Oil Slicks

As I told many of you on my last blog post, I joined the Historic Ocean Springs Fly Fishing Club (HOSSFLY) last month.  Its a group of guys that get together monthly to discuss all things fly fishing related in the area.  I was briefly a member two years ago and stopped going. Turns out that I fished against the president of the club during my tournament win in the fall and he was very adamant during our captains meeting that I join the club.

I went to the meeting in February during which they had the president from the nonprofit organization On Wings of Care.  Bonny Schumaker, president of the organization, is the pilot of one of the planes that are regularly used by the organization and an ex-NASA employee.  In the last few weeks, if you've followed the news, oil sheen was found near the deepwater horizon wreck which caused the Coast Guard to have BP re-investigate the Macondo blowout for leakage.  That was Bonny's doing.  She has become Public Enemy Number 1 for BP.  She does aerial surveillance in the Gulf of Mexico and regularly finds oil slicks and sheens, files sighting reports to the appropriate governing organization, which causes problems for owners of drilling rigs.  She had pictures from Pascagoula just down the road of an oil slick from the 2010 disaster that was here today, gone tomorrow. How close in was BP really using those dispersants? Who knows. On Wings of Care is a non-profit that runs on donations, and if you're feeling charitable, maybe you can give them a few dollars for fuel and maintenance of their aircraft at their website.  I also think it's important to see that just because the news isn't covering it, doesn't mean the problems suddenly have ceased to exist.

Taken from On Wings of Care Website, 2-23-2012.  Shows the Deepwater Horizon Wreck Area on 1-27-2013. Slicks 7 nm long and 1 mile wide were found.

 

 

 

 

I have a very complicated view on these companies that I care not to get into on this blog, but I will say this.  Industries like this need a sort of checks and balances from non biased parties to make sure they are doing their job safely and with minimal impact on the environment.  And I don't trust Uncle Sam enough to make sure that happens. This is my only sway into politics, I promise.