Category Archives: natural gas

Michelle Malkin(tent) And Energy Policy – Green means you’re a thief

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Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2010/12/michelle-malkin-dems-lame-duck-land-grab-wont-pass-without-fight#ixzz1BgnnDjMF

Michelle Malkin: Dems’ lame-duck land grab won’t pass without a fight

By: Michelle Malkin 12/15/10 8:05 PM
Examiner Columnist
Environmentalistshate sprawl — except when it comes to the size of their expansive pet legislation on Capitol Hill. In a last-ditch lame duck push, eco-lobbyists have been furiously pressuring Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to pass a monstrous 327-page omnibus government lands bill crammed with more than 120 separate measures to lock up vast swaths of wilderness areas.Despite the time crunch, Senate Democrats in search of 60 votes are working behind the scenes to buy off green Republicans. House Democrats would then need a two-thirds majority to fast-track the bill to the White House before the GOP takes over on Jan. 5.

Yes, the hurdles are high. But with Reid and company now vowing to work straight through Christmas into the new year (when politicians know Americans are preoccupied with the holidays), anything is possible. The Constitution is no obstacle to these power grabbers. Neither is a ticking clock.

The Democrats’ brazen serial abuse of the lame-duck session is as damning as the green job-killing agenda enshrined in the overstuffed public lands package.

Earlier this month, Reid assigned worker bees on three Senate committees — Energy and Natural Resources, Commerce, and Environment and Public Works — to draw up their public lands wish list. All behind closed doors, of course.

House Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., rightly dubbed it a “Frankenstein omnibus of bills” and pointed out that the legislation “includes dozens of bills that have never passed a single committee, either chamber of Congress, or even been the subject of a hearing.”

The sweeping bill bundles up scores of controversial proposals, including:

— A stalled land transfer and gravel mining ban in Reid’s home state of Nevada.

— The designation of the Devil’s Staircase Wilderness in Oregon as a federally protected wilderness where logging and road development would be prohibited.

— Multiple watershed and scenic river designations that limit economic activity and threaten private property rights.

— The creation of massive new national monument boundaries and wilderness areas along the southern border opposed by ranchers, farmers, local officials and citizens.

One New Mexico activist, Marita Noon, said the federal plans to usurp nearly a half-million acres in her state would result in an “illegal immigrant superhighway” off-limits to border security enforcement. Security analyst Dana Joel Gattuso pointed to a recent General Accounting Office report on how environmental permitting rules and land-use regulations have hampered policing efforts at all but three stations along the border

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I actually left out the energy part. It is near the bottom. If you can bear the the Washington Toiletpaper for even a moment, go see. More next week.

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Victor Hanson – Man made climate change does not exist

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Look, the argument goes Weather refutes Climate. But really, did Russia burn last summer. Isn’t Climate change about Climate Instability. Aren’t the Russian, USA and Canadian Militaries gearing up to patrol a nearly naked Alaska during the summer. And what about oil there? Oh wait is that why they want the warming to continue because it will reveal more oil…

http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson122710.html

December, 27 2010

The Obamaites’ About-Face

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

Californians have been experiencing ten days of the wettest, snowiest weather in recent memory. In the usually arid San Joaquin Valley, flooding is ubiquitous. The high Sierra passes are locked in snow well before the first of the year. If the United Kingdom is dealing with the irony of its elites’ recently warning of an end to snow on a now snowy island, out here our version of that embarrassment is water everywhere after Energy Secretary Chu warned us that our farms would blow away and that he could envision an end altogether of California agriculture — logically, he asserted, given that 90 percent of the annual Sierra snowpack would soon disappear.

While the state struggles with flooding and blizzards, Governor Schwarzenegger is advertising himself to the Obama administration as a possible post–Van Jones green czar, to regulate energy for the country as he has done for a now insolvent California. But then, once global warming morphed into climate change, too much rain, snow, and cold could become as symptomatic of too much man-made carbon being released as too little rain, snow, and cold once were. Start that engine, and thou shalt both burn and freeze in hell.

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dot dot dot as they say

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When one loses one’s faith, the aftermath can be startling. As gas hits $3 a gallon at Christmas, with fears of $4 by summer-vacation time, expect suddenly to hear of plans to tap more natural gas, build more nuclear reactors, and lift the suppression of offshore drilling — all beneath a loudly trumpeted but very thin wind and solar veneer. What are we to expect next — a few windmills fastened atop a drilling rig in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, some solar panels on the domes of new nuclear-power plants, a supercharger as an upgrade on the Chevy Volt?

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About Face. Forward harch. More tomorrow.

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More Top Stories From The Energy World From 2010

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This one gets it pretty much right I think. I think the BP oil spew was maybe the story of the Decade. I also think that the third world led by China as an ever thirstier consumer of liquid carbon fuels has been over played. But first I found them at Peak Oil, that ever depressing, in a rogue sort of way, website. So have a Happy New Year folks:

http://peakoil.com/generalideas/robert-rapier-top-10-energy-related-stories-of-2010/

But it is a repost from this Blog so Happy New Year to you too.

http://www.consumerenergyreport.com/2010/12/28/my-top-10-energy-related-stories-of-2010/

My Top 10 Energy Related Stories of 2010

Posted by Robert Rapier on Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Here are my choices for the Top 10 energy related stories of 2010. I can’t remember having such a difficult time squeezing this list down to 10 stories, because there were many important energy stories for 2010. It was hard to cut some of them from the Top 10; so hard that I almost did a Top 15. But I made some difficult choices, and offer my views on the 10 most important energy stories of 2010. Previously I listed a link to Platt’s survey of the Top 10 oil stories of 2010, but my list covers more than just oil.

Reviewing my list of Top 10 Energy Related Stories of 2009, I see that I made three predictions. Those predictions were:

  • China’s moves are going to continue to make waves
  • There will be more delays (and excuses) from those attempting to produce fuel from algae and cellulose
  • There will be little relief from oil prices.

Given that total energy demand from China surpassed that of the U.S. in 2010 (five years earlier than expected), the EPA twice rolled back cellulosic ethanol mandates (and there are still no functioning commercial plants), and we are closing the year with oil above $90 per barrel, I would say I nailed all of those.

For this year’s list, don’t get too hung up on the relative rankings. They are mostly subjective, but I think we would have fairly broad agreement on the top story.

1. Deepwater Horizon Accident

On April 20, 2010 the BP-owned Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded, killing 11 men working on the rig and injuring 17 others. Because of the depth of the rig, there was no easy way to cap it and it gushed oil until it was finally capped three months later on July 15th. In the interim, the leak released almost 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, making it the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. In fact, not only was this my top energy story of the year, according to a poll of AP writers and editors it was the top news story period.

2. The Deepwater Horizon Fallout

While the accident itself was the biggest story, there was much fallout from the incident that will continue to be felt for years. Just three weeks before the incident, President Obama had proposed to open up vast new areas off the Atlantic coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and the north coast of Alaska. Governor Schwarzeneggar was pushing for offshore oil drilling near Santa Barbara County. There was a great deal of momentum that promised to greatly expand the areas available for offshore production. In the wake of the disaster, the debate shifted sharply. President Obama canceled a planned August offshore drilling lease sale in the Western Gulf and off the coast of Virginia, citing that his “eyes had been opened” to the risks of offshore drilling. The administration also put a temporary deepwater drilling ban in place until additional safety reviews could take place. Governor Schwarzeneggar dropped his plans, citing the spill as evidence that offshore drilling still poses too great a risk.

But there were far-reaching impacts in other areas. BP began to sell off assets, raising $10 billion to pay claims of those impacted by the spill. BP CEO Tony Hayward — after a series of gaffes — stepped down from the helm of BP. Around the area affected by the spill, people lost jobs, particularly in the fishing and tourism industries. The long-term environmental impact remains uncertain, with some groups claiming the area has recovered, and others stating that it will be years before the full environmental impact can be determined.

3. China Becomes World’s Top Energy Consumer

For more than a century, the United States has been the world’s top consumer of energy. In 2010, China surpassed the U.S. in total energy consumption. If not for the Deepwater Horizon accident, this would have easily been my #1 story. As I said last year, I believe that China will be the single-biggest driver of oil prices over at least the next 5-10 years.

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Personally I do not see Matt Simmons’ death as a huge energy story, but this guy knew him so I can understand the inclusion. More next week.

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Cutting Home Energy Costs – Something that is easy to do

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Save Energy – Save Money. That is the mantra of Communty Energy Systems.

http://www.powerscorecard.org/reduce_energy.cfm
Reduce Your Energy Consumption

Twenty Things You Can Do to Conserve Energy

Conserving energy, by taking actions like insulating/weatherstripping your home and purchasing Energy Star certified (high efficiency) appliances, is usually the smartest, most economical and most potent environmental action you can take. Cleaner, greener energy supplies may provide the cleanest supplies of needed electricity, but minimizing the energy we need is still the first step to take before selecting the cleanest, greenest supplies.

Whenever you save energy, you not only save money, you also reduce the demand for such fossil fuels as coal, oil, and natural gas. Less burning of fossil fuels also means lower emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the primary contributor to global warming, and other pollutants.

You do not have to do without to achieve these savings. There is now an energy efficient alternative for almost every kind of appliance or light fixture. That means that consumers have a real choice and the power to change their energy use on a revolutionary scale.

The average American produces about 40,000 pounds of CO2 emissions per year. Together, we use nearly a million dollars worth of energy every minute, night and day, every day of the year. By exercising even a few of the following steps, you can cut your annual emissions by thousands of pounds and your energy bills by a significant amount!

Home improvements

Consider some of these energy-saving investments. They save money in the long run, and their CO2 savings can often be measured in tons per year. Energy savings usually have the best payback when made at the same time you are making other major home improvements.

  • Insulate your walls and ceilings. This can save 20 to 30 percent of home heating bills and reduce CO2 emissions by 140 to 2100 pounds per year. If you live in a colder climate, consider superinsulating. That can save 5.5 tons of CO2 per year for gas-heated homes, 8.8 tons per year for oil heat, or 23 tons per year for electric heat. (If you have electric heat, you might also consider switching to more efficient gas or oil.)
  • Modernize your windows. Replacing all your ordinary windows with argon filled, double-glazed windows saves 2.4 tons of CO2 per year for homes with gas heat, 3.9 tons of oil heat, and 9.8 tons for electric heat.
  • Plant shade trees and paint your house a light color if you live in a warm climate, or a dark color if you live in a cold climate. Reductions in energy use resulting from shade trees and appropriate painting can save up to 2.4 tons of CO2 emissions per year. (Each tree also directly absorbs about 25 pounds of CO2 from the air annually.)
  • Weatherize your home or apartment, using caulk and weather stripping to plug air leaks around doors and windows. Caulking costs less than $1 per window, and weather stripping is under $10 per door. These steps can save up to 1100 pounds of CO2 per year for a typical home. Ask your utility company for a home energy audit to find out where your home is poorly insulated or energy inefficient. This service may be provided free or at low cost. Make sure it includes a check of your furnace and air conditioning.

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    There are many more tips at that site. Please go there and read more. Get going today. More tomorrow.

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    Household Energy Consumption – Kerosene, dung and candles

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    Yesterday I put up a pitiful page from wikipedia about household consumption probably in the USA or maybe even for the “Developed World”. They were not real clear about that. But what a diference it makes being in a country that has adequate (though old) eletric and natural gas distribution systems.

    http://iapnews.wordpress.com/2010/02/12/rural-household-energy-consumption-in-bangladesh/

    Rural household energy consumption in Bangladesh

    Md. Danesh Miah, et al.

    , Energy Policy, Volume 38, Issue 2, February 2010, Pages 997-1003, ISSN 0301-4215, DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2009.10.051.

    Energy is one of the most important ingredients required to alleviate poverty and realize socio-economic and human development, which is directly interconnected to the prominence of life in rural areas. An extensive survey on household energy consumption pattern interrelating socio-economic and demographic factors was carried out in the disregarded villages of Bangladesh using stratified random sampling technique of 120 households.

    This paper focuses on household energy consumption, various combinations of fuels and their expenditure in the study area. Biomass, kerosene, electricity, LPG and candle were found as the energy carrier used in the rural households in this study. The study shows that 92% households use biomass, 28% LPG, 89% kerosene, 78% electricity and 27% candle as fuel types. It was found that 56% households collected biomass from their own homesteads and/or agricultural lands. Bamboo, branches, cow dung, firewood, rice husk, leaves & twigs and straw were found as the biomass for household energy use.

    Average monthly household expenditure for total energy was US$ 9.67 (SE, 0.31) per month while the total monthly income of the household was US$ 123 (SE, 2.53). The ratio of the total monthly energy expenditure to the total monthly income was 7.86%. The study will be helpful to understand the energy consumption system and its expenditure in the rural areas of Bangladesh and to the policy formulation for energy production, consumption and utilization

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    More tomorrow.

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    Cap And Trade Rises From The Ashes – It made it into the Senate

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    It’s Jam Band Friday – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ16hEpB_Sk

    Conventional post election wisdom has the Cap and Trade legislation being declared dead. But, it is sitting in a Senate that the Democrats control. Will they bust it lose during the end of the year session. Who knows, but I think the issue will not go away so sooner or later something will have to be done. I mean Russia caught on fire. How much more does it take than that.

    http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/nov/4/clean-coal-is-as-dead-as-cap-and-trade/

    MILLOY: Clean coal is as dead as ‘cap-and-trade’

    Mitch McConnell had better study up on the election results

    By Steve Milloy-The Washington Times

    While we shouldn’t expect our left-wing elitist president to understand Tuesday’s electoral rejection of his “progressive” prescriptions for America, we should expect Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, to get it.

    But Mr. McConnell seems to have missed the message, at least when it comes to “cap-and-trade” – odd for a coal-state politician. The day after the election, Mr. McConnell said, “The president says he’s for nuclear power. Most of my members are for nuclear power. The president says he’s for clean coal technology. Most of my members are for clean coal technology. There are areas that we can make progress on for the country.”

    Aside from the canard of President Obama sincerely supporting nuclear power and the fact that Republicans ought to avoid the loaded and already co-opted-by-the-left word “progress,” so-called “clean coal” is a form of Obama-think – a discredited cap-and-trade concept that was more trap than sincere policy.

    Some in the coal industry and some coal-burning electric utilities had been talked into supporting cap-and-trade, provided that taxpayers and ratepayers forked over billions (if not trillions) of dollars for so-called “carbon capture and sequestration” (CCS) – that is, burying utility carbon-dioxide emissions deep underground and hoping they stay there safely.

    But to the extent that any so-called environmentalists paid any lip service to clean coal and CCS, it was only to lure coal and utility suckers into cap-and-trade. Does anyone really believe, after all, that the greens would allow utilities to inject underground billions of tons of highly pressurized carbon dioxide all over the nation? They fought tooth-and-nail, after all, to prevent the storage of sealed casks of spent nuclear fuel one mile underground in the Nevada desert.

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    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vm-pFqdqcZY&feature=related

    Which would they prefer, a tax on carbon? This guys lists all the reasons for cap and trade mechanisms to be set up by the Federal Government and heavily policed by the Federal Government. Nonetheless he likes carbon taxes because they supply more stability. But his belief that it won’t be passed on to the customer is asinine.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSJdjb6K5i4&feature=fvw

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    http://www.greenchipstocks.com/articles/cap-and-trade-legislation/810

    Cap and Trade Legislation is Fatally Flawed

    My First Ever Mea Culpa

    By Nick Hodge
    Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

    We may never see cap and trade in this country.

    Those are words I never thought I’d write.

    In fact, I’ve been touting the benefits of a cap and trade market since 2007. But new ideas, unraveling facts, and recent events have changed my thinking.

    So today, I’m publishing my first ever mea culpa.

    Cap and Trade Legislation is Fatally Flawed

    My First Ever Mea Culpa

    By Nick Hodge
    Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

    We may never see cap and trade in this country.

    Those are words I never thought I’d write.

    In fact, I’ve been touting the benefits of a cap and trade market since 2007. But new ideas, unraveling facts, and recent events have changed my thinking.

    So today, I’m publishing my first ever mea culpa.

    Carbon Should Still be Priced

    To be clear, I’m not saying that carbon shouldn’t have a price. By all means, it should.

    What I’m saying is that cap and trade isn’t the way to implement it.

    At the end of the day, carbon dioxide is a harmful waste product that needs to be handled. Companies don’t get free passes for treating and disposing of other waste streams their businesses generate. Why should carbon be any different?

    Not charging companies for emitting carbon is giving them free reign over something they cannot and will not ever own: the atmosphere.

    We don’t let companies freely dump waste into rivers or lakes… We don’t allow companies to dump waste in forests… So why, then, are we still letting companies dump a known pollutant into the atmosphere unchecked?

    This is why everyone speaks of how cheap coal is. It’s not really that cheap, we just don’t include the price of carbon in its costs.

    Carbon isn’t a business externality — meaning, companies that produce it can shift the cost to society — and it can no longer be treated as such.

    The Trouble with Cap and Trade

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    You can go to the article for the rest. I personally support a carbon tax. But I have always said that Cap and Trade is what we get because high finance wants it that way. More Monday.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdAhR-c–20&feature=related

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    Amish Space Heaters Are Fraud, Edin Pure Heaters Are Fraud, and Ultraviolet Heaters Are Fraud

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    The reason that the title is true is that they charge like 500 percent too much money. I don’t care what Bob Vila says modern 40 $$$ electric heaters are not dangerous and have temperature controls. So why don’t all of these people go to jail? Well, for one, they change their companies’  names every year so they are hard to track down. But there is an argument in the energy efficiency community about what constitutes saving energy, ie. saving money.

    http://www.buyenergyefficient.org/energyefficientspaceheater.html

    Energy efficient space heater

    Click here to see our selection of energy efficient space heaters.

    Overview
    Energy efficient space heaters are one of the best ways to cheaply lower your heating bill.  According to US Government statistics, the average American spends $1,900 per year for home energy of which nearly half goes to heating and cooling.  Space heaters can help lower this bill.  Here is the fundamental information you need to make the correct choice for your situation.

    Potential Savings

    By lowering your home thermostat only 5 degrees and employing the use of energy efficient space heaters in frequently used rooms you can lower your heating cost by 10% and eliminate 800 pounds of C02 emissions from the environment.  Space heaters will re-warm your space for a fraction of the cost associated with running the central heating.  But, to make sure you get the most savings, you have to select the space heater that is right for you and your home.  Numerous choices exist including Convection, Micathermic, Ceramic, Radiant, Kerosene, Wood Burning and Gas.  With so many choices, we recommend doing your research before making a purchase.   No one choice is the correct choice.  It will depend on your needs as to what the correct type of space heater is best for you.

    Factors to Consider

    The first, and obvious factor, is temperature.  You will probably want to exclude any that don’t have automatic temperature control as the space you are attempting to heat will either be too hot or too cool and you will constantly have to be monitoring the unit and turning it on or off.  This is both uncomfortable and time consuming.

    Everyone is well aware of the effect of temperature on comfort.  However, the second, and less discussed component of comfort is relative humidity.  Relative humidity is the percent of water vapor in the air at a specific humidity.  In simple terms, a dry house with 20 percent relative humidity will need a higher temperature to feel as warm as a home with medium humidity of 60 percent.  That is because your body is giving up heat by the process of evaporation.  The lower the relative humidity the faster your body gives up this heat as the higher moisture of your body evaporates to the atmosphere.

    A third factor to consider is wind speed.  As the air in your house moves it affects the rate at which your body gives up its heat.  This is due to the process of convection which is the attraction of hot air to colder air.  A house in which the heat is constantly running feels cooler.  This is one of the reasons the old steam style radiant heaters felt so warm.  There is little wind speed when compared to a centralized blower.  It’s also the reason a fan feels so good in the summertime.

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    http://www.nlcpr.com/Deceptions4.php

    Deceptive and Overpriced
    Radiant Space Heater Scams

    There are a number of companies selling electric heaters that imply that you will save a great deal of money, some even claim you will cut your costs by 50%. This is extremely misleading. It is sort of like claiming “Save 100% on your heating bills*” where * = “don’t turn it on”. It isn’t a fraud, but is certainly misleading.

    Examples are EdenPure, iHeater, so called Amish heaters, the chinese made Heat Surge Roll-n-Glow (their marketing material is the most honest of the bunch).

    All portable electric heaters consume electricity and degrade it into heat. All are 100% efficient for one obvious reason. The heat has nowhere else to go except into the room. Anyone that makes a claim otherwise, especially outrageous ones like “10x more efficient than a space heater”, is making a fraudulent claim.

    In the images below, cut from an advertisement by Krystal Planet, we see some typical claims — let’s examine them:

    a) no combustion, flames or fumes.This is true of all electric appliances,including your coffee maker unless something is terribly wrong.

    b)less electricity than a coffee maker. If this is true, then it will give off less heat than your coffee maker. Can you heat your house with a coffee maker? If you can, I’d like to hear about it 🙂

    c)Does not dry out the air. Of course not. Electric heaters never dry out the air. How could they? Where would the water go? No matter how you heat up the air in a room, the warmer air can hold more moisture so the relative humidity will go down — unless you want to use a humidifier, vaporizer or keep the kettle boiling on the stove.

    d) healthy comfortable infrared heating. Infrared is radiated heat, like you get from a heat lamp or the sun. The product details below imply that the heat source is four 375W heat lamps, but if they are inside the wooden looking box in the picture, then they are not shining on you. They would heat the box and the box in turn would heat the air nearby, which is called convection.

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    So do they make a natural gas space heater that is safe to use indoors?  I have no idea. More tomorrow.

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    Are You Ready For Some Lawsuits – Gulf Coast oil spew will be in court for 25 years…

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    Of course I will be dead by then so I won’t care.
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    LOUISIANA ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION NETWORK AND REPRESENTING ATTORNEY STUART SMITH CREATE WEBSITE FOR PUBLIC EXAMINATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL SAMPLING DATA IN AREAS IMPACTED BY BP CATASTROPHE
    For weeks, Attorney Stuart Smith and researchers Dr. William Sawyer and Marco Kaltofen have been providing evidence contrary to the federal government’s assertions that the oil from the BP DEEPWATER HORIZON catastrophe is gone and that seafood from oil-impacted waters are not compromised.
    Now, citizens can examine for themselves data compiled by Gulf Oil Disaster Recovery and the Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) at a public website maintained by Dr. Kaltofen’s company, Boston Chemical Data.
    “We are thrilled about this new resource,” said Marylee Orr, Executive Director, LEAN. “This website allows anyone interested to see what chemicals were found, where they were found, and how much was found. We feel the public has the right to this information.”
    The website, http://bostonchemicaldata.com/LEAN/ provides oil spill data and mapping resources. You can compare where EPA, universities and independent labs have sampled. An individual must download Google Earth in order to view the site’s various downloads and maps.
    “This should be useful to environmental groups and the unified command,” said Mr. Smith. “We’ve always believed there should be more transparency in this process.”
    Most recently, Mr. Smith’s team has documented a large oil plume offshore of northwest Florida which is killing seafood. Samples have been sent to Canada for independent assessment.

    “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

    Dr. William Sawyer: Chief Toxicologist of Toxicology Consultants & Assessment Specialists, LLC., Sanibel, FL (Registered d/b/a 1990, Incorporated January, 1994, 2009-FL)
    Marco Kaltofen, P.E.; President of Boston Chemical is a Registered Professional Engineer (Civil, Massachusetts) and an environmental scientist with more than 25 years experience in environmental, workplace and product safety investigations in North America and Eastern Europe.

    CONTACT:

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

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    More tomorrow

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    More From The Gulf Gusher – This from Lean, one of my favorite groups

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    I keep telling people that crude oil is really really toxic. No one really listens.

    I know this is not centered and you can not read all the text. Tough. Go to our BB Refrigerator Magnets and click on Louisiana  Environmental Action Network to read the whole thing. Or better yet, go to their website and read the original if you are really interested…I think you get the drift from what you can see.

    BP Makes Me Sick!

    BP Makes Me SickAmazing! 57,264 people joined our “BP Makes Me Sick” coalition in only 4 days. As BP blocks Gulf clean-up workers from wearing respirators when dealing with harmful toxins, thousands of us are asking President Obama to step in. (Keith Olbermann explains the issue here.) The Washington Post, Huffington Post, Baton Rouge Advocate, and others all wrote about this new coalition!

    We have momentum — can you help us reach 100,000 signers by joining our coalition today? Click here! (Then, forward to others!)

    Today, we are proud to announce that our effort is endorsed by 50 partners across the nation. This includes:
    • Waterkeeper Alliance President Robert Kennedy Jr. and the Save Our Gulf Waterkeepers
    • Louisiana Environmental Action Network Executive Director Marylee Orr
    • Major Senate candidates — Roxanne Conlin (IA), Jack Conway (KY), Kendrick Meek (FL), and Elaine Marshall (NC)
    • 27 House candidates — including bold progressives Ann McLane Kuster (NH), Bill Hedrick (CA), David Segal (RI), and others (full list here)
    • 9 House members — including Carolyn Maloney (NY), Mary Jo Kilroy (OH), Jared Polis (CO), Chellie Pingree (ME), and Alcee Hastings (FL)
    • National organizations like Democracy for America, Color Of Change, and Commercial Fishermen of America

    Please join our coalition and stand up for workers today — then, pass this email to others.
    Press Coverage:
    Louisiana Watermen Demand Proper Safety Equipment In Gulf Oil Cleanup
    By Ryan Grimm
    The Huffington Post
    July 8, 2010

    In the harried cleanup that followed the attack on downtown New York on September 11th, managers of the process famously failed to equip workers with protective gear, damaging countless lives of those who came to the rescue. Environmental advocacy groups and commercial watermen, who are more often joined in combat than alliance, have come together with bloggers and public officials to prevent the pattern from repeating in the Gulf.

    Robert Kennedy Jr.’s Waterkeeper Alliance, the United Commercial Fisherman, the Louisiana Shrimp Association, Commercial Fisherman of America, the Nassau Sierra Club in Florida and the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, among dozens of others, are calling on BP to properly equip rescue workers mired in the toxic muck that has been spewing from the Gulf floor for nearly three months.

    “We cannot let the denial of protective gear that hurt so many 9/11 clean-up workers happen again with the Gulf clean-up workers,” reads a statement signed by the groups, organized by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. “President Obama and the federal government must demand that BP allow every clean-up worker who wants to wear respiratory protective equipment to do so — and ensure that workers get the equipment and training they need to do their jobs safely.”

    The fishing organizations represent those who have been transformed into cleanup workers by the spill. A scientist with the Louisiana Environmental Action Network recently testified before Congress on the hazards of Gulf cleanup.

    The groups are organizing an online petition at BPMakesMeSick.com, where a full list of the coalition, which includes local bloggers and national politicians such as Florida Democratic Reps. Alan Grayson and Kendrick Meek, can be found.

    Go to the article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/08/louisiana-watermen-demand_n_639094.html

    Gulf Fishermen, Bloggers, RFK Jr. Say “BP Makes Me Sick”
    By Nancy Scola
    Tech President
    July 8, 2010

    A growing coalition of local bloggers, elected officials, online organizers, workers, environmental groups, and public figures formally launched today a drive to get BP to allow workers wear health-saving protective gear as they go about cleaning up the Gulf coast.

    The new BP Makes Me Sick Coalition is, it’s probably fair to say, the first high-profile push we’ve seen to use political organizing tactics, online and offline, to shape the ongoing disaster in the Gulf. The implicit tactic is to coalesce public opinion around a tangible idea — one itself important, but that stands for something bigger. The BP Makes Me Sick Coalition is a project spearheaded by the Progressive Change Coalition, with the backing of local groups like Atchafalaya Basinkeeper and Galveston Baykeeper, Gulf fishermen, local blogs like the Burnt Orange Report and Texas Kaos, local electeds like Reps. Alan Grayson (D-FL) and Kendrick Meek (D-FL), and national figures like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who helps head the New York-based environmental group Riverkeeper.

    The group, explained PCCC’s Adam Green, started taking shape about two weeks ago, after Marylee Orr, the head of the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, talked on Keith Olbermann’s MSNBC show about BP’s alleged efforts to prevent clean-up workers from wearing respirators on the job.

    “It’s a choice between feeding their family, and not having money to feed their family,” Orr told Olbermann. “They’re willing to sacrifice their health to feed their family, and I think that’s tragic. When our fishermen folks had their respirators on, they were told to take them off, that they would be fired if they used them.” (Clip  here.) Through Orr, says Green, PCCC connected with local fisherman’s organizations. Through them, they reached out to local environmental groups, and on to Kennedy, who came aboard yesterday.

    This being a PCCC joint, there’s also a strategic twist. The subtext of BP Makes Me Sick is using the relatively discrete matter of protective respirators to press President Barack Obama on his leadership in the Gulf — or, to flip it around, his supposed deference to BP. Fleshing out that angle is a note on the site echoing the George W. Bush-era: “We cannot let the denial of protective gear that hurt so many 9/11 clean-up workers happen again with the Gulf clean-up workers.”

    At the moment, BPMakesMeSick.com features an online petition that anyone can co-sign.

    Go to the article here: http://techpresident.com/blog-entry/gulf-fishermen-bloggers-rfk-jr-say-bp-makes-me-sick

    NY DAILY NEWS: Group Demands BP Provide Cleanup Workers With Respirators
    http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dc/2010/07/group-demands-bp-provide-clean.html

    SAN FRAN CHRONICLE: Sources: BP threatens to fire cleanup workers who wear respirators
    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/green/detail?entry_id=67426#ixzz0t87rmAfd

    DAILY KINGFISH: Kingfish joins coalition to protect cleanup workers
    http://www.dailykingfish.com/diary/1575/kingfish-joins-coalition-to-protect-cleanup-workers
    SaveOurGulf.orgVisit 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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    More tomorrow.

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    The Gulf Spill Day 400 – Oh maybe it is under 80 but it feels that way

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    Our latest update from LEAN. This is a group you should support.

    Louisiana Environmental Action Network
    &
    Lower Mississippi RIVERKEEPER©

    Helping to Make Louisiana Safe for Future Generations

    E-ALERT
    July 8, 2010
    To view as a webpage – click here
    The BP Oil Spill’s Toxic Effects Are Beginning To Be Seen, Scientist Frustrated By Lack Of Data
    Oil/Water samples from Gulf…VERY TOXIC
    Oil/Water samples from Gulf... VERY TOXIC

    This is a very compelling video from a concerned citizen who decided to take his own samples of oil found on the beach in Grand Isle, La and have them tested at a laboratory. In the water portion of the sample the lab found propylene glycol, an ingredient in Corexit 9500 and Corexit 9527A, at an estimated concentration of  430 parts per million. Propylene glycol only makes up 1-5% of the Corexit products, so, if this is indeed propylene glycol from Corexit then the concentration of Corexit as a whole is far higher.

    According to EPA’s latest analysis of dispersant toxicity released in the document Comparative Toxicity of Eight Oil Dispersant Products on Two Gulf of Mexico Aquatic Test Species Corexit 9500 at a concentration of 42 parts per million killed 50% of the mysid shrimp tested and at a concentration of 130 parts per  million killed 50% of the silverside fish tested. Remember the lab found 430 parts per million of a material that makes up only 1-5% of the Corexit products.  This also does not include the toxicity of the oil itself or an oil/dispersant mix. Click the image above to go to the video or go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq65E7rmO_k Note: the lab technician refers to propylene glycol by one of its other names, propane-diol.

    Researchers find evidence of oil spill in Gulf’s food chain
    By Harlan Kirgan
    Mississippi Press
    June 30, 2010

    Yellow oil droplets can been seen in a post-larval blue crab.
    Harriet Perry, Gulf Coast Research Laboratory
    Yellow oil droplets can been seen in a post-larval blue crab.

    Oil droplets have been found beneath the shells of tiny post-larval blue crabs drifting into Mississippi coastal marshes from offshore waters.

    The finding represents one of the first examples of how oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill is moving into the Gulf of Mexico’s food chain. The larval crabs are eaten by all kinds of fish, from speckled trout to whale sharks, as well as by shore birds.

    The tiny droplets are visible under the transparent shells of the 2-millimeter-sized crabs collected in Davis Bayou, said Harriet Perry, director for the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Laboratory’s Center for Fisheries Research and Development.


    Spill’s extent and the effects surprising those studying it

    By Lee Shearer
    Athens Banner-Herald
    July 07, 2010

    Scientists knew weeks ago that much of the oil gushing from a blown-out oil well deep in the Gulf of Mexico remained below the surface, suspended in deep, cold water.

    But research they are doing now has surprised them at the extent of the spill and effects on marine life, University of Georgia oceanographer Samantha Joye said Tuesday in UGA’s Marine Sciences Building. Joye, one of the leading scientists tracking the spill, spoke at a weekly update on her research team’s findings.

    Seawater samples the team took during a June research voyage had to be diluted before analytical machines could accurately measure the oil levels in them, she said Tuesday.

    Other scientists analyzing the samples still haven’t told Joye the precise concentrations of oil they’ve found in the water. But they’ve seen enough to know the levels are much higher than what was found in an earlier research cruise in May, when they measured oil contamination in parts per million or parts per billion in areas close to the spill.

    The more recent water samples, many taken hundreds of feet deep in the Gulf, contain much more oil, she said.

    The water samples come from in and around vast plumes of oil, methane and other chemicals mixed with sea water that have been pouring out of a broken oil well since a BP-owned drilling rig, the Deepwater Horizon, exploded April 20 and sank four days later.

    Get the full article here: http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/070710/new_666367227.shtml

    Gulf Oil Spill: Scientists Beg For A Chance To Take Basic Measurements
    By Dan Froomkin
    Huffington Post
    July 6, 2010
    A group of independent scientists, frustrated and dumbfounded by the continued lack of the most basic data about the 77-day-old BP oil disaster, has put together a crash project intended to definitively measure how much oil has spilled and where and how it is spreading throughout the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

    An all-star team of top oceanographers, chemists, engineers and other scientists could be ready to head out to the well site on two fully-equipped research vessels on about a week’s notice. But they need to get the go-ahead — and about $8.4 million — from BP or the federal government or both. And that does not appear imminent.

    The test is designed to provide responders to future deep-sea oil catastrophes with valuable information. But, to be blunt, it would also fill an enormous gap in the response to this one.

    Get the full article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/06/gulf-oil-spill-scientists_n_636981.html
    SaveOurGulf.orgVisit 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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