Oil Spill Quotes

“We’re dealing with a massive and potentially unprecedented environmental disaster.
-President Obama (USA)-

“We are facing an evolving situation, the possibility remains that the BP oil spill could turn into an unprecedented environmental disaster.”
-Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano (USA)-

“It potentially is catastrophic,” Salazar said. “I think we have to prepare for the worst.”
-Interior Secretary Ken Salazar (USA)-

“I wish I could be more optimistic but I just don’t see how it’s going to be anything short of a catasrophe.”
-Local Fisherman-

“It increasingly looks like the dispersants that BP has been pouring into the Gulf of Mexico has formed a toxic mixture of oil, chemicals and water that could be in the hundreds of millions of gallons.”
-President of the National Wildlife Federation Larry Schweiger-

“Dispersants hide the worst potential visual impacts (such as oil-coated birds and beaches) and sweep the damage under the carpet by hiding it underwater where people are less likely to see it.”
-President of the National Wildlife Federation Larry Schweiger-

“We lost a total well head: it could be 100,000 barrels or more a day.”
-Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen (USA)-

“This spill, at this point in my view, is indeterminate, that makes it asymmetrical, anomalous and one of the most complex things we’ve ever dealt with.”
-Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen (USA)-

“BP says it’ll pay for this mess. Baloney,” said Nelson, referring to the oil giant that owns the well at the heart of the problem. “They’re not going to want to pay any more than what the law says they have to, which is why we can’t let them off the hook.”
-Senator Bill Nelson (USA)-

“BP failed to prevent the worst ecological disaster since the Exxon Valdez, and now they want to have their way with our Arctic?”
-Jack Layton (NDP)-

“There’s enough oil out there to impact the shoreline. The real question is when and where.”
-Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen (USA)-

Oil is damaging for birds because it coats their feathers, destroying the natural chemistry that keeps them buoyant, warm and able to fly. When birds “preen” and try to remove the oil, they can swallow it and be poisoned.
-Washington Post-

It is terrible timing that, at this time of year, huge numbers of birds converge on the marshes and empty barrier islands on this stretch of the Gulf Coast. Some are just stopping to recharge after a long flight over the Gulf from South America. But others have come to stay, preparing to raise their young in nests in the marsh and along sandy beaches.
-Washington Post-

“I’m going to be honest with you, it’s got a lot of people very fearful.”
-Avery Bates (Organized Seafood Association of Alabama)-

“Petroleum and seafood do not go together.”
-Avery Bates (Organized Seafood Association of Alabama)-

“The scenario is a very grave scenario. You’re looking at potentially 90 days before you ultimately get to what is the ultimate solution here, and that’s a relief well that’s going to have to be built down three and a half miles below the ocean floor. And by the time you drill that well down, a lot of oil could spread. … This is the beginning of a campaign for what’s going to be a massive restoration of the Gulf coast.”
-Interior Secretary Ken Salazar (USA)-

“This spill threatens not only our wetlands and our fisheries, but also our way of life”
-Bobby Jindal the Louisiana Governor (USA)-

“the magnitude of this “leak” is so beyond anything anyone can imagine….we the people are not being told the whole story under the guise of ‘national security’ the truth of it is; the oceans are in trouble, the planet may be in peril…..the minds that got us into this mess are not the minds that will get us out of it. people….this will only get worse……. ”
-a. greenbird seattle wash.-

“No one knows, but with each day that the leaking oil well a mile below the surface remains uncapped, scientists and energy industry observers are imagining outcomes that range from bad to worse to worst, with some forecasting a calamity of historic proportions.”
-Washington Post-

" I'd like my life back" Wah!

BP CEO Tony Hayward

[edit on 12-6-2010 by randyvs]

Thanks for posting these, I just copy/pasted them somewhere else...

'I can't suck Gulf of Mexico oil spill with a straw,'
- US President Barack Obama *