BP Oil Spill Approaching Gulf Coast

[essies]

Update-Calves Were Still Born Or Just Born!!! :maddening:
Dead Dolphins Hint At Problems in Rest of Food Chain
snip-
After the initial bodies were found Solangi noted, "We shouldn't really jump to any conclusions, but this is more than just a coincidence"--now adding, "When something strange like this happens to a large group of dolphins, which are at the top of the food chain, it tells us the rest of the food chain is affected.":banghead:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/02/dead-baby-dolphin-death-toll-rises-60-gulf-coast.php
[video=youtube;q3vUWWdYZkA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3vUWWdYZkA[/video]
Moby Solangi, the executive director of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies (IMMS) in Gulfport, Mississippi, said Thursday he's never seen such high death numbers.

"I've worked with marine mammals for 30 years, and this is the first time we've seen such a high number of calves," he said. "It's alarming."

 

[Lato]

When the spill first occurred, local restaurants had signs that they were not
serving gulf shrimp, oysters or fish. Last week I was back in southern
Louisiana. Virtually every restaurant was serving all three. When asked, no one could say if they were Gulf products.

I had crawfish. I believe they are farmed in the area, but not on the coast.

Now I am beginning to wonder if Gulf products are being sold in other parts of the country. How do you know where that fish on your plate was swimming
last week?

 

[bessie]

I'm so glad you guys are still following this story here. I've been really busy this month and didn't see this thread had been bumped. Thank you! The BP spill is still causing problems in the region -- and beyond,imo -- as the articles and videos tell.

Personally, I'm still eating seafood at least twice a week. In fact, I only eat oysters and shrimp if they promise me they are local (from the Gulf), and I can tell the difference, especially in the oysters. Had a dozen raw oysters just a few nights ago with fried catfish (farm raised), and crawfish with a shrimp poboy yesterday. I buy shrimp once a week from a neighborhood seafood shop. They brought shrimp in from Texas for a little while after the spill, but nobody bought it, so they resumed selling Lousiana Gulf shrimp months ago. No one I know has gotten sick, and from the crowds I've seen in various seafood restaurants around town, no one else is getting sick, either.

So, why complain? What's the problem? The problem is the facts that continue to come to light day after day, like the dolphins, and the drum fishermen who can no longer find drum to catch. I'm still eating the seafood because it's been a staple in my diet for over 50 years, and I want to support the local economy. Not to mention I'm stubborn and a little crazy. But more and more it's starting to worry even a die hard like me. It's not making us sick now, but what long term health effects will we realize down the road? Then I start to look at it from a global perspective and see a whole different set of ramifications. Anyway, it's a complex problem, and I appreciate the input from everyone here.

Lato, you're right about the crawfish. They're farmed in ponds. No worries there.

 

[essies]

BP Oil Spill Scientist Bob Naman: Seafood Still Not Safe [video=youtube;o3VdxvMnDls]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3VdxvMnDls[/video]
ProjectGulfImpact | Mar 2, 2011 |
www.projectgulfimpact.org

Gavin Garrison, Matt Smith, and Heather Rally


Robert Naman is an analytical chemist with over 30 years of experience and the president of Act Laboratory Inc in Mobile, AL. ACT is a private company categorized under Testing Laboratories. ACT labs offers: Soil Testing Labs, Standards Testing Labs, Independent Testing Laboratory, Pacific Testing Labs and Environmental Test Labs. Naman has been instrumental in much of the testing that has happened in the Gulf after the oil spill.

In the latest Project Gulf Impact video, Naman discusses what the EPA did with the acceptable PAH levels. He also talks about recent water testing he did in Orange Beach, AL, which were some of the highest levels he's found to date. Naman also has an incredibly interesting take on seafood consumption and whether or not he will still eat seafood out of the Gulf.

From the Huffington Post from one of his most recent samplings: "Naman tested various samples for petroleum, and said he expected to find no more than 5 parts per million (ppm). Instead, Naman found results that far exceed his expectations: 16 ppm from waters at Katrina Key, and 29 ppm at Orange Beach.

The most shocking results came from a sample of water collected near a boom at Dauphin Island Marina. When Naman combined the sample with an organic solvent that separates the oil from the water, which he did for all the other samples as well, it exploded in his lab, breaking the container and destroying the sample in the process. Naman thinks the reaction was caused by the presence of methane gas or Corexit, the dispersant that BP has been using in the Gulf."
100,000's having symptoms from oil disaster, could be just the tip of the iceberg says doctor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzOchzC5CMY
OilFlorida | Feb 28, 2011 |
Listen to the full program here: http://www.davidgibbons.org/id292.html

In Discussion with David Gibbons, February 25, 2011

 

[essies]

Our government has learned NOTHING!!! :maddening:
Or are they hoping "lightning can't strike twice"?:banghead:


[video=youtube;ySt25ieWbJA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySt25ieWbJA[/video]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyRVKrIEWCU

 

[essies]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyVIJUiE3WU
"I think the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to be very, very modest," claimed BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward following last year's Deepwater Horizon disaster on April 20. But in fact, "The spill here in the Gulf of Mexico is the worst environmental disaster in the history of our continent." Greenpeace has been working with independent scientists from universities around the country to find out what has really happened to the oil, and what the long term impacts will be on this critical, fragile ecosystem. Stay tuned.




[video=youtube;pnI4UARsylM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnI4UARsylM[/video]

Filmmaker and oceanographer Michael DeGruy tells CNN's Piers Morgan about the damage he's seen after the Gulf oil spill.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWpIA6l4V4U
A mystery illness that has plagued citizens in the Gulf of Mexico has now been confirmed by Dr. Mike Robichaux, a doctor based out of Raceland, Louisiana.

"What's been really unique about it is that patients have come in with a severe amount of memory loss. Very high blood pressure — blood pressures that are going sky high and then coming down to normal, and then blood sugar levels that are fluctuating. Lastly would be some pulmonary problems and some fairly serious (gastrointestinal) problems," Robichaux told CNN on Thursday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5u6CPCsjic
Laboratory test results show the presence of known toxins in area seafood also inhaled in the air we breathe. The test results were aired locally on TV Station KLFY as shown in the Title - the end of January 2011

 

[anneinchicago]

I live on the Mississippi Coast. I go to the beach almost daily. You can still see oil balls. Oftentimes, when I get home, I'll notice that I have oil stuck to the bottoms of my feet. The oil is still here and don't let anyone tell you it's not.

(I've learned to shower and wash the dogs every single time I get back from the beach.)

 

[legalmania]

This song is dedicated to the 11 people who lost their life's on April 20, 2010, on the Deepwater Horizon. It is also dedicated to the uncounted people who were injured or were disfigured for life, and to the people who lost generations of work, or lost their business or homes. To the innocent fish, birds, mammals, and the many other species of ocean that lost life. From what I understand there is still approx. 66 miles of coast that we can see that still has to be cleaned up,that's not including what we can't see and from what we learned from the Exxon Valdez they will never be able to restore the Gulf Coast and grassy lands back to it's original state. Michael Jackson said something that you may agree or disagree with, we always say they will fix it we can't wait for they it has to start with us. WE WILL NEVER FORGET YOU.

[video=youtube;iw4-HQeduu8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iw4-HQeduu8[/video]

 

[legalmania]

I live on the Mississippi Coast. I go to the beach almost daily. You can still see oil balls. Oftentimes, when I get home, I'll notice that I have oil stuck to the bottoms of my feet. The oil is still here and don't let anyone tell you it's not.

(I've learned to shower and wash the dogs every single time I get back from the beach.)

It will be interesting to see what happens this hurricane season. Last year they either went around the spill or they just died out. I think a major hurricane will bring all that oil up from the ocean floor and spread it further inland. If I lived near there I would already be preparing to evacuate and put my treasures like pictures or special items in storage someplace way inland.

 

[AlwaysShocked]

fwiw I spent two weeks staying beachside in Destin, Florida on the gulf in March. No signs of any oil or tar balls on the beaches there. Restaurants were serving gulf shrimp and yes, I ate it.

 

[OneLove]

Just a few miles east of Destin, tar balls were recently being dug up on the beach and removed (Dune Allen Beach). These tar balls were buried just below the surface of the fresh new sand. The tar, along with the benzenes and myriad other toxins, did NOT vanish into thin air, I assure you. Even the crude petroleum that was "dispersed" by more poisons is STILL there, it is simply dissolved into the toxic dispersant. It IS a disaster of epic proportion, no matter how much they try to keep the innocent and in-denial tourists from realizing it. It is horrendous to see much more concern paid to money than to people's health and the future health of innocent children who are being allowed to soak their whole bodies in this poison soup we used to call the EMERALD COAST. The very air is not even fit to breathe anymore. I'm not just ranting; I own a home in Seagrove Beach. I will never put my little toe in that water again in my lifetime.

 

[anneinchicago]

from WLOX News (The! Station for South Mississippi!)

The National Institutes for Environmental Health is conducting a long term study on the possible health impacts of the BP oil spill. More than 50,000 oil spill clean-up workers will be interviewed to determine if they suffered any ill effects from the job. BP is paying $10 million to help fund the long term survey.

http://www.wlox.com/Global/story.asp?S=14519628



And let me say, despite the oil I sometimes find on my feet, I still believe I live in paradise. No matter where you live, every breath you take, every mouthful of food you eat, every drop of water you sip, is contaminated in one way or the other.

 

[Reader]

http://www.centurylink.net/news/rea...ass&action=2&lang=en&_LT=UNLC_USNWU00L2_UNEWS

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — BP agreed late Friday to settle lawsuits brought by more than 100,000 fishermen who lost work, cleanup workers who got sick and others who claimed harm from the oil giant's 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster, the worst offshore oil spill in the nation's history.

The momentous settlement will have no cap to compensate the plaintiffs, though BP PLC estimated it would have to pay out about $7.8 billion, making it one of the largest class-action settlements ever. After the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989, the company ultimately settled with the U.S. government for $1 billion, which would be about $1.8 billion today.

BP still has to resolve claims by the U.S. government, Gulf states and its partners in the doomed Deepwater Horizon project, in which pressure from a well a mile below the ocean's surface blew up a massive drilling rig, killing 11 men and spewing oil into the sea for nearly three months. That could add billions of more to its tab.


More at link....

 

[legalmania]

I'm glad to see BP went ahead and settled this lawsuit with these families. This will save a lot of years and money. I hope the money goes mostly to the families with health problems and being able to rebuild their businesses. The attorneys do deserve to get paid because the families couldn't win without them, but it was the victims who lost their lively hood, the attorneys will continue to make money with the rest of lawsuits that have to be settled. These victims especially the ones who are sick need this money right away to try to get back to some kind of normalcy. I hope BP and the rest of the corporations settle the remainder of the lawsuits and let these people begin the process of healing what has been a very traumatic time in their lives.

 

[Quiche]

I thought BP would drag this out for a couple of decades, color me surprised!

Thank goodness folks can get on with their businesses (as much as the pollutants will allow) and put the horror of this debacle in their personal pasts.

I'm shock to be so pleased! :thud:

 

[essies]

[video=youtube;OvsOomTnbUE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvsOomTnbUE[/video]
democracynow.org - Investigative journalists Greg Palast and Antonia Juhasz examine who wins and who loses in BP's settlement. "[BP's] basically being told, like a bank robber -- you put the money back and everything will be forgiven," says Palast, who also investigated the Exxon Valdez settlement. Meanwhile, state and federal governments are still pursuing separate civil claims against BP for environmental damage. "That's when we're going to hopefully uncover those 72-million pages of investigation that will include wrong doing not just by BP, not just by Transocean, not just by Halliburton, but by every major oil company involved offshore, and very likely based on my research, wrongdoing by the Obama administration," says Juhasz. "It is a desire to keep that out of the public that has pushed the settlement process forward." We also speak with Florida State University Oceanography Professor Ian MacDonald about what it means to restore the Gulf of Mexico. In the wake of the oil spill, BP pledged up to $500 million over a decade to conduct independent scientific research on the environmental effects. But MacDonald notes that, "When the oil was gushing, there were literally hundreds of ships ... studying this disaster. Now as we try to learn what happened, and prepare ourselves for the next catastrophe, we have nothing like those kinds of resources present."

 

[Show Me]

Huge mats of oil are lying just off shore in the gulf tourist areas (Alabama, Mississisppi). Some of the oil has been sprayed with corolex or whatever the chemical is called. The oil is not getting oxygen on the ocean floor and is not breaking down. During the clean up crew's December 2010 Christmas break oil covered the end of Fort Morgan and you couldn't step anywhere without getting oil on your feet.

http://gulfoilspillproject.wordpress.com/2010/12/29/bp-oil-tar-covers-alabama-beach/

The beaches have only been cleaned down 6 feet, any large off shore storm or off shore hurricanes will bring more of the oil ashore as waves stir up the ocean bottoms erode the beaches. Will BP compensate residents and businesses for any future damage to the once beautiful and pristine beaches there? I've read some residents had health issues when the spill first happened, how will this effect their health in the future?

I LOVED the beaches in Alabama, especially Fort Morgan area. My family would catch fish right off shore to eat, dig up the sand to make large sand sculptures and swim in the gentle 80 plus degree crystal clear waters. Unfortunately with a few relatives with breathing problems I don't want to take the chance vacationing there and making them sick.

I hate what BP did to the gulf coast and it makes me think we really, really need to invest in clean energy like wind and solar. We can't completely do without oil but we can certainly find alternate ways of using far less.

Unfortunately I think the gulf coast region is going to suffer for many many years....I truly hope the people will be compensated each and every time.

 

[Reader]

BP settlement includes new health claims process

http://www.centurylink.net/news/read.php?id=18847671&ps=1010&cat=&cps=0&lang=en

BOOTHEVILLE, La. (AP) — A settlement that BP is hammering out with victims of the massive Gulf oil spill finally provides a system for monitoring health concerns and compensating people whose illnesses are found to have a link to the disaster.

Government and university doctors studying locals' health haven't found significant evidence of spill-related illnesses, but problems years from now remain a question mark. Gulf Coast residents say they're happy their complaints are getting a serious look, even if they'll face hurdles in proving that rashes, shortness of breath and other maladies were caused by the oil or chemical dispersants sprayed to break it up.

Under the settlement announced Friday, BP said it expects to pay out $7.8 billion to settle a wide range of claims that also include property damage, lost wages and loss to businesses. While a previously created fund had already been paying such economic loss claims, it hadn't paid claims over illnesses related to exposure.

Nicole Maurer, a resident of this fishing community, said she feels optimistic about getting medical bills paid under the court-supervised process. She blames the spill for a number of her family's health problems.
------

First, Maurer and others like her will have to show that they got sick from the spill. To receive compensation, claimants will be examined by a court-approved health care practitioner. Then, a claims administrator working under the supervision of a federal judge will determine who should be paid.

"The workers have a different kind of exposure because they were there all the time, but anybody living in an area where they were at risk of exposure will be eligible to participate in the program," said Ervin Gonzalez, one the plaintiff lawyers leading the litigation.

The settlement also establishes a program to monitor claimants' health for a period of 21 years. People whose physical symptoms haven't yet developed will also be able to pursue claims. BP has also promised to pay $105 million to improve health care around the Gulf region.


More at link....

 

[Kat]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/04/24/feds-make-first-arrest-in-bp-oil-spill-case/?test=latestnews

Feds make first arrest in BP oil spill case


Published April 24, 2012

Associated Press

In the first criminal charges related to the deadly explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig in April 2010, the Justice Department arrested Kurt Mix and charged him with two counts of obstruction of justice for allegedly destroying evidence sought by federal authorities,

 

[legalmania]

I knew it would only be a matter of time that some sign of the BP oil spill would come ashore with Isaac.

It’s impossible to say at this point with a hundred percent certainty, but I can sit here and confidently say with 99 percent certainty that that’s exactly what it is,” said Grave. “It’s in some of the areas where we’ve previously found things like tar balls, tar mats and other impacts, and so it appears to be sort of weathered in a manner that would be consistent with Deepwater Horizon.”


http://www.theind.com/news/11289-oil-tar-balls-washing-up-on-louisiana-beaches