Have You Forgotten the Spill? The Southern Economy Verging on Collapse!

It drives me crazy how the majority of the media has completely forgotten about the BP Oil Spill when the worst is happening right now. I just can't believe how fellow Americans are down there suffering from oil, corexit, heavy metals, and economic collapse while the rest of the nation completely forgets about them due to this ridiculous cover up. The most of us can't do anything to help especially people who live in the far north like me but even so I think it shows some sort of respect for those suffering if we at least take the time to remember the trials southern Americans are facing right now.

Oil's all gone right? Hmmmm, guess not.
Photos take of Gulf Wetlands October 30, 2010 by Pam Brundige

Desperation: “Local economy will completely collapse” without help soon — “Going to be true devastation”

Shuckers Oyster Bar at the Wharf is not closed, but it looks like it. At noon on Monday, what should be the middle of the lunch rush, there were only two tables in the restaurant. … [Manager Teri Days] told us the restaurant has only received one check for just $1,000. She knows many other businesses are in the same fix and she said without help soon the local economy will completely collapse. “This is going to be true devastation for a large part of our community if something is not done,” she said.

ANOTHER: Florida physician refers patient to toxicologist, who concluded “symptoms are due to the elevated, abnormal levels of chemicals present in my system from the Gulf oil spill”

Okaloosa Island resident Joseph Yerkes says he recently tested positive for high levels of volatile solvents in his blood and is being treated for toxic exposure. His longtime attending physician at the Immediate Care Center in Fort Walton Beach performed the test at Yerkes’ request, after he experienced multiple symptoms related to exposure of this type, such as tiredness, lethargy, headaches, blisters, non-healing sores on his elbows and head, as well as an aggravating cough and chronic body aches. Yerkes was referred to a toxicologist following testing. The doctor gave him the sobering news. “He was very clear about his diagnosis, explaining how dangerous and damaging these chemicals can be to our bodies, and concluded all of my symptoms are due to the elevated, abnormal levels of chemicals present in my system from the Gulf oil spill,” the former Vessels of Opportunity operator, who was employed by BP, told The Sun in a recent e-mail. … Yerkes’ physician’s suggested treatment includes diet and his temporary relocation. “It’s very hard to accept the fact that I have to leave the Gulf of Mexico,” Yerkes said.

Crab containing 8,815 ppm of hydrocarbons had NO smell or sight of oil — “We were astonished there were levels like that”

Blue crab samples in the Atchafalaya Bay contained a dangerously high 8.815 mg/kg of hydrocarbons, for example, according to LEAN’s [Louisiana Environmental Action Network] reports. “When we took samples, there was no visible smell or sight of oil,” [Mary Lee Orr, executive director of LEAN] said. “We were astonished there were levels like that. You can’t eat a crab like that, with those levels of hydrocarbons.”

BP cleanup worker: “They was spraying them chemicals on us at night, while we was sleeping”

Here's the link to the website I get my info from. GulfSpill It's the best source to understanding what is really happening down there.

I have no dog in this fight. The main thing to consider is regardless how you feel, the oil spill was at best, a regional issue. Not earth shattering nor even affecting most of America. Now, the media has shifted to the elections which does affect all of America.

I saw this the other day. Number of residents denied... about how the BP fund is not giving out money due to improper paperwork or fraud.

Thanks for the reply.

I know it's not Earth shattering but I imagine to the people living through it down there who had there lives uprooted it might be kinda Earth shattering. Anyways you do have a point but still I don't understand why the majority of people have just forgotten about it when the worst is yet to come.

Honestly I can say I have avoided eating sea food but now I don't know if I will ever trust it again. Thanks for posting up, I live in FL so this hits home for me.

It's most considerate of you to have thoughts about our neighbors in the gulf.

Some of the best oysters in the US come from the West Florida coast.
And the crab are out standing.
Well, they were good at one time.
That time is gone for now and is missed.

I live on the east coast and can only imagine how devastating the oil spill was to so many people.

But I'm afraid that is yesterdays news to most people.
And what a shame that is.

reply to post by dizziedame


You're right it is considered yesterdays news. I really don't understand why when the worst is happening right now but oh well I guess it's just not as entertaining as it used to be.

reply to post by hinky


is it just me or are bp
paying billions to every ... person who has a cold in america

reply to post by bigbrek


I expect BP to come nowhere close to spending the $20 billion. I'd expect 5 to 7 billion, maybe 10 billion.

The little guy is going to take it up the shorts regardless of what our nanny state says. I see many court battles that only lawyers get rich from. It will take years to settle these nuisance cases (in the eyes of BP), but the little guy still has to do something in the mean time.

I eat no seafood to start with. I do not vacation nor travel in the gulf states. Like +200,000,000 other Americans, life goes on. If I had a business related to tourist, be it a restaurant or even a charter boat, yeah; I'd probably be mad as hell.

How do you realistically document how much business you lost during a recession? It would be hard without cooking the books. This is where fraud starts....

reply to post by Lupin

I figure the best thing I can do to help is to visit and inject a few bucks into the local economy...so I will, later this month.

Originally posted by robbinsj
Honestly I can say I have avoided eating sea food but now I don't know if I will ever trust it again. Thanks for posting up, I live in FL so this hits home for me.

Yeah, I live below Tallahassee, and as soon as I heard about the oil well blowing up, I knew it was going to be a problem with the seafood. So the wife and I filled up a large chest freezer with shrimp to get us through some months where we refuse to buy anything coming out of the Gulf.

And I love steamed blue crabs, and have ordered some recently from an outfit in Crisfield, Maryland. I asked them specifically where the crabs are coming from, and they said upper Chesapeake Bay.

But here's the thing that bothers me. I don't trust anyone these days, and I know when I lived in Maryland, most of the crabs sold there came out of Louisiana, since the Chesapeake Bay even back then (prior to 1990) was considered dead, or nearly so, from oxygen depletion coming from fertilizer runoff from sources like the Susquehana river.

So yeah, I'm worried that even though I have bought crabs from Maryland, are they REALY coming from Louisiana anyway? I'm betting crabbers in LA are selling that stuff for a song remotely, because locally no one is buying ANY of it.

Anyone here live up on the eastern shore of Maryland and have any insight on this?

The thing that infuriates me is that they're still spraying that Corexit s**t despite vast evidence it's killing and debilitating all the life it contacts. Where is the uproar!?!

This couldn't be part of a eugenics program, could it...?