Oil Spill In The Gulf Of Spew Mexico – Are we repeating 1979

What happened when the Ixtoc Drilling Rig Collapsed in the Gulf of Mexico in 1979. They brought in skimmers, booms, remotely operated vehicles, and dispersants. They drilled a second and third wells to take the pressure off. It took 8 months and parts of Texas and Mexico got slimed. Sound familiar?

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

Ixtoc I was an exploratory oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, about 100 km north west from Ciudad del Carmen in Campeche. On June 3, 1979, the well suffered a blowout and is recognized as the second largest oil spill in history.

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Helping to Make Louisiana Safe for Future Generations

E-ALERT
May 4, 2010
Oil Spill Dispersants Are Not A Magic Solution
Dispersants, a mixture of chemicals that break up the oil and send it into the water column, are being used as a remedy on oil that is leaking from the Deepwater Horizon disaster but we and many other environmental groups have serious concerns about their use.
Oil dIspersant being applied  by boat

From:
Oil Spill Dispersants: Efficacy and Effects (2005)
by Ocean Studies Board (OSB)

Dispersants are mixtures of solvents, surfactants, and other additives that are applied to oil slicks to reduce the oil-water interfacial tension (NRC, 1989; Clayton et al., 1993)… Reduction of the interfacial tension between oil and water by addition of a dispersant promotes the formation of a larger number of small oil droplets when surface waves entrain oil into the water column. These small submerged oil droplets are then subject to transport by subsurface currents…

In other words the dispersants act like mustard or egg yolk in salad dressing to break up the oil into little droplets that will mix with the water and allow those little droplets of oil to sink down into the water column and to the sea floor.

So once the oil sinks everything is fine right?

Well, no, not really. The oil is still in the marine environment and can still impact fish and bottom dwelling organisms and potentially allow toxic materials to move up the food chain as bottom dwelling organisms become contaminated and then are preyed upon by large organisms like crabs and shrimp and then the crabs and shrimp are preyed upon by fish, the fish by larger fish etc., this is called bio-accumulation.

More from:
Oil Spill Dispersants: Efficacy and Effects (2005)
by Ocean Studies Board (OSB)

One of the most difficult decisions that oil spill responders and natural resources managers face during a spill is evaluating the environmental trade-offs associated with dispersant use. The objective of dispersant use is to transfer oil from the water surface into the water column. When applied before spills reach the coastline, dispersants will potentially decrease exposure for surface dwelling organisms (e.g., seabirds) and intertidal species (e.g., mangroves, salt marshes), while increasing it for water-column (e.g., fish) and benthic species (e.g., corals, oysters).

In other words the dispersants may help to decrease shoreline impacts but will increase impacts to things that live under the water.

This is obviously a big concern to those of us who enjoy eating oysters, crabs, shrimp, speckle trout, redfish and all of the other wonderful seafood that comes from the Gulf and Louisiana’s coastal estuaries.

Another concern we have about the dispersants is that they themselves are toxic. We have learned from the Natural Resources Defense Council that the dispersant being used in the Deepwater Horizon disaster is Corexit 9500.

From the Corexit 9500 Materials Safety Data Sheet:

MATERIAL SAFETY DATA SHEET
PRODUCT
COREXIT® 9500
APPLICATION :
OIL SPILL DISPERSANT
NFPA 704M/HMIS RATING
HEALTH : 1 / 1
FLAMMABILITY : 1 / 1
0 = Insignificant 1 = Slight 2 = Moderate 3 = High 4 = Extreme

COMPOSITION/INFORMATION ON INGREDIENTS
Our hazard evaluation has identified the following chemical substance(s) as hazardous.

Hazardous Substance(s)
Distillates, petroleum, hydrotreated light
Propylene Glycol
Organic sulfonic acid salt
HAZARDS IDENTIFICATION
**EMERGENCY OVERVIEW**
WARNING
Combustible.
Keep away from heat. Keep away from sources of ignition – No smoking. Keep container tightly closed. Do not get in eyes, on skin, on clothing. Do not take internally. Avoid breathing vapor. Use with adequate ventilation. In case
of contact with eyes, rinse immediately with plenty of water and seek medical advice. After contact with skin, wash immediately with plenty of soap and water.
Wear suitable protective clothing.
Clearly any workers handling this product need to be supplied with the proper protective gear.

Corexit 9500 is also known to be toxic to marine life. A report written by Anita George-Ares and James R. Clark for Exxon Biomedical Sciences, Inc. entitled Acute Aquatic Toxicity of Three Corexit Products states that, “Corexit 9500, Corexit 9527,  and Corexit 9580 have moderate toxicity to early life stages of fish, crustaceans and mollusks (LC50 or EC50 – 1.6 to 100 ppm*).”

We hope that the EPA and US Fish and Wildlife Service are closely monitoring the use of these products and monitoring for impacts to the environment.

A further area of concern is the unprecedented deployment of dispersants into the leaking oil at the site of the leaks almost 5,000 feet below the surface.

The oil spill Unified Command reported on May 1, 2010 that response crews worked through the night using an ROV to dispense 3,000 gallons of sub-surface dispersant at a rate of nine gallons per minute. BP and NOAA are evaluating the results of the test procedure to determine its feasability for continued use.

The Unified Command also reported that, as of May 1, 2010, 142,914 gallons of dispersant have been deployed and an additional 68,300 gallons are available.

If you see anything fishy happening on your waterways don’t hesitate to call the Lower Mississippi Riverkeerp hotline at 1-866-MSRIVER


Support this vital work today!

Yes! I want to help make Louisiana safe for us and for future generations!

LEAN is a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Organization Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) is a non-profit organization working to foster communication and cooperation among citizens and groups to address Louisiana’s environmental problems.

For More About LEAN:

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All I can say is this is gona be bad..

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Oil Slick In The Gulf – Is Time magazine trying to play this disaster down

Below is the first story of 10 that Time Magazine wants you to compare to what is going on in the Gulf. It is hard to tell their intent here. Are they trying to say, “Look the Gulf spill ain’t so bad”? Are they trying to say, “Look mankind has a history of killing people off with toxics”? It is deeply troubling to me that they had to go all the way back to the 1950s to find 10 worse. That is kinda an uh oh moment for me.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1986457_1986501,00.html?cnn=yes&hpt=C2

Top 10 Environmental Disasters

As the Gulf of Mexico oil spill shows little sign of abating, TIME takes a look back at history’s greatest environmental tragedies

By Gilbert Cruz Monday May 3 2010

ZUFAROV / AFP / Getty Images

The worst nuclear-power-plant disaster in history. On April 26, 1986, one of the reactors at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine exploded, resulting in a nuclear meltdown that sent massive amounts of radiation into the atmosphere, reportedly more than the fallout from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That radiation drifted westward, across what was then Soviet Russia, toward Europe. Since then, thousands of kids have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and an almost 20-mile area around the plant remains off-limits. Reactor No. 4 has been sealed off in a large, concrete sarcophagus that is slowly deteriorating. While the rest of the plant ceased operations in 2000, almost 4,000 workers still report there for various assignments.

See TIME’s 1986 Chernobyl cover.

Please read the other 9 cases. We have killed thousands over the years. Yet the very people who support these acts want to argue that life is precious. Yah right.
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Oil Spill In The Gulf – Why don’t they just blow the well up?

Almost everyone in the US has seen the John Wayne movie Hellfighters about Red Adair, well capper extraordinaire.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063060/

His big gig was capping out of control wells…some of them burning. He usually deployed explosives to help control the old gushers. Now admittedly that was to blow out the fire…BUT I believe that destroying the well head and burying it in ruble would stop the leak. The US Navy could accomplish this easily with a submarine and a torpedo. I bet there is even one in the Gulf. While I can’t confirm it with a link the web chatter has it that the submarine USS Alaska has been reserved for the crisis, though I can’t say it is on station. There is a deep irony there. In addition it might set the oil release on fire. While this would create mess. It would be less of a mess than we have now.

Anyway this is the latest from the people on the frontline:

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

Louisiana  Environmental Action NetworkLMRK logoLouisiana Environmental Action Network
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Lower Mississippi RIVERKEEPER©

Helping to Make Louisiana Safe for Future Generations

E-ALERT
May 2, 2010
Gulf Fishermen Win First Legal Battle Against BP
As BP began accepting volunteer help from Louisiana fishermen to aid in the cleanup of oil that continues to leak from the Deepwater Horizon disaster BP was also making those fishermen sign agreements which “seriously compromised the existing and future rights and potential legal claims of these volunteers,” said Stuart Smith, an attorney for the fishermen.

Some fisheries were closed on Friday April 30, 2010 and more extensive fisheries closures were implemented today. NOAA is restricting fishing for a minimum of ten days in federal waters most affected by the BP oil spill, largely between Louisiana state waters at the mouth of the Mississippi River to waters off Florida’s Pensacola Bay (click here for map).  The closure is effective immediately.  Details can be found here: http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/.

Many Louisiana fisherman feel a deep vested interest in protecting the marine resources that provide them their livelihood and the heart of their culture. They are also desperate to make a living in the face of the fisheries closures and the likelihood
that shrimp and oyster harvests in the affected areas will be shut down for at least this upcoming season.

The offer of paid volunteer work helping to clean up the spill was welcomed but the restrictive agreements that BP was asking them to sign was making the fishermen feel that they were being taken advantage of.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana was opened this afternoon by Judge Ginger Berrigan to receive petition of Louisiana commercial fisherman to nullify and strike the offensive language in the British Petroleum volunteer fisherman charter contract.

Download a copy of the Master Charter Agreements which British Petroleum was asking fisherman to sign at http://www.kreweoftruth.com
District Judge Berrigan, after hearing from counsel for the fisherman and BP, indicated the language in question in the MCA was overbroad. Legal counsel for BP agreed to enter into a stipulated judgment holding that the offensive provisions are without effect.
“This is an amazing example of how well our civil justice system works for the hard-working people of America, such as Louisiana fisherman who most need it right now,” said Attorney Smith.
Commercial fisherman George Barasich stepped forward asking for emergency relief from the federal court to stop British Petroleum from forcing the volunteer corps of oil-spill responders to enter into agreements which seriously compromised the existing and future rights and potential legal claims of these volunteers.
Attorney Smith said especially egregious provisions within the Agreement were:
  • BP, which is mandated to take 100 percent responsibility for the oil clean-up, is demanding that the volunteers IMDEMNIFY IT for any accidents that might occur from the volunteers’ efforts (Art. 13(F));
  • BP demands that the volunteers WAIVE their First Amendment  constitutional free speech rights about the volunteer’s participation in the clean-up efforts of the disaster; for example, if a commercial fisherman signed this agreement he or she could not then speak to anyone about the disaster or clean-up efforts until BP first “approves” of what the volunteer wants to say (Art. 22);
  • BP demands a FREE-RIDE on the volunteers’ insurance policies so that if there is damage to a volunteer’s vessel or other injuries, such as to a crew member, BP will be an “additional insured” and the financial responsibility for the damage will rest on the volunteer’s insurance carrier, NOT BP; quite obviously, the volunteers paid good money for this insurance and BP should not be allowed after-the-fact to worm their way into that contract so that it can attempt to avoid further legal responsibility for the very volunteers it is asking for aid and assistance; (Art. 13(A)); and
  • BP demands 30 days of notice before any volunteer is allowed to pursue legal claims against BP, and there are no exceptions made for emergencies (Art. 13(I) [sic (G]).
We are happy to see the swift action of the civil justice system to protect citizens rights.

If you see anything fishy happening on your waterways don’t hesitate to call the Lower Mississippi Riverkeerp hotline at 1-866-MSRIVER


Support this vital work today!

Yes! I want to help make Louisiana safe for us and for future generations!

LEAN is a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Organization Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) is a non-profit organization working to foster communication and cooperation among citizens and groups to address Louisiana’s environmental problems.

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It could get much worse:

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2010/05/oil-spill-how-bad.html

CNN quotes the lead government official responding to the spill – the commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Thad Allen – as stating:

If we lost a total well head, it could be 100,000 barrels or more a day.

Indeed, an environmental document filed by the company running the oil drilling rig – BP – estimates the maximum as 162,000 barrels a day:

In an exploration plan and environmental impact analysis filed with the federal government in February 2009, BP said it had the capability to handle a “worst-case scenario” at the Deepwater Horizon site, which the document described as a leak of 162,000 barrels per day from an uncontrolled blowout — 6.8 million gallons each day.

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Oil Spill In The Gulf – The tragedy continues

It is Jam Band Friday – but I am too sad for it today…:+{

I continue to support our sister group LEAN. According to the news the oil has reached the S. Louisiana Coast and the seas have kicked up making containment impossible. The Gulf is doomed.

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

Louisiana  Environmental Action NetworkLMRK logoLouisiana Environmental Action Network
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Lower Mississippi RIVERKEEPER©

Helping to Make Louisiana Safe for Future Generations

E-ALERT
APRIL 29, 2010
Oil may already be impacting the Louisiana shoreline
Forecast location for oil for 6:00 p.m. on April 29, 2010
Forecast location for oil

From the Unified Command:

Forecast is for increasing SE winds today and then strong, persistant SE winds of 15-25 kts from tonight through saturday night. These winds will continue to bring the oil towards the shoreline. Satellite imagery from this morning indicates the western edge of the oil is 7-8 miles from the delta, but oil was observed during overflights yesterday afternoon several miles off SE pass in the Mississippi River Convergence – This could be the leading edge of the tarballs becoming concentrated in this region. Shoreline impacts could hence occur as early as this morning, if the onshore winds are strong enough for the oil to escape the convergence zone, Shoreline impacts become increasingly likely later in the day and into Friday with the strengthening onshore winds. Morning overflight observations will be critical in assessing the strength of the convergence zone.

A flyover on Wednesday, April 28 at 2:00 p.m. (CDT), continued to show a large, rainbow sheen with areas of emulsified crude, approximately 16 miles off the coast of Louisiana.

On April 28 at approximately 4:45 p.m. (CDT), the response team conducted a successful controlled burn and is evaluating conducting additional burns.

More than 174,060 feet of boom (barrier) has been assigned to contain the spill.  An additional 243,260 feet is available and 265,460 feet has been ordered.

To date, the oil spill response team has recovered 18,180 barrels (763,560 gallons) of an oil-water mix. Vessels are in place and continuing recovery operations.
76 response vessels are being used including skimmers, tugs, barges and recovery vessels.

98,361 gallons of dispersant have been deployed and an additional 75,000 gallons are available.

Five staging areas are in place and ready to protect sensitive shorelines.  These areas include:
Biloxi, Miss., Pensacola, Fla. Venice, La., Pascagoula, Miss., and Theodore, Ala.

Weather conditions for April 29 – Winds from the southeast at 5-15 mph, choppy rough seas.

To report oiled or injured wildlife, please call 1-800-557-1401.
To discuss spill related damage claims, please call 1-800-440-0858.
To report oil on land, or for general Community and Volunteer Information, please call 1-866-448-5816.


Support this vital work today!

Yes! I want to help make Louisiana safe for us and for future generations!

LEAN is a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Organization Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) is a non-profit organization working to foster communication and cooperation among citizens and groups to address Louisiana’s environmental problems.

For More About LEAN:

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The Oil Spill In The Gulf – It could become the U.S’s biggest natural disaster

That’s right. As big as the Love Canal. As Big as 3 Mile Island. As big as the Exxon Valdez. I shudder to think what this could do to the entire Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1269440/Visible-space-giant-oil-slick-oozing-Americas-Gulf-Coast.html

Visible from space, the giant oil slick oozing towards America’s Gulf Coast

By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 3:06 PM on 28th April 2010

Creeping just 20 miles from America’s Gulf Coast, this is the mammoth oil slick threatening to become an environmental disaster in a satellite image taken from space.

The spectacle – caught on Nasa’s Aqua satellite using its Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer instrument – is remarkable as oil slicks are usually notoriously difficult to spot using such equipment.

Yet in these images, the spill’s mirror-like reflection as the sun glints off the water is clearly visible.

Enlarge   mout of mississippi Snapshot of disaster: Four hundred miles out in space, Nasa’s Aqua satellite has taken pictures of the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico caused by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig.  In this image from Sunday, the centre of it is about even with the mouth of the Mississippi River
The mirror-like sheen of the oil slick is seen in this image taken  from space by NASA's Aquatic satellite The mirror-like sheen of the oil slick is seen in this image taken from space by NASA’s Aquatic satellite

The enormous spill, which was caused by the April 20 explosion and subsequent sinking of the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform, is now around 48 miles long and 80 miles wide. It is believed to be around 600 miles in circumference.

Hundreds of hotel owners, fishermen and restaurateurs are fearing for their livelihoods as the slick edges ever closer to the American Gulf Coast.

Forecasters say the spill could wash ashore within days near delicate wetlands, oyster beds and pristine white beaches.

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Please read the entire article. It is really really scary.

And This from LEAN

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

The Unified Command (U.S. Coast Guard, Department of Homeland Security, Minerals Management Service, BP and Transocean) had released this statement earlier today:

Responders have scheduled a controlled, on-location burn to begin at approximately 11 a.m. CDT today (April 28, 2010)…. today’s controlled burn will remove oil from the open water in an effort to protect shoreline and marine and other wildlife.
Workboats will consolidate oil into a fire resistant boom approximately 500 feet long. This oil will then be towed to a more remote area, where it will be ignited and burned in a controlled manner. The plan calls for small, controlled burns of several thousand gallons of oil lasting approximately one hour each.

The Unified Command has also made such statements as:

(The burning is) a strategy designed to minimize environmental risks by removing large quantities of oil…

…there are no anticipated impacts to marine mammals and sea turtles.

The vast majority of this slick will be addressed through natural means and through use of chemical dispersants. Today’s burn will not affect other ongoing response activities, such as on-water skimming, dispersant application, and subsurface wellhead intervention operations. Preparations are also underway in Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and Alabama to set up a protective boom to minimize shoreline impact.

We believe that releases of information from the Unified Command are glossing over the environmental aspects of this oil spill and failing in their duty to provide the public with accurate and unbiased information. From our experience and the experience of all of our colleagues in dealing with oil spills, once the oil is in the water it is impossible to eliminate all environmental impact. We believe that the government agencies in charge must make a full and accurate assessment of the environmental impacts of this spill.

“The vast majority of this slick will be addressed through natural means.” This sounds an awful lot like: The vast majority of the oil slick will be left in the environment. What impact will this have to the Gulf environment?

The chemical dispersants are essentially a soap like material that emulsifies the oil and causes it to sink into the water column and to the sea floor. What impact will this sub-surface oil have on marine life, on the oyster beds and benthic organisms?

Oil booms proved to be pretty ineffective during the fuel-oil barge spill in the Mississippi River in 2008. How effective will booms be in rough seas?

We do agree that burning the slick is preferable to the surface oil coming on to shore but we also ask that the Agencies involved make a full and accurate assessment of the environmental impacts of the burning of the surface oil.

We simply ask that an honest and accurate assessment of the full environmental impacts of this spill be conducted by the relevant government agencies and then released to the public.

To report affected wildlife, call 1-866-557-1401.

For more information regarding the Deepwater Horizon incident, contact the joint information center at (985) 902-5231 or (985) 902-5240.

You can contact us at 1-866-msriver.

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God I hate this.

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They Are Going To Light The Gulf On Fire – This may be one of the most radical

things I have ever heard. It generates nothing but questions. What about the wild life. What about the ocean animals and plants. What about the air quality. How do you contain it. However, considering the effects they still suffer in Alaska and the lawsuits it does make a modicum of sense.

I was a founding member of this group and their report marks the first time I have posted them I think.

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

Louisiana Environmental Action Network
&
Lower Mississippi RIVERKEEPER©

Helping to Make Louisiana Safe for Future Generations

E-ALERT
APRIL 27, 2010
Update On The Deepwater Horizon Disaster

First we would like to express our condolences to the families who have lost loved ones on the rig and to the injured; our thoughts and prayers are with you.

We at LEAN and Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper are bracing ourselves for what appears to be developing into an ecological tragedy.

Graphic showing location of oil slick on April 27, 2010
Map Of Oil Slick April 27, 2010

As of 10:40 a.m. the oil slick was just 21 miles South East of the mouth of the Mississippi River. Government agencies have been requesting oil booms to deploy around Delta National Wildlife Refuge (which already experienced a spill of 18,000 gallons of crude oil earlier this month). Delta National Wildlife Refuge is in the extreme south-eastern end of the Mississippi River Delta.

NASA satellite photo of the oil slick on April 25
NASA satellite photo of slick

Efforts to stop the flow using the blowout preventer have not been successful and oil continues to leak from at least two locations on the well pipe.

What was originally considered “plan c,” the drilling of a relief well, currently appears to be the main plan to stop the leaking. Transocean’s drilling platform Development Driller III will be used to drill the relief well. It is hoped that the relief well will be able to bypass the leaking well and thereby stop the flow from the damaged well.

However, it could take up to three months to drill the relief well and if some other method of shutting down the leaking well is not figured out in the meantime then it has been estimated that 100,000 barrels, or 4,200,000 gallons, of oil could be released into the Gulf before the relief well is operational.

“If we don’t secure this well, this could be one of the most significant oil spills in U.S. history,” Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said.

Skimmer boats and the spraying of dispersant have been the primary means of dealing with the spilled oil so far but weather conditions are making things very difficult for responders. We understand that the responders will likely begin using control burning of the oil slicks if possible.

If you encounter oil from this spill or to report oiled or injured wildlife you can contact the oil spill Unified Command at 1-800-557-1401. You can also contact us at 1-866-msriver.

We will continue to monitor the situation and will keep everyone updated. We value the work that all of our partners are doing on this issue and we will continue to work with our partners throughout the Gulf region.


Support this vital work today!

Yes! I want to help make Louisiana safe for us and for future generations!

LEAN is a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Organization Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) is a non-profit organization working to foster communication and cooperation among citizens and groups to address Louisiana’s environmental problems.

For More About LEAN:

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It is pray and hold your breath time

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Global Warming Critics Are Being Paid – That’s why there always is an angry post

any time anybody mentions Global Warming in a supportive way. For a long time I was puzzled by how fast and how consistently the Global Warming nay sayers put comments up on articles or blogs or whatever source and how angry they were. After I read the Reuters article  below it suddenly dawned on me that they are being paid to do it. Such prompt and vicious attacks must be a FULL TIME JOB.

Now before you get all back about it. First, there is a right wing conspiracy. The Koch Bros and Massey to name a few billionaires certainly have staff members dedicated to Climate Deniers. But that could only account for say what 30 or 40 people doing it. That is a lot. But consider another supplemental alternative. Exxon Mobile at best guestamate (and they don’t even know really) employs 90,000 people and BP employs another 85,000. Just those 2 companies employ enough people to account for every man, woman and child in Springfield Il. and the surrounding area. What if they let it be known that for a half-hour a day, or like when you have some downtime, it is OK to use company computers to harass climate scientists, journalist who right articles supportive of Climate Change and environmental organizations? Just in one week they could contribute 90,000 hours of cruising the net time and attacks. Anyway this is part of the article that I found at PEAKOIL:

http://peakoil.com/?p=53923

But came from here:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63P00A20100426

Climate debate gets ugly as world moves to curb CO2

A schoolgirl crosses a dry pond on the outskirts of Jammu April  23, 2010. REUTERS/Mukesh Gupta

A schoolgirl crosses a dry pond on the outskirts of Jammu April 23, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Mukesh Gupta

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Murderer, liar, fraud, traitor.

Science |  Green Business |  COP15

Climate scientists, used to dealing with skeptics, are under siege like never before, targeted by hate emails brimming with abuse and accusations of fabricating global warming data. Some emails contain thinly veiled death threats.

Across the Internet, climate blogs are no less venomous, underscoring the surge in abuse over the past six months triggered by purported evidence that global warming is either a hoax or the threat from a warmer world is grossly overstated.

A major source of the anger is from companies with a vested interest in fighting green legislation that might curtail their activities or make their operations more costly.

“The attacks against climate science represent the most highly coordinated, heavily financed, attack against science that we have ever witnessed,” said climate scientist Michael Mann, from Pennsylvania State University in the United States.

“The evidence for the reality of human-caused climate change gets stronger with each additional year,” Mann told Reuters in emailed responses to questions.

Greenpeace and other groups say that some energy companies are giving millions to groups that oppose climate change science because of concerns about the multi-billion dollar costs associated with carbon trading schemes and clean energy policies.

For example, rich nations including the United States, Japan and Australia, are looking to introduce emissions caps and a regulated market for trading those emissions.

More broadly, the United Nations is trying to seal a tougher climate accord to curb emissions from burning fossil fuels and deforestation blamed for heating up the planet.

Other opponents are drawn into the debate by deep concerns that governments will trample on freedoms or expand their powers as they try to tackle greenhouse gas emissions and minimize the impacts of higher temperatures.

“There are two kinds of opponents — one is the fossil fuel lobby. So you have a trillion-dollar industry that’s protecting market share,” said Stephen Schneider of Stanford University in California, referring to the oil industry’s long history of funding climate skeptic groups and think tanks.

“And then you have the ideologues who have a deep hatred of government involvement,” said Schneider, a veteran climate scientist and author of the book “Science as a contact sport”.

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“THIS TIME IT’S DIFFERENT”

Scientists and conservationists say some anti-climate change lobbyists are funded by energy giants such as ExxonMobil, which has a long history of donating money to interest groups that challenge climate science.

According to a Greenpeace report released last month, ExxonMobil gave nearly $9 million to entities linked to the climate denialist camp between 2005 and 2008.

The report, using mandatory SEC reporting on charitable contributions, also shows that foundations linked to Kansas-based Koch Industries, a privately owned petrochemical and chemicals giant, gave nearly $25 million.

Koch said the Greenpeace report mischaracterized the company’s efforts. “We’ve strived to encourage an intellectually honest debate on the scientific basis for claims of harm from greenhouse gases,” the company said in a note on its website.

ExxonMobil makes no secret of funding a range of groups, but says it has also discontinued contributions to several public policy research groups.

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“We’ve never experienced this sort of thing before,” he said of the intense challenges to climate science and the level of email and Internet traffic.

All the climate change scientists with whom Reuters spoke said they were determined to continue their research despite the barrage of nasty emails and threats. Some expressed concern the argument could turn violent.

“My wife has made it very clear, if the threats become personalized, I cease to interact with the media. We have kids,” said one scientist who did not want to be identified.

(Additional reporting by Alister Doyle in Oslo; Editing by Megan Goldin)

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Please see the entire article. It is amazing in its even handedness but here is the kicker for me. 2 hours later at 9:58 this comment pops up:

where is the proof? how can you prove that carbon dioxide making up 2% of the warming gasses is responsible for 100% of the temperature change? You can’t. there is no way you can show that evil industrialism is hurting the precious gaia. but you can move to a north korean work camp and unplug from modern industrialist society. Get a new guilt free life in a NPRK work camp! get close to nature under a steel ball tipped leather whip!

boomba Report As Abusive

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So A Volcano And An Oil Rig Blew Up – So what it was Earth Week

It is true, a Volcano blew up and I did not say a word:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/04/14/iceland.volcano.evacuation/index.html

800 evacuated as Iceland volcano erupts

By the CNN Wire Staff
April 14, 2010 12:38 p.m. EDT

(CNN) — Icelandic authorities evacuated about 800 people early Wednesday when a volcano erupted beneath the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, an emergency spokesman said.

The first evacuations began at 2 a.m. (10 p.m. ET Tuesday), according to Rognvaldur Olafsson, chief inspector at Iceland’s Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management. He said everyone in the area was safe.

“We have located the fissure that is erupting under the glacier,” Olafsson told CNN. He said scientists are currently doing aerial reconnaissance of the area and that officials would know more when they return.

So far, he said, the eruption has created a large hole in the glacier. Lava is not a big concern but flooding is, he said.

iReport: Are you there? Send your images, videos

Map: Eyjafjallajokull glacier

RELATED TOPICS
  • Iceland

“The volcano is under the glacier, and it’s melting parts of the glacier,” Olafsson said. “The rivers will rise and potentially make some damage.”

iReporter captures footage of eruption

Rivers closest to the glacier have already started rising, he added.

The glacier is the sixth-biggest in Iceland, just to the west of the bigger glacier, Myrdalsjokull. It is about 100 miles (160 km) east of the capital, Reykjavik.

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So will it effect the environment. Yes. Anything that disrupts air travel is a good thing because air travel is one of the largest causes of global warming. Will it cool the planet any. Probably not but if Kitra goes off it could be a major event and the last three times “Eyja” went off Kitra did too. So keep on watching folks. Air travel here was disrupted too so it was nice to sit on my swing out back and look at the stars with no blinking jet lights.

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And yes, an Oil Rig blew up and sank. What, that doesn’t happen everyday? I guess the gulf needs 42,000 gallons of oil spilled in it every day for God knows how long.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/26/national/main6433600.shtml

NEW ORLEANS, April 26, 2010

Oil Spill Continues; Will Robot Fix Leak?

Officials Wait to See if Unmanned Submarines Can Activate Cut-Off Valves a Mile Below Gulf of Mexico Surface

(CBS/AP)

Authorities continue to monitor the size and direction of a Gulf of Mexico oil sheen by air, while using robotic underwater equipment to try to shut off its source at a wrecked deepwater drilling platform.

The Coast Guard and the companies that owned an operated the rig plan a Monday afternoon news conference in Robert, La., the site of a command center established over the weekend to deal with the crisis.

The oil has been leaking at a rate estimated at 42,000 gallons a day. Workers are trying to make sure the oil doesn’t reach the Gulf Coast’s fragile ecosystem.

An explosion on the floating deep water rig last Tuesday night led to a huge fire and the eventual sinking of the rig. The search for 11 missing workers was called off on Friday.

Crews began using a robot submarine Sunday to try to the leak nearly a mile below the surface, but said it would take at least another day before they knew whether the job was completed.

The Coast Guard said the oil spill was expected to stay 30 miles off the coast for the next several days.

The robot submarines are trying to activate valves at the well head. If that doesn’t work, crews are also planning to drill a relief well to cut off the flow – which could take several months.

What appeared to a manageable spill a couple of days ago after an oil rig exploded and sank off the Louisiana coast Tuesday, has now turned into a more serious environmental problem. The new leak was discovered Saturday, and as much as 1,000 barrels – or 42,000 gallons – of oil is leaking each day, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said.

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This is what they want in the artic? If they drill off Virginia, is this what they want coming up Chesapeake Bay?

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Earth Day – The day after

Its jam band friday – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37E2SjHc134

Earth Day lasts a long time in Springfield. That is because one of our big events is on the Weekend. Earth Awareness Fest is Saturday so today is kind of a let down. Nonetheless, I soldier on. This is from Gather by way of PeakOil.

http://peakoil.com/?p=53796

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978190692

What is With “Happy” Earth Day?

April 22, 2010 02:14 PM EDT

views: 279 | 2 people recommend this | comments: 5

Today is Earth Day, an observance begun in 1970 by then-Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson in an attempt to spread awareness of environmental issues. It’s grown since that start to being on the calendar in 192 countries. And on its 40th anniversary, it’s beginning to take on the trappings of a greeting card holiday. The mere existence of Earth Day greeting cards available from companies that don’t focus on the environment is only part of that.

Twitter’s trending topics as I type this lists “Happy Earth Day” as the most popular worldwide. I find that strange. No, actually, I find it silly. You put the word happy in front of words and phrases like birthday, holidays, and new year. Days on which you celebrate and have a good time. Party holidays, in short. Earth Day is not a party holiday. You can throw one, sure, but I’m not sure I see the point of doing something which in and of itself is wasteful extravagance on a day meant to remind people that resources are finite. Yes, there are safer forms of paper plates and cups and potato plastic cutlery. That’s beside the point.

I’m not saying that people need to be all solemn and dark and such. It’s a day to pay respect. Respect the planet we live on. The one that keeps us alive. Acting like nothing we do has a long-term impact is the worst you can do on a day like this, or any day for that matter. Behaving as if a reminder that we are part of a system that needs to be treated with more respect than we’ve paid it as a species over the centuries is a reason to be perky and nothing more is nearly as bad. The last thing we need is to act like we only have to nod and wink at the day’s existence to be doing anything about it.

So I bid you a good Earth Day. Try to recycle that can you throw away most days. I know I should. And if you do host a gathering to discuss environmental issues, I beg you, check the labels on the throwaway products you buy for it, if any. The irony levels you keep from overloading may be your own.

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH1eUI25Yqg )

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Have a great weekend

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2b1SWmH-BM&feature=related

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Earth Day’s Coming Up – Energy conservation, we have come a long way

But we have so far to go. I can remember the days when R13 was over the top in terms of insulation. Nobody would ever need that much. Now we are are encouraging R60 in the attic. But we have so far to go. Don’t get me started on other parts of the world. There is no way we can supply decent housing to 7 billion people, but they will all want televisions.

http://www.homeenergy.org/article_full.php?id=699

March/April 2010
House of Pressure

by Anthony Cox and Melissa Byrd

A Model of Energy Efficiency

The New River Center for Energy Research and Training (NRCERT) in Christiansburg, Virginia, is a division of Community Housing Partners (CHP), a nonprofit development corporation that serves the needs of low-wealth and low-income residents in the Southeast. NRCERT was established in 1999 to provide training to emerging professionals in the fields of in weatherization and whole-house performance skills. NRCERT also performs research for leaders in the field. This research has resulted in significant technical advancements for the weatherization and building performance industries.

NRCERT’s training emphasizes a whole-house approach to home performance, using detailed curricula and innovative models to support these training efforts. Its goal is to create homes (both new construction and retrofit) that are good for people, good for the environment, and good for business. Technicians are taught to reduce energy consumption, address the health and safety of occupants, and assess how the building envelope, appliances, and occupants interact with one another.

One of the teaching tools is the House of Pressure, which Anthony designed in 1995 for himself. He designed this tool to help visually demonstrate to his peers the complicated science of air pressure. At the time, Anthony was a weatherization crew member with New River Community Action.

Not Your Typical Dollhouse

The House of Pressure visually demonstrates pressure and air flow dynamics within a residence, using pressure diagnostics. It is a model of a single-family home, made of a clear, high-strength plastic laminate called Lexan that can be written on with a dry-erase marker. The interior of the House can be viewed from all four sides. It gives the instructor the ability to create and control air flow with working scale reproductions of the mechanical air distribution systems that are found in most homes.

The House features an operable forced air duct system, a clothes dryer, a bathroom fan, a fireplace, and a water heater. There are smoke generators in the water heater and the fireplace to demonstrate the dangers of backdrafting; and a smoke generator in an exhaust pipe in the garage to show the danger of CO infiltration from a garage into conditioned space. (The menacing theme of Jaws plays when backdrafting occurs, as a warning that smoke is coming back into the House!)

An automated performance testing (APT) device from the Energy Conservatory measures the air pressure levels in eight different locations in the House. It uses Microsoft Excel to project those pressure levels onto an LCD screen, so that audiences can view the pressure levels and the direction of air flow in every room. It’s like having eight manometers going at the same time, so when you make changes to one part of the House, you can see how they affect every other part, with immediate feedback from the APT.

Testing the Model Is the Same as Testing a Real House

To get accurate results, it’s important to understand how to set up and use diagnostic equipment—and the House of Pressure is no exception. An illustrated laminated sheet with instructions comes along with the model. The instructions show how to set up the measuring equipment to perform various tests on the model, and also how to use the equipment in the field. It even has color-coded hose hookups for using the digital manometer.

The House of Pressure can be used to

  • demonstrate blower door testing, using a digital manometer and a Minneapolis Duct Blaster;
  • demonstrate zonal and pressure pan testing;
  • show how duct leakage diminishes health and safety, comfort, durability, and energy efficiency by creating leaks in the supply ducts and/or the return ducts;
  • demonstrate the effect of thermal bypasses;
  • show pressure and thermal boundaries; and
  • simulate backdrafting conditions.

There are operable doors from the bedroom and bathroom to the central living area that show how air flow takes place in a house with a central return duct system. Pressure relief methods can be shown and discussed. Combustion appliance zone testing can be shown by following a worst-case test procedure using a digital manometer.

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Please read the magazine every month…as Yoda says…do not try…do

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