Below the surface of oil hemorrhage by Roxanne Amico

by Roxanne Amico
Dandelion Salad
Spiritmorph Studio
May 15, 2010

This post is an update of the post about the Gulf of Mexico 25-days-old oil hemorrhage post I did nearly two weeks ago.  This time, I worked to organize it into a comprehensive and coherent collection for easier access of specific information.  I tried to be chronological, but that didn’t work and I decided that didn’t matter, since this is so urgent.  This is not a hobby…  And although it is an obsession, (there are 89 articles / sites linked here) the basis for it is this:  To be an active participant in the revolutionary work necessary to stopping the destruction of the world I love, I have to know what is being done, and what the direction of events with a given incident is.  Without that information any planning and strategizing for that new culture is useless…  This oil volcano that BP caused has impacts we must try to comprehend in executing our intentional work for a better world.

This collection includes:

A. The following are several sites at which you can find updates of the conditions at the Gulf of Mexico, and / or learn more about what happened, and the chronology of events. It includes images of the number of oil wells in the Gulf. It’s a devastating number, so be prepared for the vertigo when you see it…

1. new blog with photos regularly updated:
http://bpoilslick.blogspot.com/2010/05/southwings-flight-over-bp-slick.html

2. http://oilspill.labucketbrigade.org/

3. The Center for Biological Diversity:

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/public_lands/energy/dirty_energy_development/oil_and_gas/gulf_oil_spill/index.html

4. Deepwater Horizon Response:

http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/2931/543103/

5. keep up with LEAN…
http://www.leanweb.org/

6. and the gulf Restoration Network
http://healthygulf.org

7. http://www.al.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/

8. http://www.protecttheocean.com/tag/gulf-oil-spill/

9. http://climateprogress.org/

10. The Oil Spill Academic Task Force (OSATF) will bring together resources of Florida’s academic institutions to assist the state of Florida and the Gulf region in preparing for and responding to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

http://oilspill.fsu.edu/

11. NASA Images (STUPIDLY categorized as a “natural hazard”)
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/event.php?id=43733

12. Rueter’s Chronology:

FACTBOX-Chronology of Gulf of Mexico oil spill Sun May 9, 2010 4:30pm EDT
May 9 (Reuters) – A drilling rig explosion on April 20 left 11 workers missing and presumed dead, and the rig’s subsequent collapse unleashed a major oil spill that threatens the ecosystems and economy of the U. S. Gulf of Mexico.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0913419220100509

13. Oil riggers on ship that exploded in Gulf of Mexico describe fateful night
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/06/AR2010050606409.html

14. Workers on Oil Rig Recall a Terrible Night of Blasts…By IAN URBINA and JUSTIN GILLIS…Published: May 7, 2010 All over the ship, men snapped into action. Sleeping workers leapt from their beds. Then came a second explosion, even louder than the first. They later struggled to describe it — a tornado of fire, a nuclear bomb, a jet engine exploding. But a half-dozen rig workers interviewed this week all agreed on one thing, recalling that moment: “We all were sure we were going to die,” said Dennis Dewayne Martinez, 30, a supervisor on the rig….The Deepwater Horizon was one of the most sophisticated drilling rigs on the planet. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/08/us/08rig.html?hp

15. BP executives were aboard rig celebrating safety record when methane triggered blast…By The Associated Press…Saturday, May 8th, 2010 — 10:13 am A group of BP executives were on board the Deepwater Horizon rig celebrating the project’s safety record, according to the transcripts. Meanwhile, far below, the rig was being converted from an exploration well to a production well….Based on the interviews, Bea believes that the workers set and then tested a cement seal at the bottom of the well. Then they reduced the pressure in the drill column and attempted to set a second seal below the sea floor. A chemical reaction caused by the setting cement created heat and a gas bubble which destroyed the seal…Deep beneath the seafloor, methane is in a slushy, crystalline form. Deep sea oil drillers often encounter pockets of methane crystals as they dig into the earth…As the bubble rose up the drill column from the high-pressure environs of the deep to the less pressurized shallows, it intensified and grew, breaking through various safety barriers, Bea said…”A small bubble becomes a really big bubble,” Bea said. “So the expanding bubble becomes like a cannon shooting the gas into your face.” http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0508/bp-executives-aboard-rig-celebrating-safety-record-methane-bubble-triggered-blast/

16. How many oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico?….

http://www.cccarto.com/leases/neworleans/index.html

17. And if you really wanna dig your own well into this grotesque mess, check this out…. A social networking site for oil and gas professionals who want to talk about what happened in the gulf!

http://www.drillingahead.com/forum/topics/transocean-deepwater-horizon-1

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B. Two cartoons two commentaries and an organization calling for seizing BP–about the Gulf Gusher…

1. Code Green Comic: http://www.minimumsecurity.net/stephaniemcmillan/codegreen/comics/2010-05-10-unregulate-me-baby.jpg

2. Cartoon: http://davies.lohudblogs.com/2010/05/02/under-control/

3. Sieze BP:
http://www.pephost.org/site/PageServer?pagename=SeizeBP

4. Harvey Wasserman…As we die for BP, our military rots in the wrong Gulf…May 12, 2010…”…Why aren’t they in the Gulf of Mexico, fighting for our truest “national security”?…Our mass media should be filled with stirring images of a focussed, determined President mobilizing all available assets to curb the damage. Instead, Barack Obama defends offshore drilling and endorses the resumption of whaling—if this underwater gusher actually leaves any alive. It is a suicidal tribute to the power of corporate ownership…Instead of a seeing a Gulf population deputized and mobilized to fight for survival, we are subjected to a loathsome trio of corporate stooges—apparently named Larry, Curly and Moe—blaming each other for the catastrophe. They should all be clamped into orange jumpsuits and locked onto a clean-up vessel…” http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/7/2010/1829

5. The Oil Spill’s Real Eco-Terroristas…Published by Sparki, May 6th, 2010…It’s outrageous that BP and the right wing noise machine are lessening, deflecting and diverting attention from the real problems associated with offshore drilling. Not only can these dogs can hunt, they are quickly becoming mainstream thought. Our society and culture are composed of stories where meaning matters more than truth. Our world is in a grave ecological and economic crisis, yet the power holders continue to prove to be the more persuasive story-tellers.

http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2010/05/06/the-oil-spills-real-eco-terroristas/#more-19125

6. This young teenaged woman saw the disaster with her father in his small airplane, and writes about it here: “The oil is creeping towards my home in Alabama as I write this, and it is breaking my heart.”…Published by ash_anderson, May 12th, 2010…I feel nauseated to the core of my being….oh my God…red streaks of oil are everywhere…thick black near the well…it is crude oil and it stretches as far as I can see…I am sick…I can’t feel my own body or distinguish any of my feelings right now… this is the worst and most saddening situation I have ever seen in my life…The boats are randomly skewn about, and they are so disorganized! The cleanup efforts look completely haphazard and ineffective. It is utter chaos down there! Boats randomly placed, pulling booms that are simply swirling the oil around in circles! I really don’t feel alive right now…this is a horrible dream…why the heck didn’t BP have to have a plan in place for a disaster like this?!”…This disaster could have been prevented, yet it wasn’t due to BP’s own negligence and a weak national energy policy. What’s outrageous is that BP is doing everything they can to avoid assuming responsibility for this spill. How dare they try and sidestep responsibility for the worst disaster in the Gulf’s history?!?!?! http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2010/05/12/the-oil-is-creeping-towards-my-home-in-alabama-as-i-write-this-and-it-is-breaking-my-heart/

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C. This is a collection of the ecological impacts, on wildlife, water, land, and air… The other articles also cover this, and there is no true separation between what happens to wildlife and what happens to humans, since we cannot live without the earth, but, these sources deal specifically with ecological/wildlife impacts…

1. NOAA research vessel diverted from deepwater coral study to seabed sampling near oil gusher: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010/20100506_spillsampling.html

2. These photos give a glimpse into the long term consequences of what’s quickly becoming the biggest ecological disaster this country has ever seen…If you’re like so many of us and feeling “Never Again” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/10/7-long-term-effects-of-th_n_562947.html

3. National Wildlife Federation: The catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico caused by the April 20, 2010 explosion of an offshore oil rig has put local economies, wildlife and the Gulf’s delicate coastal ecosystem at risk. This could be one of the worst environmental disasters in our nation’s history. Our immediate task is clear: all resources of British Petroleum, federal and state government and even the U. S. military must be deployed to cap the well, contain the spill and minimize the damage to one of our nation’s crown jewels: the Mississippi Delta.

http://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Wildlife-Conservation/Threats-to-Wildlife/Oil-Spill.aspx

4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S7ND-vQYIc Defenders of Wildlife Reports from the Gulf Oil Spill…Defenders of Wildlife Executive Vice President (and former head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) reports from Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge — an important nesting area for threatened and endangered sea turtles

Florida’s rivers, lakes and streams are an integral part of the Florida aquifer, which supplies fresh drinking water to more than 18 million people…“The Floridian aquifer.. is one of the most productive aquifers in the world. Each day Floridians use about 2.5 billion gallons of water from the Floridian aquifer.”…Nearly 100% of Florida’s drinking water supply comes from its aquifer. http://www.examiner.com/x-17299-Hernando-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner~y2010m5d6-Is-the-Florida-drinking-water-supply-threatened-by-Gulf-oil-spill-invasion

5. About this talk: In this bracing talk, coral reef ecologist Jeremy Jackson lays out the shocking state of the ocean today: overfished, overheated, polluted, with indicators that things will get much worse. Astonishing photos and stats make the case.
About Jeremy Jackson: A leader in the study of the ecology and evolution of marine organisms, Jeremy Jackson is known for his deep understanding of geological time. Full bio and more links http://www.ted.com/talks/jeremy_jackson.html?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2010-05-05

WATER…

6. Brian Handwerk…for National Geographic News…Published May 6, 2010…This story is part of a special series that explores the global water crisis. For more clean water news, photos, and information, visit National Geographic’s Freshwater website….In the world’s driest places, “fossil water” is becoming as valuable as fossil fuel, experts say….This ancient freshwater was created eons ago and trapped underground in huge reservoirs, or aquifers. And like oil, no one knows how much there is—but experts do know that when it’s gone, it’s gone. (See a map of the world’s freshwater in National Geographic magazine.)…”You can apply the economics of mining because you are depleting a finite resource,” said Mike Edmunds, a hydrogeologist at Oxford University in the Great Britain….In the meantime, though, paleowater is the only option in many water-strapped nations. For instance, Libya is habitable because of aquifers—some of them 75,000 years old—discovered under the Sahara’s sands during 1950s oil explorations. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/05/100505-fossil-water-radioactive-science-environment/

7. Spill is near endangered species, fisheries…By MATTHEW TRESAUGUE…HOUSTON CHRONICLE…April 29, 2010, 4:27PM …The area is also the only known spawning ground for the western Atlantic bluefin tuna, a protected species… http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/deepwaterhorizon/6978806.html

8. April 29, 2010 10:19 AM…10 Animals Most At Risk from Gulf Oil Spill…This is peak spawning and nesting season for many species of fish, birds, turtles and marine mammals. Many species remain in set breeding areas during this time and there’s less instinct to move away from danger…Disturbances to nests, fish spawning grounds or key links in the food chain might have lasting effects on species already at risk, commercial fish stocks and the people who make a living harvesting them. Minor oil spills are relatively common on the Gulf Coast, but this one has biologists, wildlife agencies, conservation groups and fishermen particularly concerned… http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20003738-503543.html

9. Challenge of cleaning up Gulf of Mexico oil spill ‘unprecedented’ at such depths…By David A. Fahrenthold and Juliet Eilperin…Washington Post Staff Writer…Saturday, May 15, 2010… “…The 1989 Valdez accident looks simple by comparison. No one questioned the cause — an Exxon tanker that ran aground — and the oil was released in one enormous but finite swoop into Alaska’s pristine and remote Prince William Sound…Because of the leak’s extreme depth, and the effects of dispersants, the spill is breaking the maxim that oil floats. Instead, scientists fear it is settling on sensitive corals or poisoning ecosystems that produce shrimp, snapper and sport fish, all too deep for scientists to watch or help…The spill’s impacts on underwater creatures might not be fully understood for years, said Ronald J. Kendall, a professor at Texas Tech University. “It’s a massive eco-toxicological experiment underway.” …So every day, the threat hanging over Louisiana’s coast gets bigger. But every day, the punch doesn’t come…They fear it could be settling on underwater formations far out on the gulf floor, places with such fanciful names as the Alabama Alps and the Flower Gardens. These include coral formations that can look like standing forests of trees and support populations of fish such as red snapper…Or, they worry, the underwater oil might be absorbed or eaten by the small animals and plants at the base of the gulf food chain…” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2010/05/14/ST2010051404135.html?hpid=topnews

I first posted these articles because I resent that BP is expecting people to volunteer to clean up the mess they are responsible for and for which they are never held accountable, while they ruin the planet and our lives… I do not know how accurate it is, and I do believe that animals can be made to suffer too much for these disasters, in which case they should be taken out of their misery. But here are three articles that talk about this…

10. Date : May 11, 2010…Is washing oiled birds really helping them?…Sylvia Gaus, biologist at the Wattenmeer National Park in Germany speaks from personal experience, and cites numerous scientific studies in her recent interview with Der Spiegel: “[T]he middle-term survival rate of oil-soaked birds is under 1 %,” Gaus says. “We, therefore, oppose cleaning birds…Oil affects birds in multiple insidious ways: the physical effects of the oil on feathers leads 2 fatal losses of waterproofing & subsequent hypothermia. Those that R able 2 preen the oil off & restore their feathers’ water shedding properties often succumb 2 the toxic effects of oil on the liver & bkidneys. Birds weakened by oil R immunosuppressed & many do not survive the massive stress induced by captivity, the washing process, & often lengthy rehabilitation…[S]o is it worth all the time, money & effort involved 2 return those birds 2 the sea? And is it humane 2 subject so many birds 2 the stress of cleaning when so few apparently survive?…When the chance of long term survival is dim, we must evaluate our motives in such labor-intensive, expensive and, for the birds, massively stressful, endeavor.”
http://seanetters.wordpress.com/2010/05/11/is-washing-oiled-birds-really-helping-them/

11. 05/06/2010…Gulf of Mexico Spill…Expert Recommends Killing Oil-Soaked Birds…Once covered in oil, a bird will use its bill and tongue to remove the toxic substance from their feathers. Despite oil’s terrible taste and smell, a bird will still try and clean itself because it can’t live without fluffy feathers that repel water and regulate its body temperature. “Their instinct to clean is greater than their instinct to hunt, and as long as their feathers are dirty with oil, they won’t eat,” Gaus says… http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,693359,00.html

12. Dead ducks were not malnourished…By Alexandra Zabjek, edmontonjournal.com March 31, 2010…When the feathers of a migratory bird become covered in bitumen, the feathers mat, allowing water to touch the bird’s skin, which chills the body, Leighton told court…The bitumen can also reduce a bird’s buoyancy and prevent it from being able to fly, he said….This is the fifth week of Syncrude’s trial…Syncrude is facing charges under federal and provincial environmental laws for the deaths of more than 1,600 ducks… http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/Bitumen+duck+feathers+cause+hypothermia+Syncrude+trial+hears/2744813/story.html

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D. There has been a lot of talk about two things… ONE: How bad this oil hemorrhage could get… And TWO: How bad it actually is, as in how big/how much oil… Below is everything you might be afraid to ask, but must, I think, find out… It includes two articles about what’s being done by the clowns at BP to stop the flow…

1. Oil spill could go on for years, experts say…By John Byrne…Friday, May 14th, 2010 — 9:12 am”We don’t have any idea how to stop this,” Simmons said. The former banker mocked a proposal to try and plug the leak with trash, saying it was a “joke.”…Simmons noted that the pressure at 5,000 feet undersea — where the well site is located — is so high, that containment efforts are likely often to fail. At 5,000 feet underwater, blocking elements have to be able to hold even with pressures off 40,000 pounds per square inch…Incoming American Association of Petroleum Geologists chief David Resink says the oil reservoir that is feeding the spill is colossal….”You’re talking about a reservoir that could have tens of millions of barrels in it,” Resink said. At the current spill rate, it “would take years to deplete,” he added. http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0514/76111/

2. Oil well worst case – a leak of 2.1 million gallons a day by deepsouthdog – Oil well worst case – a leak of 2.1 million gallons a day Sat May 01, 2010 at 06:29:51 PM PDT http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/5/1/862694/-Oil-well-worst-casea-leak-of-2.1-million-gallons-a-day

3. Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster:Total wellhead failure raises fear of worst case scenario…May 3, 11:11 AMPolitical Spin ExaminerMaryann Tobin…New fears over the total failure of the wellhead are making the worst case scenario even more frightening. The result would be the unprecedented, catastrophic destruction of the ecosystem, on a scale that the world has never seen before…US Coast Guard Admiral, Commander Thad Allen said, “The volume of spewing oil could climb to 100,000 barrels a day in the event of a total wellhead failure, a much greater breach than is believed to exist now. http://www.examiner.com/x-33986-Political-Spin-Examiner~y2010m5d3-Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill-disasterTotal-wellhead-failure-raises-fear-of-worst-case-scenario

4. Massive disaster looms in Gulf of Mexico spill…May 10, 2010… by Guillaume Decamme….Still, if efforts fail to make the giant funnel system effective, there is no solid plan B to prevent potentially tens of millions of gallons of crude from causing one of the worst ever environmental catastrophes….Untold damage is already being done by the 3.5 million gallons estimated to be in the sea so far, but the extent of that harm will rise exponentially if the only solution is a relief well that takes months to drill…”They’re actually going to take a bunch of debris, shredded up tires, golf balls and things like that and under very high pressure shoot it into the preventer itself and see if they can clog it up and stop the leak,” Allen, who is leading the US government’s response, told CBS television….This could be risky as experts have warned that excessive tinkering with the blowout preventer — a huge 450-ton valve system that should have shut off the oil — could see crude shoot out unchecked at 12 times the current rate….There are also fears the slick, which covers an area of about 2,000 square miles (5,200 square kilometers), could be carried around the Florida peninsula if it spreads far enough south to be picked up by a special Gulf current. http://www.physorg.com/news192676208.html

5. Promoted to Headline (H3) on 5/8/10:…BP Insider: Massive Dead Zone Could Be Produced by Gulf BP-Congress Catastrophe…By Rob Kall (about the author) A BP insider, providing information to OpEdNEws.com, reports that scientists and engineers, fearing the worst, have envisioned a worst case scenario,…”It could very well be that the entire Gulf and the East coast of Florida could become dead zones, with no aquatic life at all.”http://www.opednews.com/articles/BP-Insider-Massive-Dead-Z-by-Rob-Kall-100508-893.html

6. Leaked report: Government fears Deepwater Horizon well could become unchecked gusher By Ben Raines April 30, 2010, 2:18PM …”When the oil is removed normally, it comes out at a controlled rate. You can still have abrasive particles in that. Well, now, at this well, its coming out at fairly high velocity,” Gouguet continued. “Any erosive grains are abrading the inside of the pipe and all the steel that comes in contact with the liquid. It’s essentially sanding away the pipe.”…Gouguet said the loss of a wellhead is totally unprecedented….”How bad it could get from that, you will have a tremendous volume of oil that is going to be offgassing on the coast. Depending on how much wind is there, and how those gases build up, that’s a significant health concern,” he said….The formation that was being drilled by Deepwater Horizon when it exploded and sank last week is reported to have tens of millions of barrels of oil. A barrel contains 42 gallons. http://blog.al.com/live/2010/04/deepwater_horizon_secret_memo.html

7. Spill impact ‘significant… regardless:’ top EPA official…AFP…Spill impact ‘significant… regardless:’ top EPA official AFP/File – Mississippi River water (L) meets sea water and an oil slick that has passed inside of the protective ……Sat May 8, 4:12 pm ET…”But in most places, the oil seems to be outside of the boom” laid down in the water to block its advance, he added. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100508/sc_afp/usblastoilenergypollutionenvironment

8. Researchers worry about oil dispersants’ impact, too – Nation AP – MiamiHerald.com

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/06/1617164/researchers-worry-about-oil-dispersants.html#storylink=fbuser

9. When oil is mixed with soil: “Preliminary tests under the direction of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board had found dangerous levels of potentially explosive methane gas and benzene under the 285 homes of the Carousel tract. In some spots, tests found benzene at concentrations seldom seen, levels that… could significantly increase cancer risks for residents.” http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/04/-toxic-soil-lurks-beneath-carson-neighborhood.html
My friend Kambiz Lajevardi wrote: …This is in just one small neighborhood. Imagine what will happen in the Gulf of Mexico.

10. Oil may be wreaking havoc deep beneath the Gulf…AP…By CAIN BURDEAU and HARRY R. WEBER, Associated Press Writers Cain Burdeau And Harry R. Weber, Associated Press Writers – Wed May 5, 7:04 pm ET… http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100505/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_150

11. NATURAL GAS / METHANE: …Friday, April 16, 2010…Natural Gas May Be Worse for the Planet than Coal…A preliminary analysis suggests that natural gas could contribute far more to global warming than previously thought….By Kevin Bullis… http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/energy/25058/

12. 6 techniques used to try to deal with the oil leak…Published On Fri May 14 2010… http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/809699–6-techniques-used-to-try-to-deal-with-the-oil-leak?bn=1

13. Deep-sea ice crystals stymie Gulf oil leak fix…AP… A crane ship floats in support of a relief platform at the Deep Sea Horizon oil spill site in the Gulf of Mexico, Saturday, May 8, 2010. (AP Photo/Dav AP – A crane ship floats in support of a relief platform at the Deep Sea Horizon oil spill site in the Gulf …
By HARRY R. WEBER and SARAH LARIMER, Associated Press Writers Harry R. Weber And Sarah Larimer, Associated Press Writers – Sat May 8, 7:46 pm ET
The original blowout was triggered by a bubble of methane gas that escaped from the well and shot up the drill column, expanding quickly as it burst through several seals and barriers before exploding, according to interviews with rig workers conducted during BP PLC’s internal investigation….Deep beneath the seafloor, methane is in a slushy, crystalline form. Deep sea oil drillers often encounter pockets of methane crystals as they dig into the earth.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100508/

14. Offshore gas platform sinks off Venezuela; no leak..By FABIOLA SANCHEZ, Associated Press Writer Fabiola Sanchez, Associated Press Writer – Thu May 13, 7:21 pm ET http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100513/ap_on_bi_ge/lt_venezuela_gas_platform

15. Oil Spill-Fighting Fishermen Face Serious Health Risks (Video) : TreeHugger http://www.treehugger.com Photo by Brian Merchant Dr. Gina Solomon, a Senior Scientist with the NRDC is worried that fishermen enlisted to clean up oil may be unwittingly facing severe health risks. You see, in the effort to clean up the massive http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/05/oil-spill-fighting-fishermen-at-health-risk.php

16. Alabama: The Spill’s Potential Effects on Gulf Seafood…Written by Bill Finch…Published on May 11th, 2010 http://blog.nature.org/2010/05/alabama-the-spills-potential-effects-on-gulf-seafood/

17. “And then there are the rigs themselves, more than 3,000 of which dot the gulf. They act as reefs, attracting an extensive variety of species. Both recreational and commercial fishermen know to head toward the rigs to assure a good haul.”
http://w…ww.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/us/07food.html?hp

18. Christopher Weller How the Oil Spill will affect and exacerbate Oil Depletion! (note this was written a day or so before the announcement of the cofferdamn failing) http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/oil-production-hit-for-decades-after-bp-spill-1968931.html

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HOW BAD IT IS:

1. BP Oil Spill Underwater Video Shows Oil Gushing Like Steam From Geyser (VIDEO)…First Posted: 05-13-10 01:32 AM Updated: 05-13-10 01:43 AMThe video released Wednesday gives a not-yet-seen glimpse of the leaking well a mile underwater. The stream occasionally can be seen becoming lighter as natural gas mixes into the gusher. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/13/bp-oil-spill-underwater-v_n_574456.html

2. Al Jazeera: Counting the Cost – US oil spill www. youtube. com The oil industry is crucial to those living on the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama – for years it has brought in money and employed people. But what happens when it threatens to cause great

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hILdS6VE9Zk

3. There is an important discussion about this issue at my FB page, because a friend who’s a geologist, meteorologist, biologist who did some math on these numbers in this study, says they don’t add up. So, he’s written to others to find out about taking action on correcting the error… We expect updates to this… But here is the story that’s been flying around rapidly since yesterday… NPR Audio: Gulf Spill Could Be Much Worse Than Believed…by Richard Harris…May 14, 2010…There’s at least 10 times as much oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico than official estimates suggest, according to an exclusive NPR analysis…BP has said repeatedly that there is no reliable way to measure the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico by looking at the oil gushing out of the pipe. But scientists say there are actually many proven techniques for doing just that… “We’re talking more than a factor of 10 difference between what I calculate and the number that’s being thrown around,” he said…At least two other calculations support him… http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126809525

4. Where’s The Oil? Your Government Doesn’t Really Know…First Posted: 05-13-10 06:02 PM | Updated: 05-14-10 08:01 AM…”If you don’t look, you won’t find, and they’re not looking in the right places,” Steiner told the Huffington Post…Most major oil spills occur right at the surface, he explained. This one is entirely different…With a spill this deep, the oil starts off extremely dense and under pressure. Some of it breaks up or dissolves into the water on the way up, and some of it makes it all the way to the surface. But some will “stabilize in the water column” maybe as low as 200 to 300 meters off the seabed, Steiner said. “Then it starts drifting with the current.”…”I’m virtually certain that a lot of this oil hasn’t even surfaced yet,” he said. “What we don’t know is the trajectory and direction of this subsurface toxic plume.”…That’s critically important information, both in order to assess what sorts of habitats the oil may be wiping out, and because “this stuff can pop up in surprising places, weeks if not months from now,” he said. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/13/wheres-the-oil-your-gover_n_575647.html

5. Sun., 10 May, 2010-BP / Gulf Spill–How Big Is It?…Considering that there are deepwater oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico capable of producing 1.26 million gallons (30,000 barrels) of oil per day under controlled flow rates; and that the oil slick continues to grow in size even though it’s been under attack 24/7 by skimmer vessels, burning, chemical dispersants, and natural processes; our estimate seems quite conservative….Why is it important to get this number right? This is about more than just liability, or PR… This site offers an estimate of 26,000 barrels a day (NOT 5,000): http://www.desdemonadespair.net/2010/05/image-of-day-bp-oil-spill-viewed-from_09.html And this site tells why: http://blog.skytruth.org/2010/05/bp-gulf-oil-spill-how-big-is-it.html

6. Contradictory reports about size and movement of oil slick leave FL residents uncertain May 7, 5:32 AMOrlando Independent ExaminerGregory PatinKeep in mind that it takes only one quart of oil to poison 250,000 gallons of seawater for all marine life… The truth is, no one knows how much oil has already leaked into the Gulf, and no one knows how much will before the well is capped or a relief well is drilled to stop the flow. Stopping the flow of oil into the Gulf may take up to three months and the results of efforts to cap the leak yesterday are not yet certain….According to oceanographers, marine biologists and ecologists, time has already run out for much of marine life in the Gulf. Not only will shallow water animals be poisoned by the oil slick, but also hail-sized droplets of oil that coagulate like tarballs will fall to the bottom of the sea. They will be consumed by smaller organisms and passed up the food chain, resulting in death throughout the entire Gulf ecosystem… http://www.examiner.com/x-38220-Orlando-Independent-Examiner~y2010m5d7-Contradictory-reports-about-size-and-movement-of-oil-slick-leave-FL-residents-uncertain

7. Gulf Oil Spill: BP Trying To Hide Millions of Gallons of Toxic Oil?…BP Embraces Exxon’s Toxic Dispersant, Ignores Safer Alternative…May 8th, 2010
Oil is toxic at 11 ppm while Corexit 9500 is toxic at only 2.61 ppm; Corexit 9500 is four times as toxic as the oil itself. Sure, a lot less of it is being introduced, but that’s still a flawed logical perspective, because it’s not a “lesser of two evils” scenario. BOTH are going into the ocean water. http://www.protecttheocean.com/gulf-oil-spill-bp/

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E. This is a collection of articles to how the BP empire commited this crime against the earth and our people, and who were their accessories, including a look at how far back in US and capitalist corporate history it goes…

1. 6 May 2010…BP: The Worst Safety and Environmental Record of All Oil Companies Operating in the United States by Tyson Slocum…BP is a London-based oil company with the worst safety and environmental record of any oil company operating in America…. http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2010/slocum060510.html

2. Iran offers to help contain US oil spill Mon, 03 May 2010 13:29:49 GMT Font size : [Increase] [Normal] [Decrease] A dead fish is seen on the Mississippi beach on May 2, 2010. While the death has not been linked to the vast oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, concerns over wildlife continue. The National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC) has offered to assist the US in efforts to prevent an ecological disaster caused by the spreading oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=125303&sectionid=3510203

3. Training Exercises Revealed Gaps in Preparedness for Major Oil Spill Lack of Experience, Poor Communications and Conflicting Roles Cited
By JOHN SOLOMON, AARON MEHTA, MATTHEW MOSK and AVNI PATEL CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY AND ABC NEWS May 11, 2010 Three weeks before the massive Gulf oil rig explosion, U.S Coast Guard officials led an elaborate exercise in which they practiced their response to a major oil spill – one of four dry runs over the past decade that foreshadowed many of the weaknesses in coordination, communication, expertise and technology that are now hampering the federal response to the oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/bp-oil-spill-training-exercises-revealed-gaps-preparedness/story?id=10616979

MORE on TRAINING EX:

4. Training Exercises Showed Gaps in Government Preparedness Before BP Oil Spill…Inexperience, Poor Communications, Conflicting Roles Cited…By John Solomon and Aaron Mehta | May 11, 2010…The lack of available technology, however, was forewarned in multiagency reports following the training exercises — reports that cautioned the oil industry would not spend the money to develop new containment solutions unless mandated by the government. The recommendation went unheeded, according to officials and experts. http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/2079/

5. May 6th, 2010…History of BP Includes Role in 1953 Iran Coup After Nationalization of Oil Anglo-iranian…As tens of thousands of gallons of oil continue to spew into the Gulf of Mexico from the BP oil spill we continue our series on BP. Sixty years ago, BP was called the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. We look at the story of the company’s role in the 1953 CIA coup against Iran’s popular progressive Prime Minister Mohamed Mossadegh.

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/5/6/history_of_bp_includes_role_in

6. April 28, 2010 — 4/2/2010: Speaking at a battery company in Charlotte, North Carolina, President Barack Obama falsely claims that Hurricane Katrina didn’t cause any offshore spills. In fact, there were 124 offshore spills for a total of 743,700 gallons, including six major spills. Obama’s defense of offshore drilling’s safety came just twenty days before one of the worst offshore oil rig disasters in US history.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm8gLmuTvJ4&NR=1

7. May 13, 2010…Drill-rig owner seeks to limit liability; Gulf spill reportedly 70,000 barrels a day…06:57 PM…”…NPR says it has obtained “sophisticated scientific analysis of seafloor video” showing that the oil gushing from the ruptured pipes is “closer to 70,000 barrels a day,” more than 10X the Coast Guard’s earlier estimate of 5,000 barrels. That works out to 2,940,000 gallons of oil/day. (A barrel contains 42 gallons.)…If confirmed by the Coast Guard it would mean the spill long ago eclipsed the 11 mil. gallons the Exxon Valdez tanker spilled in Prince William Sound in Alaska in 1989…Today is the 24th day since the blowout, so that would work out to more than 70 million gallons of crude oil that have poured into the Gulf — 70,560,000 to be exact…” http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/05/drill-rig-owner-seeks-to-limit-gulf-spill-liability/1

8. “It’s my understanding that it’s designed to industry standard and it’s manufactured by the industry, installed by the industry, with no government witnessing or oversight of the construction or installation. Is that correct?”…Emerging oil rig evidence shows lack of regulation…”That is correct,” replied Michael Saucier, the MMS field supervisor for the Gulf…As gas pushed upward on the Deepwater Horizon, it suddenly ignited from an unknown source and turned the platform into an enormous fireball. Eleven people were killed…In the following days, workers kept trying to force the blowout preventer to close — without success….Maddeningly, they lost a day trying to close a ram without realizing it had been replaced by a useless test part….The unrelenting gusher of oil is now threatening wetlands, wildlife, the fishing industry and tourism. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100513/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill

9. Oil spill: BP had wrong diagram to close blowout preventer Posted on May 12, 2010 by dandelionsalad…By Maria Recio, Dave Montgomery and Mark Washburn McClatchy Newspapers May 12, 2010 https://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2010/05/12/oil-spill-bp-had-wrong-diagram-to-close-blowout-preventer/

10. Marcus Baram Marcus@huffingtonpost.com HuffPost Reporting…Whistleblower Claims That BP Was Aware Of Cheating On Blowout Preventer Tests…First Posted: 05-12-10 04:01 PM Updated: 05-12-10 05:08 PM… Mike Mason, who worked on oil rigs in Alaska for 18 years, says that he observed cheating on blowout preventer tests at least 100 times, including on many wells owned by BP…As he describes it, the test involves a chart that shows whether the device will hold a certain amount of pressure for five minutes on each valve. (The test involves increasing the pressure from 250 pounds per square-inch (psi) to 5,000 psi.) “Sometimes, they would put their finger on the chart and slide it ahead — so that it only recorded the pressure for 30 seconds instead of 5 minutes,” he tells HuffPost. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/12/bp-whistleblower-claimed_n_573839.html

11. BP Deepwater Horizon Well Permitted for 18,000 ft. but Drilling as Deep as 25,000 ft.
By Heather Tuesday May 04, 2010 8:00am
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/bp-deepwater-horizon-well-permitted-18000

12. Feds Let BP Avoid Filing Blowout Plan for Gulf Rig | CommonDreams.org
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/05/06

13. Rig Survivors Felt Coerced To Sign Waivers : NPR
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126565283

14. BP Makes Enough Profit in Four Days to Cover the Costs of the Spill Cleanup Thus Far…This post originally appeared on Think Progress… http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/05/11/bp-makes-enough-profit-in-four-days-to-cover-the-costs-of-the-spill-cleanup-thus-far/

15. Despite Previous Equipment Failure, BP Says Spill ‘Seemed Inconceivable’ by Marian Wang, ProPublica – May 11, 2010 7:40 am EDT “…We’ve put out several calls to BP. We’ll update if they comment.”
http://www.propublica.org/ion/blog/item/despite-known-instances-of-equipment-failure-bp-says-spill-seemed-inconceiv

16. Environment…Beyond BP: Lessons from Valdez and Bhopal…Tuesday, May 04, 2010 :: Staff infoZine She said yesterday: “Corporations, whether it’s BP in the Gulf or Dow Chemical / Union Carbide in Bhopal, India, don’t follow the precautionary principle. They say that their worst-case scenarios won’t ever happen and so we shouldn’t dare threaten their profits with extra safety costs. Thanks in part to the deregulation from Dick Cheney’s energy task force during the Bush administration, the U. S. doesn’t require an emergency ‘acoustic’ shut-off valve that costs $500,000 and could have prevented BP’s disaster. … Yet most of the other oil-producing nations require the ‘acoustic switch’ and it has been used in Norway since l993. These corporations don’t want to spend a tiny portion of their billions of dollars on something that can prevent a disaster. They get the legal rights of being people and yet take actions that destroy the lives of real people. http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/41029/

17. AlterNet / By Daniela Perdomo comments_image 13 COMMENTS BP’s Oil Disaster: The Numbers Will Shock You At best 20% of the oil spill may be recoverable. Though we don’t yet know the full extent of the disaster, one thing is for sure: regulatory failures paved the way. May 5, 2010 …When it comes to British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, questions about the extent of the damage — and how to quell it — are spreading as quickly as the oil slick. http://www.alternet.org/story/146753/bp%27s_oil_disaster%3A_the_numbers_will_shock_you

18. Obama administration blocked efforts to stop BP oil drilling before explosion By Joe Kishore…10 May 2010…In 2009, the Obama administration intervened to support the reversal of a court order that would have halted offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Obama’s Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who has long had close ties to the industry, specifically cited BP’s Deepwater Horizon operation as one that should be allowed to go forward, according to a group involved in the court case.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/may2010/oilr-m10.shtml

19. Video: BP Won’t Release Video of Leaking Well BP’s Oil Drilling Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico Blog www. healthygulf. org Check out this CNN video, featuring GRN’s Campaign Director Aaron Viles, discussing BP’s refusal to release most footage of the oil leak on the ocean floor. http://www.healthygulf.org/201005111263/blog/bp-s-oil-drilling-disaster-in-the-gulf-of-mexico/bp-won-t-release-video-of-leaking-well

20. Since spill, feds have given 27 waivers to oil companies in gulf…The exemptions, known as “categorical exclusions,” were granted by the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) and included waiving detailed environmental studies for a BP exploration plan to be conducted at a depth of more than 4,000 feet and an Anadarko Petroleum Corp. exploration plan at more 9,000 feet…“Is there a moratorium on off shore drilling or not?” asked Peter Galvin, conservation director with the Center for Biological Diversity, the environmental group that discovered the administration’s continued approval of the exemptions. “Possibly the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history has occurred and nothing appears to have changed.” http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/07/93761/despite-spill-feds-still-giving.html?storylink=addthis

21. Deepwater Horizon Survivors Tell ABC News No Alarm Sounded Before Blast, Safety Gear Failed…’It Was Chaos,’ Says Survivor; Industry Officials Acknowledge Failures Of Safety Equipment On Oil Rig…By BRIAN ROSS, VIC WALTER, AVNI PATEL and MATTHEW MOSK…May 7, 2010 … “It either tells you that the alarms failed or that somebody muted the alarm because alarms are so common out in the oil patch that sometimes as a matter of course, they mute alarms,” he said… http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/deepwater-horizon-survivors-abc-news-alarm-sounded-blast/story?id=10578389

22. BP executives were aboard rig celebrating safety record when methane triggered blast…By The Associated Press…Saturday, May 8th, 2010 — 10:13 am A group of BP executives were on board the Deepwater Horizon rig celebrating the project’s safety record, according to the transcripts. Meanwhile, far below, the rig was being converted from an exploration well to a production well….Based on the interviews, Bea believes that the workers set and then tested a cement seal at the bottom of the well. Then they reduced the pressure in the drill column and attempted to set a second seal below the sea floor. A chemical reaction caused by the setting cement created heat and a gas bubble which destroyed the seal…Deep beneath the seafloor, methane is in a slushy, crystalline form. Deep sea oil drillers often encounter pockets of methane crystals as they dig into the earth…As the bubble rose up the drill column from the high-pressure environs of the deep to the less pressurized shallows, it intensified and grew, breaking through various safety barriers, Bea said…”A small bubble becomes a really big bubble,” Bea said. “So the expanding bubble becomes like a cannon shooting the gas into your face.” http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0508/bp-executives-aboard-rig-celebrating-safety-record-methane-bubble-triggered-blast/

23. Dark tales emerge of oil cesspool…May 8, 2010…US government workers accepted gifts and gratuities at least 135 times from oil and gas corporations, writes Simon Mann. http://www.smh.com.au/environment/dark-tales-emerge-of-oil-cesspool-20100507-ujnn.html

24. “CIA Director Leon Panetta, Middle East Envoy George Mitchell, Former EPA Head Christine Todd Whitman, Tom Daschle Have All Served On Company’s Various Boards Of Advisers And ‘Independent’ Panels Home”… How BP Used Political Muscle To Fend Off Regulators And Influence Corporate Neglect Investigations:
www.huffingtonpost.com…How British oil giant BP used all the political muscle money can buy to fend off regulators and influence investigations into corporate neglect.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/08/how-bp-used-political-mus_n_568927.html

25. Morgan Goodwin…Digital oganizer and co-managing editor of ItsGettingHotInHere.org…Posted: May 5, 2010 07:09 PM…Transocean Offshore Drilling Has Its own ‘Conservation Organization’ ProPublica reported that “At least half of the 19 members of [GMF’s] board of directors have direct ties to the offshore drilling industry.” One, Dr. Ian Richard Hudson, is the current Head of Corporate Responsibility and Environment at Transocean. Directors also hail from stalwarts of the conservation movement like ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, Marathon, ConocoPhillips and other extraction industry players. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/morgan-goodwin/transocean-offshore-drill_b_565303.html

26. Slick Operator…How British oil giant BP used all the political muscle money can buy to fend off regulators and influence investigations into corporate neglect…. A timeline of the disastrous BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico…The Worst Man-Made Environmental Disasters…By Michael Isikoff and Michael Hirsh | NEWSWEEK…Published May 7, 2010…From the magazine issue dated May 17, 2010… http://www.newsweek.com/id/237651

27. Breaking News, Louisiana Politics » Sen. Mary Landrieu takes heat for BP campaign cash By Jonathan Tilove May 06, 2010, 7:11PM…Nicolai Alatzas via Morwen NiAnne Madrigal: $342,000 in 2006 http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/sen_mary_landrieu.html

28. From The Sunday Times…May 9, 2010…Rig firm’s $270m profit from deadly spill…Danny Fortson THE owner of the oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 people and causing a giant slick, has made a $270m (£182m) profit from insurance payouts for the disaster….The company was hired by BP to drill the well. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article7120655.ece

29. The Associated Press: Fidel Castro: Oil spill shows corporate domination…www.google.com…HAVANA — Fidel Castro says the spreading oil slick fouling the Gulf of Mexico is proof that the world’s most powerful governments cannot control large corporations that now dictate the public’s destiny. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jbi5uWbOVPuqck1GxL0Y1baSG58AD9FIQRK00

see

Oil Spill Leaking 70,000 Barrels A Day Not 5,000 + How Big is the Spill?