Gulf Oil Spill : Officials Say BP Spill Now Hitting All Gulf States 'WTF'

Texas City, Texas - Tar balls from the Gulf oil spill found on a Texas beach were confirmed Monday as the first evidence that gushing crude from from the Deepwater Horizon well has reached all the Gulf states. Only about five gallons were found all together.
It still provoked the quick dispatch of cleaning crews and a vow that BP will pay for the trouble."Any Texas shores impacted by the deepwater spill will be cleaned up quickly and BP will be picking up the tab,"Texas Land Commissiner Jerry Patterson said in a news release. The oil arrival in Texas was predicted Friday by an analysis from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which gave 40% chance of crude reaching the area.
 Capt. Marcus Woodring, Coast Guard Commander, said the consistency of the tar balls indicates it's possible they could have been spread to Texas water by ships that have worked out in the spill. "This would be good news," he said. "The water still looks good. We've cautiosly optimistic this is an anomaly.
The distance between the western reach of the tar balls in Texas and the most eastern reports of oil in Florida is about 550 miles. Oil was first spoted on land near the mouth of the Mississippi River on April 29. The spill is reaching deeper into Louisiana. Strings of oil were seen Monday in the Rigolets, one of two waterways that connect the Gulf with Lake Pontchartrain, the large lake north of New Orleans. "So far it's scattered stuff showing up, mostly tar balls, It will pull out with the tide , then show back up," said Louisiana Office of Fisheries Assistant Secretary Randy Pausina.
Pausina said he expected the oil to clear the passes and move directly into the lake, taking a back-door route to New Orleans. The news of the spill's reach comes at a time when most of the offshore skimming operations in the Gulf have been halted by choppy seas and high winds. A tropical system that had been lingering off Louisiana flared up Monday afternoon, bringing heavy rain and winds. Forcasters at the National Hurrican Center said there was a 60% of the strom becoming a tropical cyclone.
My spin: This spill is going to get much worse before it gets better...folks we are in this for the long haul and our way of life is no more..
Kicking back keeping it real....Hope for the time I can report something good about the oil spill really soon.

Alex...First Named Atlantic Storm Moves Into Gulf

BELIZE CITY, Belize - Tropical Storm Alex moved into the Gulf of Mexico Sunday after weakening to a depression as it swirled across Belize and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, dumping rains that left at least four people dead across the region.
Alex is expected to regain strength in the coming days as it moves over warmer waters in the Gulf and possibly become a hurricane headed toward Mexico's eastern coast, well away from the area where BP PLC is trying to stop a massive oil leak, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.


On Sunday, Alex soaked parts of Central America and the Yucatan Peninsula with torrential downpours, forcing hundreds of tourists to flee resort islands. Winds were at 60 mph (95 kph) when the storm made landfall in Belize on Saturday night but had decreased to 35 mph (55 kph) by Sunday.
The hurricane centre said Alex is expected to become a tropical storm again on Monday. Rains will likely keep falling on southern Mexico and Guatemala until Monday afternoon.
The heavy rains prompted a landslide in northwestern Guatemala that dislodged a large rock outcropping, killing two men who had taken shelter from the storm underneath, according to the national disaster-response agency.
In El Salvador, Civil Protection chief Jorge Melendez said two people were swept away by rivers that jumped their banks. About 500 people were evacuated from their homes.
Authorities in both Guatemala and Belize were keeping an eye on rising river levels. One bridge in western Belize was swamped entirely, cutting off a remote Mennonite community. Seven homes in the Belize River Valley, outside Belize City, had their roofs blown off, and at least one structure collapsed.
Belize officials opened storm shelters in the island tourist resort of San Pedro, as 1,400 people fled for the mainland by plane and by boat.


Now all eyes are on the Gulf of Mexico.
When Alex became the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, officials immediately worried what effect it could have on efforts to contain the millions of gallons of crude spewing into the Gulf.
A cap has been placed over the blown-out undersea well, directing some of the oil to a surface ship where it is being collected or burned. Other ships are drilling two relief wells, projected to be done by August, which are considered the best hope to stop the leak.
For the time being, the storm appears likely to miss the oil-slicked region and make landfall in Mexico, apparently in Tamaulipas state — but meteorologists warned that a storm's track can quickly change.