Florida gets big settlement in BP oil spill

“In 2010, our state – and the entire Gulf region – woke up to a story that shook the nation; an oil spill that not only threatened states that depend on the Gulf for their economic livelihood, but their very way of life,” Pam Bondi said. “Today, after just five years of negotiations, I’m pleased to announce that Florida has entered into an agreement in principle of more than $3 billion with BP for the state’s economic and environmental recovery which will benefit areas of the state most devastated by the spill.”

Read about it...

It's Obama's fault says U.S. Oil company

Another U.S. corporation hits the dust and this one got no stimulus from Obama--

Houston-based ATP Oil & Gas Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Friday, citing debt it said it incurred because of the five-month moratorium on much U.S. offshore drilling after the deadly 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. And gas prices just keep going up.

The U.S. is relying more on oil from Saudi Arabia--Gulf oil now composes 23 percent of total U.S. imports, according to the Times, as opposed to 17 percent late last year.

Read more... about President Obama killing another U.S. energy company.

Hands across the Sand

Hands Across the Sand 15 minute Protest scheduled for this Saturday at Noon,
Lake Worth Beach.

Oil on the beach

Comment Up

Helen Marino, still smiling
Paper towels used to wipe off oil

Helen Marino strolled the beach last evening. She reported that there were globs of oil north of the Lake Worth beach and the sand was streaked with it. She thought that she was careful but when she returned home, she immediately took off her sandals at the door and did not check her feet. Too bad because one foot had a glob of oil on it and she tracked it all over her carpet.

Helen's reaction--I needed an excuse to replace this old carpeting; it took an oil spill to do it.

Ballot initiative for 2012 - Off-Shore Drilling

With the Republican Party, for the most part, being in support of offshore drilling saying it is for "jobs, the economy and national security," as well as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce FOR offshore drilling, Save Our Shores has a big job in front of it to gather 700,000 signatures by February 2012 to put the initiative on the Ballot. Florida Hometown Democracy understands the tremendous effort in front of S.O.S. The Chamber of Commerce sent over 6,000 letters to President Obama urging him to lift the moratorium on off-shore drilling and put people back to work.

We saw what the Chamber did in Florida during this last election when it went against Amendment 4. It was all about "jobs" to them, or so they claimed, and so they are saying the same thing on oil drilling. What will they do? Will they be able to raise another $15 million to defeat it if SOS is lucky enough to get it on the ballot? Will our local Chamber have a Vote NO sign on its front yard?

Even our new governor Rick Scott said, “We need to protect our beaches, break our dependency on foreign oil and hold oil companies accountable when there are problems. As governor, I’ll look to strike a balance between responsible exploration that takes every precaution and is far enough from our shores while holding oil companies accountable for their mistakes.”

Save Our Seas and Beaches says, "We want the public to have the chance to vote on near-shore oil drilling and to ban the possibility of this destructive practice. Our State relies on clean beaches for our economic and environmental well-being. Oil drilling in our state marine waters, which extend approximately three miles into the Atlantic Ocean and 10 miles into the Gulf of Mexico, is simply too great a risk to take."

In order to stop any future attempts by the Florida Legislature to allow near-shore oil drilling on our coasts, Save Our Shores has formed a coalition with Save our Seas, Beaches and Shores, Inc. to coordinate a citizens’ petition drive to place the ban on the November 2012 ballot.

BALLOT TITLE: Prohibiting oil drilling in Florida waters seaward of Florida's mean high tide line.

BALLOT SUMMARY: Prohibiting oil drilling for exploration or extraction in and beneath Florida waters from the mean high tide line to the outermost boundaries of Florida's territorial seas.

Is there ANYTHING about that ballot summary that needs explanation?

We believe that the residents of Florida deserve the right to vote on this and urge you to Download the Petition.

Realtor Special Interests use bailout money to defeat Amendment 4

From Dori--The statewide Florida Realtors association has started divvying up the $16 million it received to compensate real estate agents and brokers who lost business after the oil spill...

but, just as National Builders received taxpayer bailout money...contributing 2 mil to Oppose Amendment 4....now, the Florida Realtor Association has contributed 1 mil to the opposition, receiving $16 mill from the Oil spill that was to go to Realtor's, whose business was affected from the oil spill 'keeping buyers away'...

not all are happy with what they are getting...

Realtors not sold on share from oil spill...

Read more at pnj.com

Oil leak stopped

Per Wash. Post--
BP says oil has stopped leaking into the Gulf for the first time since April.

BP has been slowly dialing down the flow as part of a test on a new cap. Engineers are now monitoring the pressure to see if the busted well holds.

The World's Worst Oil Spill

77 days and still counting

Cuba to drill for oil in 2011

Drilling for oil off of Cuba will begin in 2011, about 65 miles southwest of Key West. The Gulf Spill, that cannot be contained after beginning on April 26 and has spread over 1,800 miles caused by Deepwater Horizon, is 800 miles from our shore. Think of that. 800 miles versus 65 miles.

"Repsol, a Spanish company, expects to begin drilling off Cuba in 2011, according to published reports and oil industry analysts. Companies from at least 10 other countries, including Russia and China, are negotiating or have already signed lease deals to drill off Cuba."

Our thirst for oil could some day be our State's economic downfall for good if there is an oil spill in Cuban waters, an arm's distance away, that heads right straight to Florida.

Hands in the Sand

Tarballs at Pensacola Beach

June 26 @ 11am
Lake Worth Beach
Demonstration

For the love of Oil

As the oil spill gushes on, the Brown Pelican is a harsh and sickening reality of this environmental disaster. It is one of the casualties, along with sea turtles, song birds, shore birds and Dolphins. This dreadful "accident" continues on after two months with no solution in sight. Lives and income have been lost and the harm to our shores and our waters has occurred because of the love of oil.

More oil is spilling out than ever before and no one knows what to do... 750,000 gallons per day.

Will the Spill ever be contained?

Carolyn Cole, Los Angeles Times

Hours after a federal judge blocked a moratorium on deepwater drilling from taking effect, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday night that he will issue a new order against such drilling.

Read a real Scary article, on the oil spilling in our Gulf that was sent to me by a reader along with another article, entitled How the ultimate BP oil spill could kill millions.

Back in 1999, Chris Cooper of the Wall Street Journal wrote an article on the oil field off of Eugene Island, Louisiana that indicated Eugene Island is rapidly refilling itself, perhaps from some continuous source miles below the Earth's surface. That, they say, raises the tantalizing possibility that oil may not be the limited resource it is assumed to be."

If they are right, there is a possibility that this oil spill will never be contained and capped off. If that is true, what does this mean for the United States? What have we done?

As Lake Worth resident, Cesar Figueroa says, "To me we are at peak oil, which means that we have taken all the easy wells on the surface and now if we start to take out the very deep oil , we will be playing with fire. The bottom line is that we have passed the natural production flow of nature ( Earth ) in using the resource because we have passed the limit to how many humans are on the plant now. And if oil went back to being 50 cents a gallon, then we would have 12 not 6 billion people on the plant. Checkmate their are no more options left... mother nature will do it's thing and all we can do is wait."

Oil Spill

The Size of the Oil Spill relative to Florida

Interactive Map on BP Oil Spill

CLICK HERE

The Architect, Politics and the Lake Worth Casino

William Waters, AIA, NCARB
William Waters Designs, West Palm Beach and Miami

Mr. Waters spoke on behalf of REG yesterday at the Commission workshop. He was the Project Manager for REG Architects, Inc. and oversaw the historic preservation programming for the 1916 Palm Beach County Courthouse and Historic Society of Palm Beach County Museum. Also representing REG architects was Colin Price, V.P. of Operations.

To read William Waters' incredible credentials, CLICK HERE

REG is not being pushed out, not yet anyway, and all the little strikethroughs on the 6 pages of fees were just a computer program glitch...they mean nothing relative to REG not being the lead architect. They do mean a lot as far as another architect being brought into the mix in order to 1) bring down the fees and 2) appease three elected officials and possibly a fourth, as well as some citizens who scream the loudest. Everything in this city is about politics. Commissioner Mulvehill was the only commissioner who asked about LDG coming into the picture when they were not the top choice and got beaten on the final count. To lose is to win I guess.

Staff incorporated the services of Living Design Group supposedly because of its expertise in "green" features and its involvement in the beach re-development project. The City Manager stated, "Staff took a team of the # 1 (REG) and the # 2 (Living Design Group) choices and felt that the Commission would want to have a team." Although this was never expressed to the Commission or to the Public in the Sunshine, the City Manager made the decision to bring in Living Design Group. REG has resigned itself to this decision and felt it will lead to more cohesion--they will be "sharing information rather than competing." They are a "class" act and would never resort to underhanded practices as what occurred here.

Essentially, because of the projected financial feasibility study that came with little back-up and based on conservative estimates of revenue and expenses projected by Staff, the project at the beach was scaled down from a possible $10 million to a $6.67 million dollar cost. Because of this, various architectural fees were negotiated down using the second choice firm, LDG, against REG. REG's original contract called for a 10% fee based on the construction price which is now around 7% and will be shared by Living Design Group and others. As you recall, the architect was chosen on qualifications, not cost.

Mr. Waters said that they can not do the 1921 casino building with the constraints they have now. To me this meant not only what we are willing or can afford to pay based on the projection provided by Steven Carr, Finance Director, and Ms. Stanton, but the excessive green features that bring up the cost of any construction. I think we should ask what "green" is going to cost us on this project. 20% more? With these conservative guesstimates, could we build even a better building if the projections were true?

Colin Price, saying that this is "not the first day of the rodeo," assured the Commission that we would have an attractive and an iconic building in spite of it all. "1922 is the vision people are leaning towards," said Mr. Price. Commissioner Maxwell said, "We need to get it right...not sure people want an historical building there." Maxwell tried stumbling blocks through the entire discussion even going so far as to bring up the BP Oil spill as a reason for caution. Commissioner Jennings threw in her own when she talked about artifacts.

Essentially, the question is, do you want to fix the beach or not? As one citizen said to me via phone, "I am really disgusted what has happened here. We will not be getting a 1921 styled building but rather an art deco box." At this point, I am not sure what we will be getting but I am rather sure the charettes will be stacked with "green" people as they were with the Michael Singer fiasco. Jennings asked the architect to touch base with Michael Singer.

The Mayor made some great points and wanted us to "move forward with a productive path saying the "arguments of the past will not help us right now." What was represented was only a conceptional feasibility study and it should be approved without specifics and back-up if we want the casino to go forward. I would have preferred much more supporting evidence and I believe that they will have to have that in order to get a loan. Staff proved that we can afford to build a building for $6.67 million by giving conservative figures. The details will be worked out later and they are all subject to change. I had a million questions but all of those will be solved as we proceed.

Frankly, REG should have been the only architect in the casino redevelopment. A "winner" is not a winner in Lake Worth and the people lose a lot from these actions. Now that it has shaken out the way it has and the process of winning a bid is corrupt and the people have no control, I would like to see two designs submitted: one in the old Mediterranean style and one by Living Designs--take them both to the voters on November 2. Let the people really decide. Then we will know, Commissioner Maxwell.

But we know that won't happen. It will be determined, as most things are in this city, by compromised politicians, a political Staff, those with their own "green" stupidity and, in my opinion, the connection to a past politician that still is behind the scenes directing traffic.

Oil Spill will go into the Fall

President Obama's first-in-command in the federal response to the BP oil spill, Admiral Thad Allen, offered a stark reality check yesaterday: Cleanup efforts may very well extend into the fall, he told CBS' Face the Nation, explaining that even after the oil flow is contained "there will be oil out there for months to come." While Allen did acknowledge the success of BP's latest effort to contain with the spill—a cap that is collecting a little more than 10,000 of the 12,000 to 19,000 barrels of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico daily—his tone was a sharp deviation from the optimistic spin BP has put on cleanup efforts. He called the disaster an "insidious war" that is "attacking four states at one time": "One of the problems with this entire spill is it's not a monolithic, huge spill," Allen said. "It is literally hundreds of thousands of smaller spills."

Read it at The Wall Street Journal.

Nukes Next to stop oil Spill?

Matt Simmons of Simmons & Co says that the U.S. government needs to take over and possibly "nuke" it. Gawd--that's American ingenuity.

BP Oil Spill -

"BP has said it will honor 'legitimate' claims from people and businesses seeking compensation from disruption caused by the spill. But since there are likely to be many disputed claims ("This is America -- come on," BP chief executive Tony Hayward told the Times of London on Wednesday). "Having your company's name inextricably linked to a disaster can't help when a jury begins assigning damages," he said in a Washington Time article. Can you believe this guy?

B P is trying to distance itself from some of the responsibility and has said that Transocean Ltd. and its subcontractors including Haliburton need to share a big part of the responsibility as it was their equipment.

As the spill is expected to hit Florida shores by the end of the week, BP gave our State a $25 million grant on Tuesday.

Oil Spill may reach our beach

Prepare for Spill says Bob Weisman, Palm Beach County's Administrator.

B P Oil Spill could wind up off Lake Worth

Photo circling the world

Hold this thought – "The worst is yet to come."

As mentioned previously, our City Commission made a Resolution banning oil drilling off of our coast. This was NOT a political move as suggested by Mr. Blackman. This was an environmentally responsible move by the entire Commission and made BEFORE this horrible catastrophe.

I have said this on numerous occasions—we just have one horrible catastrophe and another one comes of equal value or worse. Right now the worst one is the oil spill in our Gulf. You have to wonder if there is ever any corporate oversight and responsibility or is it all about making money? Charlie Crist is now saying oil exploration off Florida’s coasts may not be a good idea.

The SEC is supposed to watch over the securities industry. It doesn’t. Then there are our banks. They brought down our entire economy. A bank's primary federal regulator could be the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Office of Thrift Supervision. We even had to bail out Freddy Mac and Fannie Mae.

We have no one looking out for us with any degree of competence. The police tell us because they could get killed in their line of duty that they must have a step raise. NO one told them to become a policeman. They knew the risks, so it is not a “buyable” argument for me. Crime is running rampant and is escalating no matter what figures they want to give to the public. Police have total job security for life.

The illegals are coming in droves because our Federal Government refuses to deal with the problem. Some like to tell us it is a trade off—the illegals work for Cooley wages thus bringing down costs. PROVE THAT it brings down costs. It is against federal law and our politicians refuse to protect the citizens of this country.


And now for the oil spill. I read the containment effort was costing BP, the third largest global energy company and the 4th largest company in the world, $6 million/day -- BP annual profit of $24.0 Billion averages out to $65.0 Million per day. That’s not even a drop in their greedy swine bucket, as someone recently said.

The agency that oversees oil exploration in federal waters is US Minerals Management Service had no immediate comment on the incident. The agency oversees drilling in federal waters. (I stated it twice because I don't believe anyone is watching the store) The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board says that it is considering investigating the rig fire. The board, which investigates other oil industry fires and incidents, has not previously investigated accidents on rigs. It investigated a 2005 fire and explosion at a BP refinery in Texas City. 15 employees were killed and many injured in this accident.

At the worst-case figure of 336,000 gallons a day, it would take more than a month for the amount of crude oil spilled to equal the 11 million gallons spilled from the Exxon Valdez in Alaska's Prince William Sound.

According to Wikipedia, “Gulf state shrimpers sued BP over the oil spill with Transocean and Halliburton (God, that corporation again) named as defendants. Two similar lawsuits, filed late on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in New Orleans and on Thursday in the adjacent Gulf Coast state of Alabama, accuse the companies of negligence.”

In March, British Petroleum made a $ 7 billion deal with Devon Energy Corporation that included assets in Brazil, Azerbaijan and the Gulf of Mexico of 240 oil leases where it is already the largest producer of oil and gas. The transaction was contingent on government regulatory approvals.

The latest news today says that this oil spill, because of the current, could "wind up off Palm Beach County's beaches in just a matter of days."

BP’s stock price is down 12.9% in 5 days.