Orange Beach, Alabama -- While President Obama insists that the federal government is firmly in control of the response to BP's spill in the Gulf, people in coastal communities where I visited last week in Louisiana and Alabama know an inconvenient truth: BP -- not our president -- controls the response. In fact, people on the ground say things are out of control in the gulf.
Even worse, as my latest week of adventures illustrate, BP is using federal agencies to shield itself from public accountability.
For example, while flying on a small plane from New Orleans to Orange Beach, the pilot suddenly exclaimed, "Look at that!" The thin red line marking the federal flight restrictions of 3,000 feet over the oiled Gulf region had just jumped to include the coastal barrier islands off Alabama.
"There's only one reason for that," the pilot said. "BP doesn't want the media taking pictures of oil on the beaches. You should see the oil that's about six miles off the coast," he said grimly. We looked down at the wavy orange boom surrounding the islands below us. The pilot shook his head. "There's no way those booms are going to stop what's offshore from hitting those beaches."
BP knows this as well -- boom can only deflect oil under the calmest of sea conditions, not barricade it -- so they have stepped up their already aggressive effort to control what the public sees.
At the same time I was en route to Orange Beach, Clint Guidry with the Louisiana Shrimp Association and Dean Blanchard, who owns the largest shrimp processor in Louisiana, were in Grand Isle taking Anderson Cooper out in a small boat to see the oiled beaches. The U.S. Coast Guard held up the boat for 20 minutes - an intimidation tactic intended to stop the cameras from recording BP's damage. Luckily for Cooper and the viewing public, Dean Blanchard is not easily intimidated.
A few days later, the jig was up with the booms. Oil was making landfall in four states and even BP can't be everywhere at once. CBS 60 Minutes Australia found entire sections of boom hung up in marsh grasses two feet above the water off Venice. On the same day on the other side of Barataria Bay, Louisiana Bayoukeeper documented pools of oil and oiled pelicans inside the boom - on the supposedly protected landward side - of Queen Bess Island off Grand Isle.
With oil undisputedly hitting the beaches and the number of dead wildlife mounting, BP is switching tactics. In Orange Beach, people told me BP wouldn't let them collect carcasses. Instead, the company was raking up carcasses of oiled seabirds. "The heads separate from the bodies," one upset resident told me. "There's no way those birds are going to be autopsied. BP is destroying evidence!"
The body count of affected wildlife is crucial to prove the harm caused by the spill, and also serves as an invaluable tool to evaluate damages to public property - the dolphins, sea turtles, whales, sea birds, fish, and more, that are owned by the American public. Disappeared body counts means disappeared damages - and disappeared liability for BP. BP should not be collecting carcasses. The job should be given to NOAA, a federal agency, and volunteers, as was done during the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.
NOAA should also be conducting carcass drift studies. Only one percent of the dead sea birds made landfall in the Gulf of Alaska, for example. That means for every one bird that was found, another 99 were carried out to sea by currents. Further, NOAA should be conducting aerial surveys to look for carcasses in the offshore rips where the currents converge. That's where the carcasses will pile up--a fact we learned during the Exxon Valdez spill. Maybe that's another reason for BP's "no camera" policy and the flight restrictions.
On Saturday June 12, people across America will stand up and speak out with one voice to protest BP's treatment of the Gulf, neglect for the response workers, and their response to government authority. President Obama needs to hear and see the people waving cameras and respirators. Until the media is allowed unrestricted access to the Gulf and impacted beaches, BP - not the President of United States - will remain in charge of the Gulf response.
For more information on community rallies, please visit HERE.
Why let them profit off the well after its capped and pay us back with our own oil? How silly is that? How again does this punish them?
I have posted previously some charts that listed the measured effects in parts per Billion, which is a 1000 LESS WORSE... and want to make that correction!
Health Effects of Hydrogen Sulfide
H2S is classed as a chemical asphyxiant, similar to carbon monoxide and cyanide gases. It inhibits cellular respiration and uptake of oxygen, causing biochemical suffocation. Typical exposure symptoms include:
LOW
0 - 10 ppm Irritation of the eyes, nose and throat
MOD
10 - 50 ppm Headache, Dizziness, Nausea and vomiting,Coughing and breathing difficulty
HIGH
50 - 200 ppm Severe respratory tract irritation, Eye irritation / acute conjunctivitis, Shock, Convulsions, Coma, Death in severe cases
Prolonged exposures at lower levels can lead to bronchitis, pneumonia, migraine headaches, pulmonary edema, and loss of motor coordination.
while you are reading this how much more will Pollute our Ocean and our beaches?
What can you do to help pressure our Congressional Rep.'s to "wade in" ASAP...
Why has BP gotten to "CAP" the media but not their well?
Americans in both Parties need to demand immediate CHANGE NOW!
Here is the President of the US:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/openforquestions/
PLEASE POST a local status report, I'm sure you know what's happening nearby!
Why not share them with the American people? If each city did this we would have a great picture of what is really happening!
Tell US:
1. How much leaked so far near you?
2. How much cleaned up so far near you?
3. When will the leak be "contained" near you?
4. Who is in charge , is it BP or the CG?
Thanks for helping the USA!
*People opposing oil proliferation' or POOP
The images of Leaking Oil animal and marine death have only started to surface, just like the oil itself!
BP is trying it's hardest to limit access so that they can "make a deal" before the USA finds out exactly JUST HOW BIG THE PROBLEM IS.
THIS OIL PROBLEM WILL BE AROUND FOR A DECADE AT LEAST...
If I'm correct then the $20B they put up, will be a drop in the bucket.... and will be referred to like buying Manhattan Island for strings of beads...
I'd like to give you a news "Tip":
Because the USCG issued an "Order" restricting anyone from getting within 65' of their spilled oil, BP now has Guards keeping all folks (including Reporters) from fouled beaches in several States! This is very worry some and MoveOn should get informed and then get involved as many of President Obama's supporters are getting worried that he is "allowing" BP to take control of our News Reporting of their Spill...
Here is the link from HuffingtonPost:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/06/bp-media-clampdown-journa_n_636317.html
Please consider getting involved and I believe you will gain many new members and do a good deed at the same time!
Our President has said that he would not let this be similar to the Hurricane Katrina disaster occuring under Our former President. I believe I, and others like myself, may tend to see this inexplicable inability to react to an unnatural disaster, of far worse magnitude than said hurricane, as a deemed insurance as to the poor nature, in quality, of our elected officials. Character, as it was taught to me, is how we react when noone else is around. I wonder. If these men act as they do in the face of our apparent reality(not reality) what kind of things might be going on behind closed doors. In any regard you wish, these clown nose fools are allowing our world to be destroyed at the fingertips of corporate fools of the same caliber as our governing unofficials.
Fanned, glad to your first!
Maybe we should all put a black spot (no oil) on our foreheads
and that would show solidarity with the Gulf Oil Victims...
An Oily "ASH Wednesday" type of glob...
Any thoughts?
Perhaps we could get foxy Stars to wear them and make this a "real" news worthy!
Take Ownership,
Our Countries beaches are being Polluted!
Earth's Ocean is being Polluted!
---> What will each of you do?