BP well test delayed 24 hours
Kristen Hays, Reuters
BP Plc (BP.L) (BP.N) delayed a critical pressure test on a cap at the gushing Gulf of Mexico wellhead by 24 hours on Tuesday and will move forward "as soon as we're ready to do it," a company executive said on Wednesday.

Kent Wells, senior vice president of exploration and production, told reporters that scientists delayed the test to further examine the procedure and avoid an "inconclusive result."

Wells noted he had said the test would begin by midday Tuesday and then by late Tuesday afternoon. Retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, who is overseeing the U.S. response to the spill, also had said on Tuesday that the test would begin that day.

But Wells on Wednesday said U.S. scientists and BP decided by mid-afternoon Tuesday to delay the test by 24 hours. He did not give a specific start time on Wednesday...
(14 July 2010)

Due to Public Outcry, Coast Guard Rescinds Ban on Reporters and Photographers from Oil Spill
Washington's blog
Due to popular rage at the ban on reporters and photographers from within 65 feet of the oil spill, Coast Guard admiral Thad Allen has rescinded the ban.

Specifically, Allen announced tonight that the media will have full access, as long as they do not interfere with safety or security:

National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen today announced new procedures to allow media free travel within the 20-meter boom safety zones if they have followed simple procedures for credentialing, and provided they follow certain rules and guidelines.

"I have put out a direction that the press are to have clear, unfettered access to this event, with two exceptions -- if there is a safety or security concern," said Allen. “This boom is critical to the defense of the marshes and the beaches.”

"We need to discriminate between media, which have a reason to be there and somebody who's hanging around when we know that we've had equipment vital to this region damaged," Allen said...

(12 July 2010)

Scientist Carl Safina Speaks Out On The Gulf Oil Spill
Erna Buffie, Suite101.com
Just back from a tour of the Gulf disaster, scientist, Carl Safina, makes an impassioned plea on behalf of oil spill victims.

In a June speech given at the “TED Talks” in California, scientist and conservationist, Carl Safina launched an impassioned plea for change, while bearing painful witness to the tragic fate of the Gulf spill’s victims, both wildlife and human.

A Scientist's Take on the Use of Dispersants in the Gulf Spill
In a talk that documents the hemispheric impact of the Gulf Spill, Safina began by describing his own reaction to an environmental disaster that seems to dwarf comprehension.

“I am traumatized by it,” he said. “It looks apocalyptic.”..
(13 July 2010)