The residents and camp owners on Grand Isle Louisiana are a bit upset with the current state of affairs as you might imagine. The BP oil spill has been a real inconvenience to them. Nobody owns property on Grand Isle, Louisiana's only inhabited barrier island, unless they have a deep love for the beach, fishing and crabbing.

Well the Deepwater Horizon oil leak has the beaches shut down and the fishing and crabbing off limits until the oil that continues to work its way to shore is dealt with. Steep fines await those that get caught violating the fishing ban.

The island however is not a deserted ghost town as you might imagine. Instead it is a hustling and bustling place with people scurrying all over the island and the surrounding waters. Except this year is different. Instead of everyone carrying a fishing pole, they are carrying shovels and boom and other relief worker implements.

Some of the "regulars" have decided to show their displeasure with the whole situation by displaying signs and such, directed at one company and sometimes one man within that company. I can only imagine how heartbreaking and disheartening it would be if I worked for BP and had to drive by these signs ever day as I moved around the island trying to clean up the mess.

For lack of a better phrase... scroll down and enjoy.

Media reports of top kill success where premature. BP said that it had stopped pumping drilling mud into the well at 11 p.m. Wednesday to assess the results of the first phase of the top kill, monitor the pressure in the well and restock the vessels bringing in mud for the operation. Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer, said BP pumping would start again later this evening (27th and would continue for at least another 24 hours.

Oil continues to flow. "We have successfully pumped some of the drilling mud into the well bore. Clearly we need to pump more of that in."

Mr. Suttles said BP was expecting to have to deploy a "junk shot," which will allow them to pump against some back pressure and hopefully be able to send more mode down the well instead of out the riser leaks.

Top Kill and Junk Shot fail to stop leak. BP unable to build enogh back pressure to force oil far enough down the well to equalize the pressure.

BP has begun preperations for top hat which involves removing the failed riser off the top of the bop and hooking up the top hat to the top of the riser.

If all goes well they will be able to collect most of the oil spewing from the well.


Update:
Well like everything else all is not going well.

The diamond wire (cutting part) got stuck in the cut late last night. Hours trying to work it free or get it restarted didn't work. Those efforts included, at one point, reattaching the shears to the cut end of the pipe so we could readadjust the sling angle on our A&R winch.

They will send the shears back down and cut the riser right below the kink.

Ultimately, we want a really clean cut on the riser because the latest version of the top hat is designed to actually seal on the riser so we can contain as much of the flow as possible. But that isn't going to happen. The diamond wire saw is off the table. Shears will be used and an alternate top hat will be used.


So, after the shear cut is complete - The diamond saw will cut it.

Update:
Pipe was sheared this morning then cleaned up a bit. BP wanted to continue with the diamond saw but the coast guard over ruled. Top Hat/dome has been placed on the top of the BOP. Oil is only very slowly being collected right now. It will be morning before we have any real idea on how successful the cap will be.

Update:
BP is collecting about 6000 BPD from the top hat. More is likely as time goes by and flow is optimized and increased.

Update:
Top hat is recovering at a rate of just over 14,500 barrels per day now. They are at the rated capacity of the production ship.

BP says they are committed to restoring the Gulf Coast. As one step, revenue from recovered oil will go to new wildlife fund.

Production rig will replace the ship weeks from now and it will have a higher production capability.

In a week BP hopes to be also capturing oil from the choke and kill lines. This oil will go up to a different ship through a different riser.

Subsurface sampling is being done. Just the very limited early results are back. NOAA’s analysis of the presence of subsurface oil determined that the concentration of hydrocarbons is in the range of LESS than 0.5 parts per million, and PAH levels in range of parts per trillion. PAH stands for Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon.

Update:
The Q4000 (ship) is being retrofitted to collect, process and dispose of 10,000 barrels a day. This is in addition to the Enterprise's capacity. Combined they expect to be able to potentially collect 28,000 barrels of oil per day.

The Q4000 will, unlike the Enterprise, burn the oil it collects along with the natural gas.

BP says they are committed to restoring the Gulf Coast. As one step, revenue from recovered oil will go to new wildlife fund.

Update:
Work on the first relief well, which started May 2, continues and has currently reached a depth of 13,978 feet. The second relief well, which started May 16, is at 8,576 feet,

Top hat is recovering at a rate of about 16,000 barrels per day.

The Q4000 is being retrofitted to burn 10,000 barrels a day from the choke and kill lines.

Toisa Pisces: The 304 ft. Toisa Pisces is expected to arrive June 19th. At that time BP will replace the current containment cap with a tighter-fitting cap connected to a riser pipe that will go to the Toisa Pisces. Most if not all of the leaking oil will be contained by this method ship as it has a much higher daily capacity.

Update:
This is getting downright ridiculous. Laugh or cry it is your choice.

Last night the Enterprise had an alarm trigger due to a faulty sensor that resulted in a shutdown of operations. Then again today a suspected lightning strike caused a small fire aboard the Enterprise, resulting in a second temporary shutdown of oil collection operations.

The good news is the fire was quickly extinguished and collection operations should be again operational. I am told by BP that it will not take as long to ramp up production now that they have the past working conditions to shoot for.

From midnight to noon on 6/15, approx. 5,610 barrels of oil collected. Way down due to the shutdowns.

Update: For the last 12 hours on June 16th (noon to midnight), approximately 7,710 barrels of oil were collected and approximately 2,600 barrels of oil and 22 million cubic feet of natural gas were flared.

Pre Q4000 BP was at ~15.5K. This current rate is
20,620 barrels a day collected or burned. Here is to hoping they can continue to increase the burn rate on the Q4000 and get this figure up to 25K or more.

53 days behind schedule: The Obama administration has finally decided to allow the Netherlands to send in its skimmers to help clean up the mess. US tankers that are heading to the site with four pairs of skimming booms airlifted from the Netherlands and should be collecting oil at the flow site within days.

Imagine how much oil they could have collected had their offer been accepted initially. Imagine how much less land and marsh would have never been impacted by oil. The skimmers can collect a heck of a lot more oil than the shrimp boats pulling boom.

Pat Thomas, general curator for the Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo in New York, one day decided to get scientific the scents they use with their big cats to ward off boredom. Pat began testing 24 fragrances. Pat Thomas recorded how long it took the big cats to notice the scent and how much time they spent interacting with it.

The results 'Obsession for Men triumphed' was the most intoxicating to the big cats at the zoo. The big cats 'found it interesting' for 11.1 minutes.

Roan Balas McNab, a Wildlife Conservation Society program director in Guatemala, has been using Obsession for Men since 2007 to help study the elusive jaguars in the Maya Biosphere Reserve. Studying suck a ghost like creature was, and is hard. Roan has only incountered a jaguar by chance once in 14 years of working on the reserve!!!

Calvin Klein's 'Obsession for Men' to the rescue.

Roan relies on trail cameras for much of his research.

After learning of the Pat Thomas's test, Mr. McNab's field biologists began spraying Obsession for Men near their cameras. They would spray the cologne onto a rag tied to a stake in the ground. Post Calvin Klein thee times as many of the cats walked by camera stands spiked with the cologne than those without it. Not only did they get more pictures but also the jaguars stayed around longer giving the researchers a much better glimps into the lives of the elusive big cat of the jungle.

That diversion gave researchers the chance to get clear, full shots of the jaguars and their spot patterns.

So there you have it. Jaguars prefer 'Obession for Men' two to one over other cologne's! Not sure how effective it would be on Cougars! haha

The story starts of horribly and keeps getting worse. First the Deepwater Horizon was capping a newly drilled well Southeast of Venice when a blowout occurred. For reasons I still do not know the cutoff valves did not and have not activated to shut off the flow.

The blowout was immediately followed by an explosion that killed 11 men who's bodies still have not been found.

The rig burned and then a day or so later sank in 5000 feet of water.

The U.S. Coast Guard did a planned test burn of some of the oil within fire resistant buoys. I do not know if the results were promising or not and I have heard that the water is now to rough to conduct any more burns.

42,000 gallons was originally reported to be leaking daily. That figure has been revised up since it was first reported more than a week ago. It is unclear if the original amount was low or if the new estimates of as much as 5 times that amount are the result of an increase in flow possibly due to restrictions to the flow being eroded away.

ROV's have failed in several attempts to plug the well or close the valves located on the seafloor that are designed to prevent this release from happening. Some well are built with 500 thousand dollar valves that can be operated remotely... even from shore. Sadly these were not used on this well.

Now the Northern Gulf Coast is facing what could turn out to be the worst environmental disaster the US has ever had.

There is still hope that the ROV's will be able to activate the blowout valves. I believe the problem is that the ROV's have not been able to build enough pressure to close the valves. New larger lines were being fabricated. I do not know if this is still in the works or not.

A relief well is being drilled but that will take about 2 months before it can stop the flow. It will take more than a month for a huge undersea umbrella to be deployed that could funnel the oil to the surface where it would be pumped into a tanker. But this has never been done before in water more than 200 feet deep and this well is in 5000 foot of water.

The oil is unfortunately not the kind of oil that usually occurs off the Louisiana coast. Early test show that about half or more of the oil is not suitable for cars but instead for asphalt. This means that the dispersants do not work well on it. The good new is that it is pretty non-toxic. The bad news again is that the oil is like roofing tar and will stick to whatever it touches.

It is expected that the oil will come ashore as tarballs and not as an oil slick like happened with the Valdez. This might make cleanup on sand beaches relatively easy. But wherever there is marsh the clean up will be next to impossible.

After having favorable winds the weather has now turned for the worse and the oil is reportedly reaching the marshes at the mouth of the Mississippi River right now.

The oil slick is now huge encompassing and are of more than 100 miles long and 45 miles wide and growing.

Update #1 May 2:
Louisiana has largely been spared so far from the oil. The Gulf is like a river and it flows from West to East here. As far as I can tell oil doesn't flow up stream very well. Also we have the Mississippi river pushing out and the level is high and getting higher which means more and more current heading away from shore.

We just went through a number of days of sustained winds of 35 miles per hour blowing out of the Southeast. Pretty much the worst weather we can expect. The seas are beginning to lay down now and La. just received a very small taste of what was feared. We just may have taken natures best shot at hitting Louisiana with this oil.

But what is good for Louisiana may not be so good for Alabama and Florida. Time will tell. This is just my speculation at this point.

Update #2 May 3:


There is more good news today. The winds and seas are laying down more and more and the oil recovery and containment efforts will be able to be implemented again. Dispersants are being injected straight into the oil streams (three places) where it is leaking out and the area of heavy oil is actually getting smaller.

So it looks like all the gulf states may be spared for the most part. I have no doubt that you will see some oil probably in the form of tarballs hit the beach somewhere but that with any luck will be the exception rather than the rule.

For those of you that are from other states let me clarify something. Your coverage is likely coming from the big news outlets. Make no mistake those people are freaking idiots. Don't believe a thing they say. They are just looking for a story and don't know what the hell they are talking about.

You will likely be bombarded with pictures of dead animal on the beach, birds being cleaned of oil etc etc. Well they have video of one bird being cleaned and it is shown over and over and over again. Why only the one because the environmental catastrophe they have been reporting on has largely not happened.. at least not yet.

The dead turtle they will or have shown on the beach was probably killed by a shrimper or a shark and not the oil. If they want to show picture of dead animals and fish on the Louisiana coast they can do that every single day of the year whether there is an oil spill or leak or not.

If wildlife was being severely impacted they would have tons of footage of it. The news reporters are paying good money to be taken by locals to see birds in oil or just oil. Well I haven't seen any of that footage yet, because they are not able to get that footage... why because it doesn't exist at this point in time.

Trust me if they do show any footage of oil on the beach or marsh just know that that is the very worst thing they can find and it is the exception rather than the rule.

We are not out of the woods yet but lets not all jump the gun and say the sky is falling when it hasn't and hopefully won't.

Update #3 May 4th:

BP is building dome stuctures out of coffer dams left over from after hurricane Katrina. The first is built and is being tested and could possibly be in place this Friday. The first dome will encapsulate the largest of the three leaks and if all goes as planed could allow the capture of 85% of the oil that is leaking out.

The satelitte images of the oil slick which only shows the heavily fouled surface areas shows that the recovery and dispersant efforts are being somewhat successful. But although this is the lesser of two evils the dispersants do not magically make the oil disappear. The oil that is successfully dispersed will move with the ocean currents and eventually be diluted and then decompose.

Another piece of bad news although not unexpected is that the fishing bans that now extend across much of the Northern Gulf Coast East of the Mississippi River will remain closed for a unknown length of time after the oil leak has been stopped. Nobody knows how long this will be. Even the experts caould only venture a guess... which they wont.

The ban will only be lifted after test show that the fishery is free of residual contamination. The known extent of that right now is very small but it is anyones guess as to how much the wildlife will be effected. Many species can simply swim to avoid the oil but it is not know how may will do this and how much wildlife will simply swim straight into it or become trapped by the oil.

But currently the mood is hopeful and optimistic.

Update #4 May 5:
As some of you may know a number of dead sea turtles have washed up on the beach. The big media outlets wasted no time in putting up the pictures of the dead turtles to run with all there doom and gloom stories on the end of the world due to the oil leak. Well the turtles have examined inside and out and not a single one of the 10 examined showed any signs that the oil leak had anything to do with it. But it is of course to late, the damage is done, now the whole world has seen the dead turtles beneath the headlines of the oil leak.

Oh and today a pelican that was contaminated with oil was cleaned. This makes a grand total of TWO birds that have been cleaned. So I guess the media was right after all the end of the world is near. I would laugh at their stupidity if it wasn't for the fact that their stupidity is costing a whole lot of people money.

Also today some of the oil was suppose to be boomed and burned and one of the smaller leaks was plugged although it has had no real effect on the amount of oil being release. Probably because the pressure will bump up slightly at the other leaks and they will basically let out what oil would have gone out the plugged hole.

Of course morons on the internet never can keep their stupid ideas and comments to theirself. On twitter people were asking why they even bothered to waste time plugging the hole if it would have no effect!!!

Well idiot, when the other two leaks have the oil recovery domes put in place there will no longer be any oil leaking into the gulf. If this leak wasn't plugged then duh it would still be leaking oil into the gulf.

Oh and now through the next few days may be a great opportunity to book a condo on the gulf coast. With all the people canceling their beach plan's you might be able to get a killer deal.

Update #5 May 7:
Containment device is either in place or hovering just above it final resting spot. Once it is in place piping will then be connected to the dome and oil will hopefully be recovered shortly thereafter.

I believe that undersea dispersant operations have been halted. This will allow more oil to reach the surface but with the calmer seas it should also allow that oil to be potentially contained and recovered or burned which doesn't happen when the oil is disperesed. Toxicity of the dispersants has also been a question raised by concerned citizens. Aireal application continues I believe, probably mostly on new oil where it is most effective and where it isn't already contained.

People should also be aware that their is no real threat to you from eating contaminated seafood. The health effects or basically no existant. The threat is that the seafood will taste bad. Closures occur to prevent bad tasting seafood from reaching the market, not because it will be harmful or toxic.

Update #6 May 8:
The first attempt at using the containment dome failed miserably. It has been moved off of the leak for now will they consider their options. The methane gas coming out of the leak is turning into ice and plugs up the piping that is suppose to bring the oil to the ship above.

Unless someway of heating up the piping and dome can be found this looks like it might be a dead end.

Other more risky options are now being considered such as putting various objects and products into the piping to try to slow the flow.

The next step has not been decided. Pray for some good news soon.

Update #7 May 11:
The second containment dome has been deployed into the Gulf of Mexico but has not yet been positioned over the leak. And with good reason. This second dome is much different from the first. It isn't a static box that just sits there. If it were it wouldn't work just like the first one didn't work.

This time around the smaller dome (5'x 4') has other features that are currently being tested to make sure everything is operational before it is put in place on the leak.

Methanol water, a warm water jacket, and the immediate pumping operation in place and ready to go when it is placed over the leak are going to be required for the Top Hat to have any chance of success.

We should know if it is working some time tomorrow (Thursday) when it will be put in place over the leak.

About in two weeks BP will have what is called Top Kill aka Junk Shot ready to go. BP feels that this option has a very good chance of success if it can be implemented. It is a long used option that has been used in Kuwait and other places.

What Top Kill is is golf balls, cut up rubber of various sizes are shot into the BOP an that stuff flows toward the leak and plugs up the piping. Then as the pressure equalizes and the flow of oil and gas slows or stops drill mud and then concrete are pumped into the bop which flows mostly back in the piping under ground to seal and cement the leak. Totally killing the flow of oil.

Until they can configure the bop to take both the junk shot and the mud and cement we can't do either. This would normally be a capability they would have right away but the destruction of the oil rig prevents the normal operation of the BOP. Modefications of a control model are being done right now so that the Top Kill can be executed.

Update #8 May 13:

As of this morning's report some 97,000 barrels of oily liquid have now been recovered. Not new news but oh well.

BP estimates oil burned so far amounts to 13,000 barrels of oil (a barrel is 42 gallons).

Here is a quote from BP:
'Efforts to recover oil through the riser tube intervention should occur by the weekend. I'm not sure of the precise sequencing of the attempts to use the riser tube and top hat. There're no mechanical issues that I am aware of with the top hat. We are working several of the solutions in parallel and will report the results.'


Update #9 May 16:

BP tried to capture some of the flow of oil Friday night but ran into trouble when something shifted and they had to retrieve the insertion tube to make modifications. BP was a bit vague on what exactly went wrong.

Saturday night BP was successful in getting the insertion tube inserted into the pipe but it late came out. Possibly due to pressure build up in the riser??? Or possibly due to the insertion tube acting like a jet nozzle when the gas under tremendous pressure from the depth expanded in the tube leading to the drill ship??? Both of those explanations are just my thoughts.

The tube has since be reinserted. Prior to the tube being blown out of the riser BP was able to capture some of the flow. The tube has since been reinserted and oil recovery efforts are underway.

The ship is basically a floating oil rig. The gas will be flared like some rigs regularly do and the oil will be collected in the ships holds. Hope to hear good news soon.

It was theorized by BP that they would be able to capture 75% of the oil using this method. Of course that is subject to change as this has never been tried at any depth and the amount of oil flowing out is unknown and the amount of entrained gas in the oil is also unknown.

Update #10 May 17:


The oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico has been partially suck into the Loop Current. This current which you can think of as fast flowing river in the Gulf of Mexico will quickly pull this oil towards the Southern tip of Florida where it passes between Florida and Cuba.

It has been widely reported that the riser insertion tube is sucking up 1/5th of the oil that has been leaking into the gulf. This is incorrect. The estimate of oil has officially been pegged at about 5000 barrels per day. This is just a guess and not a very solid one. Others have estimated the flow to be much much higher.

So what is important is to note that less oil is making its way into the gulf because of the riser insertion tube success. But we do not know how much of the flow it will be able to capture. If the leak is at 20,000 barrels a day then 1000 barrels capture only reduces the flow by 1/20th. So we need to know how much of the flow percentage wise is being captured at this juncture not the number of barrels per day.

Also BP is slowly increasing the amount of oil they are capturing out of the riser. This is because if they just went full bore they might clog up the entire system with hydrates and have to start all over again. By progressing slowly they can hopefully recognize when they are starting to suck up to much sea water and then throttle the flow back. We will know more in a day or so.
Update #11 May 20:
Riser insertion tube now collecting 3000 barrels of oil per day. Kevin Costner back group sending 10 oil skimmers to Louisiana for a test. About 20 more skimmers could follow if successful. The largest of these "oil vacuum cleaners could each collect about 686 barrels of oil each day. Possibly more depending on weather and oil conditions.

Update #12 May 24:
Leak is still spewing oil. Top Kill is scheduled to be performed Wednesday by BP. The Top Kill and or Junk Shot if needed has been pushed back continually.

A whole lot of anger has been directed towards BP lately as frustration grows on this leak not being stopped already. I do not hear anyone professionally criticizing BP for not doing some other form of leak stoppage. BP has so far not denied any claims. Many are still pending but so far none have been denied. I believe some of those claims are fraudulent that BP has paid.

I also believe that BP will not pursue fraud or deny fraudulent claims unless they are very blatant due to the possibility of negative media publicity it could entail... even when they are right.

BP is without a doubt the responsible party. BP cause this leak. Be made at them for that. But the frustration directed at them on stopping the leak I believe is misguided. When it is all said a done it will most likely be shown that BP could have stopped this earlier had they done X,Y or Z. But that is inevitable when dealing with something like this. I believe BP is doing the best they can to stop this leak... and obviously it is in their best interest.

But let me tell you where your anger should be directed. At the federal government. They are partially responsible for the accident happening in the first place. They did not do their job as it is defined. I am not going to get into the particulars here but the fell down on the job of doing their responsibilities before the accident occurred.

Also and even worse in my opinion is their short coming in dealing with the oil response. 70 miles of Louisiana coast has now been impacted by the oil. It is a shame to say that a large percentage of that damage to wetlands could have been prevented if it wasn't for the bureaucratic red tape of the corps permitting process.

ONE sand berm has been completed along the Louisiana coast by the national guard. I am speaking of Elmers Island. A sand barrier was built and in front of it is boom, absorbant boom and something called pompoms. The oil has made its way past all of the barriers and onto the sand barrier but not beyond. Oil on a beach can simply be scooped up like cat piss in a litter box. But when the oil makes it to the marshes it is like cleaning, oil from a living rug. Well living for a while anyway.

The Governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, has been trying to get the Corps to issue an emergency dredging permit to build sand berms to protect the marsh. The red tape still has this project delayed. So while the stupid ass federal government looks at whether this is a good idea or not the wetlands that the corps process is suppose to protect are being needlessly killed due to their inaction.

Be pissed at that!!!

Approval will likely come in a couple more days, after weeks of waiting. Wouldn't it be ironic if approval is granted the same day they plug the leak. Time line looks favorable for that to actually happen.

To little to late! Direct you anger at the Feds they are as much to blame for the actual damage as BP.

I haven't added many new news stories since the oil leak began but I am updating the oil leak post regularly. Just scroll down to the oil leak post and breaking news stories are tagged on to the end with the date of each update clearly displayed.

On May 1, 2010 a trail cam took a photo of a cougar in a rural area east of Bloomfield, Indianaa. Biologist Scott Johnson had set up the camera in the area where a deer carcass had been found buried under a pile of leaves. Four pictures were taken all together.

It is not know if this cougar is male or female, just that it appears to be in its prime. It is not know if it is traveling through the area or is a resident. And it is not know if it is a former captive are not.

It has been suspected for a few years and now the evidence confirms that Nebraska has a population of mountain lions reproducing on their own in the wild. State officials can no longer claim cougar confirmations are just dispersing males passing through.

The evidential tipping point came this past December when two cougar cubs had their picture taken in Pine Ridge Valley. The trail cam picture came when a hunter put his camera out overlooking a deer carcass.

This photo provides proof that cougars are reproducing in the state and not just passing through because young kittens could not have traveled from out of state to this carcass. This recent photo isn't even the only documentation that mountain lions are reproducing in Nebraska.

The first time proof of a probable home grown cougar came in 2007 when a 6 month old female was hit by a car. The road killed cougar was with its mother and two other cubs at the time. There we a couple of other incidences of cubs that could be these two cubs that made it safely across the street, but then again, they could have been different cubs altogether. One was a male cub that was hit by a vehicle and killed.

With the latest edition to the states growing portfolio of cougar pics it is now semi-official that Nebraska has a breeding population of cougars.

Cougars are native to Nebraska as they are to ever state of the lower 48. Nebraska recently made it legal to kill a cougar if it is threatening people or livestock. This new law basically give you the right to kill cougars because it will be very hard to prove that the cougar wasn't a threat. Sort of a my word against yours.

More and more states are having to go back and address their laws as cougar move back into former habitat.

Following closely on the heals of the Polar Bear/Grizzly Bear cross is a picture of a pig/sheep cross that is sweeping across the internet.

As you can see in the picture below the mystery animal has the hair of a sheep but the body of a russian boar. So is this animal really a cross or is it yet another hoax in a long line of hoaxes readily propegated on the internet? Actually it isn't either a hoax or a pig/sheep cross. It turns out is is a mangalista hog!



The photo is real but just like so many things you see and read about on the internet this one was only half true. The story line, a pig/sheep cross was wrong but the picture is authentic.

Mangalista hogs or simply a hog that has been breed over the years to have the thick wool like hair of a sheep to help it better survive the harsh winters of Austria and Hungary. You are only now seeing it in pictures because of the world shrinking powers of the internet.

This and other pictures of a mangalista hog may be getting more common on the internet but the mangalista hogs are not. They produce less meat than other commercially raised pigs so they are becoming increasingly rare.

Second Polar Bear/Grizzly cross is it called a "pizzly" or "grolar"? Take your pick. Either name will do. An Inuit hunter on Victoria Island, Northwest Territories, Canada killed the apparent hybrid. Canadian wildlife authorities have investigating the bear, which has a polar bear-like head but also shows brown bear features. DNA has proven it to be a hybrid.

This country (USA) was set up to be a country of governed by laws... not by individuals. People are elected or appointed to uphold the laws. It really is a great system... or at least was until the morals of this country took a nosedive... until politics became carrier instead of a part time temporary job.

You may ask yourself, "What they heck is this doing here?" This is suppose to be about hunting and fishing and other such things. Well I will tell you. Currently there is a member of the State Game, Fish and Parks Commission in South Dakota that is CLEARLY there illegally. The law is in black and white and it is really not debatable if it is a violation of the law or not.... unless you are a lawyer or have some mental deficiency that prevents clear logical thinking.

Here are the particulars of the South Dakota situation. But keep in mind this isn't the point of the post just one currently happening example. The law states that a member of the commission can not server for more than 8 years. Here is a quote from the law! "No person shall serve on the commission for more than 8 years."

There you have it. Let me teach you a little trick that I learned when I was about 3 or 4 years old. Pink is a bad color. Is your shirt Pink. Yes. Then it is a bad color.

Pretty complicated I know so reread it a few times and see if you can wrap your brain around the logic. Now lets apply this same logic and see how it works out in the South Dakota case.

"Not more than 8 years." Tim Kessler has now served 17 years. Is 17 more than 8? Yes then Kessler is serving in violation of the law.

Could this be an oversite? No it has been brought to the governors attention and yet Kessler is still on the commission!

People this is clear as day. You are not allowed to server more than 8 years. There is one exception that would allow you to server 10 but that certainly doesn't apply here and even if it did 17 is still bigger than 10.

So why is he still serving. I will give you the OTHER side of the story because there is always an other side. Kessler served two terms (8 years) and then sat out and served again. Supporters of Kessler say the law means that you can only serve 8 consecutive years.

The problem with this logic is the simple matter of the fact that the law does not say that. It says 8 years and you are out. PERIOD. Not a word about consecutively or anything like that.

And that is what is wrong in South Dakota and that is what is wrong with the US Legislature and Judiciary today.

The law is the law and when we don't enforce it we can no longer be called a nation of laws. Unfortunately the South Dakota example is just one of many. I could go on and on. There are many examples of such blatant disregard of the law and unfortunately these occurrences are not limited to wildlife and fisheries.

God help us, because the direction this country is headed is not a good one.

As part of an effort to reintroduce Lynx back into Colorada a Lynx, a close relative of the bobcat, was trapped in Canada fitted with a radio collar and released. The Lynx then did something that nobody was expecting. He made the 1500 mile trek back to British Columbia. Now we have all heard tales of similar feats in dogs, and we know that many species of birds and fish regularly migrate long distances. Even cougars when dispersing from their mother can make long distance migrations while looking for a place to call home.

But this... this is something different. How did an animal that isn't genetically gear to making long migrations find its way back to its home although some have made trips from one state to another. This is the longest documented dispersal of a Lynx ever recorded.

Another interesting tidbit is that this Lynx was for four years after release pretty much a home body. Not traveling far. Then it just decided it was time to see the world I guess. The radio collar had not been working for years when a trapper in Canada caught the cat and contacted the authorities.

The interesting thing is that although many animals will travel long distances to seek out a mate, this male Lynx already had established a territory and had produced 6 kittens in Colorado.

It is impossible to know exactly why the animal left the region, although unfavorable tax rates could be to blame. haha just a little humor there. Actually the last two years he was in Colorado he had not had any kittens and that could very well have been a factor.

His former mate is still alive and well so it is possible that environmental factors are to blame for the lack of kittens which prompted the migration, but that is just speculation.

Currently over 200 Lynx have been reintroduced to Colorado since 1999.

Since the reintroduction began a total of 126 lynx kittens are known to have been born in Colorado, including: 16 kittens in 2003; 39 kittens in 2004; 50 kittens in 2005; 11 kittens in 2006; and 10 kittens in 2009. But none in 2007 or 2008.

In a strange turn of events Knight Rifles who went out of business in 2009 has been purchased by a Plastics company??? Yep that is right... not misprint. Knight Rifles will be relocated from Iowa to Athens Tennessee. President of PI, Jeff Beene, plans for Knight Rifles is to return to manufacturing the best inline muzzleloaders on the market.

Amazing what can happen when a fan of Knight Rifles with a lot of money, willpower and loyalty to a brand puts his mind to something.

The Coast Guard, the State of Louisiana and the Chevron Pipe Line Company have responded to an oil leak that has leaked 327 barrels of oil into the marsh of Southeast Louisiana. The location of the leak is down stream from Venice in the Delta National Wildlife Refuge.

At about 1 a.m. on April 6, Berry Brothers General Contractors notified the Coast Guard that oil was discharging into a canal located about 10 miles southeast of Venice which is also a few mile NorthEast of Pilot Town. Chevron operates the pipeline has reported that about 18,000 gallons of crude oil has been released.

Notice this number is the same as 327 Barrels. You know it is a relatively small spill when the news agencies report the spill in gallons instead of Barrels.

CPL closed of valves to prevent more oil from entering the leaking pipeline. Now efforts are underway to minimize the impact. Seven thousand feet of booms has been put out to contain the spill.

Specially trained company personnel and contractors are responding as part of a program to minimize the environmental impact. The pipeline is owned by Cypress Pipe Line Company which is a joint venture between British Petroleum and CPL.

The cause of the leak has not yet been established or released yet.

Here is a news release from the Coast Guard:

The Coast Guard, the State of Louisiana, and the Cypress Pipe Line Company (CPL) have deployed personnel and equipment to respond to an oil spill from a pipeline in the Delta National Wildlife Refuge.

As of this morning, 5,000 feet of feet of containment boom have been deployed to enclose the oil. Workers plan to deploy an additional 2,000 feet of boom today around the environmentally sensitive area near Breton Island.

More than 50 people and 16 vessels are at the scene conducting and managing cleanup operations and environmental protection efforts, which include recovery of the oil and attempting to keep wildlife out of the impacted area. So far, there are no reports of any birds or other animals impacted in the incident.

CPL, which operates the pipeline, reports that approximately 18,000 gallons of crude oil has been released. An area of approximately 160 square miles has been impacted by the spill- 40 square miles of marsh and 120 square miles offshore.

Here is to hoping that this spill can be cleaned up with a minimum impact on the areas ecosystem.

Be wary folks the Obama admin. is at it again... well they never really stopped now did they. A massive restructuring of the management of our fishery resource is about to be pushed through if Obama has his way. It has been reported on The Drudge Report and ESPN that they are pushing a ban of fishing in the Great Lakes and Marine Waters. The Admin response is this. Read Below.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Jane Lubchenco told a House panel that her agency had no plans to halt fishing. And National Marine Fisheries Service chief Eric Schwaab released a statement last night saying NOAA "is committed to adopting policies that will ensure that current and future generations have the opportunity to enjoy the great tradition of recreational fishing."

"Both commercial and recreational fishing are vitally important to this nation," Lubchenco said. "We are not proposing any blanket ban on recreational fishing. I would strongly oppose that, and it is not in the works."

But notice the wording, blanket ban. Gee that makes me feel better. They aren't the response is that they aren't PLANNING to COMPLETELY BAN FISHING.

What this REALLY means and has been known was coming since last year, is that they do plan on BANNING fishing in some areas. They WILL have the right to ban it EVERYWHERE without any input from the public.

Coastal states that depend on revenue generated by both recreational and commercial fishing would no doubt suffer economic loss if this goes through.

Are you looking for a bill number? You wont find it. This isn't a bill. The Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force will issue a final report for marine spatial planning by late March. Obama then could then issue an Executive Order to implement its recommendations. It is legally stretching the power of the presidency possibly beyond legal bounds to yet again give more power to the federal government. The slippery slope we conservatives have been warning people about has turned to a verticle cliff with the Obama administration.