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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2010 12:40:44 GMT
On this side of the ocean, the subject has totally dropped out of the news as though nothing ever happened.
I guess we're going to have to wait for the mutant alligator horror movies for the subject to come up again.
Or maybe that storm currently brewing in the Gulf.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2010 0:27:25 GMT
It's in the news here. When I was in NY I rarely saw any coverage of it at all. I guess it's just local news now.  NPR continues to do some decent coverage of "it". |
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 18, 2010 23:37:10 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2010 6:27:29 GMT
In my years growing up on the Gulf, we always knew that the waters were not pristine, but we always preferred to believe that they were just a little muddy. Once you got to the barrier islands (Ship Island, Cat Island, etc.) there was beautiful blue water on the outer side, though.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 19, 2010 14:06:07 GMT
A current debate is how thoroughly to clean the oil and tarballs from the beach. They've invented a machine that digs up and sifts through up to 18 inches of sand, removing all the impurities and returning it to the perfect white-sand blanket for sunbathing.
Unfortunately it also removes most of the living creatures who depend on the sandy beach for their living. Tourist towns along the coast have to decide what is the proper compromise between preserving tourism and preserving beach ecosystems. So far the digging machines are being limited to cleaning just the top 8 inches.
Can't remember where I saw this story.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 6, 2010 14:02:59 GMT
Spin this, BP:Dead Coral Found Near Site of Oil Spill Lophelia II 2010, NOAA OER and BOEMRE
Branches of coral, with brittle starfish attached, several miles from the site of the blown-out BP well in the Gulf of Mexico.
By JOHN COLLINS RUDOLF, November 5, 2010 NYTimesA survey of the seafloor near BP’s blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico has turned up dead and dying coral reefs that were probably damaged by the oil spill, scientists said Friday. The coral sites lie seven miles southwest of the well, at a depth of about 4,500 feet, in an area where large plumes of dispersed oil were discovered drifting through the deep ocean last spring in the weeks after the spill. The large areas of darkened coral and other damaged marine organisms were almost certainly dying from exposure to toxic substances, scientists said. The corals were discovered on Tuesday by scientists aboard a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research vessel using a submersible robot equipped with cameras and sampling tools. The documented presence of oil plumes in the area, the proximity to BP’s well and the recent nature of the die-off make it highly likely that the spill was responsible, said Charles Fisher, a marine biologist from Pennsylvania State University who is the chief scientist on the gulf expedition, which was financed by the federal government. “I think that we have a smoking gun,” Dr. Fisher said. “The circumstantial evidence is very strong that it’s linked to the spill.” The discovery of the dead corals offers the strongest evidence so far that oil from the BP well may have harmed marine life in the deep ocean, a concern raised by many biologists soon after the April 20 blowout that caused the spill. At an estimated nearly five million barrels, it was the largest offshore oil spill in the nation’s history. A brownish substance covered many of the dead or dying reefs but was probably dead tissue and sediment, not oil, Dr. Fisher said. Oil seeps naturally from the seafloor throughout the Gulf of Mexico, but that was unlikely to have caused such a severe coral die-off, he added. “We have never seen anything like this at any of the deep coral sites that we’ve been to,” Dr. Fisher said. “And we’ve been to quite a lot of them.” Further study is needed to conclusively link the coral die-off to the spill, scientists said, and the survey team took a number of samples from the site to test for the presence of hydrocarbons and dispersant. Whether these samples will yield direct evidence leading back to the spill is unclear. “No one yet knows if the signature of whatever toxin killed these corals can be found in their skeletons after the tissue sloughs off,” Dr. Fisher said. Jane Lubchenco, the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, called the findings significant. “Given the toxic nature of oil and the unprecedented amount of oil spilled, it would be surprising if we did not find damage,” she said in a statement. “This is precisely why we continue to actively monitor and evaluate the impact of the spill in the gulf.” “We are determined to hold the responsible parties accountable for the damage done to the environment,” she added. The ocean floor near the site of the well is still largely unexplored and is probably home to many other deep-water coral communities that scientists are eager to study. The scientists will return to the same region on an expedition in December for more research, using a Navy vehicle that can accommodate two scientists and a pilot to depths of up to nearly 15,000 feet. Work on deep-water corals is typically conducted using advanced submersibles or remotely operated underwater vehicles. Coral sites in shallower waters farther from the well have not suffered visible damage, scientists say, but they are still studying these reefs for signs of less acute long-term effects. “There’s a lot of work to be done to see if there’s been some sublethal effect on these corals,” said Erik Cordes, a marine biologist from Temple University who has been studying reefs in the gulf in the aftermath of the spill.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2011 13:54:36 GMT
There was not one mention of this,zip,in President Obama's State of the Union address to the nation last evening. Nice. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2011 15:10:48 GMT
"If they've forgotten about it, let's not remind them," his advisors probably told him.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2011 5:32:30 GMT
Today is the first anniversary of this oil spill.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2011 13:36:50 GMT
Yes,it is the eve of.......news coverage here has remained thick with coverage throughout the past year....major health issues,environmental impact etc. However,our President and the mainstream media seems to have forgotten about us. I'm afraid,and for good reason,that it will surely impact on votes for him when he runs for reelection. Not that Louisiana ,Alabama,and Mississippi were 'Blue States" anyway..... It is disappointing though, to many who did indeed support him fiercely,myself included. |
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Post by thill25 on Apr 19, 2011 18:00:11 GMT
Yes,it is the eve of.......news coverage here has remained thick with coverage throughout the past year....major health issues,environmental impact etc. However,our President and the mainstream media seems to have forgotten about us. I'm afraid,and for good reason,that it will surely impact on votes for him when he runs for reelection. Not that Louisiana ,Alabama,and Mississippi were 'Blue States" anyway..... It is disappointing though, to many who did indeed support him fiercely,myself included. NBC (Brian Williams) reported from Louisiana last night. There were quite a few stories and statistics from the spill. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2011 18:06:07 GMT
Small consolation.... |
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Post by thill25 on Apr 19, 2011 18:35:52 GMT
Small consolation.... Indeed. Unfortunately, America has a short attention span. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2011 11:11:58 GMT
Yes,it is the eve of.......news coverage here has remained thick with coverage throughout the past year....major health issues,environmental impact etc. However,our President and the mainstream media seems to have forgotten about us. I'm afraid,and for good reason,that it will surely impact on votes for him when he runs for reelection. Not that Louisiana ,Alabama,and Mississippi were 'Blue States" anyway..... It is disappointing though, to many who did indeed support him fiercely,myself included. NBC (Brian Williams) reported from Louisiana last night. There were quite a few stories and statistics from the spill. Of course they're going to cover it on the anniversary.....Same goes for Hurricane Katrina. By next week,if that long,perhaps today,it'll be long gone from the public eye. The New Yorker did do an extensive investigative report on recently, which I was fairly sure they would do eventually, and, which they do so well. I have not read it though. I don't know that I want to. |
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Post by Kimby on Apr 28, 2011 6:45:47 GMT
If some celebrity got coated with the oil, the media and readers would be all over it. But real indepth reporting, not so much.  |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2011 1:11:56 GMT
If some celebrity got coated with the oil, the media and readers would be all over it. But real indepth reporting, not so much. Yes,you're right. Frankly,I wouldn't mind seeing Anderson Cooper with an oil slick coating him.  |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2011 16:09:43 GMT
Word has it from some scuttlebutt at my husband's part time work driving/transporting passengers, that all the major oil companies are readying for a back to drilling in the Gulf. In essence,another oil boom is about to occur in the next 6 months to a year according to one high powered BP engineer that my husband drove from the airport down to one of the drilling posts in Venice,La.
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Post by onlymark on Jun 17, 2011 18:29:59 GMT
I'm going on holiday in a couple of weeks and may not be around for quite some time as I wont be in Jordan until the end of August and even then I wont have internet until I can sort it out. But, in the meantime, I have a couple of weeks to annoy a few random people (nothing personal with anyone).
So here goes -
When will you people get it into your skulls that if you want your big engined cars, your air con and all those other things you will have to put up with oil spills and environmental damage - plus drilling in areas of natural beauty.
As sure as eggs are eggs, if there is a demand for oil, you will get what you wish for - oil. But you'll also get, no matter how much regulation and care, the downside, as this thread shows. It is human nature.
All this "Oh isn't it awful" type of attitude gets you nowhere while you nip to the supermarket for a pint of milk in your car, you leave the fridge/freezer on a very cool setting, you turn up your heating or turn down your aircon.
You don't really care, that's the problem. As long as you're not affected by the spill or the pollution you carry on as normal.
You can get on your high horse all you want and complain about global warming climate change, environmental issues etc, But what are you doing about it? Probably bugger all. You are doing what you've always done and maybe paying lip service to thinking is your journey really necessary and so on.
You want oil. You need it. You are addicted to it.
It's a tragedy what has happened - scrub that, it's not a tragedy, it's an inconvenience. A tragedy is something far far worse. Many people have been affected by this - but I virtually guarantee they are going back as soon as possible to using all the oil they can as fast as they can in normal day to day life. Only a handful will change.
The point is - and I'm currently ignoring for convenience the issue of major polluting countries like China - we are (generally) all guilty of saying how bad these things are, how something should be done, how heads should roll, how it should never happen again - but then as long as we can use as much oil as we want for our own personal use by not walking to the shops, not flying, not turning up the heating/aircon - nothing will ever change.
You've got what you wished for and in these incidents you pay the price.
P.S. I accept totally that I do not restrict my usage of cars, planes, heating etc because I am selfish and as long as these spills and stuff don't affect me, I'm not too bothered. Why should I live a life without the benefit of oil when all the other selfish bastards are not stinting on their usage?
What gets my goat is how dare Americans wring their hands and complain when they've brought it on themselves.
Carry on, I'm just going to rev my car up.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2011 18:37:26 GMT
Never having owned a motor vehicle and being heated exclusively by nuclear electricity, I can safely say that the only oil I am addicted to is olive oil.  |
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Post by onlymark on Jun 17, 2011 18:40:29 GMT
You're only nuclear because France is. I tend to think that, what is it? 70% or so of power generation in France is nuclear, they've definitely overreacted.
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Post by Kimby on Jul 12, 2011 21:08:04 GMT
Another oil spill, closer to home - an Exxon pipeline ruptured beneath the Yellowstone River, which ironically, as the "last freeflowing river" in the US, has no dams to stop the oil from washing all the way downstream to wherever it ends up. Flood waters scoured away the riverbed above the pipeline, allowing debris carried by the river to damage the pipe, letting 1000 barrels loose (about 47K gallons). Doesn't seem like a whole lot, but it's a lot more than SHOULD be in that river! As the water is at record-level highs, the oil is being carried into places way above normal waterline, where it will be deposited and left high and dry. Exxon promises to clean up the mess. Right! online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304793504576434182864847882.html?mod=googlenews_wsj |
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 23, 2012 15:49:29 GMT
Just came across this. The spill happened on April 20, 2012.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2012 19:26:16 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2012 23:06:16 GMT
It's better than nothing yes....but...BP (And I'm not defending them by any means!) They have been as negligent as Chevron, Shell et al.... They got caught, in a big way.!!!!
It's easy to point fingers especially from afar.
I agree that BP f'd up. ALL the big oil companies have, NONE of this should have been allowed to happen.
In a perfect world.... and the EPA,is one of the biggest villains in all of this.
In the meantime, many, many people are dependent on the oil industry in all respects... as it exists today.
It's real easy to spout solutions and what should be and what shouldn't be....
from the deserts of the middle US all the way to the upper US waterways the oil industry is and has been totally unregulated at the expense of the environment and subsequently the generations of people who live in and around it.
EPA has supposed 'trusted' control all this....who I ask is in control of the EPA?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2013 14:17:45 GMT
Today, the civil action suit against BP begins here in New Orleans federal court.
One US judge will determine whether or not BP was guilty for "gross negligence".
This will take months.
I find it difficult to wrap my head around that a decision of this magnitude lies with one judge.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 25, 2013 16:57:15 GMT
Wow! As soon as I read your post I tried looking up background to explain how that came about. item (feb 27):Judge Carl Barbier issued an order on Sunday afternoon putting off the start date of the non-jury trial until March 5, citing reasons of "judicial efficiency," a spokesman for the court told Bellona Monday. Judge Barbier, who has on his judicial docket the combination of some 530 cases, is said by legal observers in New Orleans to be anxious for a settlement, according to interviews conducted by Bellona. from that same article:The London-based oil giant BP will try over the next seven days to negotiate a blanket settlement of $14 billion, reported Bloomberg, with the plaintiffs, who range from fishermen to restaurateurs, and condominium owners to the US federal government. [urhttp://www.bellona.org/articles/articles_2012/bp_trial_postpone]Source[/url] Good overview here.And for those interested in following some of the legal ins & outs: www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2013/02/federal_judge_rules_some_parts.html |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2013 17:13:56 GMT
Thanks for that info Bixa.
What boggles the mind is the ramifications of the extent of damage will not be evident for years to come. Environmentally alone, more and more evidence becomes evident. A simple rain storm will produce evidence in the swamps and shoreline and the detriment of this one spill alone.
How could one person be allowed to determine this?
Someone told me it was up to the 'defendant' as to whether or not they prefer a jury trial versus the opinion/ determination of one judge.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 25, 2013 18:38:44 GMT
If you're not already oozing cynicism from every pore, read this about settlements & tax writeoffs. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2013 17:19:58 GMT
I only read one tiny portion of that before I became so infuriated I could not read anymore of it.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 15, 2013 6:57:39 GMT
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NPR continues to do some decent coverage of "it".
