New Oil and Tar Balls Litter the Gulf Coast After Hurricane Isaac

Mods: I did a search on this and didn't see anything, but if there is already a thread, please feel free to close this one

Ooooops!! Looks like all of BP's "feel good" commercials are a far cry from reality. Since Hurricane Isaac came through here (Louisiana), all that oil which BP sunk with corexit (and claimed it was gone) is back. One particular area is so bad the water around it is FULL of oil, and the residents say the stench is horrible. Personally, I think it's a combination of the old oil, and new oil from the ongoing leak (I don't believe they stopped it completely). The reason being that there are tar balls AND there is an oil sheen in the water....it looks just like it did during the "spill"....BP says come to the Gulf Coast and pig out on seafood....everything's fine! LOL...Here's the news on it and some pics from a few days ago of the stuff....

www.huffingtonpost.com...

www.inquisitr.com...

www.wdsu.com...

reply to post by StealthyKat


StealthyKat, good catch Its still down there sitting smh.

reply to post by StealthyKat


I saw that on The Weather Channel last night. This isn't going away any time soon. It will surely be many years before any semblance of environmental normality is returned to the Gulf... and it doesn't end at the Gulf now, does it?. It could take decades. But we already knew this.

Gross and tragic.

How about BP sweep this mess under its own rug instead of sending it to the bottom of the sea.

I was having a discussion about this the other day about exactly what you described, the high winds have churned up the sea revelleaing the mess BP has tried to cover up.

My suggestion is take about 50% of the salaries from the BP executive staff and that should be more then sufficient to clean up not only this spill, but probably half the other ecological disasters BP has been involved in.

reply to post by StealthyKat

Ugh....

The Huffington Post article has a pic of what Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge in Ala looks like now and it makes my heart really sad. My husband & I were there on that beach a few days before the storm hit and now, sigh....

It will be years before the full impact of the oil explosion/leak is known. So sad.

I know it happens quite frequently that corporations cover up ecological damage they have been respondsible for, but i find myself thinking about how many more of these disasters have been covered up.

How many spills have big oil kept quiet that have not made MSM; could the state of the natural world on our planet be more grave then we are even aware of?

Further, how many re-discoveries of past disasters will come to light through situations like Hurricane Isaac turning up the oil previously found on the sea floor.

Scary stuff

reply to post by StealthyKat


Totally tragic but it is a drop in the ocean compared to the pollution pouring down the Mississippi each year. If BP are to be taken to task, i only hope every other polluting firm is also taken to task. Can't see it though. What with it being election year, i can't see anyone targeting US companies!

Every company that causes environmental damage anywhere in the world should be FORCED to clean up and pay costs. So far though, it only seems to apply to BP (when the big bucks are concerned, rather than paltry fine). This is both wrong and totally hypocritical.

For example, how many billions have the companies been fined that are responsible for the huge dead area of the Gulf of Mexico? I have found info hard to find on this. To me, that tells its' own story..................

reply to post by Ophiuchus 13


Yes....we are still dealing with it, and the media has all but forgotten it. Isaac was a wimp of a hurricane,,,,just think what a big one would do! I am trying to find video of the neighborhood on the coast that is literally SOAKED in crude, I saw it on the local news last night.....they cannot even let thier kids play outside, it's that bad there.

reply to post by this_is_who_we_are


It will be a long time....since I don't believe the well was ever capped properly. I remember when they had the ROV cams on....I watched the "capping" of the well (if indeed that was the correct well). On the big thread we discussed the fact that after the capping, you could still see bubbles, tar balls and oil coming from under the cap. Also the sea floor is fractured so badly that oil is coming from there too. It is natural for oil to seep a little from the sea bed, but this is man made. The sea bed was so badly fractured, we watched BP try to GROUT it. Some of us thought we were seeing explosions, when in fact, it was the grout giving way under pressure.What a freaking mess I would not be surprised at all if they find that well is still leaking.

reply to post by MDDoxs


I hear THAT!

reply to post by OneisOne

I know...it makes me furious. Things were slowly improving, it seemed, but here we go again. They never fixed things....just hid it.

reply to post by MDDoxs


Oh I bet there are many. What gets me is that BP actually thought this would work DUH

reply to post by Flavian


Hi Flav! You are so right about that....they should ALL have to follow the same rules. But as we know oil is big money, and where there is big money.....there is big greed and big corruption.

The state is closing a 12-mile section of Gulf coastline from Caminada Pass to Pass Fourchon after Hurricane Isaac washed up large areas of oil and tar balls at the location of one of the worst inundations of BP oil during the Deepwater Horizon disaster of 2010. Robert Barham, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, said agency crews surveying damage from Isaac discovered large sections of viscous oil and tar balls floating along the coast from the beach to one mile offshore between Elmer’s Island Wildlife Refuge, just west of Grand Isle, to Pass Fourchon.

www.stuarthsmith.com...

www.wwl.com...

reply to post by StealthyKat


This takes getting "oiled" up on the beach to a whole new meaning.

Wouldnt be surprised if a BP executive walks by and kicks some sand ontop of the oil and pretends he never saw it.

If this weren't so gut-wrenching and enraging it would be comical. I've been seeing tons of commercials all summer telling me how spotless and awesome the gulf beaches are nowadays and how I should vacation there and eat tons of gulf seafood. Sposored by BP no less. They HAD to know that the first hurricane would cheese the whole deal for them.

ETA jeez I need to read and not just look at photos. I just rehashed the whole OP. I vow to pay more attention in the future.

I agree that this is so very sad... and disgusting. I also agree that all involved companies (and governments) should responsible and clean up their messes. But........ I lived on the MS, AL, LA, FL coasts the greater part of my life and oil and oil balls have been washing up since they started drilling in the Gulf. Granted, not to this extent, but I have seen what BP has been trying to do to correct things, help businesses (esp. small businesses), help rebuild the beaches, etc. The spill was so massive that NO ONE knows just how much is really out there nor how long it will take for it to be completely cleaned, if ever. But ask the residents on the coast and most will tell you that they see BP and the other companies that were involved in the spill DAILY still trying to do clean-ups and help the locals.
I'm not saying what happened was right in any way. I'm not saying that there isn't enough blame to go around. I'm not saying that it's just too weird that the week before this happened Obama finally gave in to approve more off-shore drilling and then this 'conveniently' happened, so I can't say that this is ALL BP's fault. But what I CAN say, is crucify them if you will, but at least they are trying to do SOMETHING. If those of you who think they are just 'sweeping this under the rug' were to really understand the physics behind the spill and think these companies can't look out their windows and see the devestation for themselves, you're wrong. (THEY don't even understand all of the physics behind this because nothing of this magnatude has ever happened before.) And many, many of them (esp. the ones who have lived and worked there all of their lives) are just as heartbroken about all of it as you and I are...more-so, actually. This is their home.
My gosh!! This was/is a HORRIBLE thing that happened. Why do people have to add to it and be so negative about it all and not give some positive credit to the progress that HAS been made??
This area is home to me. To see this oil and the devestation grips at my heart and my soul. But progress is happening. I'd prefer to look at the future and how much good is being done, will be done, has been done, than to just sit and point fingers of blame and negativity without the proper insight. But that rarely stops people who know little of situations. It's much easier to armchair quarterback while you sit on your butt and just look at horrible pictures than it is to get off your duff and go help with the clean up, be part of the solution.
I guess I'm just fed up with all of the negativity on here. About this, about everything. I'll stop my rant now.

We all knew this would happen. We talked about it in the BP forum threads.

Has there been a response from BP on this yet? Has anyone gotten enough people mad enough to ask them? How concerned if the LA authorities?

reply to post by MDDoxs


yeah.....I can picture that scenario!

reply to post by tadlem43

Well.....I have lived on the coast of Louisiana all my life, so I do know what I'm talking about ....let me assure you I worked MANY hours cleaning up Grand Isle, and I do not sit on my butt all day,.I'm ANGRY. What positive things are you trferring to?.......the oil. tar balls,tar mats, dead dolphins and sharks? No, I don't believe a word they say I can't walk around with rose colored glasses when I see all the dead sealife. Oh, and I am not a Monday norning quarterback; I have put in many hours jn both reaeach AND cleaning the area beaches. Thier commercials make me sick. J have friebds who had to close up thier seafood stores, and consequently, lost thier homfor people I know who lost EVERYTHINGes as well.Jf you think it can never gappen again, just research the "Atlantis" rtg' BP and Haliburton are misleading people, It;s slick (no pun intended) advertsing to try to convince people that it;s all good. They want us to think "Oooops....BP nade a teeny little mess, but they cleaned it all up and ralk about making it right
Uhhh Huh.....If they are making things right then where is the compensation for my friends who lost it all?