Mood:  happy

They finally have the well capped. That is great news and the reports I keep hearing out of PCB is that the beaches are in beautiful shape.

That is great news, BUT please don't forget the people of the gulf. Especially Louisiana. Some of the marshes are in bad shape and though BP and the government is saying nature is taking it's course, I suspect there is plenty of oil underneath the surface.

Mood:  incredulous

The following was posted on newsherald.com

NEW ORLEANS — BP says oil from its broken well has stopped gushing into the Gulf of Mexico for the first time since April.

The announcement Thursday came after company officials said all valves had been shut on a new cap over the busted well in an experiment to stop the spill.

Kent Wells, a BP PLC vice president, said at a news briefing that oil stopped flowing into the water at 2:25 p.m. CDT.

It was a long-awaited milestone in one of the nation’s worst environmental disasters. While not a permanent solution to plug the busted well, the success in capturing the oil spewing out was welcome news.

The crisis began when BP’s deepwater rig exploded, killing 11 workers.

The cap is not a permanent fix. BP is drilling two relief wells so it can pump mud and cement into the leaking well in hopes of plugging it for good.

Mood:  happy

Bay County beaches remained clear throughout the holiday weekend, Bay County Emergency Services Chief Mark Bowen told the Bay County Board of County Commissioners at their regular meeting Tuesday.

"The NOAA trajectories show the oil well away from Bay County shores," Bowen said. "It's about 125 miles south-southwest of the pass. I anticipate that in the coming days the weather will continue to be favorable for us."

As of Tuesday afternoon, state emergency management officials had received one report of about a dozen small tarballs being collected at Shell Island.

Bowen said BP contractors continue to scour Bay County beaches for signs of oil and worked through the holiday weekend doing so, though no significant amounts of product were recovered. He said some 1,000 contract employees are currently working here, with approximately 750 on duty during daylight hours and another 250 working at night.

Bowen added that crews were working to open Lake Powell so that rainwater collected there may escape -- he said the waterway would be closed again to protect it from oil intrusion after it sufficiently drains.

Bowen also reported to the board that the U.S. Coast Guard and BP officials at the highest levels are currently reviewing the pass project for reimbursement to Bay County. A BP official publicly committed to paying for the approximately $3 million effort at a meeting a couple of weeks ago.

"I don't see any impediment to getting to that public commitment that BP already made," Bowen said. He said that the state and federal permits were received as quickly as they were is promising. "I expect to hear back on that very shortly."

Last week, responders received a rash of reports of oil sheen and mousse off Bay County beaches late Thursday and early Friday morning. None of the reports, however, was determined to have been oil product, but rather was found to be naturally occurring substances such as seagrass and algae. Click here to read a press release about discerning oil from naturally occurring substances.

Mood:  celebratory

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!

The following was reported on another website by a dependable person: I must say the trash is a lot less today than it was last Sunday. Very little if any seaweed on the beach and the water is clear. Seas are calming down and maybe a 2 foot surf. The front that passed yesterday has cooled things off and made things very comfortable. Talked to two people taking water samples wearing lifejackets and hip waders. Had some kind of gismo on a long pole that they were dropping in the water and reading the results. Said it was taking the ph balance of the water and they had been taking samples since May 12th and haven't seen any change.