American Morning
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June 8th, 2010
12:00 PM ET
Alabama mayor furious with govt. & BP
(CNN) – It's now day 50 of the worst oil spill in this nation's history. With every gallon that pours out of the broken well, anger and frustration grows along the Gulf Coast. It's the start of the summer, but hotel rooms sit empty, fishermen are stuck on dry land, and a way of life for millions is threatened.
Tony Kennon is the mayor of Orange Beach, Alabama. He joined us on Tuesday's American Morning where he lashed out against BP and the government's response to the oil disaster.
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Everybody was yelling "drill baby drill" – Democrats/GOP. All (Bush and Obama) had their hands in the cookie jar.
Send your ideas to solve the crisis in the Gulf to CNN: http://www.ireport.com/fixit
Please tell me why CNN sounds more and more like the RUSH LIMBAUGH show these days. Why must we hear of the anger displayed on the news. WHAT is this going to help? Isn't the whole earth angry enough. CNN used to be above the rest when it comes to senseless memicking on air. I have just about had enough. CNN is my last resort, I have quit listening to the rest. All this talk about tell OBAMA if he wants to kick some butt just look behind him, is appauling, and YOU JOHN ROBERTS stood there and LAUGHED at this non sense. What good is this kind of rederick doing? People have lost their lives for Christ sake and you air this non sense crap. CNN get back to journalism and not finger pointing especially against the highest office in our country. This is demeaning and lower than the standards that have been set when Solidad and others were on their post early mornings. If this is what you're going to bring us John Roberts I choose to get off right here. This is NOT funny or AMUSING!
Vanessa
It's becoming painfully obvious that Big Oil is running the Government. Maybe it is time for people to organize and run the Big Oil Corporations out of the gulf once and for all! I don't know how many more catastrophes this country can survive at the hands of the "To Big To Fail Corporations" who are controlling our economy!
Be prepared for the next disaster! The price of oil is about to go up, to compensate BP for the lost revenue! Who said the tax payer wouldn't pay for the clean-up, in a round about way! Yet another bump in the road toward economic recovery!
If BP files bankrupacy because of the costs of the clean up or if we refuse to purchase their products forcing them out of business – who pays for the clean up and losses to the fishing and tourist industry.... tax payers do.... I don't want BP to go insolvent until every drop of oil is cleaned up and every piece of litigation is settled and paid for by BP. Am I missing something – we all want justice – which seems only possible is BP continues to thrive.
What I find strange about this whole thing is it is a perfect example of how we are never happy and always take the negative view even before we have to. BP has stood up and taken responsibility. President Obama is doing what he can except letting them drill again lest we have another problem before we fix the first. The fishermen are mad, the oil men are mad, and on and on. Why can't we all work together to resolve the issue to everyone's satifaction.
Sen Nelson warns that there is now a doomsday scenario where the oil casing under the drill head is leaking oil into the strata producing a background leakage that presumably will be impossible to stop. My question is whether this background leakage is normal or should I be worried. I feel like I am falling down into the rabbit hole and everything is getting stranger and stranger. Someone should own this new issue and tell us if this is truly a doomsday scenario realized.
Has BP considered inserting a much smaller diameter pipe into the well-head that is like a stint for a heart that could be inflated once it was inserted to the proper depth to the diameter of the actual pipe shaft? Unlike a stint that keeps the artery open for blood flow this would become an elongated plug (hopefully) stopping the flow of oil. If this worked they could back fill with cement. This would obviously have to be a specially designed pipe with an inflatable “bag” (for lack of a better term) running the length of the pipe on the outside of the pipe made of something very durable but flexible. By inserting this pipe with the bag un-inflated it would present a more streamlined profile possibly making it possible to insert it against the pressure of the oil coming out.
The moratorium will hurt the economy, but long term, might strengthen it with the right moves. Eventually, even people living in red states will have to aknowledge that a move to renewable energy is the responsible move for our youth. It would be better if private industry would take the initiative on its own, but, understandably, it prefers, for the most part, to stick with the safety of familiarity. That's why the government is needed to incentivise private industry to the riskier, uncharted territory of long-term energy solutions.
Its heartbreaking watching these ppl realize all their dreams are gone.
Yes you can plan for human error....this oil spill was caused by stupidity and greed. There was more than one indicator that there was a problem with the drilling but the rig manager kept on going. This is caused by production pressure and the day-to-day costs of the drilling. And it cost him his life, I assume, along with 10 others. Charges must be laid. Rules must be changed. Enforcement must be paid for and happen. If the oil rigs were shutdown due to poor safety then only half the ppl would be out of work. Now, with deep drilling shutdown AND the fishing ruined...everyone is out of work. Cant we see this stuff coming and plan for it BEFORE all hell breaks loose? Why does the US lock the barn door after all the horses have run away? Its time to PREACT before these things happen ... not REACT when it all goes wrong.
I been watching hd pictures on bp.com so when people say the hd pictures were just put out bp. Its not true because I found out about the rovers from cnn.
Defiance. Do it yourself. Stop taking orders and gather all people, hundreds of thousands of those unemployed and give them jobs. Then billback BP. Take those people and all shareholders to the brink of bankruptcy. Where is our military. Your livlihood is at stack. Have a massive worldwide call for help. Dont listen to anyone. Dont listen to BP. Stop being sheep. Be leaders. Get the Hay guy from California to ship his supply to the Gulf. If this is not taken care of soon, the Gulf region will become a oil pit, a wasteland. I live in Washington DC. I am angry over the responsiveness of this manmade environmental disaster. I wish I was a federal prosecutor to put BP executives in Jail.
I just saw a report where the expert was talking about the oil in the water column. Where, in number of feet, in the water columm is the oil. You have to know the temperature and density of the water vs. the density of the oil to know where in the water column (depth wise) the oil is.
Then the other thing was the female reporter askerd on a scale of 1 to 10,was this disaster, but never explained if 1 or 10 was the worst. The expert used the number 10. Well, if it was dancing with the stars that would have been a winner. Please clarify these staterments in your futurer broadcast. Thank you Jerry Helfrich.
Yes BP needs to be punished, but lets rember, alot of hard working americans work for BP and pay there mortgages and feed there kids with there job at BP so be careful how we bash them.
The Wall Street Journal had the article a while ago about the argument between the BP executive and Dewey that preceded the explosion. It appears that BP might be guilty of causing the death of these 11 workers and gross negligence.
I am a SEMA award winning designer, and 4 weeks ago I designed a clamp/valve that will stop the leak in the gulf. I have designed and made a scaled down prototype of my clamp, which could be dropped down to the preventer by cable from a ship, and the ROV's could guide the back half of the clamp so that the stop groves align on each side of the flange, just below the 22 inch pipe that was recently cut off. Once the clamp is aligned, an ROV would turn and tighten the bolt on the clam which would bring both sides in alignment and locking groves on the clamp to both sided of the flange. On the inside of the clamp there would be a rubber seal which would seal around the outside of the flange when the clamp was tightened, where the clamp would seal off all the oil completely, and the clam would be so tight to the flange that it would not be able to move. Once the clamp is tight, then the flow valve at the top could be shut off, which would stop the leak completely, or the valve could be opened in-order to transfer oil to a tanker. Either way, this clamp design would seal off the leak completely.
I am an Atlantic Canadian. We have some beautiful beaches here. I am concerned my grandchildren will not be able to enjoy them. I watch CNN alot. You cover the Gulf spill most effectively. You leave out the most important things sometime.... like you are polluting the oceans of the world. Any country would be concerned about their economy with such a disaster on their hands, but could you just show some concern for the rest of the world. When we are polluted up here with gulf oil, what are you going to do about it??
Elizabeth
Gulf Coast State's and Politician's have been getting kick backs from the Big Oil corporations for decades. And they happily accepted that money and turned a crass and callous cheek to the present predictable outcome.
Republican politicans and lawmakers (Drill baby Drill) are entirely typical of the greed and corruption by Republican lawmakers for many decades in the Gulf Coast States. They placed Big Oil far and above all other concerns and business's in their States. These same Drill baby Drill's are now screaming and jumping up and down over President Obama's present freeze on Gulf of Mexico deep sea Oil well drill sites.
Thanks entirely to Republican vice president Dick Cheney's secret backroom Big Oil dealings for 100 Straight Days, NONE of the Gulf deep sea Oil well leases had federal environmental impact and emergency contingency plans filed prior to being awarded those leases and go ahead to proceed.
The current Oil gusher had no federal environmental impact study, no emergency contingency plan filed. And now BP is telling the Government it had no tools nor a specific plan for what occurred. Drill baby Drill Republicans Bobby being the typical sack of morass politician they are, are now jumping up and down because President Obama placed a temporary freeze on offshore Oil drilling until legislation adds the needed regulation back which apparently Bush-Cheney gutted as a favor to Big Oil.
Crude Oil is a poison and a neuro-toxin, it's not a friendly slime, it's not some chia-pet you water and grow. If you play with it, eat it, drink it or breathe it, you will get sick. How sick depends solely on the amount of crude Oil you are exposed to.
The ONLY thing that has changed across America is the realization by the American people that Crude Oil is a poisonous and toxic substance. A neuro-toxin to any person or creature that touches, eats and breathes it.
The oil spill disaster is everyones problem, my daughter and grandson 10, began their morning today watching CNN hoping to see some kind of answer to the problem. Viewing the oiled birds and the black oil floating they came up with a solution. It would be
wonderful to say we helped in some way.....
We already have ships to hold the oil, why not fashion light tubing to float on top of the water and using a pump from the tankers literally vaccuum the oil off the top of the water.