Quote:

---

The 'A Whale' is headed South after a stop in Hampton Roads. Her crew's mission is to remove some of the oil from the spill in the Gulf of Mexico before it reaches the shores.

The 'A Whale', originally an ore and oil carrier, was converted into the world's largest oil skimming vessel just one week ago. Her size and capacity, which is more than 250 times that of modified fishing boats, makes her the largest oil skimming vessel. The ship — the length of 3 1/2 football fields and 10 stories high — is designed to work 40 to 50 miles offshore and collect oily water through 12 vents on either side of its bow. It docked in Norfolk en route to the Gulf from Portugal, where it was retrofitted to skim the seas.

The theory is that in one or two days this vessel can skim as much oil as current resources have skimmed in two months. Oily water would go into tanks and gravity would separate them. The oil would then get siphoned to separate tanks and transferred to waiting oil tankers.

The true test will come in the gulf. But there are hurdles for 'A Whale' to overcome. Crews would need to discharge untreated, but less oily water back into the ocean. That would violate EPA regulations.

WAVY.com caught up with a man who traveled to Norfolk from Baton Rouge, La.. Edward Overton, a Louisiana State
University professor, said his community is desperate for this ship to get a waiver. "We need this ship," he told TMT executives. "That oil is already contaminating our shoreline."

A private maritime businessman, Chairman of Today Makes Tomorrow, decided he had to do something - now. "A large scale disaster needs a large scale solution," he told WAVY.com.

The owners of the "A Whale" said the new skimming approach has never been attempted on this scale.

"We really have to start showing people what we can do," said Bob Grantham, project coordinator for TMT Group, a Taiwan-based shipping company. "We're seriously looking at whether we can go on site and just try to do it ourselves. That's not a good solution. We need to work with everyone else."

The company is still negotiating with the Coast Guard to join the cleanup and does not have a contract with BP to perform the work. The company also needs environmental approval and waiver of a nearly century-old law aimed at protecting U.S. shipping interests.

Environmental Protection Agency approval is required because some of the seawater returned to the Gulf would have traces of oil.

The company said it also needs a waiver of the 1920 Jones Act, which limits the activities of foreign-flagged ships in coastal U.S. waters.

Grantham said TMT was hopeful it could secure the necessary approvals during the ship's three-day passage to the Gulf. The Liberian-flagged ship was to leave Norfolk later Friday.

The converted oil tanker has the capacity of holding 2 million barrels, but would limit its holding tanks to 1 million barrels for environmental reasons. Oil skimmed up by the tanker would be separated from seawater, then transferred to another vessel.

---

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
signing off

Quote:

---

$59.5 Billion PROFITS (not "revenue", not "gross", pure profit).

$29 Million spent on safer drilling research. That's .05% of their profits.

$0 (ZERO) on spill response technology.

Zero, get that? Why zero? Because BP does not research oil spill cleanup technology research itself, a spokesman: "Instead, BP supports oil spill response organizations, such as the nonprofit Marine Spill Research Corp." Okay, so what's the budget at the Marine Spill Research Corp. for oil spill response research? ZERO! There IS no budget for that.

Because, their spokesperson said, MSRC is an opertional company, not a research and development company.

---

Quote:

---

Nearly two moths after (Jindal) requested and the government Department of Defense approved the use of 6,000 National Guard troops, only a fraction, (1,053) have actually been deployed by Jindal. ... As of today, the federal government has authorized a total of 17,500 National Guard troops across four Gulf states, all to be paid for by BP. ... In addition to Louisiana, Alabama has deployed 432 of the 3,000 troops, Florida 97 of 2,500, Mississippi 58 of 6,000, triggering this reaction from the President: ‘I urge the governors in the affected states to activate these troops as soon as possible’.

It’s believed officials in Florida, Mississippi and Alabama are reluctant to use more troops because their presence could hurt tourism. ... The Coast Guard says every request to use the National Guard has been approved, usually within a day

---

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
signing off

Quote:

---

This looks joke a dead end

---

Quote:

---

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has authorized up to 17,500 National Guard troops to fight the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but only a fraction of that number has been deployed so far -- raising questions about where the troops are and why they have such a small presence.

A Defense official told Fox News that governors are afraid that activating more troops would be politically harmful, charging taxpayers a high cost for duties that won't keep troops busy. The skill sets these troops have don't match the needs, the official said, and the governors aren't about to pay soldiers to stand on the beaches waiting for oil to wash up.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has authorized up to 17,500 National Guard troops to fight the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but only a fraction of that number has been deployed so far -- raising questions about where the troops are and why they have such a small presence.

A Defense official told Fox News that governors are afraid that activating more troops would be politically harmful, charging taxpayers a high cost for duties that won't keep troops busy. The skill sets these troops have don't match the needs, the official said, and the governors aren't about to pay soldiers to stand on the beaches waiting for oil to wash up.

---

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
signing off

Quote:

---

the National Guard has been on-site, setting up shoreline protection systems, building sand barriers and dropping thousands of sandbags by helicopter to keep the oil out of fragile coastal wetlands and beaches.

As the oldest military component in the United States, the National Guard is always ready and always there to handle any threat against its homeland and environment.

---

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
signing off


To our President: “Mr. President, you're a god damn, mother fucking liar. Fuck you, you cock sucking community activist piece of shit.... oh, go fuck yourself, Mr. President” ...Raptor

To Anthony, unquestionably the most civil person on this forum: “Go fuck yourself. On this matter, make no mistake. I want you to go fuck yourself long and hard, as well as anyone who agrees with you. I got no use for you. ...Raptor

To Frem: “You miserable piece of shit.” ...Raptor

To Niki: “My guess is it won't just be your ugly face you dislike.....Well, it's true......if you had a soul.” ...Raptor

To Kwicko:" You're the putrid slime which oozes between troll's toes, you're so low.” ...Raptor

...Remember, remember, the ugliest member...

Quote:

---

A filing cabinet or a computer can store quite inconsistent notions and never lose a minute of sleep over their contradiction. Similarly a high RWA can have all sorts of illogical, self-contradictory, and widely refuted ideas rattling around in various boxes in his brain, and never notice it.

---

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
signing off


“Mr. President--you're a god damn, mother fucking liar. Fuck you, you cock sucking community activist piece of shit.... oh, go fuck yourself, Mr. President” ”Anthony--go fuck yourself...make no mistake. I want you to go fuck yourself long and hard” ”Frem--You miserable piece of shit” ”Niki--My guess is it won't just be your ugly face you dislike....if you had a soul.” ”Kwicko--You're the putrid slime which oozes between troll's toes, you're so low.” ...sayeth Raptor

”Niki--condescending arrogant fat old bi-polar hag....You are an asshole...one does not need a sockpuppet to tell you to fuck off" ...sayeth Kane

...Remember, remember, the ugliest members...