Saturday, the first tropical storm of the season hurricane Alex formed in the Caribbean and is currently projected toward Belize and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. It is expected to hit land by early Thursday, but as the CNN video shows that path could change at any time.
If Tropical Storm Alex moves towards the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, operations may be halted for as much as two weeks before everything could be put back into place, and that also includes the containment cap that is currently siphoning some of the oil from the well. An estimated 2.5 million gallons of oil are draining into the ocean every day.
"We all know the weather is unpredictable, and we could have a sudden last-minute change," Adm. Thad Allen of the Coast Guard said Saturday. He said that it could take five days to evacuate the 38,000 people and 6,000 vessels that are helping with the oil spill; the teams are collecting approximately 24, 5000 barrels of oil each day, and are expected to increase that amount to 53,000 barrels next week.
If Tropical Storm Alex moves towards the oil that has collected on the surface of the ocean, residents in the area fear that the high winds will spread the oil onto the shores and bays and make the situation even worse than it is.
See the Saturday CNN weather report for an update on Tropical Storm Alex.
Thursday, a New Orleans judge ruled that the government ban on deepwater drilling will continue in the Gulf of Mexico. Obama’s administration asked Judge Martin Feldman to delay his decision on lifting the ban until an appeals court can get to the case later this summer. The judge denied that request. For more on that story, click here.
A lawsuit was filed from a group of companies that state the government has no evidence that the existing operations pose a threat to the Gulf of Mexico, and asked that the ban be removed. The companies provide boats and equipment to the drilling industry. For more on that story, click here.
To see incredible photos of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, click here.
To see photos taken recently of the oil spill that hit the Louisiana coastline and the wildlife it has affected, click here.
Sunday, a BP document was released by Rep. Edward Markey, D-Massachusetts that gave the worst case scenario of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico; the report stated that an estimated 100,000 barrels (or 4.2 million gallons) could leak into the ocean per day. The report was created after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and was submitted in May. For more on that story, click here.
BP shareholder class action lawsuit was filed last week in the Eastern District of Louisiana and the organizers of the suit hope to bring angry people all over the world together. The case alleges that BP was not conducting a safe operation in oil drilling, but misled the public by acting as though they were. For more information on that story, click here.
Actor Kevin Costner has invested about $26 million into his Ocean Therapy Solutions machine, and six of the machines were sent to the Gulf for testing. BP has ordered 32 more machines that recycle water to separate the oil. For more information on this story, click here.
To see incredible photos of the wildfires burning near Flagstaff, Arizona and the firefighters battling them click here.
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Source: CNN
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