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Syndicate
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/06/caught_in_the_oil.html
The grasses by the shore were littered with tarred marine life, some dead and others struggling under a thick coating of crude.
"When you see some of the things I've seen, it would make you sick," the contractor said. "No living creature should endure that kind of suffering."
Read more: Dying, dead marine wildlife paint dark, morbid picture of Gulf Coast following oil spill
It's weird how focused the media is on what gimmicks BP are pulling day to day to stem the flow. How about some coverage of the damage that's already been done? It seems like the storyline is suggesting that if they can just stem the flow the crisis will be over. What they should be doing is covering the fact that no matter what anybody does now it's a huge huge disaster.
The real story is that the Gulf coast will be devastated for years to come, and if a Hurricane hits this thing will get way worse. Stemming the flow will not make this go away.
http://www.ifitwasmyhome.com/
Set location for Rochester NY and you will see that the area of the oil spill is now larger than Lake Ontario.
And check this:
Goldman Sachs sold 44% of its BP Stock, Three weeks before the Oil Rig disaster.
Wed, 06/02/2010 - 08:35
Want Proof? HERE IT IS... http://moneycentral.msn.com/ownership?Holding=Institutional+... This is a list of the institutional owners of BP stock. This is NOT private owners. There are 350 million shares of BP. Financial Institutions own roughly 40% of BP. Goldman Sachs (on March 31st) owned 6 million shares...after it sold 4.7 Million shares. WHAT DID THEY KNOW?
http://www.dailypaul.com/node/136466
http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/News/069659-2010-06-01-goldman-sachs-sold-44-of-its-bp-stock-three-weeks.htm
http://moneycentral.msn.com/ownership?Holding=Institutional+Ownership&Symbol=BP
Who might be capable of sabotaging an ocean and nations just for fun?
http://seeker401.wordpress.com/2009/09/18/george-soros-public-enemy-1/
Yes Obama is Engaged in a Colossal Crime
http://blackagendareport.com/
BP was a company committed to going beyond petroleum; read about John Browne here:
http://www.helium.com/items/332620-the-legacy-of-john-browne-former-head-of-bp
UPDATE: BP CEO Hayward sold his company shares for millions weeks before disaster
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/7804922/BP-chief-Tony-Hayward-sold-shares-weeks-before-oil-spill.html
A little speculation: Could this be sabotage? Are Soros and Obama Dr. Evil and Mini Me?
Link to Canada Free Press, apologies
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/14700
that is an interesting addition tigana ty.
The oil spill is apparently now bigger than Lake Ontario...
I suppose it was decided that Tony Hayward had stuck his foot in his mouth a few times too many.
BP is to hive off its Gulf of Mexico oil spill operation to a separate in-house business to be run by an American in a bid to isolate the "toxic" side of the company and dilute some of the anti-British feeling aimed at chief executive Tony Hayward, the company said today.
For some reason, I am fascinated with the video of the ROVs at work in the Gulf. I promise to stop posting these links after this last one, because this has links to all the ROV cameras [only some of them are on at any given time].
Mother of All ROV video links> http://www.bp.com/genericarticle.do?categoryId=9033572&contentId=7062605
---
I don't think the conspiracy theories about the spill are going to get much traction. You know me, a conspiracy wonk - I would love it if there was something to suck on here, but I don't see it.
1] Goldman-Sachs selling BP stock was probably just normal trading;
2] even though BP is creating a separate division for the spill operation, it doesn't separate the main BP from costs or guilt,
3] That Obama is "Engaged" is certainly true, but this idea is not a conspiracy about the spill exactly, it is more the general idea of corporate rule. My hopes for Obama to fight for common people over corporate powers was dashed early on; he has proven himself to be a total "establishment guy" who is going to keep the same old Elite Wealthy Corporate Rule politics going
But sure, the spill does offer us the opportunity to talk about what that article says {maybe the moderator wants to start a different thread for this?} - "Huge corporations are empowered to seek profits with absolutely no regard for the consequences to Earth or Man." Obama is not going to advance the cause much...
In Canada, any politician running for the Liberals and the Conservatives will be a corporate minion; in the USA it is even more obvious that any Democrat or Republican is a corporate minion too. Any major party who has been in power at all in the past 20 years will be a corporate apologist, willing to advance their crimes against environment and humanity.
So until "we the people" stop giving those types the power by voting for one or the other of them, we cannot expect meaningfull change.
What will it take to make change happen? Half of "we the people" don't even bother voting - the movement has to get them involved, there has to be some way of getting the disaffected ones to vote for a third party. The NDP have failed to rouse them in Canada...
INDEPENDENTS!! Imagine a Cdn Parliament with 400 independant MPs!! Could they form a coalition and appoint a PM? - does our constitution allow for that? Would the "Independent Party" be able to resist corruption/threats?
ENERGY might be the key to the revolution. If the monopoly of 'fossil fuels as our main source of energy' is broken by ordinary people owning renewable energy gear, powering their own homes and electric cars, we will have made progress in wrestling the power from the cabal. The next step might be about illegal drugs, which is the worlds 2nd largest industry - we should just grow our own, and stop supporting organised crime [which is a major source of income for banks and the financial industry]TALK!! - if we could get the watercooler conversations to include the idea of ending corporate rule and giving average people a proper slice of the prosperity pie that the Elites are eating, we just might get those independents elected!!
INDEPENDENTS!! Imagine a Cdn Parliament with 400 independant MPs!! Could they form a coalition and appoint a PM? - does our constitution allow for that? Would the "Independent Party" be able to resist corruption/threats?
There are two legislatures with all independents. You should be able to guess which ones. I believe the constitution would allow for it; the independents would just meet and decide who the Prime Minister was. Not sure about the Leader of the Opposition though. The Canadian constitution is still composed partly of unwritten components.
http://aslwww.cr.usgs.gov/Seismic_Data/telemetry_data/DWPF_24hr.html This USGS chart is a report from near the Gulf of Mexico - at the Florida Disney Wildlife Preserve. A great deal of oil and gas have been displaced from the Deepwater Horizon and this may have serious geological consequences.
Interpretation: 6.0 and lots of duration?
the good news is on the radio tv- bp is fixing the problem (move along, nada to see here) ...i hate to say it, but i wish the thing would come alive, a superblob, and rip up the southern, rednecki USA, and all them rightwing bastards who have the nerve to believe foxnews/cnn/abc/pbs/cbc (the Ad Nazism media) despite grim reality lurking hungrily just outside the door...
The oil spill is like junyer bush- like geedubia gushing so much damage a lib/lefty gets to like it/him! I LOVE GW BUSH, and miss him so much! The gulf oil spill reminds me of Junyer- that smarmy, kiddyboy smirk and wiggle in the arse with sighs tossed over the shoulder, taunting we 'bottom dwellers' as we curse him....hahaha. I WANNA be taunted! more, not less dammit. (goddam newsmedia, playing down junyer's lates gaffes and catastrophes!)
Yeah ... right ...
BP is capturing a third of the gusher, assuming you trust their numbers which would probably be a bad idea. It's not over yet.
However, some people might be overreacting:
A growing conversation among Christian fundamentalists asks the question that may have been inevitable: is the oil spill in the gulf a sign of the coming apocalypse?
God is punishing those terrible Americans for their travesties once again.
When are the major environmentailist organizations going to provide us with a list of all the American politicians who voted to put a cap on oil company's liabilities?
Obviously all these corporate sleazeballs need to be defeated in the next election.
And here we go... Who would have thought it would be this soon?
Premier Danny Williams, bless him for what he has done for Nlfd-Lbdr., but he came out today and said that demanding a relief well when drilling offshore "would dramatically increase the cost of drilling", and something about "prohibitive costs", "it will discourage exploration" and so on.
It won't be prohibitive, it would be $100 Million extra per well, and those wells produce $billions of oil. I understand that the complaint is that not all wells hit oil and so they won't get anything to cover those doubled drilling costs. But take a look at bottom lines of companies like BP or Exxon and there is no doubt that it all comes out pretty favourably, like $10 Billion in profits per year, year after year.
They send out $100 million on dividends every quarter fer gads sake.
Asking some for protection from the mess in the Gulf of Mexico seems like a reasonable expense compared to that kind of money.
Rest assured that while BP's CEO is stating publicly there will be no dividend reduction, he and his fellow executives, and insiders, are quietly unloading as much stock as they can behind the scenes.
BP's PR campaign is now buying up search terms on the 'net. Who knew BP would do things like this rather than act responsibility.
BP = Big Pig
And Obama brings up "nuclear power as an alternative to oil" in response to the Gulf mess!! Only oil and nuclear have the potential to make this big a mess of things, so the lesson here should be to stay away from risky energy when there are alternatives.
BP faces daunting Gulf liability costs
So what is a 100 million for preventative then, and and why would it be prohibitive to development??
In actual fact, what should be prohibitive to development is not spending that 100 million on best practises.
Shareholders need to start making demands, and that is why IMV, the BP executive sare saying profits won't be down, they want shareholders not to ask for best practises, and perhaps for the 'tax payers' to foot the actual bill not them.
Then tax payers, sick of footing the bill for the shareholders of these companies to make their retirement packages better, need to slap laws into effect that penalize shareholders too, other than by way of their just forgoing profits. Even if they try to sell to avoid the financial meltdown, they need to be chased down and penalized.
BP's official response plan for oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico is studded with patently inaccurate and inapplicable information but was nonetheless approved by the federal government, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Most notably, the response plan contains no information about how to cope with a deep water blowout but is littered with outright inanities, suggesting that no regulator seriously read it.
Their plan has ensured that no walrus has died in this accident.
Exon Valdez Lawyer: Louisianans, 'To Use A Legal Term, Are Just F--ked'
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25660.htm
"And while the case against the oil company seems fairly clear cut, a lawyer with perhaps the most relevent experience on the matter at hand is painting a depressing picture about the litigation ahead. 'If you were affected in Louisiana, said Brian O'Neil, an attorney with the firm Faegre and Benson, 'to use a legal term, you are just f--ked.'
Keep shorting that BP stock as it will soon be worthless.
BP Now Valued At Less Than Its Assets
Hayward is no hero, and he should do the resposible thing and resign.
Tony Hayward: How an affable geologist became America's most hated
On one side stands Barack Obama throwing insults at him, on the other BP shareholders
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/09/tony-hayward-bp-barack-ob...
Is BP headed for bankruptcy?
Most likely - especially if it turns out that the oil slick annihilates tourism in Florida.
save a 100million BP shareholders, so you get more mullah for your pension suppliment cheques, and this is what you get, loss of the whole damn thing.
It freakin looks good on BP shareholders,
Much like this whole h1n1 lying liars looks good on big pharma shareholders, I literally pray pretty much all damn day, that these companies go by the wayside and their shareholdrrs with them, and it looks like I may start believing in prayer, or at least positive visualization of all of the greedy ass wipes living in poverty on the streets..
Researchers have doubled estimates of how much oil has been spewing from a ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico, reporting Thursday that up to 40,000 barrels (1.7 million gallons) a day may have escaped for weeks.
No, really? But don't worry, next time they'll do better! Um...next time?
"We will learn so much more about measuring oil in the ocean that we will be able to do a much better job next time in terms of how we go about measuring the release of oil and the inventory of oil in the ocean."
BP's PR campaign is now buying up search terms on the 'net. Who knew BP would do things like this rather than act responsibility.
It's too bad the U.S. government won't put some kind of estopple on BP spending any money other than on clean up.
You can call me paranoid on this point, but I've been reading stuff on line in the last week or so that makes me wonder if there might be a more subtle PR campaign already launched by BP.
And that's journalists and such that savage BP, but end by saying, "but really, it's our insatiable demand for oil that lead to this".
It's quite the meme.
That's right, NorthReport, you killed that pelican because you wanted the plastic keyboard with which you type all this stuff about BP.
I mean, we're all to blame, right?
Well, no.
BP's to blame.
T_P,
BP's probably on the verge of going under, but both USA & UK governments will not allow it to happen.
Gulf Oil Spill: Cleaning Animals Largely Futile, Scientist Says
BP should be forced to use every cent they have to shut off this oil flow. Could this eventually seep its way to Canada's East Coast?
Oil in gulf may be double initial estimate
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/06/10/bp-obama-gulf-oil.html
Researchers have doubled estimates of how much oil has been spewing from a ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico, reporting Thursday that up to 40,000 barrels (1.7 million gallons) a day may have escaped for weeks.
No, really? But don't worry, next time they'll do better! Um...next time?
"We will learn so much more about measuring oil in the ocean that we will be able to do a much better job next time in terms of how we go about measuring the release of oil and the inventory of oil in the ocean."
WTF??
Yeah, and I really need a way to measure the pain I feel when I stab myself in the leg ... 'cause not stabbing myself in the leg never crossed my fucking mind.
What we need is a new measure of stupidity, because they just popped the top off any existing one.
Extinction level event?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL4R8npXb2c&feature=related
Scientist speaks about disaster on Coast to Coast- first of eight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD67Af3EVAc&feature=related
Fumes make people ill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65ek2EfWNEU&feature=related
The short film BP doesn't want you to see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRl6-o8CpXA
When BP spills coffee
Found this on a blog,
"I've spent a lot of hours over the past few days reading at http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6566 which is a engineering and driller's discussion site. I have learned a lot.
It would be quite doable to cap the well; any number of good solutions have been offered. So why hasn't it been done? Well, :-) it appears that the real problem is not at the well head, the leaking riser; the problem is around 1000 feet deep in the well bore, where the casing has blown out and the oil is leaking off into the surrounding rock or fault lines; that is why there are plumes of oil coming up miles away from the well head. If the well head riser were to be sealed off, all of the oil and pressure (15,000 psi or so) would either divert into eroding a new channel to the surface, or possibly just blast the whole top assembly out of the sea floor. The consensus at the oildrum forum is the only solution to stop the well is to intersect the well bore below the blown out casing with a relief well, and use that to pump sealing mud in to kill the flow.
In the meantime, it's doubtful that the main flow is coming out of the well riser anyway, rather from some fault(s) in the sea floor that BP is not showing video of.
Here's a link to the MSDS safety data sheet for Corexit:
http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/posted/2931/Corexit_EC9527A_MSDS...
wv: greav
5:57 AM blogger.com
m_astera said...
Here's the right link for the MSDS info on Corexit 9500; not as scary as the other Corexit, so let's hope they really are using the 9500:
http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/posted/2931/Corexit_EC9500A_MSDS.539287.pdf"
I am not certain who to believe but Harper says drilling is under control in Canada as CBC and local media downplay any risks involved with off shore drilling. I was taken aback when listening to the CNN a few days ago when reporting on the Gulf spill and how fortunate we all where it happened in the Gulf where Americans had the capabalities and not Canada where the wells aren't as deep as in Newfoundland where Canada has the deepest off shore wells creating immense risk for the Atlantic.
I was just reading the polls regarding the Gulf spill and lax regulations as majority feel its where the blame belongs.
So what about Canada as Alberta and BC Preimers make it offical regulations are something Big Oil need not worry its little head over as bothersome regulations become something of the past as preimers sign TILMA to make it offical?
ravenise did some good legwork to find this quote:
" it appears that the real problem is not at the well head, [or] the leaking riser; the problem is around 1000 feet deep in the well bore, where the casing has blown out and the oil is leaking off into the surrounding rock or fault lines"
And that explains a lot, like why the relief wells have to go 1000s of feet down below the ocean floor instead of just a few 100 feet to cement the original bore. Ok, so now I know.
It raises some questions too - like why the media, with all it's fancy graphics and detailed explanations of the operations to stop the oil, has NEVER MENTIONED THIS FACT.
And, does it mean that BP was negligent in setting the bore casing? Was that another shortcut they took?
The Spill, the Scandal and the President
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25695.htm
"The inside story of how Obama failed to crack down on the corruption of the Bush years - and let the word's most dangerous oil company get away with murder.."
Black Waves (vid)
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25690.htm
"A short video of new, heavy oil hitting the state beaches on Grand Isle, Louisiana Day 51, Deepwater Horizon oil spill.."
I was just looking around to get a good radar view of the weather here today, and came across this:
http://www.intellicast.com/National/GulfOilSpill.aspx
You might want to book mark it, to see where the oil goes in the coming months.
Chamber Of Commerce Says Taxpayers Should Help Pay For BP Spill Cleanup; GOP Leader Agrees, Then Recants
Welcome to the beautiful Florida beaches. Oops!
Do people think if the USA EPA seriously had teeth this would ever have been allowed to happen.
What better example of the corporate takeover of our governments worldwide than this tragedy.
Has anyone seen the recent inteviews of the killed workers' families that were left behind?
There was a reason for the protests of the sixties.
Enjoy your future kids.
Can't get much sicker than this - thanks Obama.
BP Censoring Media, Destroying EvidenceEven worse, as my latest week of adventures illustrate, BP is using federal agencies to shield itself from public accountability.
For example, while flying on a small plane from New Orleans to Orange Beach, the pilot suddenly exclaimed, "Look at that!" The thin red line marking the federal flight restrictions of 3,000 feet over the oiled Gulf region had just jumped to include the coastal barrier islands off Alabama
"There's only one reason for that," the pilot said. "BP doesn't want the media taking pictures of oil on the beaches. You should see the oil that's about six miles off the coast," he said grimly. We looked down at the wavy orange boom surrounding the islands below us. The pilot shook his head. "There's no way those booms are going to stop what's offshore from hitting those beaches."
BP knows this as well -- boom can only deflect oil under the calmest of sea conditions, not barricade it -- so they have stepped up their already aggressive effort to control what the public sees.
At the same time I was en route to Orange Beach, Clint Guidry with the Louisiana Shrimp Association and Dean Blanchard, who owns the largest shrimp processor in Louisiana, were in Grand Isle taking Anderson Cooper out in a small boat to see the oiled beaches. The U.S. Coast Guard held up the boat for 20 minutes - an intimidation tactic intended to stop the cameras from recording BP's damage. Luckily for Cooper and the viewing public, Dean Blanchard is not easily intimidated.
A few days later, the jig was up with the booms. Oil was making landfall in four states and even BP can't be everywhere at once. CBS 60 Minutes Australia found entire sections of boom hung up in marsh grasses two feet above the water off Venice. On the same day on the other side of Barataria Bay, Louisiana Bayoukeeper documented pools of oil and oiled pelicans inside the boom - on the supposedly protected landward side - of Queen Bess Island off Grand Isle.
With oil undisputedly hitting the beaches and the number of dead wildlife mounting, BP is switching tactics. In Orange Beach, people told me BP wouldn't let them collect carcasses. Instead, the company was raking up carcasses of oiled seabirds. "The heads separate from the bodies," one upset resident told me. "There's no way those birds are going to be autopsied. BP is destroying evidence!"
The body count of affected wildlife is crucial to prove the harm caused by the spill, and also serves as an invaluable tool to evaluate damages to public property - the dolphins, sea turtles, whales, sea birds, fish, and more, that are owned by the American public. Disappeared body counts means disappeared damages - and disappeared liability for BP. BP should not be collecting carcasses. The job should be given to NOAA, a federal agency, and volunteers, as was done during the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.
All the above pics from Huff PostBP, Haliburton and Transocean have unleashed Armageddon and now there is no stopping it.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/53081
"BP, Haliburton and Transocean have unleashed Armageddon and now there is no stopping it. This is our worst nightmare. The oil industry has killed the Gulf of Mexico.."
The last post here is over a day ago.
Here we have environmental carnage on an unprecedented scale in which even *gasp* Canada will be ultimately affected in more ways than are even grasped yet, and yet attention to it on Rabble mimics the official organs of "what's really news" in the Globe and mail, CBC etc-- That is, "just one more biggish story" episodically referred to.
I suppose being peripheralized in "environmental justice" accounts for some of this--maybe if it eventually affects the economy, a more centralized thread will spring up in "world news".
At least there is attention to it.
Imagine BP's Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil disaster happening every single year, with little or no public outcry, no media coverage, and all but silence from government and the companies involved. Welcome to Nigeria.
Why The Sierra Club No Longer Deserves Your Trust
There has been a massive silence on the part of the major environmental groups in the wake of the BP oil catastrophe, ever since the rig collapsed.
But it went into overdrive last week when many of those groups took out an ad in the Washington Post, not to criticize the government's response, but to praise the president for putting a hold on a drilling project in Alaska:
"President Obama is the best environmental president we've had since Teddy Roosevelt," Sierra Club chairman Carl Pope told the Bangor Daily News last week. "He obviously did not take the crisis in the Minerals Management Service adequately seriously, that's clear. But his agencies have done a phenomenally good job."
Asked if Sierra Club has any concerns about the administration's response to the spill, [Sierra Club's Dave] Willett said, "Overall, we're satisfied with the cleanup and recovery effort."If they aren't saying anything negative, it's because they believe there's nothing to criticize:
Now, I listened to Mike Pence yesterday on CNN complaining about the administration's cleanup efforts, and it was all crap. Pence's position would more fairly be represented if he just stood there with oil dripping off of his hands. The GOP has been waging a decades-long campaign for offshore drilling without limit, massive deregulation and the complete undermining of environmental standards that paved the way for this. The entire gulf is going to hell as a direct result of his actions. He's in no position to criticize anything, and any journalist who lets him get away with it isn't doing their job.
But the reluctance of the environmental groups to criticize the administration over the cleanup means they can't credibly make that argument against Pence, either. Their decision to act as partisan cheerleaders has hamstrung their ability to act as trustworthy arbiters and advocates in the situation, above the realm of politics. We all know what the tone and tenor of their rhetoric would be if George Bush was at the helm right now. If they are perceived as acting as an arm of the Democratic Party rather than stewards of the environment, they destroy the integrity of both their brand and their message.
Got a problem? BP's not listening.
Gulf Oil Spill 'Could go on for years and years'
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=19660
"The Obama administration and senior BP officials are frantically working not to stop the world's worst oil disaster, but to hide the true extent of the actual ecological catastrophe...
In a recent discussion, Vladmir Kutcherov, Professor of the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden and the Russian State University of Oil and Gas, predicted that the present oil spill flooding the Gulf Coast shores of the United States 'could go on for years and years..many years."
"(CNN) -- Government scientists Tuesday increased the estimate of oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico to between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels per day, up to 50 percent more than previously estimated. That translates into 1.5 million gallons to 2.5 million gallons per day...."
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/15/oil.spill.disaster/index.html
Not surprised at all about the environmental orgs, they are bought and paid for by their funding reliance on Pew Charities.
Personal money is more important than the environment with the big orgs, I learned that long ago now.
BP is done. They may take a lot others down with them as well but they are done. Short the shit out of the stock, and make sure all your investments, including your pension plans, are divested of their stock.
BP Swaps Rise to Record at 35% Odds of Default: Credit Markets
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=arh44k8nUURc&pos=3
"Goldman Sachs sold 44% of its BP Stock, Three weeks before the Oil Rig disaster.
...This is a list of the institutional owners of BP stock. This is NOT private owners. There are 350 million shares of BP. Financial Institutions own roughly 40% of BP. Goldman Sachs (on March 31st) owned 6 million shares...after it sold 4.7 Million shares. WHAT DID THEY KNOW?"
http://www.dailypaul.com/node/136466
http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/News/069659...three-weeks.htm
I appologize if I didn't notice if this had been posted before... Actually if you know me at all - I would say phuck yourself READ IT AGAIN.
Mother Jones coverage of this crime has been fearless. Their reportage has fought on the streets, on the beaches, and also on the internet.
http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/06/worst-already-true-BP-well-no...
This is a really disturbing read.
Now it's the chair of BP's board who's busy munching on his own toes:
On Wednesday, BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg told reporters in Washington: "I hear comments sometimes that large oil companies are greedy companies or don't care, but that is not the case with BP. We care about the small people."
And the CBC (really 'the sports channel' ie TSC- 'all sports, all da time'!) was eagerly letting the old rich liar spout on the radio this morning 6 am news. Wow! The rightwinger should run for santa claws, or something- he sounds so sincere. And CBC (ie TSC) want YOU to knowit.
Harper's a prick, and Canada's a pussy...CBC (aka TSC) goes 'meow' and purrs for the people...aint it sweet? (btw, if a new foxnews north gets licenced, won't that impact foxnews north (the CBC, aka'TSC") and run it outta biz?) Shouldn't patriots rush to defend our homegrown Big Lie brigade? Fascism is getting greedy, senator mike duffy concedes. Too greedy, maybe(?)...thank god for the Gulf Oil Spill...
How can these people make such absurd statements and have any credibility?
Canada prepared for oil spill response: Shea
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2010/06/17/nb-gail-shea-oil...
Tony Hayward came to a Congressional committee just a bit unprepared:
Hayward depicted himself as a CEO far removed from the drilling decisions in that were made in Houston and on the drilling rig in the weeks leading up to the disaster. "With respect . . . we drill hundreds of wells around the world," Hayward told Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas. "Yeah, I know," Burgess shot back. "That's what's scaring me right now."
I watched Hayward this afternoon, was totally disgusted by how vague he was in his answers. I'd call him a weasel, but that would give weasels a bad name.
Tonight - now watching controlled burns of oil in the Gulf on CNN, which has been covering this story 24/7.
Hayward's avoidance of the questions was predictable, but to see a big corporate CEO being berated on live TV is not something we have seen before. I bet this coverage would not have occured during the Bush years. The whole spill would have been hushed up.
So thats a good thing.
But a bad thing being reported today is that the natural gas [methane] flowing from the broken well is going to create huge "dead zones" by depleting the oxygen in the ocean waters.
Increasingly "anoxic oceans" was allready occuring due to CO2 emissions, something about acidification I think. At times in past earth history, the oceans were a big bubbling anoxic cesspool, and it could return to those conditions due to our actions/mistakes/business as usual. See "canfield oceans".
Hayward's avoidance of the questions was predictable, but to see a big corporate CEO being berated on live TV is not something we have seen before. I bet this coverage would not have occured during the Bush years. The whole spill would have been hushed up.
So thats a good thing.
But a bad thing being reported today is that the natural gas [methane] flowing from the broken well is going to create huge "dead zones" by depleting the oxygen in the ocean waters.
Increasingly "anoxic oceans" was allready occuring due to CO2 emissions, something about acidification I think. At times in past earth history, the oceans were a big bubbling anoxic cesspool, and it could return to those conditions due to our actions/mistakes/business as usual. See "canfield oceans".
Anoxic zones, or dead zones are generally caused by eutrification, not acidification. The methane in the gulf is causing deep dead zones, rather than shallow dead zones such as at the mouth of the Mississippi.
Spill It!
http://arabwomanblues.blogspot.com/2010/06/spill-it.html
"Believe it or not tourists from other states like Texas are flocking to visit the spill...Americans are now complaining of 'lack of Ethics', kid you not. Now Americans know all about Ethics...
Memo To the Victims: You Yourselves Will Pay for the Crimes of the Ruling Class
http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2010/06/memo-to-victims-you-yoursel...
"One aspect of the profoundly evil system that has been destroying us for over a hundred years--and make no mistake, it is deeply evil in design, intent and effect, if by evil we designate those actions which destroy the very possibility of thriving life--is especially awful. The authoritarian-corporatist-militarist-system victimizes untold millions of individual human beings, as well as many other forms of life as we see today, both here and abroad. That would be a monstrous evil in itself, but this particular evil is unsatisfied with only this form of destruction..
Thus the victims are targeted a second time and they are forced to become collaborators in their own destruction...Think about this very carefully for a moment. The oppressor may inflict unimaginable cruelties on innocent victims--but the victims may only protest in ways which the oppressor deems 'acceptable'..
Take some time to appreciate the unfathomable cruelty of this pattern. You may be grievously harmed and even permanently damaged by the actions of those who hold ananswerable power--but you may only speak about this evil and its effects within the very narrow limits set by those who would destroy you...
In this manner, the complacency and comfort of those who possess immense power and wealth are underwritten by the silence forced upon their victims. The victims may speak and even protest, but only within severely circumscribed limits, and only so long as their rulers are not made to feel too uncomfortable, or too guilty.
Anything which approaches too close to the truth is strictly forbidden..."
both these writers, Layla Anwar and Arthur Silber, unlike so many others - especially in Canada, refuse the 'severely circumscribed limits'. Perhaps the time has arrived for more of us to similarly refuse and break with the deadly status quo as Silber suggests at the end of his excellent essay..?
In recent years, oil giant BP PLC used a well design that has been called "risky" by Congressional investigators in more than one out of three of its deepwater wells in the Gulf of Mexico, significantly more often than most peers, a Wall Street Journal analysis of federal data shows.
Meanwhile, while multitudes of living species are dying, and lives are being destroyed all around the Gulf, BP CEO was not letting global catastrophe problems stand in his way while he took full advantage of his privilege, and watched a yachting race in which his 52 ft yacht was entered.
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_15336883?nclick_check=1
Gulf Disaster Raises Alarms About Alberta to Texas Pipeline
http://thetyee.ca/News/2010/06/21/AlbertaToTexasPipeline/index.html
"Diverse foes of Trans Canada project fear catastrophic oil leak into vast water source..'
Double hurricane coming to the Gulf of Mexico, New Orleans and beyond?
Animation - Use the controls on the right to move the images and see the possible outcome.
http://moe.met.fsu.edu/cgi-bin/cmctc2.cgi?time=2010062200&field=850mb+Vo...
Raining oil?
Predictions from Russia
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread580457/pg1
Report from North Carolina on concerns re oil spill delivery to their area via the weather
http://ashevillenorthcarolina.blogspot.com/2010/06/its-raining-oil.html
Food crops dying?
http://www.angelsfortruth.com/blog/2010/06/news-report-food-crops-dying-...
A judge just overturned the moratorium on offshore drilling in the Gulf.
What was that thing Lenin said about rope? Too bad the whole planet is in the noose.
How to increase the credibility of the justice system and the courts. What an idiot this judge must be. Or more probably a Republican in the pocket of big oil. Jeesh!
This video suggests that the Gulf disaster was staged.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD_C6fj8Z3Y
All that the oil spill has proven so far is that there is a lot of oil in the Gulf. Maybe I should trade in the Prius and buy myself a Hummer and move to Florida. Ocean front shore line in Pensacola should be going for a discount now. Bonus, when swimming in the Gulf you won't have to worry about any potentially dangerous things like fish or turtles, or even plankton for that matter.
The reactions of the chattering classes on the American cable channels is enough to make any sane person puke.
That map is just showing that two vortexes may form in the Gulf of Mexico. They won't reach tropical storm strength. National Hurricane Center predicts nothing at this time.
Now here's the real bad news:
In a press teleconference Monday, National Incident Commander Thad Allen announced that the riser package is tilting “10 or 12 degrees off perpendicular,” twice the 5.5 degree tilt of the Leaning Tower of Pisa:
The entire arrangement is kind of listed a little bit. I think it’s 10 or 12 degrees off perpendicular so it’s not quite straight up.
The “integrity of the well casing is a major concern,” Marvin Odum, president of Shell Oil, told the Houston Chronicle last week. Engineers and geologists fear the stack atop the well could tip over if the well integrity further degrades, leading to the “unlikely, but not implausible” scenario of “oil gushing through the sea floor.”
Related Story: BP's Next Disaster
excerpt:
But Obama's tough-guy act offers no guarantee that oil giants like BP won't be permitted to repeat the same mistakes that led to the nightmare in the Gulf. Indeed, top environmentalists warn, the suspension of drilling appears to be little more than a stalling tactic designed to let public anger over BP's spill subside before giving Big Oil the go-ahead to drill in an area that has long been off-limits: the Arctic Ocean. The administration has approved plans by both BP and Shell Oil to drill a total of 11 exploratory wells in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas above Alaska - waters far more remote and hostile than the Gulf. Shell's operations could proceed as soon as the president's suspension expires in January. And thanks to an odd twist in its rig design, BP's drilling in the Arctic is on track to get the green light as soon as this fall.
excerpt:
"Everything I've heard internally, from sources within both the administration and industry, tells me that the administration is all over wanting these guys out in the Arctic Ocean," says Rick Steiner, a top marine scientist in Alaska who helped guide the response to the Exxon Valdez spill. "They're trying to solve this political problem with this Gulf spill in time to get these guys out in the Arctic next summer."
"Are all TRAINS unsafe?" , and "we allready lost 21,000 jobs due to the moratorium on deep water drilling"
- those are some of the [ridiculous] reasons given to start drilling new wells deep in the Gulf again, even before this leak is stopped.
Really, WTF??? What if ANOTHER leak happens WHILE this Horizon leak is still occuring - how would there be enough resources to do anything about it? And all the oil drillers doing deep water wells are using the same BOP technology, which has been proven to be fallible [mudding operations ruins the seals, as in the Horizon incident].
But a new leak will not happen because "all trains are not unsafe"? Really. WTF. I give up hope for the oilmen, this is completely beyond reason.
The Keystone XL pipeline might deserve it's own thread, eh? Piping Tar Sands oil to Texas to be refined is a bad idea; if we could stop the pipelines, including the Tar Sands line to the BC coast, it would go a long way to ending ideas of expanding the Tar Sands... the plan is for a four fold Tar Sands expansion, and would account for about 80% of Canada's oil production by 2030.
But I will just point out that Trans-Canada Pipelines is not the major owner or operator of the Fairbanks Alaska pipeline that leaked this year, as the Tyee article hinted at. {inside scoop of little consequence: Trans-Canada Pipelines' CEO is retiring this month [my bro, with whom I disagree]}
But Obama's tough-guy act offers no guarantee that oil giants like BP won't be permitted to repeat the same mistakes that led to the nightmare in the Gulf. Indeed, top environmentalists warn, the suspension of drilling appears to be little more than a stalling tactic designed to let public anger over BP's spill subside before giving Big Oil the go-ahead to drill in an area that has long been off-limits: the Arctic Ocean.
And why wouldn't he? Another oil disaster might lose him, or more likely someone else an election eventually but 6 or 7 dollar per gallon gas because oil companies can't produce more will lose him an election in 2012. It's as simple as that, and that's why we're screwed.
I have no idea if this guy knows what he's talking about, but he paints a truly depressing worst case scenario in a comment on The Oil Drum. [long]
Short story: the well has ruptured below the seabed and the casing is eroding, making it impossible to plug from the top. If so, we're ph ucked as the entire field could bleed-out....
And what about Chevron's twice as deep and in rougher waters oil drilling off Newfoundland with no safety mechanisms in place either!
The Justice Department had asked U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman to stay his ruling while it appeals to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Feldman rejected that request Thursday. Two days earlier, he struck down the Interior Department's decision to halt approval of new permits for deepwater projects and suspend drilling on 33 exploratory wells...
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/06/24/bp-oil-spill-containment-cap.ht...
Phucked, totally and completely phucked.
I can't get into a vehicle anymore without thinking about the gulf, I don't own a car and rarely drive but even so I've cut back on vehicle time. It is shocking to me that anyone would consider cancelling the moratorium on drilling at this point just as it is beyond my comprehension that drilling in the Beaufort Sea has not been cancelled.
From the article above it would seem that the gulf seabed could collapse and with it a sea of blood will emerge, this would not surprise me, my first thought when I heard of the explosion was mortal wound.
50 yeas of drilling in the Gulf with now an estimated 500+ drill rigs in the Gulf hasn't collapsed the sea floor, so I'm wondering why this particular disaster - as horrendous as it is - should.
The Oil Drum post I linked to above is examined in detail in this response.
Phucked, totally and completely phucked.
I can't get into a vehicle anymore without thinking about the gulf, I don't own a car and rarely drive but even so I've cut back on vehicle time. It is shocking to me that anyone would consider cancelling the moratorium on drilling at this point just as it is beyond my comprehension that drilling in the Beaufort Sea has not been cancelled.
YES! Now if only Americans would catch on to that direct relationship between this spill and our use of fossil fuels. Good on ya, ennir.
Cancelling new drilling leases could lead to a shortage of oil, and a shortage of oil is about the only way that alternative energy and electric cars are going to catch on. WE NEED A SHORTAGE OF OIL, most desperately. [ya ya, the Arabs will be only too happy to ship more oil to the USA, and American oil importers will continue to make out like bandits]
Etc: The Judge that cancelled the moratorium on new drilling offshore has investments in the oil industry, that is one reason why he did that, I suppose. It seems like a direct confrontation with the President, possibly treasonous? What happened to "supporting the President in times of crisis"? - or is that just "in times of war" [unfortunately]
The Well from Hell: Reaching too Far - Delving too Deep
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=19925
"Some geologists say that BP's arrogance has set off a series of events that may be irreversible. There are some that think that BP has drilled into a deep-core oil volcano that cannot be stopped.."
This was predictable. Stop the oil companies from drilling off the US coast and they'll just move someplace where the US has no say in the matter.
By DALE GAVLAK , 06.27.10, 09:00 AM EDT
TRIPOLI, Libya -- Libya will allow BP to begin drilling in its offshore deepwater region next month, despite the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the head of Libya's National Oil Co. said Sunday.
Shokri Ghanem, who serves as Libya's de facto oil minister, said the April explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig, and the subsequent spill, were "tragic," but the oil industry is also moving into "new frontiers."
An accident will not stop us from digging in this new frontier," Ghanem said. "Life must go on, but we will learn a lot of lessons."
Ghanem's comments are the latest confirmation by the OPEC nation that it was planning to honor the contract it signed with BP ( BP - news - people ) in 2007 to drill in the Libyan deepwater region of the Mediterranean Sea.
BP has been battling sharp criticism over the incident which left 11 workers dead and millions of gallons of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.
The company has been struggling to contain the spill, but measures implemented so far have failed to completely staunch the flow of oil that has been washing ashore across the U.S. Gulf Coast and creating an environmental nightmare in the region.
Ghanem said that drilling at such a depth makes it difficult to know exactly what is happening.
"Accidents happen all the time. If an air crash takes place, we don't stop air traffic," said Ghanem. "So we have to continue but we take this step to learn more lessons," he said.
Libya's proven oil reserves are the ninth-largest in the world, but vast areas remain unexplored. The country has been working to bring in foreign oil companies and investors after U.S. and U.N. sanctions were lifted several years ago.
Amid mounting concerns that companies were ill-equipped to deal with the risks of deepwater drilling, President Barack Obama imposed a six month moratorium on deepwater drilling. But the step was struck down by a U.S. federal judge last week.
Oil companies have increasingly been shifting to deepwater drilling as reserves more easily tapped are becoming increasingly hard to find.
Ghanem said he met recently with Tony Hayward, BP's former chief executive officer who was replaced earlier this week because of the spill, and was assured that the company was doing its best.
"I think that BP is a great company, with good experience," Ghanem said. "I told him we are honoring our commitment and we can start drilling next month."
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2010/06/27/business-energy-af-libya-bp-oi...
Is there any Green/Red alliance group that is attempting to use the BP scenario as an avenue to a larger discussion about oil as in highlighting the myriad problems with oil alpha-omega?
Selections from stories prepared by BP for media use set to appropriate music and video:
BP Press Release Theater
More BP Press Release Theater
Anderson Cooper of CNN has been doing a real number on BP, substantial enough to probably eventually destroy BP's credibility in the USA. Keep shorting that BP stock.
Anderson Cooper of CNN has been doing a real number on BP, substantial enough to probably eventually destroy BP's credibility in the USA. Keep shorting that BP stock.
BP could be losing more than credibility…..they could also be responsible for a coming disaster that may bring the US to it’s knees….environmental justice ?
http://www.helium.com/items/1864136-how-the-ultimate-bp-gulf-disaster-could-kill-millions
Some interesting facts I know. Methane just has to attain 5% of the air volume to be explosive ….and it burns at a temperature just under that of an atomic bomb ….the combustion product is carbon monoxide…the simple friction of the earth or a spark can ignite it (methane).
Assuming a 20 mile bubble like the scientists believe…that would mean 400 square miles of methane that would have to enter a volume of 8000 square miles = a big chunk of the USA could possibly be incinerated. Hopefully , if they have luck on their side they could ignite it before it hits land .
Canada has plenty of land based methane storage facility's under ground at very high pressure levels also where they store methane before they pipeline it and treat it with odorants...and then sell it as natural gas to pipe in your home.
People are lied to and manipulated by these gas company's and are kept in the dark about the dangers of these facility's , maybe if the gulf blew up they may start questioning the safety of these projects. For the most part they are all in rural areas and the casualties are usually wild life, but as recent sour gas incidents in canada have shown not everyone accepts this threat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkM5eyN8ytI&feature=user
Is there any Green/Red alliance group that is attempting to use the BP scenario as an avenue to a larger discussion about oil as in highlighting the myriad problems with oil alpha-omega?
IF the mass media reflected the true national discourse, then fossil fuels would have been on phase out track since the coldwar. But power corrupts, etc. The 'higher interest' of a moralistic society (even if it is actually as depraved as any in history) overrides everything else - thus the 'people' are innocent victims of underhanded politics and schemeing bizmen etc. They are incidental to the fact the world is doomed and life is soon to disappear forever from the cold dead universe. A vast rightwing conspiracy aimed at defrauding the 'people' has been going on for a long time, probably since Adam met Eve(?) Hitler (fascism) was a favorite of the west's entrenched powers until he became too stupid, even for them; and the real enemy, the USSR (antifascism) was eventually lined up and shot, though it took a while. The emperor has no clothes, but that's only a fairy tale! In reality the emperor wears a $10 thousand dollar thong under his handmade suits, and you pay for it. Stephen harper is the emperor (of the 51st state, that is)...
Fact; they didn't have to butcher JFK in a public spectacle, but that made everything else (ie emperor harper) easier.
BP uses the same strategy I used to use as a child - also to no good effect. If you don't want to clean up your mess, cover it up!
Allegations Emerge BP is Dumping Sand to Cover Oil
continued here