Report: BP crimnally abused animals

Activist Files Police Report - Alleges BP Criminally Abused Animals

(New Orleans, LA) –The Executive Director of the Humane Society of Louisiana, Jeff Dorson, filed a police report yesterday with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Department, alleging that BP violated several Parish ordinances hundreds of times since the April 20th blowout of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig. The report alleges that BP violated the parish animal cruelty codes and the ordinances that specifically prohibit the exposure of poisonous materials, the avoidance of mistreatment of animals, and the littering of waterways.

"I realize this is a modest legal action in light of the crisis, but I hope it has a significant impact.” Dorson says. “Every time we see an oil-covered animal and contaminants in the water we are witnessing a crime and it should be reported."

Dorson backed his claims with information he gathered on three visits to the barrier islands in Barataria Bay off Grand Isle. His photos of oiled birds and oil globs bobbing in the water, along with statistical counts of captured animals injured by oil and the number that subsequently died are included in the police report.

The claim will be reviewed by the Jefferson Parish District Attorney's Office where the decision on whether to prosecute will be made. If the matter is tried in court, hundreds of residents could be called to testify. Dorson says: “I hope they prosecute and allow us to testify in open court. We need to stand up for the tens of thousands of birds and animals who have been in harmed, killed, or displaced by this criminal activity," Dorson adds.

Established in 1988, The Humane Society of Louisiana is one of the state's largest animal protection agencies, with over 10,000 members and supporters. To tackle many of the issues surrounding the BP Deep Horizon oil spill, the group launched Operation Here to Help, which can be found on Facebook. For more information, please call 1-888-6-humane or visit www.humanela.org.

Surviving the Oil Spill

Louisiana Seafood Board Newsroom


A Gulf Fisherman Speaks Out About Surviving the Oil Spill
Posted: 07 Jul 2010 10:01 PM PDT
Pete Gerica is 57-years-old and has fished the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Portchartrain, north of New Orleans, all his life. As a 3rd generation southern Louisiana fisherman, there is determined grit in his words when asked about the massive BP oil gusher in the Gulf and pride in his profession as an independent Louisiana fisherman.

Gerica’s keenly aware of public concern over seafood safety but he points out that Louisiana seafood is under more testing scrutiny and inspections than any other seafood in America, and far more carefully checked than the significant influx of seafood from unregulated foreign sources.

Gernica has been catching drum fish in Gulf waters in recent weeks that are open to fishermen and has not seen or heard of fish tainted by oil.

Peter Gerica believes the lack of usual availability of fish and shellfish from Louisiana is attributed to restrictions on fishing, and that’s led to a false perception about quality.

While millions gallons of oil have poured into the Gulf of Mexico, Gerica steers away from anything that might sound promotional or self-serving. He talks about the research that is being done by scores of scientists and marine biologists and prefers to stick with the facts.

There is currently a significant shortage, he says, of wild caught seafood from Louisiana due to Gulf fishing waters being closed for precautionary reasons, and not – he emphasizes – because of any pollution of seafood. Louisiana fishing waters are a main source for America.

Gerica believes the lack of usual availability of fish and shellfish from Louisiana has shortages and that’s led to a false perception about quality.
Furthermore, he points out that tar balls in the water – now making for sensational media coverage – are nothing new. Tar balls have been seen on beaches and in Gulf and ocean waters for generations … and, as long as anyone can remember. Many come from natural oil leakage in the ocean floor, he says.

Gerica and his wife lost everything five years ago during Hurricane Katrina, including three fishing boats. They nearly died after being swept into a tree. He rebuilt and takes pride in the quality of fish and shrimp he catches, when available, and says that he’ll survive the BP oil spill … even though the end is not yet in sight today.

BP Gulf Oil Spill - Unreleased 60 Minutes Documentary PII

A request for help

From Pensacola resident Diana Stephens
A message that might help us "Fight BP on their own turf".

Who knows, it may work. Please read and send an email to Ms. Caroline Lucas (email in this message)

Got this reply from Rob, a UK resident, in response to one of my oil spill vids on Youtube. He suggest that we, the American people. contact a minister in the Parliment, whose platform is focused on the environment and Ecology. Since BP is a British company, I believe this is a great idea.

*** PLEASE be kind in your email to her. . . she is sympathetic to our cause and may be able to help get Corexit banned in the US. ****

Here is his reply:

"hi Diana,

I'm from the UK and have been watching this tragedy unfold with horror and sadness - my heart goes out to all you locals esp. the media over here has been useless in reporting the truth, which is to be expected with such a huge corporation involved. Very few people I fear are really aware of what's going on.

A huge worry and mistake is clearly the use of corexit, and I have been thinking about how to raise the awareness of the problem with the public. Seeing as BP is considered by many to be a British company, I think it's about time we got our government involved. We have one (yes, only one) green party politician who holds a seat in our parliament (for Brighton). Her whole politics is based around the enviroment and ecology.

I've been writing to others like you who've been doing an amazing job on youtube with the suggestion that you and as many locals and viewers write to this minister. Her email is as follows:

caroline.lucas.mp@parliament.uk

She is able to raise issues in public debate within the house of commons, directly to the prime minister and all of our politicians. The debates are also televised, so will go out to the nation and be picked up by the media. I don't know whether or not she is already working on this, but my view is that if she is bombarded with emails directly from you residents at source, then she will find herself at the centre of an ecological mission that her conscience will find hard to ignore. We can put this mission upon her in the nicest way, as she is quite possibly the most influential green politician in the UK.

I would like to suggest that perhaps the most pressing issues to begin with are to make her aware of the vile horrors of corexit, and urge her to request that the government force BP to cease using this chemical, and to accept the offers of outside help which they have so far refused, as after all this is now a global issue rather than a corporate one.

I hope you are able to co-ordinate as many emails as possible to Caroline - I really think there is a possibility of achieving something this way. Please pass this message on to as many as possible.
Good luck and all the very best to you,
Rob"


A short polite email - detailing what we have been and are going thru - might just help us. Please, send one to her. Thanks

Gunderboom

The City of Ocean Springs will soon be home to a BP pilot booming program. Ocean Springs Mayor Connie Moran met with BP officials at the Department of Marine Resources headquarters Sunday morning.

After many meetings with BP, Mayor Moran said she now feels the city is on track to achieving its goal of preparedness.

"We made a presentation again Sunday for the ocean boom called Gunder Boom, proposing a stretch that would go from East Deer Island all the way to Marsh Point near East Beach," said Mayor Moran.

Because of that presentation, BP has agreed to fund a pilot program for a section of the boom.

Too bad Louisiana hasn’t tried to use Gunder Boom.  It looks like a great way to keep oil and tarballs out.

Here’s a website with drawings showing how the boom works

http://www.gunderboom.com/

 

Michoud's past, present and future

From spaceref dot com (http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.rss.html?id=1410), a great article about where I work.

NASA's Last Two Space Shuttle External Tanks Are Being Built at Michoud

Ken Kremer
Wednesday, June 30, 2010 -

Ken Kremer for NASA Watch , NASA Michoud Assembly Facility, LA

The last two Space Shuttle External Tanks (ET's) likely to be produced in history are entering their final closeout assembly operations at the NASA-owned Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans as the shuttle program draws ever closer to its looming retirement date, now reset to early 2011.

These two final tanks are destined for the last scheduled flight of the shuttle program - STS 134 - and what's currently base lined as the Launch-On-Need (LON) rescue mission (STS 335), respectively. They are designated as tanks ET-138 and ET-122. STS 134 is currently scheduled to lift off on Feb. 28, 2011.

I had the rare opportunity to inspect these final ET's up close during my tour of NASA's new Lunar Orion Ground Test Article (GTA). Read my Orion reports here and here.

The giant tanks play a dual role. First, they supply the super cold cryogenic propellants - liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen - to fuel the Orbiters three main engines during the thunderous ascent to orbit. Second, they provide the structural backbone to the shuttle system by absorbing most of the seven million pounds of thrust exerted by the solid rocket boosters and main engines.

The tank work is taking place amidst great uncertainty for all the aerospace workers employed on the Space Shuttle Program at Michoud and at all other NASA and shuttle contractor locations across the US.

Massive job cuts in the tens of thousands are set to occur as the Shuttle program is ended and as the termination of NASA's follow on Constellation moon program, which would have employed some of these folks, was recently accelerated by the Obama Administration. Indeed many thousands of shuttle contractor workers have already been layed off.

Until recently, Michoud was a beehive humming with construction activity for our nation's space program. Now it's almost like a ghost town, sadly foreshadowing the coming demise of the shuttle program as the ET manufacturing lines have been shut down. More than 1000 layoffs have already taken place at Michoud even as the US remains in the grip of the worst economic recession since the Depression.

ET manufacturing is the main activity at Michoud and the facility was one of the largest industrial employers in the New Orleans area, now further battered by the economically devastating effects of the BP Gulf oil spill.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems manufactures the huge ET's at Michoud under a contract from NASA that was awarded in 1973. These last tanks are being assembled under a contract that extends through 2010. To date, three test tanks and 132 flight tanks have been delivered to NASA.

"We are down to about 1200 employees from a total of about 2200 working at Michoud. And, we are on a rapid decline," Lockheed spokesman Kevin Barre told me. "Layoffs started about one year ago. There is still no direction from NASA on the future of the facility. The ET weld tools are now covered and in storage. They belong to NASA".

Most of the current tank work is focused on ET-138, with three shifts working diligently around the clock in the Test & Checkout Building, # 420. Test & Checkout is the final stop for an ET during build before being rolled out to the shipping barge to KSC.

During my visit, expert teams of highly experienced and dedicated personnel were busily working on the umbilical connections, foam modifications, feed lines, ice frost ramps, electrical lines and much more as I stood in awe on top of the wraparound scaffolding, just inches from the giant yellow tank positioned hoizontally on the shop floor and which stretches 154 feet in length and 27.6 feet in diameter and a mere one half inch thick.

See my ET-138 photos below and 360 degree panoramas courtesy of Nasatech.net: http://nasatech.net/

I was lucky to stride back and forth along the tank where very few folks are permitted, from the nose cap of the tank to the rear and also gaze straight at the two complex and rectangular shaped umbilical plate assemblies containing the critical oxygen and hydrogen feed lines which are coupled directly to the rear of the orbiter during launch.

Panorama from bottom of ET-138 near umbilical plate assemblies

Panorama near top of ET-138 next to fuel feed lines

Lockheed is targeting to complete ET-138 around June 29. ET-138 will then be transported about one mile to the sites deep-water access port and placed aboard a barge named Pegasus.

A delivery celebration of sorts is planned for July 8, although for many of those fortunate to still be employed it may harken to a somber funeral procession.

"There will be a New Orleans second line with a jazz band following the tank to the barge!," according to Lockheed spokesman Kevin Barre.

The "Second line" is a "quintessential New Orleans art form -- a jazz funeral without a body". Second line is a New Orleans tradition where participants follow the brass band and enjoy the music with a parade of traditional dance and twirling parasols and handkerchiefs.

The tanks are then towed on the barge for a 900 mile voyage across the Gulf of Mexico, around Florida and up to the Kennedy Space Center on a trip lasting five or six days. NASA officials are in the process of determining whether the catastrophic BP oil leak in the Gulf will affect the timing or the route of the barge. There were some minor adjustments to the path of the barge on the prior ET shipment.

These tanks are the newest version dubbed the Super Lightweight Tank (SLWT), weighing some 58,500 pounds. They are 7,500 pounds lighter than the prior Lightweight Tanks (LWT) because of the use of a significantly stronger and less dense aluminum lithium alloy.

The weight savings with the SLWT translates directly pound for pound to an increase in the shuttle's payload capacity to orbit and was vital for enabling the shuttle to loft the heavier components required to build and supply the International Space Station. The first SLWT lifted off on 2 June 1998, powering STS 91 into orbit.

The Michoud facility sits on an 832 acre property in eastern New Orleans. It features one of the largest manufacturing plants in the world, encompassing over 43 acres under one roof and a deep water access port which is a necessity for the transportation of large space structures via ocean-going barge.

Everyone I spoke with at Michoud wished the program would continue but sadly realizes that it won't. They are uniformly proud of their accomplishments and their role in supporting the US Space Program.

The ET teams motto is "The Last One will be the Best One !"

They are a highly dedicated lot. Half the folks at Michoud lost their homes during Hurricane Katrina and pushed on with the work despite the terrible aftermath and kept the shuttle program running on schedule.

One employee said to me, "In addition to aerospace workers, there are a whole lot of regular working folks from the community who contribute to the program, in many different ways. I'm always amazed at what a great job local, family-owned contractors are capable of when becoming involved with our space programs."

"It helps to put into perspective where the funding for these programs really goes. I get the impression some times that the public has the idea that billions of dollars are actually loaded into a rocket and blasted into space, never to be seen again. They don't seem to notice the regular folks, like steel workers, carpenters, electricians and pipe fitters, their suppliers and equipment vendors, who all participate in and benefit from these kinds of programs. They are all very much part of the space program too, although if you're up to your elbows in a mud pit, you probably don't feel much like an astronaut."

NASA has done studies on what it would take in terms of time and money to restart the ET production line, but that study has not been released to the public.

Senior NASA shuttle managers have told me that it would take roughly 2 years from the date the order was placed to produce the first new tank. In the meantime, there are numerous "piece parts" for one to two tanks currently sitting on the floor at the facility which could be assembled together and which I personally saw.

NASA and Lockheed are also working together at Michoud to repair ET-122 which was heavily damaged during Hurricane Katrina.

Watch for my upcoming feature on observing the restoration of ET-122.

ET-122 will be stacked for the contingency mission STS 335 along with Orbiter Atlantis and the last SRB's which recently arrived at KSC in late May. Read my features on the last SRB's and Atlantis last flight and tribute here:

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1399

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1395

Obamath

President Barack Obama on Saturday announced about $2 billion in new investments to help build clean energy technology and create thousands of jobs.

In his weekly address, Obama said that the Department of Energy is slated to award nearly $2 billion in conditional commitments to two solar companies: Abengoa Solar and Abound Solar Manufacturing.

The construction will create about 1,600 jobs in Arizona and more than 70 percent of the components and products used in construction will be manufactured in the United States “boosting jobs and communities in states up and down the supply chain,” Obama said.   Abound Solar Manufacturing will manufacture advanced solar panels at two new plants in Colorado and Indiana, creating more than 2,000 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent jobs.

 

The drilling moratorium in the Gulf  equates to the loss of 37,000 jobs.  Solar panels are made from petroleum products.  So what the prez is doing is swapping 37,000 jobs for ~3,300 permanent  jobs.  What’s wrong with this picture?

 

Corps of Engineers take a holiday

Oil too close to home

Shrimp boat sits idle at Rigolets marina. #oilspill sheen and... on Twitpic

Oil Advances Into Lake Pontchartrain

Oil Advances Into Lake Pontchartrain

nunguesser calls out coast guard

Plaquemines Parish president Billy Nungesser venting to WWL radio. Coast Guard/BP conspiracy going on....I believe it.