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OIL SPILL NEWS TIMELINE
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OIL LEAK NEWS ARCHIVES
Factoid - In your local supermarket seafood section be sure to look
for the small print that tells you where the shrimp was caught. Note the
difference between the Asian farm raised seafood prices that are much lower
than shrimp from the Gulf. Farm raised shrimp is raised with steroids and
antibiotics. Wild caught shrimp such as in the Gulf of Mexico and the
Atlantic is caught in the ocean, and is organic.
Farmed shellfish from overseas (Thailand, China and Viet Nam) is frequently
contaminated with cadmium. Cadmium, and its compounds, are extremely toxic
even in low concentrations, and will bioaccumulate in organisms and
ecosystems. Compounds containing cadmium are also carcinogenic. The bones
become soft (osteomalacia), lose bone mass and become weaker (osteoporosis).
Also - Up to ten times more contaminants have been found in farmed fish when
compared to wild fish. These contaminants include PCBs, dioxins, pesticides
and PBDEs, which are used as fire retardants. Aquafarming also raises a
number of environmental concerns. The very large number of fish kept
long-term in a single location produces a significant amount of condensed
feces,
Nov 2010 TAINTED SEAFOOD? - The residents of Grand Isle, Louisiana say
they're still getting sick from the dispersant use in the Gulf of Mexico and
fishermen won't eat the seafood that the government wants them to sell to
the public. Obama continues to back the British Petroleum (BP) claim that
the gulf is clean and safe but the people who live there disagree.
August 20 - A National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) official told a House panel that
approximately three-quarters of the oil that spilled into the Gulf of Mexico
from BP’s ruptured well is still in the environment. The estimate contrasts
previous pronouncements by administration officials that only about a
quarter of the oil remains to be addressed. A 22-mile-long invisible mist of
oil is meandering far below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, where it will
probably loiter for months or more, scientists reported Thursday in the
first conclusive evidence of an underwater plume from the BP spill.
August 5- There is currently no oil flowing into the Gulf. Following the
completion of cementing operations on the MC252 well on August 5, pressure
testing was performed which indicated there is an effective cement plug in
the casing. BP believes the static kill and cementing procedures have been
successful.
August 4- BP has received authorization from the National Incident
Commander (NIC) to conduct cementing operations on the well as part of the
static kill procedure. Pumping operations are expected began on Thursday,
August 5th. The aim of the procedure is to assist with the strategy to kill
and isolate the well, and will complement the upcoming relief well operation
July 28 - The riser pipe from which the
majority of BP’s oil spewed did not start leaking until after the rig sank.
There are estimates that 6,000 tons of salt water per hour were sprayed onto
the burning platform, enough to cause it to list and eventually sink.
The rig’s “upper compartments began to fill, resulting in a shift of the
center of gravity of the rig. As a result of the flooding of the rig by the
fireboats, the rig began to sink.” Offshore drilling rigs such as the
Deepwater Horizon stay afloat on the water with a series of buoyancy
chambers - large spaces filled with air and ocean water. The more water, or
ballast, in a chamber, the lower on the water the rig will sit. An operator
on the rig can adjust the water level to alter the height of the rig. If the
chambers were to fill with water, the rig would be dangerously close to the
ocean surface.
The Center for Public Integrity reported on its website that the
Coast Guard's failure to follow its own firefighting policy during the
Deepwater Horizon explosion and fire may have contributed to the sinking of
the oil rig.
Democrats prove to be more interested in protecting the
President than getting independent answers to what caused the Gulf of Mexico
rig explosion and oil spill
Pelosi Blocks Oil Spill Investigation
Coast Guard officials told reporters that it does not have the necessary
expertise to fight an oil fire and it did not follow its rules when it
failed to have a firefighting expert supervise the half-dozen private boats
that began pouring salt water on the blaze beginning April 20.
The question of what caused the platform to collapse has been the subject of
scrutiny. Some experts and legal analysts have said that most of the oil did
not start leaking into the Gulf of Mexico from the riser pipe until after
the rig sank. The Marine Board joint investigation, which held hearings in
New Orleans, is looking into this aspect of the incident.
July 27- For three months, oil
spewed into the Gulf of Mexico from BP's damaged well, dumping some 200
million gallons of crude into sensitive ecosystems. BP and the federal
government have amassed an army to clean the oil up, but there's one problem
-- they're having trouble finding it.
Experts: Gulf of Mexico Oil is Breaking Up- The light crude began to
deteriorate the moment it escaped at high pressure, and then it was zapped
with dispersants to speed the process along. The oil that did make it to the
ocean's surface was broken up by 88-degree water, baked by 100-degree sun,
eaten by microbes, and whipped apart by wind and waves. Experts stress that
even though there's less and less oil as time goes on, there's still plenty
around the spill site. And in the long term, no one knows what the impact of
those hundreds of millions of gallons will be, deep in the waters of the
Gulf of Mexico. Even the federal government admits that locating the oil has
become a problem. "It is becoming a very elusive bunch of oil for us to
find," said National Incident Cmdr. Thad Allen.
Skimmers Pick Up Less Oil- The numbers don't lie: two weeks ago,
skimmers picked up about 25,000 barrels of oily water. Last Thursday, they
gathered just 200 barrels. Still, it doesn't mean that all the oil that
gushed for weeks is gone. Thousands of small oil patches remain below the
surface, but experts say an astonishing amount has disappeared, reabsorbed
into the environment. "It's mother nature doing her job," said Ed Overton, a
professor of environmental studies at Louisiana State University.
July 18
-
BP and the Obama administration
offered significantly differing views Sunday on whether the capped Gulf of
Mexico oil well will have to be reopened.
Both the Obama Administration and BP have said they don't know how long the
trial run will continue. It was set to end Sunday afternoon, but the
deadline - an extension from the original Saturday cutoff - came and went
with no word on what's next.
After little activity Sunday, robots near the well cap came to life around
the time of the cutoff. It wasn't clear what they were doing, but bubbles
started swirling around as their robotic arms poked at the mechanical cap.
To plug the busted well, BP is drilling two relief wells, one of them as a
backup. The company said work on the first one was far enough along that
officials expect to reach the broken well's casing, or pipes, deep
underground by late this month. The subsequent job of jamming the well with
mud and cement could take days or a few weeks.
JULY 15 - Containment cap stops oil leak,
after almost 3 months... on the 86th day.
July 14- On Wednesday, the
85th day of the disaster, millions of gallons of oil had spewed into the
Gulf.
Along the Gulf Coast, where the spill has heavily damaged the region's vital
tourism and fishing industries, people anxiously awaited the outcome of the
painstakingly slow work. In the meantime, oil continued spewing into the
Gulf.
A series of methodical, preliminary steps were completed before progress
stalled. Engineers spent hours on a seismic survey, creating a map of the
rock under the sea floor to spot potential dangers, like gas pockets. It
also provides a baseline to compare with later surveys during and after the
test to see if the pressure on the well is causing underground problems.
An unstable area around the wellbore could create bigger problems if the
leak continued elsewhere in the well after the cap valves were shut, experts
said. "It's an incredibly big concern," said Don Van Nieuwenhuise, director
of Professional Geoscience Programs at the University of Houston. "They need
to get a scan of where things are, that way when they do pressure testing,
they know to look out for ruptures or changes." The pressure test consists
of closing off two of the containment cap's three valves to trap new leaking
oil inside.
Next, a robotic arm will slowly close the final valve called a choke line,
theoretically sealing in all the oil.
July 12- BP has confirmed it
has successfully placed a new cap over the Gulf of Mexico oil leak, hoping
the giant valve will seal the well or contain all the gushing crude. BP
officials said on Monday evening the cap was mounted on the well after two
days of preparing the site and a day of slowly lowering it into place. The
company plans to run tests, starting on Tuesday, to see if the cap can
withstand pressure. The new cap will enable BP to capture all the oil and
funnel it up to ships. The sealing cap system never before has been deployed
at these depths or under these conditions, and its efficiency and ability to
contain the oil and gas cannot be assured.
A platform burns off excess gas near drill ships assisting in the capping of
the Deepwater Horizon oil well. Photo: AP
BP is drilling two relief wells so it can pump mud and cement into the
leaking well for a permanent fix.
July 9- BP will be cutting the riser pipe and placing a new cap on the
well. Monday July 12th will be a day of success or failure.
By the end of next week, BP could be capturing all the oil gushing from
the well. The new containment system might also allow BP to stop the oil
flow altogether, well ahead of any attempt to plug the leaking oil using
relief wells.
July 8- Obama has 4 total fundraising events scheduled in Missouri and 2
in Nevada. He is not scheduled for a photo op near the Gulf Coast Oil Spill.
As a reminder...At the onset of the tragic event...Obama told the press a
story - He was shaving and his daughter opened the door and asked him "Did
you plug the hole yet, daddy?"
July 2 - After 75 days - Docked now in
the Mississippi River, the world’s largest oil skimmer, the “A Whale”, is
beginning to undergo EPA testing before it is permitted to assist in the BP
oil spill. Under EPA guidelines, any water discharged back into the sea must
only contain 15 parts per million of oil. The “A Whale” is a converted cargo
container vessel 1,000 feet in length and the ship is nearly ten stories
tall. She can process 500,000 barrels of oily water per day, nearly
equal in capability to the entire 550 ship fleet of oil skimmers currently
deployed in the Gulf. The ship was recently in Norfolk, Virginia, awaiting
permission to sail to the oil spill scene.
The Jones Act of 1920 was one of the issues preventing the “A Whale” from
participating sooner. The Act only allows American flagged ships with
American crews to conduct commercial operations from one U.S. port to
another U.S. port. Once the ship passes the EPA test, or gets a waiver from
it as well, the Taiwanese flagged “A Whale” must also get an exemption from
the Jones Act.
July 1 - During a Thursday tour of the inlet to Barataria Bay, Louisiana
Gov. Bobby Jindal said it was exasperating to have "A Whale" anchored
offshore instead of being put to immediate use. "They've used the war
rhetoric," Jindal said aboard a Louisiana state wildlife boat floating in
oil-slicked waters near Grand Isle. "If this is really a war, they need to
be using every resource that makes sense to fight this oil before it comes
to our coast."
June 29, After 70 days - The "A Whale" ship arrived in the Gulf on
Wednesday, but officials wanted to test its capability as well as have the
federal Environmental Protection Agency sign off on the water it will pump
back into the gulf. Although the ship cleans most of the oil from seawater,
trace amounts of crude remain. The wait has frustrated some local officials,
who say the mammoth skimmer would be a game-changer in preventing drifting
streams of oil from washing ashore on vulnerable coastlines.
Obama and his
Administration are accepting help from 12 countries and international
organizations in dealing with the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
More than 30 countries and international organizations have offered to help
with the spill immediately after the leak was reported. The State Department
hasn't revealed why some offers have been accepted and others have not and
the type of assistance, except for Japan who will be providing two
high-speed skimmers and fire containment boom.
June 23- The federal government has shut
down the dredging that was being done to create protective sand berms in the
Gulf of Mexico.
The berms are meant to protect the Louisiana coastline from oil. But the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department has concerns about where the dredging is
being done. The department says one area where sand is being dredged is a
sensitive section of the Chandeleur Islands, and the state failed to meet an
extended deadline to install pipe that would draw sand from a
less-endangered area.
The Obama administration was
plotting its next steps Wednesday after U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman
in New Orleans overturned a moratorium on new drilling, saying the
government simply assumed that because one rig exploded, the others also
pose an imminent danger.
For the first 12 hours on June
23 (midnight to noon), approximately 5,500 barrels of oil were collected and
approximately 4,625 barrels of oil and 19.7 million cubic feet of natural
gas were flared. An underwater robot bumped the containment cap and it had
to be re installed.
June 22- Total oil recovered was approx. 27,090 barrels: approx.
16,665 barrels of oil were collected, approx. 10,425 barrels of oil were
flared, and approx. 54.4 million cubic feet of natural gas were flared.
A federal judge in New Orleans halted Obama's deepwater drilling
moratorium, saying the government never justified the ban and appeared
to mislead the public. The White House press secretary says the administration will
appeal and Obama believes he must figure out
what went wrong with the
Deepwater Horizon rig before deepwater drilling goes forward. The ruling is
another setback as Obama seeks to show he's in control of the 2-month-old
spill. Democrats and Republicans from the Gulf states have called on the
president to end the blanket moratorium, saying it is hurting the region.
Oil company executives told Congress last week they would have to move their
rigs to other countries because they lose up to $1 million a day per idle
rig, and said there are opportunities elsewhere.
June 21 -
Office of Governor Jindal successfully filed a brief in support of lawsuit to
reverse
Obama's Moratorium of Oil Drilling
SHAKEDOWN - The U.S. Constitution does not say a president has the authority
to extract vast sums of money from a private enterprise and distribute it as
he sees fit to whomever he deems worthy of compensation. Yet that is
precisely what is happening with a $20 billion fund to be provided by BP to
compensate those harmed by their oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Slippery Slope To Tyranny?
June 16 - The meeting between
the Obama and his administration officials and executives at BP went longer
than expected as the two sides wrangled over the company's response to the
oil spill. Starting at 10:15 a.m. Obama attended the meeting for roughly 20
minutes and then he left to attend an important lunch with Joe Biden.
The meeting went on for another four hours but Obama had long left.
BP agreed to put $20 billion into an escrow account to cover damage claims
from the massive Gulf of Mexico spill.
 Louisiana Governor
Jindal battles Oil Spill.....-
VIDEO Coast Guard Stops Oil Sucking Barges
June
14 - A thirsty Obama sucks a straw inserted into a 'Bushwacker' drink
which is traditionally made with dark rum, coconut cream, creme de cacao,
half and half, coffee liqueur, as he makes an unannounced visit to Tacky
Jack's, a restaurant, in Orange Beach, Alabama, during a visit to the Gulf
Coast region affected by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
June 13- Amount of Oil that
leaked and amount captured still varies by which sources you refer to. Obama
goes on a trip to the area. He holds a quick photo op and commentary, but does
not take any real questions from the press. He says he ate seafood
and it is safe to eat. He repeats threats to BP to pay up and asks for money in
escrow.
June 8 - BP expects to be
capturing virtually all the oil leaking from the Gulf of Mexico floor by
next week.
Quote of the year from the guy with the teleprompter who jaw
jacks every issue and avoids direct questions from the press - Obama said he
had not spoken to BP CEO Tony Hayward.... BECAUSE "When you talk to a guy
like a that, he's going to say all the right things to me. I'm not
interested in words."
June 7 - The containment cap is capturing
a half-million gallons a day, or anywhere from one-third to three-quarters
of the oil spewing from the bottom of the sea.
June 4 - Containment Cap - BP announced
today that oil and gas is being received onboard the Discoverer Enterprise
following the successful placement of a containment cap on top of the
Deepwater Horizon's failed blow-out preventer. It is expected to take one or more days for flow
rates of oil and gas to stabilize and it is not possible at this stage to
estimate how much oil and gas will be captured by this containment system.
Preparations continue for the planned enhancements to the containment system
as announced on June 1. Work continues on the first relief well, which
started on May 2, and the second relief well, which started on May 16. Both
wells are still estimated to take around three months to complete from
commencement of drilling.
June 3 -
Work progressed to dislodge the stuck saw blade.
The diamond saw and shears were retrieved to the surface. The cutting shears
were lowered and positioned to resume cutting the riser above the LMRP. The
LMRP containment cap was connected to the Discoverer Enterprise and moved to
stand-by position at approximately 6:00 am CDT on June 3. The riser was cut
above the LMRP with shears at approximately 9:00 am CDT on June 3.
Operations are progressing as planned to place the cap on top of the LMRP
June 2 -
Cut and Cap - A diamond-edged
industrial saw that became stuck as it carved through a mangled pipe has
been freed by BP, which is trying to continue to slice through the pipe and
cap the well spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico. BP spokesman Mark Proegler
said the company is working out some logistical
issues. The plan calls for fitting a cap over the newly sliced pipe so that
most of the gushing oil can be captured.
Oil
sheen seen less than 10 miles off Pensacola Beach, Florida. Emergency
workers rushed to link the last in a miles long chain of floating booms
designed to fend off the oil.
June 1 -
With the failure of the top kill and
a relief well at least two months away BP plans another possible fix.
Cut and Cap is a process to put a lid on the
leaking wellhead so oil can be siphoned to the surface. The risky procedure
could, at least temporarily, increase the oil flowing from the busted well.
Using robot submarines, BP plans to cut away the riser pipe and place a
cap-like containment valve over the blowout preventer.
The oil company also announced plans to try attaching another pipe to a
separate opening on the blowout preventer with some of the same equipment
used to pump in mud during the top kill. The company also wants to build a
new freestanding riser to carry oil toward the surface, which would give it
more flexibility to disconnect and then reconnect containment pipes if a
hurricane passed through.
Neither of those plans would start before mid-June and would supplement the
cut-and-cap effort.
The best chances for sealing off the leak are two relief wells, the first of
which won't be ready until August.
May 29 -
The Top Kill Technique Failed -
BP's latest attempt to stop the Oil Spill involved
pumping enough mud into the gusher to overcome the flow of oil, and
to follow it up with cement to try to permanently seal the well. BP
engineers said they would try once again to solve the problem with a
containment valve and that it could take four to seven days for the device
to be in place. First, BP failed in efforts to repair the blowout preventer
with submarine robots. Then its initial efforts to cap the well with a
containment dome failed when it became clogged with a frothy mix of frigid
water and gas. Efforts to use a hose to gather escaping oil have managed to
catch only a fraction of the total spill. BP has started work on a relief
well, but officials had said that the project would not be completed until
August
May 28 - Obama under extreme criticism on TV and in the print media from
his Liberal and Democrat Allies. Obama tours the Louisiana Gulf coast for a
few hours for a news photo op on his second visit first visit was a fly over
on May 2nd.
May 24 -
Environmental Laws and Obama non response cause delay in Oil Spill Emergency Actions.
The oil has already hit more than 100 miles of shoreline.
"We've been frustrated with the disjointed effort to date Jindal said.
As thick oil flows into the sensitive marshes of the Louisiana coast,
Gov. Bobby Jindal called on the White House to either stop the oil spill or
get out of his way. Jindal is still waiting for the federal government
to provide millions of feet in boom and to approve an emergency permit for a
state plan to dredge and build new barrier islands to contain the oil. Jindal said he'll build them even if it sends him to jail.
May 21 - Senator David Vitter,
a member of
the Senate committee that oversees the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a few
days ago has demanded
immediate action to build a chain of sand barriers to protect sensitive
coastal areas. "The Corps just doesn't get it," Vitter said, "Thick oil has
already gotten behind our existing barrier islands and is infiltrating our
marsh. Yet the Corps has no sense of emergency." Corps spokesman Eugene Pawlik said it still
has to comply with national environmental laws. An urgent request to the Obama administration to force the Corps to expedite
its review process is so far ignored.
May 20 - Centrifuge being tried - able to clean polluted
oil water faster than the well is leaking
Kevin Costner's Company has spent dozens of
years and millions of dollars perfecting "Ocean Therapy" a device that
cleans oil from seawater. British Petroleum gave the okay to test six of the
high-speed centrifuge machines. They are secured on a barge and suck in
large quantities of polluted water, separating out the oil and spitting back
97% clean water.
Video of Centrifuge
"It's like a big vacuum cleaner," said Costner's business partner, Louisiana
trial lawyer John Houghtaling.
"The machines are basically sophisticated centrifuge devices that can handle
a huge volume of water," he said.he got a team together to create the device in
the wake of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. His scientist brother,
Dan Costner, helped develop the device, and together, the brothers formed
Costner Industries Nevada Corp. Costner sank over $40 million into the Ocean Therapy oil
separator project. He obtained a license for the device from the Department
of Energy in 1993.
Costner has 300 of his Ocean Therapy machines in various sizes. The largest is able to clean water at a rate
faster than the well is leaking, Houghtaling noted. If all goes according to
plan, he said, "We could have as many as 26 machines dispatched throughout
the gulf. Our largest machine is 112 inches high, weighs 2 ½ tons and cleans
210,000 gallons a day of oily water. We are hoping to have 10 machines that
size out there meaning we could potentially clean 2 million gallons of oil
water a day."
May 2 - Obama visits the Gulf Coast to see cleanup efforts
April 28 - The Coast Guard says the flow of oil is 5,000 barrels per
day (210,000 gallons) five times greater than first estimated. A
controlled burn is held on the giant oil slick.
Nineteen percent of the Gulf's lucrative fisheries are closed, billions of
beach tourist dollars are at stake and dozens of seagoing species are
threatened.
April 25 - The Coast Guard says remote underwater cameras detect the
well is leaking 1,000 barrels of crude oil per day. It approves a plan to
have remote underwater vehicles activate a blowout preventer and stop leak.
Efforts to activate the blowout preventer fail.
The federal agency that regulates offshore oil drilling declined to send
a witness to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Committee’s hearing.
Senate snubbed by regulators
April 24 - Dutch offered skimmers on day 3 to the Obama
Administration ... and they were refused
Oil Spill Skimmers News
April 21 -
Emergency measures by BP - is skimming the oil, spraying it with dispersant chemicals
underwater and trying to burn it on the surface.
April 20 -
An oil rig drilling in BP's Macondo project 42 miles southeast of
Venice, Louisiana, beneath about 5,000 feet of water and 13,000 feet under
the seabed explodes. Millions of gallons of oil begin ejecting under intense
pressure into the Gulf of Mexico. The blast and fire eventually sunk the
Deepwater Horizon rig owned by Transocean and
leased by British Petroleum (BP).
Out of the 126 workers on the 79 were employees of
Transocean, six were employed by BP and 41
other employees were contract workers. Experts say if U.S. officials had followed up on
a response plan for a major Gulf oil spill, it could have been kept under
control and far from land.
Obama said he had dispatched inspectors to the Gulf of Mexico to examine all
deepwater oil rigs and platforms for possible violations.
Oil from the massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico oozing ashore,
threatening birds, river otters and mink along Louisiana's fragile islands
and barrier marshes. The 210,000 gallons a day oil leak comes from a well
which exploded in flames April 20. The Obama Administration took 9 days to
respond.
If U.S. officials had followed up on a response
plan for a major Gulf oil spill, the spill could have been kept under
control and far from land by responding with the immediate use of fire
booms. The federal government did not have a single fire boom on hand. A
single fire boom can burn up to 1,800 barrels of oil an hour or 75,000
gallons an hour, raising the possibility that the spill could have been
contained at the accident scene 100 miles from shore. Speculation is that
burning could have captured 95 percent of the oil as it spilled from the
well.
It's claimed that the National Response Center had one in storage. Each boom
costs a few hundred thousand dollars. Made of flame-retardant fabric, each
boom has two pumps that push water through its 500-foot length. Two boats
tow the U-shaped boom through an oil slick, gathering up about 75,000
gallons of oil at a time. That oil is dragged away from the larger spill,
ignited and burns within an hour.
The 11 who died came from three states: Louisiana, Mississippi
and even Texas, commuting long distances to work.
Gordon Jones, 28, was among the 11 who died when an oil rig exploded April
20 in the Gulf of Mexico. Nearly two weeks after the tragedy, relatives of
the dead have held memorial services, sued rig operator BP-PLC and grappled
with waves of grief as the catastrophe plays out on a worldwide stage --
with barely a mention of their loved ones' names.
"It seems like people have forgotten," said Michelle Jones, who, at nine
months pregnant, will give birth any day.
Adam Weise, 24, lived in Yorktown, Texas, and drove 10 hours to Louisiana
every three weeks to work on the rig. During his three weeks off, the former
high school football star spent time with his girlfriend, hunted deer and
fished from his boat.
"We celebrated his life on Saturday," said his grandmother, Nelda Winslette.
"At the Lutheran church, it was standing room only. That should tell you a
little bit about him."
Jason Anderson, a father of two who died during the explosion, was also from
Texas.
Four men were from Mississippi: Karl Kleppinger Jr., 38, of Natchez; Dewey
Revette, 48, of State Line; Shane Roshto, 22, of Liberty and Burkeen, 37, of
Philadelphia.
Kleppinger was a 38-year-old Gulf War vet and a married father of one.
Revette's family declined to comment on Sunday and Roshto's family couldn't
be reached. Natalie Roshto, Shane's wife, filed a lawsuit in Louisiana
federal court on April 21, saying that she has been suffering post-traumatic
stress disorder, depression and anxiety since her husband went missing in
the explosion.
Burkeen, whose family called him "Bubba," had a wife and two kids. His
favorite TV show was Man vs. Wild, said Woodson, his sister.
"We'd joke around. I'd say, 'Bubba, when are you going to be somewhere where
you need to survive?'" said Woodson. "And he'd say, 'Anything ever happens
to me on that rig, I will make it. I'll float to an island somewhere. Y'all
don't give up on me, 'cuz I will make it.'
"We was hoping that we were going to find him, on an island somewhere."
The other men were from Louisiana.
Donald Clark of Newellton was 49. His family is still planning his memorial
service.
Stephen Curtis was 40, married and had two teenagers. He taught his son to
hunt and play baseball and was active in his church.
Blair Manuel was a 56-year-old engineer from Gonzalez with three daughters.
He had season tickets to Louisiana State University baseball and football
games, said his mother, Geneva Manuel.
Gordon Jones of Baton Rouge was also an engineer. He was 29, and had gotten
off the phone with his wife Michelle just 10 minutes before the explosion.
"He was the glue that bound the family together," said Michelle Jones.
He died just three days before their sixth anniversary.
Newly widowed on the brink of new motherhood, Michelle Jones is relying on
those who love her.
"I've got a lot of good family and support," she said, taking a deep breath.
"It'll be okay someday."
The day her husband left to work for a two week shift, she said she gave him
lots of extra hugs and kisses. He got up early and she followed him around
the house and to the garage, hugging him. She thought she was just being
emotional because she's pregnant.
"I watched him drive away, from the window," she said.
She thinks it was God's way of allowing her to say goodbye.
All the families are learning that while the unfathomable tragedy of the oil
spill unfolds in the Gulf -- and in their hearts -- life must go on.
Courtney Kemp, the widow of 27-year-old Roy Wyatt Kemp of Jonesville who
died on the rig, answered the phone on Sunday. The happy squeals of children
could be heard in the background.
She told a reporter that she couldn't answer questions about her husband
right then. "We're having a party today," she said, crying. "Our oldest
daughter just turned three."
NOTES - The Obama Administration gave the rig used by
BP a Safety Award
The Gulf of Mexico loop current
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