Ada McMahon June 13, 2011
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Feinberg-has-received-clea-by-Ada-McMahon-110613-812.html
Feinberg says no claims filed on cleanup illnesses," ran an Associated Press headline last week, stirring up more mistrust of the BP claims process among Gulf Coast residents. It is simply not true that sick cleanup workers have not filed medical claims with the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF), administered by Kenneth Feinberg. Rather, Feinberg and the GCCF appear to be categorically rejecting those claims, saying there is not enough scientific proof that links the illnesses to the BP disaster.
Feinberg told Bridge The Gulf in a recent interview that the GCCF has received "a couple hundred" health claims related to BP cleanup, but has denied all of them for lack of documentation.
What proof do they need?
Feinberg says that the GCCF, which was set up by BP to compensate those impacted by its disaster in the Gulf, would theoretically grant health claims related to the cleanup effort. But he said he has, "reservations about whether those claimants can offer proof," that the BP disaster caused their ailments.
"What proof do they need?," asks Sean Kelley, a cleanup worker whose health claim was denied by Feinberg for insufficient documentation. Kelley had direct exposure to the oil. He removed oil from containment booms and laid boom for nearly two months along the Alabama and Mississippi coast. Kelley believes that exposure to BP's crude oil caused a number of his current health problems, including nausea, headaches, rashes, blurred vision, infections, cardiac issues, and neurological problems like uncontrollable shaking in his limbs, memory loss, and brain fogs that last for hours. He had internal bleeding as well.
Kelley's denied claim included medical bills from multiple doctor visits, and the results of a test showing his blood contains alarming levels of toxins that are found in BP's crude oil.
If it is going to reject claims like his, Kelley says, "[the GCCF] has to come out and say what link and documentation they need."
The GCCF has yet to provide clear guidelines for a cleanup claim it would grant. Even a doctor's note linking an individual's cleanup work to their health symptoms might not be enough, says Feinberg, because the "medical community" needs to agree on the linkage.
The burden of documentation
Advocates on the Gulf Coast wonder how many will go untreated - or even die - waiting for the "medical community" to connect their illnesses with the BP disaster.
"No doctors will help anybody," says Kindra Arensen of Buras, Louisiana. Arnesen, her husband (who worked on the cleanup), and their two children have had infections, respiratory illnesses, headaches, and other ailments since the oil and dispersant disaster began.
Cleanup workers and coastal residents have been diagnosed with acid reflux, stress, and the flu, but seldom chemical poisoning. Some patients say that when they brought up exposure to BP's crude oil and toxic dispersants, their doctors have laughed, refused to do further testing, or privately admitted they can't take on BP.
There are other obstacles to the GCCF process that keep people away from filing claims, medical or otherwise. John Bean, a former clean-up worker, resisted filing a medical claim because he didn't want to sign away his right to sue BP. Giving up that right is a requirement for those who accept a final settlement, which covers all future damages.
Claimants can accept an interim payment without abdicating the right to sue, but that option only reimburses past expenses. This means that people have to pay for expensive medical bills out of pocket, and then hope that the GCCF reimburses them. So far it has not.
This creates a Catch-22 for many sick residents and clean-up workers, Sean Kelley explains; They cannot provide documentation for their claims without tests and doctors visits, but they cannot afford the tests and doctors visits without the GCCF settlement.
Despite these obstacles, John Bean decided to finally file his claim last Friday. Without health insurance, he is facing headaches, diarrhea, vision problems, and a rash that is, "driving me insane." He decided to file because he needs the money for his medical care.
But rather than helping him file a claim, Bean says a GCCF representative told him he had to file for workman's compensation with the cleanup subcontractor he worked for.
Feinberg: BP's agent
"What's the point?" says Kindra Arnesen when asked if she's filed a medical claim with Feinberg. "They're not paying out income claims. So surely they're not going to pay our medical claims," she says. "[Feinberg's] not here for the people of the Gulf. He here's for BP."
Arnesen's point is backed up by the Louisiana District Court, which ruled in February that Feinberg was acting on behalf of BP and had to cease claiming to be neutral. Prior to the order, Feinberg frequently told claimants at Town Hall meetings, "I don't work for BP," and projected the image that he wanted what's best for Gulf Coast residents.
That was just one in a series of missteps that have raised serious concerns about the fairness and transparency of Feinberg's claims process.
Arnesen says that given Feinberg's clear bias, suing is the only chance she has to get BP to redress her family's illness.
Article originally posted on Bridge The Gulf:
http://www.bridgethegulfproject.org/
Showing posts with label Louisiana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Louisiana. Show all posts
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
La. Oil Spill Crews Suffer Mystery Illnesses
Kerry Sheridan, AFP
Sun Apr 17, 2011
http://news.discovery.com/human/oil-spill-health-effects-04172011.html
Jamie Simon worked on a barge in the oily waters for six months following the BP spill last year, cooking for the cleanup workers, washing their clothes and tidying up after them.
One year later, the 32 year old said she still suffers from a range of debilitating health problems, including racing heartbeat, vomiting, dizziness, ear infections, swollen throat, poor sight in one eye and memory loss.
She blames toxic elements in the crude oil and the dispersants sprayed to dissolve it after the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico about 50 miles (80 kilometers) off the coast of Louisiana on April 20, 2010.
"I was exposed to those chemicals, which I questioned, and they told me it was just as safe as Dawn dishwashing liquid and there was nothing for me to worry about," she said of the BP bosses at the job site.
The local doctor, Mike Robichaux, said he has seen as many as 60 patients like Simon in recent weeks, as this small southern town of 10,000 bordered by swamp land and sugar cane fields grapples with a mysterious sickness that some believe is all BP's fault.
Andy LaBoeuf, 51, said he was paid $1,500 per day to use his boat to go out on the water and lay boom to contain some of the 4.9 million barrels of oil that spewed from the bottom of the ocean after the BP well ruptured.
But four months of that job left him ill and unable to work, and he said he recently had to refinance his home loan because he could not pay his taxes.
"I have just been sick for a long time. I just got sick and I couldn't get better," LaBoeuf said, describing memory problems and a sore throat that has nagged him for a year.
Robichaux, an ear, nose and throat specialist whose office an hour's drive southwest of New Orleans is nestled on a roadside marked with handwritten signs advertising turtle meat for sale, says he is treating many of the local patients in their homes.
"Their work ethic is so strong, they are so stoic, they don't want people to know when they're sick," he said. "Ninety percent of them are getting worse... Nobody has a clue as to what it is."
According to a roster compiled by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a total of 52,000 workers were responding to the Gulf oil spill as of August 2010.
The state of Louisiana has reported 415 cases of health problems linked to the spill, with symptoms including sore throats, irritated eyes, respiratory tract infections, headaches and nausea.
But Bernard Goldstein, an environmental toxicologist and professor at the University of Pittsburgh, said the US government's method of collecting health data on the workers is flawed.
For instance, a major study of response workers by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences was not funded until six months after the spill, a critical delay that affects both the biology and the recall ability of the workers.
"It is too late if you go six months later," he told AFP.
Benzene, a known carcinogen present in crude oil, disappears from a person's blood within four months, Goldstein said.
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, are pollutants that can cause genetic mutations and cancer. They are of particular interest in studying long-term health, but without a baseline for comparison it is difficult to know where they came from -- the oil spill or somewhere else in the environment.
"They last in the body for a longer period of time but they also get confounded by, if you will, obscured by, other sources of PAHs," like eating barbecued meat or smoking cigarettes, said Goldstein.
Further blurring the situation, Louisiana already ranks very low in the overall health of its residents compared to the rest of the United States -- between 44th and 49th out of the 50 states according to government data.
Some similar symptoms, including eye irritation, breathing problems, nausea and psychological stress, have been seen among responders to the Prestige oil tanker spill off Spain in 2002 and the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989 off Alaska.
Local chemist Wilma Subra has been helping test people's blood for volatile solvents, and said levels of benzene among cleanup workers, divers, fishermen and crabbers have been as high as 36 times that of the general population.
"As the event progresses we are seeing more and more people who are desperately ill," she said.
"Clearly it is showing that this is ongoing exposure," Subra said, noting that pathways include contact with the skin, eating contaminated seafood or breathing polluted air. "We have been asking the federal agencies to please provide medical care from physicians who are trained in toxic exposure."
She said she has received no response.
Asked for comment, BP said in an email that "protection of response workers was a top priority" and that it had conducted "extensive monitoring of response workers" in coordination with several government agencies.
"Illness and injury reports were tracked and documented during the response, and the medical data indicate they did not differ appreciably from what would be expected among a workforce of this size under normal circumstances," it added.
Any compensation for sick workers would fall under state law, and "BP does not make these determinations, which must be supported by acceptable medical evidence."
For Simon, her way of life has been completely altered. She said she takes pain relievers every day just to function.
A couple of weeks ago, she read in a local newspaper that other ex-cleanup workers were feeling sick too, and her grandmother urged her to see a doctor.
"I never put the two together. I am just realizing that this is possibly related," she said.
Sun Apr 17, 2011
http://news.discovery.com/human/oil-spill-health-effects-04172011.html
Jamie Simon worked on a barge in the oily waters for six months following the BP spill last year, cooking for the cleanup workers, washing their clothes and tidying up after them.
One year later, the 32 year old said she still suffers from a range of debilitating health problems, including racing heartbeat, vomiting, dizziness, ear infections, swollen throat, poor sight in one eye and memory loss.
She blames toxic elements in the crude oil and the dispersants sprayed to dissolve it after the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico about 50 miles (80 kilometers) off the coast of Louisiana on April 20, 2010.
"I was exposed to those chemicals, which I questioned, and they told me it was just as safe as Dawn dishwashing liquid and there was nothing for me to worry about," she said of the BP bosses at the job site.
The local doctor, Mike Robichaux, said he has seen as many as 60 patients like Simon in recent weeks, as this small southern town of 10,000 bordered by swamp land and sugar cane fields grapples with a mysterious sickness that some believe is all BP's fault.
Andy LaBoeuf, 51, said he was paid $1,500 per day to use his boat to go out on the water and lay boom to contain some of the 4.9 million barrels of oil that spewed from the bottom of the ocean after the BP well ruptured.
But four months of that job left him ill and unable to work, and he said he recently had to refinance his home loan because he could not pay his taxes.
"I have just been sick for a long time. I just got sick and I couldn't get better," LaBoeuf said, describing memory problems and a sore throat that has nagged him for a year.
Robichaux, an ear, nose and throat specialist whose office an hour's drive southwest of New Orleans is nestled on a roadside marked with handwritten signs advertising turtle meat for sale, says he is treating many of the local patients in their homes.
"Their work ethic is so strong, they are so stoic, they don't want people to know when they're sick," he said. "Ninety percent of them are getting worse... Nobody has a clue as to what it is."
According to a roster compiled by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a total of 52,000 workers were responding to the Gulf oil spill as of August 2010.
The state of Louisiana has reported 415 cases of health problems linked to the spill, with symptoms including sore throats, irritated eyes, respiratory tract infections, headaches and nausea.
But Bernard Goldstein, an environmental toxicologist and professor at the University of Pittsburgh, said the US government's method of collecting health data on the workers is flawed.
For instance, a major study of response workers by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences was not funded until six months after the spill, a critical delay that affects both the biology and the recall ability of the workers.
"It is too late if you go six months later," he told AFP.
Benzene, a known carcinogen present in crude oil, disappears from a person's blood within four months, Goldstein said.
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, are pollutants that can cause genetic mutations and cancer. They are of particular interest in studying long-term health, but without a baseline for comparison it is difficult to know where they came from -- the oil spill or somewhere else in the environment.
"They last in the body for a longer period of time but they also get confounded by, if you will, obscured by, other sources of PAHs," like eating barbecued meat or smoking cigarettes, said Goldstein.
Further blurring the situation, Louisiana already ranks very low in the overall health of its residents compared to the rest of the United States -- between 44th and 49th out of the 50 states according to government data.
Some similar symptoms, including eye irritation, breathing problems, nausea and psychological stress, have been seen among responders to the Prestige oil tanker spill off Spain in 2002 and the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989 off Alaska.
Local chemist Wilma Subra has been helping test people's blood for volatile solvents, and said levels of benzene among cleanup workers, divers, fishermen and crabbers have been as high as 36 times that of the general population.
"As the event progresses we are seeing more and more people who are desperately ill," she said.
"Clearly it is showing that this is ongoing exposure," Subra said, noting that pathways include contact with the skin, eating contaminated seafood or breathing polluted air. "We have been asking the federal agencies to please provide medical care from physicians who are trained in toxic exposure."
She said she has received no response.
Asked for comment, BP said in an email that "protection of response workers was a top priority" and that it had conducted "extensive monitoring of response workers" in coordination with several government agencies.
"Illness and injury reports were tracked and documented during the response, and the medical data indicate they did not differ appreciably from what would be expected among a workforce of this size under normal circumstances," it added.
Any compensation for sick workers would fall under state law, and "BP does not make these determinations, which must be supported by acceptable medical evidence."
For Simon, her way of life has been completely altered. She said she takes pain relievers every day just to function.
A couple of weeks ago, she read in a local newspaper that other ex-cleanup workers were feeling sick too, and her grandmother urged her to see a doctor.
"I never put the two together. I am just realizing that this is possibly related," she said.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Aflockalypse Now
Probably the strangest story of the new year is the pattern of mass deaths around the world of birds, fish and other creatures. It is so perplexing, CNN's Anderson Cooper brought on his show noted scientist Kirk Cameron to answer questions about this wacky fad. The cases are so bizarre, Gawker.com has as a headline for it's report on the subject: "Is This the End of the World?"
Here are some of the examples:
"Up to 5,000 birds fell from the sky New Year's Eve in Beebe, Arkansas"
"500 birds found dead in southern Louisiana in seemingly separate incident"
Falling birds likely died from massive trauma
January 4, 2011
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/01/03/arkansas.falling.birds/index.html
"As officials worked to figure out the cause of death of some 5,000 blackbirds that fell from the Arkansas sky this weekend, some 100 miles away another disaster was unfolding: The discovery of 100,000 dead drum fish in the Arkansas River..."
100,000 dead fish join thousands of dead birds in Arkansas
Monday, January 3rd, 2011
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/2000-dead-birds-fall-sky-arkansas
Hundreds More Dead Birds Fall From Sky In Kentucky
1/5/11
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/05/hundreds-more-dead-birds-_n_804952.html
Dead Birds Found In Sweden
1/5/11
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/05/dead-birds-sweden_n_804600.html
"Thousands of dead fish were floating in Volusia County Tuesday. They were all in Spruce Creek in Port Orange. The fish kill is unusual because it is warm, according to people who live along the creek.
It's been a week since there were freezing temperatures, but there are fish lining the banks. Some said it's the worst kill they've ever seen; thousands of fish lined the twists and turns of Spruce Creek."
Thousands Of Fish Dead In Spruce Creek
January 4, 2011
http://www.wftv.com/news/26367953/detail.html
"To add more to the mystery, a report came out today that around 1,500 endangered and protected ‘Sooty Shearwater’ (Puffinus griseus) birds have been found dead in the coast of Chile."
Arkansas & Chile: Dead Birds & Fish
Javier Ortega
January 4, 2011
http://www.ghosttheory.com/2011/01/04/arkansas-chile-dead-birds-fish
"Countless turtle doves were found scattered in the streets, in flower beds and hanging tragically from trees 'like Christmas balls' in the town of Faenza. Many of the birds that fell dead from the sky were discovered with a mysterious blue stain in their beaks."
Birds Dying In Italy: Thousands Of Turtle Doves Fall Dead From Sky
Travis Walter Donovan
1-6-11
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/06/birds-dying-in-italy-thou_n_805541.html
"The Thanet shoreline is littered with the crabs, along with dead starfish, lobsters, sponges and anemones."
40,000 crabs join slew of animal-death mysteries
Jenni Dunning
Jan 6, 2011
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/916503--40-000-crabs-join-slew-of-animal-death-mysteries
2 million fish found dead in Maryland
January 7, 2011
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/US/01/06/maryland.fish.kill
Major, Bizarre Fish Die-Off Along Lakefront
January 11, 2011
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/01/11/major-bizarre-fish-die-off-along-lakefront
The more popular explanations for these mass deaths on the Internet have been the testing of biological weapons and/or HAARP technologies. One Website, WhatDoesItMean.com, linked the mystery death of John P. Wheeler III, an aide to Reagan and both Bushes, to the mass animal deaths. While the mainstream media focused in its obits on his fundraising for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the site noted his "military career included writing one of the most important manuals on the effectiveness of biological and chemical weapons." Wheeler certainly fits the profile of an honest whistleblower, and this may explain why he was found dead in a Delaware landfill in a style more fitting of a Mafia squealer than a Washington insider.
Top US Official Murdered After Arkansas Weapons Test Causes Mass Death
Sorcha Faal
January 4, 2011
http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1435.htm
Here are some of the examples:
"Up to 5,000 birds fell from the sky New Year's Eve in Beebe, Arkansas"
"500 birds found dead in southern Louisiana in seemingly separate incident"
Falling birds likely died from massive trauma
January 4, 2011
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/01/03/arkansas.falling.birds/index.html
"As officials worked to figure out the cause of death of some 5,000 blackbirds that fell from the Arkansas sky this weekend, some 100 miles away another disaster was unfolding: The discovery of 100,000 dead drum fish in the Arkansas River..."
100,000 dead fish join thousands of dead birds in Arkansas
Monday, January 3rd, 2011
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/2000-dead-birds-fall-sky-arkansas
Hundreds More Dead Birds Fall From Sky In Kentucky
1/5/11
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/05/hundreds-more-dead-birds-_n_804952.html
Dead Birds Found In Sweden
1/5/11
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/05/dead-birds-sweden_n_804600.html
"Thousands of dead fish were floating in Volusia County Tuesday. They were all in Spruce Creek in Port Orange. The fish kill is unusual because it is warm, according to people who live along the creek.
It's been a week since there were freezing temperatures, but there are fish lining the banks. Some said it's the worst kill they've ever seen; thousands of fish lined the twists and turns of Spruce Creek."
Thousands Of Fish Dead In Spruce Creek
January 4, 2011
http://www.wftv.com/news/26367953/detail.html
"To add more to the mystery, a report came out today that around 1,500 endangered and protected ‘Sooty Shearwater’ (Puffinus griseus) birds have been found dead in the coast of Chile."
Arkansas & Chile: Dead Birds & Fish
Javier Ortega
January 4, 2011
http://www.ghosttheory.com/2011/01/04/arkansas-chile-dead-birds-fish
"Countless turtle doves were found scattered in the streets, in flower beds and hanging tragically from trees 'like Christmas balls' in the town of Faenza. Many of the birds that fell dead from the sky were discovered with a mysterious blue stain in their beaks."
Birds Dying In Italy: Thousands Of Turtle Doves Fall Dead From Sky
Travis Walter Donovan
1-6-11
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/06/birds-dying-in-italy-thou_n_805541.html
"The Thanet shoreline is littered with the crabs, along with dead starfish, lobsters, sponges and anemones."
40,000 crabs join slew of animal-death mysteries
Jenni Dunning
Jan 6, 2011
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/916503--40-000-crabs-join-slew-of-animal-death-mysteries
2 million fish found dead in Maryland
January 7, 2011
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/US/01/06/maryland.fish.kill
Major, Bizarre Fish Die-Off Along Lakefront
January 11, 2011
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/01/11/major-bizarre-fish-die-off-along-lakefront
The more popular explanations for these mass deaths on the Internet have been the testing of biological weapons and/or HAARP technologies. One Website, WhatDoesItMean.com, linked the mystery death of John P. Wheeler III, an aide to Reagan and both Bushes, to the mass animal deaths. While the mainstream media focused in its obits on his fundraising for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the site noted his "military career included writing one of the most important manuals on the effectiveness of biological and chemical weapons." Wheeler certainly fits the profile of an honest whistleblower, and this may explain why he was found dead in a Delaware landfill in a style more fitting of a Mafia squealer than a Washington insider.
Top US Official Murdered After Arkansas Weapons Test Causes Mass Death
Sorcha Faal
January 4, 2011
http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1435.htm
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Judge Blocks Deep-Water Drilling Moratorium
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/23/us/23drill.html
Judge Blocks Deep-Water Drilling Moratorium
CHARLIE SAVAGE
June 22, 2010
WASHINGTON — A federal judge in New Orleans on Tuesday blocked a six-month moratorium on deep-water drilling projects that the Obama administration had imposed in response to the vast oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The White House swiftly said the administration would appeal the decision.
In a 22-page ruling, Judge Martin L. C. Feldman of Federal District Court issued a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of a May 28 order halting all floating offshore drilling projects in more than 500 feet of water and preventing the government from issuing new permits for such projects.
Citing the economic harm to businesses and workers in the gulf caused by the moratorium, Judge Feldman — a 1983 appointee of President Ronald Reagan — wrote that the Obama administration had failed to justify the need for the sweeping suspension, which he characterized as “generic, indeed punitive.”
He wrote that “the blanket moratorium, with no parameters, seems to assume that because one rig failed and although no one yet fully knows why, all companies and rigs drilling new wells over 500 feet also universally present an imminent danger.”
The bulletin of the judge’s decision came on reporters’ hand-held devices just as Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, had ended his daily briefing. Clearly prepared for it, Mr. Gibbs said the administration would “immediately appeal” to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Mr. Gibbs said the president “strongly believes that continuing to drill at those depths without knowing what’s happened” in the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which killed 11 workers and left a well gushing out of control, “makes no sense” and puts people’s lives at risk.
The Obama administration had argued that a six-month suspension of deepwater drilling was necessary so that the government could complete its investigation of the Deepwater Horizon accident, and make sure that other drilling operations on the outer continental shelf were safe.
But the order was challenged by a coalition of businesses that provide services and equipment to offshore drilling platforms. The companies sued, asking the judge to declare the moratorium to be invalid and arguing that there was no evidence that existing operations were unsafe.
The State of Louisiana filed a brief supporting the lawsuit, arguing that the moratorium would damage its economy.
Jackie Calmes contributed reporting.
Judge Blocks Deep-Water Drilling Moratorium
CHARLIE SAVAGE
June 22, 2010
WASHINGTON — A federal judge in New Orleans on Tuesday blocked a six-month moratorium on deep-water drilling projects that the Obama administration had imposed in response to the vast oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The White House swiftly said the administration would appeal the decision.
In a 22-page ruling, Judge Martin L. C. Feldman of Federal District Court issued a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of a May 28 order halting all floating offshore drilling projects in more than 500 feet of water and preventing the government from issuing new permits for such projects.
Citing the economic harm to businesses and workers in the gulf caused by the moratorium, Judge Feldman — a 1983 appointee of President Ronald Reagan — wrote that the Obama administration had failed to justify the need for the sweeping suspension, which he characterized as “generic, indeed punitive.”
He wrote that “the blanket moratorium, with no parameters, seems to assume that because one rig failed and although no one yet fully knows why, all companies and rigs drilling new wells over 500 feet also universally present an imminent danger.”
The bulletin of the judge’s decision came on reporters’ hand-held devices just as Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, had ended his daily briefing. Clearly prepared for it, Mr. Gibbs said the administration would “immediately appeal” to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Mr. Gibbs said the president “strongly believes that continuing to drill at those depths without knowing what’s happened” in the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which killed 11 workers and left a well gushing out of control, “makes no sense” and puts people’s lives at risk.
The Obama administration had argued that a six-month suspension of deepwater drilling was necessary so that the government could complete its investigation of the Deepwater Horizon accident, and make sure that other drilling operations on the outer continental shelf were safe.
But the order was challenged by a coalition of businesses that provide services and equipment to offshore drilling platforms. The companies sued, asking the judge to declare the moratorium to be invalid and arguing that there was no evidence that existing operations were unsafe.
The State of Louisiana filed a brief supporting the lawsuit, arguing that the moratorium would damage its economy.
Jackie Calmes contributed reporting.
Costner's 'dream' machines debut
http://fieldnotes.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/06/18/4530991-costners-dream-machines-debut
Costner's 'dream' machines debut
6-18-10
Hollywood star Kevin Costner debuted Friday in his supporting role as a Gulf oil-spill fighter.
News agencies reported on the actor's premiere staged at the docks in the oil industry supply port of Port Fourchon in southern Louisiana as BP began deploying 32 of his "dream" machines to separate oil from water. Costner's backdrop was an oil-finding barge with his machines mounted on the deck.
"At its core, my dream, this machine, was designed ... to give us a fighting chance to fight back the oil that's got us by the throat," Costner told reporters.
"When you are in a fight, anybody knows you go to confront it right where it is. You don't wait for it to come to your door," the actor said.
Costner's company, Ocean Therapy Solutions, signed a contract with BP to provide 32 units expected to work in the next 60 days.
BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles would not disclose financial details.
Costner said each machine, called a V20, can separate 210,000 gallons of oily water a day.
Costner, best-known for such films as "Dances with Wolves" and "Waterworld," stressed he was no overnight oil spill sensation. He has been trying to employ the technology designed by his company for the past 17 years, and has invested more than $20 million of his own money in its development.
The technology was developed two decades ago by a researcher at the Idaho National Laboratory by scientist David Meikrantz, who initially sought to use the machines to separate the components of nuclear substances.
In 1993, INL licensed the technology to Ocean Therapy Solutions, a company owned by Costner.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
New Orleans' Cuisine Crisis: Is It Safe to Eat the Po'Boy?
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1996569,00.html
New Orleans' Cuisine Crisis: Is It Safe to Eat the Po'Boy?
By Steven Gray / New Orleans
Tuesday, Jun. 15, 2010
Not quite two weeks ago, on June 5, Sal Sunseri opened the first New Orleans Oyster Festival. Postponed a few years because of Hurricane Katrina, the affair, in the city's French Quarter, included contests for wine and oyster pairings as well as oyster shucking — basically, cracking open the shell to expose the slippery gray meat for slurping. On June 10, however, the Sunseri family business, P&J Oyster Co., which in 134 years had become the chief oyster purveyor to some of the city's most esteemed restaurants, effectively closed. Not only was it running short of the delicacies, but people were afraid to eat them. "We're mourning," Sunseri says.
Few cities treat seafood with the high reverence of New Orleans, where shrimp is often eaten for breakfast (with buttery grits), oysters for lunch (on a po'boy, or sandwich) and crawfish for dinner (étouffée). But those traditions may become a casualty of the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. The oil spill that has brought President Obama to the region for the fourth time in the past month has closed nearly one-third of the Gulf of Mexico to fishing. It is potentially catastrophic for Louisiana's core $2.4 billion seafood industry, which provides much of the nation's fish, shrimp, oysters and crabs.
The region's angst is understandable. New Orleans' main highway, Interstate 10, is lined with billboards showing mounds of fried seafood. Castnet Seafood, a shop in the largely residential New Orleans East section, is still teeming with customers buying shrimp, fish and oysters to store in their freezers. But the owner, Kent Bondi, fears that soon, "that rush is going to come to a complete end." And there is the vexing question: Is the seafood safe to eat? A recent Castnet customer returned with a bag of fish, saying, "It smelled like oil," and demanded a refund. Bondi told her flatly that the catfish was farm-raised, so there was no chance it had been tainted by oil. "It's psychological," he says of the fear.
But people can be forgiven for their questions. The images — thousands of gallons of oil spewing each day from the Gulf of Mexico, plus oil-soaked fish, turtles and pelicans — are hard to ignore. It's scaring even some of the most ardent seafood devotees. "We won't be able to turn around our brand perception for five years or more," predicts Ashley Roth, spokeswoman for the Louisiana Seafood and Marketing Board. The board has launched a multipronged ad campaign in major newspapers boasting that Louisiana's seafood is indeed safe to eat because most of the state's waterways remain untouched by oil. Meanwhile, a delegation of local chefs is being sent to Washington State and even Finland to evangelize about Louisiana's seafood cuisine; a crawfish boil is scheduled for Dijon, France, this summer.
The challenge isn't just one of perception but supply. There are a couple of reasons for this. While an estimated 70% of Louisiana's coastline remains open to fishing, many shrimpers, oystermen and fishermen have signed up to be among the 13,000 people hired by BP or its contractors to clean up the spill. By one estimate, only 1% of the men who usually harvest oysters are actually doing so — mainly because the cleanup jobs can be lucrative (some pay $2,000 a day).
Meanwhile, many of the oyster beds have been closed as a precaution against the arrival of the oil. Some of the beds, however, have become victims of caution. Shortly after the spill began, authorities opened some of the vent-like structures built by the Army Corps of Engineers in order to push freshwater out toward the Gulf and keep the oil from entering the river and surrounding marsh. That meant sharply decreasing salinity in some of the waters where oysters are harvested — killing the beds.
Cliff Hall, co-owner of the New Orleans Fish House, one of the city's largest suppliers, is buying West Coast oysters and more imported shrimp than he'd like. "We want to support our local fishermen," he says, "but there's no other choice." Many seafood suppliers had depleted their stock, anticipating a robust fishing season, which typically begins in May. So the crisis, he says, "couldn't have come at a worse time." The pinched supply has driven up the price of oysters about 25% in the past week. "It's going to hit a stopping point of what the consumer will tolerate," says Hall.
For another sense of how the crisis is playing out, consider one of New Orleans' premier restaurants, Commander's Palace. The restaurant's shrimp costs have soared 40%, to about $9.50 per lb., since the oil crisis began. So far, the executive chief, Tory McPhail, has not passed along the added expense to consumers. The higher cost, he says, "forces us to look at our menus, be more value-conscious and do things we wouldn't normally do." One example: maximizing the use of shrimp. It is broken into two parts: the head and tail. McPhail's team breads and then fries the tail, which is the meatier half. The head is roasted at 400°, to dehydrate it, at which point it is ground into a powder. The powder is then used to significantly strengthen the flavor of seafood in a bisque, even with the decrease of shrimp tails in the stock.
So, the bottom-line question: Is it safe to eat seafood in New Orleans? Managers of restaurants, grocery stores and markets quickly point out that their livelihoods depend on serving safe food. Much of the seafood is carefully inspected using one of the most powerful tools: the human nose. And if the seafood looks odd, the chefs don't bother with the ingredient. Robert Buchannan, director of the Center for Food Safety and Security at the University of Maryland at College Par, offers a simple piece of advice: "If the seafood tastes like a petroleum product, it'd be smart not to eat it." The good news is, New Orleans offers a range of po'boy substitutes, like the muffuletta, with salami (cotto and Genoa), smoked ham, mozzarella and an oily olive salad stuffed into a thick round of bread. Sadly, it isn't diet-friendly. But not much in New Orleans is.
New Orleans' Cuisine Crisis: Is It Safe to Eat the Po'Boy?
By Steven Gray / New Orleans
Tuesday, Jun. 15, 2010
Not quite two weeks ago, on June 5, Sal Sunseri opened the first New Orleans Oyster Festival. Postponed a few years because of Hurricane Katrina, the affair, in the city's French Quarter, included contests for wine and oyster pairings as well as oyster shucking — basically, cracking open the shell to expose the slippery gray meat for slurping. On June 10, however, the Sunseri family business, P&J Oyster Co., which in 134 years had become the chief oyster purveyor to some of the city's most esteemed restaurants, effectively closed. Not only was it running short of the delicacies, but people were afraid to eat them. "We're mourning," Sunseri says.
Few cities treat seafood with the high reverence of New Orleans, where shrimp is often eaten for breakfast (with buttery grits), oysters for lunch (on a po'boy, or sandwich) and crawfish for dinner (étouffée). But those traditions may become a casualty of the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. The oil spill that has brought President Obama to the region for the fourth time in the past month has closed nearly one-third of the Gulf of Mexico to fishing. It is potentially catastrophic for Louisiana's core $2.4 billion seafood industry, which provides much of the nation's fish, shrimp, oysters and crabs.
The region's angst is understandable. New Orleans' main highway, Interstate 10, is lined with billboards showing mounds of fried seafood. Castnet Seafood, a shop in the largely residential New Orleans East section, is still teeming with customers buying shrimp, fish and oysters to store in their freezers. But the owner, Kent Bondi, fears that soon, "that rush is going to come to a complete end." And there is the vexing question: Is the seafood safe to eat? A recent Castnet customer returned with a bag of fish, saying, "It smelled like oil," and demanded a refund. Bondi told her flatly that the catfish was farm-raised, so there was no chance it had been tainted by oil. "It's psychological," he says of the fear.
But people can be forgiven for their questions. The images — thousands of gallons of oil spewing each day from the Gulf of Mexico, plus oil-soaked fish, turtles and pelicans — are hard to ignore. It's scaring even some of the most ardent seafood devotees. "We won't be able to turn around our brand perception for five years or more," predicts Ashley Roth, spokeswoman for the Louisiana Seafood and Marketing Board. The board has launched a multipronged ad campaign in major newspapers boasting that Louisiana's seafood is indeed safe to eat because most of the state's waterways remain untouched by oil. Meanwhile, a delegation of local chefs is being sent to Washington State and even Finland to evangelize about Louisiana's seafood cuisine; a crawfish boil is scheduled for Dijon, France, this summer.
The challenge isn't just one of perception but supply. There are a couple of reasons for this. While an estimated 70% of Louisiana's coastline remains open to fishing, many shrimpers, oystermen and fishermen have signed up to be among the 13,000 people hired by BP or its contractors to clean up the spill. By one estimate, only 1% of the men who usually harvest oysters are actually doing so — mainly because the cleanup jobs can be lucrative (some pay $2,000 a day).
Meanwhile, many of the oyster beds have been closed as a precaution against the arrival of the oil. Some of the beds, however, have become victims of caution. Shortly after the spill began, authorities opened some of the vent-like structures built by the Army Corps of Engineers in order to push freshwater out toward the Gulf and keep the oil from entering the river and surrounding marsh. That meant sharply decreasing salinity in some of the waters where oysters are harvested — killing the beds.
Cliff Hall, co-owner of the New Orleans Fish House, one of the city's largest suppliers, is buying West Coast oysters and more imported shrimp than he'd like. "We want to support our local fishermen," he says, "but there's no other choice." Many seafood suppliers had depleted their stock, anticipating a robust fishing season, which typically begins in May. So the crisis, he says, "couldn't have come at a worse time." The pinched supply has driven up the price of oysters about 25% in the past week. "It's going to hit a stopping point of what the consumer will tolerate," says Hall.
For another sense of how the crisis is playing out, consider one of New Orleans' premier restaurants, Commander's Palace. The restaurant's shrimp costs have soared 40%, to about $9.50 per lb., since the oil crisis began. So far, the executive chief, Tory McPhail, has not passed along the added expense to consumers. The higher cost, he says, "forces us to look at our menus, be more value-conscious and do things we wouldn't normally do." One example: maximizing the use of shrimp. It is broken into two parts: the head and tail. McPhail's team breads and then fries the tail, which is the meatier half. The head is roasted at 400°, to dehydrate it, at which point it is ground into a powder. The powder is then used to significantly strengthen the flavor of seafood in a bisque, even with the decrease of shrimp tails in the stock.
So, the bottom-line question: Is it safe to eat seafood in New Orleans? Managers of restaurants, grocery stores and markets quickly point out that their livelihoods depend on serving safe food. Much of the seafood is carefully inspected using one of the most powerful tools: the human nose. And if the seafood looks odd, the chefs don't bother with the ingredient. Robert Buchannan, director of the Center for Food Safety and Security at the University of Maryland at College Par, offers a simple piece of advice: "If the seafood tastes like a petroleum product, it'd be smart not to eat it." The good news is, New Orleans offers a range of po'boy substitutes, like the muffuletta, with salami (cotto and Genoa), smoked ham, mozzarella and an oily olive salad stuffed into a thick round of bread. Sadly, it isn't diet-friendly. But not much in New Orleans is.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Is oil spill becoming Obama's Katrina?
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-05-27-Spill-poll_N.htm
Is oil spill becoming Obama's Katrina?
5-27-10
By Mimi Hall, Rick Jervis and Alan Levin, USA TODAY
The hurricane that drowned New Orleans and cast George W. Bush as out of touch swept across the Gulf Coast nearly five years ago. Now, as oil laps ashore in the very same region, local officials are asking: Is there another government-Gulf Coast disconnect? Is BP's oil spill becoming this president's Katrina?
President Obama will face questions today at his first news conference since oil started gushing five weeks ago.
Frustrated Gulf Coast residents say they understand that only BP can plug the leak. But they want to know why the federal government didn't act faster to stop the oil from reaching shore, why BP hasn't been forced to skim more oil from the surface and why their request hasn't been approved to build new barrier islands to help keep the oil at bay.
The Obama administration's response is "dysfunctional, there's no chain of command, no one's in charge," says Parish President Billy Nungesser in Plaquemines, La.
The public isn't impressed either.
A new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds that six out of 10 adults say the federal government is doing a "poor" or "very poor" job handling the spill. A majority — 53% — say the same about Obama.
And 50% of those polled say protecting the environment now should be a higher priority than promoting economic growth. Those choosing the economy: 43%.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says the administration has been waging an "all-out, all-hands-on-deck battle to protect the Gulf Coast" and ensure that the British energy giant responsible for the spill cleans it up.
Senior White House adviser David Axelrod says the government is "doing everything conceivable" to limit the damage. "The Katrina analogy suggests that we didn't or haven't recognized from the beginning the profound nature of this problem, and that is just flat out wrong," he says. "Can we do better? You should always strive to do better."
BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward, however, conceded Wednesday on NBC's Today show that his company has "let people down" by allowing the oil to reach delicate marshland and shoreline. "We are going to redouble our efforts," he promised.
A range of critics is demanding to know why the federal government hasn't already forced BP to do better — or just taken over. "The response to the oil coming ashore should be federalized and put in the hands of professional emergency managers and not oil companies," says Deano Bonano, homeland security chief in Jefferson Parish, La.
Comparisons to Katrina are limited: More than 1,800 people died when the storm hit and flooded the Gulf Coast in August 2005; 11 men died on the Deepwater Horizon rig when an explosion ruptured the well on April 20.
In both cases, however, local residents complained about what they say is an anemic response from Washington. "The response to this," Nungesser says, "has been worse than Katrina."
The White House, citing a 1990 law that requires oil companies to clean up their messes, says the government is offering help and overseeing the effort — but they're insistent that the cleanup is BP's responsibility.
The oil company is taking the brunt of the blame. The new poll of 1,049 adults, taken Monday and Tuesday, finds more than seven in 10 people say BP is doing a poor job. The survey has a margin of error of +/–4 percentage points.
Democratic strategist James Carville, who lives in New Orleans, and Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., are among the critics who acknowledge that the government doesn't have the technological know-how to plug the well and stop the gusher. They contend, however, that the administration has resources — oil-catching booms, manpower, planes and boats, barges and skimmers — that can collect and clean up the oil. Such moves would limit the damage to a fragile ecosystem that supports a way of life for many, including those working in the $2.4 billion seafood industry.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs says the government is limited by the Oil Pollution Act, passed in the aftermath of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill off the Alaskan coast. Peppered with questions at a recent news briefing about whether the government couldn't simply "federalize" the response and take over from BP, Gibbs said, "No."
Mindful of the frustration, however, the White House is taking a more aggressive approach. On Wednesday, Obama spoke about the spill during an event on the economy in Fremont, Calif. "Let me reiterate," he said. "We will not rest until this well is shut, the environment is repaired and the cleanup is complete."
Today for the first time in 10 months, he will hold a full-fledged news conference. On Friday, he will head back to Louisiana, his second trip this month to inspect the damaged area.
Scalise says Obama's increased engagement is overdue. "We don't need a finger-pointer-in-chief," he says. "We need a quarterback on the field."
Angry residents push back
The White House has sent out memos to the news media outlining the government-wide response to the spill from the start. Lengthy e-mails outlining everything from the number of Small Business Administration loans approved for Gulf Coast businesses hurt by the spill to the phone number to report "oiled wildlife" have been issued daily, detailing all the steps federal agencies and BP have taken to try to mitigate the ecological damage.
Wednesday's memo says about 1,300 vessels and dozens of aircraft have been shipped to the Gulf Coast, along with more than 1.85 million feet of the containment boom that helps stop oil from getting to shore and about 840,000 gallons of dispersant used to break up the slicks.
Angry Gulf Coast residents are pushing back, much as they did post-Katrina, when Washington officials said they had the situation in hand. Now those in the region say there's a disconnect between what the White House says is happening on the ground and what they see.
In Louisiana, officials say the response has been bogged down in bureaucracy, hobbled by rules and procedures that hamper decision-making. Responders also have lacked equipment, they say, even as oil has invaded marshes and beaches.
Just getting enough oil-stopping boom has been a problem, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal says.
State officials three weeks ago requested 5 million feet of boom from the Coast Guard, he says. As of Monday, only 815,000 feet of it had been delivered and 680,000 feet set up in the water, he says. Requests for more boom or other oil-fighting equipment are often routed to a BP subcontractor for approval, then sent through two command centers, which Jindal says delays Coast Guard approval for up to two days.
"We don't have 24 to 48 hours," the governor says. "This oil is moving too quickly."
Another Jindal complaint: a slow government response to his state's proposal to build a 94-mile-long string of sand berms across Louisiana's coast to keep the oil at bay.
The $350 million barrier plan was hatched by Plaquemines Parish officials shortly after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 as a way to keep out future storm surges and could work equally well to block out the oil, says P.J. Hahn, director of coastal management for the parish.
The plan would take four to six months to complete, but 12 dredges working simultaneously on the project would bring relief to coastal marshes almost immediately, says Nungesser, the Plaquemines president.
On May 11, Louisiana requested an emergency permit for the plan from the Army Corps of Engineers that would bypass lengthy environmental impact reviews. Corps and Coast Guard officials have voiced concerns, and the matter is still under review.
"We understand the importance and significance of this emergency permit request, and it is a top priority," the Army Corps said in a statement.
Last week, Nungesser says, he and his staff discovered globs of black oil seeping into marshes near Venice. He says they alerted officials at the BP/Coast Guard command center, who dispatched a team to fight off the oil — five days later.
"There's definitely some confusion about who's in charge," says G. Paul Kemp, a coastal ecologist with the National Audubon Society. "We hear from shrimpers that they're under contract (to help) but they're not, they don't know what they're supposed to be doing or whether they're going to be doing anything, and this is at a time when it would seem we need pretty much everybody working round the clock on this."
In other instances, locals have taken matters into their own hands.
On Saturday, after two days of begging BP for help in fending off an approaching tentacle of oil, officials in Jefferson Parish commandeered about 50 idle boats that had been hired by the oil giant and began cleaning a local bay themselves, Bonano says.
"Numerous times we told them we had oil in a certain location and they said they had skimmers in that location," Bonano says. "We sent up a helicopter and there was nothing there."
A 'significant' PR problem
Those kinds of stories have prompted calls by environmentalists such as David Pettit of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) for the government to take over the response from BP.
Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, who served in the Bush administration but had left office before Katrina hit, says the White House ought to give the Coast Guard "carte blanche" to run the show along the Gulf Coast and summon whatever it needs to get the cleanup done — from the private sector, from the Navy, from anywhere it can. "It's better to overextend yourself," he says, when it's not clear just how bad the damage will be in a crisis.
Instead, the Obama administration "has been slow off the mark," Ridge says, and now the White House is facing a "significant" public relations problem.
Gibbs says the government has provided considerable expertise and other assistance; named Thad Allen, who retired as commandant of the Coast Guard on Tuesday, as the government's incident commander; and "pushed relentlessly for BP to do what is necessary to contain what is leaking."
Pettit, an NRDC lawyer, says another law trumps the 1990 oil pollution law and gives the government sweeping authority to respond. He says that under the Clean Water Act, the nation's primary law dealing with polluted water, the president "shall direct" efforts to clean up if a discharge of oil "poses a substantial threat to the public health or welfare of the United states."
"The Coast Guard has the right to run the entire operation," Pettit says. "They haven't chosen to. Why not?"
Allen, the administration's point person in the Gulf, says that's just what he's doing as he directs BP's clean-up efforts. "If I need to, I call Tony Hayward myself," Allen says of the company's CEO. "They're the responsible party, but we have the authority to direct."
He says it wouldn't make sense to push BP aside and take over completely. "Well, to push BP out of the way would raise the question: to replace them with what?"
'An absolute outrage' any oil has come ashore
Tom Copeland, who helped lead an impromptu effort by Alaskan fishermen in 1989 to attack the Exxon Valdez spill, has an idea.
Copeland says an effective oil-skimming armada is expensive and requires a huge infrastructure of barges to haul away the toxic goo but can make a significant dent in even a giant slick.
"With a spill like this and the good weather that we've had, it's an absolute outrage that any oil has been allowed to come ashore," he says .
Copeland says he equipped his fishing boat with a vacuum pump from a sewage hauling truck, which sucked up thousands of gallons of oil a day. Hundreds of boats could be similarly outfitted and on the Gulf within days, he says. Yet Copeland contends that it's not BP's interest to collect large quantities of oil after a spill, since that would require expensive disposal as a toxic waste.
BP has hired about 275 boats to clean up the oil since last month's explosion, says company spokesman Graham MacEwen. He called the dispute over the idle boats in Jefferson Parish a "misunderstanding" and says the company is committed to doing everything possible to pick up oil.
Some people give BP credit — though not for its cleanup efforts. A.J. Fabre, president of the Louisiana Shrimp Association, praises the company for covering industry losses. Last week, Fabre says, the company gave shrimpers $5,000 checks.
As of Tuesday, BP said 25,227 economic claims had been opened and it had paid out $29.4 million to those affected by the spill. The company said no claims have been denied.
"BP is the only oil company that's ever stepped forward and opened their checkbooks," says Fabre, a shrimper for 40 years. "You just come in with your tax statements and your trip tickets and they cut you a check. That's unheard of."
Other business owners, however, are feeling the sting. Floyd Lasseigne, a fourth-generation Grand Isle, La., oyster fisherman and shrimper, is worried about how he's going to pay his annual $5,000 house insurance payment in late June now that he's out of work.
He puts most of the blame on BP but says the government should do more. "It's way too slow of a response," he says. "That oil is still pouring in."
Besides fishing, Grand Isle survives on revenue from the tourists that pour into town for each of the 23 fishing rodeos held throughout the year. The first one, the Speckled Trout Rodeo, kicks off this Memorial Day weekend. But with the fishing grounds closed, it's unclear whether people will come just for the party.
Arthur Bradberry, owner of Artie's Sports Bar, says his business has dropped more than half since the spill began.
"They're all running around here and no one seems to know what's going on," he says of the federal and BP officials. "They should've done more from the start. They waited too late. Now, of course, they all want to blame each other."
Contributing: Peter Eisler and Donna Leinwand
Is oil spill becoming Obama's Katrina?
5-27-10
By Mimi Hall, Rick Jervis and Alan Levin, USA TODAY
The hurricane that drowned New Orleans and cast George W. Bush as out of touch swept across the Gulf Coast nearly five years ago. Now, as oil laps ashore in the very same region, local officials are asking: Is there another government-Gulf Coast disconnect? Is BP's oil spill becoming this president's Katrina?
President Obama will face questions today at his first news conference since oil started gushing five weeks ago.
Frustrated Gulf Coast residents say they understand that only BP can plug the leak. But they want to know why the federal government didn't act faster to stop the oil from reaching shore, why BP hasn't been forced to skim more oil from the surface and why their request hasn't been approved to build new barrier islands to help keep the oil at bay.
The Obama administration's response is "dysfunctional, there's no chain of command, no one's in charge," says Parish President Billy Nungesser in Plaquemines, La.
The public isn't impressed either.
A new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds that six out of 10 adults say the federal government is doing a "poor" or "very poor" job handling the spill. A majority — 53% — say the same about Obama.
And 50% of those polled say protecting the environment now should be a higher priority than promoting economic growth. Those choosing the economy: 43%.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says the administration has been waging an "all-out, all-hands-on-deck battle to protect the Gulf Coast" and ensure that the British energy giant responsible for the spill cleans it up.
Senior White House adviser David Axelrod says the government is "doing everything conceivable" to limit the damage. "The Katrina analogy suggests that we didn't or haven't recognized from the beginning the profound nature of this problem, and that is just flat out wrong," he says. "Can we do better? You should always strive to do better."
BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward, however, conceded Wednesday on NBC's Today show that his company has "let people down" by allowing the oil to reach delicate marshland and shoreline. "We are going to redouble our efforts," he promised.
A range of critics is demanding to know why the federal government hasn't already forced BP to do better — or just taken over. "The response to the oil coming ashore should be federalized and put in the hands of professional emergency managers and not oil companies," says Deano Bonano, homeland security chief in Jefferson Parish, La.
Comparisons to Katrina are limited: More than 1,800 people died when the storm hit and flooded the Gulf Coast in August 2005; 11 men died on the Deepwater Horizon rig when an explosion ruptured the well on April 20.
In both cases, however, local residents complained about what they say is an anemic response from Washington. "The response to this," Nungesser says, "has been worse than Katrina."
The White House, citing a 1990 law that requires oil companies to clean up their messes, says the government is offering help and overseeing the effort — but they're insistent that the cleanup is BP's responsibility.
The oil company is taking the brunt of the blame. The new poll of 1,049 adults, taken Monday and Tuesday, finds more than seven in 10 people say BP is doing a poor job. The survey has a margin of error of +/–4 percentage points.
Democratic strategist James Carville, who lives in New Orleans, and Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., are among the critics who acknowledge that the government doesn't have the technological know-how to plug the well and stop the gusher. They contend, however, that the administration has resources — oil-catching booms, manpower, planes and boats, barges and skimmers — that can collect and clean up the oil. Such moves would limit the damage to a fragile ecosystem that supports a way of life for many, including those working in the $2.4 billion seafood industry.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs says the government is limited by the Oil Pollution Act, passed in the aftermath of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill off the Alaskan coast. Peppered with questions at a recent news briefing about whether the government couldn't simply "federalize" the response and take over from BP, Gibbs said, "No."
Mindful of the frustration, however, the White House is taking a more aggressive approach. On Wednesday, Obama spoke about the spill during an event on the economy in Fremont, Calif. "Let me reiterate," he said. "We will not rest until this well is shut, the environment is repaired and the cleanup is complete."
Today for the first time in 10 months, he will hold a full-fledged news conference. On Friday, he will head back to Louisiana, his second trip this month to inspect the damaged area.
Scalise says Obama's increased engagement is overdue. "We don't need a finger-pointer-in-chief," he says. "We need a quarterback on the field."
Angry residents push back
The White House has sent out memos to the news media outlining the government-wide response to the spill from the start. Lengthy e-mails outlining everything from the number of Small Business Administration loans approved for Gulf Coast businesses hurt by the spill to the phone number to report "oiled wildlife" have been issued daily, detailing all the steps federal agencies and BP have taken to try to mitigate the ecological damage.
Wednesday's memo says about 1,300 vessels and dozens of aircraft have been shipped to the Gulf Coast, along with more than 1.85 million feet of the containment boom that helps stop oil from getting to shore and about 840,000 gallons of dispersant used to break up the slicks.
Angry Gulf Coast residents are pushing back, much as they did post-Katrina, when Washington officials said they had the situation in hand. Now those in the region say there's a disconnect between what the White House says is happening on the ground and what they see.
In Louisiana, officials say the response has been bogged down in bureaucracy, hobbled by rules and procedures that hamper decision-making. Responders also have lacked equipment, they say, even as oil has invaded marshes and beaches.
Just getting enough oil-stopping boom has been a problem, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal says.
State officials three weeks ago requested 5 million feet of boom from the Coast Guard, he says. As of Monday, only 815,000 feet of it had been delivered and 680,000 feet set up in the water, he says. Requests for more boom or other oil-fighting equipment are often routed to a BP subcontractor for approval, then sent through two command centers, which Jindal says delays Coast Guard approval for up to two days.
"We don't have 24 to 48 hours," the governor says. "This oil is moving too quickly."
Another Jindal complaint: a slow government response to his state's proposal to build a 94-mile-long string of sand berms across Louisiana's coast to keep the oil at bay.
The $350 million barrier plan was hatched by Plaquemines Parish officials shortly after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 as a way to keep out future storm surges and could work equally well to block out the oil, says P.J. Hahn, director of coastal management for the parish.
The plan would take four to six months to complete, but 12 dredges working simultaneously on the project would bring relief to coastal marshes almost immediately, says Nungesser, the Plaquemines president.
On May 11, Louisiana requested an emergency permit for the plan from the Army Corps of Engineers that would bypass lengthy environmental impact reviews. Corps and Coast Guard officials have voiced concerns, and the matter is still under review.
"We understand the importance and significance of this emergency permit request, and it is a top priority," the Army Corps said in a statement.
Last week, Nungesser says, he and his staff discovered globs of black oil seeping into marshes near Venice. He says they alerted officials at the BP/Coast Guard command center, who dispatched a team to fight off the oil — five days later.
"There's definitely some confusion about who's in charge," says G. Paul Kemp, a coastal ecologist with the National Audubon Society. "We hear from shrimpers that they're under contract (to help) but they're not, they don't know what they're supposed to be doing or whether they're going to be doing anything, and this is at a time when it would seem we need pretty much everybody working round the clock on this."
In other instances, locals have taken matters into their own hands.
On Saturday, after two days of begging BP for help in fending off an approaching tentacle of oil, officials in Jefferson Parish commandeered about 50 idle boats that had been hired by the oil giant and began cleaning a local bay themselves, Bonano says.
"Numerous times we told them we had oil in a certain location and they said they had skimmers in that location," Bonano says. "We sent up a helicopter and there was nothing there."
A 'significant' PR problem
Those kinds of stories have prompted calls by environmentalists such as David Pettit of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) for the government to take over the response from BP.
Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, who served in the Bush administration but had left office before Katrina hit, says the White House ought to give the Coast Guard "carte blanche" to run the show along the Gulf Coast and summon whatever it needs to get the cleanup done — from the private sector, from the Navy, from anywhere it can. "It's better to overextend yourself," he says, when it's not clear just how bad the damage will be in a crisis.
Instead, the Obama administration "has been slow off the mark," Ridge says, and now the White House is facing a "significant" public relations problem.
Gibbs says the government has provided considerable expertise and other assistance; named Thad Allen, who retired as commandant of the Coast Guard on Tuesday, as the government's incident commander; and "pushed relentlessly for BP to do what is necessary to contain what is leaking."
Pettit, an NRDC lawyer, says another law trumps the 1990 oil pollution law and gives the government sweeping authority to respond. He says that under the Clean Water Act, the nation's primary law dealing with polluted water, the president "shall direct" efforts to clean up if a discharge of oil "poses a substantial threat to the public health or welfare of the United states."
"The Coast Guard has the right to run the entire operation," Pettit says. "They haven't chosen to. Why not?"
Allen, the administration's point person in the Gulf, says that's just what he's doing as he directs BP's clean-up efforts. "If I need to, I call Tony Hayward myself," Allen says of the company's CEO. "They're the responsible party, but we have the authority to direct."
He says it wouldn't make sense to push BP aside and take over completely. "Well, to push BP out of the way would raise the question: to replace them with what?"
'An absolute outrage' any oil has come ashore
Tom Copeland, who helped lead an impromptu effort by Alaskan fishermen in 1989 to attack the Exxon Valdez spill, has an idea.
Copeland says an effective oil-skimming armada is expensive and requires a huge infrastructure of barges to haul away the toxic goo but can make a significant dent in even a giant slick.
"With a spill like this and the good weather that we've had, it's an absolute outrage that any oil has been allowed to come ashore," he says .
Copeland says he equipped his fishing boat with a vacuum pump from a sewage hauling truck, which sucked up thousands of gallons of oil a day. Hundreds of boats could be similarly outfitted and on the Gulf within days, he says. Yet Copeland contends that it's not BP's interest to collect large quantities of oil after a spill, since that would require expensive disposal as a toxic waste.
BP has hired about 275 boats to clean up the oil since last month's explosion, says company spokesman Graham MacEwen. He called the dispute over the idle boats in Jefferson Parish a "misunderstanding" and says the company is committed to doing everything possible to pick up oil.
Some people give BP credit — though not for its cleanup efforts. A.J. Fabre, president of the Louisiana Shrimp Association, praises the company for covering industry losses. Last week, Fabre says, the company gave shrimpers $5,000 checks.
As of Tuesday, BP said 25,227 economic claims had been opened and it had paid out $29.4 million to those affected by the spill. The company said no claims have been denied.
"BP is the only oil company that's ever stepped forward and opened their checkbooks," says Fabre, a shrimper for 40 years. "You just come in with your tax statements and your trip tickets and they cut you a check. That's unheard of."
Other business owners, however, are feeling the sting. Floyd Lasseigne, a fourth-generation Grand Isle, La., oyster fisherman and shrimper, is worried about how he's going to pay his annual $5,000 house insurance payment in late June now that he's out of work.
He puts most of the blame on BP but says the government should do more. "It's way too slow of a response," he says. "That oil is still pouring in."
Besides fishing, Grand Isle survives on revenue from the tourists that pour into town for each of the 23 fishing rodeos held throughout the year. The first one, the Speckled Trout Rodeo, kicks off this Memorial Day weekend. But with the fishing grounds closed, it's unclear whether people will come just for the party.
Arthur Bradberry, owner of Artie's Sports Bar, says his business has dropped more than half since the spill began.
"They're all running around here and no one seems to know what's going on," he says of the federal and BP officials. "They should've done more from the start. They waited too late. Now, of course, they all want to blame each other."
Contributing: Peter Eisler and Donna Leinwand
It's Really Over: Last HUMMER H3 Rolls Off Louisiana Line
http://www.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1045490_its-really-over-last-hummer-h3-rolls-off-louisiana-line
It's Really Over: Last HUMMER H3 Rolls Off Louisiana Line
John Voelcker
May 25th, 2010
It's really, finally over. Yesterday, the very last HUMMER H3 rolled off the production line in Shreveport, Louisiana, part of a special order for rental-car company Avis.
After a lengthy and ultimately failed effort to sell the quintessential maker of sport-utility vehicles to a Chinese company, General Motors is winding down the brand. In July, 200 of the 900 employees at Shreveport are expected to lose their jobs.
Last month, General Motors put its remaining HUMMER models on sale, offering up to $6,000 off on certain models. Its "Last Chance To Buy a HUMMER" campaign included zero-percent financing for 72 months, or $4,000 to $6,000 off various H2 and H3 models.
But earlier this month, the HUMMER's last days were punctuated by a recall by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The clips that hold the H3's hood louver in place can break over time, meaning the hood louver can "detach from the vehicle."
Virtually all H3 models--more than 162,000, according to the NHTSA--need to be inspected as part of the recall.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Cleaning oil-soaked wetlands may be impossible
http://www.seattlepi.com/business/1310ap_us_oil_spill_impossible_cleanup.html
Cleaning oil-soaked wetlands may be impossible
By MATTHEW BROWN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
May 22, 2010
NEW ORLEANS -- The gooey oil washing into the maze of marshes along the Gulf Coast could prove impossible to remove, leaving a toxic stew lethal to fish and wildlife, government officials and independent scientists said.
Officials are considering some drastic and risky solutions: They could set the wetlands on fire or flood areas in hopes of floating out the oil.
They warn an aggressive cleanup could ruin the marshes and do more harm than good. The only viable option for many impacted areas is to do nothing and let nature break down the spill.
More than 50 miles of Louisiana's delicate shoreline already have been soiled by the massive slick unleashed after the Deepwater Horizon rig burned and sank last month. Officials fear oil eventually could invade wetlands and beaches from Texas to Florida. Louisiana is expected to be hit hardest.
On Saturday, a major pelican rookery was awash in oil off Louisiana's coast. Hundreds of birds nest on the island, and an Associated Press photographer saw some birds and their eggs stained with the ooze. Nests were perched in mangroves directly above patches of crude.
Plaquemines Parish workers put booms around the island, but puddles of oil were inside the barrier.
"Oil in the marshes is the worst-case scenario," said Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the head of the federal effort to contain and clean up the spill.
Also Saturday, BP told federal regulators it plans to continue using a contentious chemical dispersant, despite orders from the Environmental Protection Agency to look for less toxic alternatives. BP said in a letter to the EPA that Corexit 9500 "remains the best option for subsea application."
The EPA didn't immediately comment on BP's decision.
Oil that has rolled into shoreline wetlands coats the stalks and leaves of plants such as roseau cane - the fabric that holds together an ecosystem that is essential to the region's fishing industry and a much-needed buffer against Gulf hurricanes. Soon, oil will smother those plants and choke off their supply of air and nutrients.
In some eddies and protected inlets, the ochre-colored crude has pooled beneath the water's surface, forming clumps several inches deep.
With the seafloor leak still gushing at least hundreds of thousands of gallons a day, the damage is only getting worse. Millions of gallons already have leaked so far.
Coast Guard officials said the spill's impact now stretches across a 150-mile swath, from Dauphin Island, Ala. to Grand Isle, La.
Over time, experts say weather and natural microbes will break down most of the oil. However, the crude will surely poison plants and wildlife in the months - even years - it will take for the syrupy muck to dissipate.
Back in 1989, crews fighting the Exxon Valdez tanker spill - which unleashed almost 11 million gallons of oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound - used pressure hoses and rakes to clean the shores. The Gulf Coast is just too fragile for that: those tactics could blast apart the peat-like soils that hold the marshes together.
Hundreds of miles of bayous and man-made canals crisscross the coast's exterior, offering numerous entry points for the crude. Access is difficult and time-intensive, even in the best of circumstances.
"Just the compaction of humanity bringing equipment in, walking on them, will kill them," said David White, a wetlands ecologist from Loyola University in New Orleans.
Marshes offer a vital line of defense against Gulf storms, blunting their fury before they hit populated areas. Louisiana and the federal government have spent hundreds of millions of dollars rebuilding barriers that were wiped out by hurricanes, notably Katrina in 2005.
They also act as nursery grounds for shrimp, crabs, oysters - the backbone of the region's fishing industry. Hundreds of thousands of migratory birds nest in the wetlands' inner reaches, a complex network of bayous, bays and man-made canals.
To keep oil from pushing deep into Louisiana's marshes, Gov. Bobby Jindal and officials from several coastal parishes want permission to erect a $350 million network of sand berms linking the state's barrier islands and headlands.
That plan is awaiting approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
After surveying oil-stricken areas Saturday, Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said the berms were the marshes' last hope.
"It's getting in between all the cane and it's working through from one bayou to the next," he said.
Smaller spills have been occurring in the marshes for decades. In the past, cleanup crews would sometimes slice out oiled vegetation and take it to a landfill, said Andy Nyman with Louisiana State University.
But with the plants gone, water from the gulf would roll in and wash away the roots, turning wetlands to open water.
Adm. Allen said that where conditions are right, crews could set fire to oil-coated plants.
Nyman and other experts, though, warn it's tricky. If the marsh is too wet, the oil won't burn. Too dry, the roots burn and the marsh can be ruined.
BP PLC - which leased the sunken rig and is responsible for the cleanup - said Saturday that cleanup crews have started more direct cleanup methods along Pass a Loutre in Plaquemines Parish. Shallow water skimmers were attempting to remove the oil from the top of the marsh.
Streams of water could later be used in a bid to wash oil from between cane stalks.
In other cases, the company will rely on "bioremediation" - letting oil-eating microbes do the work.
"Nature has a way of helping the situation," said BP spokesman John Curry.
But Nyman said the dispersants could slow the microbes from breaking down the oil.
White, the Loyola scientist, predicted at least short-term ruin for some of the wetlands he's been studying for three decades. Under a worst-case scenario, he said the damage could exceed the 217 square miles of wetlands lost during the 2005 hurricane season.
"When I say that my stomach turns," he said.
Cleaning oil-soaked wetlands may be impossible
By MATTHEW BROWN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
May 22, 2010
NEW ORLEANS -- The gooey oil washing into the maze of marshes along the Gulf Coast could prove impossible to remove, leaving a toxic stew lethal to fish and wildlife, government officials and independent scientists said.
Officials are considering some drastic and risky solutions: They could set the wetlands on fire or flood areas in hopes of floating out the oil.
They warn an aggressive cleanup could ruin the marshes and do more harm than good. The only viable option for many impacted areas is to do nothing and let nature break down the spill.
More than 50 miles of Louisiana's delicate shoreline already have been soiled by the massive slick unleashed after the Deepwater Horizon rig burned and sank last month. Officials fear oil eventually could invade wetlands and beaches from Texas to Florida. Louisiana is expected to be hit hardest.
On Saturday, a major pelican rookery was awash in oil off Louisiana's coast. Hundreds of birds nest on the island, and an Associated Press photographer saw some birds and their eggs stained with the ooze. Nests were perched in mangroves directly above patches of crude.
Plaquemines Parish workers put booms around the island, but puddles of oil were inside the barrier.
"Oil in the marshes is the worst-case scenario," said Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the head of the federal effort to contain and clean up the spill.
Also Saturday, BP told federal regulators it plans to continue using a contentious chemical dispersant, despite orders from the Environmental Protection Agency to look for less toxic alternatives. BP said in a letter to the EPA that Corexit 9500 "remains the best option for subsea application."
The EPA didn't immediately comment on BP's decision.
Oil that has rolled into shoreline wetlands coats the stalks and leaves of plants such as roseau cane - the fabric that holds together an ecosystem that is essential to the region's fishing industry and a much-needed buffer against Gulf hurricanes. Soon, oil will smother those plants and choke off their supply of air and nutrients.
In some eddies and protected inlets, the ochre-colored crude has pooled beneath the water's surface, forming clumps several inches deep.
With the seafloor leak still gushing at least hundreds of thousands of gallons a day, the damage is only getting worse. Millions of gallons already have leaked so far.
Coast Guard officials said the spill's impact now stretches across a 150-mile swath, from Dauphin Island, Ala. to Grand Isle, La.
Over time, experts say weather and natural microbes will break down most of the oil. However, the crude will surely poison plants and wildlife in the months - even years - it will take for the syrupy muck to dissipate.
Back in 1989, crews fighting the Exxon Valdez tanker spill - which unleashed almost 11 million gallons of oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound - used pressure hoses and rakes to clean the shores. The Gulf Coast is just too fragile for that: those tactics could blast apart the peat-like soils that hold the marshes together.
Hundreds of miles of bayous and man-made canals crisscross the coast's exterior, offering numerous entry points for the crude. Access is difficult and time-intensive, even in the best of circumstances.
"Just the compaction of humanity bringing equipment in, walking on them, will kill them," said David White, a wetlands ecologist from Loyola University in New Orleans.
Marshes offer a vital line of defense against Gulf storms, blunting their fury before they hit populated areas. Louisiana and the federal government have spent hundreds of millions of dollars rebuilding barriers that were wiped out by hurricanes, notably Katrina in 2005.
They also act as nursery grounds for shrimp, crabs, oysters - the backbone of the region's fishing industry. Hundreds of thousands of migratory birds nest in the wetlands' inner reaches, a complex network of bayous, bays and man-made canals.
To keep oil from pushing deep into Louisiana's marshes, Gov. Bobby Jindal and officials from several coastal parishes want permission to erect a $350 million network of sand berms linking the state's barrier islands and headlands.
That plan is awaiting approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
After surveying oil-stricken areas Saturday, Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said the berms were the marshes' last hope.
"It's getting in between all the cane and it's working through from one bayou to the next," he said.
Smaller spills have been occurring in the marshes for decades. In the past, cleanup crews would sometimes slice out oiled vegetation and take it to a landfill, said Andy Nyman with Louisiana State University.
But with the plants gone, water from the gulf would roll in and wash away the roots, turning wetlands to open water.
Adm. Allen said that where conditions are right, crews could set fire to oil-coated plants.
Nyman and other experts, though, warn it's tricky. If the marsh is too wet, the oil won't burn. Too dry, the roots burn and the marsh can be ruined.
BP PLC - which leased the sunken rig and is responsible for the cleanup - said Saturday that cleanup crews have started more direct cleanup methods along Pass a Loutre in Plaquemines Parish. Shallow water skimmers were attempting to remove the oil from the top of the marsh.
Streams of water could later be used in a bid to wash oil from between cane stalks.
In other cases, the company will rely on "bioremediation" - letting oil-eating microbes do the work.
"Nature has a way of helping the situation," said BP spokesman John Curry.
But Nyman said the dispersants could slow the microbes from breaking down the oil.
White, the Loyola scientist, predicted at least short-term ruin for some of the wetlands he's been studying for three decades. Under a worst-case scenario, he said the damage could exceed the 217 square miles of wetlands lost during the 2005 hurricane season.
"When I say that my stomach turns," he said.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Oil spill costs: What will BP really pay?
http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/06/news/economy/BP_liability/
Oil spill costs: What will BP really pay?
Alabama National Guard members worked this week on a containment barrier to protect the coastline from the leaking oil spill.
Steve Hargreaves
May 6, 2010
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Gulf oil spill is going to cost billions to clean up, a tab BP has publicly pledged to pay in full.
But thanks to the unpredictable nature of the oil slick and the legal maze surrounding maritime law, what BP will pay and to whom is very much an open question.
Start with the costs. Estimates to clean the spill and compensate other parties for the economic damage run from $2 billion to $14 billion. One politician even said it could run into the hundreds of billions.
The truth is that no one has any idea yet.
The spill, which the Coast Guard says is still leaking oil at a rate of roughly 200,000 gallons a day, could stay near the coast of Louisiana, as it's doing now. It hasn't had much of an impact on the shoreline so far, and the dispersants being sprayed on it appear to be helping to keep it at sea.
If the containment device BP is preparing to put over the leak in the next few days works, or if the company can activate the broken valve that would shut off the well, the costs would be comparatively minimal. Say, a billion or two.
If the leak worsens, as company officials say it could, and the oil gets caught up in Gulf currents that bring it around Florida's beaches and up the East Coast, then things get very grim. Fishing grounds and beaches would be polluted. That spikes the cleanup cost and cuts into the revenue of thousands of other businesses.
BP loses $32 billion in value on spill
"It's really bad when people start throwing around numbers," said Fadel Gheit, a senior energy analyst at Oppenheimer. "It almost paralyzes the people working on this into inaction."
Then there's the question of what percentage of the total tab BP will actually pay.
Under federal law, BP (BP) and its minority partners in the well, Anadarko (APC, Fortune 500) and Mitsui, have to cover all the cleanup costs. BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward has pledged several times to honor that commitment.
But then there are the losses to the fishing, tourism and shipping industries if the oil closes parts of the coast. These costs could easily exceed the cleanup bill.
Here, Hayward has been less clear.
"When I said 'Will you be responsible for the economic damages?' he said, 'That's something we'll have to work out in the future,'" Sen. Bill Nelson, R-Fla., said Tuesday following a meeting with Hayward.
A BP spokesman said the company would cover all "legitimate claims," but pointed out that it's just too early to tell what those are or how high they'll climb.
BP's liabilities may be capped by a federal rule that limits the payouts for economic damages stemming from an oil spill to $75 million. Once that threshold is reached, a federal fund kicks in, covering an additional $1 billion. The federal fund is paid for by a 8-cents-a-barrel tax on oil produced or imported into the United States.
Then again, BP may not be able to use the liability shield. Carl Nelson, a Tampa-based maritime lawyer, said the $75 million cap only applies when a company has no violations related to an accident. That rarely happens. BP will almost certainly be found to be at fault in some way for the spill.
To ward off any confusion, lawmakers in the House and Senate have introduced bills raising the liability cap from $75 million to $10 billion, an initiative they've dubbed the "Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act." Lawmakers say there's precedent for making the law retroactive: Witness the Superfund, which forced polluters to reimburse the government for toxic cleanup.
Given the public outrage over the spill, and the fact that it's an election year, the bills stands a good chance of passing.
But not everyone thinks it's a good idea. If the cap is increased, Nelson predicts that it will only raise the cost of buying insurance for all companies producing offshore oil.
"You're going to pay for that at the gas pump," he said.
Then there's the issue of which companies are at fault.
BP is the main operator, and as such must pay for the cleanup costs. Subcontractors on an oil well -- in this case, that's Halliburton (HAL, Fortune 500), Transocean (RIG) and Cameron (CAM, Fortune 500), among others -- typically obtain legal releases from the main operator. In its most recent annual filing, Transocean noted that it has "generally been able to obtain some degree of contractual indemnification" from its clients against liability for "pollution, well and environmental damages."
That might protect them from federal lawsuits or action by BP, said Nelson, but it still does not prevent them from being sued by out-of-work fisherman or hoteliers.
Let the legal games begin.
Oil spill costs: What will BP really pay?
Alabama National Guard members worked this week on a containment barrier to protect the coastline from the leaking oil spill.
Steve Hargreaves
May 6, 2010
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Gulf oil spill is going to cost billions to clean up, a tab BP has publicly pledged to pay in full.
But thanks to the unpredictable nature of the oil slick and the legal maze surrounding maritime law, what BP will pay and to whom is very much an open question.
Start with the costs. Estimates to clean the spill and compensate other parties for the economic damage run from $2 billion to $14 billion. One politician even said it could run into the hundreds of billions.
The truth is that no one has any idea yet.
The spill, which the Coast Guard says is still leaking oil at a rate of roughly 200,000 gallons a day, could stay near the coast of Louisiana, as it's doing now. It hasn't had much of an impact on the shoreline so far, and the dispersants being sprayed on it appear to be helping to keep it at sea.
If the containment device BP is preparing to put over the leak in the next few days works, or if the company can activate the broken valve that would shut off the well, the costs would be comparatively minimal. Say, a billion or two.
If the leak worsens, as company officials say it could, and the oil gets caught up in Gulf currents that bring it around Florida's beaches and up the East Coast, then things get very grim. Fishing grounds and beaches would be polluted. That spikes the cleanup cost and cuts into the revenue of thousands of other businesses.
BP loses $32 billion in value on spill
"It's really bad when people start throwing around numbers," said Fadel Gheit, a senior energy analyst at Oppenheimer. "It almost paralyzes the people working on this into inaction."
Then there's the question of what percentage of the total tab BP will actually pay.
Under federal law, BP (BP) and its minority partners in the well, Anadarko (APC, Fortune 500) and Mitsui, have to cover all the cleanup costs. BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward has pledged several times to honor that commitment.
But then there are the losses to the fishing, tourism and shipping industries if the oil closes parts of the coast. These costs could easily exceed the cleanup bill.
Here, Hayward has been less clear.
"When I said 'Will you be responsible for the economic damages?' he said, 'That's something we'll have to work out in the future,'" Sen. Bill Nelson, R-Fla., said Tuesday following a meeting with Hayward.
A BP spokesman said the company would cover all "legitimate claims," but pointed out that it's just too early to tell what those are or how high they'll climb.
BP's liabilities may be capped by a federal rule that limits the payouts for economic damages stemming from an oil spill to $75 million. Once that threshold is reached, a federal fund kicks in, covering an additional $1 billion. The federal fund is paid for by a 8-cents-a-barrel tax on oil produced or imported into the United States.
Then again, BP may not be able to use the liability shield. Carl Nelson, a Tampa-based maritime lawyer, said the $75 million cap only applies when a company has no violations related to an accident. That rarely happens. BP will almost certainly be found to be at fault in some way for the spill.
To ward off any confusion, lawmakers in the House and Senate have introduced bills raising the liability cap from $75 million to $10 billion, an initiative they've dubbed the "Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act." Lawmakers say there's precedent for making the law retroactive: Witness the Superfund, which forced polluters to reimburse the government for toxic cleanup.
Given the public outrage over the spill, and the fact that it's an election year, the bills stands a good chance of passing.
But not everyone thinks it's a good idea. If the cap is increased, Nelson predicts that it will only raise the cost of buying insurance for all companies producing offshore oil.
"You're going to pay for that at the gas pump," he said.
Then there's the issue of which companies are at fault.
BP is the main operator, and as such must pay for the cleanup costs. Subcontractors on an oil well -- in this case, that's Halliburton (HAL, Fortune 500), Transocean (RIG) and Cameron (CAM, Fortune 500), among others -- typically obtain legal releases from the main operator. In its most recent annual filing, Transocean noted that it has "generally been able to obtain some degree of contractual indemnification" from its clients against liability for "pollution, well and environmental damages."
That might protect them from federal lawsuits or action by BP, said Nelson, but it still does not prevent them from being sued by out-of-work fisherman or hoteliers.
Let the legal games begin.
We’re mastering the oil slick, says BP chief facing flood of lawsuits
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7116260.ece
May 5, 2010
We’re mastering the oil slick, says BP chief facing flood of lawsuits
Giles Whittell in Washington
The British executive at the centre of the Gulf Coast oil disaster hit back yesterday against accusations that BP had reacted too slowly, telling The Times that the company would have a giant steel hood in place over the worst leak by tomorrow.
For the first time since the fatal explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig two weeks ago, Tony Hayward, BP’s chief executive, claimed that the company was winning the race to contain the spill and indicated that it was ready to fight some of the lawsuits heading its way.
Even as the first pictures emerged of oil breaking through protective booms and pooling round a string of islands off the Louisiana coast, Mr Hayward said the main slick had not yet made landfall “because we’ve contained it”.
He urged the US Government to pursue a policy of “absolute co-operation” with BP. “We will only succeed if we work together,” he said — a day after President Obama’s press secretary promised that the White House would “keep a boot to the throat of BP” to ensure that it fulfilled its responsibilities. Mr Hayward, 53, a geologist, projects a youthful image at the top of Britain’s biggest company. At times, however, he has struggled to appear in full control of the effort to protect hundreds of miles of coastline. But at BP’s Washington offices yesterday he gave a strikingly upbeat assessment of the operation, at odds with forecasts of environmental catastrophe.
“Let’s be very clear,” he said of the slick. “The reason it’s not getting to the beaches is because we’re containing it. We don’t know if we can continue to contain it, but for the moment we are.”
The unprecedented use of dispersant chemicals at the source of the leak a mile under water “seems to be working very effectively”, he said, describing an armada of surface ships working with an “air force” of aircraft spraying similar chemicals. “I’m using military rhetoric because that’s what we’re fighting, a battle, and we’re going to win,” he said.
An army of lawyers has descended on the Gulf Coast, determined to cripple BP with lawsuits on behalf of property owners and fishermen whose livelihoods they say could be ruined. Robert Kennedy Jr, son of the former presidential candidate and a prominent environmental lawyer, is suing BP.
Mr Hayward reiterated a promise that BP “will honour all legitimate claims for business interruption”. Asked for examples of illegitimate claims, he said: “I could give you lots of examples. This is America — come on. We’re going to have lots of illegitimate claims. We all know that.”
BP’s share price fell 3.5 per cent amid estimates that the clean-up bill could reach $16 billion (£10.5 billion). Mr Hayward declined to say whether a US law capping liability in some spills to $75 million would apply. He said: “We’re a big company. We’re absolutely good for the cost of this.”
He dismissed claims that the rig should have activated the blowout preventer at the well head with an “acoustic switch” — they were useless at 5,000ft, he said — and that fire booms should have been used to ignite the slick. “We couldn’t keep the fire alight because the sheen is too thin,” he said.
May 5, 2010
We’re mastering the oil slick, says BP chief facing flood of lawsuits
Giles Whittell in Washington
The British executive at the centre of the Gulf Coast oil disaster hit back yesterday against accusations that BP had reacted too slowly, telling The Times that the company would have a giant steel hood in place over the worst leak by tomorrow.
For the first time since the fatal explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig two weeks ago, Tony Hayward, BP’s chief executive, claimed that the company was winning the race to contain the spill and indicated that it was ready to fight some of the lawsuits heading its way.
Even as the first pictures emerged of oil breaking through protective booms and pooling round a string of islands off the Louisiana coast, Mr Hayward said the main slick had not yet made landfall “because we’ve contained it”.
He urged the US Government to pursue a policy of “absolute co-operation” with BP. “We will only succeed if we work together,” he said — a day after President Obama’s press secretary promised that the White House would “keep a boot to the throat of BP” to ensure that it fulfilled its responsibilities. Mr Hayward, 53, a geologist, projects a youthful image at the top of Britain’s biggest company. At times, however, he has struggled to appear in full control of the effort to protect hundreds of miles of coastline. But at BP’s Washington offices yesterday he gave a strikingly upbeat assessment of the operation, at odds with forecasts of environmental catastrophe.
“Let’s be very clear,” he said of the slick. “The reason it’s not getting to the beaches is because we’re containing it. We don’t know if we can continue to contain it, but for the moment we are.”
The unprecedented use of dispersant chemicals at the source of the leak a mile under water “seems to be working very effectively”, he said, describing an armada of surface ships working with an “air force” of aircraft spraying similar chemicals. “I’m using military rhetoric because that’s what we’re fighting, a battle, and we’re going to win,” he said.
An army of lawyers has descended on the Gulf Coast, determined to cripple BP with lawsuits on behalf of property owners and fishermen whose livelihoods they say could be ruined. Robert Kennedy Jr, son of the former presidential candidate and a prominent environmental lawyer, is suing BP.
Mr Hayward reiterated a promise that BP “will honour all legitimate claims for business interruption”. Asked for examples of illegitimate claims, he said: “I could give you lots of examples. This is America — come on. We’re going to have lots of illegitimate claims. We all know that.”
BP’s share price fell 3.5 per cent amid estimates that the clean-up bill could reach $16 billion (£10.5 billion). Mr Hayward declined to say whether a US law capping liability in some spills to $75 million would apply. He said: “We’re a big company. We’re absolutely good for the cost of this.”
He dismissed claims that the rig should have activated the blowout preventer at the well head with an “acoustic switch” — they were useless at 5,000ft, he said — and that fire booms should have been used to ignite the slick. “We couldn’t keep the fire alight because the sheen is too thin,” he said.
Friday, May 7, 2010
C'mon, how big is the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, really?
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0501/C-mon-how-big-is-the-Gulf-of-Mexico-oil-spill-really
C'mon, how big is the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, really?
Official estimates for the flow of oil out of the Deepwater Horizon well may be just a drop in the bucket. Critics call for release of worst-case scenario data to describe the oil spill disaster.
By Patrik Jonsson, Staff writer / May 1, 2010
Calculating the exact flow of crude out of the bent Deepwater Horizon oil rig "riser" pipe on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico is difficult. But it's now likely that the actual amount of the oil spill dwarfs the Coast Guard's figure of 5,000 barrels, or 210,000 gallons, a day.
Independent scientists estimate that the renegade wellhead at the bottom of the Gulf could be spewing up to 25,000 barrels a day. If chokeholds on the riser pipe break down further, up to 50,000 barrels a day could be released, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration memo obtained by the Mobile, Ala., Press-Register.
As estimates of the spill increase, questions about the government's honesty in assessing the spill are emerging. At the same time, pressure is building for the US to release worst-case scenario estimates so residents of the Gulf Coast can adequately prepare.
Meanwhile, BP is working furiously to do the unprecedented: Activate a faulty blowout preventer a mile under the Gulf to stop the leak at its source. If that fails, it could take three months, or more, to drill a relief well in order to plug the renegade well.
“In the environmental arena, risk modeling is done day-in and day-out for every type of pollutant, whether going in the water, earth or air," says Stuart Smith, an environmentl attorney in New Orleans, in a statement. "Why are BP and the Environmental Protection Agency not releasing such information to the public?
After originally saying the rig wasn't leaking at all, the Coast Guard originally used estimates in part provided by BP to describe the size of the spill as 1,000 barrels a day.
The Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on March 20, killing 11 and injuring 17 of a 126-member crew. It exploded again and sank 36 hours later. The resulting leak has created a Jamaica-sized oil slick that is now whirling in a hurricane shape into sensitive marshes of the Louisiana coastline, endangering birds, fish, oysters, and many peoples’ livelihoods.
President Obama prepared to visit the affected area this weekend as the government began wresting control of the relief operation from BP, which leased the Deepwater Horizon rig, and which has so far provided leak estimates based on reconnaisance of the crumpled pipe done by remote-controlled mini-subs on the murky bottom.
Officials say measuring the outflow is extremely difficult – like trying to gauge by eye the amount of water spurting from a leaky garden hose.
The Obama administration, which only a month ago proposed opening up new coastal areas for oil exploration, has put on hold all new exploratory drilling along the US continental shelf and is now fighting to stay ahead of what sociologist Steven Picou at the University of South Alabama calls a "monster catastrophe that boggles the mind."
A government report obtained by the Mobile, Ala., Press-Register explains that "choke points" in the crumpled riser are controlling the flow from the so-called Macondo well at Lease Block 252 in the Mississippi Canyon. But scrubbing action from sand in the oil is further eroding the pipe. There are likely tens of millions of gallons in the deposit that BP tapped with the Deepwater Horizon.
"The following is not public," reads National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Emergency Response document dated April 28, according to the Press-Register. "Two additional release points were found today. If the riser pipe deteriorates further, the flow could become unchecked resulting in a release volume an order of magnitude higher than previously thought."
An order of magnitude is a factor of 10.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that John Amos, an oil industry consultant, said that NOAA revised its original estimate of 1,000 barrels after he published calculations based on satellite data that showed a larger flow.
The 5,000 barrels a day is the "extremely low end" of estimates, Mr. Amos told the Journal.
"There's a range of uncertainty, and it's very difficult to accurately gauge how much there is," BP spokesman John Curry told the Journal.
C'mon, how big is the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, really?
Official estimates for the flow of oil out of the Deepwater Horizon well may be just a drop in the bucket. Critics call for release of worst-case scenario data to describe the oil spill disaster.
By Patrik Jonsson, Staff writer / May 1, 2010
Calculating the exact flow of crude out of the bent Deepwater Horizon oil rig "riser" pipe on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico is difficult. But it's now likely that the actual amount of the oil spill dwarfs the Coast Guard's figure of 5,000 barrels, or 210,000 gallons, a day.
Independent scientists estimate that the renegade wellhead at the bottom of the Gulf could be spewing up to 25,000 barrels a day. If chokeholds on the riser pipe break down further, up to 50,000 barrels a day could be released, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration memo obtained by the Mobile, Ala., Press-Register.
As estimates of the spill increase, questions about the government's honesty in assessing the spill are emerging. At the same time, pressure is building for the US to release worst-case scenario estimates so residents of the Gulf Coast can adequately prepare.
Meanwhile, BP is working furiously to do the unprecedented: Activate a faulty blowout preventer a mile under the Gulf to stop the leak at its source. If that fails, it could take three months, or more, to drill a relief well in order to plug the renegade well.
“In the environmental arena, risk modeling is done day-in and day-out for every type of pollutant, whether going in the water, earth or air," says Stuart Smith, an environmentl attorney in New Orleans, in a statement. "Why are BP and the Environmental Protection Agency not releasing such information to the public?
After originally saying the rig wasn't leaking at all, the Coast Guard originally used estimates in part provided by BP to describe the size of the spill as 1,000 barrels a day.
The Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on March 20, killing 11 and injuring 17 of a 126-member crew. It exploded again and sank 36 hours later. The resulting leak has created a Jamaica-sized oil slick that is now whirling in a hurricane shape into sensitive marshes of the Louisiana coastline, endangering birds, fish, oysters, and many peoples’ livelihoods.
President Obama prepared to visit the affected area this weekend as the government began wresting control of the relief operation from BP, which leased the Deepwater Horizon rig, and which has so far provided leak estimates based on reconnaisance of the crumpled pipe done by remote-controlled mini-subs on the murky bottom.
Officials say measuring the outflow is extremely difficult – like trying to gauge by eye the amount of water spurting from a leaky garden hose.
The Obama administration, which only a month ago proposed opening up new coastal areas for oil exploration, has put on hold all new exploratory drilling along the US continental shelf and is now fighting to stay ahead of what sociologist Steven Picou at the University of South Alabama calls a "monster catastrophe that boggles the mind."
A government report obtained by the Mobile, Ala., Press-Register explains that "choke points" in the crumpled riser are controlling the flow from the so-called Macondo well at Lease Block 252 in the Mississippi Canyon. But scrubbing action from sand in the oil is further eroding the pipe. There are likely tens of millions of gallons in the deposit that BP tapped with the Deepwater Horizon.
"The following is not public," reads National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Emergency Response document dated April 28, according to the Press-Register. "Two additional release points were found today. If the riser pipe deteriorates further, the flow could become unchecked resulting in a release volume an order of magnitude higher than previously thought."
An order of magnitude is a factor of 10.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that John Amos, an oil industry consultant, said that NOAA revised its original estimate of 1,000 barrels after he published calculations based on satellite data that showed a larger flow.
The 5,000 barrels a day is the "extremely low end" of estimates, Mr. Amos told the Journal.
"There's a range of uncertainty, and it's very difficult to accurately gauge how much there is," BP spokesman John Curry told the Journal.
BP warned of rig fault ten years ago
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article7114087.ece
The Sunday Times
May 2, 2010
BP warned of rig fault ten years ago
Danny Fortson
BP faces fresh questions over the cause of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill after it emerged that problems with the type of equipment that led to the disaster were first reported a decade ago.
In June 2000, the oil giant issued a "notice of default" to Transocean, the operator of the rig that blew up last month. The dispute was over problems with a blowout preventer, a set of iron slabs that should close out-of-control wells. It failed on the Gulf of Mexico rig, triggering the explosion and oil spill.
Transocean acknowledged at the time that the preventer did "not work exactly right". The rig in question, the Discover Enterprise, was unable to operate for extended periods while the problem was fixed.
The preventer was made by Hydril, now owned by GE's oil and gas arm, and Cameron International, a Houston company. Cameron also made the preventer on the Deepwater Horizon, the rig that exploded. Its preventer was fitted at about the same time BP was complaining of problems with its sister vessel.
BP's past problems with the preventer emerged as a giant oil slick, fed by the uncapped well, began lapping the coast of Louisiana, threatening to create America's worst environmental disaster since the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989.
The US Coast Guard estimated that it is releasing 5,000 barrels of oil a day into the sea - though some experts claim it may be flowing at fives times that rate.
Fears were growing this weekend that the well head could fall apart, potentially unleashing an unresticted flow into the ocean.
Tony Hayward, BP's chief executive, flew to Houston today to manage the worsening crisis. More than $23billion (£15billion) has been wiped off BP's market value amid growing worries over the costs of the clean-up. Estimates range from $3billion to $12billion. Hayward pledged to pay all "legitimate" claims arising from the spill.
Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida have all declared states of emergency as winds pushed the slick toward sensitive marshlands and fishing areas.
President Barack Obama issued a moratorium on new drilling until the cause of the disaster was determined. He also ordered the Department of Defense to use cargo planes to spray chemical dispersant.
The government, BP and Transocean have all launched investigations. These are focused primarily on the preventer that did not shut, allowing a torrent of high-pressure oil and gas to shoot up through the rig floor and cause the explosion. BP has sent a small fleet of submersible robots to the well, 5,000ft down, to try to activate the preventer, but they have been unsuccessful.
A Cameron spokesman said that this was the first time one of its preventors had failed to stop a blowout.
The Sunday Times
May 2, 2010
BP warned of rig fault ten years ago
Danny Fortson
BP faces fresh questions over the cause of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill after it emerged that problems with the type of equipment that led to the disaster were first reported a decade ago.
In June 2000, the oil giant issued a "notice of default" to Transocean, the operator of the rig that blew up last month. The dispute was over problems with a blowout preventer, a set of iron slabs that should close out-of-control wells. It failed on the Gulf of Mexico rig, triggering the explosion and oil spill.
Transocean acknowledged at the time that the preventer did "not work exactly right". The rig in question, the Discover Enterprise, was unable to operate for extended periods while the problem was fixed.
The preventer was made by Hydril, now owned by GE's oil and gas arm, and Cameron International, a Houston company. Cameron also made the preventer on the Deepwater Horizon, the rig that exploded. Its preventer was fitted at about the same time BP was complaining of problems with its sister vessel.
BP's past problems with the preventer emerged as a giant oil slick, fed by the uncapped well, began lapping the coast of Louisiana, threatening to create America's worst environmental disaster since the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989.
The US Coast Guard estimated that it is releasing 5,000 barrels of oil a day into the sea - though some experts claim it may be flowing at fives times that rate.
Fears were growing this weekend that the well head could fall apart, potentially unleashing an unresticted flow into the ocean.
Tony Hayward, BP's chief executive, flew to Houston today to manage the worsening crisis. More than $23billion (£15billion) has been wiped off BP's market value amid growing worries over the costs of the clean-up. Estimates range from $3billion to $12billion. Hayward pledged to pay all "legitimate" claims arising from the spill.
Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida have all declared states of emergency as winds pushed the slick toward sensitive marshlands and fishing areas.
President Barack Obama issued a moratorium on new drilling until the cause of the disaster was determined. He also ordered the Department of Defense to use cargo planes to spray chemical dispersant.
The government, BP and Transocean have all launched investigations. These are focused primarily on the preventer that did not shut, allowing a torrent of high-pressure oil and gas to shoot up through the rig floor and cause the explosion. BP has sent a small fleet of submersible robots to the well, 5,000ft down, to try to activate the preventer, but they have been unsuccessful.
A Cameron spokesman said that this was the first time one of its preventors had failed to stop a blowout.
Gulf spill: Worse than Exxon Valdez?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36850248/ns/us_news-environment
Gulf spill: Worse than Exxon Valdez?
Some say environmental impact could surpass '89 disaster
James Eng
Thurs., April 29, 2010
The oil leak triggered by a deadly rig blast off the coast of Louisiana has the potential to cause more environmental damage than the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, one of the largest ecological disasters ever recorded, some observers say.
"As it is now, it's already looking like this could be the worst oil spill since the Valdez," John Hocevar, oceans campaign director for Greenpeace USA, told msnbc.com on Thursday.
"It’s quite possible this will end up being worse than the Valdez in terms of environmental impact since it seems like BP will be unable to cap the spill for months. In terms of total quantity of oil released, it seems this will probably fall short of Exxon Valdez. But because of the habitat, the environmental impact will be worse."
"Probably the only thing comparable to this is the Kuwait fires [following the Gulf War in 1991]," Mike Miller, head of Canadian oil well fire-fighting company Safety Boss, told the BBC World Service.
"The Exxon Valdez is going to pale in comparison to this as it goes on."
The spill was triggered by an explosion last week off the Louisiana coast that sank an oil rig operated by BP. Eleven workers are missing and presumed dead.
So far the leak from a blown-out well 5,000 feet under the sea is not nearly as big as the Exxon Valdez disaster, which spilled about 11 million gallons of oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound 21 years ago. BP's well is spewing about 210,000 gallons of oil a day into the ocean, the Coast Guard estimates.
But if the leak is not capped, millions of gallons of oil could spill into the Gulf of Mexico. The environmental impact could be disastrous if the oil reaches the ecologically fragile U.S. coastline.
Potential for catastrophe
"If we lose the integrity of that wellhead, it could be a catastrophic spill,'' Adm. Thad Allen, commandant of the Coast Guard, which is directing efforts to contain the spreading spill, told The Miami Herald's editorial board Wednesday.
Greenpeace's Hocevar said he's particularly concerned about the impact to critically endangered bluefin tuna. "It's their spawning season and bluefin larvae in this part of their life-cycle would be near the surface of water," Hocevar said.
The oil could also harm sea turtles, which are approaching nesting season; fin whales; menhaden, a fish species harvested mostly for fish meal and fish oil; bottom-feeding oysters; and numerous species of birds, Hocevar said.
Experts said the spill could also destroy the livelihood of commercial fishermen and shrimp catchers and impact recreational fishermen. According to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the state’s fishing industry is worth $265 billion at dockside and has a total economic impact of $2.3 trillion.
Tourism also could take a blow if beaches are fouled.
Already, a federal class-action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of two commercial shrimpers from Louisiana seeking at least $5 million in compensatory damages plus an unspecified amount of punitive damages against Transocean, BP and other companies linked to the rig blast.
Louisiana opened a special shrimp season along parts of the coast to allow shrimpers to harvest the profitable white shrimp before the spill reaches the area.
Which way the wind blows
Alaska's Exxon Valdez spill contaminated more than 1,200 miles of shoreline and killed hundreds of thousands of seabirds and marine animals. More than $2 billion has been spent on cleanup and recovery, and Exxon has paid at least $1 billion in damages.
Jeffrey Short, science director for the Oceana conservation group based in Juneau, Alaska, and a former chemist and environmental expert for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told USA Today the latest spill is "basically déjà vu all over again."
"The time scale for the Exxon Valdez, having lived through it, it took days and weeks to unfold and for us to really realize the nature of it. We're still in early days here. So far the trajectory of events has been pretty foreseeable."
James Opaluch, a professor of natural-resource economics at the University of Rhode Island, has studied more than a dozen oil spills, including the Exxon Valdez. He said the severity of the environmental consequences of the Gulf spill depends largely on how much oil reaches shore.
At this point, Opaluch told msnbc.com by e-mail, the most comparable spill is the Ixtoc I oil spill in 1979, caused by a blowout and subsequent fire from a drilling rig in Mexican waters of the Gulf of Mexico. By the time the well was brought under control in March 1980, an estimated 140 million galons of oil had spilled — more than 10 times larger than Exxon Valdez. Most of the oil stayed offshore for a long time, and at least some oil eventually came onshore on Texas beaches. "Damages from Ixtoc were relatively modest, certainly much less than Exxon Valdez as far as we can tell," Opaluch said.
"I think the most important issues for the present spill are, one, how long the spill continues for, therefore how much is spilled; two, whether the spill comes ashore, and three, if it does come ashore, where it comes ashore," he said.
"The best-case scenario is for all of the oil to go into the deep waters in the Gulf. The worst-case scenario is for much of the oil to come ashore in wetlands. An intermediate case is if the oil comes ashore primarily on rocky shorelines or sandy beaches."
Hocevar said he's still hopeful officials will find a way to plug the well leak, but he said a lot of environmental damage has already been done.
"This is the real cost of oil," Hocevar said. "The Gulf may be the one place where we are best prepared to deal with an oil spill. This is a stark reminder of what little you can do once a spill happens."
Gulf spill: Worse than Exxon Valdez?
Some say environmental impact could surpass '89 disaster
James Eng
Thurs., April 29, 2010
The oil leak triggered by a deadly rig blast off the coast of Louisiana has the potential to cause more environmental damage than the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, one of the largest ecological disasters ever recorded, some observers say.
"As it is now, it's already looking like this could be the worst oil spill since the Valdez," John Hocevar, oceans campaign director for Greenpeace USA, told msnbc.com on Thursday.
"It’s quite possible this will end up being worse than the Valdez in terms of environmental impact since it seems like BP will be unable to cap the spill for months. In terms of total quantity of oil released, it seems this will probably fall short of Exxon Valdez. But because of the habitat, the environmental impact will be worse."
"Probably the only thing comparable to this is the Kuwait fires [following the Gulf War in 1991]," Mike Miller, head of Canadian oil well fire-fighting company Safety Boss, told the BBC World Service.
"The Exxon Valdez is going to pale in comparison to this as it goes on."
The spill was triggered by an explosion last week off the Louisiana coast that sank an oil rig operated by BP. Eleven workers are missing and presumed dead.
So far the leak from a blown-out well 5,000 feet under the sea is not nearly as big as the Exxon Valdez disaster, which spilled about 11 million gallons of oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound 21 years ago. BP's well is spewing about 210,000 gallons of oil a day into the ocean, the Coast Guard estimates.
But if the leak is not capped, millions of gallons of oil could spill into the Gulf of Mexico. The environmental impact could be disastrous if the oil reaches the ecologically fragile U.S. coastline.
Potential for catastrophe
"If we lose the integrity of that wellhead, it could be a catastrophic spill,'' Adm. Thad Allen, commandant of the Coast Guard, which is directing efforts to contain the spreading spill, told The Miami Herald's editorial board Wednesday.
Greenpeace's Hocevar said he's particularly concerned about the impact to critically endangered bluefin tuna. "It's their spawning season and bluefin larvae in this part of their life-cycle would be near the surface of water," Hocevar said.
The oil could also harm sea turtles, which are approaching nesting season; fin whales; menhaden, a fish species harvested mostly for fish meal and fish oil; bottom-feeding oysters; and numerous species of birds, Hocevar said.
Experts said the spill could also destroy the livelihood of commercial fishermen and shrimp catchers and impact recreational fishermen. According to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the state’s fishing industry is worth $265 billion at dockside and has a total economic impact of $2.3 trillion.
Tourism also could take a blow if beaches are fouled.
Already, a federal class-action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of two commercial shrimpers from Louisiana seeking at least $5 million in compensatory damages plus an unspecified amount of punitive damages against Transocean, BP and other companies linked to the rig blast.
Louisiana opened a special shrimp season along parts of the coast to allow shrimpers to harvest the profitable white shrimp before the spill reaches the area.
Which way the wind blows
Alaska's Exxon Valdez spill contaminated more than 1,200 miles of shoreline and killed hundreds of thousands of seabirds and marine animals. More than $2 billion has been spent on cleanup and recovery, and Exxon has paid at least $1 billion in damages.
Jeffrey Short, science director for the Oceana conservation group based in Juneau, Alaska, and a former chemist and environmental expert for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told USA Today the latest spill is "basically déjà vu all over again."
"The time scale for the Exxon Valdez, having lived through it, it took days and weeks to unfold and for us to really realize the nature of it. We're still in early days here. So far the trajectory of events has been pretty foreseeable."
James Opaluch, a professor of natural-resource economics at the University of Rhode Island, has studied more than a dozen oil spills, including the Exxon Valdez. He said the severity of the environmental consequences of the Gulf spill depends largely on how much oil reaches shore.
At this point, Opaluch told msnbc.com by e-mail, the most comparable spill is the Ixtoc I oil spill in 1979, caused by a blowout and subsequent fire from a drilling rig in Mexican waters of the Gulf of Mexico. By the time the well was brought under control in March 1980, an estimated 140 million galons of oil had spilled — more than 10 times larger than Exxon Valdez. Most of the oil stayed offshore for a long time, and at least some oil eventually came onshore on Texas beaches. "Damages from Ixtoc were relatively modest, certainly much less than Exxon Valdez as far as we can tell," Opaluch said.
"I think the most important issues for the present spill are, one, how long the spill continues for, therefore how much is spilled; two, whether the spill comes ashore, and three, if it does come ashore, where it comes ashore," he said.
"The best-case scenario is for all of the oil to go into the deep waters in the Gulf. The worst-case scenario is for much of the oil to come ashore in wetlands. An intermediate case is if the oil comes ashore primarily on rocky shorelines or sandy beaches."
Hocevar said he's still hopeful officials will find a way to plug the well leak, but he said a lot of environmental damage has already been done.
"This is the real cost of oil," Hocevar said. "The Gulf may be the one place where we are best prepared to deal with an oil spill. This is a stark reminder of what little you can do once a spill happens."
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Mardi Gras and the Illuminati
Mardi Gras and the Illuminati
Is no vestige of American culture safe from the sinister tentacles of the illuminati? Our LDD operative, Jack Heart, has put together an amazing… almost unbelievable report from inside the world’s oldest conspiracy. The following piece of investigative journalism uncovers the occult origins of Mardi Gras, America’s most spectacular party staged in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The history of Mardi Gras began long before Europeans set foot in the New World. In mid February the ancient Romans celebrated the Lupercalia, a circus like festival not entirely unlike the Mardi Gras we are familiar with today. When Rome embraced Christianity, the early Church fathers decided it was better to incorporate certain aspects of pagan rituals into the new faith rather than attempt to abolish them altogether. Carnival became a period of abandon and merriment that preceded the penance of Lent, thus giving a Christian interpretation to the ancient custom.
During the late 1700's, pre-Lenten masked balls and festivals were common in New Orleans while it was under French rule. In 1704, Mobile established a secret society (Masque de la Mobile) ... similar to those who form our current Mardi Gras Krewes. It lasted until 1709. In 1710, the "Boeuf Graf Society" was formed and paraded from 1711 through 1861. The procession was held with a huge bull's head pushed alone on wheels by 16 men. This occurred on Fat Tuesday.
When New Orleans came under Spanish rule the custom of masked balls and festivals was banned. In 1803 New Orleans came under the U.S. flag. The prohibition against masked festivals continued until 1823 when the Creole populace convinced the governor to permit masked balls. In 1827 street masking was again legalized.
During the early 1800's public celebrations of Mardi Gras centered around maskers on foot, in carriages and on horseback. The first documented parade occurred in 1837. Unfortunately, Mardi Gras gained a negative reputation because of violent behavior attributed to maskers during the 1840's and 50's. The situation became so bad that the press began calling for an end to the celebration.
In 1857 six New Orleaneans saved Mardi Gras by forming the Comus organization. These six men were former members of the Cowbellians, an organization which had put on New Year's Eve parades in Mobile since 1831. The Comus organization added beauty to Mardi Gras and demonstrated that it could be a safe and festive event. Comus was the first organization to use the term krewe to describe itself. Comus also started the customs of having a secret Carnival society, having a parade with a unifying theme with floats, and of having a ball after the parade. Comus was also the first organization to name itself after a mythological character (son and the cup-bearer of Dionysus).
The three secret founders of the Mystick Krewe of Comus were Albert Pike, Judah Benjamin and John Slidell. Judah Benjamin was an agent of the House of Rothschild living in New Orleans in 1857. The House of Rothschild was fearful that the new United States Republic would begin printing its own money and have a central bank not tied into the House of Rothschild. This would weaken the House of Rothschild’s control over the monetary currencies of the world. They had already established a secret bloodline elitist society, incorporating thirteen of the world’s most wealthy families, to eventually establish a New World Order with control over the world’s economy.
In 1832, William Russell, whose family fortunes were made smuggling opium to China through Turkey, founded a chapter of the House of Rothschild’s Illuminati—Knights of Templar at Yale University and called it Skull and Bones. Code numbers are important as a form of identification and communication to the upper echelon within this secret elitist society. Three is a key number. The number 33 is a passage into one of the highest stages of membership within this secret elitist group. The number 13 is a form of identification among these elitists. The official inscription of the Order of Skull and Bones within the building at Yale University called The Tomb is 322. Some people interpret this as the year of its founding, 1832, and that Skull and Bones is one of the 3 chapters of this Brotherhood of Death. The first chapter was founded in Germany. The second Chapter is at Yale University. The third chapter was to eventually be founded, when the time was right, at Tulane University School of Medicine located in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The headquarters for the Mystick Krewe of Comus became the Picwick Club. Here before the days of computers, telephones, etc, a place of secret communication was established for those in the higher levels of the Illuminati’s New World Order. The ordinary members of the Mystick Krewe of Comus had no knowledge of what Albert Pike, John Slidell, and Judah Benjamin were up to. The three secret elitist could also establish their code numbers. The number thirteen was used as the number of the invited guest to establish the original number of founders. The kings identity of the Mystic Krewe of Comus was kept secret.
The Skull and Bones Society was established in secret at Tulane University in New Orleans in October 1907. Dr. Isadore Dyer was one of the founding members. Dr. Isadore Dyer was a graduate of Yale University and was a member of the Berzellus secret society at Yale. This Brezellus secret society is a sister Yale member of Chapter 322-Skull and Bones-the Brotherhood of Death.
U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had reached level code 33. Franklin Delano Roosevelt participated and conspired with 33rd level J. Edgar Hoover to perform and complete the ritual “killing of the king-Kingfish-U.S. Senator Huey P. Long. Both Franklin D. Roosevelt and J. Edgar Hoover by their participation and completion of the killing of the kingfish U.S. Senator Huey P. Long were made secretly Kings of the Mystick Krewe of Comus. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was King of Comus in 1937. J. Edgar Hoover became a secret King of the Mystick Krewe of Comus later. When J. Edgar Hoover came down to New Orleans to act out his reign as King of Comus, he was involved in a sexual revelry of homosexuality and cross-dressing with various elitist bloodline members of the Mystick Krewe of Comus.
U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt conspired with Skull and Bones Henry L. Stimson, who was appointed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt as his Secretary of War, and with other 33rd level Winston Churchill to have the Japanese bomb Peal Harbor. The bombing of Pearl Harbor was necessary to destroy the isolationist movement in the U.S., and to force the U.S. into military involvement in the Wars of Europe.
The House of Rothschild-Skull and Bones-Illuminati’s plan was to force the U.S. into the European military theatre. Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Skull and Bones Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson had broken the Japanese code and had pre-knowledge of the Pearl Harbor bombing plan of the Japanese.
Agents of Skull and Bones with blessing and involvement of J. Edgar Hoover FBI Director and 33rd level executioner-cover up specialist for the elitist bloodline of the House of Rothschild murdered Freemason Charles Lindberg’s son. This killing of freemason Charles Lindberg’s son was to set an example that the isolationist stand against the U.S. becoming involved with the wars of Europe was not the position or the will of the Illuminati.
Mardi Gras Krewes today are developed from private social clubs that have restrictive membership policies. Since all of these parade organizations are completely funded by its members, there is no legal way to track their activities. We are only left to guess at what these nefarious organizations are up to… or who is really pulling the strings…
Meanwhile… the vast majority of the American public goes about their business without giving much thought to the “Secret Chiefs” or their agenda of world domination. But this situation of obliviousness on the part of the average citizen may not be as hopeless as it first appears. There is something hopeful in the resiliency of the American Spirit in it’s defiance of controll from above. This “thumbing of the nose” at authority is demonstrated quite nicley at Mardi Gras itself. The tumultuous reveling prior to lent is a magnificent example of “stickin’ it to the man” through obstinance. The classic tune that typifies Mardi Gras, Iko-Iko says it best…
If you don’t like what the big chief say, sing “Jac-o-mo fina na (loose translation –let the goodtimes roll)!!!
Posted by Sensei
Heresy, Mardi Gras, Mysticism, Secret Societies
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Breitbart admits paying activist
http://rawstory.com/2010/01/oops-breitbart-admits-paying-activist-bug-democratic-senator/
Breitbart admits paying activist who tried to bug Democratic senator
By John Byrne
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
The man who made the conservative activist who posed as a pimp to undermine the community organizing group ACORN, confessed that he pays him -- while at the same time arguing he has "nothing to do with" what he does.
James O'Keefe was arrested Monday after allegedly attempting to wiretap the Louisiana offices of Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA). After his interdiction by federal marshals, O'Keefe admitted to planning the operation.
Conservative pundits have sought to distance themselves from O'Keefe after the arrest.
"Let it be a lesson to aspiring young conservatives interested in investigative journalism: Know your limits," wrote conservative blogger Michelle Malkin Tuesday afternoon. "Know the law. Don’t get carried away. And don’t become what you are targeting."
In a statement, conservative heavyweight Andrew Breitbart -- who helped O'Keefe become famous after posting videos of him posing as a pimp and chatting with ACORN employees and served an an editor for The Drudge Report and contributor to the Huffington Post -- said he had "no knowledge about or connection to" any of the alleged buggers.
“We have no knowledge about or connection to any alleged acts and events involving James O’Keefe at Senator Mary Landrieu’s office," Breitbart remarked. "We only just learned about the alleged incident this afternoon. We have no information other than what has been reported publicly by the press. Accordingly, we simply are not in a position to make any further comment.”
And yet, on a radio interview the same day, Breitbart told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that O'Keefe was all but an employee.
HH: Last question, in terms of his relationship with you not connected to this event, are you still, is he in your employ in any way?
AB...What he does for the site exclusively is he tells his life rights, basically. So when he puts a story out there, it's on the Brietbart sites, the Big sites, that he can tell people what transpired. So...
HH: Do you pay him for that?
AB: Yes.
HH: And are you free to tell me how much you pay him?
AB: I'll...perhaps at another date, but he's paid a fair salary.
HH: Is he...so he is an employee?
AB: I'm not sure that's technically the thing, but yes, he's paid for his life rights. And he's, you know, he's still...we reserve the right to say yes or no to any of the stories that he puts up on our site as we do to any other contributor who comes to the site.
HH: Will it be a mischaracterization to say he was working for you when he went about this?
AB: Well, I mean, no. He was not involved in anything that was related to Big Government, or Breitbart.com.
At the time of his arrest, O'Keefe was writing for Breitbart's website, though there's no indication Breitbart had any involvement with the wiretap bust.
In a follow-up posting on his website BigGovernment, Breitbart said he wasn't leaping to any conclusions -- but noticeably omitted the fact he was paying O'Keefe.
"Let me state clearly for the record: wiretapping is wrong," he wrote. "But until I hear the full story from James O’Keefe, I will not speculate as to what he was doing in Louisiana."
The exchange with Hewitt was noted late Tuesday by MediaMatters.
O'Keefe and three associates allegedly posed as telephone company employees in a self-confessed effort to tamper with the senator's office phones.
Breitbart admits paying activist who tried to bug Democratic senator
By John Byrne
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
The man who made the conservative activist who posed as a pimp to undermine the community organizing group ACORN, confessed that he pays him -- while at the same time arguing he has "nothing to do with" what he does.
James O'Keefe was arrested Monday after allegedly attempting to wiretap the Louisiana offices of Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA). After his interdiction by federal marshals, O'Keefe admitted to planning the operation.
Conservative pundits have sought to distance themselves from O'Keefe after the arrest.
"Let it be a lesson to aspiring young conservatives interested in investigative journalism: Know your limits," wrote conservative blogger Michelle Malkin Tuesday afternoon. "Know the law. Don’t get carried away. And don’t become what you are targeting."
In a statement, conservative heavyweight Andrew Breitbart -- who helped O'Keefe become famous after posting videos of him posing as a pimp and chatting with ACORN employees and served an an editor for The Drudge Report and contributor to the Huffington Post -- said he had "no knowledge about or connection to" any of the alleged buggers.
“We have no knowledge about or connection to any alleged acts and events involving James O’Keefe at Senator Mary Landrieu’s office," Breitbart remarked. "We only just learned about the alleged incident this afternoon. We have no information other than what has been reported publicly by the press. Accordingly, we simply are not in a position to make any further comment.”
And yet, on a radio interview the same day, Breitbart told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that O'Keefe was all but an employee.
HH: Last question, in terms of his relationship with you not connected to this event, are you still, is he in your employ in any way?
AB...What he does for the site exclusively is he tells his life rights, basically. So when he puts a story out there, it's on the Brietbart sites, the Big sites, that he can tell people what transpired. So...
HH: Do you pay him for that?
AB: Yes.
HH: And are you free to tell me how much you pay him?
AB: I'll...perhaps at another date, but he's paid a fair salary.
HH: Is he...so he is an employee?
AB: I'm not sure that's technically the thing, but yes, he's paid for his life rights. And he's, you know, he's still...we reserve the right to say yes or no to any of the stories that he puts up on our site as we do to any other contributor who comes to the site.
HH: Will it be a mischaracterization to say he was working for you when he went about this?
AB: Well, I mean, no. He was not involved in anything that was related to Big Government, or Breitbart.com.
At the time of his arrest, O'Keefe was writing for Breitbart's website, though there's no indication Breitbart had any involvement with the wiretap bust.
In a follow-up posting on his website BigGovernment, Breitbart said he wasn't leaping to any conclusions -- but noticeably omitted the fact he was paying O'Keefe.
"Let me state clearly for the record: wiretapping is wrong," he wrote. "But until I hear the full story from James O’Keefe, I will not speculate as to what he was doing in Louisiana."
The exchange with Hewitt was noted late Tuesday by MediaMatters.
O'Keefe and three associates allegedly posed as telephone company employees in a self-confessed effort to tamper with the senator's office phones.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Obama in New Orleans
http://wsws.org/articles/2009/oct2009/obam-o17.shtml
Obama in New Orleans: The callous face of the US ruling elite
By Patrick Martin
17 October 2009
In a brief, four-hour stopover in New Orleans en route to a fund-raising dinner with millionaire Democrats in California, President Barack Obama made perfunctory promises to the people of the devastated city, barely disguising his indifference to their plight.
The visit, coming one day after the stock market soared above 10,000 and the Wall Street Journal estimated that compensation at major banks and financial firms would hit a record $140 billion this year, underscored the chasm that separates rich and poor in Obama’s America.
Obama has waited nine months from his inauguration to visit the city which in 2005 became a worldwide symbol of the failure of the Bush administration and the callousness of the US ruling elite, as more than 1,000 Americans died and hundreds of thousands of poor and working class people lost everything in Hurricane Katrina.
The New Orleans visit was intended as a photo-op, with heartwarming footage of cheering school children and grateful citizens, but the reality of growing popular disillusionment and anger intruded when a college student challenged Obama during his appearance at a town hall meeting at the University of New Orleans.
Gabriel Bordenave, 29, cited the continued stalling by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on funds to rebuild the main health care facility for the poor of New Orleans, Charity Hospital. “I expected as much from the Bush administration,” he told Obama, “but why are we still being nickel-and-dimed?”
Obama responded defensively with political boilerplate. His administration was “working as hard as we can as quickly as we can,” he said, citing unspecified “complications” in coordinating efforts with state and local governments—although he had just defended Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin when they were booed by the crowd during introductions.
“I wish I could just write a check,” he continued, and someone in the audience shouted out, “Why not?”
Obama was visibly put out, first by Bordenave’s question, then by the interruption. He proceeded to lecture his critics: “You say, why not? There’s this whole thing about the Constitution.” He then continued that in Washington, “everyone will attack you for spending money, unless you are spending it on them.”
This was a thinly concealed slur. His audience of hurricane survivors, Obama was suggesting, were just another special interest group seeking money from the federal government. Bordenave later told the New York Times, “I kind of thought (the Constitution reference) was a blow-off answer.”
While claiming that his administration would not follow the example of its predecessor in ignoring the suffering caused by Katrina, Obama mimicked one of the most notorious episodes of the Bush presidency. Bush left his Texas ranch to fly over the hurricane zone in early September 2005, on his way to Washington. Obama stopped off in New Orleans for three hours and 45 minutes on his way to a fundraising event in San Francisco.
At the Westin St. Francis Hotel, nearly 1,000 well-heeled supporters packed a ballroom, paying up to $1,000 each, while 160 high rollers chipped in $34,000 per couple for dinner with the president upstairs. Obama was introduced at the dinner by Mark Gorenberg, managing director of the venture capital firm Hummer Winblad. Joining them at the podium was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose husband is a multimillionaire real estate investor.
Obama’s performance in New Orleans was so callous and arrogant that it drew criticism from two African-American columnists usually in the administration camp, both writing on their newspapers’ web sites. Jim Mitchell of the Dallas Morning-News observed that the president “snaps at a person who asks a very reasonable question—why the area doesn’t have a full service hospital back up and running so many years after Katrina.” He added that Obama’s response was “snide, elusive, and surprisingly, politically tone deaf.”
Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post called Obama’s “brief display of drive-by compassion” in New Orleans “by far the worst outing of his presidency thus far.” Dismissing Obama’s claim that it was difficult to expedite the flow of funds to the storm-ravaged area, he wrote: “We now know that our government can make hundreds of billions of dollars available to irresponsible Wall Street institutions within a matter of days, if necessary. We can open up the floodgates of credit to too-big-to-fail banks at the stroke of a pen. But when it comes to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, well, these things take time.”
The contrast is indeed stark. While Obama boasted of having freed up $1.5 billion in federal funds for Gulf Coast recovery projects since taking office, this compares to more than $12 trillion made available to Wall Street financial interests—8,000 times more. Obama’s new money for Katrina recovery is less than one week’s expenditure on the war in Afghanistan.
The indifference of the president was demonstrated in the perfunctory character of his tour of the hurricane zone. He stopped at a public charter school in the Lower Ninth Ward, the same school visited by George W. Bush during one of his post-Katrina jaunts. The school sits in an area that remains 75 percent uninhabited. Then the presidential motorcade made its way to the University of New Orleans field house for an hour-long town hall, and Obama was on his way back to the airport.
Obama did not bother to visit the other areas hardest hit by Katrina, including the vast New Orleans East area, which remains the site of mile upon mile of flood damage, or the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coast.
It was not that Obama lacked time to go to these areas. The day after his stopover in New Orleans, he was back in the region for an event with George H. W. Bush, to mark the 20th anniversary of the former president’s “A Thousand Points of Light” foundation, at Texas A&M University. In all, Obama spent far more time with venture capitalists and Bush loyalists than with the people of New Orleans.
The visit to the Bush foundation was particularly provocative. It amounted to a message to the American people that when the next disaster hits, they should look to private charity, not the federal government, for assistance.
This is in keeping with the record of the Obama administration on reconstruction of the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast. Last month, the Institute for Southern Studies published a survey of 50 community leaders from coastal Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, who gave the Obama administration a D+ for its recovery efforts, only slightly better than the D- they awarded the Bush administration.
The only area where Obama rated a C- was in his willingness to “publicly acknowledge the challenges facing recovering Gulf Coast communities.” In other words, Obama is better than Bush in talking about recovery, but gets the same D’s for doing anything about it.
The administration’s lowest scores came on the biggest reconstruction issues: helping displaced families return home, rebuilding infrastructure, increasing protection against hurricanes, and reviving the coastal economy through job-creation.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune cited an Obama administration document revealing that the Second Congressional District of Louisiana, which comprises most of Orleans Parish and the entire city of New Orleans, was receiving the lowest amount of funding for any congressional district in the country from the economic stimulus package passed last February.
The social needs in the area remain enormous. According to a study by the Brookings Institution, there are 62,557 homes vacant or abandoned in Orleans Parish, about one third of the total number of homes in existence before Katrina. A survey showed that 40 percent of these abandoned or vacant homes showed signs of habitation, in some cases by the former owners attempting to rebuild, in other cases by squatters and the homeless.
The Katrina Recovery Index published by the Institute of Southern Studies gives a glimpse of the dimensions of the social crisis in New Orleans, more than four years after Katrina:
• 100,000 displaced persons from New Orleans are now living in Houston, Texas.
• The percentage of households with children in New Orleans has fallen from 30 percent to 20 percent.
• Only 752 federal housing vouchers have been issued in New Orleans; since the waiting list for vouchers was established, 16 people on it have died.
• Rents in New Orleans are up 40 percent since Katrina.
• Demand for emergency food relief at New Orleans-area food pantries is up 35 percent.
• 60 percent of New Orleans school children now attend privately-operated charter schools.
• 43 percent of the city’s medical facilities have not reopened since Katrina.
• Two-thirds of the city’s population reports chronic health problems, up 45 percent since 2006.
• The suicide rate in New Orleans is up 200 percent since Katrina, while only one local hospital provides in-patient mental health care.
• Louisiana ranks 50th among US states for overall health care quality.
Obama in New Orleans: The callous face of the US ruling elite
By Patrick Martin
17 October 2009
In a brief, four-hour stopover in New Orleans en route to a fund-raising dinner with millionaire Democrats in California, President Barack Obama made perfunctory promises to the people of the devastated city, barely disguising his indifference to their plight.
The visit, coming one day after the stock market soared above 10,000 and the Wall Street Journal estimated that compensation at major banks and financial firms would hit a record $140 billion this year, underscored the chasm that separates rich and poor in Obama’s America.
Obama has waited nine months from his inauguration to visit the city which in 2005 became a worldwide symbol of the failure of the Bush administration and the callousness of the US ruling elite, as more than 1,000 Americans died and hundreds of thousands of poor and working class people lost everything in Hurricane Katrina.
The New Orleans visit was intended as a photo-op, with heartwarming footage of cheering school children and grateful citizens, but the reality of growing popular disillusionment and anger intruded when a college student challenged Obama during his appearance at a town hall meeting at the University of New Orleans.
Gabriel Bordenave, 29, cited the continued stalling by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on funds to rebuild the main health care facility for the poor of New Orleans, Charity Hospital. “I expected as much from the Bush administration,” he told Obama, “but why are we still being nickel-and-dimed?”
Obama responded defensively with political boilerplate. His administration was “working as hard as we can as quickly as we can,” he said, citing unspecified “complications” in coordinating efforts with state and local governments—although he had just defended Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin when they were booed by the crowd during introductions.
“I wish I could just write a check,” he continued, and someone in the audience shouted out, “Why not?”
Obama was visibly put out, first by Bordenave’s question, then by the interruption. He proceeded to lecture his critics: “You say, why not? There’s this whole thing about the Constitution.” He then continued that in Washington, “everyone will attack you for spending money, unless you are spending it on them.”
This was a thinly concealed slur. His audience of hurricane survivors, Obama was suggesting, were just another special interest group seeking money from the federal government. Bordenave later told the New York Times, “I kind of thought (the Constitution reference) was a blow-off answer.”
While claiming that his administration would not follow the example of its predecessor in ignoring the suffering caused by Katrina, Obama mimicked one of the most notorious episodes of the Bush presidency. Bush left his Texas ranch to fly over the hurricane zone in early September 2005, on his way to Washington. Obama stopped off in New Orleans for three hours and 45 minutes on his way to a fundraising event in San Francisco.
At the Westin St. Francis Hotel, nearly 1,000 well-heeled supporters packed a ballroom, paying up to $1,000 each, while 160 high rollers chipped in $34,000 per couple for dinner with the president upstairs. Obama was introduced at the dinner by Mark Gorenberg, managing director of the venture capital firm Hummer Winblad. Joining them at the podium was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose husband is a multimillionaire real estate investor.
Obama’s performance in New Orleans was so callous and arrogant that it drew criticism from two African-American columnists usually in the administration camp, both writing on their newspapers’ web sites. Jim Mitchell of the Dallas Morning-News observed that the president “snaps at a person who asks a very reasonable question—why the area doesn’t have a full service hospital back up and running so many years after Katrina.” He added that Obama’s response was “snide, elusive, and surprisingly, politically tone deaf.”
Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post called Obama’s “brief display of drive-by compassion” in New Orleans “by far the worst outing of his presidency thus far.” Dismissing Obama’s claim that it was difficult to expedite the flow of funds to the storm-ravaged area, he wrote: “We now know that our government can make hundreds of billions of dollars available to irresponsible Wall Street institutions within a matter of days, if necessary. We can open up the floodgates of credit to too-big-to-fail banks at the stroke of a pen. But when it comes to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, well, these things take time.”
The contrast is indeed stark. While Obama boasted of having freed up $1.5 billion in federal funds for Gulf Coast recovery projects since taking office, this compares to more than $12 trillion made available to Wall Street financial interests—8,000 times more. Obama’s new money for Katrina recovery is less than one week’s expenditure on the war in Afghanistan.
The indifference of the president was demonstrated in the perfunctory character of his tour of the hurricane zone. He stopped at a public charter school in the Lower Ninth Ward, the same school visited by George W. Bush during one of his post-Katrina jaunts. The school sits in an area that remains 75 percent uninhabited. Then the presidential motorcade made its way to the University of New Orleans field house for an hour-long town hall, and Obama was on his way back to the airport.
Obama did not bother to visit the other areas hardest hit by Katrina, including the vast New Orleans East area, which remains the site of mile upon mile of flood damage, or the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coast.
It was not that Obama lacked time to go to these areas. The day after his stopover in New Orleans, he was back in the region for an event with George H. W. Bush, to mark the 20th anniversary of the former president’s “A Thousand Points of Light” foundation, at Texas A&M University. In all, Obama spent far more time with venture capitalists and Bush loyalists than with the people of New Orleans.
The visit to the Bush foundation was particularly provocative. It amounted to a message to the American people that when the next disaster hits, they should look to private charity, not the federal government, for assistance.
This is in keeping with the record of the Obama administration on reconstruction of the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast. Last month, the Institute for Southern Studies published a survey of 50 community leaders from coastal Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, who gave the Obama administration a D+ for its recovery efforts, only slightly better than the D- they awarded the Bush administration.
The only area where Obama rated a C- was in his willingness to “publicly acknowledge the challenges facing recovering Gulf Coast communities.” In other words, Obama is better than Bush in talking about recovery, but gets the same D’s for doing anything about it.
The administration’s lowest scores came on the biggest reconstruction issues: helping displaced families return home, rebuilding infrastructure, increasing protection against hurricanes, and reviving the coastal economy through job-creation.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune cited an Obama administration document revealing that the Second Congressional District of Louisiana, which comprises most of Orleans Parish and the entire city of New Orleans, was receiving the lowest amount of funding for any congressional district in the country from the economic stimulus package passed last February.
The social needs in the area remain enormous. According to a study by the Brookings Institution, there are 62,557 homes vacant or abandoned in Orleans Parish, about one third of the total number of homes in existence before Katrina. A survey showed that 40 percent of these abandoned or vacant homes showed signs of habitation, in some cases by the former owners attempting to rebuild, in other cases by squatters and the homeless.
The Katrina Recovery Index published by the Institute of Southern Studies gives a glimpse of the dimensions of the social crisis in New Orleans, more than four years after Katrina:
• 100,000 displaced persons from New Orleans are now living in Houston, Texas.
• The percentage of households with children in New Orleans has fallen from 30 percent to 20 percent.
• Only 752 federal housing vouchers have been issued in New Orleans; since the waiting list for vouchers was established, 16 people on it have died.
• Rents in New Orleans are up 40 percent since Katrina.
• Demand for emergency food relief at New Orleans-area food pantries is up 35 percent.
• 60 percent of New Orleans school children now attend privately-operated charter schools.
• 43 percent of the city’s medical facilities have not reopened since Katrina.
• Two-thirds of the city’s population reports chronic health problems, up 45 percent since 2006.
• The suicide rate in New Orleans is up 200 percent since Katrina, while only one local hospital provides in-patient mental health care.
• Louisiana ranks 50th among US states for overall health care quality.
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