Jacksonville Personal Injury Blog

The future livelihoods of those who work around the Gulf of Mexico depend on the condition of the Gulf waters following the worst oil spill in U.S. history. While the government heralds that the waters have miraculously cleared themselves of the crude oil, a new report by five marine scientists concludes almost 80 percent of the oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster remains in the Gulf ecosystem. If true, that means fishermen cannot safely return to work and businesses associated with the Gulf waters cannot safely reopen.

The government said in an August 4 report, that only one-quarter of the oil remained because the rest had evaporated, been skimmed, burned, or recovered.

The group of scientists studied data from the same National Incident Command Report, used by the government to paint the rosy picture. But these scientists found that it would be impossible for that much oil to have dissolved or evaporated because only the crude oil on the surface of the Gulf would evaporate. Large plumes of crude oil are still trapped below the water.

One marine scientist from the University of Georgia, Charles Hopkinson, says “The oil is still out there, and it will likely take years to completely degrade. We are still far from a complete understanding of what its impacts are.”

One positive note - the oil has not been caught in the Loop Current therefore is unlikely to bring oil from the Gulf to the Atlantic and up the East Coast.

If you or a loved one has suffered a loss of property and income due to the Deepwater Horizon oil explosion and spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Jacksonville oil spill economic loss attorneys at Farah & Farah will be happy to consult on your case and explore the many options for recovery.

It’s been reported that BP oil cleanup workers are required to take a 40 minute rest after just 20 minutes of work. That’s why it appears they are not doing anything. Reporter, Larry Mendte, who writes for the Philadelphia Post reports that BP crews are everywhere, but with all the rest they have to take, locals have the impression they are not working very hard for their $18 an hour.

Mendte traveled the beaches from Mississippi through Alabama to Panama City and says the workers are doing a very good job. He also says he saw oil covered dead fishdead fish covered in oil and tar balls on the beach. Much of the beach has been combed and manicured. Residents along the Gulf shores say even if they don’t see tar, the water and sand feel different.

Most of the business owners and some employees have been compensated by BP for their losses due to the tragic oil spill that occurred April 20. Between now and November, they can apply to receive funds from the $20 billion BP has set aside to compensate losses to workers and businesses. But not everyone is happy.

Horse Feathers Restaurant is down about 80% in revenue from last year with a loss so far of about $250,000. The owner applied for and received a check from BP. It bounced! BP is reported to have stopped the compensation midstream because of a new compensation plan in place.

The Florida oil spill loss attorneys at Farah & Farah is are representing people who have lost their livelihood from the recklessness of BP. Be careful what you sign. Once you take a lump sum, you give up your right to take the company to court. BP is essentially shielded from damages you may suffer down the road and “pain and suffering” jury awards.

Despite the promises- no one knows where the oil has gone. The sentiment in the Gulf is that it has gone somewhere and when BP leaves, it will still be left behind along with its victims, many of whom will have no options.

Under new guidelines it may become more difficult to collect compensation for long-term losses resulting from the BP oil spill. This is good news for BP but very bad news for consumers.

The new rules for oil spill loss claims to be processed were released Friday, August 20. Washington lawyer, Kenneth Feinberg, was picked by President Obama to oversee the $20 billion fund put aside by BP to settle claims.

So now who receives compensation?

The Associated Press reports that a flower shop in Florida probably won’t. Neither will a restaurant in Idaho that had to cut back on fish sales. The closer you are to the Gulf of Mexico, the better the chance that you will see some compensation. That is going to cut out a lot of businesses that rely on the attractions of the beach to make their livelihood, even if they don’t live near the beach.

The question that will have to be asked is, “Do you depend on the Gulf’s natural resources for your livelihood?”

The kicker will come this fall when workers and businesses that make claims will have to agree to give up their right to ever go to court to sue BP in order to be compensated for long-term losses. Give up your American right to a remedy through the courts for money?

Claimants are put in a tough spot. Health effects from this oil spill and the dispersants may not be known for years, not to mention the health concerns from eating seafood from the area.

Claimants have until November 23 to make claims. Feinberg says his goal is to speed up the process that has been rather sluggish.

AP reports that Florida Attorney General, Bill McCollum, wrote to Feinberg objecting to many of the new rules and complaining it creates a heavier burden on the victims of BP.

The Florida oil spill economic loss attorneys at Farah & Farah want to help those who are victims of BP, and now the system, recover what they can. Call us for a complimentary consultation on your losses.

The good news- the underwater camera no longer shows crude oil gushing from the floor of the Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Now the question ahead is what are the long-term ramifications?

The University of Alabama, Birmingham School of Public Health is working with the federal government in answering that question. Researchers have formed an ad-hoc team in association with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to examine the unprecedented tragedy. The oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon is equivalent to a supertanker spill every week and many have been impacted – from workers who have cleaned up the beach and the Gulf, to children and even tourists who have been exposed. In the short-term, health impacts have been watery and irritated eyes, skin rashes and itchiness, coughs, shortness of breath and wheezing, reports ConsumerAffairs.com. Long-term studies will be launched to understand the physical and psychological impacts.

Then there are the unanswered questions about consuming seafood from the Gulf.

CDC on Health Effects
The CDC will be taking samples from the air, water, soil and sediment and the oily material itself to see where the oil has gone. Comparisons will be made to oil spills of the past. There have been 400 tanker spills since the 1960s, the Exxon Valdez among them. Only seven spills have been studied for their short-term toxic effects.

A federal government report has announced that nearly 70 percent of the oil in the Gulf dissolved naturally and appears to be gone either through skimming, dispersants, being burned or captured.

Independent experts, including some environmental scientists from Florida State University, believe that assessment is a bit “shaky” and a bit of spin for such a complex spill.

If you or a loved one has been impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil explosion and spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Florida oil spill economic loss attorneys at Farah & Farah are taking cases of those who have been impacted financially by the long and short-term environmental harm.

The payout to those financially damaged by the BP oil spill appears to be as messy as the spill itself. ProPublica reports that many damage claims are in limbo and claimants are being kept waiting.

Why?

The answer appears to be within the wording of the Oil Pollution Act, a 1990 federal law that requires companies to be responsible for direct “removal costs and damages” caused by an oil spill. Not all claims are for the costs of removing oil and damages from the oil. ProPublica reports on Duane Sandy, who sells hurricane-proof storage units in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. He submitted a claim in May for $3,500 since he has not sold a single unit since the spill in April. Instead, he got a form letter from BP that said he had not provided sufficient documentation to support the claim. When he called BP he got a different answer. A BP adjuster said the company is not paying claims of lost income based on commissions.

All of this confusion may be helped in mid-August when Kenneth Feinberg takes over. He is the independent administrator appointed by the president to oversee the compensation process, similar to what he did with the victims of 9/11. Feinberg tells ProPublica that his standards for compensation will be more generous than BP.

BP committed to paying all “legitimate claims” following the Deepwater oil rig explosion April 20. So far it has paid under one-third of the more than 100,000 claims it has received. Twenty billion dollars has been set aside and $250,000 has been spent.

It probably is wise not to take BP at its word so ProPublica has set up a register for everyone who has a BP claim to sign in. That way the payments can be tracked to see if BP will live up to its word.

BP Oil Spill Victim Compensation Fund (BPOSVCF)
It is well-advised to hire an experienced Florida oil spill economic loss attorney to represent your interests if you have lost income due to the BP oil disaster. Remember, Mr. Feinberg is not your attorney. Filing a claim with the BPOSVCF emergency payment should be your first move. Once you receive your emergency payment, an experienced Florida attorney will help you negotiate a final settlement with the oil giant. Or you can wait and see what your own personal claim brings.

Visitors to Pensacola are getting mixed messages about whether they can go into the Gulf waters or not during the worst environmental disaster there ever. State and local officials are pointing blame at the Obama administration for keeping secret critical safety information about the toxicity of the water from the crude oil which is continuing to leak from the BP oil rig explosion.

In one of the biggest tourist weekends in the Panhandle, the question is whether they should ban swimming altogether. The Escambia County warning stops just short of banning swimming, largely because of the area’s dependence on tourism according to an article in the Palm Beach Post.

As it stands, officials have issued a permanent warning for swimmers to stay out of the Gulf of Mexico in all 43 miles of Escambia County beaches. But they say they need more input from the EPA to know whether people can walk on the beach, get tar on their feet, or swim in waters soaked, not just with oil, but with toxic dispersant in the water to break up the oil.

It is the Environmental Protection Agency that is ultimately responsible for setting standards for the public concerning swimming, but so far the agency has failed to do so and has failed to respond to media requests for toxicology reports.

John Lanza, the top county health official says, “There is no national standard right now for swimming …I’m hoping that the EPA either tomorrow or soon will actually release those standards so we that we have some basis to make further recommendations.”

Regardless of an official explanation, common sense dictates that people avoid areas where oil and tar are present, and that pregnant women, children, and people with a compromised immune system wear shoes when walking across any Panhandle beaches.

A man from North Naples, Florida, is suing BP alleging it has violated federal environmental laws and permits in allowing crude oil to spill into the Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater oil rig.

According to www.naplesnews.com, Brian Doyle, 50, says the companies involved with the failed oil rig violated the federal Clean Water Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Oil Pollution Act.

Doyle is asking a federal judge to require BP, Transocean Deepwater Inc., Halliburton Energy Services, and the Department of the Interior to clean up the gooey mess as quickly as possible and cap the well to prevent further contamination. Doyle filed his oil spill lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Fort Myers.

Ever since the April 20th explosion of the BP oil rig that killed 11 workers, dolphins have washed ashore and dead sea turtles and pelicans have been recovered, coated in oil. Sharks and stingrays are staying closer to the shores, and porpoises are avoiding the Intracoastal Waterway in a departure from their normal behavior.

Crude oil in the Gulf is collecting in areas of sargassum, which is a type of seaweed where young turtles live. To get rid of the oil, workers are burning the oil-soaked sargassum when it is pulled into booms. So far more than 240,000 barrels of oil have been burned at sea, including whatever creatures are caught in between the two boats.

Dead organisms that cover the surface near the blowout include a dead sperm whale. Under the surface is normally a very rich area for algal growth, an important base for the food chain, which is why the area was so rich in shrimp and fish.

Continue reading "Environmentalist Sues for Violations in the Gulf" »

Based on a www.tallahassee.com A federal judge in New Orleans has given the green light to deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. You heard that right. The Obama administration had imposed a six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling projects in response to the tragedy in the Gulf caused by BP and assorted other companies including Halliburton and Transocean.

The president imposed the ban because, as we clearly see, drilling at such depths doesn’t make sense, puts rig workers in danger, not to mention has the potential to pollute the Gulf for the next 20 years. But the judge said the administration acted rashly in imposing the ban just because one rig failed.

The White House plans to appeal.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, “Continuing to drill at these depths without knowing what happened does not make any sense and puts the safety of those involved and the environment in the Gulf at a danger that the president does not believe we can afford right now.”

Sounds like stating the obvious.

The U.S. District Judge is Martin Feldman of New Orleans. Companies in the area that service offshore oil rigs had asked him to overturn the moratorium so that some workers could make a living again and he complied.

Despite the fact that the BP Deepwater Horizon has spewed more than 100 million gallons of oil into the Gulf, Judge Feldman didn’t see the need to stop future deepwater drilling. Judges are not always right and the ruling essentially keeps federal officials from enforcing any moratorium until there is a trial, though he did not set any trial date.

Delay and deny justice, the environment suffers, and no one really gets back to work, unless they are part of the cleanup crew.

Meanwhile, the Interior Department will study the potential risks of deepwater drilling. All they really need to do is turn on their television and begin to grasp the vast number of unanswered questions by an industry that is supposed to be filled with experts and promises. Just how many strikes should this industry get?

If you or a loved one has been injured by the BP oil spill, Farah & Farah is currently investigating claims of loss and injury and will consult with you on your property damage, the loss of a business or employment, injuries or wrongful death claim.

Good news for a change concerning the BP oil spill and BP’s commitment to pay for its mess. A News4Jax article reports that BP announced Tuesday, June 15, that it will set aside $20 billion to pay victims of the massive oil spill. That move came after pressure from the White House following a meeting with BP executives Wednesday. The fund will be independent and overseen by lawyer, Kenneth Feinberg. He is the lawyer who oversaw the payments to September 11th terrorist attack families.

Those whose livelihoods have been devastated by the April explosion and subsequent leak of thousands of gallons of crude into the Gulf include fishermen, restaurateurs, oil rig workers, and hotel owners among others. There is no word yet on when claims will be processed and who and what will be covered, but BP is now committed to paying $5 billion a year for four years into an escrow account.

So far the company has promised to commit $25 million for research in the aftermath of the spill. The Florida Institute of Oceanography will receive $10 million. In signing up to receive the money, the institutions say they were careful to erect a firewall so BP could not alter or in any way influence the research.

Also on Wednesday, the chairman of BP, Tony Hayward, apologized to the American people for the worst oil spill in U.S. history. To put its money where its mouth is, $100 million has been set aside to help oil workers. shareholders won’t be happy as they will not be receiving any dividends for the rest of the year. Scientists are now estimating that the spill is dumping up to 2.5 million gallons a day into Gulf waters and is still not contained, 58 days after the explosion.

Hayward is not off the hot seat yet. He will face a congressional committee Thursday, June 17, to answer how the company is handling, or not, the containment of the spill. Rep. John Dingell said to “expect a very unpleasant afternoon.”

The bottom line will be how to prevent this type of disaster from ever happening again.

A Destin, Florida woman has filed a lawsuit against BP, Halliburton and Transocean, among others alleging that her vacation rental business is ruined and will cost her thousands of dollars. Vickie Nobles’ lawsuit is a class-action. That means she will head the class on behalf of other who are similarly situated, meaning they likely own beachfront property. According to The Florida Independent, among her claims are gross negligence, trespass, products liability, and liability for an abnormally dangerous activity. The Gulf oil spill, she contends, violates the state’s Pollutant Discharge Prevention and Control Act, which requires the plaintiff to prove that pollution did occur. That will not be tough.

Also named in the action is the maker of the Deepwater Horizon blowout preventer. That was supposed to be the backup but it failed and allowed the discharge of thousands of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Adding to the complaint Nobles says that BP has not done enough to stop the oil from fouling Florida’s beaches and the booms that BP has erected are ineffective. That’s because anything higher than a three-foot wave can clear the boom taking the oil slick with it. Just this past month, the Gulf has had seven to 10 foot-swells, her complaint says.

How many barrels of oil are leaking due to the Gulf oil spill? Nobles says that nobody knows, but that BP’s representation is misleading the public by underestimating the damage. At the same time, the company is operating its Atlantis rig in the Gulf and Nobles says it is doing so negligently “with incomplete and inaccurate engineering documents, which one official warned could lead to ‘catastrophic operator error."

So far the restaurant and lodging industry estimates that reservation and occupancy are down 30% since the April 20th spill from the explosion of BP’s Deepwater oil rig.

Evidence of the Gulf oil spill have been found in Pensacola in the panhandle where about 100 tar balls were found on an area beach Wednesday, May 26. Testing will show if it is from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Meanwhile an Escambia County official told local Channel 4 that more than 1,000 similar tar balls have been found in Florida and tests have shown that none of them were from the oil rig explosion. A News4Jax article reports that they came from chunks of asphalt from roads, pieces of charcoal or oil from ships. In fact, oil washes up on Florida shores hundreds of times a year, but right now they are being watched more closely than ever as the nation waits and watches BP continue to foul the states that border the Gulf.

Estimates are already in that the British Petroleum (BP) spill is worse than the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska in 1989 that spilled nearly 11 million gallons when a tanker ran aground.

Florida oil spill lawyers and citizens throughout the state are concerned about the devastating consequences of this spill on not only a financial level in terms of economic loss, but also in terms of the environment and the condition of resources for future generations. Scientists, trying to calculate the spew so far, estimate about 504,000 to one million gallons a day are being excreted into the Gulf waters. If that’s the case, about 18 million gallons have leaked so far or more. Jeremy Symons of the National Wildlife Federation says, “BP has unleashed an unstoppable force of appalling proportions.” Previously, BP had said that just over 200,000 gallons a day were spilling. Thursday evening BP resumed pumping something called drilling mud into the gushing well in an effort to stop its flow. It could be weeks before we know if it has worked.

Then comes the needed part of attributing blame to where it belongs – BP- for failing to have a remote-controlled shut-off mechanism that was never required by BP! For about $500,000 BP could have installed an acoustic trigger that uses sound waves to close the catastrophic failure valve on the seabed floor. Instead of spending that amount, BP is spending $6 million a day and has caused billions in destruction to four or five states.

The latest report is that scientists predict millions of gallons of crude oil, already in the Gulf of Mexico, could hit the Florida Keys by this weekend, according to a News4Jax report.

Though no one knows how much, it is possible that the oil already spilled can get caught in something called the loop current, which is a ribbon of warm water originating in the Gulf and wrapping around Florida up on the Atlantic side. A University of Miami oceanographer says it’s only a question of when oil in the loop that would bring it to the Keys and beyond that would hurt wildlife and coral reefs. The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary draws millions of tourists every year who snorkel, fish and replenish the state’s economy. If the oil continues further up the loop it could even travel as far north as Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach. The oil is not expected to go north of Cape Canaveral before it becomes more diluted and is carried out to sea.

So far about 2 dozen tar balls up to eight inches wide have been found off Key West, undoubtedly contributing to growing concern among residents in Florida. A lab analysis will show their origin. This weekend BP, British Petroleum, lowered a stopper and tube to siphon off some of the oil with some success. The tube is funneling more than 42,000 gallons of crude oil into a tanker ship from the doomed well. That represents about 20% of what is gushing into the Gulf each day. Millions of gallons remain in the Gulf and some of the oil found under the sea where researchers report a miles-long plume could suffocate sea life and last for a decade or more. Florida oil spill economic loss attorneys are concerned with the accumulation of damages amidst various homeowners and businesses throughout the state and will stay informed on the most recent events as they unfold.

BP or British Petroleum has said it will pay all “legitimate claims” from the oil spill in the Gulf. But BP’s liability is capped at $75 million. Considering all of the potential “legitimate” claims, it is clear that $75 million will not be sufficient for now and certainly not for down the road as subsequent claims for damage comes in.

Some claims will be able to quantify immediately. If the fishing industry can show their expected revenue from year to year, it will be apparent that this year will be different. Then there are other types of claims. How do you claim that your store in a mall near the beach suffered from a decrease in tourism? The best thing for those people to do is to keep careful records of years past and whatever is happening today to make a claim.

This is the hook BP no doubt will hang its reasoning on when it says it will pay ‘legitimate’ claims. Will the government have to pick up the rest? President Obama said he did not appreciate the “ridiculous spectacle” Halliburton, BP and Transocean trying to blame each other. Taxpayers should not have to pay beyond $75 million.There is an effort within Congress to set aside that cap, but will it be retroactive? Otherwise U.S. taxpayers will have to pick up the enormous claim.

If there is any doubt who is to blame, a 60 Minutes report lays it all out. Mike Williams, the chief electronics technician onboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf, miraculously swam away from the burning oil rig. He gives a chilling account of the pressure the employees were under to produce for BP because extracting the oil was taking too long. Even when bits of rubber safety equipment started coming up with the drill and he questioned it, he was told not to worry. The blowout prevent didn’t work and a backup called the pod also lost function. Both needed to be reestablished and fixed, but were not. An eruption that had been building for weeks exploded, taking with it 11 crew members.

BP already faced $108 million, the highest U.S. fines for workplace violations in history. And a BP whistleblower says the Atlantis which currently pumps 200,000 barrels a day also has safety violations and should be shut down. BP has made $6 billion so far this year. The Deepwater Horizon has cost $500 million so far. Who should be paying the cost of this disaster?

The crude Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster enters its fourth week and there are some hints as to what went wrong on April 20th, according to a NY Times article. A Congressional investigation finds that a safety mechanism that’s supposed to seal the undersea well if there is sudden pressure may have failed. The House Energy and Commerce Committee disclosed the findings on Wednesday, May 12. Henry Waxman of California said the more he hears about the BP Gulf Coast oil spill, the more concerned he becomes. That is because, according to a BP official, the oil giant may have known ahead of the explosion that killed 11 workers, that the well device couldn’t pass the negative-pressure test. A hydraulic leak has been confirmed after underwater robots injected dye into the blowout preventer and it leaked out of a loose fitting. The failure of the blowout preventer is just one of several possible causes of the failure.

Meanwhile, oil is dumping into the Gulf at about 210,000 gallons a day from the well about 5,000 feet beneath the surface. Last weekend a containment dome failed to stop the leak. Next to be tried is something known as a top hat that is smaller than the containment dome. Public hearings are underway in Kenner, Louisiana and on the second day officials acknowledge that government oversight of the oil rigs and industry is insufficient, current regulations were written in 1978 when wells were closer to shore and not so deep, and amounts to the industry regulating itself. Basically as it stands, the blowout prevent was created by industry, and installed by the oil industry with no government oversight.

As it now stands, anyone damaged financially by the Gulf oil leak is facing a $75 million cap liability for the owners. The low cap was established in 1990 as an incentive to get the industry to agree to a tax for cleanups. It would be well-advised to consult with an experienced Florida oil leak economic damages attorney if you have suffered losses from the oil leak.

President Obama is proposing a $118 million package to aid those unemployed by the lack of fishing and food aid as well as increased inspection of seafood. The proposal also calls for raising the $75 million cap to $10 billion, which is the least it will take to get everyone on the road to recovery.

As the Gulf oil spill creeps toward shore, BP, British Petroleum is doing all it can to minimize harm in the water and on the shore. And we’re not talking about oil slick barriers. Alabama’s Attorney General says he has told representatives of BP they need to stop circulating agreements that require people to give up their right to sue in exchange for $5,000. AG Troy King says people should seek appropriate legal advice before they sign away their rights.

Reportedly, BP’s efforts were very strong in Bayou La Batre. By the first weekend in May, BP had signed up about 500 fishing boats in Florida, Mississippi and Alabama. Fishermen were put under contract and part of the condition of being hired was that they waive their right to sue BP and agree to a confidentiality clause not to discuss it. After some public embarrassment, BP said it stripped out the waiver requirement and the ones signed would not be enforced.

Darren Beaudo, a spokesman for BP, said in an e-mail to the Press Register, "BP will not enforce any waivers that have been signed in connection with this activity.” The state’s Attorney General has his hands ties. He cannot give legal advice to private citizens, but hopes they seek legal advice by warning them they need to proceed with caution. Meanwhile, a Florida State University oceanography professor says the oil gushing from the Deepwater Horizon is five times more than what BP is releasing. Ian MacDonald told an environmental forum meeting in Pensacola the blowout is gushing 25,000 barrels a day, while BP estimates the rate at 5 barrels per day. MacDonald says he is frustrated by the lack of adequate data from the federal government.

Florida oil spill damage attorneys will continue to monitor the progress of the conditions surrounding this awful tragedy.

There is little doubt that there will be some impact to our local shrimp industry say those in the know. Gerald Pack, who owns Safe Harbor Seafood Market and Restaurant, the last remaining fish house in Mayport, says that if the oil from the blown oil platform in the Gulf makes it to Florida’s east coast, it will have a definite impact. Even if the oil doesn’t make it here, the oil spill tragedy will have an impact. That’s because shrimpers in the Gulf will likely find themselves migrating to the east coast of Florida to practice their trade. “They can come to our coast and fish,” he tells the Florida Times-Union. In Louisiana, the shrimping season began just before the oil platform exploded April 20th. In Mayport, the rock shrimp season will begin in June which likely will lure shrimpers here. Fair to say if the oil spill does head to our area it will devastate Mayport and its only industry right at the prime production time. In the meantime, a judge has ruled that Florida and the rest of the U.S. can join in a consortium of groups from six states. The Gulf Oil Disaster Recovery Group plans a class-action against BP on behalf of Gulf and Atlantic shrimpers and fishermen.

The Gulf Oil Disaster Recovery Group was the first to announce that the BP cofferdam experiment had failed and they could not control the oil leaking from the wellhead. BP itself had downplayed the truth and has issued conflicting press releases. Many experts are saying that we are on a verge of a catastrophe in the Gulf since even BP has admitted that 60,000 barrels a day could be flowing into the Gulf waters. That is the equivalent of a Valdez-type of leak every week in the Gulf.

As of Sunday night, May 9, Florida oil spill disaster lawyers have been aware along with several other concerned citizens that the spill is traveling west as the ruptured well 98-ton containment chamber hit a snag when there was buildup of gas which delayed efforts to put the containment device over the rupture. At least 5,000 barrels of oil a day are still gushing unchecked into the Gulf since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded killing 11 crew members. The first tar balls were found by beachgoers on Dauphin Island, Alabama, Saturday, although it is not certain if the oil came from the recent Gulf spill.

While events leading up to the oil spill disaster are still being investigated, it is apparent that the scope of this accident is widespread and has already created detrimental consequences.

Since April 20, 2010, the Gulf Coast from southeastern Louisiana to Florida has become contaminated with massive amounts of oil from the explosion and sinking of the BP PLC drilling rig. This terrible Gulf Coast oil spill has not only damaged environmental homeostasis, but also placed several workers, family members of missing workers feared to be dead, and various business owners and private contractors in financial, physical, and psychological turmoil.

According to reports, it wasn’t until April 24 that officials announced that there was a valid and serious oil spill. Before this time, the oil spill disaster was brushed-off as minimally damaging. It was declared on April 25 that attempts were being made to stop the flow of oil through robot submarines and that a relief well may take many months to drill in order to cut off the flow. By April 26, the 5,000 foot deep leaking well in the ocean off the coast of Louisiana made an oil sheen and emulsified crude slick with a circumference of about 600 miles and covered about 28,600 square miles.

Seven days after the oil spill accident occurred, executives of oil producer BP PLC met with Obama administration officials. While Louisiana Governor Jindal issued an emergency declaration in the Gulf of Mexico oil leak on April 29, the Louisiana National Guard was not called in to provide assistance until the next day.

Reports from May 4, 2010 state that 1,200 members of the Louisiana National Guard are currently supplying command and control and sandbagging support. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates gave approval for requests from Alabama, Mississippi and Florida to have their National Guard units operating under title 32 status. This means that if National Guard members are asked to assist in efforts for the oil cleanup, all costs will be compensated for by the federal government. An Associated Press article noted on May 4, 2010 that the undersea well has been releasing about 200,000 gallons of oil a day.

While it is almost impossible at this time for anyone to know the potential long-term effects of this oil spill on an environmental and economic level, it is everyone’s hope that oil spill disasters like this one will never happen again. If you or someone you love has been involved in an accident or experienced severe financial losses due to the Gulf Coast Oil Spill, contact the Florida oil spill economic loss attorneys at Farah & Farah today for a consultation of your situation.