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Full title: AP: Offshore wells buried during Hurricane Ivan have been leaking oil into the Gulf since 2004 Down to just one full-time employee, Taylor Energy Company exists for only one reason: to fight an oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico that has gone largely unnoticed, despite creating miles-long slicks for more than a decade. The New Orleans-based company has downplayed the leak’s environmental impact, likening it to scores of minor spills and natural seeps that the Gulf routinely absorbs. But an Associated Press investigation has revealed evidence that the spill is far worse than what Taylor — or...

Top U.S. disaster official Michael Brown, under fire over the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, cited prior emergency-management experience in an official biography but his duties were “more like an intern,” Time magazine reported. Brown's biography on the Federal Emergency Management Agency Web site says he had once served as an "assistant city manager with emergency services oversight," and a White House news release in 2001 said Brown had worked for the city of Edmond, Okla., in the 1970s "overseeing the emergency-services division." However, a city spokeswoman told the magazine Brown had actually worked as "an assistant to the city...

Ivan exposes flaws in N.O.'s disaster plans 05:09 PM CDT on Sunday, September 19, 2004 By KEVIN McGILL Those who had the money to flee Hurricane Ivan ran into hours-long traffic jams. Those too poor to leave the city had to find their own shelter - a policy that was eventually reversed, but only a few hours before the deadly storm struck land. New Orleans dodged the knockout punch many feared from the hurricane, but the storm exposed what some say are significant flaws in the Big Easy's civil disaster plans. Much of New Orleans is below sea level, kept...

Some Can't Evacuate New Orleans for Ivan By MARY FOSTER, Associated Press Writer NEW ORLEANS - Fleeing to safety was not an option for some people as 140-mph Hurricane Ivan churned toward the Gulf Coast, threatening to submerge the below-sea-level city in what could be the most disastrous storm to hit in nearly 40 years. Latonya Hill, who waited out the dangerous storm sitting on her stoop Tuesday, said the official pleas for residents to pack up and leave meant little to her. "Got no place to go and no way to get there," said the 57-year-old grandmother, who lives...

Does anyone have links to stories criticizing Bush for going to Florida "too soon" after Hurricane Ivan? It was around the time of the Debates. It would make for solid evidence that the MSM, once again, is clothed in hypocrisy (like we needed more evidence). Please post links here if you can find them. I have Googled for hours and come up empty.

New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers faces reductionNew Orleans City Business June 6, 2005 by Deon Roberts In fiscal year 2006, the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is bracing for a record $71.2 million reduction in federal funding. It would be the largest single-year funding loss ever for the New Orleans district, Corps officials said. I've been here over 30 years and I've never seen this level of reduction, said Al Naomi, project manager for the New Orleans district. I think part of the problem is it's not so much the...

Ivan exposes flaws in N.O.'s disaster plans 05:09 PM CDT on Sunday, September 19, 2004 By KEVIN McGILL Associated Press Those who had the money to flee Hurricane Ivan ran into hours-long traffic jams. Those too poor to leave the city had to find their own shelter - a policy that was eventually reversed, but only a few hours before the deadly storm struck land. New Orleans dodged the knockout punch many feared from the hurricane, but the storm exposed what some say are significant flaws in the Big Easy's civil disaster plans. Much of New Orleans is below sea...

Just last year the Associated Press predicted all of the failures that have became part of the Katrina tragedy - but the story was about another hurricane, Hurricane Ivan. When Ivan aimed its fury at the Big Easy, the AP detailed what could happen if the hurricane slammed into New Orleans. In the case of Ivan, serious problems were caused by a lack of planning for a cataclysmic storm, yet with Katrina on the horizon, the lessons of Ivan were all but forgotten. A feckless state governor and New Orleans' mayor repeated the same mistakes they made with Ivan, and...

Mayor Nagin and Gov. Kathleen Blanco failed to develope better evacuation strategy for NO after Hurricane Ivan in exactly one year ago.Ivan exposes flaws in N.O.'s disaster plans 05:09 PM CDT on Sunday, September 19, 2004 By KEVIN McGILL Associated Press Those who had the money to flee Hurricane Ivan ran into hours-long traffic jams. Those too poor to leave the city had to find their own shelter - a policy that was eventually reversed, but only a few hours before the deadly storm struck land. New Orleans dodged the knockout punch many feared from the hurricane, but the storm...

Ivan exposes flaws in N.O.'s disaster plans 05:09 PM CDT on Sunday, September 19, 2004 By KEVIN McGILL Associated Press Those who had the money to flee Hurricane Ivan ran into hours-long traffic jams. Those too poor to leave the city had to find their own shelter - a policy that was eventually reversed, but only a few hours before the deadly storm struck land. New Orleans dodged the knockout punch many feared from the hurricane, but the storm exposed what some say are significant flaws in the Big Easy's civil disaster plans. Much of New Orleans is below sea...

Author’s Note: This column was originally intended to be the final disaster in the “Disasters Waiting to Happen” series. As I was developing the hypothetical situation depicting a devastating hurricane striking New Orleans, Louisiana, the disaster waiting to happen threatened to become a reality: Hurricane Ivan, a category 4 hurricane (with 140 mph winds) fluctuating to a category 5 (up to 155 mph winds), was slowly moving directly toward New Orleans. Forecasters were predicting a one-in-four chance that Ivan would remain on this direct path and would be an “extreme storm” at landfall. In reality, the storm veered to the...

Huge ocean wave towered nearly 100 feet Study finds giant waves are more common than first thought The Associated Press Aug. 4, 2005 WASHINGTON - Last year's Hurricane Ivan generated an ocean wave that towered higher than 90 feet at one point, says a study that also suggests such giants may be more common than once thought. Research indicates these are not "rogue waves but actually fairly common during hurricanes," said David Wang of the Naval Research Laboratory at Stennis Space Center, Miss. The giant wave was detected 75 miles south of Gulfport, Miss., by instruments on the ocean floor...

Standing 60 feet above sea level on this oil platform 130 miles southeast of New Orleans, Rab Bruce pointed to where the huge wave slammed into a tangle of grated steel and multicolor pipes. The Petronius deep-water platform, which was hit by a 90-foot wave during Hurricane Ivan last September, is now back on line. "I was just in shock at the damage," said Mr. Bruce, a longtime field coordinator on Chevron's Petronius deepwater platform, which was hit by a 90-foot wave during Hurricane Ivan last September. "I had never seen anything like this. Everything was busted, dangling and messed...

Hurricane caused 'tallest wave' Satellite image of Hurricane Ivan south of western Cuba Hurricane Ivan generated a wave more than 90 foot (27 metres) high - thought to be the tallest and most intense ever measured - scientists have revealed.It would have dwarfed a 10-storey building and had the power to snap a ship in half - but never reached land. The wave was recorded by sensors on the ocean floor as Hurricane Ivan passed over the Gulf of Mexico last September. The observations suggest prior estimates for extreme waves are too low, researchers warn in Science. Hurricane Ivan...

. . . and churn up big waves, too Sid Perkins From New Orleans, at the Joint Assembly of the American Geophysical Union As Hurricane Ivan approached the U.S. Gulf Coast last September, it passed right over an array of seafloor sensors. The network detected the largest wave ever measured by instruments—one that towered more than 27 meters from trough to crest. The 50-kilometer-wide group of 14 instruments was deployed in May 2004 to measure currents on the ocean floor, says William J. Teague, an oceanographer at the Naval Research Laboratory at Bay St. Louis, Miss. Late on the evening...

On September 16, 2004 a category 4 hurricane swept through Northwest Florida causing billions of dollars worth of damages. The advertisement in the April edition of Southern Living magazine shows a serene picture of Pensacola Beach, post-Hurricane Ivan. It reads: "Welcome Back -- Pensacola's enduring appeal has withstood the test of time and weather once again. Hotels, restaurants and attractions are remodeled, expanded, and renewed." The headline on the front-page article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Spring broke." Appearing on March 26, six months after the Sept. 16 storm, the article describes college students finding "an unexpected level of wreckage" when...

Tornado leads to child porn seizure FREDERICK, Md. (AP) — Workers repairing a home damaged in a tornado discovered nearly two dozen boxes filled with child pornography. The homeowner remained jailed Monday on $96,000 bail. Robert L. Medvee, 52, was charged Friday with 48 counts of creating computer images of child pornography and 48 counts of possession of child pornography, sheriff's Deputy Jennifer Bailey said. The seized material — computer discs, videotapes and photographs — filled 20 to 24 boxes, Frederick County State's Attorney Scott Rolle said. "It was the largest seizure of child pornography I've ever seen," Rolle said....

BUSH'S US$50M BAILOUT Grenada, Jamaica, Haiti on rescue list Thursday, September 30th 2004 Victims in hurricane-ravaged islands such as Grenada, Jamaica and Haiti may soon have something to smile about, if a request from US President George Bush for $50 million to aid in international disaster and famine relief is granted by the US Congress. In a press release yesterday, the United States Embassy said the funds for the Caribbean formed part of a $7.1 billion supplemental budget request to assist US and international regions which were heavily damaged this hurricane season. So far, the United States has provided US$3.8...

PENSACOLA, Fla. -- Kevin Bomback took off in his plane two weeks ago to escape Hurricane Ivan. No one has seen him, his plane or his family since.

The evacuation of New Orleans in the face of Hurricane Ivan looked sinisterly like Strom Thurmond's version of the Rapture. Affluent white people fled the Big Easy in their SUVs, while the old and car-less, mainly black, were left behind in their below-sea-level shotgun shacks and aging tenements to face the watery wrath. New Orleans had spent decades preparing for inevitable submersion by the storm surge of a Class 5 hurricane. Civil defense officials conceded they had 10,000 body bags on hand to deal with the worst-case scenario. But no one seemed to have bothered to devise a plan to...