Gulf Coast : Oil Spill Cleanup Will Mean New Jobs For Many

The recent BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continues to dominate the headlines. The cleanup effort will be on-going and the damage the accident has cause will need to be assessed for a long time to come. As we move through the process of recovering from the catastrophe, one thing for sure : Many people with various skills will be needed to manage the outcome of the spill. Which means new jobs in the near future and for several years to come.
I spoke to Stephen Hinton, Managing Director of Hinton Human Capital to learn more about about how the recent spill may influence the job market.
What types of jobs may become available as a result of the spill ?
!) Clean-up personnel
The clean-up effort require Hazmat-trained workers who will deal directly with the oil clean-up, veterinarian medicine professionals who will take care of the animal life, and environmental engineers, microbiologists, and biologists who will manage the clean-up in the marsh areas.
2) Government appointed personnel
The government will need to hire damage-assessment officials to evaluate the damage to the harbors and waste-water treatment facilities. These jobs may be through FEMA or the EPA.
3) Scientists including ecotoxicologists, marine and fresh water scientists
Teams will be needed to monitor the ecosystem following the disaster of the Exxon Valdez spill that occurred over 20 years ago.
4) Landfill waste management personnel
Since the oil waste will have to be disposed of in a landfill, there will be a growing need for waste management.
5) Forensic investigators
Safety experts, structural engineers and process engineers will be needed to perform a failure analysis and determine what happened to the rig to cause the disaster.
6) Economists will be needed to analyze the economic impact of the spill.
Where will the jobs be posted ???
British Petroleum will list a number of environmental subcontractors that will be part of the effort. The Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana State Labor Departments also have information on many of these jobs as well as information on how to apply for Hazmat training. CareerBuilder is also listing many jobs relevant to the clean-up or you can check out this information on 400 positions open for the oil spill clean-up.
How important/marketable are Hazmat skills ??
"Anyone dealing with the oil spill will need some level of Hazmat training, and these skills will continue to be in high demand in the future, these skills may be quite transferable to other positions such as working with environmental contractors on emergency response efforts," Hilton said.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, environmental technicians will be among the top 10 fastest growing occupations over the next decade with a projected 30 percent growth. As we continue to become more environmentally conscious, these jobs will continue to grow.
My take : Well, you know how we feel about the spill , with the economy in the shape it is and the spill has put so many out of work, maybe some good can be found in this tragedy y putting people to work... well that is a wait and see game...stay tuned the oil spill tragedy saga will continue.
Kicking back and keeping it real.

BP's Next Attempt : Top Kill Fails "What's Next ??"

Robert,Louisiana ( May 30 ) - With BP declaring failture in it's latest attempt to stop the uncontrolled gusher feeding the worst oil spill in U.S. history, the company is turning to yet another mix of risky undersea robot maneuvers and longshot odds to plug the blown-out well.
Six (6) weeks after the catastrophe began, oil giant BP PLC is still casting about for at least a temporary fix to the spewing well underneath the Gulf of Mexico that's foulimg beaches, wildlife and marshland. A relief well that's currently being drilled - which is supposed to be a better long-term solution - won't be done for at least two months. That will be in the middle of the Atlantic hurricane season, which begans Tuesday.
Crews on ships work on skimming and collecting oil in the Gulf of Mexico this weekend. BP officials said Saturday that the latest attempt to plug the source of the worst oil spill in U.S. history has failed.
President Barack Obama said it is "as enraging as it is heartbreaking" that the most ambitious bid yet for a temporary failed. BP said the procedure known as the "top kill" failed after engineers tried for three (3) days to overwhelm the crippled well with heavy drilling and junk 5,000 feet underwater. Now. BP hopes to saw through a pipe leading out from the well and cap it with a funnel-like device using the same remotely guided undersea robots that have failed in other tries to stop the gusher.
This scares everybody, the fact that we can't make this well stop flowing, the fact we haven't succeded so far, BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said Saturday. "Many of the things we're trying have been done on the surface before, but have never been tried at 5,000 feet." Suttles said BP is already preparing for the next temporary fix. The company plans to cut off the damage riser, and then try to cap it with a containment valve.The effort is expected to take between four and seven days. We're confident the job will work but obviously we can't guarantee sucess, Suttles said of the new plan. He said cutting off the damaged riser isn't expected to cause the flow rate of leaking oil increase significantly.
Experts have said that a bend in the damaged riser likely was restricting the flow of oil, so slicing it off and installing a new containment valve is risky. "If they can't get the valve on, things will get much worse," said Phillip Johnson, an engineering professor at the University of Alabama. Johnson said he thinks BP can succed with the valve, but added: It's a scary proposition."
News that the top kill fell short drew a sharply worded response from President Obama on Saturday, a day after he visited the Gulf Coast to see the damage first hand."It is as enraging as it is heartbreaking, and we will not relent until this leak is contained , until the waters and shores are cleaned up, and until the people unjustly victimized by this man-made disaster are made whole," Obama said.
Frustration has grown as drifting oil closes beaches and washes up in sensitive marshland. The damage is underscored by images of pelicans and their eggs coated in oil. Below the surface, oyster beds and shrimp nurseries face certain death. Fishermen complain there's no end in sight to the catastrophe that's keeping their boats idle.Word that the top kill had failed hit hard in fishing communities along Louisiana' coast.
Everybody's starting to realize this summer is lost, and our whole lifestyle might be lost," said Michael Ballay, the Manager of the Cypress Cove Marina in Venice, La., near where the oil first made land-fall in large quantities almost two (2) weeks ago. The top official in coastal Plaquemines Parish said news of the top kill failure brought tears to his eyes.
"They are going to destroy south Louisiana. We are dying a slow death here," said Billy Nungesser, the parish president. "We don't have time to wait while they try solutions. Hurricane season starts Tuesday."
My spin on this disaster: Our way of life is all but gone...I cannot see us bouncing back from this soon, it will affect the whole planet and with climate change , when can we hope for some relief? The oil saga continues...Stay tuned.

BP And The Oil Spill :"Top Kill Operation" Will It Work ???

Baton Rouge, Louisiana - BP is reporting early sucess in its unprecedented effort to plug a mile-deep blowout in the Gulf of Mexico - a "Top Kill" operation that will pump heavy fluids ioto it's gushing oil well. An executive said it could take more than another day before it's clear whether the procedure actually blocked the flow of oil.
The top kill maneuver began this afternoon (May 26), BP said The company decided to allow continued live video footage of the site of the leak as it forces the chemicals and mud into the well.
Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer , said early indications are that the top kill is working. "The job has been proceeding as planned," Suttles told reporters tonight in Robert,Louisiana.
BP CEO Tony Hayward conceded failure in efforts to stop from reaching Louisiana's fragile coast, where shore birds and marshes have been coated in thick crude. "I was on the beach yesterday," he said on NBC's "Today" show."I felt devasted and gutted about what I saw. I feel that we have let people down in the defense of the shore , and we are going to redouble our efforts in thatendeavor...even if a cupful of oil gets to the beach, it's a failure." Hayward had been criticized for saying recently that he thought the spill's effects would be very, very modest."
The so-called top killed involves pumping the materials down the crippled oil well at a rate of up to 2,100 gallons a minute, using a 30,000-horsepower engine on a ship floating above. If that works, it would be followed by cement, which would seal the well permanently. The top kill is BP's lastest effort to try to stanch the leak that has spouted 210,000 gallons of oil off the U.S. coast each day since April 20 explosion tore apart it's Deepwater Horizon rig. That's a conservative estimate, and many experts believe even more oil is actually leaking. Eleven (11) workers died from the explosion, and the rig sanked two (2) days later.
Suttles said it could take more than another day before it's clear whether the operation succeded. "We want to make sure we do the job right, and thoroughly,
he said.If the top kill fails, Suttles said BP would try its third method of containing the oil: placing a dome over the rebuilt blowout preventer, which failed during the explosion . The containment dome, which is on the sea bed, would be deployed whthin four (4) days, he said.
The company is scrambling to get some good news before President Barack Obamam flies to the Gulf Coast on Friday, on his second visit to survey the damage and cleanup. Obama is said to be frustrated by the fact that BP hasn't been able to tamp the oil spill after more than a month, and has been guoted as telling aides in recent days: "Plug the damn hole." We're doing everything we can to bring this to a closure, Suttles said.
If top kill works, it could allow environmental experts to finally get a full handle on the actual size of the oil slick off America's coast, and possibly help limit damage to wildlife and marine animals. It could also help BP begain to mend its image. A CBS news poll released Tuesday Tuesday found thet 70 percent of Americans disapprove of BP's handling of the spill. The company has lost about a quarter of it's market value, or $50 billion, since the disaster began, according to Reuters.
Stopping the oil leak is also a key to Obama's approval rating - and that of the whole Democratic Party - Ahead of this year's important midterm elections . CBS found that 45 percent of American disapprove of the administration's response to the disaster. Updates as they become available: Stay tune the saga continues .
My spin on this disaster : Equirering minds wants to know why is BP didn't try top kill over a month ago. Did they think the oil would just go away if they ignore it? Did they not think the familes of the 11 men would just forget in a coule of days that their love ones was not with them any more? BP have caused so much damage and hardships on so many people, not only the ones in my part of the world, this affects the world in general with their negligent behavior and concern for the environment as a whole. It will take a long time for the coast and surrounding area to recover , but it will never be made whole again, take a look at what Katrina did to New Orleans and in a few days later Rita hit New Orleans and finish the job... Listen up folks hurricane season is upon us and can you imagine what damage it will do? BP is worrying about the money they have lost, never thinking about what we have lost.
Kicking back and keeping it real....

Oil Spill : Relatives Fear The Dead Oil Rig Workers Are Forgotten

While the world remains fixated on the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, L.D. Manuel says people are forgetting an important fact: 11 men, including his son, died when the oil rig blew up.
I'm following the coverage, but I don't know that I like what I'm seeing. Everyone talks about the birds and the damage to the gulf and everything, but they never talk about the guys that got hurt or died, says Manuel, who lost his son Blair in the explosion."That really bothers me."
The Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded just over a month ago, on April 20, and relatives of the 11 men who was killed said that it's understandable that the news media and the public are focused on environmental concerns, goverment regulations, politics , the future of offshore drilling. But they fear that 11 victims - their husbands, sons, grandsons, brothers - have been forgotten.
" I can see that, definitely, the oil spill is everyone's first priority now.It's such an environmental problem, I understand that," said Nelda Winslette, whose grandson was killed in the blast. "But those 11 men was trying to prevent the spill. Nothing ever gets mentioned about those men, and who they were."A memorial service on May 1 was held for the 24-year-old Weise (picture above) at the Lutheran church in Yorktown, Texas, his hometown. Relatives said it seemed the whole town came to pay their respects. "The church was filled to capacity in the balcony. That was really something , and it showed a special young man he was. It was unfortunate he only had 24 years," Weise's sister , Judy Henze said. "Adam Weise was a fisherman, hunter, he was a prankster. He was the kindest hearted young man," Winslette said."He would drop whatever he was doing to help anyone else. Winslette said Weise started working in the oil industry soon after graduting high school, working on land rigs. Then he got a job with the Swiss drilling company Trasocean, and began working offshore, she said.Money was naturally the reason he went there. The money was better than on land rigs, she said.
Another memorial was held Saturday in Bay City,Texas, the hometown of another man who was killed, Jason Anderson, a father of two (2). Transocean, owner of the Deepwater Horizon is flying relatives to Jackson, Mississippi, for another memorial on Tuesday, Winslette said.
Others lost in the accident included four Mississippians: Aaron dale Burkeen, 37, Karl Kleppinger, 38, Shane Roshto,22 and Dewey Revette, 48.
Four other Louisianians were killed:Gordon Lewis Jones, 28, Donald Clark,49, Stephen Curtis, 49, and Roy Kemp. 27.
Manual's son Blair was a native of Eunice,Louisiana. He grew up on a rice farm, whatever needed to be done he was there, willing and able. Blair Manuel, 56, attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, where he studied petroleum engineering, his father said, he worked on offshore rigs for more than a decade. "Blair and his fiance, Melinda Becnel planned to marry in July,their honeymoon, the wedding, everything else," his father said. Their honeymoon was planned for New Orleans. L.D. Manual said he spoke with his son about a week before the explosion.
Manual summed the aftermath of the blast this way : "It's unreal. The lost of a child is very, very sorrowful.
henze said she hoped the public remembers that the disaster in the gulf had more than environmental consequences. "When I hear anyone talk about it, they're always talking about the environmental," she said. "But this is also a human tragedy.
My spin on this awful tragedy : It was an unfortunate accident and I truly hope the public don't forget the ii lives that was lost. The families have our prayers.

BP Gulf Oil Spill - Leak Plume - Disaster Video