Corexit STILL being used

From a VOO (Vessels of Opportunity) worker:

"We'd roll up on a patch of oil ½ mile wide by one mile long and they'd hold us off from cleaning it up," Miller, speaking with Truthout at his home in D'Iberville, Mississippi, said. "We'd leave and the Carolina Skiffs would pull up and start spraying dispersants on the oil. The guys doing the spraying would wear respirators and safety glasses. Their boats have 375 gallon white drums full of the stuff and they could spray it out 150 feet. The next day there'd be the white foam that's always there after they hit the oil with dispersants."

Some nights VOO crews would sleep out near the work sites. "We'd sleep out there and some nights the planes would come in so close the noise would wake us from a dead sleep," Miller added. "Again, we'd call in the oiled areas during the day and at night the planes would come in and hit the hell out of it with dispersants. That was the drill. We'd spot it and report it. They'd call us off it and send guys out in the skiffs or planes to sink it."

Read the whole sickening article here.

Lies Lies and more Lies

Regarding the premature opening of Gulf of Mexico fishing areas, an article from website truthout details the lies going on, apparently to calm people down after three months of graphic pictures and stories about the BP Oilspill. Apparently, the movers and shakers think we're all stupid and suffer from short term memory. Here's an excerpt:


On Monday, August 9, the Director of the State of Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (DMR), Bill Walker, despite ongoing reports of tar balls, oil and dispersants being found in Mississippi waters, declared, 'there should be no new threats' and issued an order for all local coast governments to halt ongoing oil disaster work being funded by BP money that was granted to the state.

Two days after Walker's announcement and in response to claims from state and federal officials that Gulf Coast waters are safe and clean, fishermen took their own samples from the waters off of Pass Christian in Mississippi.

The samples were taken in water that is now open for shrimping, as well as from waters directly over Mississippi's oyster bed, that will likely open in September for fishing.

Commercial fisherman James "Catfish" Miller, took fishermen Danny Ross Jr. and Mark Stewart, along with scientist Dr. Ed Cake of Gulf Environmental Associates and others out and they found the fishing grounds to be contaminated with oil and dispersants.

This is not to say that ALL Gulf seafood is contaminated. In my mind, it's just those waters EAST of the Mississippi River.

God help those bastards who are lying about all of this. May they rot forever in oil and corexit.

Caring for Sea Turtles

Walt Disney World is the new home for eight sea turtles injured by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The turtles are being cared for at temporary rehabilitation facilities at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park.

The eight turtles include two green sea turtles and six endangered Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtles, the smallest of eight species of sea turtles. Dr Andy Stamper, a research scientist and veterinarian with Disney’s Animal Programs, transported the turtles last week from the Florida Panhandle to the theme park.

In order to care for the animals, Disney’s Animal Kingdom has converted a backstage area into a temporary facility. Engineers and water-science experts have created salt-water pools that can hold up to 35 sea turtles.

“Oil can have a devastating effect on the health of sea turtles, marine mammals and birds,” said Jackie Ogden, Ph.D., vice president for Animal Programs and Environmental Initiatives at Disney Parks. “Over the next several months, many of these animals will require intense medical treatment over a prolonged period. We want to be sure that we provide top-notch medical care wherever we can – whether it’s on a beach or in a state-of-the-art veterinary facility. Ultimately, our goal is to re-release these animals so they can once again thrive in the wild of our oceans and coastline.”

According to the Sea Turtle Restoration Project, as of July 26, 790 sea turtles have been affected by the Gulf oil spill, with 498 sea turtles dead and 222 rescued. Of those rescued, 173 of those survivors are Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtles, one of the most endangered of the sea-turtle species.

Most of the turtles are recovering in rehabilitation centers such as those at Disney, which has a long track record working with these animals. Since 1986, Disney animal care teams have rehabilitated more than 250 endangered sea turtles.

This current effort is Disney’s second such rehabilitation effort this summer. Earlier in July, Disney began caring for seven Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtles that had been diagnosed with pneumonia. Those turtles were transported from the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, Mississippi in order to make room for animals affected by the Gulf oil spill.

These wildlife rescue efforts reflect Disney’s ongoing work with animals affected by the BP oil spill. Disney’s Animal Programs, and its animal care team, is prepared to send on-site assistance.

In addition, Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Epcot’s The Seas with Nemo & Friends both have rehabilitation facilities that enable the animal care team to treat various animals at Walt Disney World Resort. As a licensed wildlife rehabilitation center, Disney’s Animal Programs supports the rescue and rehabilitation of more than 1,000 injured and orphaned wild animals each year.

Disney has also committed funds to the Gulf oil spill recovery efforts. Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund (DWCF), which provides funding to non-profit conservation organizations, has donated $100,000 to environmental and animal rescue efforts. Supported by Disney’s Friends for Change: Project Green, the DWCF has given, to date, $50,000 to The National Audubon Society for their work during the Gulf oil spill and $50,000 in grant money to other organizations.

 

 

PDX2 Gulf Coast at Grand Isle

I ask the search and rescue team leader how bad the spill is, after he tells us he has worked on three other spills. “Monumental,” he says. I’m with a reporter from my hometown newspaper and he’s unsatisfied with the answer. He presses. The official speaks in gentle equivocations — it’s not his job to argue, it’s his job to get the media out to these places, to see what is the what and get the story to the public. Sure it’s controlled, but he doesn’t like a man whose tongue would be lashed. It is big and his body language says a lot. Monumental is a monumental word after all.

Read the entire post here.

Oregonians helping Gulf Coast

from the "pdx2gulfcoast.com", Oregonians Supporting their Gulf Coast Neighbors website, a report on the cleanup on the Alabama beaches and the relocation of the baby turtles. An excerpt:


Just beyond the beachgoers, there is yet another ‘Incident Command Unit’ down the beach. As we approach, walking the beach where the resorts stop, the tarballs grow by degrees in number. Closing in, we count 12 men working. They have a contraption that resembles a screen door and they are sifting sand for oil, then bagging it in plastic bags to be hauled away. Asking the men where it goes, they don’t have an answer. The ubiquitous ‘they’ that occupies hierarchy here ‘take care of it.’

This is far and away the most absurd thing I’ve seen in a three state tour of oil affected areas. Imagine sifting millions of cubic feet of sand with a f@#R%ing screen door. This is humanity reduced to helplessness. This is pissing in the wind. This is for a time at least, 12 peoples’ livelihood paid for by BP.



Please go to this website and leave a comment thanking them for their support.

Dave Matthews Band - Too Much

DON'T OPEN THE FISHERIES

From a recent post at Huffington Post, superwoman and marine biologist Riki Ott pens an article:
"Seafood Safety and Politics Don't Mix: Opening of Gulf Fisheries at Odds With Evidence of Harm"

Here's a heartbreaking excerpt:

"Eight days after returning home from his Gulf oil-spill response job, Jason Brashears has flashbacks of a scene that he witnessed one day in Lake Ponchartrain, Louisiana: Thousands of fish gasping at the surface in a sea of foamy oil and dispersant.

Brashears spent 65 days spotting oil in Lake Ponchartrain; Mobile Bay; and along the coast off Destin, Florida; Ocean Springs, Alabama; and Cat Island, Mississippi. His team reported oil sightings during the day. At night, planes sprayed dispersant to break up the oil."

I'm pissed, I'm pissed and I'm pissed some more. WHO ISN'T involved in this cover up and sugar coating one of the worst environmental disasters in this country?

It's all about limiting BP's liability

Grand Isle town hall meeting - day 100 of oilspill

This is just one village on the coast. The story is the same from Texas to Tampa, folks who fly over tell me there’s still plenty of oil out there. BP is starting to scale back the use of fishermen and in the eyes of costal residents they are depending more on the use of COREXIT. What scares me the most is that most of the hermit crabs that use to reside on the beaches are gone. The concern is worms and smaller organisms that provide life for fish & birds have suffered the same fate.



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Lots of interesting oil spill information at dirty cajuns dot com.

Good news for a change

The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation agreed to consolidate the litigation over the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in federal court in New Orleans before Judge Carl J. Barbier.

"Upon careful consideration, we have settled upon the Eastern District of Louisiana as the most appropriate district for this litigation. Without discounting the spill's effects on other states, if there is a geographic and psychological 'center of gravity' in this docket, then the Eastern District of Louisiana is closest to it," the panel ruled.

The decision is a victory for the City of New Orleans, which will benefit from the economic activity of having hundreds of disputes over financial responsibility for the oil disaster taking place in the city. It is also a victory for plaintiffs, who will be able to participate in the proceedings without having to travel as far.

The panel of seven federal judges, who met in Boise, Idaho, on July 29, ruled that all claims under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, personal injury and wrongful death actions should be centralized. The panel said that consolidating the legal actions "may also facilitate closer coordination with Kenneth Feinberg's administration of the BP compensation fund."

The panel also said that it believed that the "limitation of liability" proceedings brought by rig owner Transocean Ltd. in federal court in Houston is a "potential tag-along action" in this docket, and will be included on a forthcoming conditional transfer order, but the group did not make a definitive ruling on that consideration.

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier

"Although our preliminary assessment is that the action should be included in the centralized proceedings, we do not prejudge the matter...the parties are free to object to the action's transfer," the judges wrote.

The panel said that it selected Barbier to oversee the litigation because he has gained considerable experience with consolidated litigation in his 12 years on the federal bench, and is already actively managing dozens of oil disaster cases. "We have every confidence that he is well prepared to handle a litigation of this magnitude," the judges wrote.

In making their choice, the judges rejected the notion that venues such as New Orleans might not provide a level playing field for all parties and that they should search elsewhere for a 'neutral' judge. "With all due respect, we disagree with the premise of this argument. When federal judges assume the bench, all take an oath to administer justice in a fair and impartial manner to all parties equally."

 

The Death of Delacroix

NOLA dot com video about Delacroix, Louisiana.

A PARADISE LOST

Dow’na Road

New Orleans Blogger Pistolette reminisces about her childhood and Katrina's affect in St. Bernard Parish in this well written post