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Commercial shrimpers out for the first season since BP's disastrous spill indicated their catch was plentiful and free of oil, despite a report by scientists that much of the crude remains below the surface of the Gulf. Fishermen spent much of the summer mopping up oil but got back to work as the fall shrimping season in Louisiana's coastal waters opened Monday amid anxiety over whether the catch will be tainted by crude and whether anyone will buy it even if it is clean. "We're not seeing any oil where I'm at. No tar balls, nothing," said Brian Amos, a...

Shrimping Season in La. Reopens After SpillLa. shrimpers head back to work after Gulf spill but fear the public won't buy their catch By CAIN BURDEAU and MARY FOSTER Associated Press Writers GRAND ISLE, La. August 17, 2010 (AP) Fishermen who spent much of the summer mopping up oil from BP's disastrous spill got back to work as the fall shrimping season in Louisiana's coastal waters opened Monday amid anxiety over whether the catch will be tainted by crude and whether anyone will buy it even if it is clean. Scores of shrimpers headed out at first light, and early...

He’s never been shied away from showing off his toned physique. But President Barack Obama’s latest beach moment might yet come back to haunt him after he enlisted his youngest daughter for a publicity stunt. In an attempt to show the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, despite the massive BP oil spill, were safe he took the plunge with youngest daughter Sasha in a very carefully controlled photo opportunity. No photographers or reporters were allowed to be present for the short dip in the Gulf waters off Alligator Point in Panama City Beach, Florida. But the White House later...

President Barack Obama wanted to convince America that the Gulf of Mexico remains open for business. But perhaps he didn't want the world to catch another glimpse of his hairless chest. President Barack Obama wanted to convince America that the Gulf of Mexico remains open for business. But perhaps he didn't want the world to catch another glimpse of his hairless chest. So when he and his daughter, Sasha, took a dip in the sea off Florida this weekend, only the White House photographer was allowed to capture proceedings. The official picture was intended to provide evidence that the region's...

Obama urges tourism to aid Gulf economy post-spill14 August 2010 Last updated at 16:01 ET President Obama has urged Americans to "come on down and visit" Florida to help revive the economy stricken by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Mr Obama said oil was no longer flowing into the Gulf but "our job is not finished and we are not going anywhere until it is." The president is visiting Florida with his wife and elder daughter. On Friday, US incident commander Adm Thad Allen said work would continue to seal the leaking well for good. The president paid tribute...

Four months after the Deepwater Horizon spill — which President Obama called the “worst environmental disaster America has ever faced” — the oil is disappearing, and fisheries are returning to normal. It turns out that this incident exposed some things that are seriously wrong in the world of oil — and I don’t mean exploding wells. There was a broad-based failure on the part of the media, the science establishment, and the federal bureaucracy. With the nation and its leaders looking for facts, we got instead a massive plume of apocalyptic mythology and threats of Armageddon. In the Gulf, this...

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The Gulf Recovery Obama Does Not Want to SeePosted August 13th, 2010 at 9:14am Next week, for the fifth time since July, the first family will board Air Force One for yet another luxury vacation, this time to an exclusive Martha’s Vineyard estate that rents for up to $50,000 a week. But before they head north, the Obamas will first grace Panama City, Fla., with their presence this weekend for what is being billed as a “solidarity vacation to the Gulf Coast.” While in Florida, the President is expected to meet with local business leaders to discuss the effects of...

Last month the White House announced that the first family would visit the Gulf of Mexico for a vacation. It's a trip, as Christi Parsons reported at the time, intended in part to "help ward off criticism that, while the president encourages others to go to the Gulf, he will spend his vacation among the elite set on the island of Martha's Vineyard." The White House has just sent new details of that trip, revealing that the Obama family will have spent barely more than one day in the area when all is said and done. That trip will include...

(CNN) -- President Obama and his family will travel to the Gulf Coast this weekend to support businesses that rely on tourists but have been devastated by the oil disaster. The family will leave Saturday morning for Panama City Beach, Florida. "Even as the president talks about what our next steps are in our response, obviously part of this will be highlighting the tremendous economic toll that has taken place," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters earlier this week.

BP could be paying millions in compensation to 'fake fishermen', it has been revealed. So far BP has paid $308million to those whose livelihood has been threatened by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But to receive compensation, fishermen must display a valid fishing licence

The $20 billion victims' compensation fund established for the Gulf oil spill may use revenue from BP's oil and gas drilling as collateral, according to details released Wednesday by the White House.

The conventional wisdom these days is that the best shot for Democrats heading into the November elections in marginal districts is for the president to raise money and lower his profile. Just send checks. Events after 7 p.m. Closed to the press. This is not an election Democrats want to "nationalize." Better to keep it local. Better to run as your own man or woman, not as the president's best friend. Republicans, by contrast, will spend as much time as they can running against the president. If his popularity is down to his base (low 40s), that means voters in...

Oil spill: BP nears deal to continue drilling in Gulf of MexicoBP was on Tuesday night close to safeguarding its future in the Gulf of Mexico as it neared a break-through deal aimed at smoothing relations with the Obama administration. By James Quinn in New York and Jamie Dunkley Published: 6:00AM BST 11 Aug 2010 The deal with the White House would allow BP to guarantee its $20bn (£13bn) clean-up fund against revenues from its operations in the Gulf, which account for approximately 10pc of its oil and gas business. If the deal were to be agreed – it remains...

<p>Prominent oil investor Matt Simmons has died of a heart attack, according to a flash on CNBC.</p> <p>The famed energy banker was a prominent proponent of peak oil theory, and most recently got attention for his dire calls about the fate of the Gulf of Mexico.</p>

All of a sudden according to the Obama administration we're getting reports that the gulf has dodged an ecological bullet? Apparently everything is good, the oil is evaporating. This... and is apparently EVAPORATING like it's.... Does ANYONE buy this crap? Oil gushed into the ocean for MONTHS without end to the tune of 5 million barrels. Liberals begged for straight jackets when Exxon Valdez spilled, at its highest estimate, spilled about 750,000 barrels. The ecosystem there STILL hasn't totally recovered. By the most liberal estimate the gulf oil spill is more than 5 times worse and we're supposed to...

About three-quarters of the oil spilled following the BP explosion in the Gulf of Mexico has evaporated and the rest is being dispersed, the White House said on Wednesday, as it released a new report suggesting that the environmental damage would be nowhere near as severe as first feared. The study, led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, finds that about a quarter of the 4.9m barrels of oil spilled is still in the water but, whether on the surface or underneath, it appears to be rapidly breaking up. “The vast majority of the oil has either been cleaned,...

One Chart That Proves The Oil Spill Really Was Overblown Gus Lubin Aug. 4, 2010, 1:32 PM As promised, the government has released a report saying the oil spill is a relatively minor event. Of 4.9 billion barrels discharged, 17% was captured straight from the wellhead. Five percent was burned, 3% was skimmed, and 8% was dispersed with non-toxic chemicals. Another 16% dispersed naturally and 25% evaporated or dissolved. This portion isn't vitamin C, but it is certifiably harmless. Only 26% of the oil remains in the water. This portion exists as light sheen, tar balls, or buried mud: forms...

WASHINGTON -- A new federal study of chemical dispersants used to break up oil in the Gulf of Mexico shows that when mixed with oil, the dispersant is less toxic to aquatic life than oil alone. The study also show that when mixed with oil, the dispersant used in the Gulf, Corexit 9500A, is no more or less toxic than oil mixtures with other chemical dispersants approved for use in oil spills.

The explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig spilled more oil from the Macondo well than anyone guessed, the Washington Post reports. Initially, the Coast Guard estimated a flow rate of 5,000 barrels a day, but the actual rate was at least twelve times that. The well released almost five million barrels through its broken riser pipe, turning it into the worst unintentional oil spill in history: The blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico gushed 12 times faster than the government and BP estimated in the early weeks of the crisis and has spilled a whopping 4.9 million...