What is New with the Oil Spill? Part II

We are now into Part II of “What is New with the Gulf Oil Spill”

Well I have spent the last few days or weeks watching the “oil cam” feeds and reading as much as I can to find out the truth of what is going on and not just listening to the PR spin by BP.

Things are not always as they seem is how the saying goes and by god it sure is an accurate saying for this case.

Let’s see where we stand at this point, 40 days after the initial explosion which brought down the Deepwater Horizon Drilling Rig and ended up with oil spewing uncontrollably into the Gulf of Mexico, while we all sit helplessly from the sidelines and watch as a way of life and a significant ecosystem is utterly destroyed.

First they told us it was 1,000 barrels a day “leaking out”, next they upped that amount to 5,000 barrels daily. That number has stayed in circulation through both the media and the BP/Coast Guard reports, even after hearings held by Congress with independent scientists reporting their own estimates ranging from 70,000 barrels daily up to as much as 114,000 barrels daily.

How much oil is leaking? Official estimates have grown steadily - first the word was none, then it was 42,000 gallons, then 210,000 gallons. And now a team of scientists say the leak may well be five times that, making the spill worse than the Exxon Valdez.

All the while, BP has been slow to acknowledge the leak was likely much worse than the public had been told.

The oil giant's behavior has led to accusations that it has been motivated to keep the leak estimate low because under federal law the size of eventual fines is tied to the size of the leak.

U.S. Gulf Oil Spill Leak Estimates Low


During the Congressional hearings that took place on May 19th, 4 independent scientists were called in to testify. One of them was Steve Wereley who claimed it wasn’t as hard as BP and the Coast Guard were suggesting to figure out a good estimate on how much oil was gushing into the Gulf every day. In fact he showed quite easily how he was able to take the small clip that BP at the time was allowing to be seen and did a basic estimate of how much was coming out of the broken riser pipe.

How Much Oil's Spilling? It's Not Rocket Science
Oil Spill Size Can Be Gauged With Elementary Geometry

As Steve Wereley, an engineering professor at Purdue University, has shown, however, and as many others would have shown had pictures of the leak been released earlier, an approximate estimate is quite easy to come by and indicates a vastly greater oil spill than BP has admitted.

Wereley and a few other scientists, who have come to the same general conclusions, have performed a public service.

Basically, the method for determining oil spillage boils down to common sense and high school (or even middle school) geometry, specifically the formula for the volume of a cylinder.

Once one converts all the units and multiplies these numbers, the calculations show that a bit more than 70,000 barrels of oil have been leaking out of the pipe daily. He's since upped his estimate by another 20,000 barrels a day because of other smaller leaks.

He admitted his is a rough estimate for three reasons. One, as he wrote me, is that the flow along the visible edge of the flow might differ a bit from the flow in the middle of the pipe. Another is the uncertain amount of (very compressed) natural gas mixed in with the oil, and the third is the poor quality of the video that was only recently and reluctantly released on May 12.

How Much Oil Is Spilling? It is Not Rocket Science


Wereley also made sure to point out that his estimate could be off by 20% more or less, but this does show that the number even if 20% less than his lowest estimate that the number is well above what the numbers are from BP and the Coast Guard.

That surely must be a mistake I thought at first but then I discovered that no, others were saying the same things. The estimate that Wereley gave was much, much closer to the truth than anything that BP was claiming.

Dumbstruck at the idea of that much oil gushing into the Gulf, I started to worry more about the consequences of this since that made me realize just how much of an ecological disaster this was turning out to be. I had been concerned at first but not outraged.

So there I sat wondering what the hell was going on. Why hadn’t we gotten a more accurate reading of just how much was gushing into the Gulf of Mexico right from the start. I was not the only one looking for answers, and it seemed that none were to be found. At least not right away, and in the meantime the oil continued to flow freely into the water.

So now that we have some kind of idea on the magnitude of what this disaster entails, where do we go from here? We find out what BP has been doing to remove the oil and stop the flow.

We’ll start with stopping the flow.

We are over a month now since the Rig went down and the oil started spurting into the gulf and we are no closer to stopping it than we were at Day 1. Every “fix” that BP has come up with has failed miserably.

So far, all efforts to stop the oil gushing have failed.
Yes, the Top Hat failed, the Top Kill failed and the Junk shot has failed. You didn't see this reported, but in reading the information provided at various sites by engineers in the same field who have studied the actions and have been watching the pictures they state that while BP is not publicly admitting it yet, the efforts to stop the flow of oil have failed.

There is a site that has been discussing this right from the start and they are better at keeping people informed of what is going on, what each BP plan entails and whether or not they think it will work, and so far they have been pretty accurate. I’m posting the link to allow you to check it out if you want.

The Oil Drum



It is suggested that they made the spill worse because the “junk” from the “junk shot” actually helped widen the holes in the riser pipe and as the photos show, large pieces of junk are seen shooting out of the riser pipe and falling in front of the camera.
You can see the photos and decide for yourself if there was a problem or not, personally I will take the word of those who watched the work on the BOP and saw what was happening first hand, because I have learned not to trust BP any longer.

Photos (screenshots) of “explosion” while the Top Kill / Junk Shot was happening:
Screenshots of the "Explosion That Occurred During Top Hat/Junk Shot Operation

Now the media is reporting the failure of the Top Kill/Junk Shot even while BP is still claiming that they are not sure it has failed as of yet. This originally was a plan that would have a 60%-70% of success and would take 2 days to run through the entire thing before they could determine if it would work or not. That lasted for days longer than what we were told and even with reports leaking that it had failed, BP continued to tell the public during their briefings that it would take longer and that they would not know for sure until the testing was complete and the data was analyzed.

BP engineers failed again to plug the gushing oil well on Saturday, a technician working on the project said, representing yet another setback in a series of unsuccessful procedures the company has tried a mile under the sea to stem the flow spreading into the Gulf of Mexico.

BP made a third attempt at what is termed the “junk shot” Friday night, a procedure that involves pumping odds and ends like plastic cubes, knotted rope, and golf balls into the blowout preventer, the five-story safety device atop the well. The maneuver is complementary to the heavily scrutinized effort known as a “top kill,”which began four days ago and involves pumping heavy mud into the well to counteract the push of the escaping oil. If the well is sealed, the company plans to then fill it with cement.

The technician working on the project said Saturday pumping has again been halted and a review of the data so far is under way. “Right now, I would not be optimistic,” the technician, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly about the effort. But he added, that if another attempt at the junk shot were to succeed, “that would turn things around.”

BP said Saturday it would not comment on the technician’s assertions BP does not know whether the top kill effort has worked, Doug Suttles the chief operating officer, said at a news conference in Fourchon Beach, La. He would not confirm that they have stopped pumping mud into the stricken well, but acknowledged that engineers had been pumping in intervals and then monitoring it.

“What I don’t know is if it ultimately will or not work,” he said. “We’re going to keep at this is we see it will work or not work.”

‘Top Kill’ Fails to Plug Leak; BP Readies Next Approach

So we can see for ourselves that they are not willing to admit that the ‘Top Kill/Junk Shot’ failed, even though this was started on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning and it was coming forward on Saturday, a full 3 days after the start, and telling people that it was not looking good. Instead of just being honest about the way things were going Mr. Suttles was continuing to feed us garbage.

Later on in the day he had to admit that things were not working because it was getting obvious from the live feed cams that people who worked in the field were publicly stating that it wasn’t working. Personally I feel that they admitted it because they had no choice but to do so, and if we did not have those live cam’s we’d still be being played for fools by Mr. Suttles, and the Coast Guard, after all, if we can’t see what is going on who is going to know…right? Much like the lies about how much oil was gushing into the water.

After indicating on Thursday that the top-kill effort was working, then pausing the operation, then resuming it and indicating that it is going as planned on Friday, BP now says that the amount of oil spewing from the well hasn't changed, and there is not guarantee that the procedure is actually working.

"I don't think the amount of oil coming out has changed," BP chief operating officer Doug Suttles said on Saturday. "Just by watching it, we don't believe it's changed."

BP is expected to announce that it will move on to its next option, known as LMRP. The procedure involves cutting off the failed, leaking riser at the top of the Lower Marine Riser Package on the blowout preventer to get a clean-cut surface on the pipe. Then the company will install a cap with a sealing grommet that would be connected to a new riser from the Discoverer Enterprise drillship, with the hopes of capturing most of the oil and gas flowing from the well.

BP Admits ‘Top Kill’ Not Working


So now the plan is the “Lower Marine Riser Package” or LMRP. Is anyone else starting to get the idea that this is what this whole situation looks like?

These attempts alone should convince anyone with half a brain that BP should never be given another drilling lease and that every other lease they currently have should be revoked immediately. They are playing games with this situation and have proven they have no idea nor the means to handle a catastrophic disaster and we cannot take a chance that a disaster of this magnitude happens again with no way to stop it or even contain it from being a worst case scenario.

This is not the first time a disastrous oil spill has happened in the Gulf and so perhaps we should look to the past to see what was done in those instances to see if there is something yet we have not thought of to help in this crisis.

Rachel Maddow did just that and here is her report:




So what have we learned so far? That BP has consistently lied to us about the magnitude of the this disaster and that neither the oil industry nor we have learned much.

Lots more to come….stay tuned. Parts III & IV will be up very soon. 


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What is New with the Oil Spill? Lots! Part I

This post is going to be a tough one because there is so much information so I am going to do it in several parts.

First I am going to break your heart.
Then I am going to share enough that will piss you off.

The Gulf Oil Spill & What are the current results?


This is a dead dolphin found floating in the Gulf of Mexico covered in oil.

Next we have a view of the Gulf from the air so you get a good look at what you are not being shown:

Yes, that is oil, covering the Gulf of Mexico that is all water you are looking at, not land, but water literally covered in the oil that BP is responsible for pouring into the water of the gulf.


Here is a young Heron, dying in the oil covered marshes that should be protecting him but instead are causing his death.

These are turtles found covered in oil. The first is a Kemp Ridley the second is a Loggerhead.

Brown Pelican's are landing in the oil coated marshes because these are their migratory nesting grounds.

There are plenty more pictures out there for you to see.  Here a some links to some really good sites with some seriously heartwrenching photo's of this disaster:


http://blogs.tampabay.com/photo/2010/05/gulf-oil-spill-coastal-impact.html


http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/20...ana_shores.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/...0_n_558287.html
http://photos.nola.com/4500/categor...pill/index.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mobilebaykeeper/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oceana_flickr/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/healthygulf/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/deepwaterhorizonresponse/


So there are plenty of pictures to see the damage that is being done, and of course we've all seen the photos of the oil sitting on top of the water.

And in the marshes.......

And coming on shore on the beaches........

Not to mention the oil that is covering the islands......

But what about all the oil that we don't see.  What oil is that you ask?  The oil that is being hidden by the dispersant's being used to hide the totality of the situation from you, and I, and the rest of the nation. It is worse than we can even imagine.

 

Phiippe Cousteau, Jr, grandson of Jacques Cousteau, put on a hazmat scuba diving suit to view the mass of oil and dispersant floating beneath the surface.
Phillipe Cousteau Jr: "This is a Nightmare....a Nightmare"





This is another short video from the Ocean Futures Society aka The Cousteau Family:
Our mission is to explore our global ocean, inspiring and educating people
throughout the world to act responsibly for its protection, documenting
the critical connection between humanity and nature, and celebrating the
ocean's vital importance to the survival of all life on our planet.


http://www.oceanfutures.org/action/offshore-oil-drilling/videos-field/may-24

Have you seen enough?  Has it made you sick to your stomach yet thinking about what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico?  This is only a portion of the damage being wrought.   How much of our sea life and our wildlife will be devastated beyond anything we can comprehend?   We may never know.  Fish, birds, eels, sea snakes, dolphins, turtles, whales, shrimp, oysters, clams, etc....will not all wash ashore, and if they don't we have no idea what the totality of the damage will be,  just that it will be devastating.

For those that are washing ashore, what is being done and how are the numbers being counted?
Birds:     63 (oiled) Alive     444 Dead
Turtles:   16 (oiled) Alive     222 Dead
Mammals (includes dolphins):  0 alive    24 dead

http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/posted/2931/FWNumbers_WEB_28May_Final.571947.pdf


Now there have been many questions raised about the labs handling testing of the tissue and water samples that are being taken because BP is insisting on having these samples taken to specific labs that as it turns out have close connections with the company.

In coastal communities along the Gulf of Mexico, environmental officials are feverishly collecting water, sediment and marine animal tissue samples that will be used in coming months to help track pollution levels resulting from the oil spill.

But the laboratory that officials have chosen to process virtually all of the samples is part of TDI-Brooks International, a College Station-based oil and gas services company that counts BP and other oil firms among its biggest clients.Hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake, since those readings will be used by the federal government and courts to establish liability claims against BP.

Some people are questioning the independence of the lab. Taylor Kirschenfeld, an environmental official for Escambia County, Fla., rebuffed instructions from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to send water samples to the lab. He opted instead to get a waiver so he could send his county's samples to a local laboratory that is licensed to do the same tests.

Kirschenfeld said he was troubled by another rule. Local animal rescue workers have volunteered to help treat birds affected by the slick and to collect data that would also be used to help calculate penalties. But federal officials have told the volunteers that the work must be done by a company hired by BP.

"Everywhere you look, if you look, you start seeing these conflicts of interest in how this disaster is getting handled," Kirschenfeld said. "I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but there is just too much overlap between these people."

Texas lab with BP ties handling samples from Gulf oil spill


There are questions being asked but only by a few and the answer that are given are unsatisfactory at best.

Douglas Zimmer, a spokesman for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, said the agency simply did not have the staff to handle all the animals affected by the oil spill. BP has more resources to hire workers quickly, he said, and letting local organizations handle the birds would have been impractical and costly.

“I also just don’t believe that BP or their contractor would have any incentive to skew the data,” he said. “Even if they did, there are too many federal, state and local eyes keeping watch on them.”

But Stuart Smith, a lawyer representing fishermen hurt by the spill, remained skeptical, saying that federal and state authorities had not fulfilled their watchdog role.

Last month, for example, various state and federal Web sites included links that directed out-of-work fishermen to a BP Web site, which offered contracts that limited their right to file future claims against the company.

This month, a federal judge in New Orleans, Helen G. Berrigan, struck down that binding language in the contracts.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/science/earth/21conflict.html

Of course BP has incentives to skew the data.  They are going to be charged with fines associated with how much oil was spilled and how much damage was done.  It is in their interest to ensure by any means necessary to make sure that the lowest amounts of damage is what is reported because the less damage the less they pay.  That is just bloody obvious.

So why is this being allowed to happen?  Good Question.
Why is the news not flooded with this information?  Another good question.

Part II coming next.....stay tuned as it just gets worse.

Oil Spill; Taking Charge: Whose Job Is It?

Okay I have spent the last couple of days reading..reading...reading, and the more I learn the more disgusted and discouraged I get about this situation.

I have previously expressed my disgust with the Obama administration for their handling of the situation and that hasn't changed.  So many have claimed that the law states that President Obama cannot just go in and take over the situation since the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 makes the "Responsible Party" responsible for the clean up and costs of any spill.  Here is the specific wording:


Overview
The Oil Pollution Act (OPA) was signed into law in August 1990, largely in response to rising public concern following the Exxon Valdez incident. The OPA improved the nation's ability to prevent and respond to oil spills by establishing provisions that expand the federal government's ability, and provide the money and resources necessary, to respond to oil spills. The OPA also created the national Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, which is available to provide up to one billion dollars per spill incident.


In addition, the OPA provided new requirements for contingency planning both by government and industry. The National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP) has been expanded in a three-tiered approach: the Federal government is required to direct all public and private response efforts for certain types of spill events; Area Committees -- composed of federal, state, and local government officials -- must develop detailed, location-specific Area Contingency Plans; and owners or operators of vessels and certain facilities that pose a serious threat to the environment must prepare their own Facility Response Plans.


Finally, the OPA increased penalties for regulatory noncompliance, broadened the response and enforcement authorities of the Federal government, and preserved State authority to establish law governing oil spill prevention and response


Oil Pollution Act Overview


So if we look up the NCP or the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan this is what we find:


Key Provisions of National Contingency Plan
§300.110 Establishes the National Response Team and its roles and responsibilities in the National Response system, including planning and coordinating responses to major discharges of oil or hazardous waste, providing guidance to Regional Response Teams, coordinating a national program of preparedness planning and response, and facilitating research to improve response activities. EPA serves as the lead agency within the National Response Team (NRT).


§300.115 Establishes the Regional Response Teams and their roles and responsibilities in the National Response System, including, coordinating preparedness, planning, and response at the regional level. The RRT consists of a standing team made up of representatives of each federal agency that is a member of the NRT, as well as state and local government representatives, and also an incident-specific team made up of members of the standing team that is activated for a response. The RRT also provides oversight and consistency review for area plans within a given region.


§300.120 Establishes general responsibilities of federal On-Scene Coordinators.


§300.125(a) Requires notification of any discharge or release to the National Response Center through a toll-free telephone number. The National Response Center (NRC) acts as the central clearinghouse for all pollution incident reporting.


§300.135(a) Authorizes the predesignated On-Scene Coordinator to direct all federal, state, and private response activities at the site of a discharge.

§300.135(d) Establishes the unified command structure for managing responses to discharges through coordinated personnel and resources of the federal government, the state government, and the responsible party.

§300.165 Requires the On-Scene Coordinator to submit to the RRT or NRT a report on all removal actions taken at a site.

§300.170 Identifies the responsibilities for federal agencies that may be called upon during response planning and implementation to provide assistance in their respective areas of expertise consistent with the agencies' capabilities and authorities.

§300.175 Lists the federal agencies that have duties associated with responding to releases.

§300.210 Defines the objectives, authority, and scope of Federal Contingency Plans, including the National Contingency Plan (NCP), Regional Contingency Plans (RCPs), and Area Contingency Plans (ACPs).

Oil Removals

§300.317 Establishes national priorities for responding to a release.

§300.320 Establishes the general pattern of response to be executed by the On-Scene Coordinator (OSC), including determination of threat, classification of the size and type of the release, notification of the RRT and the NRC, and supervision of thorough removal actions.

§300.322 Authorizes the OSC to determine whether a release poses a substantial threat to the public health or welfare of the United States based on several factors, including the size and character of the discharge and its proximity to human populations and sensitive environments. In such cases, the OSC is authorized to direct all federal, state, or private response and recovery actions. The OSC may enlist the support of other federal agencies or special teams.

§300.323 Provides special consideration to discharges which have been classified as a spill of national significance. In such cases, senior federal officials direct nationally-coordinated response efforts.

§300.324 Requires the OSC to notify the National Strike Force Coordination Center (NSFCC) in the event of a worst case discharges, defined as the largest foreseeable discharge in adverse weather conditions. The NSFCC coordinates the acquisition of needed response personnel and equipment. The OSC also must require implementation of the worst case portion of the tank vessel and Facility Response Plans and the Area Contingency Plan.

§300.355 Provides funding for responses to oil releases under the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, provided certain criteria are met. The responsible party is liable for federal removal costs and damages as detailed in section 1002 of the Oil Pollution Act (OPA). Federal agencies assisting in a response action may be reimbursed. Several other federal agencies may provide financial support for removal actions.

Subpart J Establishes the NCP Product Schedule, which contains dispersants and other chemical or biological products that may be used in carrying out the NCP. Authorization for the use of these products is conducted by Regional Response Teams and Area Committees, or by the OSC in consultation with EPA representatives.

Hazardous Substance Removals

§300.415(b) Authorizes the lead agency to initiate appropriate removal action in the event of a hazardous substance release. Decisions of action will be based on threats to human or animal populations, contamination of drinking water supplies or sensitive ecosystems, high levels of hazardous substances in soils, weather conditions that may cause migration or release of hazardous substances, the threat of fire or explosion, or other significant factors effecting the health or welfare or the public or the environment.

§300.415(c) Authorizes the OSC to direct appropriate actions to mitigate or remove the release of hazardous substances.

The National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan Overview


I highlighted the important points in Green so you'd see that we've got authorization to be "In Command" despite what claims have been made. Yes, BP is the "Responsible Party", but that does not preclude the government from taking action.

Now as to the question of  who is "In Charge" of this ongoing situation in the Gulf.  That is a good question, and we do have some answers.  Some anyhow.


So we've been told that U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen is the Incident Commander and Rear Adm. Mary Landry is the Federal On Scene Coordinator, and "Unified Command" is the Coast Guard & MMS working with BP who is called the "Responsible Party"

Press Release:

 The unified command, consisting of the Coast Guard and Mineral Management Service, in collaboration with BP, the responsible party, are working round the clock to determine options to contain and secure the spill.

http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/2931/529883/

Article:

Obama tapped Allen last month to be national incident commander when he labeled the spill an "incident of national significance." Such incidents -- usually a natural disaster or terrorist attack -- require the president to appoint a federal official to coordinate the government's response.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/20/AR2010052005182.html

So now we have established "chain of command" by virtue of the public record.

No where have I seen that the government officials must defer to the "responsible party" for anything.  There is nothing I can find that states that the government officials cannot take charge of this, in fact it seems to state just the opposite:

§300.135(a) Authorizes the predesignated On-Scene Coordinator to direct all federal, state, and private response activities at the site of a discharge.

Deferring to the "expertise" of BP, with the history of non-compliance in safety issue they have should not have happened for the length of time it has.  It should not have taken a month to start getting independent verification of the lies about the size of the discharge.  BP should not be getting away with refusing to cooperate with turning over documentation, and refusing to change dispersant's to something less toxic at the request of the EPA, especially considering we know that there are ties between BP and the maker of the dispersant currently in use by BP. 

Yes, I am absolutely frustrated with the way this is being handled.  I am not suggesting that BP isn't trying to stop this, but it is obvious that they haven't got a clue as to what to do and are now to the point of throwing out every idea that *might* work.  If they have no ability to handle this kind of catastrophe, especially after claiming that they could, they have no business refusing to cooperate with anything at this point in time.  It also comes across that they would prefer to try cap the well in order to get at the oil later than to just shut it down permanently in order to stop the flood of oil pouring into the gulf.  Trying to save oil for themselves is just beyond galling at this point when people are going to lose everything they have due to this, and our sea life is going to be forever changed due to this, and the gulf of mexico is going to take a long time to recover from this disaster.  

They are absolutely looking to minimize the damage to themselves and our government officials who are allowing them to do it are just as guilty.  Barring reporters from documenting the spill, demanding (and getting no less) that they be the ones who decides where dead and dying wildlife will be taken and how they will be handled.  Telling workers to never talk to the media.  This is all designed to lower their liability in this disaster and frankly our representatives allowing it to happen is  beyond disgusting.

Now the administration claims they have been involved in this situation from day 1 and of that I have no doubt.  I have no hesitation in stating I believe wholeheartedly that they have been kept abreast of what was going on.  My problem is that they have allowed the lies and misrepresentations go on with no push back, or at least not publicly which is where it was needed.  Another issue I have is the fact that it was 27 days, yes, 27 days before public hearings were held getting information from independent scientists who stated unequivocally that BP was lying about the amount of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.   27 days!  Why in the hell did it take that long for someone in the administration to ask outside independent scientists for an impartial and realistic evaluation of the situation?   

We've heard that BP was refusing to release video of the spill.  Well, why was that allowed?  If it was readily apparent from the outset that Washington was not getting cooperation from BP was was not more done sooner?  BP is refusing the orders of the EPA to change to less toxic dispersant's.  What will be done about that?  Nothing as has been the norm so far?  BP has been allowed to call all the shots in this situation even though we know that they are going to do everything in their power to ensure that less information if publicized so they can mitigate any damages brought on by future lawsuits and fines & penalties they may face.  They are going to protect themselves and their company first and foremost, so I ask, who is going to protect us and our interests first and foremost?  So far this administration seems to have been content with allowing BP to call the shots.  It that going to change?  After a month of having oil gush into the water of the GOM will it matter now if someone else takes over?  The damage is done.  Waves of oil are washing ashore.  Marshes are coated in oil killing off the area as we speak.  Toxic dispersant's are flowing freely in the water.  Birds, turtles, dolphins, fish are already dead and dying.  Even if the well was capped right this minute, the damage is unprecedented and will continue to expand.  Toxic fumes are rolling in.  Shrimping and Fishing are banned and we have no idea when it may be safe for them to start again.  Not for a long, long time at best.  Decades and longer at worst.  Business are failing.  People are losing more and more everyday.  Talk of suicide is occurring amongst those who are losing everything and can do nothing but watch it happen. 

We've discovered in the last month a lot of things about both BP and our own oversight, or lack thereof,  of the Oil & Gas industry and none of it is pretty.  We've seen how the MMS (minerals management service) has not just fallen down on the job, but has more or less allowed the Oil & Gas Industry to regulate itself by and large due to the failure to follow through with its job.   We are going to pay dearly for this mess and for decades.  We may never get the Gulf of Mexico back in our lifetimes, it at all.  The damage that has been done and continues to be done is nothing short of catastrophic and we all have the stain of oil on us and we all must share in the blame.  We have become too reliant on the Oil & Gas Industry and we have not put into thought let alone action into finding and funding alternative forms of energy.  

I am going to end this post for now as it is long enough already, but I will be putting up several more due to the amount of information that is available. 

Crude Awakening

This is an infographic which may help explain a lot of the Gulf Oil Mess:

http://www.infographicworld.com/infographics/large-crude-awakening.html

Live Video Feed Of Oil Streaming Into Gulf

You can go to this link and see the live feed of the oil streaming into the gulf.

http://globalwarming.house.gov/spillcam

When you look at the video, remember that the Yellow Pipe is the riser from the original drilling, and the black tube is, I believe, the Pipe the is suctioning off the little bit of oil BP is claiming is making such a big difference.  You will obviously note the huge disparity in the sizes of the pipes, so I think we can safely say that BP has been continuing their BS and lies to us.

EPA Orders BP To Use Less Toxic Chemical Dispersant's In Gulf

My first reaction to this is Good, with the secondary reaction being....What took them so long?

The Environmental Protection Agency informed BP officials late Wednesday that the company has 24 hours to choose a less toxic form of chemical dispersants to break up its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, according to government sources familiar with the decision, and must apply the new form of dispersants within 72 hours of submitting the list of alternatives.

The move is significant, because it suggests federal officials are now concerned that the unprecedented use of chemical dispersants could pose a significant threat to the Gulf of Mexico's marine life. BP has been using two forms of dispersants, Corexit 9500A and Corexit 9527A, and so far has applied 600,000 gallons on the surface and 55,000 underwater.
"Dispersants have never been used in this volume before," said an administration official spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision hasn't been formally announced. "This is a large amount of dispersants being used, larger amounts than have ever been used, on a pipe that continues to leak oil and that BP is still trying to cap."
The new policy applies to both surface and undersea application, according to sources, and comes as the EPA has just posted BP's own results from monitoring the effect that underwater application of chemical dispersants has had in terms of toxicity, dissolved oxygen and effectiveness.
The EPA declined to comment on the matter.

EPA Tells BP To Use Less Toxic Chemicals in Gulf Of Mexico

Drill Baby Drill Video/Song

Let's appoint a commission.
Try and place the blame.
Let's start legal maneuverings.
You know the game.

Withhold information
Don't let the public know
Limit Liability!
Meanwhile oil flows
Drill Baby Drill

So we sit and we talk
And talk some more
Start partisan bickering
Dead sea life washes ashore

Every minute wasted
On political games
Means more sea life lost
Have they gone insane?
Drill Baby Drill

Speedy Drilling Greed
Damaged blowout seal
70,000 barrels a day
Time to get real

As the Gulf Coast turns to dead zone
Devoid of all life
Oil Plume underwater
Too late to make it right
Drill Baby Drill

Damage Control! Damage Control!
That's all we can do
When will it end?
Nobody has a clue

Turn you back on Nature
Try and cover your A$$
testify to congress
They liked your campaign cash
Drill Baby Drill
Drill Baby Drill
Drill Baby Drill

http://gilsmusic.bandcamp.com/track/drill-baby-drill

You can download a copy of the song at the above listed link.  

Aprox. 4 Million Gallons of Oil Spilling Into Gulf DAILY

One barrel of oil is equal to 42 gallons.

If we take the estimates given today by testimony provided during the congressional hearing of 95,000 barrels of oil spilling into the gulf daily and multiply that by the known 42 gallons per barrel.........

95,000 x 42 = 3,990,000 gallons daily.

So we have almost 4 million gallons of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico every single day.

Steve Wereley, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, earlier this month made simple calculations from a video BP released on May 12 and came up with a flow of 70,000 barrels a day, NPR reported last week. Werely on Wednesday told a House Commerce and Energy Committee subcommittee that his calculations of two leaks that show up on videos BP released on Tuesday showed 70,000 barrels from one leak and 25,000 from the other.

Gulf Oil Spill Now Pegged At 95,000 Gallons Daily

Yet BP has been claiming steadfastly that it is 5,000 gallons daily and the Coast Guard/MMS/NOAA has been going along with those numbers, and allowing BP to refuse to have independent scientists verify this claim.

Thankfully  Rep. Ed Markey from Mass. is not going along with this and has demanded that BP allow a live feed to run so that scientists can verify the rate themselves and not simply take BP's word for it, because you know of course BP has their own interest to protect over that of the United States people and environment.

Live Feed of Oil Spill is supposed to be up and running tonight at Rep. Ed Markey's Committee website (linked below)

http://www.globalwarming.house.gov/

BP Threatens to Have Reporters Arrested!

What the FUCK is going on?  How is this happening?
CBS News attempts to film oil covered beaches and are threatened with arrest by BP and Coast Guard!


Watch CBS News Videos Online

So, Government officials say that 162 Sea Turtles have turned up dead...a half a dozen bottle-nose dolphins,  and they have no idea what is happening in the deeper waters because they can't watch it!

UNFREAKINBELIEVABLE!!!!

Gulf Oil Spill

Okay, I have done a poor job of keeping this information updated and I am sorry for that that.  This has gotten me so depressed that I have spent a lot more time outside, watching the Osprey and Sandhill Cranes that regularly visit my yard, and some time at the beach, watching the waves roll in and thinking about the disaster that lurks below the surface.

These are dolphins, seen swimming under the oil coated waters in the Gulf:

This is an oil soaked bird struggling against the side of a supply vessel. 

Blobs of oil floating on the water in the Gulf

More pictures can be seen at Boston.Com and while some are older pic's some are newly updated!

Boston.com photos of the spill



I am posting this counter here since I can not make it small enough to permanently sick it on the sidebar:




In Gulf Spill, BP Using Dispersants Banned in U.K.
BP is using two products from a line of dispersants called Corexit, which EPA data appears to show is more toxic and less effective on South Louisiana crude than other available dispersants, according to Greenwire.
http://www.propublica.org/ion/blog/item/In-Gulf...

(they were removed from the approved list more than a decade ago)

Why Is the EPA Letting BP Use Dirty Dispersants?

This week, lawmakers are grilling BP executives and government officials about the devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But they should be asking tougher questions about the recovery effort, too. BP's critics say the company is spraying hundreds of thousands of gallons of harmful chemical dispersants into the Gulf when less toxic options are available. Which raises the question: Why is the Obama administration allowing a company whose poor safety record led to the spill make crucial decisions on the chemicals used for the clean-up?

http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/05/epa-bp-dispersants

Gulf Oil Spill: Government Remains Blind To Underwater Oil Hazard
The Obama administration is actively trying to dismiss media reports that vast plumes of oil lurk beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, unmeasured and uncharted.
But the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, whose job it is to assess and track the damage being caused by the BP oil spill that began four weeks ago, is only monitoring what's visible -- the slick on the Gulf's surface -- and currently does not have a single research vessel taking measurements below.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/18/gulf-o...

White House lies in press release saying that a commander of a NOAA research vessel was providing information on the oil spill, but the named commander is actually in the Western Gulf area doing plankton research and says he doesn't know anything about it.

"The fact that NOAA has missed the ball catastrophically on the tracking and effects monitoring of this spill is inexcusable," said Rick Steiner, a University of Alaska marine conservationist who recently spent more than a week on the Gulf Coast advising Greenpeace. "They need 20 research ships on this, yesterday."


After oil spill, worried scientists watching Gulf of Mexico's endangered sea turtles
PADRE ISLAND NATIONAL SEASHORE, Texas – It is nesting season here, and just offshore, Kemp's ridley sea turtle No. 15 circles in the water before dragging herself onto the sand to lay another clutch of eggs.
The sea turtle, affectionately nicknamed Thelma by a National Park Service employee, has already beaten terrible odds. In the egg, she was airlifted here from Mexico in the wake of the 1979 blowout of the Ixtoc 1 rig, which spilled millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and covered the turtles' primary nesting place.
Now Thelma and others of her species are being monitored closely by worried scientists as another major oil disaster threatens their habitat. Federal officials said Tuesday that since April 30, 10 days after the accident on the Deepwater Horizon, they have recorded 156 sea turtle deaths; most of the turtles were Kemp's ridleys. And though they cannot say for sure that the oil was responsible, the number is far higher than usual for this time of year, the officials said.
http://tinyurl.com/25cjnbw



WRAPUP 7-Gulf Coast fears spreading slick, fishing ban widens
In a sign of the spill's widening environmental impact, the United States nearly doubled a no-fishing zone in waters seen affected by the oil gushing from the blown well, extending it to 19 percent of U.S. waters in the Gulf.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN18800932010...

That 19% of the gulf that is closed represents about 46,000 square miles.

Federal government extends area of fishing ban in Gulf of Mexico

NOAA's latest order extends the closed zone to a nearly 46,000-square-mile stretch, about 19 percent of the Gulf. The ongoing spill now threatens to be picked up by the Loop Current, which could spread some oil around the tip of Florida and up the U.S. East Coast.
...

Deborah Long, a spokeswoman for the Southern Shrimpers Association, said fishermen could face a "multi-generational effect" on the creatures from which they draw their living, with shrimp and bluefin tuna the two species with the most to lose."We're not just worried about the shrimp stocks here," Long said. "We're worried about the entire marine food chain."
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/18/gulf.oil.spill...



Now we've seen how Republicans are blocking the attempts to either raise the cap or eliminate it altogether on the damages that oil companies must pay.....the latest?

Bid to lift liability cap in spill is blocked

Who blocked it?

Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma used procedural move to stop the bill from coming to the Senate floor, saying that raising the cap would hurt smaller drillers.

"Big Oil would love to have these caps up there so they can shut out all the independents," he said.

Federal law requires companies to pay for all environmental damage, but economic damages are now capped at $75 million. Some Democrats want to raise the cap to $10 billion, and a few want to take it off completely.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37205691/ns/gulf_oi...


In the 2008 election cycle, Senator Inhofe’s largest campaign donors represented the oil and gas ($446,900 in donations), leadership pacs ($316,720) and electric utilities ($221,654) industries/categories.[48] In 2010, his largest donors represented the oil and gas ($429,950) and electric utilities ($206,654).[49]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Inhofe

Lisa Murkowski, Republican from Alaska stopped it previously:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/13/lisa-murkowski-blocks-bil_n_575918.html

And of course we find that her 2nd largest contributor at $288,400.00 is from Oil Companies.
 http://maplight.org/us-congress/legislator/595-lisa-murkowski

Hardly a surprise there.

I wonder if those donation amounts from the Oil & Gas Companies has anything to do with these decisions by Inhofe & Murkowski?   I'd bet we can safely make that connection.

Are these guys really trying to tell us that small businesses that can't afford to pay for cleaning up a spill is a reason for us to not expand or remove altogether the cap on what the oil companies should pay for cleaning up a spill? The republicans are basically saying that the american people should foot the bill if the damage exceeds what the cap is.

So we are encouraging businesses with such a huge potential for risk to take that risk without requiring them to be able to pay should the worst happen?

So what are some of the concerns regarding the damage?

The Atlantic Coast horseshoe crab,Limulus polyphemus, is the single most-studied invertebrate animal in the world. Not only have researchers examined the ecology and behavior of horseshoe crabs, but they are also intrigued by the benefits horseshoe for humans.
Three Nobel Prizes have been awarded to scientists who did some or all of their research on an aspect of the horseshoe crab's physiology. Thanks to the horseshoe crab, medical science has made great strides in eye research, development of surgical sutures and wound dressings, and detection of bacterial contamination in drugs. In the future, new probes based on the horseshoe crab's blood may help space scientists search for primitive life on Mars and other planets.

http://www.ceoe.udel.edu/horseshoecrab/research...

And of course there are serious concerns about the oil reaching into the mangroves....

Black gold is black death for mangroves
Gulf oil gusher would choke natural habitat if it came to the Florida Keys

Key points from this article....

Mangroves encompass an estimated 781 square miles of South Florida habitat, providing food and protection to fish, crabs and many other species, buffering coastlines from hurricanes and improving water quality by trapping sediment in their sophisticated root systems.

But these days, with 210,000 gallons of oil still gushing out of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig site each day, South Florida scientists and environmental advocates worry about what might become of the area's mangrove forests should it reach the shorelines of the Florida Keys, Biscayne Bay or the rest of the greater Everglades ecosystem.

"It's scary-depressing," said Jerry Lorenz, a biologist who heads the Audubon Society's Tavernier Science Center.

The concern of Lorenz and other like-minded individuals is driven by mangroves' unique physical makeup. Unlike seagrass and coral reefs, the other primary hatcheries of the South Florida marine ecosystem, mangroves have root systems that break the surface of the waterline.



Recovery of the forests can take more than 30 years, according to a NOAA planning document for handling oil spills.



Juvenile gamefish species such as redfish and sea trout would lose their nursing grounds. So would vital commercial shellfish such as lobster, shrimp and stone crab. Snook and mangrove snapper, which feed around the mangroves throughout their lives, would be affected. Wading birds that forage in mangroves, from roseate spoonbills to osprey to heron, would become coated in oil.

Meanwhile, dead mangroves, rather than buffering against hurricane impacts, would become projectiles for the raging winds.

"We could lose 2 percent, we could lose 50 percent, we could lose 80 percent," Lorenz said of potential mangrove mortality scenarios should oil from Deepwater Horizon flow into the nearshore waters of South Florida. "Without mangroves, our ecosystem basically collapses."

http://keysnews.com/node/23331



Here is some good information along with video recently released:

1) Are we really being asked to believe that the spill-response capability of one of the world's biggest oil companies AND the United States Coast Guard has been totally overwhelmed by a spill of just 210,000 gallons per day? That's a big spill, but not nearly as big as could reasonably be anticipated. Plenty of wells in the Gulf produce more than that under controlled flow-rate conditions; plenty of tankers plying our waters hold millions of gallons of oil.

2) BP claims the siphon they've inserted into the end of the damaged riser pipe is  diverting 84, 000 gallons (2,000 barrels) of oil per day from the main leak to a tanker at the surface. That is good news indeed. But it's worth remembering that for nearly a week BP stated the total spill rate was only 1,000 barrels per day.

3) Scientists analyzing  video of that main leak, apparently shot on May 11 and released by BP on May 12, have estimated the flow rate from that leak to be anywhere from 20,000 to 100,000 barrels per day. This makes SkyTruth's 1.1 million gallon (26,500 barrel) per day estimate, based on our measurements of the oil slick as observed on satellite images and mapped by the Coast Guard, look fairly conservative. And it doesn't even include the additional 15-20% coming from the secondary leak. That means BP's siphoning effort is only capturing, at best, about 10% of the flow. This video of the main leak, shot on May 17 after the siphon was inserted and apparently working, shows the plume of oil continuing to spew into the Gulf; it hardly looks abated.

4) Speaking of which:  video shot on May 15 and 16 has just been released showing the secondary leak, where the riser pipe is kinked and bent about 90 degrees a few feet above the blowout preventer stack. Unlike the short, blurry clip of the main leak, this video is several minutes long and quite sharp.
http://blog.skytruth.org/2010/05/bp-gulf-oil-spill-how-big-is-it_18.html




BP has released two new videos of the leaking riser from their Mississippi Canyon Block 252 well showing the leak after activation of the RIT (riser insertion tool).  If they are indeed getting 1,000 barrels per day from the RIT, they're missing a whole lot more from the end of the riser and the worsening leak above the BOP.  First, the video of the RIT in the end of the riser.  The small pipe with vapor coming off of it is probably the nitrogen injection line to lighten the hydrostatic head.  Have a look:



This second video is from the kink in the riser above the BOP.  As was reported to me earlier, it looks like it is definitely getting worse.   Blow it up to full screen.  At about 2:30, it shows a closeup.  Pretty scary stuff:



http://dailyhurricane.com/2010/05/two-new-subsea-views-of-bp-blowout-it-aint-pretty.html

Both of these video's can also be found at the Huffington Post here.



(in this second video, the first half of the video is dated May 15th, and the second is dated the 16th and shows the  leak after the insertion tube was put in place to suction off some of the oil)




Now lets take a look at some of the projections...


This one is from Weather Underground:

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1484

So, many have questioned the fact that hurricane season is nearly here (it starts June 1st which is only a week and a half from today)

Jeff Masters, from Weather Underground offers his opinions...

A tropical cyclone in its formative stage--as either a tropical depression or a tropical storm with 40 mph winds--might be adversely affected if it encountered the Gulf of Mexico oil slick, due to the reduction of evaporation into the storm. However, a full-fledged hurricane would mix the oil into the ocean to such a degree that the storm would probably not see any significant reduction in evaporation. It remains unknown how the reduction of sea spray by oil might affect a hurricane. If the oil slick expands to a much larger size, there might be a significant reduction in strength of the hurricane, if theory of how a reduction of sea spray will decrease a hurricane's winds is correct. However, the oil slick is currently Delaware-sized, while a hurricane tends to be Texas-sized, and I doubt that the oil slick at its current size is large enough to have a significant impact on a hurricane's intensity. The slick is about 60 miles across, and it would take a hurricane about four hours to traverse the spill at a typical hurricane forward speed of 15 mph. Furthermore, the slick is within 50 miles land, and interactions with land will dominate the behavior of a hurricane that gets that close to the coast. Unfortunately, there is a decent chance that we'll get a real-world opportunity to see what will happen. June tropical storms tend to form in the Gulf of Mexico, and we've been averaging one June storm every two years since 1995. This year, the odds of a June Gulf of Mexico storm are probably a little lower than usual, shear from our lingering El Niño may bring wind shear levels a bit above average. I expect there is a 20% chance that we'll see a June tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico that would interact with the oil spill.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1476


More to come as surely this is only going to get worse.............