The torrential storms in the southeast affected clean-up operations in the Gulf of Mexico, where federal emergency responders along, with contractors for British Petroleum are desperately trying to contain the oil spill that continues from the Deepwater Horizon, an oil well which caught on fire and sank in the Gulf.
Storms are preventing cleanup efforts of the spill, which threatens to land on the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi , Alabama and Florida. BP PLC Chairman Lamar McKay appeared on ABC’s “The Week” today, saying that oil is continuing to leak out of the well at a much higher rate than was expected due to a malfunction in a safety valve known as a “blowout preventer.” McKay told ABC that crews aresix to eight days from containing the leak with a 40 foot tall box that will rest on the sea floor, over the old well.
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Sunday news programming has been abuzz with criticism of BPs, who many are accusing of vastly underreporting the extent of the spill.
President Obama, who flew to Louisiana to monitor operations, assured the nation that BP would be footing the bill for cleanup operations, while Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano appeared on “Fox News Sunday” to tell viewers that an "all-hands-on-deck" approach was being implemented to combat the ecological disaster.
Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal was more candid in a press release today, openly questioning BP’s ability to respond to the disaster. The governor said that a contingency plan was being rolled out by the state to protect it’s coastline.
“We are past the point of waiting," Jindal said in the release.
The oil spill is expected to make landfall soon in Louisiana. The region is dependant upon crab, oysters, shrimp, and redfish fishing industry which could face a crisis worse than the one posed by Hurricane Katrina five years ago.
Panic is setting in for other Gulf states that are projected to be affected by the oil spill. A class action lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court for Florida on behalf of residents and small businesses there against BP, Transocead LTD, and other corporations involved with the operation of the Deepwater Horizon.
