick from reaching coastal areas. But the precautions did little to assure biologists on the coast, who warned that the oil will affect everything from oyster beds and fisheries to endangered wildlife. Source: Articles by Chris Baltimore for Reuters, Ben Casselman, Angel Gonzalez, and Guy Chazan for the Wall Street Journal, and Rick Jervis for USA TODAY

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Gulf coast on slippery slope toward ecological disaster

09 May 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

With their livelihoods and natural surroundings in serious jeopardy because of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, many coastal residents are praying with the psalmist this Sunday that "God have pity on us and bless us." The U.S. Coast Guard said Monday it may take at least three months to stop the flow of oil, but there was hope containment domes might trap some of it. On Wednesday British Petroleum (BP) managed to cap one of three leaks at the deepwater oil well, but the work was not expected to reduce the overall flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. BP officials have said that fewer leaks will make it easier to drop a containment box on the breach. The well has been spewing at least 210,000 gallons per day since an April 20 explosion at a rig 50 miles off Louisiana. Oil leaking from the well in the Gulf of Mexico could surge to 60,000 barrels a day if plans to cap it with a containment dome fail, said Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.) after a meeting with industry executives. John Curry, a BP spokesman, said he didn't have any worst-case-scenario data and could not comment. BP expects to have the dome in place on the seafloor and trapping oil within five days, Doug Suttles, chief operating officer of exploration and production for the London-based company, said at a press conference. The 125-ton, 40-foot-tall steel box is designed to capture 85 percent of the oil. Source: Articles by Jim Polson, Lisa Lerer, and Mark Chediak for Bloomberg, Pascal Fletcher and Anna Driver for Reuters, and the Associated Press

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BP pressured to shore up efforts

20 Jun 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The first reading this Sunday tells of great mourning in Jerusalem. As Gulf Coast residents mourn a way of life and a livelihood slipping away on the oil slick, state and federal officials increased the pressure on BP to do more to stop the gushing oil, clean up the spill, and speed reimbursements to those affected. During a White House meeting with President Barack Obama, BP agreed to set aside $20 billion to pay the victims of the massive oil spill. The independent fund will be directed by lawyer Kenneth Feinberg, who oversaw payments to families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. After the four-hour White House meeting, the British company's chairman apologized to Americans for the worst spill in U.S. history. BP is suspending its dividends to shareholders for the rest of the year to help pay for the costs, said chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg. After visiting the Gulf region for the fourth time since the spill, the president addressed the nation Tuesday evening from the Oval Office. He urged Americans to rally behind legislation that would begin changing the way the country consumes and generates energy, saying the expanding oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is "the most painful and powerful reminder yet that the time to embrace a clean energy future is now." The president also promised a long-term plan to make sure that the Gulf states suffering from the oil spill are made whole again. He appointed Ray Mabus, the secretary of the Navy and former governor of Mississippi, to develop a Gulf Coast restoration plan in cooperation with states, local communities, tribes, fishermen, conservationists, and Gulf residents. The government on Tuesday also released a new, much higher estimate of the amount of oil still flowing from the well. The new estimate said that as many as 60,000 barrels of crude could now be spewing into the Gulf each day, a sharp increase over the estimate last week of 25,000 to 30,000 barrels a day. Nearly six in 10 Americans want BP to pick up the tab for all losses in the spill, even if it means putting the company out of business, a Gallup-USA Today poll found. In addition, 71 percent of Americans think Obama has been too soft in his dealings with the oil company. Source: Articles by Helene Cooper and Jackie Calmes for the New York Times, Amy Schatz and Guy Chazan for the Wall Street Journal, Suzanne Goldenberg for Guardian.co.uk, Ben Feller for Associated Press, and Scott Wilson and Anne E. Kornblut for the Washington Post

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BP’s Hayward finally gets his "life back"

01 Aug 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

This Sunday’s “vanity of vanities” lament from the Book of Ecclesiastes asks, “What profit comes to man from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which he has labored under the sun?” BP CEO Tony Hayward expressed a similar lament when his company announced that he would be replaced by American Robert Dudley on October 1. Responding to the announcement, Hayward said that had been "demonized and vilified" as the "public face" of the massive Gulf oil spill: "Sometimes you step off the pavement and get hit by a bus." BP reported a record quarterly loss as it set aside $32.2 billion to cover costs of the devastating Gulf of Mexico oil spill. And BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg told investors: "BP will change as a result of this accident. . . . We are taking a hard look at ourselves, what we do, and how we do it. What we learn will have implications for our ways of working, our strategy, and our governance." Dudley, currently BP’s managing director, told reporters Tuesday that he recognizes the complexity of what BP has to do to restore its financial strength and its reputation. The oil spill, he said, has been a "wake-up call not only for BP, but the oil and gas industry overall, and we will be looking deeply at our review of operational safety and what we have learned from this spill." Hayward made some huge PR gaffes with insensitive comments in the aftermath of the disaster that has leaked more than five million barrels of oil into the Gulf and tarred beaches from Texas to Florida. The first sign of trouble was his early suggestion that the environmental impact was likely to be "very, very modest." A later comment that he would like his life back, and his decision to go yacht-racing while the oil was still gushing, were even worse. In London Tuesday, Greenpeace protestors closed more than 50 service stations in a protest timed to coincide with the company's earnings update. The environmental action group is calling on Dudley to focus the company on greener and renewable sources of energy. Source: Articles by Sarah Arnott for Independent.co.uk, Jane Wardell for the Associated Press, and Tom Bergin and Kristin Hays for Reuters.

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One year on Gulf’s recovery from oil spill remains murky

24 Apr 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

We have died with Christ and our life is hidden with Christ, says the optional reading for the Mass of Easter Day from the Letter to the Colossians. As the nation marks the one-year anniversary of the onset of the deadly Gulf oil spill that killed 11 oil rig workers, many wonder whether marine life really is recovering or whether the toxic effects of the spill lie hidden on the sea floor. At least on the surface. the region seems to be bouncing back. Beaches, restaurants, and hotels are filling up again. Fisheries are still operating, although demand has dropped. Some say the Gulf waters have proven more resilient than imagined and have absorbed the oil spill in a healthy way. Not all, however, are convinced. At a candle-lit ceremony in New Orleans' Jackson Square shortly after sunrise, environmentalists and religious leaders joined to remember the perished rig workers and call on the nation to take the steps to prevent another environmental catastrophe. "Our souls are slumbering in moral indifference," said Rabbi Edward Cohn of Temple Sinai in New Orleans. "People quite rightly are asking: How and when, and by whose insistence and stubborn support, will the public's mind be refocused upon what happened in the Gulf?" Scientists agree that a lot of the oil has evaporated, been skimmed, or eaten by microbes. Still, some oil sank and it is smothering coral beds and continues to take a toll on wildlife. The long-term effects of powerful chemical dispersants used after the spill also remain unknown. Many thousands of people who saw their livelihoods plummet during the four months it took to cap the gusher still await compensation from the $20 billion fund established by BP, which so far has paid out only one quarter of that. The numerous court cases stemming from the spill will take years to settle. Ironically, Congress has passed no major bills on oil and gas drilling since the spill. More than 100 different measures have been introduced and dozens of hearings have been held, but nothing has been done to make offshore drilling any safer, hold BP accountable, or prevent another disaster in the future, congressional lawmakers admit. Parents, siblings, and spouses of the lost oil workers, whose bodies were never recovered, were invited to board a helicopter Wednesday to fly over the waters where their loved ones perished. The helicopter took those who chose to participate from New Orleans out to the well site, circled around it, and then returned to shore, said Arleen Weise, whose son, Adam, was killed on the rig. On Good Friday we remember Christ’s crucifixion as we await with hope the joyful Easter proclamation that he has risen. Asked what went through her mind when she saw where the rig went down, Weise said, "Just rise up. I wanted them to come up, but it didn't happen." Sources: An editorial by the Miami Herald and articles by Matthew Jaffee and John R. Parkinsonfor ABC News and Cain Burdeau and Harry R. Weber for the Associated Press

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