Rumor Flash!
As opposed to News Flash!
And yet to be verified . . . .
I received a call last night from a friend and business associate who has been working with the oil cleanup process. However, there hasn’t been any oil to clean up right off the coast of the tip of our parish (Terrebonne- meaning good earth). I regret to inform you that he called last night, very cloak-and-dagger-like, to say he had received a call to report extra early today to run the oil skimmers. Why?
Because someone had spotted a river of oil, 4-6 inches thick, pouring through Cat Island Pass and expected to reach the mouth of the Houma Navigation by this morning.
I gasped at the news. How could this be? His opinion was that the prevailing tides shifted to a more easterly/westerly direction, changing the flow of the oil. Even though it’s in the southern Gulf, I suspect that Tropical Storm Alex is responsible for higher-than-normal tides and the shifting of winds and currents.
Regardless of what TS Alex is or is not doing, our little edge of the coast of Louisiana has remained the pristine go-to spot for displaced shrimpers, crabbers, and sport fishermen throughout most of this disaster. As a result, Camp Dularge has been picking up business from people who typically fish areas like Venice and Grand Isle, where waters have been closed for 70 days, now. And I do not gloat when I say their loss is my gain. However, it has been good to put other folks in rooms that were canceled due to our local fishing rodeos having been canceled as a premature knee-jerk reaction to the spill.
He said this river of oil information had not yet been made official or released. So, I checked media and wildlife and fisheries sites to see if there was a peep about this oil–none. I guess we sit and we wait to see what is happening.
Meanwhile, he ratted out the cleanup program to me, calling it a “dog and pony show”, reporting that the only boom he put out weeks ago was around tiny spits of sand where birds were nesting or resting. No boom was put along our grassy shorelines to protect them. Say what?
Are you as incensed about this as I am right now? He also said the parish president lied through his teeth last week in a public comment that our parish had deployed 180,000 feet of hard boom and 80,000 of absorbent boom to protect our marshes. My friend claims it’s just not true. I have not yet verified whether or not that public comment was made.
He did not ask me to keep this information to myself, although he was speaking in hushed tones. I guess I was supposed to assume the information was confidential.
But this is the Bayou Woman, and this is America, and I’m exercising my right to free press and the tendency to spread rumors, which might not be true at all.
And this is one time I hope this is just bad information and that I’ve spilled the fake beans and gotten everyone riled up over nothing.
Nothing at all.
Hopefully.
So, stay tuned.
PS This just in Tuesday afternoon:
The Unified Area Command set up a series of open house events for citizens to learn more about the response to the Gulf oil spill. Booths will be arranged in each venue so that people can walk around and ask questions of each government/agency representative. Please see below for a full list of events happening this week.
July 1 (Thursday)
Houma Civic Center, 6:00-8:00 pm
Houma Terrebonne Civic Center
346 Civic Center Boulevard
Houma, Louisiana 70360
This news hit my stomach Wendy. I know it’s not news you want to hear. I’m surprised that local politicians are lying when they should be speaking the truth. More prayers being said………..
It is a “dog n pony” show Wendy,I found out over the weekend they were deploying boom here in Wakulla Co so I hit the web sites and found a boom placement plan that was going to shut me down and all access with 900 crab traps out but I talked to the emergancy management director this morning and found out they were forced to do this by the state DEP and all they are doing is “wet staging” the boom,not placment so I am good to go but what a waste of money and resorces as we are still close to 200 miles by water to the oil and it could be Nov or later before we see it.
I hope the rumour is false for y’all sake and there is no river of oil coming.
When I saw the forecast for Alex, my first thought was “It’s gonna send more oil to the west”. I hope this is not the case.
I am happy to hear Camp Dularge is being booked though. BTW, I certainly didn’t take your comments as gloating. Now if you had said…”I’m renting to some B.P. guys and charging them a $25 a night “special event” fee (like they do for Nascar races, Shuttle lift offs etc.) No, I don’t even think that would qualify. It still wouldn’t be gloating unless you tacked on a $75 daily fee with a guaranty of occupancy till ALL the oil is cleaned up. You could retire very comfortably (AND buy that big Kenner w/ the 4 stroke). H#%%, as long as that will take…your children will inherit and be able to retire in comfort.
I cannot understand why BP does not have boats up and down the entire stretch of Louisiana, siphoning oil out of the water as it shows up. We have that technology, it’s late enough in the game that they could have a friggin fleet out there. Cannot understand it at all.
I’m so so so so sorry it’s now in your backyard. If not now, then eventually. Why not put everything out there waiting?
I’m sad for you as it looks like from all the forcast models I have looked at they are calling for heavy concentrations of oil to hit there and west of you for the next few days.
Chilled out on back drugs today but ran across this.
http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/posted/2931/MEDIA.582663.PDF
A long time ago, the media was the message or maybe I misquoted that.
Thank you blufloyd for the link to the Memo from Admiral Allen. I found it interesting that it was dated May 31 (5 weeks after the blowout) and that it was reminding all levels of management that the guiding concept of “Maximum disclosure with minimum delay” is necessary for maintaining public trust.
I was not under the impression that BP Information personnel were spearheading that effort. I’m going to nose around on that site some more; many thanks again.
P.S. Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase ‘the medium is the message’ in 1964. Here’s more info:
http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/mcluhan.html
I wrote a long free verse poem on McLuhan in college.
He should have been the leader we needed in the 60’s.
A wise man told me to worry about what is close and at the moment.
My public trust these days doesn’t get much further than my guns.
Hi, BW,
Just found this update on the Terrebonne Parish site. It sounds sort of bad news/good news-ish. Yes, some oil, but maybe not as heavy as your friend was indicating.
http://www.tpcg.org/view.php?f=main&p=news&i=221
The wind is really down here – with luck those seas will start to settle soon.
My friend in Houma just sent me to this page – this list of sightings is for today, July 1, so it’s as current as it gets. You probably have these links, but they’re good for other folks, too.
http://emergency.louisiana.gov/Releases/07012010-sightings.html