Those Dead Sea Turtles

Necropsies completed on five of the 25 dead sea turtles found along Mississippi beaches in the past few days show no evidence of oil killing the reptiles.

In what my possibly be a coincidence, more than 30 dead turtles have been found stranded on Galveston and the Bolivar Peninsula south of Houston this month - an unusually high number that has puzzled researchers, in part because most are so decomposed that there are few clues left about why they died.

A few minutes after I posted this, I was alerted to this article about the public being barred from the autopsies done on the turtles. Something's up.

Bucket Brigade map of the Gulf

 from NOLA dot com:

 

The Louisiana Bucket Brigade has created an "Oil Spill Crisis Map'' that will allow Gulf Coast residents to report fishermen out of work, endangered wildlife, oil on shore, oil sheens and other impacts of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

 

Citizen reports can be submitted via text message, the web or e-mail. Those reports will appear on a web-based map of the Gulf Coast, the Bucket Brigade said in a news release today.

"The Oil Spill Crisis Map compiles and maps eyewitness accounts of the oil's effects in real time," said Anne Rolfes of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade. "This is a tool for all of us to understand the extent of the damage."  

 

The map can be viewed at http://oilspill.labucketbrigade.org

 

The news release said reports can also be made at that site. Mobile phone users can text reports to 504. 27 27 OIL. Reports can also be sent to bpspillmap@gmail.com and through Twitter with the hashtag #BPspillmap. Eyewitness reports for the map require a description, and location information such as address, city and state, zip-code or coordinates. Citizen reporters can remain anonymous or disclose their contact information. Photos and video can be uploaded via the web.

 

Tulane University graduate students, Louisiana Bucket Brigade staff and California-based Radical Designs partnered to create the map, the news release said.

 

Donation site for oil spill

The Ritz-Carlton in downtown New Orleans is accepting donations of nylons, hair and fur on behalf of Matter of Trust (www.matteroftrust.org) to create booms to combat oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The hotel is currently the only donation location in New Orleans and one of only nine locations along the Gulf Coast. Help us with a PSA, an on-camera interview or a mention.

Donations can be dropped off at the entrance to the hotel at 921 Canal Street and will then be transported to the warehouse parking garage behind the hotel. Ritz-Carlton employees will work in teams to create booms by stuffing nylons with donated hair and fur. To find out more and see how the booms are made: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwQOD_Ir2vQ.

Spa Director Daisye Suduran has been collecting nylons for the past six months and is spearheading this effort. The contact with Matters of Trust is Lisa Gautier, who can be reached at 415-235-2403 or team@matteroftrust.org.

 

BP Playing Dirty

Alabama Attorney General Troy King said tonight that he has told representatives of BP Plc. that they should stop circulating settlement agreements among coastal Alabamians.

The agreements, King said, essentially require that people give up the right to sue in exchange for payment of up to $5,000.

King said BP's efforts were particularly strong in Bayou La Batre.

This is similar to BP's efforts in Louisiana to have workers in the cleanup process
sign away any rights they may have in the future to sue BP over losses, just by working for them. The work applications were later torn up due to "confusion".

These S.O.B.s will stop at nothing.

Update 5/3/2010:


Despite a Sunday federal-court decision to the contrary, BP representatives today were telling would-be cleanup mariners that they had to absolve the oil giant of any liability if they wanted to get the lucrative work.

The contracts handed out at the John A. Alario Center on the West Bank of Jefferson Parish included language that was supposed to have been struck after the ruling by Judge Ginger Berrigan Sunday. In addition to the liability provisions, a copy of the contract obtained by The Lens prohibited the sailors from talking to reporters, another provision voided by Berrigan.

another scuzzbucket

The brother of Louisiana senator Landrieu thinks and hopes the oil slick will just go away.

Taylor expects spill to break up naturally - Oil Spill - SunHerald.com

A Contact for Volunteering

The Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary is the fastest disappearing landmark on Earth! You can help save our home by joining us in supporting common-sense restoration solutions and by volunteering to restore our coastal heartland. - BTNEP Information

Location:
320 Audubon Ave (North Babington Hall, NSU)
Thibodaux, LA, 70310Phone:
1-800-259-0869Mon - Fri:
8:00 am - 4:30 pm

Here are their links
Facebook
Their Homepage

From American Zombie

Created by NOLA blogger American Zombie

BP builds containment boxes to place over spill - wtop.com

BP builds containment boxes to place over spill - wtop.com: "The chamber will be one of the largest ever built and will be used in an attempt to contain an oil leak related to the mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon explosion. (AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard, Petty Officer"

Opportunities for Fishermen

More training will be offered Monday, parish officials have said. Everhardt said St. Bernard Parish fishermen interested in working to fight the oil should attend a meeting at 7:30 Monday morning in the ballroom behind the Civic Center in Chalmette

The parish has also asked interested commercial fishermen to sign up at the parish's website, www.sbpg.net, at the "Contact Us'' button at the top of the page. Also, fishers can email Everhardt at feverhardt@sbpg.net, Councilman Wayne Landry at wlandry@sbpg.net, or parish executive assistant Karen Turni Bazile at kbazile@sbpg.net

Quote - May 1, 2010

"This event is a self-feeding fire," Environmentalist Richard Charter of the Defenders of Wildlife organization told CNN. "It is so big and expanding so fast that it's pretty much beyond human response that can be effective. ... You're looking at a long-term poisoning of the area. Ultimately, this will have a multi-decade impact."

For those of you outside the Gulf Coast who WILL be impacted by this tragedy, this has the history.

Welcome to our world.

the ugly truth

go to this link

I'm sick