Christy Murray -- sister of Chad Murray, who was rescued from the oil rig that exploded -- talks on the phone at a hotel in Kenner, La. Their father, Stanley Murray, left, talks to other crew members' relatives. (Gerald Herbert/associated Press)
The 'oil well (s)' need to be capped, otherwise, it will continue to leak oil and gas and all kinds of nasty stuff. If there is an oil slick, besides the environmental damage, it will make it extremely dangerous to carry out a search at all. The oil slick could ignite. Then there will be not just an oil spill but a burning sea from smoldering debris. That would be real interesting a chronically burning oil slick from a well that can't be capped.
...Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary E. Landry (click here) said crews saw a 1-mile-by-5-mile rainbow sheen with a dark center of what appeared to be a crude oil mix on the surface of the water. She said there wasn't any evidence crude oil was coming out after the rig sank, but officials also aren't sure what's going on underwater. They have dispatched a vessel to check.
The oil will do much less damage at sea than it would if it hits the shore, said Cynthia Sarthou, executive director of the Gulf Restoration Network.
"If it gets landward, it could be a disaster in the making," Sarthou said.
Doug Helton, incident operations coordinator for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's office of response and restoration, said the spill is not expected to come onshore in the next three to four days. "But if the winds were to change, it could come ashore more rapidly," he said....
The 'oil well (s)' need to be capped, otherwise, it will continue to leak oil and gas and all kinds of nasty stuff. If there is an oil slick, besides the environmental damage, it will make it extremely dangerous to carry out a search at all. The oil slick could ignite. Then there will be not just an oil spill but a burning sea from smoldering debris. That would be real interesting a chronically burning oil slick from a well that can't be capped.
...Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary E. Landry (click here) said crews saw a 1-mile-by-5-mile rainbow sheen with a dark center of what appeared to be a crude oil mix on the surface of the water. She said there wasn't any evidence crude oil was coming out after the rig sank, but officials also aren't sure what's going on underwater. They have dispatched a vessel to check.
The oil will do much less damage at sea than it would if it hits the shore, said Cynthia Sarthou, executive director of the Gulf Restoration Network.
"If it gets landward, it could be a disaster in the making," Sarthou said.
Doug Helton, incident operations coordinator for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's office of response and restoration, said the spill is not expected to come onshore in the next three to four days. "But if the winds were to change, it could come ashore more rapidly," he said....
