“As state and federal officials continue to open Gulf waters to fishing, we have to again point to evidence that the ‘all clear’ is being sounded way too early,” said Mr. Smith, who represents the United Commercial Fishermen’s Association, the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, public entities in the Gulf Coast, as well as private property and business owners. “One of the cautionary notes is that our experts have documented that toxic chemicals remain in the water and food chain – and pose a significant health risk. Those studies have shown that PAHs (polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons) are present in shrimp from the impacted area. And the PAHs in off-shore Florida are at levels 43 times the levels of shrimp from inland, low-impact inland areas sampled in Louisiana. In our estimation, it may take eight months before the toxic soup has had substantial enough biodegradation to announce an ‘all clear’ on seafood.”
###

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
www.smithstag.com
www.gulfoildisasterrecovery.com
www.oilspillaction.com
www.leanweb.org

CONTACT:

S. Smith: (504) 593-9600        C. Brylski/H. Harper (504) 897-6110

:}

More tomorrow

:}

Testing Results Returning With High Levels

Report by: Wilma Subra

Results of sampling  performed by the Lower Mississippi River Keeper in the Lower Atchafalaya Bay area on August 2, 2010

Collecting oysters from Oyster Bayou

The shore of the Gulf of Mexico east of Oyster Bayou, where the Atchafalaya Bay meets the Gulf of Mexico, contained visible oil on the vegetation along the shore line.  Soil in this location contained Carbon Disulfide, 378 mg/kg Hydrocarbons and six Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) (0.222 mg/kg). The oiled vegetation contained 2.3% Hydrocarbons and 31 PAHs (0.554 mg/kg) that  corresponded strongly to the PAHs in the Deepwater Horizon Crude Oil spill.  Samples of Blue Crab and Fiddler Crab contained 2,230 mg/kg hydrocarbons.

Oysters sampled from a reef on Oyster Bayou in Atchafalaya Bay contained 8,815 mg/kg Hydrocarbons.

Results of sampling performed by the Lower Mississippi River Keeper in the Mississippi River Delta on August 3, 2010

Taking samples in the Mississippi River Delta

At the mouth of Pass-a-Loutre, in the reed vegetation along the shore of an island, a sediment sample was collected.   The sediment contained 71 mg/kg Hydrocarbons and 14 PAHs (0.8713 mg/kg).  The PAHs in the sample weakly support that the contaminants in the sediment are associated with the crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon.  A muscle sample collected at this location contained 6,900 mg/kg Hydrocarbons and seven PAHs (0.386 mg/kg).

A sample of oysters was collected from oysters growing on  an abandoned crab trap between Pass-a-Loutre and Redfish Bay.  The oysters contained  12,500 mg/kg (1.25%) Hydrocarbons and two PAHs (0.063 mg/kg).

Along a beach area near Redfish Bay, samples were collected from a stained area along a sandy beach area and from a vegetated area behind the beach.  The beach area had clean-up waste materials and supplies left behind by cleanup crews.  A small water body adjacent to the beach had a boom in the water and a small boat used to place the poles that secured the boom was stained with oil.  The beach area contained a number of tar balls.

The sandy soil sample contained  Carbon Disulfide, Hydrocarbons  (146 to 779 mg/kg),  and 29 to 38 PAHs (3.7259 to 3.934 mg/kg).  The PAHs support reasonable evidence that the sandy soil is contaminated with crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon.

Samples were also collected from the vegetated area (reed vegetation) behind the beach.  The vegetated area contained  oil sheens on the vegetation and on the water that collected in the sampling area.  The soil/sediment samples contained Carbon Disulfide, 2-Butanone (MEK), Toluene, 0.4 to 1.16 % Hydrocarbons, and 20 to 40 PAHs (49 to 189 mg/kg).  The PAHs in the soil/sediment strongly support that the soil/sediment is contaminated with crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon.

Visit SaveOurGulf.org to get more information about the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster from Waterkeeper organizations across the Gulf Coast and donate to Save Our Gulf! :} Just kidding – More Tomorrow :}

When news comes in from LEAN I try to give it some play.

Louisiana Environmental Action Network & Lower Mississippi RIVERKEEPER© Helping to Make Louisiana Safe for Future Generations

E-ALERT June 22, 2010

Don’t Miss Out: Videos of LEAN and LMRK In Action! Check out our Executive Director, Marylee Orr, talking about protecting oil spill worker health on Countdown with Keith Olberman. Marylee Orr, Executive Director of LEAN speaks with MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann of the health issues workers are encountering duing the cleanup efforts in the gulf And don’t miss BP Oil Hits Barataria Oyster Fishing Grounds by Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, Dean Wilson and Media Guru, Jeffrey Dubinsky. Rosie Philippie, of the near extinct Atakapa-Ishak tribe is interviewed by Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, Dean Wilson. The 10 or so families make their living on the oyster grounds in Barataria Bay, Louisiana. These ground have now been inundated with oil from the BP oil disaster. click on the images to go to the videos Visit SaveOurGulf.org to get more information about the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster from Waterkeeper organizations across the Gulf Coast and donate to Save Our Gulf!

:}

More Tomorrow

:}

It is Jam Band Friday – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALU5g6Qqi08?

What – do these people think?  That if BP goes bankrupt that the world would be a better place…please stop and think about it…

doug -

When we started our Boycott BP campaign, we knew we had to get their attention in a language BP understands – profits. Now, we know it’s working:

A chain of Convenience Stores in Philipsburg, Pa decided to debrand three of its BP-branded stations:

“We are debranding BP. We will no longer be associated with BP by the end of the month. We are doing this because of the backlash and bad publicity from the handling of BP’s catastrophe,” Sean Lay, vice president of operations, said in the report. “We don’t want to be associated with them anymore. We’ve had enough.”[Convenience Store News]

Our campaign has been covered by everyone from the New York Times to industry trade newspapers. You can be sure that BP is paying attention. Now, let’s turn up the heat.

Join the Boycott today and we’ll send you a free bumper sticker to help spread the campaign

In spite of these early effects of the boycott, BP corporate headquarters is still playing games with the numbers and continues to escape accountability. Just this morning, the government updated estimates of the amount of oil gushing into the Gulf to be much higher than BP originally stated.

And yet, BP continues to deny the extent of the problem. A report from NPR asks: “BP officials insisted this week they have found no large plumes of oil concentrated underwater, although it begs the question: if the oil isn’t concentrated in the water, where is it?”

:}

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKA3tNoK8zM&feature=related )

And

ALERT: U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Republican Leader John Boehner want taxpayers to help pick up BP’s tab for environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. Tell John Boehner: No BP Bailout!

Douglas –

How is this for outrageous? Republican Leader John Boehner actually suggested that American taxpayers should be hit with the bill to help clean up Big Oil giant BP’s spill in the Gulf of Mexico. And it gets worse…

In making this outrageous suggestion, Boehner was agreeing with one of the Republicans’ biggest shadow groups – a group that has pledged to spend more than $50 million this cycle attacking Democrats and trying to elect other Big Oil protecting Republicans to Congress. But it gets even worse than that…

Boehner’s suggestion of a taxpayer-funded bailout for Big Oil giant BP came after he and other Republicans accepted more than $188 million combined in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry. This calls for an immediate response from Grassroots Democrats.

Visit our newly-launched website, BoehnerBPBailout.com to sign our petition denouncing John Boehner’s Taxpayer Funded Bailout for Big Oil giant BP – then help spread the word on Facebook and Twitter.

Now, for all the other happenings from the campaign trail, check out our latest edition of @Stake.

Your Response to Republican Congressman Don Young’s Oil Spill Outrage

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkJWTQpvADU&feature=related )

Then there are the people bragging about defeating a resolution…a resolution mind you.

Dear doug,

Good news! With your help, on Thursday, the Senate voted to reject Senator Murkowski’s “Dirty Air Act” – a proposal that would have destroyed 40 years of progress on clean energy by gutting the Clean Air Act and stripping the EPA of its power to regulate the pollution that causes climate change.

The vote was close – 53 to 47 – but your calls and letters made the difference, putting the pressure on Congress to do the right thing.

Thanks to you, we won this fight – but the oil that continues to gush into the Gulf of Mexico daily is a vivid reminder of the continued danger of depending on fossil fuels. With your help, we will continue to push for comprehensive clean energy and global warming legislation that will give us greater economic security, reduce pollution and global warming, and transition America to a cleaner energy future.

Thank you again for your activism and support. We will be in touch in the days and weeks to come with more ways of getting involved.

Sincerely,

Michael Town
Campaign Director, SaveOurEnvironment.org
info@saveourenvironment.org

:}

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GdsrywWNQU&feature=related )

And

:}

Please get out of my mail box.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mskqBz2cZTA&feature=related

:}

There is a reason why BP lies at every turn. Why it treats most data and all images as proprietary. It is because money solves all problems and lawyers solve even more.

Indian court convicts 7 in Bhopal gas tragedy

BHOPAL, India – An Indian court Monday convicted seven former senior employees of Union Carbide’s Indian subsidiary of “death by negligence” for their roles in the Bhopal gas tragedy that left an estimated 15,000 people dead more than a quarter century ago in the world’s worst industrial disaster.

The former employees, many of them in their 70s, were sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay fines of 100,000 rupees ($2,175) apiece. All seven were released on bail shortly after the verdict.

The subsidiary, Union Carbide India Ltd., was convicted of the same charge and ordered to pay a fine of rupees 500,000 ($10,870). Union Carbide eventually sold its shares in the subsidiary company, which was renamed Eveready Industries India.

India’s Central Bureau of Investigation, the country’s top investigative agency, has said the plant had not been following proper safety procedures before the disaster.

Large groups of survivors and relatives, along with rights activists, gathered in the city and chanted slogans saying the verdict was too little, too late.

Early on Dec. 3, 1984, a pesticide plant run by Union Carbide leaked about 40 tons of deadly methyl isocyanate gas into the air in the city of Bhopal in central India, quickly killing about 4,000 people. The lingering effects of the poison raised the death toll to about 15,000 over the next few years, according to government estimates.

Local activists insist the real numbers are almost twice that, and say the company and government have failed to clean up toxic chemicals at the plant, which closed after the accident.

:}

This will end up at the Roberts Court eventually and they will toss. Criminal charges? HAHAHAHAHA what a funny thought.

:}

That’s right besides the 40 million gallons of oil lurking in mats 1,500 feet above the ocean floor trapped by dispersants and getting ready to wash into the Atlantic and the continued wash of 40, 000 barrels of oil per day, the crisis is over and we here at CES are going to celebrate Norwegian Independence Day. Why? Because it is neither the day of the actual Norwegian Independence nor is it celebrated for the actual year of their Independence. We feel this is fitting.

http://open.salon.com/blog/norwonk/2009/05/17/independence_day_in_norway

Unfortunately, that didn’t work out at all. The Swedes had the support of Russia, Britain, Austria and Prussia, and no one cared much for the opinion of the Norwegian people. Long story short: the Swedes invaded, and after a short campaign Christian Frederick renounced his throne and went back to Denmark, leaving Charles XIII the new king of Norway and Sweden. That union would last until the Norwegian parliament declared independence (again) in 1905.
All this made Christian Frederick a rather unpopular man in Norway, but in time it was realized that he had actually made a pretty good deal. In return for giving up the crown, he had convinced the Swedes to accept the new Norwegian constitution which parliament had adopted (confusingly enough on May 16, which really ought to have been our national day, but never mind). That was a huge bonus. The constitution, which is still in place, was among the most democratic in Europe at that time.

:}

So basically like the oil companies, these folks have 2 or 3 Independence Days (Yaaa we are free) every year and the first one lasts a month. It involves children with flags, students dressed in funny costumes according to their profession, and reenactors dressing up in very old clothes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Norway

The young king and Norwegian officials tried to find international backing for their bid for Norway as a sovereign state throughout spring and early summer of 1814. After failing to secure the support of Great Britain, war with Sweden became unavoidable. The Swedish Campaign against Norway was short and decisive. However, while badly trained and equipped, the Norwegian Army put up a determined fight, holding the Swedes back at Kongsvinger and securing a tactical victory at the battle of Langnes. This enabled the King to avoid an unconditional surrender as he was forced into negotiations with the Swedes, leading to the Convention of Moss.

Putting the strategic situation and his own abdication to good use, he persuaded the Swedish crown prince Carl Johan (the former Marshal Bernadotte of France) to let the Norwegians keep their constitution. The Swedish crown prince wanted to appease the Norwegians and avoid a bloody continuation of the war. Realizing that a forced union with himself as ruler of a conquered and hostile country would be very uneasy, he accepted the Norwegian proposition. Norway then entered into a personal union with Sweden with only such amendments to its constitution as were necessary to form the Union between Sweden and Norway. On October 7, an extraordinary session of the Storting convened, and king Christian Frederik delegated his powers to the parliament and abdicated on October 10. The Storting adopted the constitutional amendments on November 4 and on the same day unanimously elected Charles XIII king of Norway, rather than acknowledging him as such, thus reinforcing the concept a King by the will of the people.

Dissolution and the second King

The union amendments were revoked after the dissolution of the ninety-one-year-old union in 1905. The question of a King was again considered, and the Storting elected to offer the throne to the 33-year-old Prince Carl of Denmark, married to Maud of Wales, the daughter of King Edward VII. By bringing in a king with British royal ties, it was hoped that Norway could court Britain’s support. Prince Carl was however well aware of a surge of republicanism in Norway and of the constitutional situation of the Norwegian throne. He insisted that he would accept the crown only if the Norwegian people expressed their will for monarchy by referendum and if the parliament then elected him king. On November 13, the Norwegian votes decided on monarchy with a 74 percent majority, and Carl was elected King by the Storting, taking the name Haakon VII of Norway.

Several other amendments have been adopted since 1814, the most recent on February 20, 2006. After World War II and the restoration of peace and constitutional rule, there was much debate on how to handle the events of the previous five years. None of this led to any changes in the constitution; it had withstood the test of hard times.

:}

Of Course lots of drinking and eating herring also ensues. This guy gets to celebrate 4 Independence Days the US, Italy and 2 for Norway.

http://www.lawzone.com/half-nor/crispo.htm

First, by way of background, Norway was ruled by the kings of Denmark from the 12th century until early in the 19th century (1814).

In 1814, Denmark was penalized for its support of Napoleon by giving Norway to Sweden. Before the transition was carried out, Norway declared itself independent on May 17, 1814. A degree of independence was retained even after Norway became subject to the Swedish Crown.

In 1905, on May 17, Norway declared its complete independence.

In 1914, World War I began. Norway remained neutral, but many of its ships were sunk.

In 1940-1945: when World War II began, Norway again proclaimed its neutrality. However, on April 9, 1940, Nazi forces invaded the two neutral nations of Norway and Denmark under the guise of protecting them against an “Anglo-French Occupation” and “To Protect Their Freedom and Independence.”

Oslo wired Berlin:

“We will not submit voluntarily; the struggle is already underway.”

At the time of World War II, Norway was just beginning to realize its industrial potential when Germany invaded. Five years of German occupation and a burn-and-retreat strategy in the final weeks of the war, left the nation ravaged. But, after the war, the Norwegians, known for their determination and tenacity, returned to rebuild their homes and villages. Finally the flags of freedom were again flying over Europe and Trygve Lie of Norway was elected as the first secretary general of the United Nations.

It is no surprise that Norwegians eat, drink and make merry during the month of May in celebration of this most significant month in their history.

:}

So we say to BP. Job well done Brownie.

For the real scoop go to:  http://www.leanweb.org/

:}

It is Jam Band Friday – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udEDlOZJmCc

I have said for awhile that this could be the biggest manmade disaster of all time. I never believed the oil flow estimates and I never believed that they would be able to plug the hole. Now is a good time to pray.

So lets start with what the flow really looks like when they tried the the Big Siphon:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brendan-demelle/new-footage-of-bps-failed_b_574350.html

Brendan DeMelle

Freelance writer and researcher

Posted: May 12, 2010 09:09 PM

New Footage of BP’s Failed Containment Dome Effort (VIDEO)

Update: BP just confirmed to us that the pipe in the 2nd video showing the main leak is 20″ in diameter (almost 2 feet). (Specifically, the outer is 21″; the inner is 20″.)

More footage was released today from the Deepwater Disaster, providing an indication of the powerful streams of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.

This video shows the failed attempt over the weekend to lower a 100-ton, 4-story “cofferdam” dome over the top of the main leak. As the dome is lowered onto the leak, you can see the oil gushing out on the sides, offering a better sense of the volume of oil pumping into the Gulf of Mexico.

:}

Please see the article and the 2 videos. So what happens if the natural gas, which looks to be half the spill catches on fire?  BOOM…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BruDTUvBClk&feature=related

:}

Ultimately why did this happen? Deregulation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/us/14agency.html?hp

U.S. Said to Allow Drilling Without Needed Permits

By IAN URBINA

Published: May 13, 2010

WASHINGTON — The federal Minerals Management Service gave permission to BP and dozens of other oil companies to drill in the Gulf of Mexico without first getting required permits from another agency that assesses threats to endangered species — and despite strong warnings from that agency about the impact the drilling was likely to have on the gulf

Those approvals, federal records show, include one for the well drilled by the Deepwater Horizon rig, which exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers and resulting in thousands of barrels of oil spilling into the gulf each day.

The Minerals Management Service, or M.M.S., also routinely overruled its staff biologists and engineers who raised concerns about the safety and the environmental impact of certain drilling proposals in the gulf and in Alaska, according to a half-dozen current and former agency scientists.

Those scientists said they were also regularly pressured by agency officials to change the findings of their internal studies if they predicted that an accident was likely to occur or if wildlife might be harmed.

Under the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Minerals Management Service is required to get permits to allow drilling where it might harm endangered species or marine mammals.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, is partly responsible for protecting endangered species and marine mammals. It has said on repeated occasions that drilling in the gulf affects these animals, but the minerals agency since January 2009 has approved at least three huge lease sales, 103 seismic blasting projects and 346 drilling plans. Agency records also show that permission for those projects and plans was granted without getting the permits required under federal law.

:}

Is there any hope?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S_OU3EBtRo&feature=related

:}

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/gulf-oil-spill-supertankers-051310

The Secret, 700-Million-Gallon Oil Fix That Worked — and Might Save the Gulf

May 13, 2010 at 6:46AM by Mark Warren

Workers on the Arabian Gulf overlook a supertanker owned by Saudi Aramco, the oil company that used a suck-and-salvage American technology to recover 85 percent of its previously unreported spill in 1993 and ‘94.

There’s a potential solution to the Gulf oil spill that neither BP, nor the federal government, nor anyone — save a couple intuitive engineers — seems willing to try. As The Politics Blog reported on Tuesday in an interview with former Shell Oil president John Hofmeister, the untapped solution involves using empty supertankers to suck the spill off the surface, treat and discharge the contaminated water, and either salvage or destroy the slick.

627diggsdigg

Hofmeister had been briefed on the strategy by a Houston-based environmental disaster expert named Nick Pozzi, who has used the same solution on several large spills during almost two decades of experience in the Middle East — who says that it could be deployed easily and should be, immediately, to protect the Gulf Coast. That it hasn’t even been considered yet is, Pozzi thinks, owing to cost considerations, or because there’s no clear chain of authority by which to get valuable ideas in the right hands. But with BP’s latest four-pronged plan remaining unproven, and estimates of company liability already reaching the tens of billions of dollars (and counting), supertankers start to look like a bargain.

The suck-and-salvage technique was developed in desperation across the Arabian Gulf following a spill of mammoth proportions — 700 million gallons — that has until now gone unreported, as Saudi Arabia is a closed society, and its oil company, Saudi Aramco, remains owned by the House of Saud. But in 1993 and into ‘94, with four leaking tankers and two gushing wells, the royal family had an environmental disaster nearly sixty-five times the size of Exxon Valdez on its hands, and it desperately needed a solution.

Pozzi, an American engineer then in charge of Saudi Aramco’s east-west pipeline in the technical support and maintenance services division, was part of a team given cart blanche to control the blowout. Pozzi had dealt with numerous spills over the years without using chemicals, and had tried dumping flour into the oil, then scooping the resulting tar balls from the surface. “You ever cooked with flour? Absorbent, right?” Pozzi says. Next, he’d dumped straw into the spills; also highly absorbent, but then you’ve got a lot of straw to clean up. This spill was going to require a much larger, more sustained solution. And fast.

That’s when Pozzi and his team came up with the idea of having empty ships park near the Saudi spill and pull the oil off the water. This part of the operation went on for six months, with the mop-up operations lasting for several years more. Pozzi says that 85 percent of the spilled oil was recovered, and it is precisely this strategy that he wants to see deployed in the Gulf of Mexico.

:}

When they contacted BP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKQ5jhtFypg&feature=related

:}

JON KING: Well, we went down to the BP headquarters in Houma, Louisiana, and we didn’t have an appointment so they wouldn’t let us in. Then I called the president of BP and I talked to his secretary and she put me in touch with somebody, but the somebody she put me in touch with didn’t know who we should talk to. Nick contacted a gentleman that he used to work with at BP, and he threatened to sue Nick for not going through channels. And I said, “Great. I’d love BP to sue us for trying to help them. That would be wonderful.”

:}

While the Army Plays with itself.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/05/us-army-gulf-spill-oil-asphalt-experimental-chemical-video.php

US Army to Turn Gulf Spill Oil Into Asphalt With Experimental Chemical (Video)

by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York on 05.13.10

Science & Technology

Photos by Brian Merchant

In order to protect the coastline at Dauphin Island — a site where tar balls have made landfall and hundreds of fish are washing up dead on the beach — the US Army has launched a highly experimental plan to prevent any oil from reaching its shores. It plans on trapping the oil in Hesco baskets and then applying a chemical called CI Agent, turning the oil into a gelatinous solid. That solid, comprised from oil from the gulf spill, will then be collected and turned into asphalt. Here’s Dan Parker, the CEO of CI Agent Solutions, demonstrating how the chemical solution works:

(Please go to the site and see all the pretty video)

The chemical is contained in the boxes, which will be filled up with gelatin if and when the oil hits Dauphin’s coast.

Questions remain, of course: though both Parker and Captain Kelly affirm the chemical is safe for wildlife, it’s never been used or tested on such a large scale and in this manner. But considering that BP is dropping hundreds of thousands of experimental chemical dispersants in the Gulf as we speak, this is a drop in the bucket by comparison — and if cleaned and contained properly could be an interesting solution to watch for in the future.

I’m traveling around the Gulf of Mexico reporting on the continuing oil crisis. Stay tuned for the latest developments and breaking reports from the scene.

:}

See you Monday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvbA8FBd_Vo&feature=related

:}

Do you think PB or anyone else is really serious about cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico? They refuse to share information and if they were really serious about sealing the blow out they would have exploded it or suffocated it by now. But they haven’t so the only conclusion that can be reached is that all they have done so far is for show.

Anyway here are 40 photos of the damage to the Gulf…I am going to try to post one because of copy right laws. But please go to the site and see the rest…IT’s DISGUSTING

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/05/disaster_unfolds_slowly_in_the.html

Disaster unfolds slowly in the Gulf of Mexico

Seawater covered with thick black oil splashes up in brown-stained whitecaps off the side of the supply vessel Joe Griffin at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill containment efforts in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana Sunday, May 9, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

:}

Tomorrow is the last day. I can’t take it anymore.

:}

I for one can tell you that I can not follow this Oil Disaster for 9 months which is how long the Ixtoc Blow Out lasted. So I have promised myself that on Monday I am going to cover something else about the energy and environmental fields.

For today however.

http://leanweb.org/donate/donate/donate-join.html

Louisiana Officials Request Chemical Dispersant Information From BP

Secretary Alan Levine of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Peggy Hatch, and Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Robert Barham sent a letter to British Petroleum today outlining their concerns related to potential dispersant impact on Louisiana’s wildlife and fisheries, environment and public health. Officials are also requesting BP release information on the effects of the dispersants they are using to combat the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

We applaud these Louisiana State officials for taking these steps to protect the health and safety of Gulf Coast communities and the Gulf environment. And we too believe that it is important that BP provide all of the information that they can.

However, the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster is an unprecedented event. Never has this much of this kind of crude oil been spilled into these specific environs and with large quantities of these specific chemical dispersants used. Due to the unprecedented nature of this event we do not believe that BP or any other entity can adequately answers these questions.

The health of our people and the integrity of the Gulf environments are too precious to leave up to guesses or limited scientific knowledge. There must be a coordinated and unified investigation of the environmental impacts of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster involving all of the appropriate Federal and State agencies in partnership with any relevant members of the private sector including researchers from universities and environmental organizations. It is also imperative that this be a transparent process that incorporates the on-the-ground knowledge and observations of local citizens.

The full text of the letter is below.

May 7, 2010

Mr. Tony Hayward
Chief Executive Officer
British Petroleum

Dear Mr. Hayward:
The BP-Transocean drilling incident and resulting oil spill has created massive challenges for BP, the federal government and for the State of Louisiana. We all agree with the primary goal of protecting our sensitive coastal areas and the health and safety of our people. We encourage you to continue making these issues the priority.

:}

Please read from the rest of the post at www.leanorg.com and DONATE at the link above…they are fighting the good fight.

http://www.physorg.com/news192784973.html

BP relaunches subsea dispersant operations

May 11, 2010 Enlarge

Orange colored chemical dispersant is seen in the water as it is used to help with the massive oil spill off the coast of Louisiana on May 5. BP restarted Monday operations to stream dispersants directly into the main Gulf of Mexico oil leak despite fears the chemicals could themselves be harmful to the environment. BP restarted Monday operations to stream dispersants directly into the main Gulf of Mexico oil leak despite fears the chemicals could themselves be harmful to the environment.
A mile-long tube was fed down to the leaking pipe on the sea floor and directly shot the dispersant into the flow, guided by remotely-operated robotic submarines.

State and federal agencies “consented to the third test today of subsea dispersant,” BP spokesman John Curry told AFP.

The test began at 4:30 am (0930 GMT) “and will continue for 24 hours. After the test is concluded, further evaluations will be conducted,” said Curry.

The dispersant is meant to break down the oil so that, over time, the slick is reduced to smaller particles that biodegrade instead of being left as chunky, thick globs that can choke both wildlife and vegetation.

Critics however say the dispersant causes just as many problems as it solves, and affects undersea life from the smallest microorganism on up.

“We are continuing to deploy dispersant at the seabed. It seems to be having a significant impact,” said BP CEO Tony Hayward.

“We have an armada of ships, as you know, on the surface engaged in major skimming activity. That is proving to be pretty effective. We’ve skimmed of the order of 100,000 barrels of oily water,” Hayward said.

“And we have an air force of planes deploying dispersants, and we’re also conducting, as you know, controlled burns, and that — the activity on the surface is going a very long way to containing the spill in the far offshore.”

Louisiana State University scientists will study underwater and surface samples of the dispersant impact on the oily water mixture, Curry said.

Meanwhile, US Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson traveled to the gulf region on a two-day visit “to oversee efforts to mitigate the environmental and human health impact of the ongoing BP oil spill,” the EPA said in a statement.

Jackson will be seeking “a thorough scientific assessment” of the spill’s impact on the region, and will meet with scientists, “to discuss the potential impact of the use of dispersants on the spill on and below the surface of the water,” among other things.

:}

The Politicians gnash their teeth:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100512/ap_on_re_us/us_gulf_oil_spill_washington

Rep. Waxman: Oil well’s blowout preventer had leak

REDERIC J. FROMMER, Associated Press Writer Frederic J. Frommer, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 5 mins ago

:}

Then there is this:

http://io9.com/5535851/how-much-oil-will-be-wasted-in-the-deepwater-spill

:}

More tomorrow I am sure…

:}

As the oil pushes west towards Texas, east into the Apalachicola area and west towards the Gulf Jet, this oil rig blow out could literally kill off the Gulf and spread far beyond. But this head line I think sums it up nicely.

http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/05/the-gulf-appears-to-be-bleeding-video.html

‘The Gulf appears to be bleeding’

Hurricane Creekkeeper John Wathen of Alabama and volunteer pilot Tom Hutchings of SouthWings flew over the Gulf of Mexico on Friday to get a look at the massive oil slick spreading from the site of the BP disaster.

At nine miles out, they began to smell the oil. At 11 miles, they saw a visible sheen on the water. And at mile 87 off the Alabama coast, they reached ground zero of the disaster — what Wathen described as a “red mass of floating goo” as far as the eye can see.

“The Gulf appears to be bleeding,” he said.

“For the first time in my environmental career, I find myself using the word ‘hopeless,’” Wathen continued. “We can’t stop this. There’s no way to prevent this from hitting our shorelines.”

Wathen and Hutchings had no trouble finding their way back to land: “All we had to do was follow the red,” Wathens said. “There was a perfect line of it leading from the rig to the shoreline.”

Here’s the video from that trip, which is also posted to Wathen’s blog dedicated to documenting the disaster:

By Sue Sturgis on May 9, 2010 12:05 PM

:}

Please go to the website to view the video for yourself OR google “Gulf is Bleeding” and you can see it ALL over the web.

:}