July 7th, 2010
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Author: Published: Wednesday, July 07, 2010, 7:28 PM
Developments today in the ongoing fight against the Gulf oil spill:
Choppy
seas held up oil skimming operations all along the Gulf coast, although
boats off Louisiana’s shoreline hoped to be back at work before the day
ended. In Mobile, Coast Guard Cmdr. Chuck Diorio said waves were seven
feet off the sea buoy in places, well above the four feet that serves as
the upper limit for most skimmers. Rough waves have halted offshore
skimming in Mississippi, Florida and Louisiana for over a week.
Religious
leaders who see environmental activism or “creation care” as a
religious duty are visiting the Gulf of Mexico, viewing regions hit by
oil from the spill and hoping to win converts for their cause. Members
of a loose coalition of religious groups committed to environmentalism
see the spill as a chance for an ecological Great Awakening, but doubts
persist in the region. Loyalty to the oil and gas industries make the
preachers’ message a hard sell for many believers.
The federal government is seeking to have a court
reinstate a moratorium on deepwater drilling. In a filing with the U.S.
5th Circuit Court of Appeals, the government argued for the reversal of a
judge’s ruling that the Interior Department failed to provide adequate
reasoning for the six-month halt to drilling. A lawsuit against the
moratorium was filed by Hornbeck Offshore, an oil field service company
that claims it would have severe economic consequences.
Roughly 420 birds harmed by oil have been found on the
coasts of Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, according to Ken Rice,
director of wildlife rescue in those states. About 190 of the birds were
found dead. The species hit the hardest has been the Northern Gannet,
which spends most of its life over open seas. Other birds impacted
include Brown Pelicans, terns, loons and shore birds. A substantial
number of birds harmed by oil are never found, Rice said.
The U.S. Attorney General’s office has asked BP for
advance notice of any asset sales or significant cash transfers, the
company said. Normally, the Justice Department doesn’t require advance
notification of such deals. The letter, from U.S. Assistant Attorney
General Tony West, underscores the federal government’s intense scrutiny
of BP as it struggles to cap the leak in the Gulf. A company
spokeswoman said BP will respond “in due course.”
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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