thursday open (late) thoughts

i read too quickly :(

but i still think it's past time to shut down off-shore drilling.

"Indeed, if a poor man will spend a year in prison for stealing out of hunger,
how high would the gallows need to be to hang the rich man?"
~The Patrician in 'Snuff' by Terry Pratchett

 By ALAN SAYRE, Associated Press Writer - 24 mins ago

NEW ORLEANS, La. - A mile-long oil sheen spread Thursday from an offshore petroleum platform burning in the Gulf of Mexico off Lousiana, west of the site of BP's massive spill.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill Coklough said the sheen, about 100 feet wide, was spotted near the platform owned by Houston-based Mariner Energy Inc.

He said Mariner had deployed three firefighting vessels to the site and one already was in place fighting the blaze.

The Coast Guard says no one was killed in the explosion and fire, which was reported by a commercial helicopter flying over the site around 9 a.m. CDT. All 13 people aboard the rig were rescued as they floated in the nearby water in survival outfits called gumby suits.

The platform is in about 340 feet of water and about 100 miles south of Vermilion Bay on the central Louisiana coast. It's location is considered shallow water, much less than the approximately 5,000 feet where BP's well spewed oil and gas for three months after an April rig explosion.

All 13 people aboard the rig were found floating in the water, sticking close together, Coast Guard spokesman Chief Petty Officer John Edwards said.

"These guys had the presence of mind, used their training to get into those gumby suits before they entered the water. It speaks volumes to safety training and the importance of it because beyond getting off the rig there's all the hazards of the water such as hypothermia and things of that nature," Edwards said.

All were being flown to a hospital in Houma to be checked over. Coast Guard Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesau said one person was injured, but the platform's owner, Houston-based Mariner Energy, Inc., said there were no injuries.

"Mariner has notified and is working with regulatory authorities in response to this incident. The cause is not known, and an investigation will be undertaken," the company said in a statement. It said the platform was located on Vermilion Block 380, approximately 100 miles off the Louisiana coast.

The platform is a fixed petroleum platform that was in production at the time of the fire, according to a homeland security operational update obtained by The Associated Press.

The update said the platform was producing about 58,800 gallons of oil and 900,000 cubic feet of gas per day. The platform can store 4,200 gallons of oil.

Seven Coast Guard helicopters, two airplanes and three cutters were dispatched to the scene from New Orleans, Houston and Mobile, Ala., Ben-Iesau said. She said authorities do not know whether oil was leaking from the site.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said President Barack Obama was in a national security meeting and did not know whether Obama had been informed of the explosion.

"We obviously have response assets ready for deployment should we receive reports of pollution in the water," Gibbs said.

Mariner Energy focuses on oil and gas exploration and production in the Gulf of Mexico. In April, Apache Corp., another independent petroleum company, announced plans to buy Mariner in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $3.9 billion, including the assumption of about $1.2 billion of Mariner's debt. That deal is pending.

Apache spokesman Bob Dye said the platform is in shallow water. Responding to any oil spill in shallow water would be much easier than in deep water, where crews depend on remote-operated vehicles access equipment on the sea floor. Mariner said in initial flyover for no hydrocarbon spill.

A company report said the well was drilled in the third quarter of 2008.

The platform is about 200 miles west of BP's blown-out well. On Friday, BP was expected to begin the process of removing the cap and failed blowout preventer, another step toward completion of a relief well that would put a finals eal on the well. The BP-leased rig Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20, killing 11 people and setting off a three-month leak that totaled 206 million gallons of oil .

__

Associated Press writers Janet McConnaughey in New Orleans, Chris Kahn in New York and Eileen Sullivan, Matthew Daly and Gerry Bodlander in Washington contributed to this report.

Meanwhile, I'd love to see the reduced rents in NYC....LOL.

English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment and education - sometimes it's sheer luck, like getting across the street.
E. B. White  

i really hope there's somebody here that also loves football... maybe several somebodys!
if you wanna do a predictions thingey here this year/season, you know you are welcome to.
if nothing else you'll have my dumb ass in there asking stooopid questions!
(^.^)

"Indeed, if a poor man will spend a year in prison for stealing out of hunger,
how high would the gallows need to be to hang the rich man?"
~The Patrician in 'Snuff' by Terry Pratchett

Redemption...

San San Te (aka the college football kicker with the coolest name on the planet) just nailed another field goal, he's now 3 of 5 on the day.

I think it's pretty safe to chalk up his first two misses to opening day nerves (and recovery from last year's back surgery).

Okay, now I'm feeling much better about this season.

31-0 Rutgers.  Savage is a leader (and only a sophomore!), and the defense looks great.  Sanu is magic.  The O-Line is looking solid since halftime.

Bring on Florida International!

Another tune-up for the kids, we'll see where we really stand then.

Before the first test - game 3 against #18 North Carolina.

The Big East schedule is brutal this year, though.  At Cincy, WV and Pitt!

Good news at least, is that they all have to play in NJ next year, when we should be loaded with our best team since 2006 (and before that, the 1961* and 1976 undefeated teams).

Anything less than 11 wins and a Big East title next year is unacceptable.

*The 1961 Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team would have played in the Rose Bowl, if not for the fact that the University's President at the time thumbed his nose at athletics