Yesterday, scientists were voicing their fears that the Gulf oil spill would get into the Loop Current, which flows east, through the Florida Keys, around the tip of Florida and then up the U.S. East Coast before heading into the Atlantic.This morning, Florida news sources are reporting that tar balls have washed up on Key West.
The state is running a lab analysis to see if the eight-inch-in-diameter tar balls have actually come from the Deepwater Horizon spill. Florida officials and scientists are fearful that the slick will suffocate the delicate coral reefs that form the Keys, as well as pollute the mangrove groves and white sand beaches of the Sunshine State.
While Florida officials discuss the possibility of oil in Biscayne Bay, Louisiana scientists have begun to confront the next nightmare scenario — a hurricane in the Gulf. Hurricane season officially begins on June 1. Typically, Colorado State University forecasters predict above-average activity for the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season. Meanwhile researches at Florida State University are attempting to create computer models of what could happen, should a hurricane hit the Gulf. The modeling is hampered by the fact that no one knows where the slick will be in two weeks, coupled with the unknown action of hurricane strength winds on water covered with heavy density oil.
“My ‘oh, no’ thought,” LSU Director of the Wetland Biogeochemistry Institute, and coastal sciences professor Robert Twilley told the New York Times, “is that a hurricane would pick up that oil and move it, along with salt, up into interior regions of the state that I am convinced the oil will not reach otherwise. These systems will recover,” Twilley explained to the NYT. “It’s going to be the length of time that’s uncertain. And the important thing is, what happens in the meantime? What services do the wetlands provide the state of Louisiana? Fisheries, flood control, nutrient removal, habitat for ducks and nesting birds.”
Oil has already fingered 29 miles of Louisiana's shoreline, Gov. Bobby Jindal told The Advocate. Oil has impacted Trinity Island, Whiskey Island, South Pass, Chandeleur Islands, Fourchon Beach, Raccoon Island and Grand Isle.
Jindal also told The Advocate that an oil sheen was reported in Pass a Loutre and there were new, unconfirmed reports of oil on Marsh Island in Iberia Parish.
JUNE 19 Former Saint Steve Gleason, who is paralyzed by ALS, released a statement Tuesday in response to the Atlanta radio station's skit making fun of him and the disease, this Picayune post reports. What did he say? He said he'd accepted the apology of the DJs who did it, notes that at least the incident has got people talking about ALS, and asks anyone who is burning to take action about it to do so -- by helping him fight ALS.
JUNE 19 Blogger Ian McGibboney takes a look at the Gleason incident in this post. He makes a good argument about the difference between having free speech and being free from consequences for your speech (which none of us is). He also admits that many of us got upset before we listened to the skit -- but lets us know that the reality is far worse than we can imagine. It was the incredibly bad judgment, even more than the actual speech, that probably got those DJs fired, he opines.
JUNE 19 Washington Post blogger Aaron Blake writes about Sen. Guillory's switch to the GOP in this post. He writes what most political watchers in Louisiana know: Guillory was a Republican before he decided to run for the senate seat in a mostly-D St. Landry district, and has switched back now that he plans to run for Lt. Gov. in a mostly-R state. But how come Blake missed Guillory's appearance on a TLC pageant show? Now that is a video we'd like to see. (Again).
JUNE 19 Here's another Washington Post blog post about a Louisiana politician, and it's just plain scathing. Ezra Klein says Jindal's Politico post was "insulting" to the intelligence of voters, and adds that Jindal is personifying the "stupid" he's railed against, by being an "elite" who convinces GOP activists of "things that aren't true." Me-ow.
JUNE 19 Here's Gov. Jindal's post in Politico, in which he asks the GOP to get over losing to Obama (again) and stop "the bedwetting." (Uh, what?) He gives his Republican buddies what is probably a nerd's idea of a coach's motivational talk, which starts with a list of accomplishments that they can't seem to exploit and ending with an absurd description of liberals that sounds like a character treatment for a Fox "News" movie scripted by Gordon Liddy. Sure, he's preaching to the choir, but even the choir's not this gullible.
JUNE 19 Lamar Parmentel read Gov. Jindal's post on Politico, but thinks it was so dumb it probably was published in the wrong paper. This post by Lamar on the Daily Kingfish opines that possibly Jindal's post was destined for the Onion -- because the governor couldn't possibly be serious here. If you listen closely, you can hear the staff of the Kingfish giggling.
JUNE 19 Blogger Robert Mann posts from Turkey, a country he has visited several times in the past few years. Mann gives an interesting overview of the current political and societal climate of the country, which -- if you're living under a rock and don't know -- is experiencing protests and turmoil these days. Mann promises to post as much as he can during his trip, which should be fascinating reading.
JUNE 19 Blogger CB Forgotston says the legislature is keeping the vicious cycle going with its funding of new buildings for the community college/technical college system. Universities across the state need maintenance and improvement on existing buildings, and the solution is to build new buildings at other schools? By the time the bonds are paid off, those buildings will be falling down, too, CB says.
Most Read
in case you missed it
Subscribe to this comment's feed