Topic: Deepwater Horizon

[Jahn]

As most of you know, you have a very long road ahead of you.  Even if you choose to totally change the whole human race's perspective on the value of ecology, you would still have generations of work ahead of you to physically resolve the damage you have done.  Actually, most of the work still lies in simply helping more of humanity recognize the need to bring yourselves back into balance with ecology.  It is a wakeup call in a third dimensional level.

There is this deeper spiritual meaning of birth.  The energy of the Gulf of Mexico at this time looks like a birth canal and if you imagine birth occurring for a mammal, for a human being or any other mammal, the birth canal expands, it extends, it sometimes tears.  There is a lot of blood and a lot of other fluid.  It is a messy event and energetically you are birthing a new potential for humanity.  That wakeup call has so much potential.  It has to come through a messy and painful event.

[Nichi]

"When I was on Grand Isle's beach behind the Marina, I was walking in flip flops, the chemical line that looked like slime (dispersant) flipped up into my shoe and where I had a small blister, burned it to the point it felt like it was on fire. This is a serious physical threat and danger to anyone doing clean up that may have a small cut. Or even smelling it because the smell was toxic." - Oil Spill Crisis Map

Louisianna Bucket Brigade

[Nichi]

No one will be surprised, but there is a black-out zone. I'm confused, though, about how it is that BP could control airspace.

(Warning - disturbing pictures)

From the Ground: BP Censoring Media, Destroying Evidence

[Nichi]

This is only my take - you won't find this in any news article, because intuition is the primary conduit here.

As observed in various comments Obama has made in front of the camera, including various speeches and formal statements he has made, I conclude that he is seriously out of balance. This is an energetic read, based not at all on his content.

His affect is inappropriate - he's smiling when he should be grave, he's shaky when he should be a rock. He feels dizzy and completely out of control, and he probably is. He has lost his thread - some bottom has fallen out.

</.02>

God help us.

[Nichi]

Gulf oil full of methane, adding new concerns
   
Matthew Brown And Ramit Plushnick-masti, Associated Press Writers – 1 hr 27 mins ago

NEW ORLEANS – It is an overlooked danger in the oil spill crisis: The crude gushing from the well contains vast amounts of natural gas that could pose a serious threat to the Gulf of Mexico's fragile ecosystem.

The oil emanating from the seafloor contains about 40 percent methane, compared with about 5 percent found in typical oil deposits, said John Kessler, a Texas A&M University oceanographer who is studying the impact of methane from the spill.

That means huge quantities of methane have entered the Gulf, scientists say, potentially suffocating marine life and creating "dead zones" where oxygen is so depleted that nothing lives.

"This is the most vigorous methane eruption in modern human history," Kessler said.

Methane is a colorless, odorless and flammable substance that is a major component in the natural gas used to heat people's homes. Petroleum engineers typically burn off excess gas attached to crude before the oil is shipped off to the refinery. That's exactly what BP has done as it has captured more than 7.5 million gallons of crude from the breached well.

A BP spokesman said the company was burning about 30 million cubic feet of natural gas daily from the source of the leak, adding up to about 450 million cubic feet since the containment effort started 15 days ago. That's enough gas to heat about 450,000 homes for four days.

But that figure does not account for gas that eluded containment efforts and wound up in the water, leaving behind huge amounts of methane. Scientists are still trying to measure how much has escaped into the water and how it may damage the Gulf and it creatures.

The dangerous gas has played an important role throughout the disaster and response. A bubble of methane is believed to have burst up from the seafloor and ignited the rig explosion. Methane crystals also clogged a four-story containment box that engineers earlier tried to place on top of the breached well.

Now it is being looked at as an environmental concern.

The small microbes that live in the sea have been feeding on the oil and natural gas in the water and are consuming larger quantities of oxygen, which they need to digest food. As they draw more oxygen from the water, it creates two problems. When oxygen levels drop low enough, the breakdown of oil grinds to a halt; and as it is depleted in the water, most life can't be sustained.

The National Science Foundation funded research on methane in the Gulf amid concerns about the depths of the oil plume and questions what role natural gas was playing in keeping the oil below the surface, said David Garrison, a program director in the federal agency who specializes in biological oceanography.

"This has the potential to harm the ecosystem in ways that we don't know," Garrison said. "It's a complex problem."

BP CEO Tony Hayward on Thursday told Congress members that he was "so devastated with this accident," "deeply sorry" and "so distraught."

But he also testified that he was out of the loop on decisions at the well and disclaimed knowledge of any of the myriad problems on and under the Deepwater Horizon rig before the deadly explosion. BP was leasing the rig the Deepwater Horizon that exploded April 20, killing 11 workers and triggering the environmental disaster.

"BP blew it," said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the House investigations panel that held the hearing. "You cut corners to save money and time."

In early June, a research team led by Samantha Joye of the Institute of Undersea Research and Technology at the University of Georgia investigated a 15-mile-long plume drifting southwest from the leak site. They said they found methane concentrations up to 10,000 times higher than normal, and oxygen levels depleted by 40 percent or more.

The scientists found that some parts of the plume had oxygen concentrations just shy of the level that tips ocean waters into the category of "dead zone" — a region uninhabitable to fish, crabs, shrimp and other marine creatures.

Kessler has encountered similar findings. Since he began his on-site research on Saturday, he said he has already found oxygen depletions of between 2 percent and 30 percent in waters 1,000 feet deep.

Shallow waters are normally more susceptible to oxygen depletion. Because it is being found in such deep waters, both Kessler and Joye do not know what is causing the depletion and what the impact could be in the long- or short-term.

In an e-mail, Joye called her findings "the most bizarre looking oxygen profiles I have ever seen anywhere."

Representatives of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration acknowledged that so much methane in the water could draw down oxygen levels and slow the breakdown of oil in the Gulf, but cautioned that research was still under way to understand the ramifications.

"We haven't seen any long-term changes or trends at this point," said Robert Haddad, chief of the agency's assessment and restoration division.

Haddad said early efforts to monitor the spill had focused largely on the more toxic components of oil. However, as new data comes in, he said NOAA and other federal agencies will get a more accurate read on methane concentrations and the effects.

"The question is what's going on in the deeper, colder parts of the ocean," he said. "Are the (methane) concentrations going to overcome the amount of available oxygen? We want to make sure we're not overloading the system."

BP spokesman Mark Proegler disputed Joye's suggestion that the Gulf's deep waters contain large amounts of methane, noting that water samples taken by BP and federal agencies have shown minimal underwater oil outside the spill's vicinity.

"The gas that escapes, what we don't flare, goes up to the surface and is gone," he said.

Steven DiMarco, an oceanographer at Texas A&M University who has studied a long-known "dead zone" in the Gulf, said one example of marine life that could be affected by low oxygen levels in deeper waters would be giant squid — the food of choice for the endangered sperm whale population. Squid live primarily in deep water, and would be disrupted by lower oxygen levels, DiMarco said.

Meanwhile, the Coast Guard signaled a shift in strategy Friday to fight the oil, saying it was ramping up efforts to capture the crude closer to shore.

Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said an estimated 2,000 private boats in the so-called "vessels of opportunity" program will be more closely linked through a tighter command and control structure to direct them to locations less than 50 miles offshore to skim the oil. Allen, the point man for the federal response to the spill, previously had said surface containment efforts would be concentrated much farther offshore.

____

[Michael]

This is only my take - you won't find this in any news article, because intuition is the primary conduit here.

As observed in various comments Obama has made in front of the camera, including various speeches and formal statements he has made, I conclude that he is seriously out of balance. This is an energetic read, based not at all on his content.

His affect is inappropriate - he's smiling when he should be grave, he's shaky when he should be a rock. He feels dizzy and completely out of control, and he probably is. He has lost his thread - some bottom has fallen out.

</.02>

God help us.

You have been seeing him more than I, so you could have a better intuition than I. But that's not how I have reading this.

I heard some of his speech and I also heard the gruelling interrogation of BP's chief executive, Tony Hayward. And I see the same issue.

My take is that the underlying problem is that 'America' is facing a conflict of interest on a deep level. They can't handle that emotionally because to face it directly is still too traumatic. So they shoot the frustration to whatever scapegoat they can find.

What I am seeing is that popular US is traumatised by this - they don't want to give up their cars, esp their big cars, they don't want to pay more for petrol and they know they have been complicit in this disaster because of their avarice for cheap petrol - cheaper than any other nation on the globe I think.

But more than that, it is a confrontation between and awakening reality that the world they live in will not always do what they want. There is a very deep strain in American psychology of the 'can do', that 'we can overcome any obstacle', that 'where there's a will there's a way'. And this has in the minds of popular culture deteriorated into an astounding belief of the might of the military, and more importantly the gun. A simplistic belief in the gun over the mind.

It permeates US culture - you see it in the movies where intelligent heroes and especially intelligent female actors have always had a huge hurdle to clear for popular acceptance. You see in the love of Ronald Reagan and George W Bush - how they resorted to single line clichés to rousing popular acclaim.

This is not uncommon - you will see it in all empires in their hey days, as you now see it in China. A nation pride-belief that 'we can do anything'.

A series of blows to this conviction has hit the US in recent years. Vietnam was a very big blow, but they patched themselves back in the 90s, but then 9/11 which really confounded the public with it audacity, its efficiency and its horror. Iraq turned into a horrific embarrassment and the revulsion of the world towards the GWBush image of America. Then Afghanistan, but mostly the GFC which has left the US in an international pauper state along with the embarrassment of having initiated the whole thing.

Then the cyclone that wiped out one of the largest cities in the US and to which the incompetence of response was a huge shock to the 'can do' self-image. Blow after blow - you are seeing the decline of an empire, and it was as traumatic to the US as it was to Britain and every other empire. Not that the US empire will be going away any time soon, but every empire culture moves into a very new psychological self-image as it declines. A far more nuanced and complex self-image, plus I might say artistically creative.

But right now, Obama has the qualities of a careful thinker - one who wants to reflect before acting, and isn't afraid to weigh the complexities. These are characteristics of the phase that the US is moving into, but the resistance is mammoth.

There is no quick solution to this problem, and even Hayward doesn't have a magic wand, nor could he possibly have known anything about the drilling site before it exploded - he is the head of a vast multi-national company, and one little drill is as significant as an ant to an elephant. Until it blows up that is.

What is happening is that Americans are stewing in their confrontation with reality - that it is complex and that it needs competent handling, not soap-opera. Reality is calling, and it is bigger than anyone thought.

Hayward at least bears some culpability for a general un-preparedness, to which he admitted. But what the public want is emotionality. My take on the Obama 'mis-match' as you put it Niche, is that we are seeing a new paradigm of leadership that doesn't dance to the old tune. Americans are facing a shift in what it is to be 'American', and they have a man who is presenting the cues for that, but they don't like it. The dissonance runs too deep for familiar comfort.

However, what is important is not how he dances emotionally, but how competent he is. If he is successful, he will win through, and America will change. If he is unsuccessful, America will reel back to an old-time leader, which will serve to bring forward the demise of US empire faster than ever, as was seen with GWB.

The US is very lucky to have a leader who is neither Left nor Right. He does many things which outrages both sides. But will he succeed in getting sufficient runs on the board to gain respect before the next election? Grudging respect is in many ways the best kind of respect. We shall see, but he will need both luck and intelligence, and luck is a fickle partner.

[Michael]

Now things look even worse for BP. Their partner has finally come out and slammed BP, after which their shares were down-classified to junk status. I hope they hold together long enough to pay up.

And the head of the fund reckons $20 billion won't be enough.

Meanwhile it's still leaking.

[Nichi]

It would appear that Louisianna has sold its soul to the corporate devil. Not only has a judge approved an injunction against the current Federal moratorium on offshore-drilling, but it seems its own law enforcement agency is working for BP.

http://motherjones.com/rights-stuff/2010/06/BP-louisiana-police-stop-activist

[Muffin]

Judge who overturned drilling moratorium reported owning stock in drilling companies

[Nichi]

Judge who overturned drilling moratorium reported owning stock in drilling companies

I saw an article a couple of weeks ago about the Louisianna jurists -- that there are very FEW of them who aren't oil-stockholders. Per all the suits on board to come to them, a change of venue was suggested, but I don't hold out hope.

[Nichi]

The odds here are 40% 60%:

[Nichi]

If it isn't covered up, we'll see more of this:

Coroner: Charter captain working oil spill killed himself

No one will say so, but it's more than money. It's being surrounded by blackness.

[Michael]

Curious what's going on.
First Julie has gone Facebook, to talk with a few friends. You 'over-wherever' may not be aware that in Australia we have just had a huge battle between a Government that wants the country to have a greater share of the huge profits that mining companies are making off the Chinese. The mining company owners, who are all billionaires, have cried bloody murder and set up advertising campaigns that no one else could match, not even the government itself.

Julie saw one of these pro-mining ads on her Facebook page!

Now, with the anti-BP think gaining pace, this YouTube clip has become a mega hit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AAa0gd7ClM

As soon as it starts, watch how a big add appears on the right, with a picture of Obama looking arrogant and "BP Spill - Blame Obama?" written next to it, with "vote here now" in small letters. The effect is that on watching first you tend to not notice this add appear.

The oil spill is bad enough, but now everyone is being manipulated into a political game by people who have become extremely smart, and they have plenty of money to manipulate.

[Nichi]

Curious what's going on.
First Julie has gone Facebook, to talk with a few friends. You 'over-wherever' may not be aware that in Australia we have just had a huge battle between a Government that wants the country to have a greater share of the huge profits that mining companies are making off the Chinese. The mining company owners, who are all billionaires, have cried bloody murder and set up advertising campaigns that no one else could match, not even the government itself.

Julie saw one of these pro-mining ads on her Facebook page!

Now, with the anti-BP think gaining pace, this YouTube clip has become a mega hit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AAa0gd7ClM

As soon as it starts, watch how a big add appears on the right, with a picture of Obama looking arrogant and "BP Spill - Blame Obama?" written next to it, with "vote here now" in small letters. The effect is that on watching first you tend to not notice this add appear.

The oil spill is bad enough, but now everyone is being manipulated into a political game by people who have become extremely smart, and they have plenty of money to manipulate.

True ... and disheartening. The BP and other big oil corps will need a lot of oil themselves ... to lubricate the pitchfork tips.

[Nichi]

NOAA described a few weeks ago that if a hurricane moves west of the spill, oil could be expected to wash on land. The first Atlantic cyclone will be moving to the west of the spill, though it has enough distance from the spill that it might not impact. Who knows::