Topic: Deepwater Horizon

[Michael]

This is building into a very nasty scene. I expect the consequences will be wide spread.

[Nichi]

Frustration mounts as oil seeps into Gulf wetlands
Greg Bluestein, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 56 mins ago

ROBERT, La. – Anger grew along the Gulf Coast as an ooze of oil washed into delicate coastal wetlands in Lousiana, with residents questioning the federal government and others wondering how to clean up the monthlong mess that worsens with each day.

"It's difficult to clean up when you haven't stopped the source," said Chris Roberts, a councilman for Jefferson Parish, which stretches from the New Orleans metropolitan area to the coast. "You can scrape it off the beach but it's coming right back."

Roberts surveyed the oil that forced officials to close a public beach on Grand Isle, south of New Orleans, as globs of crude that resembled melted chocolate washed up. Others questioned why BP PLC was still in charge of the response.

"The government should have stepped in and not just taken BP's word," declared Wayne Stone of Marathon, Fla., an avid diver who worries about the spill's effect on the ecosystem.

The government is overseeing the cleanup and response, but the official responsible for the oversight said he understands the discontent.

"If anybody is frustrated with this response, I would tell them their symptoms are normal, because I'm frustrated, too," said Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen. "Nobody likes to have a feeling that you can't do something about a very big problem."

As simple as it may seem, the law prevents the government from just taking over, Allen said. After the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, Congress dictated that oil companies be responsible for dealing with major accidents — including paying for all cleanup — with oversight by federal agencies.

BP, which is in charge of the cleanup, said it will be at least Tuesday before engineers can shoot mud into the blown-out well at the bottom of the Gulf, yet another delay in the effort to stop the oil.

A so-called "top kill" has been tried on land but never 5,000 feet underwater, so scientists and engineers have spent the past week preparing and taking measurements to make sure it will stop the oil that has been spewing into the sea for a month. They originally hoped to try it as early as this weekend.

BP spokesman Tom Mueller said there was no snag in the preparations, but that the company must get equipment in place and finish tests before the procedure can begin.
Click image to see photos of oil impact



AP

"It's taking time to get everything set up," he said. "They're taking their time. It's never been done before. We've got to make sure everything is right."

Crews will shoot heavy mud into a crippled piece of equipment atop the well, which started spewing after the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20 off the coast of Louisiana, killing 11 workers. Then engineers will direct cement at the well to permanently stop the oil.

BP, which was leasing the rig and is responsible for the cleanup, has tried and failed several times to halt the oil.

Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said Friday that a mile-long tube inserted into the leaking pipe is sucking about 92,400 gallons of oil a day to the surface, a figure much lower than the 210,000 gallons a day the company said the tube was sucking up Thursday. Suttles said the higher number is the most the tube has been sucking up at any one time, while the lower number is the average.

The company has conceded that more oil is leaking than its initial estimate of 210,000 gallons a day total, and a government team is working to get a handle on exactly how much is flowing. Even under the most conservative estimate, about 6 million gallons have leaked so far, more than half the amount spilled by the Exxon Valdez.

Frustrated local and state officials were also waiting for the Army Corps of Engineers to issue permits so they can build sand berms in front of islands and wetlands to act as buffers between the advancing oil and the wetlands.

In a statement Friday, corps spokesman Ken Holder said officials understand the urgency, but possible environmental effects must be evaluated before even an emergency permit can be issued.

Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry also took BP to task for not responding aggressively enough to oil coming ashore in Terrebonne Parish, La., to the west of the mouth of the Mississippi River.

Public interest in the spill is high — after lawmakers pressed BP for a live video feed of the leak this week, so many people tried to view it that they crashed the government Web site where it was posted.

BP executives say the only guaranteed solution to stop the leak is a pair of relief wells crews have already started drilling, but the work will not be complete for at least two months.

That makes the stakes even higher for the top kill.

Scientists say there is a chance a misfire could lead to new problems. Ed Overton, a Louisiana State University professor of environmental studies, said the crippled piece of equipment called a blowout preventer could spring a new leak that could spew untold gallons of oil if there's a weak spot that is vulnerable to pressure from the heavy mud.

BP is also developing several other plans in case the top kill doesn't work, including an effort to shoot knotted rope, pieces of tire and other material — known as a junk shot — to plug the blowout preventer, which was meant to shut off the oil in case of an accident but did not work.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100522/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill

Two months of continued pumping --- why, I do believe the whole world will see firsthand the effects of that, eventually.

[Jahn]

http://carlsafina.org/2010/04/30/apocalypse-again/

[Nichi]

As much damage is being wrought by the "clean-up" as the spill itself, and, while I haven't wanted to 'demonize' BP, it apparently is a blight on the whole fiasco.

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/05/mobile_scientists_warnings_abo.html

Death and pending death, all around.



 

[Michael]

Once again we confront the recurring consequence of awareness.

Awareness means being aware of. Unfortunately we are not always able to filter awareness. Sometimes we can - I don't need to study the techniques and cases of torture, although I did hear a radio interview with a an author who did just this. And I am glad someone has brought this out of the shadows. But I don't have to go way out of my track to involve my sensitivities in it.

But mostly the growth of awareness opens us to both pleasant and unpleasant - the tumbling and the spinning forces.

Part of the obligation of awareness is to withstand its impact. Withstanding means to find some point of refuge that provides security against the tsunamis of painful and pleasurable sensations. Both can cause us to become lost.

Awareness itself is one such refuge. By standing outside of ourself, and being not just aware of what is 'out there', but aware of ourself, as perceiver. We call this self-awareness.

The other refuge is to reach the Assemblage Point where we see that nothing matters.

This AP is of little use for action. To act we need to make a judgement, to choose which is the correct and which the incorrect action, thus to feel the difference. We call this discernment.

To know discernment is to know suffering. It is also to know priority. Priority means seeing what is of ultimate importance in any situation, which is not necessarily what is pleasant. There are ample examples of how something of enduring benefit comes out of something horrific.

Thus to develop discernment, we have to expose ourselves to both pleasure and pain.

But if we allow these tsunamis to overwhelm us, to destroy our centre, then we will go mad or senile.

How to hold fast to the centre against these winds and waves?

There are many times when we cannot cling to a solution - we just have to watch and feel, with no immediate answer.

Maturity comes from reflective experience. In practice we have to expose ourselves - we can't hide - and we have to keep our balance. That means not over-reacting, but not hiding.

Ultimately nothing matters. Short of that, there is everything to gain.

Each person has to achieve their own balance - this can mean opening and closing our gap under control. Not being at the mercy of the world or our reactions. We are responsible for choosing when to expose ourselves, and when to hide. There are times when we have to close the shutters, and times to open them.

Just don't leave them open or shut out of fear or lack of will.

[Jahn]

The point of no mercy and many tears brought me to where I am today. I shall not forget that.

While living in these times of great change and turmoil it is as Michael says. Do not let the events in the world destroy our centre and well-being. We are travelers, and have chosen to live a lifetime in this madness. There will take another 25 000 years until things get as crazy as it is now.

We might see us as divine elves dancing on this Mother Earth celebrating creation and her rich life.

[Nichi]

We might see us as divine elves dancing on this Mother Earth celebrating creation and her rich life.

I like that.

[Ke-ke wan]

I heard an expert in this area say that the oil degrades quite quickly in the open ocean.

<span data-s9e-mediaembed="youtube" style="display:inline-block;width:100%;max-width:640px"><span style="display:block;overflow:hidden;position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%"><iframe allowfullscreen="" loading="lazy" scrolling="no" style="background:url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7lBQkNgY3bY/hqdefault.jpg) 50% 50% / cover;border:0;height:100%;left:0;position:absolute;width:100%" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7lBQkNgY3bY"></iframe></span></span><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/7lBQkNgY3bY&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xd0d0d0&amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/7lBQkNgY3bY&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xd0d0d0&amp;hl=en_US</a>

Have you seen this Vicki?

[Michael]

One of the things that bothers me is this dichotomy of attitudes and allegiance.
I gather that the entire community directly affected by this are also the same community directly gaining from the oil drilling industry.

But more, if you asked Americans would they prefer to have pristine coastlines by paying more for petrol, what do you think they would say?

[Nichi]

Have you seen this Vicki?

It's a nightmare indeed.

But more, if you asked Americans would they prefer to have pristine coastlines by paying more for petrol, what do you think they would say?

God knows, Michael - there is insanity at large.

Per the oil spill and subsequent controversy, Obama cancelled the plans for offshore drilling in the waters of Virginia today. ("Virginia Beach", to be specific - very close to my home). Thank the heavens for any bullets dodged.

But, part and parcel to the "mad world" it has become, I'm sharing someone's comment on the whole affair on the newspaper's page today:

I KNEW IT!! I EFFING KNEW IT!! Obama blew up the oil rig in the gulf coast! Why!? Because Obama made many promises and threats to pass the health care bill. The problem is, many of his supporters are greenie weenies. In order to get the healthcare bill passed, he agreed to allow drilling off the east coast. But to make his greenie weenie leftist supporters happy, he could not allow drilling off the east coast, even though he agreed to it. The only way to make both parties happy was to support drilling, then condemn it due to a massive disaster. VOILA! Gulf coast disaster equals reason to stop drilling equals happiness from the greenie weenies. Therefore, moratorium on oil drilling off the east coast. This disaster is way too convenient to be only a coincidence. Is Obama directly responsible? Of course not, but a friend of a friend of a friend of BO may be. Does this sound like a conspiracy theory? Of course it does, because it is. Don't take what I say seriously, mostly because if you do, I could be targeted by the guvment. Should I assume room temperature without the ability to breath, or should I go missing without a trace, take my word for it, the guvment had nothing to do with it.

Insane.

[Nichi]

The proponents of drilling say, "But how else do we decrease the dependence on foreign oil?"

And I wonder why we aren't putting full energies into all of the alternate forms of energy instead.  Guess that makes me a "greenie weenie".

[Michael]

There is sure to be madness afoot Nichi.

I have been trying to keep abreast of this incident myself. I noticed the clip posted by Piper specified a mix of oil and chemical dispersant - not just oil itself. I'm not sure that makes any difference, but oil is a natural product, and the chemical dispersant most likely isn't. In other words an already serious situation may have been made worse.

But that assumes those managing the pollution issue are idiots - I would have to assume in the first instance they have more information on the consequences of this than I do. But they may not. We have seen idiocy before. It is good that people from outside are poking their noses into this, as the whole thing has a strong odour of cover-up from the companies involved. I think they call it 'risk management'. Risk to shareholder's funds that is.

I was interested to see that shareholders are actually suing the board of BP. That will put the wind up that guy who took over CEO of BP back in 2007 - hopefully he will get the sack.

My understanding is that Obama was hand-tied until BP killed the leak. He put his own scientists in there, but BP really had all the expertise, so they had to be given a free hand to stop this. And it was definitely in their interest to pull out all stops to do that.

But BP has little interest in the damage, except to limit their financial risk.

So the most important thing was stopping the leak - I hope this latest measure succeeds. Then Obama has, with the merest whiff of success, come out and slapped a moratorium on the drilling industry.

I gather that what is upsetting people is that Obama hasn't 'demonstrated' his response in sufficient 'blockbuster' emotion. So he had to say he wakes and goes to sleep with it on his mind. So much politics is about entertainment.

The main problem for Obama, is that he can't do what he wants. The system is firmly entrenched, and his team is a minor player, unless he can get a second term. Even then the cards are against the evil of socialism.

Last night's TV doco on America's Future made a good point (Julie was in town so I got to surf the channels after watching the cycling). Although the go-for-it, everything-is-great and America-can-do-anything approach which was sponsored initially by President Jackson and then more recently by Reagan, is so typically American, so also is the voice of those who speak against this. Who speak for caution and responsibility.

That other voice is behind Obama, but it is still weak since the Republican movement went rabid. Sanity is no longer necessary.

The oil spill they are saying is two or three times greater than the Exxon Valdez disaster.

Basically this catastrophe is now depressingly real. BP is looking at a billion dollar price tag, but that is cold comfort to the devastation in the oceans.

The big question is, will any lessons be learnt? Will anything change?

What I find extraordinary is that so little changes - we lurch from crisis to crisis, disaster to disaster.

Look around you at old people. What are you doing that is different to what they did in life? Ask yourself is that where you want to be at that age?

We so often claim that we are different, that we have made changes to our life, that we will never fall for the stupidities of our forebears. The truth is we usually know what to do different, but we are just like our nations - we carry on the same. It's all just talk.

[Nichi]

There's a lot we don't know here yet - a lot of misinformation was distrubuted by BP, and the one good thing which comes from other agencies putting their heads in is the possibility of getting some facts straight. (For example, every estimate I've seen of how much oil escaped from the leak was/is different than the one before.)

There's talk of dead zones, permanent ones. At the moment, it would seem that the Gulf (and who knows how much of the ocean, eventually) is permanently damaged. But we don't know yet. There is no precedent for the whole experience.

A few posts above I posted an article wherein BP was taking heat for using the dispersants (and Lori's video sure drives home how awful that process is), but the heat doesn't stop them. They have the appearance of not needing to answer to anyone. They surely feel no obligation to all the wildlife, underwater and on land, they are killing. (Another fact we won't know the answer regarding for quite a while - what is the deathcount?)

Another issue is the seabed ... is it permanently cracked, in a time when quakes are on the rise, especially in the MidAtlantic Ridge? Will the scientists and agencies be able to present and sell the interconnectedness of forces and events in time to avert more major disasters? What will the effect of hurricane season be on the whole business?  These are the questions which are on my mind, additional to yours.

[Muffin]

Speaking of learning our lessons.
<span data-s9e-mediaembed="youtube" style="display:inline-block;width:100%;max-width:640px"><span style="display:block;overflow:hidden;position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%"><iframe allowfullscreen="" loading="lazy" scrolling="no" style="background:url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GHmhxpQEGPo/hqdefault.jpg) 50% 50% / cover;border:0;height:100%;left:0;position:absolute;width:100%" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GHmhxpQEGPo"></iframe></span></span><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/GHmhxpQEGPo&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/GHmhxpQEGPo&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6</a>

[Michael]

Right... there you go.