OMG! Tropical Storm Alex has turned northward into the Gulf of Mexico!

Bp knew that by cutting corners and closing the well before the last plug was in place was a dangerous move, but then they aren't on the rig,those men meant no more to them than someone to get their oil out of the well. But I also blame the men on the rig that decided to cut these corners knowing that this a dangerous way to go. But most will do what told because of the "right to work" law that Louisiana has, you have a right to work here, but we have a right to come in at any time and fire you for no reason, so most don't make waves, my friend there has a son been on the rigs since he was 18 he is a welder and can get a job anywhere, he said his life is not worth it to cut corners and when they start witht that he is gone. I do not believe they are interested in stopping the leak, Bp would give anything to get their hands on Plaquemines Parish, and at the way it is going because I have heard that they are starting to evacuate the lower end now because of health reasons, sooner or later everyone will probably have to leave. If a storm somes in Plaquemines is about done for, for many years they have threatened to close lower Plaquemines down and with a storm it just might take everyone out of there for good.

I posted this discussion prematurely. The story I read was apparently posted after the storm took a more northerly direction but just as quickly turned westward again. I think it's despicable that they cannot stop this leak after so much time has passed. I don't care who you are or what you're doing, anything you do can have consequences and each one of us, including BP executives, should have plans in place to deal with any disaster. I guess BP never even considered something like this because it's apparent that they had no plan for it.

Hi Jen. I should have held off on this discussion because the storm once again turned westward. It's now supposed to make landfall somewhere near the Texas/Mexican border. It's still going to impact the oil disaster, though. Cleanup efforts will be affected and they're saying that this should push the oil closer to shore. So, it's still devastating. I feel so inadequate, just reading the news up here and watching the news reports of the beach cleanup efforts. I know I couldn't do that because my back is very bad but I'd still love to help clean the affected wildlife. The best I've been able to do from here is to buy Dawn dish detergent. One dollar of the price of each bottle goes toward the cleanup effort for the wildlife. Not much, but something.

I buy that type of dishwashing liquid too. I have also wanted to donate the cut hair but I really don't have much to spare without being bald. There was a place here that was even taking the hair of animals to help with the spill.

Yeah, we've got this nasty high parked around here and that'll rebuff it

Well, that's good to hear! I had visions of half the country being covered in oil. Not a very nice vision! Apparently, the story I read was premature because, even though this system did turn north, it just as quickly turned back westward and is once again headed toward Mexico. They're still saying it could impact the cleanup efforts, though. If it does, I hope it affects it in a good way!

I was, thankfully, premature in writing this discussion. The story I had read about the storm turning northward was also premature because it has once again turned westward and headed again toward Mexico. It could still affect the cleanup efforts but I'm hoping it affects that in a good way and doesn't hamper any of the work being done.

Hi oldchem. The news I read was apparently premature or just plain wrong. The storm did turn northward but turned back again toward Mexico but they are still saying that it could impact the cleanup efforts in the Gulf. If it does, let's hope it does it for the best, huh? We have all kinds of extreme weather here. Hurricanes don't impact us much where I live because we're far enough inland that even a storm that makes landfall in Virginia would be greatly reduced in strength by the time it hit us. We'd just experience heavy rain and stronger-than-normal winds. It's the lower eastern US and the Gulf states that get the worse of the hurricanes. Of course, living in the mid-west you have to worry about tornados all the time and living on the west coast you can't be sure that you won't have an earthquake from day to day. Up north, they get waaaaay too much snow for me! Well, the snow we got last year was more than most northern states get but that was so not normal. My son just told me yesterday that he heard we're supposed to have another severe winter here. I HOPE not!!! As for this tropical storm, all we can hope for is that it does not turn into a hurricane and does not impact anyone very badly. I HOPE it will not hurt but actually help the cleanup efforts in the gulf. I'll tell you one thing, as I mentioned before, no one that I know or have heard is blaming the UK for this disaster. It's purely BP's problem and, as far as I or anyone else is concerned, BP could be headquartered anywhere in the world and the problem would still be the same. Accidents can happen to anyone and this just happened to BP. Since it is their responsibility, everyone here is upset and extremely frustrated over BP's decisions and choices regarding the spill. It has nothing to do with the UK. Just so ya know. Let's all just hope that, next year, your football team will be good enough to win.

Hi ann. You are right and, hopefully, nature will take care of the oil mess. The storm has resumed it's original path and is once again headed toward Mexico but they are saying that it could very well impact the cleanup efforts in the Gulf, even if it does not make landfall in the US. All we can do is hope for the best.