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

[Jeff]

Expert: If cap fails, oil in Gulf will triple

By David Edwards
Friday, June 4th, 2010 -- 10:58 am

The worst fears of one conservationist may be coming true.

Admiral Thad Allen said Friday that the cap placed over the leaking well was only collecting oil at a rate of 42,000 gallons a day. Recent estimates put the leak's flow at 500,000 to a million gallons a day.

That figure may have increased by 20 percent after the pipe at the top of the blowout preventer was cut off during BP's latest attempt to staunch the flow.

"If the cap doesn't work, we're going to have three times the amount of oil in the Gulf of Mexico," conservationist Rick Steiner told MSNBC's Keith Olbermann Thursday.

...

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0604/expert ... -cap-work/

[jingofever]

Where has he been to have seen anyone covered in toothpaste?

From Wikipedia, "He attended the University of Mississippi in Oxford, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity." I wonder if he's thinking of something like this.

How The Oil Leak Estimates Got Low-Balled:

Here's how the scientific team studying the plume leaking from the well phrased their estimate: "Plume Modeling: at least 12,000 to 25,000 barrels per day (range of lower bounds)"

But when the facts were written up for the Interior Department press release for the public, the words "at least" and "range of lower bounds" were not included. Nor was there mention that the upper bounds had yet to be agreed upon, and that they could be "significantly larger." In short, the press release made it sound like 19,000 barrels a day was the largest amount that scientists decided could be gushing from the well.

"The lower and upper boundaries are in the range of 12,000 and 19,000 barrels per day," said the press release.

BP and government officials then repeated the range in interviews.

"Well, the current estimates by the government are between 12,000 and 19,000 barrels a day," said the BP's Robert Dudley on Sunday's "Face the Nation". White House Adviser Carol Browner agreed that estimates were at "the 12,000 to 19,000."

And the lower bound is widening:

Faced with questions as to whether some in the government were "low balling" the oil flow estimates, the Interior Department today revised their original press release. It now reflects that 12-25,000 barrels a day is a "lower bound" estimate and that scientists are still working on the "upper bound."

[2012 Countdown]

The Krewe of Dead Pelicans
Added by Michael DeMocker, The Times-Picayune on June 5, 2010 at 7:29 PM

MICHAEL DeMOCKER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE The Krewe of Dead Pelicans, an informal Carnival-style krewe, second-lines down Julia Street in the Warehouse District to protest the BP oil spill and its response. Hundreds of marchers, some costumed as sea creatures, other bearing umbrellas decorated with oil and stuffed pelicans, marched to a brass band in an event that was part of the First Saturday Art Walk on Julia Street on Saturday, June 5, 2010.







http://photos.nola.com/tpphotos/2010/06 ... 10_73.html

======

BTW- "Art Walk" is the local big summertime arts event in NO.. Julia St. has about 10 galleries, and they close off the street for 7 blocks.

1st Procession of the Krewe of Dead Pelicans
Saturday, June 5, 5:30-9 pm
Starts at 329 Julia St., New Orleans
June Art Walk, 1st appearance of the Krewe of Dead Pelicans.
Assemble at 329 Julia Street at the Canary Collective Gallery in the Arts District at 5:30. Proceed down Julia. Go as smaller units around the Arts District from Tchoupitoulas to Baronne Sts. and over on some of the cross streets for a few blocks.

Chant-As we slowly proceed, the Krewe will solemnly chant “Stop the Oil-Save the Gulf-Stop the OIl-Save the Marsh” in the dead pan call and response manner of the chorus from a Greek tradgedy as we walk through the streets.

Music-A small group of musicians playing funeral dirges would be an extra nice touch right before the coffin. A brass band has volunteered and I hope they show up. Please confirm on the wall below if this is your group.

Dead Pelicans chant in between the riffs of the dirge.
(dirge-Duh, dunh, duh, don da don da don da duh.)
Stop the Oil! Save the Gulf! Stop the Oil! Save the Marsh!
(dirge again-Duh, dunh, duh, don da don da don da duh.)
Stop the Oil! Save the Gulf! Stop the Oil! Save the Marsh!

Thank you all for your kind attention to this very serious matter.
I wonder how many this this will get on Youtube?
Post your props and ???s on the wall.
Thanks all for participating.
I am humbled and deeply moved by your heartfelt response.
Make us proud.
I can’t wait to see you there!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=119429684762081

June 05, 2010 — A very New Orleans protest, a second line for all the dead pelicans and and other shore birds killed by the oil spill in the gulf

Youtube clip=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruCBxBv3Xhw

[Jeff]

Oil Spill Could Bring Mass Extinction to the Gulf Coast

by: Sarah Laskow | The Media Consortium
Friday 04 June 2010

...

The impact of the oil spill goes beyond those individual bodies, though. As Inter Press Service reports, environmentalists and scientists “are beginning to reckon with the reality of a massive annihilation of sea creatures and wildlife.”

“You could potentially lose whole species, have extinction events,” Michael Blum, a Tulane ecology professor told IPS. “Brown pelicans were just taken off the endangered species list. On this threshold, a big dieback and mortality event, they would be pushed back into a situation where they could be endangered.” Also at Care2, Jay Holcomb, Executive Director of the International Bird Rescue Research Center, demonstrates a brown pelican being de-oiled, her feathers shampooed with Dawn detergent, her head and pouch cleaned with Q-tips.

...

http://www.truthout.org/weekly-mulch-oi ... coast60141

[anothershamus]

Watch it to the end and you can see the oil spill tie in.

[nathan28]

PCR said @ 1:20: "The US is a puppet state of Israel."

I thought PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS had signed off, said good bye. I was hoping he'd stick to his word.

[DoYouEverWonder]

Oil Spill Could Bring Mass Extinction to the Gulf Coast

by: Sarah Laskow | The Media Consortium
Friday 04 June 2010

...

The impact of the oil spill goes beyond those individual bodies, though. As Inter Press Service reports, environmentalists and scientists “are beginning to reckon with the reality of a massive annihilation of sea creatures and wildlife.”

“You could potentially lose whole species, have extinction events,” Michael Blum, a Tulane ecology professor told IPS. “Brown pelicans were just taken off the endangered species list. On this threshold, a big dieback and mortality event, they would be pushed back into a situation where they could be endangered.” Also at Care2, Jay Holcomb, Executive Director of the International Bird Rescue Research Center, demonstrates a brown pelican being de-oiled, her feathers shampooed with Dawn detergent, her head and pouch cleaned with Q-tips.

...

http://www.truthout.org/weekly-mulch-oi ... coast60141

I appreciate the efforts of people trying to save these birds, but where are they going to release them? Back into the GOM so they can get coated with oil again and die anyway?

[82_28]

I appreciate the efforts of people trying to save these birds, but where are they going to release them? Back into the GOM so they can get coated with oil again and die anyway?

Same thing I've been thinking. It just seems so futile. Say, when does anybody think this is going to go into "out of sight, out of mind" mode? It's just gonna become "one of those things". Because once the next atrocity happens we're all gonna start focusing on that for a bit and then move onto the next big thing. I can attest to certain others I know who are already bored with it. How can this "boredom" be leveraged to the benefit of BP, .gov, other oil companies, wall street, TERRORISM, etc, etc, blah blah blah. . . .

[Jeff]

Say, when does anybody think this is going to go into "out of sight, out of mind" mode? It's just gonna become "one of those things".

I think that's already happened, with the consensus of government, media and industry to call the new cap a success, claiming capture of most of the oil accounted for by BP's risible low-balled estimate.

“Well, there’s nothin’ we can do about it,” said the neighbor
“It’s just somethin’ we’re gonna have to forget”

[norton ash]

I still want to see culpable BP executives and EPA stooges in leg irons, cleaning up tarballs and dead fauna in the hot sun.

[82_28]

Say, when does anybody think this is going to go into "out of sight, out of mind" mode? It's just gonna become "one of those things".

I think that's already happened, with the consensus of government, media and industry to call the new cap a success, claiming capture of most of the oil accounted for by BP's risible low-balled estimate.

“Well, there’s nothin’ we can do about it,” said the neighbor
“It’s just somethin’ we’re gonna have to forget”

As per the MIHOP-LIHOP thing 2012 brought up -- it seems like someone was at the ready to "leverage" this from the get-go. Corporations of this size must have contingency plans (no duh). Does anybody know what the deepest undersea well ever was? Somewhere up thread, don't remember where, it was mentioned that for a well this deep, you would already have two other relief rigs on standby or drilling at the same time or something.

[Bruce Dazzling]

Nothing to see here. Move along.

BP chief Tony Hayward sold shares weeks before oil spill
By Jon Swaine and Robert Winnett
Published: 12:10AM BST 05 Jun 2010

Tony Hayward cashed in about a third of his holding in the company one month before a well on the Deepwater Horizon rig burst, causing an environmental disaster.

Mr Hayward, whose pay package is £4 million a year, then paid off the mortgage on his family’s mansion in Kent, which is estimated to be valued at more than £1.2 million.

There is no suggestion that he acted improperly or had prior knowledge that the company was to face the biggest setback in its history.

His decision, however, means he avoided losing more than £423,000 when BP’s share price plunged after the oil spill began six weeks ago.

Since he disposed of 223,288 shares on March 17, the company’s share price has fallen by 30 per cent. About £40 billion has been wiped off its total value. The fall has caused pain not just for BP shareholders, but also for millions of company pension funds and small investors who have money held in tracker funds.

The spill, which has still not been stemmed, has caused a serious environmental crisis and is estimated to cost BP up to £40 billion to clean up.

There was growing confidence yesterday that a new cap placed over the well was stemming the oil flow. An estimated three million litres a day had been pouring into the sea off the coast of Louisiana since the April 20 explosion, damaging marine life.

The crisis has enraged US politicians, with President Obama yesterday forced to cancel a trip to Indonesia amid a row over the White House’s response.

Mr Hayward, whose position is thought to be under threat, risked further fury by continuing plans to pay out a dividend to investors next month.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... spill.html

[2012 Countdown]

After the birds are cleaned up, they are driving them away and releasing them in Tampa. Of course they're just going to fly back to their homes. I'm thinking they should just keep them in pens, but how long should we do that? They have great sense of direction, they're just flying back to their nests. Yesterday was unbelievable. Over 100 pelicans were cleaned, and we can say that that is maybe 1/10th of all. Most are enveloped and sunk in the waters.
Also, in the fall when the ducks and swallows, etc. fly down for the winter, there will be more devastation.

82_28- Actually that was justdrew's topic. If he took the heat, he should get credit (if it comes to be true -still unclear/skeptical).

More video clips of Krewe of Dead Pelicans: A protest against the BP oil spill...great interviews about the costuming as well as what/how we are doing...

[stickdog99]

BP's Dispersant Disaster

[lupercal]

BP's Dispersant Disaster

stickdog I was just wondering what had become of you. Very glad to see you here!