As oil spill cleanup shifts gears, gulf residents fear they’ll be forgotten, © The Washington Post, August 9, 2010, by Krissah Thompson and David A. Fahrenthold, excerpt quoted verbatim:

BURAS, LA. — Obama administration officials promised Sunday to remain focused on the Gulf Coast — punishing BP for the worst oil spill in U.S. history, and cleaning up what remains of the mess.

But along that coast, such pledges have not stopped the rumors and suspicions that have multiplied as the oil’s sheen has faded.

Work was drying up, people heard. Claims seemed harder to win. The massive cleanup effort, which helped replace lost livings with BP paychecks, seemed certain to be dismantled soon.

People here also fretted about losing the country’s attention, long before anybody makes good on President Obama‘s promise “to restore the unique beauty and bounty” of the long-troubled gulf.

The new fear for many people here is that the only thing worse than the oil spill will be the end of it.

So when they encountered a federal official, their message was simple: Don’t go.

“We have the suspicion that BP may want to get out of this restoration,” Robert Phuong Nguyen, a fisherman and father of six, said in a community meeting held by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus in Buras. Obama has put Mabus in charge of the gulf’s long-term restoration.

Through a translator, Nguyen listed a stream of worries: “The cleanup hasn’t been done completely. Who will assure us that the seafood will be safe? If you really care about us, please pay attention. Because after this disaster, there will be a lot of marriage separation and suicide. If the government really cares, please look over our situation.”

On NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, White House climate and energy czar Carol M. Browner defended the administration’s finding that three-quarters of the 4.9 million barrels (205.8 million gallons) of oil has either disappeared or is in the process of disappearing.

Asked if BP had concurred with that calculation of the total oil that escaped — a key number, since the oil company’s punishment might depend on the size of the spill — Browner said: “I think BP has been silent. But that doesn’t matter. We will hold them accountable.”

Browner said she wouldn’t speculate about whether the six-month moratorium on deep-water drilling might be lifted early. She also said Obama would be serving gulf seafood to guests attending his birthday party Sunday at the White House.

But a harder question is: What’s next? The problem of how to wind down the massive cleanup effort — now as much an economic lifeline as an attack on the oil — is so sensitive that last week neither BP nor the federal government gave specifics about it.

Federal officials released a statement from Coast Guard Rear Adm. Paul Zukunft, the on-scene coordinator.

“Our efforts to fight the BP oil spill have not wavered,” it said in part. “We will continue our strong presence across the region long after BP’s damaged well is finally killed to make sure that all the oil is cleaned up and our communities are made whole.”

Read the rest of this article here

Crabs provide evidence oil tainting Gulf food web

Crabs provide evidence oil tainting Gulf food web, AP hosted on The Raw Story, August 9, 2010, by Associated Press, excerpt quoted verbtim:

Scientists (are) watching Gulf of Mexico’s blue crabs for evidence that oil is entering food chain.

To assess how heavy a blow the BP oil spill has dealt the Gulf of Mexico, researchers are closely watching a staple of the seafood industry and primary indicator of the ecosystem’s health: the blue crab.

Weeks ago, before engineers pumped in mud and cement to plug the gusher, scientists began finding specks of oil in crab larvae plucked from waters across the Gulf coast.

The government said last week that three-quarters of the spilled oil has been removed or naturally dissipated from the water. But the crab larvae discovery was an ominous sign that crude had already infiltrated the Gulf’s vast food web — and could affect it for years to come.

“It would suggest the oil has reached a position where it can start moving up the food chain instead of just hanging in the water,” said Bob Thomas, a biologist at Loyola University in New Orleans. “Something likely will eat those oiled larvae … and then that animal will be eaten by something bigger and so on.”

UPDATE: Watch BP Removing Oil-blocking Booms From Coast, APvideo, August 9, 2010 — 1:33.

Watch Oil Spill Clouds “Blessing of the Fleet”. The Fall shrimping season begins August 16th. AP video on YouTube. – August 8, 2010 — 1:31.

Watch Face the Nation: Admiral Thad Allen is interviews – “is the Gulf oil spill crisis finally over? CBS News video on YouTube – August 8, 2010 — 24:00.

See Gulf Oil Spill update: BP plans to continue relief well work this week, AP on The Washington Post, August 9, 2010, by Jeffrey Collins, excerpt quoted verbatim:

NEW ORLEANS — BP crews were drilling cautiously Monday to finish a relief well designed to shoot a permanent plug into the oil gusher that polluted the Gulf of Mexico for more than 12 weeks.

Engineers were drilling the final 100 feet of the well in 20- to 30-foot increments before stopping to check it is still on track stopping to check it is still on track to hit the busted well, said retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the government’s point man overseeing the cleanup operation. They hope the two well bores will intersect by the end of the week.

The oil is already being kept in its underground reservoir by thousands of gallons of mud and cement that were poured last week through a cap that had been keeping the crude out of the water since July 15. The cement cap poured on top of the oil hardened enough over the weekend to create a solid seal, BP said.

See BP and U.S. Agree on Oil Spill Compensation Fund, Bloomberg on Business Week, August 9, 2010, by Justin Bloom.

See today’s article Bob Swern on Economic Incompetence as a separate page. An expose on business and economic incompetence featuring Robert Reich, Paul Krugman, Chris Whalen and Yves Smith. Daily Kos and Evans Liberal Politics, August 9, 2010, by Bob Swern.

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