When it blows

[Bull]

With the burning of the oil in the gulf, I have a few concerns.
I know and knew some people who were greatly affected by the Exxon Valdez oil spill. It seems like so long ago. 1989. The Supreme court finally ruled and people devastated by the negligence of this coroperation finally recieved their "compensation" 23 years later. The "compensation" after the courts got done was about ten cents on the dollar.

So here we are twenty four years later and I see it happening it again. It saddens me. I see the government hasn't done some of the things that were learned. They are supposed to have an environmental assessment team on site immediately. Yet it seem all they are worried about is what happens if the oil reaches shore and not the damage to the wildlife in the ocean. If you like shrimp I would be eating it sooner than later.

While I realize burning is the best way to handle the oil slick and it is better to keep it off shore, it's just the idea that this is nothing more than the cost of doing business. Just as with the Massey mine calamity.

I was wondering after the supreme court ruling, where corporations have the rights of an individual shouldn't they now have the same responsibility. If you spill oil in the water from a fishing boat you can lose your boat. I just think it is time that the people incharge of these corporations be held responsible. If the corporation is neglectful then the officers and board members should be charged.

I am more or less just venting here but would like to here what everyone thinks.

[darroll]

I know this oil spill is horrible to say the least.
The whole world is drilling for oil and we are putting up windmills.
What kind of a future does this offer us?

[WS]

A cleaner future for us!

[P.A.]

Right WS, if we put up enough windmills our need for oil will greatly deminish.

[Bull]

Cover Up...in the truest sense of the word...You Decide

[Bull]

It just keeps on coming.
http://bpoilnews.com/oil-spill-pictures/oil-spill-pictures-coast-gu...
U.S. Coast Guard announces ban on civilians near oil spill. Would someone please tell me when the First Amendment was repealed?

U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen yesterday announced a ban on members of the public, including members of the media, coming within 65 feet of boats and oil boom. The ban was allegedly put in place at the behest of local governmental officials. Allen said the ban was necessary for security and safety reasons–that officials were afraid someone would get hurt. It seems more likely that Allen and his “partner” BP were worried about someone getting criticized because of heart-wrenching oil spill pictures than they are that someone will get hurt. So far, the only injuries that I can recall hearing about on the Gulf Coast are injuries to workers breathing BP’s toxic oil and dispersant fumes without respirators (which are banned by BP).

CNN’s Anderson Cooper announced the ban last night. Cooper showed a clip of Thad Allen announcing several weeks ago that his policy was unrestricted access for the public unless restrictions were necessary for security or safety. Then Cooper showed a clip of Allen yesterday tap-dancing around, trying to justify the restrictions on the basis of safety. As Anderson Cooper pointed out, the animal pictures we have seen, particularly those of oiled birds at the wildlife rescue center, would never have reached the public if the Coast Guard’s ban had been in effect and in force.

Said Anderson Cooper: “We are not the enemy here…. To create a blanket rule that everyone has to stay 65 feet away from boom and boat, that doesn’t sound like transparency. Frankly it’s a lot like in Katrina when they tried to make it impossible to see recovery efforts of people who died in their homes. If we can’t show what is happening, warts and all, no one will see what’s happening, and that makes it very easy to hide failure and hide incompetence…. We found out today two public broadcasting journalists reporting on health issues say they’ve been blocked again and again from visiting a federal mobile medical unit in Venice, the trailer where cleanup workers are being treated.”

How serious is the government about the media blackout? You could be fined up to $40,000 and convicted of a felony if found guilty!
[...]

[Bull]

I've found the live feed from BP putting the new cap on very interesting. Too bad they are letting ALL the oil escape for perhaps the next week.
http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_engli...

[Bull]

Well worth your time
http://instantoilspill.com/?url=http://davebirss.com

[Aggie]

I hear Toyota sent BP a thank you letter.

[Bull]

Look Who BP wants to pay

This just goes beyond logic.

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/111509-nelson-wants-fi...


Nelson wants Finance Committee probe of $10 billion BP tax write-off
By Ben Geman - 07/28/10 06:51 PM ET

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) is asking Finance Committee leaders to investigate BP’s intent to claim a $10 billion tax deduction for costs related to the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

“I was appalled upon learning that BP intends to shift nearly $10 billion of the costs related to the Gulf oil spill to the backs of American taxpayers, including the very taxpayers whose lives have been devastated by the spill. Simply put, that would be unacceptable,” Nelson said in a letter Wednesday to Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the panel’s top Republican.

[...]

[Bull]

Where did the oil go?

Seems BP has been putting out the idea that the oil has gone away, been eaten by mycrobes. If they can eat that much you won't catch me in that water. Howevcer I believe it is just spin, kind of like a drain,to bad the well didn't suck nstead of blow.
I do believe people Like Dr. Riki Otto are more believable than BP.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/riki-ott/emoilgateem-bp-and-all-th_b_...



Bay Jimmy on the northeast side of Barataria Bay was full of oil. So was Bay Baptiste, Lake Grande Ecaille, and Billet Bay. Sitting next to me was Mike Roberts, a shrimper with Louisiana Bayoukeepers, who has grown up in this area. His voice crackled over the headset as I strained to hold the window. "I've fished in all these waters - everywhere you can see. It's all oiled. This is the worst I've seen. This is a heart-break
/i>
[...]

was July 31, Day 103 of BP's disaster and more than two weeks after BP had sealed its broken wellhead that had hemorrhaged oil into the Gulf for nearly three months. BP's latest pretend is that tropical storm Bonnie washed the oil away - or at least off the surface - so the company is busily laying off response crews and claiming damages were over-exaggerated.

Since Day 1, BP has consistently downplayed the size of its gusher and the damage it was causing to wildlife and people. This is what happens when governments leave the spiller in charge of the spill or, in this case, the criminal in charge of the crime scene. Evidence disappears as the criminal seeks to minimize its liability for damages. What should be a war on the spill becomes a war against the truth, the environment, and the injured people.

[...]
Why all this pretend in the Gulf by BP and all the president's men except the EPA whistleblower that oil and dispersants are not toxic? By comparison, last week in Calhoun County, Michigan, an Enbridge pipeline ruptured, spilling at least 19,500 barrels of oil. At least thirty families were temporarily relocated because of the stench and roads and beaches were closed. Health officials have warned people to stay away from the fumes and beaches, and to avoid swimming and fishing near oiled areas. "It's a very toxic and dangerous environment," Calhoun County health officer Jim Rutherford said.

If spilled oil is "toxic and dangerous" in Michigan, it's also toxic and dangerous in the Gulf. But in the Gulf, public officials have downplayed the health risk despite hard evidence of an epidemic of chemical illnesses related to, I believe, the oil-chemical stew.

The fact that the official story in the Gulf does not match what people are experiencing is more alarming to me than the oil disaster. How can our president hold BP accountable if he accepts - or worse is complicit in - the crime?

Correcting the false official story is the first step toward holding the criminal accountable to the law and lore of the land. If the government fails to hold the criminal accountable, as it did during the Exxon Valdez, then the people and environment will bear the costs of this avoidable tragedy