World Of Tourism

Back in April a British Petroleum (BP) oil rig exploded 5,000 feet below the ocean in the Gulf of Mexico. Considered the greatest environmental catastrophe in the nation's history, some reports suggest the rig is hemorrhaging over a million gallons of oil a day.

According to Greenpeace, a non-profit created almost 40 years ago to raise public awareness about environmental issues, the spill is estimated to be more than 130 miles long and 70 miles wide. How big is that? Long Island is approximately 118 miles west to east and approximately 23 miles wide. This oil leak is so big it would cover all of Long Island – from Manhattan to Montauk.

With multiple failed attempts to stop the leak, environmentalists, fishermen and citizens alike want to know how this fiasco is going to affect the Gulf, its shorelines, its eco-systems and its wildlife. The coastlines of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida have already suffered damage. The Gulf of Mexico is known for its desirable waterfront communities and vast fishing industry. How is this environmental disaster affecting that fishing industry? Is it affecting prices here on Long Island?

Steven Park has owned Natural in Garden City for two years. A specialty food store, he sells fresh fish daily. Park heads over to the famed 180-year-old Fulton Fish Market several times a week to carefully purvey the large selections of fish from around the world, including the Gulf of Mexico.

"The fish I was getting was from the Gulf – white wild jumbo shrimp," says Park. He prefers the shrimp from the Gulf Coast because they hold the best and have a flavor edge but says it's presently non-existent and is now buying from Panama.

"Prices are up 40 percent. Nobody is really talking about it, the long-term effect," Park adds. Right now jumbo shrimp at Natural are going for approximately $18 per pound and Park says it's still selling quite well.

Head Chef Steven De Bruyn of Rein at The Garden City Hotel uses approximately five different types of shrimp on his menu. "I like the ones from Vietnam for the price," says De Bruyn. "Right now the future is a huge unknown. I do feel a lot of the pricing is going up (on all fish) but we don't know what the final result is going to be."

Garden City's Waterzooi Belgian Bistro was voted as having the best mussels on Long Island served dozen of ways. The oil spill, however, will not affect their menu. Manager Alex says, "We get our mussels from different places but we get most of our mussels from Prince Edward Island." Jason over at Legal Sea Foods says the oil spill will not affect them either as they don't use any fish from warm waters.

Fulton Fish Market is the oldest fish market in the country and they collect data tracking various fish markets and fish imports. Looking back at July 2009, the United States imported shrimp from 48 countries around the globe, including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Monaco. Weighing in at 88,362 metric tons, Thailand was our biggest supplier one year ago.

The Gulf of Mexico is known for its shrimp. Prior to the BP leak, there was a huge campaign aimed at getting Americans to buy wild American shrimp from the Gulf. In addition to shrimp, the region provides almost all the oysters served in this country.

According to the Louisiana Shrimp Association, methane levels in the affected area are 100,000 times their normal levels. This is creating oxygen-depleted areas which are essentially dead zones. Larry Crowder is a marine biologist at Duke University: "The animals are already voting with their fins to get away from where the oil spill is and where potentially there is oxygen depletions," he said.

According to BP's website, as of June 28, 80,00 claims have been filed and 41,000 payments have been made totaling $128 million. Many of these initial claims are being made by Gulf fisherman who are presently unable to work do to these dead zones and closed fishing areas. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has the authority to close federal waters; it's already shut down a large area of the Gulf to commercial fishing.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently targeting oysters, crabs and shrimp because they have the potential to retain contaminants longer than fin fish. Fisherman will not be able to harvest the waters until the oil is no longer present and the seafood samples from the area pass various tests.

In addition to the closed areas, a new concern regarding dispersants has arisen. As of May 14, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted approval for BP to use subsea dispersants, which aid in the oil's separation and help it sink rather than flow on the surface. Dispersant proponents feel this will protect shoreline habitats. However, scientists and fishermen are going public with their concerns.

John Williams is executive director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance: "The EPA is conducting a giant experiment with our most productive fisheries by approving the use of these powerful chemicals on a massive, unprecedented scale after just three subsea tests."

Who's working to ensure the safety of the fish that makes it to market? That's the job of the FDA, which is presently working with several agencies including the EPA to monitor the impact on the seafood coming from the region. According to an FDA-issued press release, "although crude oil has the potential to taint seafood with flavors and odors caused by exposure to hydrocarbon chemicals, the public should not be concerned about the safety of seafood in stores at this time."

Up and down Seventh Street and Franklin Avenue, Garden City residents are enjoying chowders, sushi, raw-bar specialties and grilled seafood as 39,000 people assist the Gulf's clean up utilizing 5,000 vessels and 110 aircraft. The Gulf Coast fiasco has already trickled up to Long Island with rising seafood prices.

To track the latest observations, tar balls, oil slicks and fishing closures, visit www.geoplatform.gov, which provides a map of the affected areas. To volunteer with the cleanup, visit

gardencity.patch.com

July 6 (Bloomberg) -- Tullow Oil Plc, the U.K. explorer that plans to produce its first oil in Ghana this year, may expand drilling off the African country's coast.

Together with Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Kosmos Energy LLC and Ghana National Petroleum Corp., Tullow is investing about $3.35 billion to develop the Jubilee field and pump 60,000 barrels a day in November or December, the London-based company said today in a statement. Output will double in the following three to six months.

"We are now beginning to build up thinking in terms of the size and scope and scale" for further phases at Jubilee, Chief Financial Officer Ian Springett said today by phone. Jubilee's first phase consists of 350 million barrels of reserves, while the whole field holds as much as 1 billion barrels of resources. "That gives you the sense of the scope" of the field, he said.

Tullow would also be interested in examining assets that BP Plc may offer for sale to meet liabilities and costs to clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Springett said.

"We are always looking further afield and we look at all opportunities as they come along," he said. "A lot of people will be interested in BP assets."

"It depends of course for us where it is and if fits in our portfolio, if it makes sense to us."

There have been no delays in Tullow's joint projects with Anadarko, the Texas oil company that owns 25 percent of the damaged well in the Gulf of Mexico.

Anadarko remains "very committed to West Africa as we are" said Springett. "Things are moving fine on the operational level."

--Editors: Stephen Cunningham, Randall Hackley.



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www.sfgate.com

Washington, DC: A commission appointed by president Barack Obama to study the causes of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill gives academics and environmentalists a prominent role in making recommendations about the future of offshore drilling in the United States.



The seven-member commission is tasked with determining what caused BP's Deepwater Horizon explosion, and what should be done to prevent future spills. It is slated to hold its first public meeting July 12-13 in New Orleans, where it will hear from residents affected by the spill.



The panel is co-chaired by Bob Graham, a former Florida governor and long-time Democratic senator, and William Reilly, a former head of the Environmental Protection Agency who now runs an investment group for water projects and companies.



Reilly, a Republican, has taken a leave of absence as a member of the board of directors of oil major ConocoPhillips for the duration of the commission's investigation.



http://www.dnaindia.com

Skimming of spilled crude resumed in the Gulf of Mexico on Friday after the first hurricane of the Atlantic season forced the Coast Guard and BP to halt cleanup efforts for two days.

Rough seas and high winds from Hurricane Alex brought all surface skimming, controlled burns of oil patches on the water and spraying of chemical dispersants to a standstill. On Friday, skimmers were back at work along the shoreline and the Coast Guard was able to make a helicopter surveillance flight to assess the impact from the storm.

The spill began April 20, when BP's Macondo well blew out in mile-deep water, destroying the Deepwater Horizon Drilling rig and killing 11 workers.

As the cleanup resumed Friday, BP and government officials were trying to decide whether to replace the lower marine riser package cap that has been collecting oil from the well since June 3 with a cap that might collect more, but also would increase flow into the gulf during installation.

Officials probably will make that decision at the end of next week, after a new vessel is in place to double the rate of oil collection, retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, who is heading the government's response to the spill, said Friday.

Replacing the cap could boost collection capacity further, from 53,000 to 80,000 barrels per day, Allen said. But it would unleash torrents of oil for as long as it takes to remove a stub of riser pipe at the wellhead and to bolt another cap on top, he said.

The Discoverer Enterprise, which is connected directly to that riser, would be unable to catch any crude during the recapping process.

But two other vessels capturing oil -the Helix Producer and the Q4000 - would keep working.

"So it wouldn't be a complete, unmitigated release," Allen said. "But all of this is being weighed very, very carefully."

Replacing the cap is the latest in a string of proposals to capture more of the oil from a gusher that scientists say is spewing 35,000 to 60,000 barrels a day.

Before this week's hurricane, about 20,000 barrels of oil were being skimmed or burned off daily, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Paul Zukunft said in a briefing.

To date, 28.2 million gallons of oily water has been skimmed from the Gulf surface.


The Coast Guard said the U.S. Navy will provide 25 additional skimmers and 35 tow

boats to help in the effort.

http://www.sfgate.com

The Deepwater Horizon Unified Command plans to increase the number of skimmers available to a target of 750 by mid-July and more by the beginning of August.



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On the suspicious more than five weeks into the country's worst still oil spill, insisted President Barack Obama on Thursday that his management, not the oil giant BP, was calling the shots in the more and more vain answer.

Obama, who has come under greater than before pressure to show leadership over the free, suspended the planned examination off the coast of Alaska, and canceled a awaiting lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico and a future lease sale of Virginia.

Addressing journalists in the White House, a worn-looking Obama says his daughter had ask him when the oil will stop the leak.

"In container you are wonder who is responsible, I take blame," he said, leaning over his dais.

"It's my job to make sure all is done to shut this downward," he said.

The president rejected criticism that he and the federal management had not taken responsibility as BP Plc is under pressure to stop the gushing deep water oil well.

"There should be no mistake here. Federal authorities are dedicated, and I am in full swing," he said.

"From the moment the tragedy began, led the federal administration response efforts."

Offshore oil drilling is an significant part of Obama's efforts to rejig the nation's energy policy and a welcome inducement to get Republican support for a bill in the governing body.