Tens of thousands more gallons of oil were released into the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday.  This new setback happened after an undersea robot bumped a venting system, forcing BP to remove the cap that had been containing some of the crude.

The setback, one of many in the nine-week effort to stop the gusher, came as Pensacola Beach in Florida was invaded by thick globs of oil washing up on the formerly pristine sands.  At the same time, the clueless Obama administration was trying to figure out how to side-step a Federal Judge’s ruling overturning Obama’s six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling.

Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said Gas escaped through the vent that carries warm water down to prevent ice-like crystals from forming, when the robot bumped the system just before 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Crews were inspecting the well to see if crystals had formed before putting the cap back on.   BP is unsure how long it will be until the cap is back in place.

The containment cap had collected about 700,000 gallons of oil in 24 hours and sucked it up to a ship on the surface before the incident.   The oil that was collected is now pouring into the Gulf.  Another 438,000 gallons was burned on the surface by a different system.  Thankfully, this system was not affected by the issue with the cap.

An incident like this thwarted the attempt to put a bigger containment device over the blown-out well in May.   BP had to abandon the four-story box it was trying to place over the well after the crystals called hydrates clogged it, threatening to make it float away.

This smaller cap had been in place since early June.   Crews had to slice away a section of the leaking pipe to get it there, meaning the flow of oil could be stronger now than before.

The latest worst-case estimate of the amount of oil entering the Gulf from the well is about 2.5 million gallons a day.  Estimates are that 67 million to 127 million gallons have flowed in the Gulf since the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig that killed 11 workers and blew out the well 5,000 feet underwater.   BP PLC had a lease arrangement on the rig from owner Transocean Ltd.

President Barak Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) and his administration were trying to figure out what to do next yesterday after U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans overturned Scooter’s moratorium on new drilling.  The Judge said that the government simply assumed  (and we know what that does) that because one rig exploded, the others pose an imminent danger, too.

Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1983, Judge Feldman has reported investments in the oil and gas industry, including owning less than $15,000 of Transocean stock, according to financial disclosure reports for 2008, the most recent available.

The White House threatened an immediate appeal of his ruling. The Interior Department imposed the moratorium last month, following Presidential orders,  in the wake of the BP disaster.  This halted approval of any new permits for deepwater projects and suspending drilling on 33 exploratory wells.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar proclaimed that within the next few days he would issue a new order imposing a moratorium that eliminates any doubt it is needed and appropriate.

This weasel told a Senate subcommittee yesterday:

It’s important that we don’t move forward with new drilling until we know it can be done in a safe way.

Translation:  We don’t care about all the Americans who are out of work.  Obama wants to get cap and trade passed so that he can pay off his investors, including helping Mr. Soros with his investment in Petrobras.

Several companies, including Shell and Marathon Oil, said they would await the outcome of any appeals before they start drilling again.  See?

 BP managing director Bob Dudley said on yesterday’s NBC’s “Today” show that his company will “step back” from the issue while it investigates the rig explosion.

BP announced yesterday that Dudley has been appointed to head the new Gulf Coast Restoration Organization, which is in charge of cleaning up the spill.  He takes over from embattled BP CEO Tony Hayward.

Meanwhile, back in Florida, dozens of workers used shovels to scoop up pools of oil that washed up overnight, turning the sand orange.

Tar balls have washed up as far east as Panama City, Fla.  Thicker oil is predicted to wash ashore further east along the coast line in the coming days.  Oil has already washed up on beaches in Alabama and coated wetlands in Louisiana.

In another brilliant move yesterday, the federal government shut down the dredging that was being done to create protective sand berms in the Gulf of Mexico.  

The berms are meant to protect the Louisiana coastline from oil. But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department is upset about where the dredging is going on. The department says one area where sand is being dredged is a sensitive section of the Chandeleur Islands, and the state failed to meet an extended deadline to install pipe that would draw sand from a less-endangered area.

The ecological damage being caused by this disaster is horrible.   But what about the damage to American citizens?

William Allen Kruse, 55, a charter boat captain, was recently hired by BP as a vessel of opportunity out of Gulf Shores, AL.  He and his two deck hands prepared to set sail on his boat, The Rookie, yesterday morning, as they always did.  The deck hands said that he seemed normal as he sent them for some ice while he pulled around to the gas pumps.   When he did not show up at the pumps, the deck hands found the boat still moored where they left it.  They went inside to find their captain dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Stan Vinson, coroner for Baldwin County, which includes Gulf Shores, said:

He had been quite despondent about the oil crisis.

Vinson said Kruse was in good health, was not mentally ill and was not taking psychotropic medications.

Dr. Vinson said it’s not surprising the oil spill had weighed heavily on his mind, as it has on many local fishermen no longer able to support themselves with deep-sea sport fishing trips for marlin and the like.

All the waters are closed. There’s no charter business anymore. You go out on some of the beaches now, with the oil, you can’t even get in the water.   It’s really crippled the tourism and fishing industry here.

Today is the 66th day since the Deepwater Horizon Explosion.  Procrastination and the lack of a clear plan by the Obama Administration is not only ruining the ecology of the Gulf Coast Area, but irreparably harming the lives of Americans who depend on the Gulf Waters to provide for their families.

If this procrastination is intentional, designed to further his ideology and political power, then Obama is the most cold-hearted and, dare I say, treasonous,  president in American History.  However, even if he is just incompetent, that will not reduce the damage already done by him and his administration’s procrastination in dealing with this crisis.

Whether clueless or calculating, Obama has cemented his place in history through his mishandling of this disaster.

Please keep the American families affected by this crisis in your prayers.  And continue to pray for our country.

Sources:  breitbart.com, wdsu.com, latimes.com