Grand Isle closes beaches due to oil on shore

[Barrett808]

Source: The Times-Picayune

Government officials in Grand Isle are closing all beaches until further notice, citing the fact that oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill is washing up on the shore.

"They're starting to see dead wildlife," said Jefferson Parish Councilman Chris Roberts.

Roberts said there is more oil offshore, and he's concerned it will continue washing ashore when the high tide comes in this afternoon.

Read more: http://www.desdemonadespair.net/2010/05/grand-isle-closes-beaches-due-to-oil-on.html

[dgibby]

1. OMG!

So very sad. My heart goes out to everyone affected by this tragedy.

[bear425]

2. Which, of course, is everyone

:cry:

[dgibby]

3. True,

but I was thinking of those being immediately affected, and the fact that they've already been through so much.

[bear425]

5. Yes, you're right.

I didn't mean to come across as curt or dismissive or anything. I'm just so sad and frustrated by the seeming helplessness of the situation.

[dgibby]

8. You didn't.

I share your sadness and frustration and helplessness, and now to compound matters, MSNBC just reported that the "leak" will continue until August when the relief wells are ready. By then, the Gulf will be a giantic graveyard.

[bear425]

9. Did you see this video about the ineffectual booming of the Gulf?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x466903

It's got a lot of crude language, but I hope Rachel Maddow gets to see it and has the narrator on her show to reveal just how negligent BP is. This is so bad...

[dgibby]

13. Thanks!

I missed that. We are really, really, really screwed, aren't we?

[liberal N proud]

4. That is west of the Mississippi River

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Grand+Isle,+LA&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=41.411029,101.162109&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Grand+Isle,+Jefferson,+Louisiana&ll=29.334298,-88.500366&spn=3.49546,4.63623&t=h&z=8

[proudohioan]

6. Oh man, that is just so tragic and sad....

:cry:

[tomhayes]

7. Grand Isle is where we would go to the beach

When I was a child we'd go to the beach in Grand isle.

Between this and Katrina, Rita, and Gustav it's gotta be hard to live there.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

10. Damn.

My sense of foreboding is so off the scale right now. All the wildlife, and all the economic lives that will be devastated, is beyond what I can even imagine.

Drill baby drill. :cry:

[JuniperLea]

11. "My sense of foreboding"

My "impending doom" meter is stuck on full tilt too.

:cry:

[HCE SuiGeneris]

14. It is terrifying to witness the destruction,

and the apathy of our country as a whole, as this unfolds.

[JuniperLea]

17. It truly is...

Being fed lies doesn't help. I'm convinced that as bad as I think this is, it's far worse than I can imagine. I'm sick of being called an alarmist too. I'd quite literally give anything to be wrong.

[tango-tee]

43. Same here.

I'm watching this catastrophe unfolding from Europe, with a sense of complete horror.

My son and his family live about a 30 minute drive from the Gulf coast, and I lived there many years ago as well. Imagining the suffering and death of the animals, the destruction of an entire fragile ecosystem, livelihoods and a way of life being wiped out...

I have no words, all I know is that we are witnessing a terrible tragedy. And we are forced to stand by, helplessly.

[EFerrari]

18. Sometimes silence is not apathy but overwhelm.

I hardly ever post to these threads because I can't. It seems so enormous. :cry:

[HCE SuiGeneris]

19. Thank you. That is a very salient point.

Perhaps as a nation we are overwhelmed by the magnitude of what we face.

[snooper2]

12. So they are sending workers to begin cleaning up?

And meeting with BP Fuckers of course...

Clean up what, it's just going to keep coming ashore, and coming and coming and coming...

[sabra]

15. Public beach in La. closed as oil washes up

Source: AJC

GRAND ISLE, La. — Officials closed the public beach here Friday as thick gobs of oil resembling melted chocolate washed up, a very visible reminder of the blown-out well that has been spewing crude into the Gulf of Mexico for a month.
Quantcast

Up to now, only tar balls and a light sheen had come ashore. But oil was starting to hit the beach at this island resort community in various forms — light sheens, orange-colored splotches and heavier brown sheets — said Chris Roberts, a local official who surveyed the area Friday morning.

"It's difficult to clean up when you haven't stopped the source," said Roberts, a councilman for Jefferson Parish, which stretches from the New Orleans metropolitan area to the coast. "You can scrape it off the beach but it's coming right back."

...

A deep, stagnant ooze sat in the middle of a particularly devastated marsh off the Louisiana coast where Emily Guidry Schatzel of the National Wildlife Federation was examining stained reeds.

"This is just heartbreaking," she said with a sigh. "I can't believe it."

Ralph Morgenweck of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said countless animals could be feeling the effects of the spill, though workers have found only a handful hurt or injured.

Read more: http://www.ajc.com/business/public-beach-in-la-532200.html

[Oldtimeralso]

16. K & R and proud to be # 5

:kick:

[Wednesdays]

20. K&R

:kick:

[KeepItReal]

21. Grand Isle closes beaches due to oil on shore

Source: The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune

Government officials in Grand Isle are closing all beaches until further notice, citing the fact that oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill is washing up on the shore.

"They're starting to see dead wildlife," said Jefferson Parish Councilman Chris Roberts.

Roberts said there is more oil offshore, and he's concerned it will continue washing ashore when the high tide comes in this afternoon. He is heading to Houma to meet with BP officials, in an attempt to address the situation, he said.

The beach closure went into effect at noon, to allow workers to begin cleaning up the oil, according to Nora Combel, with the mayor's office. People are advised to stay off the beaches, and they will be asked to leave if they are caught trespassing, she said.

Read more: http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/grand_isle_closes_beaches_due.html

---

To add insult to injury, media access is being restricted to ascertain the extent of the carnage:

A journalist's Twitter feed on scene: http://twitter.com/MacMcClelland

Column on how media must be embeds to cover the oil spill crisis: http://www.opednews.com/articles/What-BP-s-Blocking-of-CBS-by-Kevin-Gosztola-100520-985.html

[ananda]

22. Boy...

... that's worse than bad.

[KamaAina]

23. Essentially the only beaches in Louisiana

most Louisianians go (or rather, went :( ) to neighboring Mississippi's beaches.

Grand Isle is reached by one long stretch of two-lane state highway; it's a BITCH to evacuate from an approaching hurricane. Besides beaches and fishing, there's not a whole lot of reason to be out there. :(

[pitohui]

32. actually it's a v. popular and important recreation area, state park, refuge, and oil refining area

i would say there's lots of reason to be out there, heck, i was out there myself a couple, three days before the disaster (migratory bird fest, have had many good sightings and profound experiences there over the years)

while it's true that in summer months the primary reason for tourists to visit would be the fishing rodeos and other hot weather beach activities then at other times of year, particularly during migration, it's an important migration point (similar to high island in texas)

in addition there's the exxon fields on grand isle itself and other oil field industry right there in port fouchon so there's a lot of business reason to be out there

highway 1 has been "improved" by the addition of some kind of high tech cashless toll system but it's a good wide smooth road, i could do without the hassle of a toll, but it's a good road


there happened to be a huge number of dolphins when i was out there last month, i hate to think what may have become of them now

:-(

[RKP5637]

24. Media blocked... now we know it's really bad. Just like a totalitarian country. USA, Inc. People

and wildlife are an inconvenience to the profit objective.

[nc4bo]

31. I hear you! nt

[Angry Dragon]

25. Freed om of free speech

Where are the tea-baggers on this oil spill?? Why are they not out yelling that others have been denied their right of free speech??

Does free speech only apply to one side and not the other?? They are always ready to claim their rights, I wonder why they NEVER stand up for others to have their rights

[Grinchie]

26. I visited Grand Isle Louisana over 40 years ago as a child.

I have vivid memories of how isolated and beautiful it was. There was a palpable sense of ancient history in the structures, and the surrounding areas of natural beauty were awe inspiring. I still have vivid memories of that visit 40 years later, and it saddens me to think about the onslaught that will arrive in the future, despoiling this area and the entire coastline of the Gulf for several generations to come.

If the American public cannot hold these Corporations and their paid off Engineers, Mouthpieces, Politicians, Lawyers, Judges, and other drones accountable, then we are all lost.

As soon as people realize this, they need to question whether the American Tax Dollar is actually worthy enough to be paid.

In my opinion, I receive nothing but heartache from the thought about where the tax dollars go.. Perpetual War, County and Government sevices that are wholly broken, and social services that are merely present in name only to placate the uninformed.

Kill the Corporation. Stop buying their crap, and try making your own things that you need. You may be surprised how easy it is after you get the hang of it. But, you may become enraged when you see that the simple necessities have been swept away in the name of technology and "Efficiency". Starve Corporate America! Feed yourself. Provide for yourself!

[suston96]

28. I visited the Mississippi Gulf Coast some 50 years ago.

I was attending Keesler AFB Electronics school. Took my two little girls to the beach somewhere between Gulfport and Biloxi, Mississippi.

As we approached the surf, very mild surf, I noticed black balls in the water/bottom, sized somewhere between golf balls and marbles.

They were tar balls. Lots of of them. We didn't go in.

There were no reports of spills or disasters out there that I can remember. But the tar balls were there. That I can remember.

[RKP5637]

29. As long as the corporations own the gov. not much will happen, and the

supreme court is apparently more than happy to have the corps. own the gov.

Americans are brainwashed with propaganda in this country. When is the last time anyone asked the people about wanting perpetual war and broken gov. services, etc., etc. We get to vote, that's about it, and I think many American voters are wholly uninformed.

They listen to the wrong people for the wrong reasons, are gullible, and often vote in the wrong people for the wrong reasons. And many just don't give a damn, too lazy, too ignorant and/or too complacent.

And how many think wall street, oil corporations, insurance companies and the rest of the herd do that great a job of running the country.

[revolution breeze]

30. I was there in January

I am pissed!

[Bitwit1234]

27. I was watching the weather channel for my local weather and

I see where they expect bad thunderstorms in that area. I was wondering about something people never thought of, or they might have.

If you have the oil come ashore and there it is, all over the place, and you have a terrific thunderstorm with a lot of lightening, wouldn't it be dangerous. Because if the lightening sparked some of that oil, how far inland would it burn and would it destroy a lot of the area. I was worried about if there were people and houses in the vicinity.

Just one more thing to worry about.

[pitohui]

33. yeah i was wondering the same thing

i wish i hadn't thought of it

[time_has_come]

34. NYT: Oil spill's ugly reality sets in

Source: New York Times

Reporting from Grand Isle, La.

This seven-mile squiggle of homey rentals and streets with names like Redfish and Speckled Trout had wrung hope for weeks from a single belief: Oil would land somewhere else.

But on Friday, oil the color and consistency of brownie batter began tarnishing the shore of Grand Isle, a tourist town of 1,500 that draws its livelihood from thousands of weekend visitors.

The dark ooze — the first direct hit from the massive gulf oil spill on a populated, popular shoreline — deepened anger and anxiety on the Louisiana coast as the slick swirled offshore with no containment in sight.

...

"This place is shot now," she said, her voice quavering.



Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-oil-spill-landfall-20100522,0,3741309.story

---

if there is a God...

[saigon68]

35. Its an Oily mess

Pass the Lobster Thermidor and the Dom Pérignon shouted the BP President.

Lobster Thermidor is a luxurious French dish consisting of a creamy mixture of cooked lobster meat, egg yolks, and cognac or brandy, stuffed into a lobster shell, and optionally served with an oven-browned cheese crust, typically Gruyère. The sauce must contain mustard (typically powdered mustard) in order to be true to the original recipe and to have the distinctive Thermidor taste.

Lobster Thermidor was created in 1894 by Marie's, a Paris restaurant near the theatre Comédie Française, to honour the opening of the play Thermidor by Victorien Sardou. The play took its name from a summer month in the French Republican Calendar, during which the Thermidorian Reaction occurred, overthrowing Robespierre and ending the Reign of Terror. Due to expensive and extensive preparation involved, Lobster Thermidor is usually considered a recipe primarily for special occasions. A related lobster recipe is Lobster Newberg.

[lib2DaBone]

36. ..and no one in Washington seems overly concerned to stop the spill...

.. they are worried about how many gallons of crude BP can recover in the process.....

[MadMaddie]

38. Ummm wrong

It's BP that is trying to salvage the oil...last I checked the President doesn't own BP. BP is also trying to cover up the animal deaths by preventing animal rescue groups from helping and reporting the statistics. Instead they are hiring their own companies to hide the numbers.

Now my issue is why are the local states and the Gov allowing BP to dictate who can help with the shore cleanup? BP doesn't give a shit about the coastlines...afterall they are a British company.

I heard something today that everyone should look into, if you have retirment funds and other funds that invest in BP go and remove BP from your portfolio.

[BrklynLiberal]

37. this is beyond tragedy..It is a crime of huge dimensions.

[bulloney]

39. But, but Faux Snooze and BP say it's not that bad.

[scentopine]

40. Thanks for link - but source is LA Times - no?

[time_has_come]

41. Gha! Good eye, thanks. Edit period is over. LOS ANGELES TIMES PEOPLE, sorry.

[scentopine]

42. You are welcome - great link. It is a struggle to find anything at all. - nt