Oil Spill in Gulf of Mexico

[Kat]

We are in for a MAJOR disaster with this oil spill, it is set to become one of the nation's worst ecological disasters. Eleven workers are missing and presumed dead. There are about 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) a day pouring in to the ocean every day. This spill could far exceed the 11 million gallons spilt from the Exxon Valdez tanker off Alaska in 1989. This is unbelievable. The oil has already reached the Louisiana coast, should begin coming in to the Mississippi coast in a few days and will probably reach Florida and Texas eventually.

The BP oil company was using remote operative vehicles to try and stop the leak, this proved to be too difficult. Now they have called in the US military to join efforts to stop the oil leak. They are now working on a "relief well" to intersect the original well to stop the flow, but this is experimental and do you know how long it could take, THREE MONTHS!! The scale of the operation to contain the oil spill is unprecedented, with the military and other government agencies collaborating with BP. Over 100 vessels are in the water to contain the spill, oil skimmers, tugboats barges and special recovery boats that separate oil from water, as well as five aeroplanes, working to spray dispersants and round up oil. But all these efforts are hampered by many things, the weather, and the sheer volume of the oil over a tremendous area.

Here on the MS coast they have opened an emergency shrimp season to all shrimpers, so they can get as much out of the water as they can before the oil comes in. This may shut down shrimping, fishing and oyster beds for possibly years in all the waters off these states, which would be a major disaster for so many that depend on these industries for their livelihood. Also this is a huge catastrophe for the wildlife that lives in the fragile off shore islands and barrier marshes ecosystems, as it is now closing in on the Mississippi River Delta at the mouth of the river. These areas are major spawning grounds for many species and migrating songbirds, ducks and geese use these areas to stop over on their long journey. Not to mention those animals that live permanently in these waters. Many cleanup crews are already setting up stations in these states for the wildlife they know will be coming in.

I could go on and on about how grave this situation is, but I will stop now, I think you get the idea of what I am saying. Our prayers are needed!

mercy, peace and love
Kat

[Dave in Tenn]

Let's not forget that God is responsible for all the GOOD that comes out of evil events.  Jesus wept, and He also raised Lazarus from the dead.

Been thinking about you south coasters since news of this calamity broke.  God give you grace.      

[Kat]

Hi John,

Yes God in His sovereignty is responsible for this disaster and all else. It is in the face of these types of things that people are given the opportunity to do good. Yet many may not actually be able to do something physically to help in this situation, but any of us can offer prayers.

Which leads to the question for what we should pray to Him about this disaster?

This disaster has happened and of course that was the will of God, but now what will happen from this point on is not known to us. Because we know He is in control that is the reason we should pray to Him, not that He would change what has happened, but that these things that are happening form now on will go well. So we could pray that they find a way to stop the leak sooner than is expected, that would be a good things and we do not know that that would not be the will of the Father. We could pray that the people who will be losing there means to support there families would find other work. We could pray for the venerable wildlife, that they might be kept out of harms way, if it was according to His will. All of these things are possibly in the will of the Father and could happen. It would be nothing wrong to beseech Him for something that would be good, because it is a positive thing to want good to come from bad and of course we need to seek the Father to bring that about. This may very well be a means that God uses to bring His people closer to Him... when we see a great need for His help then we draw closer to Him, in prayer.

So the way that I see it is God wants us to come to Him and talk to Him about our concerns and since we know He is sovereign, then we should ask Him to help when we see or hear of a need as in this grave situation. Evil things happen, even when it is God's will, but He can bring good out of it.

Gen 50:20  But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good...

mercy, peace and love
Kat

[darren]

Hey Kat, The sad thing about this whole situation is that the oil that is gushing into our Gulf could have been prevented. Many oil rigs have an emergency shut down valve. This is not mandatory by the federal Government. Some rigs have them and some don't. This one did not. Now our coast will pay a great price. The damage will be felt for many yrs to come.

                                Darren

[Deborah-Leigh]

Some words of comfort.

God knows what He is doing.

Isa 26:17  Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, O LORD.

Gal 4:19  My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,

Pro 3:25  Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh.

1Th 5:3  For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

1Th 5:4  But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

1Th 5:5  Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

1Th 5:6  Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

1Th 5:7  For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.

1Th 5:8  But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

1Th 5:9  For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

This is not doom and gloom, it is a process of great necessity that shall end in purged perfection and holy purity. The straining sifting and threshing will end.

Mic 4:9  Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail.Our King is Christ. He is Risen. Our Counsel is the Comforter who lives within us and among us.

Rev 9:6  And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

Heb 10:16  This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

Heb 10:17  And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
Rev 2:10  Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

Rev 3:10  Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

Kathy, you might recall, a few years ago you wrote the following encouragement for me, that again is returned to you and all those with you, with love.  :)You wrote Luk 12 :32 as a comfort and it was, and you entered an excerpt from Ray that spoke of Jesus causing His Disciples to cross the turbulant sea and they did not want to go! We know that feeling!

Luk 12:32  Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

John

Your gentle submission in Faith OF the Lord shines through. What a blessing.
I hope the outcome of Gods Work and the Hope that is to garrison our hearts in Peace, finds comfort in your understanding of His Great Word and Work.

1Pe 4:19  Wherefore let THEM THAT SUFFER ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF GOD commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

Do any of us consider what God has to be going through to cause such catastrophy?

Like having to take the stitches out of a child. It will hurt but it has to be done! God is surely a God of long suffering, mercy, pity and great Love.

Arc

[Patrick]

Hey Kat, The sad thing about this whole situation is that the oil that is gushing into our Gulf could have been prevented. Many oil rigs have an emergency shut down valve. This is not mandatory by the federal Government. Some rigs have them and some don't. This one did not. Now our coast will pay a great price. The damage will be felt for many yrs to come.

                                Darren

Where did you get this information about the Deepwater Horizon not having an "emergency shut down valve", aka BOP (blow out preventer)?

[Kat]

Hi Arc,

Thanks for the encouragement. I know these type things must come to pass, but it is a sad thing to witness it happening. So at times like these we have to rely on the fact the God knows what He is doing.


Patrick, here is info about the shut off valve.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL/BUSINESS
APRIL 28, 2010
By RUSSELL GOLD, BEN CASSELMAN And GUY CHAZAN

U.S. regulators don't mandate use of the remote-control device on offshore rigs, and the Deepwater Horizon, hired by oil giant BP PLC, didn't have one. The efficacy of the devices is unclear. Major offshore oil-well blowouts are rare, and it remained unclear Wednesday evening whether acoustic switches have ever been put to the test in a real-world accident. By 2003, U.S. regulators decided remote-controlled safeguards needed more study. A report commissioned by the Minerals Management Service said "acoustic systems are not recommended because they tend to be very costly."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704423504575212031417936798.html

mercy, peace and love
Kat

[Linny]

Patrick, the news here in KY also talked about the shut off valve. Said other countries mandate they have them to operate, just not us.
Kat, it is a very sad thing and we are concerned for all those involved.
I realize all situations are unique but one thing that gives me hope is that past oil spills have always cleaned up much faster than expected. God designed the oceans for self-cleaning which helps us so much in our efforts.
Praying...
Lin

[aqrinc]

Hi fellow travellers,

Rest, rest and know that nothing happens by chance. Btw, oil is biodegradable, look at the last spill Exxon Valdez, or any number of other occurrences worldwide. Think the massive volcanic eruption has no effect on ecology?. This Earth Created By GOD Through Christ Jesus, can take care of itself easily, it always has, for over 4 billion years. Rest and be still, know that GOD Is Right Next To You Always.

This Gift of Faith we have been given is to walk in it always, if we stumble, we stumble, but get right back up and start walking in faith again. No need to look at the raging sea, we can walk on any surface, and everything is a Spiritual Surface for us.

Rest, Peace, Know That Christ Has The Controls. Scripture tells us that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, will a thing be established, below are more than three, slam dunk, ESTABLISHED

Gen 26:24 (MKJV)  
And Jehovah appeared to him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham your father. Do not fear, for I am with you, and will bless you and multiply your seed for My servant Abraham's sake.

Gen 28:15  
And, behold, I am with you, and will keep you in every place where you go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you until I have done that which I have spoken of to you.

Isa 41:10  
Do not fear; for I am with you; be not dismayed; for I am your God. I will make you strong; yes, I will help you; yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness.

Hag 2:4-9 (ROTHERHAM)
4 Now, therefore—Be strong, O Zerubbabel, urgeth Yahweh, and be strong, O Jehoshua son of Jehozadak the high priest, and be strong, all ye people of the land, urgeth Yahweh, and work; For, I, am with you, Declareth Yahweh of hosts.

5 The very thing that I solemnized with you, when ye came forth out of the land of Egypt, That, my spirit abiding in your midst, ye should not fear.

6 For, thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, Yet once, a little, it is,—and I am shaking the heavens and the earth, and the sea and the dry land;
7 And I will shake all the nations, and the delight of all the nations, shall come in,—and I will fill this house with glory, saith Yahweh of hosts.

8 Mine is the silver and Mine the gold, Declareth Yahweh of hosts:
9 Greater shall be the last glory of this house than the first, saith Yahweh of hosts,—and, in this place, will I give prosperity, Declareth Yahweh of hosts.


Mat 28:20 (ROTHERHAM)
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I myself have commanded you, And lo! I, am, with you, all the days, until the conclusion of the age.

Act 18:10 (MKJV)
For I am with you, and no one shall set on you to hurt you, for I have many people in this city.

george .

[darren]

Patrick, heard it on the news. CNN, Fox, Msnbc and wwl radio here in New Orleans. I must say that I am not in the oil biz. so all I can do is go by what I heard. They said that they have special cut off valves of some sort that is not mandatory by the Federal Gov. if That was the case it would have prevented the spill. Now like I said I don't know if it is true or not. If so It is ashamed that Bp would not have spent the money on this. If it is false info. then chalk one more misinformation for the news media. It wouldn't be the first time. It is just a shame that thousands of families will loose their livelyhood and millions will be lost in the seafood industries which I do know much about. I will be directly impacted by the lose of shrimp, oysters, crabs and fish.

               Darren

PS Thanks Kat for that info.

[Patrick]

OK, their talking about the "remote" controls; the Deepwater horizon did have BOP's. That's what the robots have been trying to, albeit unsuccessfully, close.
Thanks for the info!

[Ellie]

Kat, thank you for posting this. I was quite shocked when I first heard about the oil spill on the news and the widespread effects. Then again I am shocked at so many events in the world.Will certainly be praying for all involved in the clean up and all affected.God's will be done.
                            Peace.....Ellie......

[Phil3:10]

Kat,
This oil spill is certain to be an ecological nightmare. Of course, our GOD is in control, and it is HIS will. My favorite saying when someone mentions the terrible conditions and evils in this present day is simply, "It is going to get worse."  I know that this is not very optimistic, but when I read the scriptures this thought is so very well confirmed. Earthquakes, wars, rumors of wars, that man of sin, the son of perdition., and so many other warnings.
In 2 Thessalonians verse 2, the sufferings, persecutions and tribulations we must each endure is so vividly pointed out. Verse 5 has such a beautiful answer as to the reason for our suffering. (vs 5) Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgement of GOD, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of GOD, for which you also suffer.
I don't think we have seen anything yet when it comes to suffering. With the economic, political, military, and moral condition of this world I shudder to think of what evil we must face.
However, we all know that our answer is not in this world but in HIM who creates all and is full of grace and mercy.
It is only in HIM that we can have any trust for HIS promises are faithful and true.
In HIM,
Phil3:10

[judith collier]

I pray for all the people involved in this mess to overcome and keep the faith. I think about all the young people who have begun to see disaster after disaster in our country and pray that they might seek God and have courage and learn. I trust God will be strong in them. judy

[Stacey]

Some of you may know that I work on a oil field boat so I wanted to share my two cents worth from my point of view and info and rummors from around the Oil Field Boat World with you all about the terrible accident that has resulted in the awful oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico which is not under control as I speak.

There has been a lot of bad news spread over the air waves and I'm sure that it seems almost impossible to know what is the truth concerning it all. First of all, lets not forget that eleven men lost their lives in this event and that fact should not be swept under the rug. Eleven complete families have been tragically affected by all of this and they should be remembered in our thoughts and prayers.

Moving on now, in a nut shell the truth is the system was designed with a fail safe system in place to prevent a disaster such as the one we have but the fail safe did not work, it failed. The fail safe part of it all is called a BOP = Blow Out Preventer, and is designed to do just that; prevent a blow out. As we all know by now the BOP's did not work for what ever reason; it is unknown to us and may never be known.

High dollar, high tech boats, men and equipment with remote controlled robots are on the seen now trying to shut one of the BOP but have not been able to do so yet. Keep in mind that they are attempting to do remotely what is designed to work automatically in 5000 feet of water. It is not an easy task!

Rest assured, the oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico is The Number One Top Priority getting addressed by the most intelligent individuals and technology available from around the world. To what extent the damage will be to the economy and environment is all speculation at this point. We just don't know what that will be until after the fact period.

Here is what I believe will happen. Eventually smart people on the seen of the gushing oil will figure a way to stop the spewing oil and that part of the problem will be fixed and then headway can be made with the clean up. The clean up will take time, a lot of time and money. The problem will be addressed with more stringent rules and regulations (as if the industry really needed that. I can tell you we are bogged down now with regulation) and we will move on from all of this, not before those in power over us figure out that this is one of those "never let a good disaster pass you up" moments where they will figure a way to squeeze more out of the little guy with oh maybe 6.00 a gallon gas, new taxes or worse but, that's just me speculating 

[aqrinc]

Hi Stacey,

You state it correctly from the perspective of what has happened, and what can happen as a result of the current ongoing problem (crisis?). No doubt those in charge, the rulers of this world physical and spiritual, will find many way to exploit this seeming tragedy for monetary and political gain.

My Prayers, Sympathy and Empathy is with the Families of those missing or Killed in the explosion and aftermath. Other than that though, i will stick with my first answer since GOD Is The Causer of All and HE Does Not Make Mistakes Ever.

Dan 4:1-37 Speaks Today as it does everyday about WHO CAUSES.

george .

[Kat]

The dome thing that had been specially built and was our best hope for a quicker fix to the oil leak pouing oil into the gulf DIDN"T WORK ! ! ! !  Ice crystals formed and did not allow the oil to flow up into the the hose to a barge. We are all kind of in shock down here and now we are back to waiting for them the drill the side wells and plug it up, many weeks for that and they are not sure it will work  

Kat

[Deborah-Leigh]

Oil spills, Volcanic ash, floods, earth quakes and Proverbs 30 :


Four things are too much for even the earth to bear, yes, four things shake its foundations –

When a janitor becomes the boss,
When a fool gets rich,
When a whore is voted "woman of the year,"
When a "girlfriend" replaces a faithful wife (The Message translation )

Arc

[Kat]

Who would have thought after this long they would still be fumbling around trying to get that leak stopped. It has nor reached the MS coasts yet, but it is like a looming monster out there growing larger every day. It is so frustrating to know that all that oil is just pouring out into the Gulf and the long term consequences there will be. Now they are saying that the government's estimate of 5,000 barrels a day may be greatly underestimated, as scientists believe it could be many times larger.

They have dumped more than 400,000 gallons of chemical oil dispersant into the Gulf, with more on the way. This is more of a means to camouflage what it really looks like, as the dispersant doesn't get rid of oil, but sinks it. It is disquieting to note that the material safety data sheet warns: "Do not contaminate surface water" and "Component substances have a potential to bioconcentrate." I wonder if these chemicals won't be a worse long term problem we have to deal. I sure wouldn't want to eat seafood contaminated with the stuff.

Right now they are desperately trying whatever they can, I hope they get it stopped soon. What a nightmare!

Kat

[Patrick]

Kat, it has been estimated that BP is losing $150,000/day in escaping natural gas, and $1.2 million/day in escaping oil; and with the cost of trying to get a handle on what has spilled out already, I don't think they are fumbling around.
Blowouts at this depth have never been experienced before; I believe if divers could get down there, this would be over and the clean up could start. The leak will get worse. The oil has sand particles and those particles are constantly eroding the pipe.
What a nightmare is right, I too pray they can get it stopped very soon!