Our latest update from LEAN. This is a group you should support.
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Our latest update from LEAN. This is a group you should support.
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See Booby Jindal and Billy “the blimp” Nungasser believe that if you run around acting like you’re in charge and “doing something” then voters will think you are an effective leader. But what the “near miss hurricane” showed is that they and their sand barriers are full of crap. Even worse, by insisting that BP hire local unemployed workers as clean up people, the tox results from previous oil spills show that they are also going to lead to people’s deaths. Way to go you two.
The shut down on June 23 of part of the state’s dredging operations for construction of offshore sand berms was treated by Governor Jindal as a sudden and arbitrary action by federal agencies. (1) But the reality is somewhat different.
While some media stories conveyed the impression that the state’s entire sand berm plan was approved by the Corps of Engineers in late May, only six sections of the original proposal were given a permit. Two sections to the east of the river, on the upper end of the Chandeleur Island chain, and four sections west of the river were authorized by the Corps, which described them as “critical locations where greater immediate benefit is likely to be achieved with minimal adverse disruption of coastal circulation patterns.” (2)
The Corps Permit specified the source areas for sand/sediment: Ship Shoal, South Pelto, the Mississippi River Offshore Disposal Site, and Pass a Loutre for the western sites, and St. Bernard shoal and Hewes Point for the sites to the east. The location of borrow and dredge sites at the northern end of the Chandeleur Islands has been one of the areas of greatest concern. NOAA and other agencies had pointed out that creating borrow pits or dredging in close proximity to the islands could cause accelerated erosion and even compromise their stability, so using a source site a couple of miles away was a condition of the permit.
Soon after receiving its permit, however, the state began to voice its intention to source near to the islands after all, due to a lack of pipe for pumping sand and mud from a distance. The state said it would replace sand from the dredged site within a few weeks, but federal agencies agreed to this change with a much shorter time limit because of the possible effects on the island.
Despite the Governor’s repeated claims that “we don’t have a day to wait,” the state was not ready for the approved level of dredging even after it was approved. Federal officials said that “the state has been unprepared since the beginning, has caused further delay because it did not have the proper pipe available and has continued to asked for time to shift to the offshore site. According to the Interior Department, it gave the state permission for more than a week to use the closer source of sand while locating the pipe, but that allowing the state to continue dredging could have negative effects on existing barrier islands.” (3)
An official with the Department of Interior noted that if the department had allowed the state to continue digging where it was digging, they feared approaching a “tipping point” with an “impact on that island chain that may never be restored.”(4) The Governor’s reaction was to completely ignore these considerations and instead attack the federal agencies: “We haven’t heard from them before today about any concern about these islands or this area. All of a sudden now that we’re building new land to protect our coast, they’re worried about a hypothetical consequence?” (5)
The Governor may not have heard or read the federal agencies concerns in their response to the state’s permit application, or have seen the U.S. Geological Survey report last year about the status of the Chandeleur Islands and how they could be actually restored in ways that minimize adverse impacts (http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2009/5252). He could have read the comments of his own Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, which pointed out in its letter to the Corps the need to “determine whether or not borrow area excavation will increase wave energy and subsequent shoreline erosion, alter littoral currents, or otherwise impact depositional processes, in a way that undermines the sustainability of inland islands, marsh, and shorelines, most importantly the Chandeleur Islands.” (6)
For views of the sand berm and other spill related issues from the perspective of a coastal scientist please visit the Louisiana Coast Post by Len Bahr, Ph.D. Dr. Bahr is a former LSU marine sciences faculty member who served 18 years as a coastal policy advisor to Louisiana governors from Roemer to Jindal. Dr. Bahr gives the sand berm plan an official “thumbs down” here.
(2) Documents related to the plan and the state’s permit request to the Corps of Engineers have been posted at http://leanweb.org/images/stories/bpspill/emergency_permit_documents_final.pdf.
(3) C. Kirkham, J. Tilove, Times-Picayune, “State halts dredging of sand for berms,” 6/23/10.
(4) Times-Picayune, 6/24/10.
(5) Times-Picayune, 6/24/10.
(6) Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries, letter of 5/13/10, http://leanweb.org/images/stories/bpspill/emergency_permit_documents_final.pdf.
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!
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I know. At one level this seems preposterous. Don’t they understand how naked they look. Or is naked their only option?
http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/06/new-exxon-blog-targets-bp-fallout
— By Josh Harkinson
Breaking news: You need not worry about the safety of offshore oil drilling. How do I know this? Well, let’s just say a hat tip is in order for Exxon’s new blog, Perspectives, which launched today with a post about the Deepwater Horizon disaster. “This devastating chain of events is far from the industry norm,” proclaims Exxon blogger Ken Cohen, who’s also the oil giant’s vice president of public and government affairs. “We all need to understand what occurred on this occasion that did not occur on the 14,000 other deepwater wells that have been successfully drilled around the world.”
Translated into the kind of language that actual bloggers use, Cohen’s missive appears to be saying that Exxon and the world’s other upstanding oil outfits shouldn’t be punished for BP’s bad behavior. “Energy consumers around the world need the energy and natural gas resources found in offshore and deepwater regions,” he concludes, “but they expect it to be done safely and in an environmentally sensitive way.
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http://www.exxonmobilperspectives.com/2010/06/14/addressing-gom-spill/
What happened at the Deepwater Horizon rig is a tragedy on many levels – from the terrible loss of life involved, to the ongoing impact of the spill on the environment, communities and businesses of the Gulf Coast. Everyone at ExxonMobil shares in the concern over the accident and spill, and we have contributed personnel and equipment to help with the response.
The Presidential Commission’s investigation and others underway will help us determine what happened and what needs to be done going forward. This devastating chain of events is far from the industry norm. We all need to understand what occurred on this occasion that did not occur at the 14,000 other deepwater wells that have been successfully drilled around the world.
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Subsea operational update – 14 June. Preparations for additional planned enhancements to the LMRP cap containment system continue to progress. The first planned addition, to operate in addition to the LMRP cap system, will take oil and gas from the choke line of the failed Deepwater Horizon blow-out preventer (BOP) through a separate riser to the Q4000 vessel on the surface. Both the oil and gas captured by this additional system are expected to be flared through a specialised clean-burning system. This system is intended to increase the amount of oil and gas that can be captured from the well and is currently anticipated to begin operations in the next few days.
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http://www.chevron.com/wpc/blog/20080627/
by Don Campbell
Manager, External Communications
Don Campbell is manager of external communications for Chevron Corporation. A native of Canada, he earned bachelor’s degrees in art and journalism from the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Campbell has more than 25 years experience in journalism and public affairs. He worked as a political reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. At the Calgary Herald, he covered energy and served as city editor. He also served as manager of investor relations and external communications for Husky Energy Inc. and as vice president of communications for the Calgary Health Region (Chevron Photo)
Energy prices have become a profoundly important issue to consumers, governments and the oil and gas industry today.
The problem is formidable: under pressure from worldwide demand growth and reduced spare supply, how does the industry continue to meet the needs of consumers in an affordable and environmentally responsible way?
As thousands of delegates from 61 member countries gather in Madrid from June 29 through July 3 for the World Petroleum Congress, this event blog will report on ways technology and new ideas are addressing these challenges and shaping the oil and gas industry.
Chevron participants to the Congress, which is held every three years, will share how they see the industry responding to this dynamic marketplace. The era of easy access to cheap oil is clearly over. The industry has already begun developing new technologies to deliver the energy that current and future generations will need to support their economies and prosper. The Congress will highlight some of this activity.
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I feel so unclean.
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The Sun is cooling and shrinking. Scientists have predicted that this was going to happen and in addition they predicted that a little ice age might occur. There was much positing that there were longer solar cycles then just the moderately well understood 11 year cycle. The thought was that the Sun waxed and waned every 300 or 400 years. No one was sure. Then an amazing thing happened. As the solar flares died down the Earth heated up. That was when scientists turned to man and the atmosphere to try to get some answers. The answer appeared to be that all of the GASES (not just co2 but every gas we throw off – there are 20 or more) we dump into the air are heating the planet up. This could lead to climate destabilization. Well the Sun is still quiet. For 2 1/2 years the Sun has been quiet. That is unprecedented in the 150 years at least that we have been observing the solar cycles. For much more on this subject please see one of the best articles I have ever read on the subject.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627640.800-whats-wrong-with-the-sun.html
Video: Sun spots
SUNSPOTS come and go, but recently they have mostly gone. For centuries, astronomers have recorded when these dark blemishes on the solar surface emerge, only for them to fade away again after a few days, weeks or months. Thanks to their efforts, we know that sunspot numbers ebb and flow in cycles lasting about 11 years.
But for the past two years, the sunspots have mostly been missing. Their absence, the most prolonged for nearly a hundred years, has taken even seasoned sun watchers by surprise. “This is solar behaviour we haven’t seen in living memory,” says David Hathaway, a physicist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
The sun is under scrutiny as never before thanks to an armada of space telescopes. The results they beam back are portraying our nearest star, and its influence on Earth, in a new light. Sunspots and other clues indicate that the sun’s magnetic activity is diminishing, and that the sun may even be shrinking. Together the results hint that something profound is happening inside the sun. The big question is what?
The stakes have never been higher. Groups of sunspots forewarn of gigantic solar storms that can unleash a billion times more energy than an atomic bomb. Fears that these giant solar eruptions could create havoc on Earth, and disputes over the sun’s role in climate change, are adding urgency to these studies. When NASA and the European Space Agency launched the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory almost 15 years ago, “understanding the solar cycle was not one of its scientific objectives”, says Bernhard Fleck, the mission’s project scientist. “Now it is one of the key questions.”
Sunspots are windows into the sun’s magnetic soul. They form where giant loops of magnetism, generated deep inside the sun, well up and burst through the surface, leading to a localised drop in temperature which we see as a dark patch. Any changes in sunspot numbers reflect changes inside the sun. “During this transition, the sun is giving us a real glimpse into its interior,” says Hathaway.
When sunspot numbers drop at the end of each 11-year cycle, solar storms die down and all becomes much calmer. This “solar minimum” doesn’t last long. Within a year, the spots and storms begin to build towards a new crescendo, the next solar maximum.
What’s special about this latest dip is that the sun is having trouble starting the next solar cycle. The sun began to calm down in late 2007, so no one expected many sunspots in 2008. But computer models predicted that when the spots did return, they would do so in force. Hathaway was reported as thinking the next solar cycle would be a “doozy”: more sunspots, more solar storms and more energy blasted into space. Others predicted that it would be the most active solar cycle on record. The trouble was, no one told the sun.
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Please finish the article. It is very long and there is a scholarly debate in the comments section about where the center of the Earth’s gravity is. This is kindofa hoot if you understand it. It is true our jokes are different from other peoples.
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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?”
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( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKA3tNoK8zM&feature=related )
And
Douglas —
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.
More than 95,000 of you signed our petition denouncing Congressman Young’s ludicrous comments! You also sent a powerful message to other Big Oil-protecting Republicans that grassroots Democrats will be there to hold them accountable. Thanks again for speaking out!
( 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
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( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GdsrywWNQU&feature=related )
And
Dear doug,
Yesterday, thanks to your hard work, the U.S. Senate did the right thing — voting with the climate science and against a resolution that would have stripped the Clean Air Act’s protections against climate pollution. The Senate is to be commended for defeating Senator Lisa Murkowski’s disastrously misguided proposal. But the truth is, in the face of the worst environmental disaster in our nation’s history, Senator Murkowski’s resolution never should have even reached the Senate floor. The fact that we had to work to defeat this legislation is a testament to the continued strength of the fossil fuel lobby. But the fact that we did defeat it gives us fresh momentum for the months ahead, as our nation confronts the costs of our dependence on fossil fuels more directly than ever. This summer, we can and must set our nation on the path of independence from oil and other dirty energy. We must confront the growing plumes of oil now consuming the Gulf Coast and soon to affect much of the Eastern Seaboard. We must pass comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation — our best hope of staving off the catastrophic climate change that will dwarf the Deepwater Oil Disaster in scope and devastation. And we must accomplish all this despite the millions of dollars that big oil will spend to defeat us. Yesterday’s vote shows that when we work together, we can defeat these forces. Over the last two years, over 250,000 of us have taken action to protect the Clean Air Act, including:
This summer, it’s time to take exactly the same tenacity and commitment we have shown on these attacks on the Clean Air Act and win the biggest prize of all: comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation that transitions our economy to clean energy. Donate now to support our campaign to Repower America: http://cpaf.repoweramerica.org/cleanairvictorynd We’ve won an important battle. Now, it’s time to win the war. Al Gore |
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Please get out of my mail box.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mskqBz2cZTA&feature=related
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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.
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.
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This will end up at the Roberts Court eventually and they will toss. Criminal charges? HAHAHAHAHA what a funny thought.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1QmeEdFOSc
OK so Happy Memorial Day. Good to get that in.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2010/05/28/DI2010052802315.html
The Science Guy
Friday, May 28, 2010; 1:00 PM
Bill Nye, the Science Guy, was online Friday, May 28, at 1 p.m. ET to discuss the Gulf oil spill and the latest efforts to cap the well, including the “top kill” maneuver.
Chantilly, Va.: Why is the oil still gushing out after more than a month? I always assumed they need pumps and other equipment to get the oil to the surface. Where is the pressure coming from to continue to let the oil out of the well?
Bill Nye: The pressure driving the huge flow came or comes from ancient bacteria that fed on ancient sea plants or plankton. The bacteria gave off natural gas, also called methane. It’s trapped in a cavity under the seafloor. This gas is under about 460 atmospheres (6,800 psi) of pressure. That’s plenty to spew oil for years, or even decades.
_______________________
Sarasota, Fla.: BP has not been clear about the quantity of mud versus oil coming out of their gushing pipe. There seems to be uncertainly interpreting the video. But couldn’t they determine the relative quantities from a quick, simple analysis of the fluid they are pumping to the surface? —
Bill Nye: The head BP guy this morning made the extraordinary, and probably not quite accurate, claim that no oil has been coming out, while the mud is flowing. He probably just meant the flow of oil is way down. Such an estimate is very hard, because most of the oil doesn’t make it to the surface. It becomes neutrally buoyant goo. Yikes.
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Please follow the link for the rest of the Q&A. It is pretty basic.
BP’s next move is to cut off the bent Riser Pipe and replace it with a “Lower Marine Riser Package Cap” (LMRP Cap).
Mr. Suttles stated that he believes that the LMRP Cap will capture “a great majority” of the flow but not all of it.
Adm. Landry stated that the ultimate solution remains the relief well. The relief well appears to be weeks away from completion.
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!
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This is so disturbing…It is looking like August.
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Nicholas Pousey (spelling uncertain) and Matt Simmons were on the Dylan Ratigan Program 2 days ago and they claim that the REAL Oil gusher is several miles away and is gushing at a rate of 50,000 barrels of oil a day. They say that PB was probably right in saying that the riser is probably only gushing 5,000 barrels as they predicted. The discrepancy between the oil that is seen and the predicted oil is this second leak. It has been reported that this is BP’s second borehole on this lease. The last one had to be abandoned…Did that drill hole blow out? If so the gulf is doomed. They also reported as I did weeks ago that a supertanker could be sucking all this stuff up and trans shipping it. What screw ups. I am terrible at putting up Video but here is the link to the Youtube recording.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RIxIyEssYg&feature=youtube_gdata
More next week.
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http://www.repoweramerica.org/?utm_source=crm_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=hpfooter
Dear doug,
I just finished watching this video — and I hope every American sees it. Philippe Cousteau, grandson of famous explorer Jacques Cousteau, went underwater off the Gulf Coast to see first-hand what the Deepwater Oil Disaster looks and feels like. And the answer he came back with: “This is a nightmare.” Watch this video and share it with all your friends. We’ve seen the oil start to wash up on shore, and we’ve seen satellite images of the slick. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg: Take a look at the underwater impact of the oil geyser and the dangerous chemicals BP is using to “disperse” it — effects that could last for decades, even if today’s risky “Top Kill” maneuver to plug the well works. It’s never been clearer: The consequences of our dependence on oil, from the Deepwater Oil Disaster to the climate crisis, are completely unacceptable. Sincerely, David Boundy |
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http://www.democracyforamerica.com/
doug –
It’s been over a month and the oil catastrophe caused by British Petroleum in the Gulf isn’t even close to being contained, much less cleaned up. To make it worse, even as we await the results of the latest attempt to stop the flow of oil gushing from the well, BP continues to not allow anyone other than themselves the ability and access to fully investigate the extent of the problems. Why won’t BP share the full information needed to assist in the emergency response and complete understanding of the severity of the disaster? Because, as it stands right now, they have a lot of incentive to never let us know the full truth. It’s likely the smaller the official estimates of how much has spilled, the lower BP’s liability could be when it comes time to pay for cleaning it up. Clearly, BP’s bottom line is more important to them than stopping and cleaning up the damage they’ve caused. Enough is enough. It’s time to speak to BP in a language they will understand. As you can imagine, BP is extremely sensitive to public pressure right now. So when you join the campaign, we’ll ask you how much money per week you spend on gas so we can alert the media and BP of the financial impact as it grows each day. And of course, we’ll also share this information with candidates who understand the enormous extent of this environmental disaster and will work to support our efforts. A large-scale Boycott Campaign targeted specifically at making sure BP does everything they can — as fast as they can — is the perfect way for us to create economic pressure they understand. By taking matters into our own hands, we’re not waiting around hoping for BP to do the right thing or for Washington to take action. We’re doing something right now — as individuals — that has an immediate impact on BP’s bottom line. And the longer they take to get the job done, the bigger the impact of our campaign. This is too serious and too big to sit around and just let it continue to happen. It’s up to us to take every action we can to have an impact. Thank you for everything you do, -Jim Jim Dean, Chair |
Democracy for America relies on you and the people-power of more than one million members to fund the grassroots organizing and training that delivers progressive change on the issues that matter. Please Contribute Today and support our mission.
Paid for by Democracy for America, http://democracyforamerica.com/ and not authorized by any candidate. Contributions to Democracy for America are not deductible for federal income tax purposes.
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Top Kill may be working…at least for now…more tomorrow
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How could you possibly continue to call that thing a Blowout Preventer? It is just too sick to contemplate. Drilling mud is pretty toxic so here is hoping very little of it has to be pumped in to the Gulf itself.
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The boat ride, out, from Lafitte, Louisiana, Sunday, May 23, 2010, to our fishing grounds was not unlike any other I have taken in my life, as a commercial fisherman from this area. I have made the trip thousands of times in my 35 plus years shrimping and crabbing. A warm breeze in my face, it is a typical Louisiana summer day. 3 people were with me, my wife Tracy, Ian Wren, and our grandson, Scottie. I was soon to find out, how untypical this day would become for me, not unlike a death in the family. This was going to be a very bad day for me.
As we neared Barataria Bay, the smell of crude oil in the air was getting thicker and thicker. An event that always brought joy to me all of my life, the approach of the fishing grounds, was slowly turning into a nightmare. As we entered Grand Lake, the name we fishermen call Barataria Bay, I started to see a weird, glassy look to the water and soon it became evident to me, there was oil sheen as far as I could see. Soon, we were running past patches of red oil floating on top of the water. As we headed farther south, we saw at least a dozen boats, in the distance, which appeared to be shrimping. We soon realized that shrimping was not what they were doing at all, but instead they were towing oil booms in a desperate attempt to corral oil that was pouring into our fishing grounds. We stopped to talk to one of the fishermen, towing a boom, a young fisherman from Lafitte. What he told me floored me. He said, “What we are seeing in the lake, the oil, was but a drop in the bucket of what was to come.” He had just come out of the Gulf of Mexico and he said, “It was unbelievable, the oil runs for miles and miles and was headed for shore and into our fishing grounds”. I thought, what I had already seen in the lake was enough for a lifetime. We talked a little while longer, gave the fisherman some protective respirators and were soon on our way. As we left the small fleet of boats, working feverishly, trying to corral the oil, I became overwhelmed with what I just saw.
I am not real emotional and consider myself a pretty tough guy.You have to be to survive as a fisherman. As I left that scene, tears flowed down my face and I cried. Something I have not done in a long time, but would do several more times that day. I tried not to let my grandson, Scottie, see me crying. I didn’t think he would understand, I was crying for his stolen future. None of this will be the same, for decades to come. The damage is going to be immense and I do not think our lives here in South Louisiana will ever be the same. He is too young to understand. He has an intense love for our way of life here. He wants to be a fisherman and a fishing guide when he gets older. It is what he is, it is in his soul, and it is his culture. How can I tell him that this may never come to pass now, now that everything he loves in the outdoors may soon be destroyed by this massive oil spill? How do we tell this to a generation of young people, in south Louisiana who live and breathe this bayou life that they love so much, could soon be gone? How do we tell them? All this raced through my mind and I wept.
We continued farther south towards Grand Terre Island. We approached Bird Island. The real name is Queen Bess Island, but we call it Bird Island, because it is always full of birds. It is a rookery, a nesting island for thousands of birds, pelicans, terns, gulls etc. As we got closer, we saw that protective boom had been placed around about two thirds of the island. It was obvious to me, that oil had gone under the boom and was fouling the shore and had undoubtedly oil some birds. My God. We would see this scene again at Cat Island and other unnamed islands that day. We continued on to the east past Coup Abel Pass and more shrimp boats trying to contain some of the oil on the surface. We arrived at 4 Bayou Pass to see more boats working on the same thing. We beached the boat and decided to look at the beach between the passes.
The scene was one of horror to me. There was thick red oil on the entire stretch of beach, with oil continuing to wash ashore. The water looked to be infused with red oil, with billions of, what appeared to be, red pebbles of oil washing up on the beach with every wave. The red oil pebbles, at the high tide mark on the beach were melting into pools of red goo in the hot Louisiana sun. The damage was overwhelming. There was nobody there to clean it up. It would take an army to do it. Like so much of coastal Louisiana, it was accessible only by boat. Will it ever be cleaned up? I don’t know. Tears again. We soon left that beach and started to head home.
We took a little different route home, staying a little farther to the east side of Barataria Bay. As we approached the northern end of the bay, we ran into another raft of oil that appeared to be covering many square miles. It was only a mile from the interior bayous on the north side of Barataria Bay. My God. No boats were towing boom in this area. I do not think anyone even knew it was there. A little bet farther north, we saw some shrimp boats with boom, on anchor, waiting to try and protect Bayou St. Dennis from the oil. I alerted them of the approaching oil. I hope they were able to control it before it reached the bayou. We left them and started to head in.
My heart never felt so heavy, as on that ride in. I thought to myself, this is the most I’ve cried since I was a baby. In fact I am sure it was. This will be a summer of tears for a lot of us in south Louisiana.
Michael Roberts
Louisiana Bayoukeeper, Inc
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!
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