Louisiana Governor Jindal says
still no plans from BP on cleanup
~Louisiana's governor says he still has not received detailed plans from oil giant BP PLC and the Coast Guard on protecting the state's coast from a massive oil spill.

~Louisiana Governor's Office of Homeland Security

Feds: Slick to slide west, financial help on the way ~WWL

As BP dithers and spins PR, oil spill aid heading to Gulf from Alaska, Pacific Northwest
Under a national compact, other states provide aid when one asks for help, Hart said. Louisiana made the request last week, and state and federal agencies in the Northwest and nationally have been drawing up lists of available assets.

~Oil in the Gulf has countless livelihoods in limbo
The Port of Gulfport in Mississippi is the nation's second-largest importer of green fruit, with Central American bananas from Chiquita and Dole accounting for 74 percent of its imported cargo in 2007. The Port of New Orleans handled 73 millions tons of cargo in 2008, including coffee from South America and steel from Japan, Russia, Brazil and Mexico. Three cruise ships also dock there, handling more than 600,000 passengers a year.
Upriver is the Port of South Louisiana, the nation's busiest with 224 million tons of cargo a year — mostly grain and other agricultural commodities, and chemicals from the scores of plants that line the river.
Recreational fishing draws some 6 million saltwater anglers a year, supports more than 300,000 jobs and contributes $41 billion dollars annually to the Gulf Coast economy, according to the American Sportfishing Association.
Louisiana is also America's top producer of shrimp, oysters, crabs, crawfish and alligators, shipping out 30 percent all the seafood in the lower 48 states, says Ewell Smith, executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board. That adds up to an economic impact of $2.4 billion a year. Louisiana fishermen landed 90.4 million pounds of shrimp in 2008, or 44 percent of U.S. production, and 207 million pounds of oysters, or 36 percent of the U.S. total, Smith says. Any hiccup in production opens the door to foreign competition, which already accounts for 80 percent of the nation's seafood.

Currents keep oil offshore says Lackey State University
~Ocean currents may be keeping a massive pool of thick, heavy oil — leaking from a well deep in the Gulf of Mexico — offshore and out of Louisiana’s marshes, barrier islands and coastline, a Meteorologist said Monday at academically, ethically and PR compromised Louisiana State University.

Officials on Mississippi coast press BP to pay for cleanup

Frustrated MS fishermen want work~Hundreds of frustrated South Mississippi commercial fisherman who may not be able to fish because of the looming oil spill showed up to a loosely organized meeting Monday hoping to learn more about cleanup contracts. The meeting was organized through word of mouth in the fishing communities.
Some there were concerned any oil spill cleanup work would go to out-of-state companies and Mississippi fishermen would be left out of the cleanup. They also were frustrated about the terms of some of the agreements fishermen have been signing.

The “fix” was in before the spill as Slabbed introduces its readers to the Oil Pollution Act

Senator: Can't let BP off the hook
~"BP says it'll pay for this mess. Baloney, they're not going to want to pay any more than what the law says they have to, which is why we can't let them off the hook."
~Florida Senator Bill Nelson

Florida officials say BP response too clumsy~BP officials may be hampering Florida's ability to protect fragile coastal ecosystems from the impact of what could be the worst oil spill in the nation's history, state officials said Monday.
Gov. Charlie Crist dispatched state Environmental Protection Secretary Mike Sole to the Mobile Unified Command center in Alabama this weekend, the hub of the federal and multi-state emergency response coordinated with British Petroleum.
"The message that was sent from me, through the secretary to the (Coast Guard), was that we need to stand up and get more aggressive about this," Crist said.
But echoing complaints during and after the response to Hurricane Katrina, there appears to be a lack of coordination between all of those involved -- including BP, Florida's chief financial officer, Alex Sink, said after visiting Mobile and the Panhandle on Monday.

Florida Keys to be next victim of BP Oil Disaster?
~Spewing forth what appears to be an unstoppable fount of greasy, heavy oil, the Keys and the east coast are now sitting in the path of the oil as it floats into the warm gulf current known as the “Loop.”

Texas governor pans drilling safety regulations, suggests ‘God’ to blame for BP Oil disaster
~Texas AG joins coalition to focus on Gulf oil spill

How the Beltway press (not Rush Limbaugh) launched “Obama’s Katrina”~Media Matters

Big Photos of Disaster @ Apr 30
~Hat Tweet~Erster

Nashville – A Week to Forget ~Dave Gutzman
~Unfortunately, an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a poorly made bomb in New York City, and the constant comedy of Washington DC all contributed to shield the world from the realities of our disaster. Thus, I want to leave my readers with a few images to paint a picture of the suffering and devastation that our proud city and state are battling to overcome.
The threat of additional levees breaking caused the evacuation of the Metro Center north of Nashville. The Corps of Engineers is on-site trying to prevent water levels from rising. (rut'row)
~Readers respond after Flood of 2010