DEATH STILL COMES TO GULF MARINE LIFE, AS IT HAS FOR TOO MANY YEARS,
COATED IN OIL, BORN IN OIL, DYING IN OIL....IN THE NAME OF OIL...
COATED IN OIL, BORN IN OIL, DYING IN OIL....IN THE NAME OF OIL...
A CRY FROM THE GULF OF MEXICO...AND THEN, SILENCE...
NO HEALING FOR AMERICA'S GULF OF MEXICO, OIL POLLUTION TOO EXTENSIVE.
SCIENCE SAYS, "IT'S JUST NOT PRACTICABLE."
THE GULF IS POLLUTED WITH OIL FROM ITS SURFACE TO THE FLOOR.
SCIENTISTS HAVE NEVER SEEN SUCH A CASE BEFORE OVER SUCH AN EXTENSIVE AREA.
NEW LEAKS COMBINE WITH DECADES-OLD LEAKS, 10,000-PLUS LEAKS AND COUNTING.
FEW SEE ANY HOPE FOR THE GULF'S RECOVERY.
Above, a 2010 photo of the Mississippi Canyon coral community that was damaged DURING the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
"People still don't realize that there were massive coral reefs right in their back yard in the Gulf of Mexico."
[FEWER STILL CARE THAT THEY CAN'T BE SAVED.]
Six years after Deep Horizon's explosion, cameras have shown that one BP well, CONTRARY TO WHAT BP HAS SAID, is definitely still leaking, as are uncounted others belonging to other oil companies.
AND ANIMALS ARE DYING STILL, BY THE THOUSANDS...
DEAD AND DYING DOLPHINS JUST KEEP WASHING ASHORE, ADULTS, BABIES, ALL. THOSE WHO DON'T ESCAPE THE GULF HAVE LITTLE CHANCE AT LIFE.
NOTHING CAN BREATHE OIL, EAT OIL, LIVE IN OIL AND HOPE TO SURVIVE.
NOAA HAS FINALLY CALLED AN "UNUSUAL MORTALITY EVENT" FOR THE GULF'S DEAD AND DYING DOLPHINS AND WHALES.
BUT NOAA IS ONLY COUNTING CESTACEAN DEATHS IN THE NORTHERN PART OF THE GULF.
WHALES AND DOLPHINS ARE ALSOP WASHING ASHORE OFF TEXAS' COAST, OFF MEXICO'S EASTERN COASTLINE, WASHING ASHORE ON EVERY ISLAND OUT THERE, BUT NOAA ONLY COUNTS THESE FEW.
WHY?
NOAA Studies Documenting the Impacts of Deepwater Horizon
[SUCH AS IT IS....NOAA'S "STUDIES" ARE NEVER IN-DEPTH ENOUGH.
THEIR "UME" LABEL NEVER STIRS AMERICANS TO DEMAND THE CHANGES NECESSARY TO STOP THE MASS DEATHS.]
"The team reported that 88 percent of the nearly 360 babies and stillbirths found WITHIN the oil footprint had abnormal or under-developed lungs.
Only 15 percent found OUTSIDE the spill zone suffered from similar problems, according to the study published this month in the journal Diseases of Aquatic Organisms.
Because their dolphin findings are based only on the number of dead that washed ashore, the total number of deaths is likely far higher, researchers said.
Other studies have linked to the spill ailments ranging from heart defects in tuna to hampered swimming in mahi.
Researchers also fear that as many as 320,000 migrating sea turtles could have been exposed to the oil slick that spread across 16,000 miles of coast.
ABOVE, OYSTERS, COATED AND KILLED BY OIL.
HOW CAN ANYONE IMAGINE THAT ANYTHING THAT COMES FROM THAT ENVIRONMENT CAN BE SAFE TO EAT, BY MAN OR BEAST?
ABOVE, A YOUNG "OILED" AND DOOMED KEMP'S RIDLEY SEA TURTLE, STRUGGLING IN THE GULF OF MEXICO.
IT'S 'GOODBYE TO THE FUTURE' FOR MORE MARINE SPECIES THAN WE MAY BE ABLE TO ACCOUNT FOR.
AMERICA WANTS OIL, BUT THESE ARE THE ONES WHO REALLY PAY THE PRICE FOR THAT.
THESE HELPLESS VICTIMS, WHOSE LIVES ARE SPENT IN THAT WATER, AND THE HUMANS ON THE SHORES, STRUGGLING TO MAINTAIN THEIR WAY OF LIFE, ALL TRYING TO LIVE WITH SOME OF THE WORST POLLUTION WE KNOW OF.
GULF STATES' COASTAL RESIDENTS HAVE ALMOST GIVEN UP HOPE.
THEY CAN'T FIGHT THE BIG MONEY OF THE OIL GIANTS WHO SPILL AND RUN.
LAWMAKERS TAKE THE SIDE OF BIG OIL.
GULF COAST RESIDENTS CAN'T SEEM TO WIN A SINGLE VICTORY FOR LIFE.
IT'S 'GOODBYE TO THE FUTURE' FOR MORE MARINE SPECIES THAN WE MAY BE ABLE TO ACCOUNT FOR.
AMERICA WANTS OIL, BUT THESE ARE THE ONES WHO REALLY PAY THE PRICE FOR THAT.
THESE HELPLESS VICTIMS, WHOSE LIVES ARE SPENT IN THAT WATER, AND THE HUMANS ON THE SHORES, STRUGGLING TO MAINTAIN THEIR WAY OF LIFE, ALL TRYING TO LIVE WITH SOME OF THE WORST POLLUTION WE KNOW OF.
GULF STATES' COASTAL RESIDENTS HAVE ALMOST GIVEN UP HOPE.
THEY CAN'T FIGHT THE BIG MONEY OF THE OIL GIANTS WHO SPILL AND RUN.
LAWMAKERS TAKE THE SIDE OF BIG OIL.
GULF COAST RESIDENTS CAN'T SEEM TO WIN A SINGLE VICTORY FOR LIFE.
WITH EACH NEW SPILL, THERE ARE JUST TOO MANY 'OILED' ANIMALS TO SAVE.
WHO CAN HOPE TO SAVE THOSE WHO MUST SWIM IN THIS?
WHO CAN HOPE TO SAVE "BOTTOM-DWELLERS" WHERE THE OIL SETTLES?
THE PHOTO BELOW SHOWS THAT THE PROGRESSIVE DESTRUCTION OF THE COASTAL AREAS IS ONGOING, IT DOESN'T STOP, BECAUSE THE INCOMING OIL NEVER STOPS.
IT'S DOWN THERE, BELOW THE SURFACE, AND IS GOING TO BE INCOMING FOR MANY DECADES, IF, IF THE OIL LEAKS COULD ALL BE STOPPED NOW, TODAY...
THE OCEAN, THE LAND, ALL LIFE IN AND NEAR THE GULF NEED A REST FROM THE STRUGGLE, TIME TO HEAL, AND HELP TO SURVIVE.
OTHERWISE, THE "UNUSUAL MORTALITY EVENTS" WILL GO ON FOREVER.
IT'S DOWN THERE, BELOW THE SURFACE, AND IS GOING TO BE INCOMING FOR MANY DECADES, IF, IF THE OIL LEAKS COULD ALL BE STOPPED NOW, TODAY...
THE OCEAN, THE LAND, ALL LIFE IN AND NEAR THE GULF NEED A REST FROM THE STRUGGLE, TIME TO HEAL, AND HELP TO SURVIVE.
OTHERWISE, THE "UNUSUAL MORTALITY EVENTS" WILL GO ON FOREVER.
ROUGH SEAS, ONSHORE WINDS, HURRICANES STIR IT ALL UP FROM THE BOTTOM AND SEND IT ASHORE AGAIN AND AGAIN, AND NEW 'ACCIDENTS' ARE SO COMMON THAT OIL COMPANIES JUST DON'T REPORT THEM ALL.
MANY ARE DISCOVERED BY RESIDENTS, AND THEN THE DENIALS BEGIN, THE LIES, THE FAILURES TO CLEAN UP OR TO STOP BEING SO CARELESS.
THERE ARE OVER 10,000 DOCUMENTED OIL SPILLS IN JUST THE GULF OF MEXICO AND YET THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT KEEPS RIGHT ON ENCOURAGING AND LICENSING OFFSHORE DRILLING, BUT ONLY IN THE GULF, ONLY WHERE POLITICIANS' SUMMER HOMES, VACATION HOUSES ARE NOT THREATENED OR DEVALUED BY SUCH THINGS.
[You can see a timelapse map of those 10,000 spills <HERE>.]
THE FOOD CHAIN IS POISONED...AND HUMANS ARE AT THE TOP OF THAT CHAIN.
The continental shelf drops sharply, about 25 miles off the Louisiana coast.
A mile below, there’s a world of inky cold blackness.
Although obscure, this deep ocean world is a foundation of the life AND FOOD WEBS of the Gulf.
From the floor upward, life hangs by a thread here, and for many that thread has broken.
WHY CONSIDER THE 'FOOD CHAIN'?
BECAUSE WE ARE A 'LINK' IN IT.
Scientists say it’s important to try restoring the Gulf, though none can say how that would be possible.
OIL COMPANIES DON'T THINK RESTORING THE GULF IS IMPORTANT.
THEY SPEND BILLIONS EACH YEAR FIGHTING IN COURTS ACROSS THE WORLD TO KEEP FROM PAYING FOR SPILLS, LEAKS, DEATHS, CLEANUPS.
FROM MEXICO TO LOUISIANA, FROM TEXAS' COAST TO WHERE THE GULF MEETS THE ATLANTIC, MASS DIE-OFFS, DEAD BODIES WASHING ASHORE, 'FLESH-EATING' BACTERIA, HUMANS SUFFERING "MYSTERY ILLNESSES", SOME FATAL, BUT DON'T BLAME OIL, WE'RE TOLD.
WE MUST HAVE OIL!
ONE SPECIES AT A TIME...
Those monitoring marine life say some species of fish may never recover.
Some crabs have shown changes in their reproductive organs which could lead to the eradication of their species in the area.
With local shrimp species dying off, the invasive, hardier tiger shrimp are a new threat to local species' comeback, along with the oil and chemicals in the water that we're told absorbs the oil.
No-one is officially checking for oil anymore, although fishermen spot oil almost daily,
"TAR BALLS" are common along the white sandy beaches.
WHEN ONE SEES SAND, IT CAN BE SAND STUCK TO OIL, THAT TARRY LAYER LIES BENEATH THE SURFACE.
ASK THOSE WHO GAVE UP GOING TO THE BEACHES ALONG THE COAST FOR THAT REASON ALONE.
THIS IS NOT GOING AWAY!
SILENTLY DYING, CAUGHT IN THE OIL IN A LOUISIANA MANGROVE SWAMP ON THE GULF.... DEATH CAN TAKE DAYS.
HATCHLINGS CAN'T THRIVE ON TAINTED FOOD....NOR CAN HUMANS.
IT'S THE ENTIRE GULF, AND ALL LIFE ALONG AND IN IT ARE SEEING THE RESULTS OF OFFSHORE DRILLING AND THE NEVER-ENDING 'ACCIDENTS' THAT ALWAYS HAPPEN OUT THERE.
AS OF MAY, 2016, THERE WERE 2,366 OIL PLATFORMS CONCENTRATED IN THE GULF OF MEXICO (SEE MAP <HERE>) AND CONGRESS IS JUST ITCHING TO ALLOW MORE.
JUST A FEW "SMALL" SPILLS OR A "SMALL" LEAK FROM 2,366 PLATFORMS EVERY SINGLE DAY ADDS UP.
ANYONE WHO HAS VISITED THOSE OFFSHORE RIGS OR WORKED ON ONE WILL TELL YOU THAT IT IS NOT A CLEAN ENVIRONMENT.
THE GULF GETS "SPILLED" INTO BY MANY THINGS EVERY DAY.
MAJOR, IRREPARABLE DAMAGE TO THE GULF...
Scientists have discovered extensive damage, down deep in the Gulf of Mexico..
"The more we learn about the deep-sea, the more we learn about the connections between shallow waters and the deep water. Changes in the deep-sea have repercussions for the wider Gulf," Erik Cordes, a Temple University coral expert said.
"But the scary part is that we don't know what the repercussions may be."
Fish of all kinds get nourishment down in the deep. Important nutrients originate there. The deep-sea also absorbs much of the planet's heat and carbon dioxide.
Today, sea cucumbers, worms, and a few crustaceans are about the only living things found in the vast stretches of muddy and sandy bottoms.
They feed on detritus floating down."
OTHER LIFE FORMS DON'T FARE AS WELL....
FROM NOAA, JUST LAST WEEK:
Cetacean Unusual Mortality Event in Northern Gulf of Mexico
Since 2010, more than 1,500 dolphins and whales have been found dead in the Gulf of Mexico.
Hundreds of baby dolphin deaths tied to BP's Gulf oil spill | Miami Herald
Dolphin deaths in Gulf of Mexico linked to Deepwater Horizon
WHO CARES?
WHO CARES ENOUGH TO DO ANYTHING TO HELP ALL COASTAL RESIDENTS, MAN AND ANIMAL ALIKE?
NOT THE GULF STATES' "TOURISM DEPARTMENTS"!
BECAUSE IT "CUTS DOWN ON TOURISM", MANY, IF NOT MOST GULF STATES DON'T WANT PHOTOS LIKE THESE PUBLISHED IN MAINSTREAM MEDIA, DON'T INVITE A LONG, CLOSE LOOK AT WHAT'S STILL GOING ON, DON'T WANT PEOPLE QUESTIONING THE HEALTH OF THEIR COASTAL RESIDENTS, WHETHER HUMAN OR LOWER SPECIES.
"BAD FOR BUSINESS", THEY SAY.
"OUR BEACHES ARE FINE," THEY SAY, KNOWINGLY LYING.
'BEACH TOWNS' HIRE PEOPLE TO DAILY SCRAPE UP THE VISIBLE TAR BALLS, THE INCOMING OIL SOAKED SEAWEED, DEAD MARINE BODIES, ETC, BUT IT WILL KEEP WASHING IN UNTIL THE OIL LEAKS ARE STOPPED.
SUCH EXTENSIVE POLLUTION MEANS MARINE LIFE IS CONTAMINATED FROM BIRTH, THAT THE 'SEAFOOD' THAT MANAGE TO LIVE THROUGH THIS CONTAIN THESE VERY POLLUTANTS REPEATEDLY ADDED TO THEIR ENVIRONMENT AND THESE ARE PASSED ON TO HUMANS.
MARINE BIRDS ARE ALSO DYING FROM THE PETROLEUM TOXICITY, BUT WHO CARES ABOUT BIRDS....
AND WHAT ABOUT THOSE WHO DEPEND ON THOSE WATERS FOR FOOD, OR FOR BUSINESSES THAT SELL 'SEAFOOD' FROM THE GULF?
"It is inexcusable that the oil and gas industry is allowed to use American families' dinner plates as a disposal site for toxic oil field wastewater."
WE'VE KNOWN FOR YEARS NOW THAT TOXINS EXIST IN GULF WATER SEAFOODS.
BUT THE AMOUNTS ARE EITHER MANIPULATED TO NOT SHOW THE FULL EXTENT OF THEIR PRESENCE IN OUR FOOD CHAIN OR NEW LAWS ARE PASSED WHICH ALLOW MORE AND MORE TOXINS IN OUR FOODS.
ANOTHER SPILL, 2016.
Shell Oil just created a NEW spill in MAY, A LEAK FROM AN UNDERWATER PIPELINE.
Shell's response to their spill was a sick joke.
ONE, JUST ONE, SKIMMER VESSEL WAS INITIALLY DEPLOYED BY SHELL, LATER JOINED BY... JUST 3 MORE.
ISN'T THAT A GOOD RESPONSE?
NO!
These skimmer vessels are rated to remove thousands of barrels of oily water per day:
12,500 bpd for the H.I. Rich, and a combined 39,220 bpd for EACH of the 3 others.
At 42 gallons of recovered OIL per barrel per day, that's a total capacity of more than 2 million gallons per day for these 4 vessels.
Sounds pretty good, huh?
NO.
By noon on Sunday, based on the arrival times of the skimmer vessels that we tracked using their AIS broadcasts, more than 6 million gallons should have been collected and this 90,000 gallon oil spill should have been long gone.
Yet on Sunday the Coast Guard reported only 50,000 gallons of "an oily-water mixture" had been recovered.
HOW DID SHELL EXPLAIN THAT?
SHELL DOESN'T HAVE TO EXPLAIN THAT!
Video taken Sunday during an overflight by Dr. Ian MacDonald of Florida State University with pilot Bonny Schumaker shows thick stringers of emulsified oil in a slick STILL several miles long.
WHO REPORTED THE NEW SLICK, THE LATEST KNOWN SPILL?
NOT SHELL!
The SHELL spill was discovered accidentally by a helicopter pilot flying over the area who happened to spot the slick.
That's right: a modern pipeline at a high-tech deepwater development project leaked thousands of gallons of oil, and that leak was accidentally discovered BEFORE IT WAS REPORTED BY SHELL.
Not because high-tech telemetry on the pipeline signaled an alarm due to a drop in pressure; not because flow metering detected a difference between what was going in one end of the pipe vs. what was coming out the other.
DOES ANYBODY BELIEVE SHELL DIDN'T KNOW?
How long would this leak have continued, if not for the sheer luck of having a vigilant pilot happening by?
OH, BTW, JUST 2 WEEKS AFTER THIS "ACCIDENT", SHELL HAD ANOTHER ONE, IN CALIFORNIA THIS TIME, AND YOU CAN SEE HOW MUCH MORE THOROUGHLY AND QUICKLY OLD SHELL RESPONDED TO THAT ONE, MAKING REPAIRS THE SAME DAY, AND HOW MUCH MORE ATTENTION MAINSTREAM MEDIA PAID TO THAT SPILL.
This same SHELL pipeline sprung a leak just eight months ago in almost the same location, spilling roughly the same amount of oil into the ground. Adding irony to injury, the spill occurred on the site of one the state’s largest wind energy developments, the Altamont Pass Wind Farm.
SOME LEAKS IN THE GULF PREDATE EVEN THE TAYLOR LEAK, WHICH HAS BEEN ONGOING SINCE 2004!
HOWEVER, SEVERAL underwater oil wells have been leaking since 2004 and continue to leak as you read this.
Unless plugged, the government estimates the oldest leaker, the TAYLOR leak, might continue for 100 years until the oil in the underground reservoir is finally depleted.
100 MORE YEARS OF HOPELESSNESS FOR RECOVERY OF THE GULF?
The platform’s owner, Taylor Energy, has no plans to stop the leak and is lobbying behind the scenes for permission to walk away from its mess.
The platform lies just 12 miles offshore from New Orleans.
IF THIS HAPPENED NEAR NEW YORK CITY OR SAN FRANCISCO, OIL COMPANIES WOULD BE SCRAMBLING TO STOP IT.
If an oil company claims it cannot repair these leaks, no one forces them to try.
Although the company says it began working to contain the leak in 2004, the underwater mudslide where the platform occurred made traditional well containment tactics difficult.
[COMPANIES ALSO DO NOT HAVE TO PROVE BY VIDEO OR PHOTOGRAPH OR ANYTHING ELSE EXACTLY WHAT THEY HAVE ACTUALLY DONE TO CLEAN UP AFTER THEMSELVES.
OUR GOVERNMENT TAKES THEIR WORD FOR IT....UNTIL SOMEONE ELSE PROVES IT'S A LIE.]
TAYLOR HID THEIR ONGOING LEAK FOR SIX YEARS!
Taylor Energy was more effective at keeping the oil spill under wraps and information about it was not made public until 2010, when BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster brought added scrutiny to the region. While reviewing satellite imagery of BP’s oil slick, the watchdog group SkyTruth noticed a smaller slick coming from the MC20 location.
Over the years, the Taylor leakage rate adds up to between 300,000 and 1.4 million gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf.
To put those numbers into perspective, the MC20 leak is the equivalent of last year’s Refugio Beach spill in Santa Barbara, California—but Taylor's equivalent leak has been happening every year for over a decade.
THE BP "DEEP HORIZON" DISASTER IS AN ONGOING ONE, SAME AS THE OTHERS.
MAY 301, 2016, NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA
Far offshore and a mile deep in the dark world below the Gulf of Mexico’s gleaming surface, the catastrophic BP oil spill of 2010 did untold damage on the ocean floor.
Scientists are unsure they can do much to heal places in the deep that were hurt the most as they undertake what’s being called the largest ecosystem restoration effort ever.
In April, a federal judge approved BP’s $20 billion settlement to cover the spill’s environmental and economic damage.
But only a relatively small portion of that — about $273 million — has been earmarked for restoring the deep ocean over the next 15 years.
[BUT DURING THOSE 15 YEARS, HUNDREDS OF "SMALL" LEAKER WELLS AND PIPELINES WILL CONTINUE TO BLEED INTO THE GULF.
UNLESS ALL LEAKS ARE STOPPED, THERE IS NO POINT IN TRYING TO DO ANYTHING FOR MARINE LIFE OR THE PEOPLE ALONG THE COAST!]
It’s far from clear if much CAN be done because deep-sea restoration has NEVER been attempted, scientists said.
There won’t be nurseries for deep-sea starfish, lobsters and shrimp.
Don’t expect corals to be hatched in laboratories and transported a mile down to the Gulf floor.
Oil mixed in the sediment won’t be picked up by submarines or sub-sea robots.
“Picking up (oil-contaminated) sediment over hundreds of miles is just not practicable,” said Paul Montagna, a marine biologist with the Harte Research Institute at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
Samantha Joye, a marine biologist at the University of Georgia said, “This is something our grandkids may very well still be studying 40 years from now.”
[40 YEARS?
THAT MIGHT BE A VALID ESTIMATE , IF THE OIL LEAKS WERE ALL STOPPED, BUT THEY NEVER STOP, AND COMPANIES ARE NOT FORCED TO TRY TO STOP THEM AFTER A CERTAIN POINT.]
BP’s out-of-control deep well spat ENORMOUS amounts of oil for 87 days into the Gulf in 2010. Much of it never reached the surface, kept in the depths both by chemical dispersants sprayed to keep the oil from reaching shorelines and by natural forces.
[MANY SCIENTISTS SAY THOSE DISPERSANTS ARE ALSO KILLING MARINE LIFE AND MAY HAVE HARMED HUMANS AS WELL. THERE HAVE BEEN NO LONG-TERM STUDIES OF THEIR EFFECTS ON LIFE FORMS!]
A very large area was struck by underwater oil plumes and covered in contaminated marine 'snow', stringy brown, wool-like clumps of particles that drifted down from the surface oil slicks.
Close to the one well, scientists say oil completely coated creatures and coral, killing them.
Farther away, oil contamination has stunted animals’ growth, left corals with broken branches and FOULED THE FOOD WEB.
[SCIENTISTS ARE JUST AT A LOSS WHERE TO BEGIN TRYING TO DEAL WITH SUCH MASSIVE DAMAGE TO A MARINE ENVIRONMENT, WHILE THE LEAKS JUST NEVER END.]
Every oil company in the Gulf that ever had a leak or a spill has grossly underestimated the amount.
For years, Taylor Energy had reported estimates of the spilled oil to the National Response Center that were extremely small—and in many cases flatly contradicted by the images analyzed by SkyTruth.
In 2015, following rigorous documentation by SkyTruth and an investigation by the Associated Press, the U.S. Coast Guard released a leak estimate that was 20 times larger than what had been claimed by Taylor Energy in court filings.
The Landsat photo below showed the LIE Taylor told in 2014 about the oil leak continuing.
It continues to this day!
BUT NO ONE FROM TAYLOR OR BP OR SHELL OR ANY OF THE HUNDREDS OF OTHERS WHO OWN PLATFORMS IN THE GULF HAVE TO SWIM THROUGH THAT EACH DAY, TRY TO LIVE IN THAT.
OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND....
MAINSTREAM MEDIA REFUSES TO STAY FOCUSED ON SUCH THINGS.
FEW ARE EVEN AWARE THIS IS HAPPENING!
Although the flow of oil shows no signs of abating, it’s clear that the company would like to wash its hands of the whole situation.
Taylor Energy has mostly ceased to exist as a company and company president William Pecue is its last remaining employee.
Pecue has called the leak an “act of God” for which Taylor cannot legally be held responsible.
The company and their hired experts maintain that any further action to halt the leaks would be worse for the environment and therefore they propose “to not take any affirmative action” at the site.
IT'S ALL IN WHOM YOU KNOW...AND TO WHOM YOU MAKE SUBSTANTIAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS...
Phyllis Taylor, the widow of the company’s founder, is a well-known philanthropist and a major donor to Louisiana politicians.
As a result of those connections, a number of Louisiana officials have lobbied the government to consider Taylor’s proposal.
The company is also suing the federal government to recover $432 million in a trust fund that had been set aside for responding to the leak.
However, in public statements the U.S. government maintains that there is “still more that can be done by Taylor to control and contain the oil” and that they are committed “to ensure Taylor Energy will work to permanently stop the ongoing oil spill.”
[SURE, RIGHT, WHATEVER....WE'VE SEEN THE MISERABLE FAILURE OF THE FEDS TO FORCE ACTION HOW MANY TIMES OVER THE LONG DECADES?
AMERICA'S MAJOR MEDIA IGNORES LESSER SPILLS AND CEASES THEIR REPORTS WHEN IT BECOMES CLEAR THE OFFENDING COMPANY HAS NO INTENTIONS OF WORKING ON STOPPING THE LEAKS.
AGAIN, "OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND."]
Pictured below, the spread of the 2010 BP oil slick in just 3 months: 68,000 square miles and spreading still.
A 2011 Bloomberg investigation found that the culture of non-compliance and lax enforcement in Louisiana meant that companies responsible for persistent pollution were rarely held accountable.
One marine biologist summarized the impacts, stating,
“When you spill any amount of oil in a marine system, organisms die” and that chronic spills are “a huge problem and far more damaging than most people suspect.”
THE MAJOR OIL COMPANIES HAVE MANAGED TO CAJOLE AND BUY CONGRESSMEN FOR DECADES NOW SO THEY CAN KEEP AMERICA ADDICTED TO OIL.
NONE OF THE DARLINGS OF WALL STREET ARE AFFECTED BY SUCH WIDESPREAD POLLUTION IN THE GULF, SO ALL IS WELL AS FAR AS CONGRESS IS CONCERNED...
IT'S "JUST THE SOUTH", "JUST THE GULF", "JUST SMALL FISHING BUSINESSES AND SOUTHERN COMMUNITIES AND A FEW NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBES AFFECTED, SO WHO CARES?
THEY'VE MADE DAMNED CERTAIN THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN ON MARTHA'S VINEYARD, NOR NEAR THE HAMPTON'S, NOR ANYWHERE OFF THE EASTERN SEABOARD NOR ANY OTHER PLACE WHERE A CONGRESSMAN MIGHT HAVE PROPERTY.
BUT TO HELL WITH THE GULF!
EXXON WAS BUSTED LAST YEAR FOR BEING THE RINGLEADER IN THE WAR AGAINST CLEAN ENERGY, AGAINST THE FACTS OF "CLIMATE CHANGE" AND THE WAY WE SUPPLY AMERICA'S ENERGY NEEDS.
A Yale study published last fall in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showed that money from Exxon and the Koch Brothers played a key role in polarizing the climate debate in this country.
The company’s sins—of omission and commission—may even turn out to be criminal.
Whether the company “lied to the public” is the question that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman decided to investigate last fall in a case that could make him the great lawman of our era if his investigation doesn’t languish.
There are various consumer fraud statutes that Exxon might have violated and it might have failed to disclose relevant information to investors, which is the main kind of lying that’s illegal in this country of ours.
Now, Schneiderman’s got backup from California Attorney General Kamala Harris and maybe from the Department of Justice as well, though its highly publicized unwillingness to go after the big banks does not inspire confidence.
SINCE IT WAS BUSTED, EXXON HAS PUBLICLY ADMITTED CLIMATE CHANGE IS A REALITY.
Rex Tillerson, EXXON CEO, stopped telling world leaders that the planet was cooling. Speaking in 2012 at the Council on Foreign Relations, he said,
“I’m not disputing that increasing CO2 emissions in the atmosphere is going to have an impact. It’ll have a warming impact.”
” Mankind, he explained, “has this enormous capacity to deal with adversity.”
RIGHT, TILLERSON, AND BIG OIL HAS THIS ENORMOUS CAPACITY TO CREATE THAT VERY ADVERSITY, DON'T YOU?
BIG OIL RELIES ON THE GOP TO BLOCK ALL POSSIBLE ECONOMIC HARM TO THE OIL INDUSTRY.
BIG OIL ALSO GETS A LION'S SHARE OF ALL THAT FEDERAL "CORPORATE WELFARE" THAT WE TAXPAYERS PAY FOR EACH YEAR....BILLIONS AND BILLIONS OF TAXPAYER DOLLARS TO FUND THE OIL, COAL AND GAS GIANTS.
BUYING CONGRESSIONAL HELP...
'If you look at all of Exxon’s political contributions from 1999 to the present, a huge majority of their political harem of politicians have signed the famous Taxpayer Protection Pledge from Grover Norquist’s 'Americans for Tax Reform' that binds them to vote AGAINST any new taxes.
Norquist [A REPUBLICAN] himself wrote Congress in late January that “a carbon tax is a VAT or Value Added Tax on training wheels. Any carbon tax would inevitably be spread out over wider and wider parts of the economy until we had a European Value Added Tax.”
As he told a reporter last year, “I don’t see the path to getting a lot of REPUBLICAN votes” FOR a carbon tax and since he’s been called “the most powerful man in American politics,” that seems like a good bet.
Bill Cassidy, JUNIOR REPUBLICAN SENATOR FROM LOUISIANA, is also an Exxon favorite and lost no time in co-sponsoring a bill opposing any carbon taxes.
BUT EVEN AFTER ADMITTING USE OF FOSSIL FUELS WARMS OUR EARTH, EXXON spends huge amounts of money searching for NEW hydrocarbons.
Given the recent plunge in oil prices, its capital spending and exploration budget was indeed cut by 12 percent in 2015 to $34 billion and another 25 percent in 2016 to $23.2 billion.
In 2015, that meant Exxon was spending $63 million a day “as it continues to bring new projects on line.”
They are still spending a cool $1.57 billion a year looking for new sources of hydrocarbons—$4 million a day, every day."
SINCE THEIR ADMISSION THAT OUR USING FOSSIL FUELS INCREASES GLOBAL WARMING, ONE MIGHT THINK EXXON WOULD INVEST IN OTHER ENERGY SOURCES, RIGHT?
HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA....WRONG!
"EXXON boasts of expansion plans in the Gulf of Mexico, eastern Canada, Indonesia, Australia, the Russian far east, Angola and Nigeria.
“The strength of our global organization allows us to explore across all geological and geographical environments, using industry-leading technology and capabilities.”
And its willingness to get in bed with just about any regime out there makes it even easier.
Somewhere in his trophy case, for instance, Rex Tillerson has an Order of Friendship medal from Vladimir Putin.
All it took to get that was a joint energy venture estimated to be worth $500 billion."
WELL, EXXON IS NOT A "CHEAP WHORE".
IT CHARGES PLENTY FOR ITS "SERVICES".
VERMONT WANTS EXXON OUT...
Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin singled Exxon out in his state of the state address last month.
He called on the legislature to divest the state of its holdings in the company because of its deceptions.
“This is a page right out of Big Tobacco,” he said, “which for decades denied the health risks of their product as they were killing people.
Owning ExxonMobil stock is not a business Vermont should be in.”
WELL, THAT'S ONE...
BUT THE MAJORITY OF OUR LAWMAKERS ARE DELIGHTED TO HELP BIG OIL...IF THE PRICE IS RIGHT!
Our government is indulging in a troubling FANTASY that is eagerly abetted by the oil industry and pro-drilling politicians, dressing up deepwater offshore drilling as a safe operation so they can continue to rubber-stamp permit applications that contain laughable oil-spill response plans.
But as Shell just demonstrated, this emperor has no clothes.
When will our government and the global oil industry wake up to this reality and get serious about oil spill response?
If the BP / Deepwater Horizon spill wasn't a disaster big and costly enough to provoke a serious overhaul, then what will it take?
On Thursday, The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on Capitol Hill to critique the federal government's offshore oil and gas leasing program.
Expect to see pro-drilling politicians taking this opportunity to pound their fists and wag their fingers at government officials for not doing enough to ACCELERATE the pace of offshore oil drilling.
You might even see a few unicorns and fairies sitting up on stage behind the politicians, nodding in agreement."
MEANWHILE, THE GULF IS A WRITE-OFF, HOPELESSLY POLLUTED BECAUSE NO ONE IS FORCING THE BIG OIL COMPANIES TO PLUG THOSE LEAKS OR CLEAN UP ALL THEIR MESSES.
WHO AMONG US WOULD WILLINGLY EAT GULF SEAFOOD KNOWING ALL THIS?
DOES CONGRESS OR THE OVAL OFFICE CARE?
NO!
THEY JUST PUT A BAN ON LABELING COUNTRY OF ORIGIN FOR OUR FOOD SUPPLIES, SO WE CAN ALL ENJOY THAT RADIATION CONTAMINATION IN JAPANESE SEAFOOD, OR POSSIBLY TAINTED (LET US COUNT THE WAYS) CHINESE FOODS, AND WE PROBABLY WILL NO LONGER BE SHOWN THE ORIGIN OF ANYTHING WE EAT....SO DIVE IN, AMERICA!
WE'VE KNOWN FOR DECADES THAT THIS IS A HAZARD TO HUMAN HEALTH.
Fate and Effects of Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Marine Ecosystem
"It is inexcusable that the oil and gas industry is allowed to use American families' dinner plates as a disposal site for toxic oil field wastewater."
Canada tar sands linked to cancer in natives.
OIL...IT DOES A BODY GOOD....RIGHT?
OIL...IT'S NOT JUST FOR BREAKFAST ANYMORE.
EVERY MARINE SPECIES THAT LIVES IN THAT GULF HAS TO "EAT IT" 24 HOURS A DAY, 7 DAYS A WEEK, YEAR AFTER YEAR AFTER YEAR.
IMAGINE THAT, CAN WE?
======== Postscript: | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| DEATH IS STILL COMING IN ON EVERY TIDE...sometimes only a few bodies, sometimes thousands. 26th May 2016 - Hundreds of dead fish wash up on a beach in Gulfport, Mississippi. Link 24th May 2016 - Hundreds of thousands of dead fish wash up on Grand Isle beach in Louisiana, America. Link | |||
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAP BELOW OF A SMALL AREA OF THE GULF SHOWS A RED DOT FOR EVERY DEAD OR DYING SEA TURTLE FOUND IN THE 3 MONTHS FOLLOWING THE BP OIL SPILL ...JUST 3 MONTHS...THE BLACK DOTS REPRESENT THE DEAD DOLPHINS IN THAT SAME 3-MONTH PERIOD.
ALONG WITH THAT REPORT THE TIMES ALSO LISTED BIRD DEATHS, OVER 6,000 IN 3 MONTHS:
| Birds | Found alive | Found dead | Total found |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visibly oiled | 1,924 | 1,886 | 3,810 |
| Not visibly oiled | 0 | 2,333 | 2,333 |
.
The Gulf of Mexico Is Still Dying: A Special Update
Oil spill could trigger massive rescue effort of Florida's manatee
Gulf oil spill: How can wildlife survive? - Naples Daily News
Oil disaster threatens Gulf of Mexico's deep water titans
YET TO THIS DAY, NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE TO CHANGE HOW THE GULF IS USED FOR OIL EXTRACTION,
NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE TO SAFEGUARD THE ECOSYSTEM, ANIMALS, HUMANS, PLANTS,AIR QUALITY, NOTHING.
IT'S LIKE IT JUST DOESN'T EXIST.
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