'Not for public': the oil spill may be getting much worse

[chiggerbit]

I liked most of what the guy said, but it kind of pissed me off when he dissed Cuba like that.

[2012 Countdown]

I liked most of what the guy said, but it kind of pissed me off when he dissed Cuba like that.

Yeah, I know... consider the heat of the moment...its more an expression of the feeling of betrayal. Unneeded though, I agree.

[2012 Countdown]

More Than Just an Oil Spill
By BOB HERBERT
Hopedale, La.

The warm, soft winds coming in off the gulf have lost their power to soothe. Anxiety is king now — all along the coast.

“You can’t sleep no more; that’s how bad it is,” said John Blanchard, an oyster fisherman whose life has been upended by the monstrous oil spill fouling an enormous swath of the Gulf of Mexico. He shook his head. “My wife and I have got two kids, 2 and 7. We could lose everything we’ve been working all of our lives for.”

I was standing on a gently rocking oyster boat with Mr. Blanchard and several other veteran fishermen who still seemed stunned by the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe. Instead of harvesting oysters, they were out on the water distributing oil retention booms and doing whatever else they could to bolster the coastline’s meager defenses against the oil making its way ominously and relentlessly, like an invading army, toward the area’s delicate and heartbreakingly vulnerable wetlands.

A fisherman named Donny Campo tried to hide his anger with wisecracks, but it didn’t work. “They put us out of work, and now we’re cleaning up their mess,” he said. “Yeah, I’m mad. Some of us have been at this for generations. I’m 46 years old and my son — he’s graduating from high school this week — he was already fishing oysters. There’s a whole way of life at risk here.”

The risks unleashed by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig are profound — the latest to be set in motion by the scandalous, rapacious greed of the oil industry and its powerful allies and enablers in government. America is selling its soul for oil.

The vast, sprawling coastal marshes of Louisiana, where the Mississippi River drains into the gulf, are among the finest natural resources to be found anywhere in the world. And they are a positively crucial resource for America. Think shrimp estuaries and bird rookeries and oyster fishing grounds.

These wetlands are one of the nation’s most abundant sources of seafood. And they are indispensable when it comes to the nation’s bird population. Most of the migratory ducks and geese in the United States spend time in the Louisiana wetlands as they travel to and from Latin America.

Think songbirds. Paul Harrison, a specialist on the Mississippi River and its environs at the Environmental Defense Fund, told me that the wetlands are relied on by all 110 neo-tropical migratory songbird species. The migrating season for these beautiful, delicate creatures is right now — as many as 25 million can pass through the area each day.

Already the oil from the nightmare brought to us by BP is making its way into these wetlands, into this natural paradise that belongs not just to the people of Louisiana but to all Americans. Oil is showing up along dozens of miles of the Louisiana coast, including the beaches of Grand Isle, which were ordered closed to the public.

The response of the Obama administration and the general public to this latest outrage at the hands of a giant, politically connected corporation has been embarrassingly tepid. We take our whippings in stride in this country. We behave as though there is nothing we can do about it.

The fact that 11 human beings were killed in the Deepwater Horizon explosion (their bodies never found) has become, at best, an afterthought. BP counts its profits in the billions, and, therefore, it’s important. The 11 men working on the rig were no more important in the current American scheme of things than the oystermen losing their livelihoods along the gulf, or the wildlife doomed to die in an environment fouled by BP’s oil, or the waters that will be left unfit for ordinary families to swim and boat in.

This is the bitter reality of the American present, a period in which big business has cemented an unholy alliance with big government against the interests of ordinary Americans, who, of course, are the great majority of Americans. The great majority of Americans no longer matter.

No one knows how much of BP’s runaway oil will contaminate the gulf coast’s marshes and lakes and bayous and canals, destroying wildlife and fauna — and ruining the hopes and dreams of countless human families. What is known is that whatever oil gets in will be next to impossible to get out. It gets into the soil and the water and the plant life and can’t be scraped off the way you might be able to scrape the oil off of a beach.

It permeates and undermines the ecosystem in much the same way that big corporations have permeated and undermined our political system, with similarly devastating results.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/22/opini ... blqXsWh93g

[ninakat]

[82_28]

Jesus H Christ, "Obama takes TOUGHER line on oil spill"? He needs to take the TOUGHEST LINE there is possible, not ramp up this "toughness" little by little.

That was a good video 2012, thanks for reposting -- I missed it the first time.

Just a question: How do you think the Bush admin would have handled this? Same reaction, less reaction, more reaction etc. . .

[82_28]

Since I am on Skinny Puppy kick. How about this song from way back in the early 90s?



THEY WERE SATANIC!!!!! (For 90's minds)

trials administer tidal oil that suffocating
base the fire gold pouring mercury life
given river deformed in amongst patient
building raise an urgent call reformation
strike the picking miners claw kick my ass
waste the given gift the natural cure
in the age of reason gone bad morning in
between the cold stone ashes fall upon the
wretched chosen ones 100 megatons evaporate
those chosen vaporize case in point and
deserving it vaccinate all stranger than whispering
crushed velvet corpse grind awaiting
underneath mask unneeded decisions come
from one side of the brain insolent dented
fibres optic looks the world of growth
fleeting image ghost destruction t.v.screen

[justdrew]

[2012 Countdown]

Just a question: How do you think the Bush admin would have handled this? Same reaction, less reaction, more reaction etc. . .

Oh, I think we'd be in the same place we are now. No doubt about that -if he was in charge. The odd thing is, I think the outrage would have actually come sooner.
I expected more from the new management, and so did those who voted for him.

There really is little difference though in the major issues of the day. I came across an article today that further proves that. Obama gave a speech today at West Point.
I'll just give you the punch line-

“This is what success looks like,” he said, noting that departing US combat troops will leave behind a “democratic” and “sovereign” Iraq that is “no haven” for the kind of violent extremists that attacked the US on Sept. 11, 2001.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0522/ ... fghanistan

Now, I don't have to tell you how as a candidate he said certain things, and now, he is actually parroting the CONFLATION of the neocons between 9/11 and Iraq.
As was said, this regime is consolidating the gains in corporatism that the previous frontmen have made.

I stupidly thought maybe he'd be different. This may be Obama's Katrina moment, but the hand was tipped some time ago. Everything the man does is to help the powerful at the expense of the masses.
At least the rank and file Dems and progressives seem to wake up to this faster.

[Gouda]

BP won't change dispersant used in oil spill -- for now
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/05/22/gu ... tml?hpt=T2

BP plans to continue using a controversial subsea dispersant to break up a plume of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, saying that the leading alternative could pose a risk over the long term, the EPA indicated Saturday.

The EPA issued a directive on Thursday, ordering BP to find, within 24 hours, a less toxic but equally effective chemical than its current product, Corexit 9500 -- and one that is available in sufficient quantities. The directive also gave the company 72 hours to stop applying it to the undersea gusher.

Corexit has been rated more toxic and less effective than many others on the list of 18 EPA-approved dispersants, according to testimony at a congressional hearing Wednesday.

(...)

The EPA has not yet publicly issued a formal response to BP's letter. EPA officials met with BP executives on Friday to discuss the issue and to explore alternatives.

The EPA said Saturday that it "will continue to work over the next 48 hours to ensure BP is complying with the directive," but did not respond to requests for additional comment.

JP officials commandeer BP's hired boats in Grand Isle
http://www.wwltv.com/news/local/JP-offi ... 68304.html

GRAND ISLE, La. - Jefferson Parish Emergency managers say they have commandeered all of BP's hired boats in Grand Isle.

A representative for Jefferson Parish Emergency chief Deano Bonano said they requested immediate action after oil moved into the marsh passes and onto the beaches in Grand Isle.

He said more than 40 boats were sitting idle while he watched the oil rush into the passes.

At around 5:30 p.m., Jefferson Councilman Chris Roberts confirmed the boats have been commandeered by JP emergency managers.

Government needs to get it boot off the neck of BP. No wonder they couldn't do anything with those 40+ boats.

[Jeff]

Has anyone been monitoring BP's live stream?

Since the cam launched, it's shown oil billowing from the broken riser. This morning, the oil engulfs the screen.

[Jeff]

In July 2009, at a lecture to the Stanford Business School, the CEO of British Petroleum Tony Hayward explains to attendees that BP was going in the wrong direction before he took over as CEO because, "we had too many people that were working to save the world."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-gra ... 85610.html

[2012 Countdown]

Has anyone been monitoring BP's live stream?

Since the cam launched, it's shown oil billowing from the broken riser. This morning, the oil engulfs the screen.

Looking at it, I'm thinking that could be caused by a multitude of things.

1. Current direction change- its like a giant washing machine out there. as the oil flows out, it gets agitated and swirls around at various depths (due to toxic dispersant) like a massive Maytag.

2. The leak is getting worse.

3. The pipes is breaking down and the gush is coming out more disorganized.

4. This is the most likely imo, and does not exclude any of the above as well, but as it continues to erupt, the water is becoming more and more saturated. The oil-to-water ratio is increasing.
As this area becomes more saturated throughout the water column, it will slowly grow and push out more and more concentrated oil into the surrounding area.

[Jeff]

4. This is the most likely imo, and does not exclude any of the above as well, but as it continues to erupt, the water is becoming more and more saturated. The oil-to-water ratio is increasing.

I don't think that's what's happened here. I looked in last night, and the water and oil were easily distinguished. Something happened suddenly.

There's a lengthy cam monitoring thread on GLP, and whatever happened, began to happen late last night on page seven.

[2012 Countdown]

Damn, I see speculation that the sea floor may be collapsing. In my mind I did not even go there.

[Gouda]

Jeff wrote:

Has anyone been monitoring BP's live stream?

Since the cam launched, it's shown oil billowing from the broken riser. This morning, the oil engulfs the screen.

Just got a pretty clear view of the spewing oil -- and there's a thinner yellow pipe just above the riser, severed in two. The camera seems interested in it. Was that there before?