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  President Barack Obama

  President Barack Obama Investigates Spill From Air.
• Flow moving towards coasts of Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.
• Cause of April 20 oil rig explosion still a mystery. Eleven killed.
• BP Petroleum, the rig's lessee, fails to find shutoff valve to stop spill.
• About 2 million gallons of oil on the water to date.
• About 5,000 gallons have been spilled to date; experts fear number could climb to 25,000 daily gallons.
• Louisiana catastrophe could top the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill of 10.8 million gallons in Alaska.
• Coral reef ecosystem in Florida Keys could be at risk if spill is not stopped, biologists say.
• Louisiana fishing industry, already decimated, could be permanently wiped out, according to marine sources.
• Hotel operators, bar owners and tour companies fear huge loss of business from travelers in the U.S., Europe and Asia who may curtail trips to the Southeast.
• News media in Europe posting tragedy on front pages.

The Louisiana oil spill is in its 13th day of destructive momentum. No relief is in sight.

The spill is 100 miles long by 48 miles wide. The oil today is moving towards the coasts of Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. Emergency modes have been declared by governors in the three states.

Oil spill map, Louisiana (click here to enlarge map)

The 'Deepwater Horizon' oil rig, about 50 miles off Louisiana, sank after an April 20 under-water explosion and fire that apparently killed 11 platform workers. The explosion's cause has not been detected.

An estimated 5,000 barrels of oil are spewing daily from the rig that was leased by London-based British Petroleum PLC.  BP so far has failed to close the underwater shutoff valve from where the oil spill originated.

Gulf Coast commercial fishermen have filed federal lawsuits for millions of dollars against BP, charging that company is legally responsible for the spill.

About 1.6 million gallons of oil have been spilled to date.  The spill hit Louisiana's Chandeleur Islands Saturday. Louisiana's state bird, the endangered Brown Pelican species, reside on the islands.

Although oceanic experts already are calling the Louisiana spill one of the worst on record, it is still not as large as the historic Exxon Valdez spill at Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989.  About 10.8 million gallons of oil contaminated the Alaskan shoreline, slaughtered thousands of rare bird and animal species and devastated hundreds of fishing-related industries at that time.

President Barack Obama flew over the Louisiana oil spill site Sunday. He said White House plans to authorize new oil drilling in the U.S. are now on hold until scientists and engineers can create a device that would prevent massive spills in the near future.

Experts warn the flow estimate -- already quintupled from 1,000 barrels a day to 5,000 barrels a day -- may have to be quintupled again, to 25,000 barrels. And by every indication, it's going to get a lot worse.

The Wall Street Journal reports industry scientists say the permanent solution is to close the entire well. To do that, they must drill another hole--through 13,000 feet of rock a mile under the ocean's floor--that will intercept the leaking well. They can then pump in cement to try to plug the leaks.

However, a solution could be weeks away.

Jerry Ault

In the Florida Keys, Sean Morton, superintendent of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, tells Keynoter.com, "We are all very concerned. We're downstream from the spill. Anyone familiar with oceanography and the currents in the Gulf knows that if the spill gets into the Loop Current, it will come down through the Keys and into the Florida Straits."

"A major concern to me is the coral reef ecosystem on the tip of Florida," Jerry Ault, a University of Miami marine biologist, told the Miami Herald. "Technically, it's the only living coral system in the continental U.S., and it's a really sensitive system."

Paul G. Johnson, a policy advisor for Reef Relief, was in Alaska in the wake of the Exxon Valdez oil-spill disaster. Exxon Valdez could be eclipsed by the Gulf spill in terms of ecological damage, he says.

"This whole zone is a highly populated area with such fish as tuna, dolphin, wahoo, marlin, snapper, grouper and sharks, as well as turtles and birds," says a report from Roffer's Ocean Fishing Forecasting Service. "We are currently in the peak spawning season for Atlantic bluefin tuna, a threatened species, that are in this area now."

Documents also emerged Saturday that showed that BP played down the chance of such a massive spill occurring, according to the New York Daily News.

BP company officials in a 2009 exploration plan and environmental impact analysis claimed that an accident leading to a giant crude oil spill, and subsequent serious damage to beaches, fish and mammals, was unlikely, or virtually impossible.

The massive oil spill spreading out in the Gulf of Mexico has Florida's tourism industry on edge, reports the St. Petersburg Times.

Hotel operators, bar owners and tour companies know just how quickly travelers from the United States and overseas change plans when news of a disaster breaks, the Times reports

"Now, the news media in Europe has it as an environmental story,'' says D.T. Minich, tourism director for Pinellas County, who calls his contacts in Germany and England for daily updates."But the minute some of this oil makes landfall, it will become a tourism story about the beaches," he tells the Times.

A slick on Pensacola's beaches could curtail tourism as far away as Miami, since many overseas visitors will hear "Florida beaches hit with oil" and not make the distinction between particular locations.

"If (the spill) hits a Florida beach anywhere, it's like when we have a hurricane or wild fire,'' said Minich."A lot of people don't understand how big Florida is.''

The spill already is getting plenty of front-page play in the European media.

The Times of London had a headline on its website: "U.S. faces worst oil spill in its history." The BBC's story, with a headline of "U.S. steps up oil disaster response," did not mention Florida, at least not as of Thursday afternoon.

Carol Dover

Tourism ranks among Florida's top industries, along with health care and retailing. Tourists spent $65.2 billion in 2008 and supported just over a million jobs, according to Visit Florida, the state's quasi-public tourism agency. Overseas visitors are particularly valuable since they tend to stay longer and spend more.

Carol Dover, CEO. Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, urged visitors not to change vacation plans or scratch the state as a summer vacation choice. "Florida is open for business, and we welcome tourists to our 1,800 miles of coastline and 1,200 miles of sandy beaches,'' Dover told the Times.

"This is one thing that could hurt more than a recession, more than four hurricanes coming into Florida in one season," said Nicki Grossman, president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau and a member of the board of Visit Florida, the state's tourism marketing arm.

Nikki Grossman

"This could have lingering, disastrous implications," Grossman tells the Palm Beach Post.

"If we start seeing oil slicks washing up on our beaches, that could have a significant impact on tourism at a time when tourism is pretty weak to begin with," Sean Snaith, an economist at the University of Central Florida, told the Times.

"Talk about getting kicked when you're down."

Bargain-hunting foreigners have played a key role in tourism spending and real estate investment, but images of an oil spill might frighten them off, Snaith said.

Sean Snaith

Others are more optimistic. Roger Amidon, executive director of the Palm Beach County Tourist Development Council, said he does not expect oil to reach beaches here.

"Right now it doesn't seem to be a threat," he tells the Times.  "We're keeping a close eye on it, because we know how much of an impact it could have on tourism if it does hit."





 

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