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

[2012 Countdown]

Well, this news report was just doing a 'body count' type thing. You know, X amount of wildlife recovered (hauled in and processed).
They don't do this every day, but they did today, so I thought I'd relay that info.

But one has to assume the genuine/actual amount should be multiplied by some factor to know the real number.
500 animals, that we were able to find today, would be more accurate.

[Hugo Farnsworth]

One thing that must be considered is the toxicity of oil as it breaks down, either with a chemical agent, such as a dispersant, or naturally with bacteria. There is some evidence (particularly in Ecuador, see the movie Crude for more information) suggesting that very carcinogenic intermediate compounds are created as crude oil breaks down. I wish I knew more chemistry, but hydrates and other biologically common compounds get bonded to cyclic hydrocarbons like benzene is what I am thinking about. This occurs by bacterial enzymes. There has been very little research in this area, according to a friend of mine who has a degree in chemistry. He reminded me that one of the most potent carcinogens known to man is produced by a fungus that grows on peanuts.

As the EPA is defining toxicity now can be summed up with this question: "Did the animal drop dead immediately?" That is an insufficient inquiry into the matter.

[2012 Countdown]

Another story w/photos on this-

The Crime of the Century: What BP and the US Government Don't Want You to Know, Part I
Posted: August 4, 2010 11:46 AM


Dead Northern Gannet, reported but uncollected. Photo by Drew Wheelan


The oceans are empty, the skies tinged yellow by evaporating oil and toxic dispersant devoid of birds, dogs mysteriously have no fleas, and in an area usually besieged by mosquitoes, there is little need for repellent, and the usual trucks spraying are nowhere to be seen.


Dauphin Island was one of the sites where carcasses of sperm whales were destroyed. The operational end of the island was closed to unauthorized personnel and the airspace closed. The U.S. Coast Guard closed off all access from the Gulf. This picture shows the area as it was prepped to receive the whale carcasses for disposal.

---

JC: There has been a great deal of discussion about the disappearance of the animals and the life in the ocean which seem to have vanished since this incident has occurred. What do you know about this?

RO: Well I have been down in the Gulf since May 3rd. It's pretty consistent what I have heard. First I heard from the offshore workers and the boat captains that were coming in and they would see windrows of dead things piled up on the barrier islands; turtles and birds and dolphins... whales...

JC: Whales?

RO: And whales. There would be stories from boat captains of offshore, we started calling death gyres, where the rips all the different currents sweep the oceans surface, that would be the collection points for hundreds of dolphins and sea turtles and birds and even whales floating. So we got four different times latitudes/longitude coordinates where (this was happening) but by the time we got to these lat/longs which is always a couple of days later there was nothing there. There was boom put around these areas to collect the animals and we know this happened at Exxon Valdez too. The rips are where the dead things collect. We also know from Exxon Valdez that only 1% in our case of the carcasses that floated off to sea actually made landfall in the Gulf of Alaska. I don't believe there have been any carcass drift studies down here that would give us some indication that when something does wash up on the beach what percentage it is of the whole. But we know that offshore there was an attempt by BP and the government to keep the animals from coming onshore in great numbers.The excuse was this was a health problem -- we don't want to create a health hazard. That would only be a good excuse if they kept tallies of all the numbers because all the numbers - all the animals - are evidence for federal court. We the people own these animals and they become evidence for damages to charge for BP. In Exxon Valdez the carcasses were kept under triple lock and key security until the natural resource damage assessment study was completed and that was 2 1/2 years after the spill. Then all the animals were burned but not until then.
So people offshore were reporting this first and then carcasses started making it onshore. Then I started hearing from people in Alabama a lot and the western half of Florida - a little bit in Mississippi - but mostly what was going on then there was an attempt to keep people off the beaches, cameras off the beaches. I was literally flying in a plane and the FAA boundary changed. It was offshore first with the barrier islands and all of a sudden it just hopped right to shore to Alabama that's where we were flying over and the pilot was just like - he couldn't believe it - he was like look at that and I didn't know what he was looking but then he points at the little red line which had all of sudden grown and he just looked at me and said the only reason that they have done this is so people can't see what is going on. And what that little red line meant was no cameras on shore and three days later the oil came onshore and the carcasses came onshore into Alabama.


FULL-
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jerry-cop ... 62971.html

[undead]

One thing that must be considered is the toxicity of oil as it breaks down, either with a chemical agent, such as a dispersant, or naturally with bacteria. There is some evidence (particularly in Ecuador, see the movie Crude for more information) suggesting that very carcinogenic intermediate compounds are created as crude oil breaks down. I wish I knew more chemistry, but hydrates and other biologically common compounds get bonded to cyclic hydrocarbons like benzene is what I am thinking about. This occurs by bacterial enzymes. There has been very little research in this area, according to a friend of mine who has a degree in chemistry. He reminded me that one of the most potent carcinogens known to man is produced by a fungus that grows on peanuts.

As the EPA is defining toxicity now can be summed up with this question: "Did the animal drop dead immediately?" That is an insufficient inquiry into the matter.

So in order to track the carcinogenic substances back to BP's oil, we will basically need to prove the first law of thermodynamics in court.

[Hugo Farnsworth]

One thing that must be considered is the toxicity of oil as it breaks down, either with a chemical agent, such as a dispersant, or naturally with bacteria. There is some evidence (particularly in Ecuador, see the movie Crude for more information) suggesting that very carcinogenic intermediate compounds are created as crude oil breaks down. I wish I knew more chemistry, but hydrates and other biologically common compounds get bonded to cyclic hydrocarbons like benzene is what I am thinking about. This occurs by bacterial enzymes. There has been very little research in this area, according to a friend of mine who has a degree in chemistry. He reminded me that one of the most potent carcinogens known to man is produced by a fungus that grows on peanuts.

As the EPA is defining toxicity now can be summed up with this question: "Did the animal drop dead immediately?" That is an insufficient inquiry into the matter.

So in order to track the carcinogenic substances back to BP's oil, we will basically need to prove the first law of thermodynamics in court.

Actually, it's worse than that. I have always been appalled at the manner in which chemicals and risks are introduced into our lives and then the public health authority must prove that it's a risk. Same thing here. By the time cancer rates are connected to the spill and its consequences, BP will stall it for ten years and everybody affected will be dead. Ecuador encore.

[wintler2]

BP will certainly try and stall it for as many years as they can, question is will everyone else let them get away with it. If Ecuador can say 'Enough!' then maybe the US can too.

One thing:

We the people own these animals and they become evidence for damages to charge for BP.

Legally maybe, and so maybe it is just realistic to then talk of it that way, but us thinking that way is delusional, parasitic, and grossly unsustainable (cod, anyone?).

[DoYouEverWonder]

BTW: Now that the well has been shut down and the GOM didn't blow up and the sea floor didn't collapse, where's Matt Simmons? Haven't seen him much in the last week or two. Fucking fearmonger.

[justdrew]

BTW: Now that the well has been shut down and the GOM didn't blow up and the sea floor didn't collapse, where's Matt Simmons? Haven't seen him much in the last week or two. Fucking fearmonger.

well, he'd say it isn't capped and is actually still flowing most likely. at the moment anyway.

but he'll need to face the music at some point. Probably a senility defense will be made. Maybe as a way to avoid some other impending investigations he knows about but we don't.

[Nordic]

Wasn't he massively shorting BP stock? Maybe it's as simple as that.

[beeline]

Guess who gets to check out the evidence first....


Link

Spill investigators want to find undersea evidenceJ

EFFREY COLLINS

The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS - Now that BP appears to have vanquished its ruptured well, authorities are turning their attention to gathering evidence from what could amount to a crime scene at the bottom of the sea.

The wreckage , including the failed blowout preventer and the blackened, twisted remnants of the drilling platform that exploded, burned and sank in mile-deep water in the Gulf in April , may be Exhibit A in the effort to establish who is responsible for the biggest peacetime oil spill in history.

Hundreds of investigators can't wait to get their hands on evidence. The FBI is conducting a criminal investigation, the Coast Guard is seeking the cause of the blast, and lawyers are pursuing millions of dollars in damages for the families of the 11 workers killed, the dozens injured and the thousands whose livelihoods have been damaged.

"The items at the bottom of the sea are a big deal for everybody," said Stephen Herman, a New Orleans lawyer for injured rig workers and others.

BP will almost certainly want a look at the items, particularly if it tries to shift responsibility for the disaster onto other companies, such as Transocean, which owned the oil platform, Haliburton, which supplied the crew that was cementing the well, and Cameron International, maker of the blowout preventer.

BP and Transocean , which could face heavy penalties if found to be at fault , have said they will raise some of the wreckage if it can be done without doing more damage to the oil well. That would give the two companies responsibility for gathering up the very evidence that could be used against them.

But the federal government has said it simply doesn't have the know-how and the deep-sea equipment available to the drilling industry. And it said the operation will be closely supervised by the Coast Guard.

The crisis in the Gulf appeared to be drawing to a close this week when BP plugged up the top of the blown-out well with mud and then sealed it with cement. Next, the company plans to use a relief well extending more than two miles below the sea floor to inject mud and cement just above the source of the oil, thereby sealing off the well from the bottom, too.

In other developments Friday, BP said it might drill again someday into the same lucrative undersea reservoir of oil, which is still believed to hold nearly $4 billion worth of crude. That prospect is unlikely to sit well with Gulf Coast residents furious at the oil giant.

"There's lots of oil and gas here," Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said. "We're going to have to think about what to do with that at some point."

Also Friday, BP said Suttles , who has spent more than three months managing BP's response efforts on the Gulf , is returning to his day job in Houston. Mike Utsler, a vice president who has been running BP's command post in Houma, La., since April, will replace him.

Willie Davis, a 41-year-old harbormaster in Pass Christian, Miss., said he fears his area will be forgotten if BP pulls out too soon. "I'm losing trust in the whole system," he said. "If they don't get up off their behinds and do something now, it's going to be years before we're back whole again."

Utsler told Gulf residents not to worry, saying the spill's effects are "a challenge that we continue to recognize with more than 20,000-plus people continuing to work."

Investigations of the disaster began immediately after the rig blew up on April 20. The government alone is conducting about a dozen, including several congressional investigations, criminal and civil probes by the Justice Department, and an examination by an expert panel convened by President Barack Obama.

Officials want to find out not only the cause of the explosion, but also how oil drilling a mile or more below the surface can be made safer.

A final outcome could be years away, particularly if someone is charged with a crime, said David Uhlmann, former chief of the Justice Department's environmental crimes team.

"Normally an investigation of a case this complicated would take two to three years. This is not a normal case," he said. "This is the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history."

Any items brought up from the seafloor will be photographed and preserved. Investigators for the government, BP and others who have a stake in the case will try to come up with testing procedures acceptable to all sides.

The blowout preventer will probably make it to the surface. The 300-ton mechanism is designed to be placed on a well and brought back to the surface for reuse. It was supposed to be the final line of defense against a catastrophic spill, but BP documents obtained by a congressional committee showed the device had a significant hydraulic leak and a dead or low battery.

"That piece of equipment will tell us whether the blowout preventer had a design defect or whether it was mechanical or human error that caused this disaster," Herman said.

Brent Coon, an attorney for one of the thousands of plaintiffs seeking damages, said the rig might contain "black boxes" that recorded critical data and control panels that could be removed to re-create conditions before the explosion.

Transocean has asked the government for permission to test the blowout preventer and hopes to see it raised it in September, company President Steven Newman said.

Getting to the exploded rig itself might be harder. It would be impractical to raise the entire structure because of its immensity, twice the size of a football field, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Paul Zukunft said. He would not say whether it would be possible to cut off vital pieces of the structure.

[hanshan]

One thing that must be considered is the toxicity of oil as it breaks down, either with a chemical agent, such as a dispersant, or naturally with bacteria. There is some evidence (particularly in Ecuador, see the movie Crude for more information) suggesting that very carcinogenic intermediate compounds are created as crude oil breaks down. I wish I knew more chemistry, but hydrates and other biologically common compounds get bonded to cyclic hydrocarbons like benzene is what I am thinking about. This occurs by bacterial enzymes. There has been very little research in this area, according to a friend of mine who has a degree in chemistry. He reminded me that one of the most potent carcinogens known to man is produced by a fungus that grows on peanuts.

As the EPA is defining toxicity now can be summed up with this question: "Did the animal drop dead immediately?" That is an insufficient inquiry into the matter.

So in order to track the carcinogenic substances back to BP's oil, we will basically need to prove the first law of thermodynamics in court.

Actually, it's worse than that. I have always been appalled at the manner in which chemicals and risks are introduced into our lives and then the public health authority must prove that it's a risk. Same thing here. By the time cancer rates are connected to the spill and its consequences, BP will stall it for ten years and everybody affected will be dead. Ecuador encore.

Actually, it's rather way worse :

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008478462_exxon07.html

Exxon Valdez victims finally getting payout

Almost 20 years since the Exxon Valdez oil spill, plaintiffs are starting to receive punitive damages from ExxonMobil.

By Kim Murphy
Los Angeles Times

It's the corps. that has the rights, not the plebs.
Think you're livin' in a Republic? (heh)...






....

[DoYouEverWonder]

BP may drill again near runaway Gulf of Mexico oil well

By Erica Berenstein (AFP) – 2 hours ago

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana — BP shrugged off a potential public relations hit Friday when the energy giant said it may drill a new well in the Gulf of Mexico reservoir which fed one of the world's worst oil spills.

BP is on the hook for tens of billions of dollars in fines and cleanup and compensation costs, so tapping into the rich field deep under the seabed might well be worth it.

"Clearly there's lots of oil and gas there and we'll have to think about what to do with that at some point," Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer, told reporters..

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iU_Meu9nmWUiXt_WDBpIMM5W4jmA

Maybe this is why BP dragged their feet capping the wild well?

They wanted to wait until the relief wells were almost finished, so that they could turn one or both into production wells. In the meantime, since these relief wells were part of the disaster response, they can probably write off the cost.

[Julia W]

Now the headline for these videos says "oil spill Matt Simmons is right", for one aspect they at least indicate or seriously question that the BP live feed videos we've been viewing are from the actual blown out well. Based on the coordinates they appear to be live feed of the old abandoned well- well A.

[stoneonstone]

Pretty damning and thorough.

Along with the disappearance of Simmons from the media, has me thinking the following scenario has taken place:

US gov and BP are forced together at this point, and so the US finally took Simmons and Russian advice, and set off a small nuke to seal the runaway well B in MC 252, using the cover of the evac and re-establishment around the last tropical storm. Then, or before (those with file images dating back a ways with co-ordinates should check them for us), the 'action' was shifted to well A, and the phony final cap was put on, to explain the end of the blow-out.

Of course it makes no sense that a well that chewed through two previous cap systems, and barfed up the day or two of drilling mud attempts during 'top kill' and 'junk shot' could be so easily tamed, unless it was on a well that was troublesome, but not nearly the runaway blow-out acknowledged, but not actually shown to us.

Misdirection, and an agreed upon script between the corporation, the Obamans and whatever outside assistance they had.

It reads like a script from MI5 or Spooks, but I think that is what happened.

There is a stand-off between BP and the US gov, as both now are co-conspirators in the resolution. The US has to keep the use of a nuke seal dead quiet, with Iran and Korea in play, but probably extracted a certain high committment from BP regarding clean up and an agreed limited hang out of corporate responsibility, in exchange for their part in the misdirection.

Otherwise there is no explanation for the lack of ripping the facade off this carnival sideshow, unless it's in the interest of all, behind the scenes.

Cheers,
GH

[Blue]

Pretty damning and thorough.

Along with the disappearance of Simmons from the media, has me thinking the following scenario has taken place:

US gov and BP are forced together at this point, and so the US finally took Simmons and Russian advice, and set off a small nuke to seal the runaway well B in MC 252, using the cover of the evac and re-establishment around the last tropical storm. Then, or before (those with file images dating back a ways with co-ordinates should check them for us), the 'action' was shifted to well A, and the phony final cap was put on, to explain the end of the blow-out.

This is paranoia at it's finest. Not rigorous a'tal.

I don't trust BP and I don't trust the Feds but there is no way in hell they set off a nuke. The engineers capped it. This was a deep one, but they've done this work before. I'm just pissed it took them so long to do it.

Oh, and Simmons is an investment banker trying to make a buck with his 15 minutes of doomtweeting.