Unacceptable

People along the Gulf Coast have spent weeks living with uncertainty, wondering where and when the huge slick might come ashore, ruining their beaches - and their livelihoods.

The anxiety is so acute that some are seeing and smelling oil where there is none. And even though the dead turtles and jellyfish washing ashore along the Gulf of Mexico are clean, and scientists have yet to determine what killed them, many are just sure the flow of crude unleashed by the explosion at BP's Deepwater Horizon is the culprit.

The rig was owned by Transocean Ltd. Some of the 115 surviving workers who were aboard when it exploded are suing that company and BP PLC. In lawsuits filed Tuesday, three workers say they were kept floating at sea for more than 10 hours while the rig burned uncontrollably. They are seeking damages.

"You could smell the smell of it, real heavy petroleum base," said Steve Owensby, 54, a maintenance man at the Flora-Bama Lounge abutting the state line on the Florida side.

The air cleared later, but Owensby's 28-year-old daughter, Stephanie, who tends bar at the lounge, said some visitors have complained of feeling ill from the fumes.

"It's very sad because I grew up out here," she said. "I remember growing up seeing the white beaches my whole life. Every day I've been going to the beach ... a lot of people are out watching and crying."

**************************************

I really wish I lived down there so that I could help clean up these animals. This makes me so sad.

Just imagine being a happy turtle floating along on a beautiful day under water, and being suddenly drowned in oil. This is natures world, but somehow they are shoved out, and treated with such disrespect. Who are humans to become so power hungry? Who gave them the right to feel justified in stomping over the environment that gave them life? The wetlands in the gulf are some of the most species-dense areas in the world, and so important to the balance of our atmosphere. We were already losing a football field sized area of them every day due to global warming and development. I don't even know how to accept this oil problem and what it means for the future of our oceans. Its so sad to me, I cannot even think about it anymore. This company should be destroyed.