Groups Urge President to Federalize Response

[nashville_brook]

http://www.healthygulf.org/201005291325/blog/bp-s-oil-drilling-disaster-in-the-gulf-of-mexico/press-release-groups-urge-president-to-federalize-response

For Immediate Release

SEND IN NAVY, HALT THE DISPERSANTS, AND PUT HONORE IN CHARGE, GROUPS SAY

Grand Isle, LA- A coalition of commercial and recreational fishing organizations, native American tribes and local community organizations have joined with environmental organizations to demand a larger, more effective response to the BP oil drilling disaster. Ongoing independent monitoring of the situation in the Gulf documenting the ineffective response from BP has led groups who care about the coast to greet the second visit by President Obama with a call for a significant change.

The groups strongly recommend the following immediate changes to the disaster recovery/response:
-- President Obama should federalize the disaster clean-up and activate the United States military to become the on-the ground, command and control leader of the disaster clean-up.
-- President Obama should order an immediate halt to the use of dispersants, unless and until federal and state natural resource scientists agree on their safety for people, wildlife and habitat.
-- President Obama should replace Coast Guard leadership and designate a Federal military disaster response director, similar to General Honore in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina


According to GRN Executive Director, Cynthia Sarthou, “our observations of the clean-up and containment response by BP has left us with the impression that BP does not have the capacity, organization, experience, or understanding of how to keep the oil out of our coast. Further, GRN is deeply concerned by statements made by BP CEO, Tony Hayward, which clearly indicate that BP is attempting to minimize the perceived environmental and economic impacts this disaster will cause in the short-term and long-term, and as such, should be removed from any decision making power over the deployment of clean-up and containment resources.”

_____________________

Volunteer Resources:
http://www.healthygulf.org/our-work/bp-oil-drilling-disaster-volunteer-opportunities/volunteer-resources

Here's a flyer:
http://www.healthygulf.org/files_reports/BP_Drilling_Disaster/BPOilDrillingDisasterOnePager.pdf

[elleng]

1. May be, but NO ONE ELSE

has the 'capacity, organization, experience, or understanding of how to keep the oil out of our coast,' imo.

There IS NO SUPERMAN.

[EFerrari]

2. We don't need superman, we need someone less self-interested than BP.

[elleng]

3. They're NOT interested in stopping leak and cleaning it up, you think?

[laughingliberal]

7. Stopping the leak, yes. Cleanup? Not so much. nt

[inna]

10. i'm so sick and tired of corporatist apologists, i want to throw up

:puke:

[elleng]

16. Try Pepto Bismol,

and THEN, try to understand the enormity of the problems, the large number of people, corp, gov, indep, with proposed solutions, and calm down.

Ever have a difficult problem to solve? and how did communications go?

[flyarm]

26. It is my back yard..I AM NOT FUCKING CALMING DOWN! And I have been blessed by BP and

our government to air that is almost unbreathable..and doing god knows what damage to so many people's health and livelyhood on the gulf Coast..I would more aptly say..mind your own business..we will get mad and we will scream bloody fucking murder over this and will continue to do so as long as we are subject to this catastrophe and our government allows the cover up of this crime!

Oh and WV..i suggest you take care of your own back yard, you have enough shit of your own to deal with ..and criminals I might add....we will take care of ours!

[elleng]

27. Fortunately you are not one of the decision-makers;

with that attitude, you'll go far as a flamer somewhere, but not as a problem-solver.

Incidentally, I live in MD, NOT WV; my daughter is in college there. Things under control here at the moment.

'We will take care of ours?' OURS is ALL OF OURS. OUR oil, OUR coal, OUR wind, OUR sun.

Good luck to us all.

[flyarm]

28. the decision makers have fucked up the gulf for decades to come..I suppose you like their decisions?

Mine would have been to never allow these fuckers to destroy this beautiful body of water ..or our pristine beaches and our food supply and our marine life and our wild life! Nor would I have ever let these fuckers destroy our eco system for decades and decades to come..and i sure would not have padded my pockets Like our politicians of both parties have!

I have morals that can not be bought ..nor can my principles and values and I would never have allowed future generations to have their food supply or water destroyed for power and greed as both parties of politic ans in this nation have!

My values and principles are LONG LIVED democratic platforms and principles..obviously we do not share the "New Democratic" principles of padding one's pocket and making excuses for it at the cost of our eco system!

I will never make excuses for the fuckers who allowed this !

I never thought for a moment I would live long enough to see any democrat make excuses for the vile destruction of our once lovely Gulf of Mexico..and the greedy bastards who would do such a thing and our democratic Politicians sell out our eco system and our water ways.

Here is what "your decision makers that you applaud their handy work" have done and what we the people plan to do to take back our ocean from the greedy fucks who destroyed her!

http://nola.humidbeings.com/events/detail/3008/Protest-Murdered-Gulf.-Stop-the-BP-Oil-Flood-now-2010-05-30

RALLY & Protest to Save the Gulf:
Sunday May 30 at 1pm in Jackson Square, New Orleans

Why is Washington DC leaving our communities to DIE in the BP Oil Flood?

WHY is the Federal Government standing idle? BP is murdering the Gulf !

WHERE is the federal response? We the people of the Gulf Coast demand IMMEDIATE FEDERAL INTERVENTION and deployment of all available resources to STOP this flood of oil into the Gulf… NOW!

BP’s greed & negligence MURDERED eleven human beings– real working people, just like you and me, with real families, spouses and children– and now BP is DESTROYING the entire Gulf Coast while the Federal Government does NOTHING!

This is CHERNOBYL IN THE GULF. The BP Oil Flood is destroying the Gulf of Mexico for ENTIRE GENERATIONS. WHERE is the leadership at the federal level? Where is the action?

BP cannot or will not stop it. The government MUST INTERVENE and by any means necessary with all available resources STOP THE BP OIL FLOOD!

JOIN US SUNDAY, MAY 30 to PROTEST!

[earth mom]

46. Totally agree with you! Anyone who isn't pissed off, isn't paying attention or doesn't give a damn!

I can't believe the disgusting low life apologists that have crawled out of the woodwork on this one! :puke:

I thought I'd seen it all when the fucking banksters stole taxpayer money to the tune of trillions while kool aid drinking airheads around here saw nothing wrong with it-but this really takes the fucking cake! :grr:

I am so pissed off and absolutely heartbroken! :cry:

[flyarm]

29. here is your decision makers and problem solvers............

here is more of the decsion makers you seem to happily applaud...


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=edit&forum=389&topic_id=8446115&mesg_id=8447690

Thanks to Chill_ Wind for posting.............

Wackenhut in the Gulf guarding BP & US 'Command ' Center - (The Nation, Jeremy Scahill, 5/29)
Edited on Sat May-29-10 09:54 PM by chill_wind


BP and US Government 'Command Center' Guarded by Company From Afghan Embassy Hazing Scandal
Jeremy Scahill

I just got off the phone with my friends Naomi Klein, author of "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism," and her husband Avi Lewis, host of al Jazeera English's popular program Fault Lines. They are traveling around the devastated US Gulf reporting on the horrific disaster caused by BP's massive oil spill. They described to me a run in that they just had with the private security company Wackenhut, which apparently has been hired to do the perimeter security for the "Deepwater Horizon Unified Command." The "Unified Command" is run jointly by BP and several US government agencies including the US Coast Guard, the Department of Defense, the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security.



Wackenhut, of course, is the notorious private security company that operates in the US and around the globe. It recently became part of the huge British mercenary network G4S. Most recently, Wackenhut gained global infamy for the conduct of guards from its subsidiary Armor Group after it was revealed by whistleblowers that the company created a "Lord of the Flies environment" at the embassy "in which guards and supervisors are 'peeing on people, eating potato chips out of cracks, vodka shots out of cracks... brawls, threats and intimidation from those leaders participating in this activity." According to the Project on Government Oversight, "Multiple guards say this deviant hazing has created a climate of fear and coercion, with those who declined to participate often ridiculed, humiliated, demoted, or even fired. The result is an environment that is dangerous and volatile. Some guards have reported barricading themselves in their rooms for fear that those carrying out the hazing will harm them physically."

In other words, Wackenhut is the perfect choice to "guard" the joint BP-US government-US military operation in the Gulf.

Lewis told me that for two weeks his crew has attempted to interview officials from the Unified Command's Joint Information Center. "We had been shut down or dodged for 2 weeks of official requests," he said. Finally, Lewis and Klein, who is on assignment for The Guardian, decided to go to the information center in person "to try to nail something down."




the rest: http://www.thenation.com/blog/bp-and-us-government-comm...


decison makers like this who the fuck needs enemy's it is now a police state!

hope you are happy with these decision makers ..it is ingorance like yours that help create this! And you will lie with the consequences for lifetimes ...but you will also force those of us who fight this shit to live with it as well..and That I will hold you responsible for ..forever!

Some around these parts these days are like bushbots redeux!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


" It is completely sci-fi. It's a corporate state." -- from the article
Klein, who spent extensive time in New Orleans during and after Hurricane Katrina documenting the widespread disaster profiteering and privatization that endures to this day said the fact that Wackenhut is guarding a joint operation of the US government and BP is not surprising given what is happening in the Gulf right now. "The whole Gulf Coast is a corporate oil state," she told me. "It's like BP broke it, so now they own the entire Gulf Coast." She added: "We might accept the premise that BP is best positionioned to know how to fix the blow up at 5,000 feet, but that also seems to mean they think they should control media access and the entire clean up of a massive national emergency. BP is in charge of everything. We were on the water in open seas the day before the Wackenhut incident and a boat pulls up next to us and asked if we worked for BP and we said, "No," and they said, 'You can't be here.'" It is completely sci-fi. It's a corporate state."

[flyarm]

30. damn right I am not one of these damn decsion makers or "problem solvers"

I would spit on these fuckers for what they have done!

thank you to marmar for posting this .............

Independent UK: Oil spill creates huge undersea 'dead zones'
Oil spill creates huge undersea 'dead zones'
Clouds of crude and chemical dispersants have formed in the Gulf of Mexico and oceanologists fear these could have devastating effects on the food chain

By Emily Dugan
Sunday, 30 May 2010


The world's most damaging oil spill – now in its 41st continuously gushing day – is creating huge unseen "dead zones" in the Gulf of Mexico, according to oceanologists and toxicologists. They say that if their fears are correct, then the sea's entire food chain could suffer years of devastation, with almost no marine life in the region escaping its effects.

While the sight of tar balls and oil-covered birds on Louisiana's shoreline has been the most visible sign of the spill's environmental destruction, many scientists now believe it is underwater contamination that will have the deadliest impact. At least two submerged clouds of noxious oil and chemical dispersants have been confirmed by research vessels, and scientists are seeing initial signs of several more. The largest is some 22 miles long, six miles wide and 3,300 feet deep – a volume that would take up half of Lake Erie. Another spans an area of 20 square miles.

More than 8,300 species of plants and animals are at risk. Some, such as the bluefin tuna, which come to the Gulf to spawn, could even face extinction. Scientists predict it will be many months – even years – before the true toll of the disaster will be known.

In previous spills, oil rose to the surface and was dealt with there, but due to the use of dispersants, as well as the weight of this particular crude oil and the pressure created by the depth of the leak, much of the oil has stayed submerged in clouds of tiny particles. At least 800,000 gallons of dispersants were sprayed at escaping oil in a frantic attempt to keep it offshore, but it now seems this preventative measure has created a worse disaster. The chemicals helped to keep the oil submerged and are toxic to marine life, resulting in unprecedented underwater damage to organisms in the Gulf.

Once these harmful substances enter the food chain, almost nothing will escape their effects. Forests of coral, sharks
, dolphins, sea turtles, game fish and thousands of shellfish could all face destruction. What happens next to these underwater clouds – or plumes – depends largely on the currents. If they do eventually rise to the surface, they may end up on the shoreline months or years from now, causing a second wave of destruction. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/oil-sp...

[flyarm]

31. here is more of what the decsion makers you so love have done to my back yard..the Gulf of Mexico..

go ahead keep making your pathetic excuses ..........

Toxicologist Dr Susan Shaw, director of the Marine Environmental Research Institute based in Maine. She has been diving among the damage and is horrified by the contamination caused by BP's continued use of dispersants. "They've been used at such a high volume that it's unprecedented. The worst of these – Corexit 9527 – is the one they've been using most. That ruptures red blood cells and causes fish to bleed. With 800,000 gallons of this, we can only imagine the death that will be caused."

According to Dr Shaw, plankton and smaller shrimps coated in these toxic chemicals will be eaten by larger fish, passing the deadly mix up the food chain. "This is dismantling the food web, piece by piece," she said. "We'll see dead bodies soon. Sharks, dolphins, sea turtles, whales: the impact on predators will be seen in a short time because the food web will be impacted from the bottom up."

The largest of the clouds, confirmed by a University of South Florida research ship last week, has gone deeper than the spill itself, defying BP's assurances that all oil would rise to the surface. It is now headed north-east of the rig, towards the DeSoto Canyon. This underwater trench could channel the noxious soup along the Florida coast, impacting on fisheries and coating 100-year-old coral forests. Tests on the toxicity of another chemical cloud, some 10 miles long and heading south-west of the site, are also being done by scientists from the University of Georgia.

Marine biologists say the timing of this underwater contamination could not be more catastrophic. "This is when all the animals are reproducing and hatching, so the damage at this depth will be much worse," said Dr Larry McKinney, director of the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies in Texas. "We're not talking about adults on the surface; it will impact on the young – and potentially a generational life cycle
."

This could wipe out more precarious species. "Bluefin tuna spawn just south of the oil spill and they spawn only in the Gulf. If they were to go through the area at a critical time, that's one instance where a plume could destroy a whole species."


YOU ARE DAMN RIGHT I AM NOT ONE OF THESE DECSION MAKERS OR PROBLEM SOLVERS..I ONLY WALK THE BEACHES AND CATALOG THE DEAD FISH AND BIRDS THEY HAVE KILLED! FOR GREED AND POWER!

[earth mom]

47. Flyarm, you should post all this information in an OP for those who still don't get it.

:grouphug:

[w4rma]

52. You don't let incompetent people "clean up" their mess. They are incompetent.

You get competent people and make the people who caused the mess pay the competent people.

[elleng]

53. Right now, govt is trying to determine who is competent;

expected and hoped bp would be.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/us/31spill.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1275242420-IIxKiCTCT+yfLw09kKhLPA

[flyarm]

57. Oh stop this nonsence..many countries have offered help and to send their experts to the Gulf

and have been turned away by our government! and that was reported in Fla in early May!

Wow, all I have to say is ..if you are not on someone's payroll...AND YOU ARE SO EASILY ARE MANIPULATED WITH PROPAGANDA....then I have some WONDERFUL Swampland for you here in Fla..alligators included!! of course.. I don't offer this lovely land to just anyone.. Aren't I so sweet to you??:loveya: :pals:

..And don't you worry your Little heart..they don't eat much! They just lay around and sun themselves..

Ahhhh.. but there was that woman last year..well seriously..the authorities only found her arm in the Gators stomach..

[elleng]

59. Please quit your b.s., and willful refusal to understand my pov,

and no hearts, flowers, or hugs will change my perception. Do your best to not be tombstoned, but I find your attitude about me truly obnoxious.

I trust Prez O. I think this admin is and will do its best to understand and implement or have implemented solutions, to this and other problems. The 'world' hasn't been there, this admin is trying to figure it out, and will, when useful, accept all helpers, imo. I believe we're listening to all ideas and offers. B.p. has surprised, disappointed and shocked this admin, imo.

FYI, I am a retired fed. gov employee (so your tax money is paying my 'pension!' Like that?) I regulated railroads for 20 +- years at Interstate Commerce Commission, and I know a bit about regulation, deregulation, commerce, big business, and 'big' government, Dem and Rep. I've not been at DU since '04 for nothing.

Enjoy your 'holiday.'

p.s., I'm a lawyer.

[flyarm]

58. There is a pattern established here..by two supposedly polar opposite Administrations!

Case in point:

1.9/11..good will is pouring in from nations world wide...legitimate help was refused.

2.Hurricane Katrina, again legitimate world wide help is refused.

3.BP OIL GUSHER, legitimate help from foreign nations and experts refused.

It does not take a Rocket scientist to see a pattern

Who are these MTF'ers in Washington..who the fuck are they? ..two supposedly POLAR opposite administrations ( excuse my laugh)
:eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: ...why are experts being turned away and who are these so called Washington power brokers isolating us from help that people and Nations with experince and critical expertise that have come forward to offer legitimate assistance to Our government and the American people??????

Why is our government denying access and help for the American people and our Gulf of Mexico?

Why are American people allowing themselves to be isolated by these bastards in Washington...of the help and assistance we so desparately need.

Isn't this supposed to be a government for and by the people..

Let me put this in simple terms..if your home catches fire and the fire dept shows up to assist you ..would you turn them away???????????????????????????????

If so you would be standing on a pile of burnt out rubble.

Just think..this has happened by two adminstrations now..perhaps that has been the plan all along!

Fuck if I am drowning and someone throws me a life vest, I am not going to let it float past me..and I doubt anyone else here would either..I mean who does that?

Did Haiti turn down help?

But don't worry we have the Bush- Clinton fund for everything..and yet our Adminstrations turn down all help for our worst disasters??????????? From experts from every corner of the globe, that have offered up assistance.

This is a disaster of epic proportions!..to our food supply, our eco system to marine life and wild life and to human life! And the murder of an Ocean or Oceans for many many decades into the future.

Get fucking real!

There is a clear pattern and people who do not engage in treasonous Propaganda and Bullshit see it clearly!

...And.... those who sold out their souls, as well as their fellow Americans ..for a paycheck.

Enjoy your checks while they last!

[EFerrari]

14. Their best interests are not ours. That's crystal clear. n/t

[flyarm]

25. they are more interested in covering their own asses! See this from almost 1 month ago!

the lies began immediately!

they are more worried about their own liability and their own criminality!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n1h1zFmUPA&feature=related

see the 7:11 marker and Rear Adm. Sally Brice -Ohara US Coast Guard calling BP the Coast Guard "PARTNER"..SINCE WHEN DOES OUR COAST GUARD BECOME PARTNERS WITH A FOREIGN CORPORATION?????????????

[William Z. Foster]

33. sure, maybe

They are interested in whatever is best for themselves. That may, for now, mean stopping a leak - at some point, maybe, eventually, depending on the expense and depending upon how their public relations effort is going.

But it may not. They may say "well sorry it can't be plugged, this is just the reality." They may already know that nothing can be done and are just stringing us all along while they cover their own asses. They may be doing all sorts of things in consideration of future litigation, such as fudging records, covering up evidence, framing scapegoats.

[laughingliberal]

4. Yeah, like this guy:

(May 14) -- Even as proposals pour in for cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, one veteran of a massive (and secret) crude spill in the Persian Gulf says he has a tried-and-true solution. Now if only the people who could make it happen would return his calls.

"No one's listening," says Nick Pozzi, who was an engineer with Saudi Aramco in the Middle East when he says an accident there in 1993 generated a spill far larger than anything the United States has ever seen.

Eric Gay, AP
A shrimp boat collects oil with booms in the waters of Chandeleur Sound, La., on May 5. An engineer who witnessed a crude spill in the Persian Gulf in 1993 says BP should use a fleet of empty supertankers to suck crude off the water's surface.

According to Pozzi, that mishap, kept under wraps for close to two decades and first reported by Esquire, dumped nearly 800 million gallons of oil into the Persian Gulf, which would make it more than 70 times the size of the Exxon Valdez spill.

But remarkably, by employing a fleet of empty supertankers to suck crude off the water's surface, Pozzi's team was not only able to clean up the spill, but also salvage 85 percent of the oil, he says.



http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/could-cleanup-fix-for-gulf-oil-spill-lie-in-secret-saudi-disaster/19476863

He only cleaned an 800 million gallon spill. Why on earth would BP not want to talk to him?

Oh, right! Only THEY have the experience, knowledge, equipment, blah...blah...blah...

[William Z. Foster]

32. well said

It is shocking how many here are unable or unwilling to understand this simple concept.

[nashville_brook]

5. this refers to the clean-up and the use of dispersants -- no rocket science required.

[flyarm]

6. it has been reported in Fla that many countries have offered help and been told no thanks..so please

do not just assume that other countries or scientists from other countries do not have the expertise.

This has been a cover up of major proportions! With BP being given authority over most of the shit they created!

[nashville_brook]

8. word.

[laughingliberal]

9. +1000 nt

[inna]

12. no one else but BP??

are you completely out of your mind???

[elleng]

56. Not my intention; MAY BE that federal response can help; bp's info crucial.

Again, there is no superman in this HUGE disaster.

[Go2Peace]

15. I will ask the same question of you I did in another post. Why have federal government then?

What is the purpose of Government in a Democracy if not to protect us and our resources? I am not saying that the Admin can do "anything", but it sure as heck is their job to get this resolved. That is why we have government in the first place.

[elleng]

18. And they are doing their best in a very difficult and complex matter.

'Government' is NOT OMNISCIENT; nor is anyone/thing.

[flyarm]

23. BULLSHIT! is the word I have for you! If you don't know wtf you are talking about ..it would be best

you do not reply..or continue to make a fool of oneself!

This government has co-operated in the cover up of this disaster ..to cover up many of their own pockets being greased, not by oil, but oil money and BP oil money!!..and to cover their own asses!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxfrom my journal posted here on numerous occasions!


ahhh the strange bedfellows.....remember Dashle who pushed Obama during our primaries..and was one of his top advisors...........working with Whitman..the lady who lied about the air quality at Ground zero in NY?? Can i tickle your memory..she lied and people died and keep dying!! And that is just one example..

Spill, Baby, Spill
By Michael Isikoff, Ian Yarett and Matthew Philips | NEWSWEEK
From the magazine issue dated May 10, 2010

BP has been trying hard to burnish its public image in recent years after being hit with a pair of environmental disasters, including a fatal refinery explosion in Texas and a pipeline leak in Alaska. One major step was to announce, in 2007, that it had hired a high-powered advisory board that included former EPA director Christine Todd Whitman, former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle, and Leon Panetta, who were each paid $120,000 a year. (Panetta left when he became President Obama's CIA director.) Two years ago the oil giant's chief executive, Robert Malone, flew board members out to the Gulf of Mexico on a helicopter to demonstrate the safeguards surrounding BP's advanced drilling technology. "We got a sense they were really committed to ensuring they got it right," Whitman told NEWSWEEK.

Now BP, formerly known as British Petroleum, finds itself blamed for what could prove to be the worst oil spill in U.S. history. And only weeks after Obama announced an ambitious plan to open up more U.S. offshore waters to oil drilling, shunting aside environmental concerns from his own Democratic Party, his administration is facing a comeuppance from hell. "There was a lot of wishful thinking, I guess," says Villy Kourafalou, a scientist at the University of Miami's Rosensteil School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. "The new technologies were said to be so wonderful that we'd never have an oil spill again." Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), who had sought to block the expanded drilling, says the oil and gas industry was pushing this idea hard. "They said, 'We'll never have a repeat of Santa Barbara,'?" referring to the 1969 rig explosion off the California coast. Both the Bush and Obama administrations "were buying the line that the technology was fine," Pallone adds.

BP pressed hard to make that point in D.C. Its PR efforts included payments of $16 million last year to a battery of Washington lobbyists, among them the firm of Tony Podesta, the brother of former Obama transition chief John Podesta. Last fall, after the U.S. Interior Department proposed tighter federal regulation of oil companies' environmental programs, David Rainey, BP's vice president for Gulf of Mexico exploration, told Congress that the proposal was unnecessary. "I think we need to remember," he said, that offshore drilling "has been going on for the last 50 years, and it has been going on in a way that is both safe and protective of the environment."

Read the full article at:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/237298

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

and never forget this..we Floridans won't!!!


YouTube - Barack Obama on Offshore Oil Drilling ( to Florida voters while asking for their votes)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8fkbEuCQss...


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Obama: “Oil Rigs Today Generally Don’t Cause Spills”

Obama Repeats Katrina Oil Spill Myth To Defend Offshore Drilling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm8gLmuTvJ4... ...


By: David Dayen Thursday April 29, 2010 1:42 pm

snip:

What a difference 18 days makes. Here was Barack Obama, on April 2, before the BP oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, claiming that oil rigs are safe to justify his position on offshore drilling:

I don’t agree with the notion that we shouldn’t do anything. It turns out, by the way, that oil rigs today generally don’t cause spills. They are technologically very advanced. Even during Katrina, the spills didn’t come from the oil rigs, they came from the refineries onshore.

Not only does this quote look ridiculous in hindsight, it wasn’t true at the time, as Brad Johnson points out:

Obama’s claim that oil rigs did not cause any spills during Hurricane Katrina is simply false, as the Wonk Room reported in June, 2008, when Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and other conservatives made the same false claim:

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Caused 124 Offshore Spills For A Total Of 743,700 Gallons. 554,400 gallons were crude oil and condensate from platforms, rigs and pipelines, and 189,000 gallons were refined products from platforms and rigs.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Caused Six Offshore Spills Of 42,000 Gallons Or Greater. The largest of these was 152,250 gallons, well over the 100,000 gallon threshhold considered a “major spill.”

http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/04/29/oba... ... ’t-cause-spills/



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Government to Oil Plume Discovery Team: Shut Up
Posted by flyarm in General Discussion
Tue May 18th 2010, 02:38 PM
Government to Oil Plume Discovery Team: Shut Up | The Seminal

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/48816...

Government to Oil Plume Discovery Team: Shut Up
By: Jim White Tuesday May 18, 2010 6:06 am


The research vessel Pelican. (photo: Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium)

On Saturday, the New York Times brought the world’s attention to the discovery by a team of researchers on the the vessel Pelican that there are large underwater plumes of oil emanating from the Deepwater Horizon spill. Remarkably, the response of the government to the attention focused on this discovery has been to tell the researchers to stop granting interviews with the press. At the same time, the blog on which the researchers had been providing updates has also fallen silent since Saturday.

Pensacola television station WEAR filed a report (video at the link) on the oil plume and broke the news about the scientists being muzzled by the government:

Over the weekend, a research crew from the University of Southern Mississippi found evidence that there are 3 to 5 plumes… About 5 miles wide, 10 miles long and 3 hundred feet in depth.

But after giving that information to the press, the lead researcher now says he has been asked by the federal government… Which funds his research… To quit giving interviews until further testing is done.

What an interesting change of course for the government. Even the government’s website on the Deepwater Horizon response had been touting the mission of the Pelican as recently as May 6:

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

and why have our scientists been kept away from the disaster for so long?????????? The univ. scientists in Fla were bitching about being kept away almost a month ago!!!!!!!!!!!!! And they took their complaints to Homeland security Janet Napolitano..that information was reported in Fla News almost 1 month ago!

22-mile oil plume under Gulf nears rich waters
By MATTHEW BROWN and JASON DEAREN, Associated Press Writers Matthew Brown And Jason Dearen, Associated Press Writers Fri May 28, 10:40 am ET
NEW ORLEANS – A thick, 22-mile plume of oil discovered by researchers off the BP spill site was nearing an underwater canyon, where it could poison the foodchain for sealife in the waters off Florida.

The discovery by researchers on the University of South Florida College of Marine Science's Weatherbird II vessel is the second significant undersea plume reported since the Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20. The plume is more than 6 miles wide and its presence was reported Thursday.

The cloud was nearing a large underwater canyon whose currents fuel the foodchain in Gulf waters off Florida and could potentially wash the tiny plants and animals that feed larger organisms in a stew of toxic chemicals, another researcher said Friday.

Larry McKinney, executive director of the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, said the DeSoto Canyon off the Florida Panhandle sends nutrient-rich water from the deep sea up to shallower waters.

McKinney said that in a best-case scenario, oil riding the current out of the canyon would rise close enough to the surface to be broken down by sunlight. But if the plume remains relatively intact, it could sweep down the west coast of Florida as a toxic soup as far as the Keys, through what he called some of the most productive parts of the Gulf.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100528/ap_on_bi_ge/us_oil_spill_new_plume/print

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And please do not tell me or any of us who live on the Gulf Coast ..that there were not better experts that could have or should have been called in from day one..the cover up has been going on since day one!

and why has this information been downplayed and kept so silent???????????

30 SWAT Teams Sent To Gulf Oil Rigs!
April 30, 2010 ABC News

YouTube - 30 SWAT Teams Sent To Gulf Oil Rigs!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n1h1zFmUPA&feature=related

and since when did our government or our Coast Guard become partners with BP? A foreign corporation..make sure you watch this video all the way through!!

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Most Unreported Part Of Gulf Oil Spill
April 30, 2010 MSNBC The ED Show
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQq1RINZUnM&feature=related

[maryf]

54. Voice on!!

you are my hero, and this should be an op...

[William Z. Foster]

35. I don't understand

Why are you so aggressively defending the interests of BP, while undermining the concept of government and self-rule?

[elleng]

38. 'aggressively defending,' 'undermining . . . government, self-rule?'

Don't understand that at all.

[William Z. Foster]

39. either do I

That is why I asked. Why are you promoting the ideas you are promoting, however you prefer to characterize them.

[elleng]

41. Promoting what ideas?

That bp and admin are trying to repair the situation? Because its what I think is happening, having listened to Prez O and other govt. employees, observed bp employees, and others. MOST are doing their best. I don't think any of the current 'actors' are evil.

[William Z. Foster]

42. LOL

OK.

[William Z. Foster]

43. where were we?

Oh yes...

Why are you so aggressively defending the interests of BP, while undermining the concept of government and self-rule?

Do you not think you are doing that? If not, fine. Then what are you doing?

Your post here is a straw man argument, since you are refuting things that no one is saying.

[elleng]

45. William Z, this may have begun with my response to #15,

'I will ask the same question of you I did in another post. Why have federal government then?'

I said, 'And they are doing their best in a very difficult and complex matter,' and then, the deluge!

G'nite!

[earth mom]

48. You aren't fooling anyone with your propagandist bullshit!

:puke:

Who are you working for, eh?

[William Z. Foster]

34. exactly

Why have government at all?

Notice that the same people claiming that the government has no power or authority to protect the public in this case, no money, no expertise, no equipment, etc,. have no problem supporting unlimited power, funding and authority for the government when it comes to blowing up countries on the other side of the world or policing all of us.

They are saying that the government cannot and should not interfere with the wealthy, but should be all over the working class people and anyone in the way of the desires of the wealthy. They are tacitly admitting that there is class warfare going on, and are siding with the ruling class. That is not even disguised very well by them.

[Catherina]

37. What a load of crap n/t

[girl gone mad]

51. Of course we do.

This isn't the dark ages.

What do you think our government would do if Iran released a deadly engineered virus on our shores? Sit on their hands and hope Pfizer could come up with a treatment that was profitable enough to appease their shareholders?

Bullshit, an I suspect you know it.

[elleng]

55. 'girl gone mad' appears to say it all.

Too bad.

[amborin]

11. yes! especially b/c even during TK attempt, BP lied and suppressed info to public

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Here is what I sugest to all screaming

first it's been federalized... I know it is complex, and most people are NOT familiar with the ICS... and yes the NAVY is already on site, with pollution control teams and other assets.

:banghead:



second, the reason why YOU DO NOT have the feds doing the cleanup is the 1990 law, which needs EMERGENCY legislation. CALL congress and demand it, but UNTIL that step is taken, nope they cannot remove BP, legally that is, until BP cries uncle.

Oh and personally I do not want Honore in charge of anything...

[Go2Peace]

17. Has the President declared this a disaster? Just asking..

I haven't seen mention of it? Surely he has right?

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. The declarations for different aspects have been issuesd

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/fishery_disaster_declared_in_w.html

http://www.abc3340.com/news/stories/0510/740328.html

http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/food-news/gulf-coast-fisheries-declared/

The only reason why you have not seen the USUAL disaster declaration is that this is not a natural disaster, so LEGALLY the STAFFORD Act does not apply. So for the more familiar declaration no, you will not see it.

But we have had loan programs activated already, as well as legal federal help.

Should the STAFFORD act apply? Yes... but for that to happen a lot of things LEGALLY have to happen.

That said, you have seen a massive USCG response, as well as National Guard troops already.

[Go2Peace]

20. Thanks. Excellent info

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. You welcome

[flyarm]

24. Some N. Guard are being used for setting up props I am sorry to say ..read this:

read the whole diary..and our Coast Guard should not be being used to protect BP in the PR department! or to protect them from future litigation..nor should the FAA!


Trying to Help, Hearing Nothing: A Gulf Coast Diary | The Seminal

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/51498

snip:

Since my reason for coming down here was to help personally in cleaning up oil, last Friday I went to the hazmat training center in St. Bernard Parish. I need the training in order to work on the cleanup.

At the office, they told me that to be trained at this facility, I needed to be either a St. Bernard Parish resident or already be hired by BP. At an office next door, I could fill out an application to work for BP. So, realizing this would be the only way I might be able to work on the cleanup, I went by. As I sat just outside the office, I watched one fisherman after another come in and ask the BP representatives for checks. Some had no problem getting checks, while others left empty-handed for yet another day.



snip:

Thursday I attended a press conference on the beach at Grand Isle that put the previous incident into perspective. The organizers asked the press where they would want to set up in order to get the best shot. Just a day before, this beach was empty, aside from sheriffs on four-wheelers. But now, workers were all over it. I wondered if they’d been sent here for the sole purpose of providing us with a photo opportunity.

On Friday, Obama is supposed to visit the very beach where we observed the Guards discarding the boom. With that in mind, the National Guard has been busy placing and replacing more boom on that beach than any other site I have visited in Louisiana. So much of what makes it to our televisions is just a show, a bit of theater to keep us all happy. I, for one, don’t want to be entertained by the news. I want to be informed.


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See this tape and watch it all the way through..since when did our Coast Guard become partners with BP OIL CORP? and since when did the Department of the Interior have SWAT Teams?..I really don't know the answer to that... Do you Nadin?

30 SWAT Teams Sent To Gulf Oil Rigs!
April 30, 2010 ABC News

YouTube - 30 SWAT Teams Sent To Gulf Oil Rigs!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n1h1zFmUPA&feature=related


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The FAA has restricted flights over the Gulf: news blackout
An article today from the N.O. Times-Picayune describes this:

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/...

When a photographer from The Times-Picayune earlier this week tried to hire a plane to fly over Grand Isle, the charter plane company was told that the flight could not descend below 3,000 feet.

Southern Seaplane owner Rhonda Panepinto said her husband called the BP Command Center on Tuesday for permission to fly photographer Ted Jackson over Grand Isle, so that he could take pictures of the impact of the spreading oil from the Deepwater Horizon well. But the plane company was told by a BP contractor that media flights weren't allowed in the restricted air space established by the Federal Aviation Administration.

"They told him absolutely no media or press on any planes. The press flights are limited to Saturdays only and only in Coast Guard helicopters," Panepinto said.

Southern Seaplane officials have complained about this restriction, as well as broader controls on their ability to fly other people into the "temporary flight restriction" area in the Gulf, to the FAA. The restricted area is large, including huge swaths of the coastline miles away from the Deepwater Horizon site. The 3,000-feet restriction means that photographers hiring private planes would have to fly so high they are unlikely to get clear photos of the ground.

In a statement, the FAA maintains that BP employees or contractors are not calling the shots on who gets to fly into the restricted air space, saying those decisions are made by the FAA and Coast Guard. But agency spokespeople acknowledge that media access is limited, saying they are only allowing flights into the restricted area that are directly related to the disaster response.

[TheKentuckian]

49. Lame case just on principle. The President thinks he can order extra-judicial executions

and maintain a private Army of the Executive (inherited from BushCo) without Congressional oversight.

Those balls get big as church bells when he gets ready.

Hell, just declare them enemies of the state or terrorist or whatever bullshit they pull when they get ready.

Fuck your legal. It just doesn't account for much in this day and age. Legal is who ever has the most power and is most ruthlessly willing to use it, is the only law that means much. We can discuss all the illegal and immoral shit that Presidents have done throughout our history for days on end, I'm sure.

If you can be all loosey goosey with legal against the citizens and our land, air, and water then you can use a few liberties in our favor, as well.

Excuses don't concern me only reasons and often even those can be overcome with the right fulcrum.

Hell, "disappear" a couple of them if need be, after all, it's just part of the "business". Accidents do tend to happen.

The Gulf doesn't have time for your niceties. Your addiction to the letter rather than the spirit of the law is woefully inadequate to the demands of reality and is an excuse rather than a compelling reason. Get back with if Physics is planned to be violated and we can talk about what cannot be done.

[elleng]

36. THANKS for trying to clarify somethings with FACTS!

[TheKentuckian]

50. Flyarm also provided you with a ton of facts that your eyes or comment evade

Willing, obedient, slaves to the machine are almost as culpable as the masters they stupidly and blindly serve.

Hell, at least the masters get something out of so the willing, obedient slaves are more contemptible if less liable.

[William Z. Foster]

40. ok

Is the operation federalized, as described in the OP, or is it not?

[flamingdem]

22. BP needs to pony up a billion for now and Obama will use it where necessary nt

[laughingliberal]

44. kick nt