This is truly an eco-disaster writ large, and they still don't know what caused the fire.
Oil well blowouts occur with such frequency that something like this was inevitable yet nobody seems to be the least bit prepared to deal with it.
This goes beyond criminal stupidity and enters the realm of pure evil. Fuck.
^see islander's comment above
But, but, but...
*lip quivers*
What about the safety party?
And WHY THE FUUCK are the FEDS (U.S. Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service) giving OIL corporations a PARTY for following the damn safety LAWS?
Just a little pat on the ass back, fellas.
What's next? A cotillion?
"Drill Baby Drill"?
More like "Spill Baby Spill"
How the Disaster in the Gulf Could Have Been Prevented: BP's Terrible Record on Environmental and Human Health
The company has found itself at the center of several of the nation's worst oil and gas–related disasters in the last five years. underline mine
However, in the article I posted:
Last year, BP America, operator of the deep-water rig that exploded and sank last week, was among the luncheon's winners...
WTF, Feds?
Oh, wait, it's the oil companies circle jerk. Lobbyists give the feds favors to give oil companies favors so that they can give favors to lobbyists who give...
Ah, the Circle of Life!!
If only they had invented a way to skim the oil off the surface, fractionally drain away any water, and send the brimming ships to refineries... But no. It's all about spiking the slick with yet MORE chemicals, or burning it into the stressed out atmosphere while letting the gunky residue fall onto the sea bottom. Why? They had plenty of time before they drilled. It shouldn't be any harder a process than their plan to degrade the environment by squeezing a little oil out of oil sand. Just waiting for the price of oil to go up enough to (cough) merit that. But here comes pure crude oil floating on the surface ripe for the harvest, and no one foresaw how to actually MAKE MONEY off that while saving the environment?
Gulf Oil Spill "Out of Control" New estimates of the BP oil spill have it spilling out 25,000 barrels of oil a day, far higher than the original estimates of as low as 1,000. NOAA fears that it could get to as high as 50,000 barrels a day. Alabama's governor, said they are planning for a worst case scenario of 150,000 barrels (6,000,000 gallons) a day. That's an Exxon-Valdez every two days and a fix may be months away. The question now may not be whether this is Obama's Katrina, but whether it's his Chernobyl.
From OtherFilter thanks to empath other links from post
The Spill vs. a Need to Drill“We assume our practices are safe, until a disaster strikes. That’s the hubris of mankind.”
They'll be back to business as usual in no time.
Well, This is interesting.
Apparently, since the gummint gives parties for the oil industry, the oil industry responds by hosting parties for the gummint.
...Department of Interior's Minerals Management Service who oversee offshore oil drilling .. also attended sporting events sponsored by oil and gas production companies, and were treated to lunches and free gifts.... Two employees admitted using illegal drugs, including meth.
Those boys just love to par-tay!
So everybody's got thier party hat on while the oil's gushing.
Of course BP doesn't know anything about any toxicity reports. Just like they don't know what the flow amount is, or how to cap the damn leak.
People will be suffering and dying from the effects of this spill for years, and BP will be right up there denying with the best of them. (I'm talking to YOU, Monsanto, et al)
BP refuses EPA order to switch to less-toxic oil dispersantDispersants may make spill more toxic
Not that volatile organic carbons (VOCs), hydrogen sulfide, and other chemicals boiling off the slick aren't toxic.
Let's hope there's a class action suit that absolutely guts BP.
Now here's a cheerful thought:
Toxic oil rains
Thanks to circulatory weather patterns, we can all share in the joy.
I uploaded my jam song "Birds Will Win" to my reverbnation web site the other day, logged on my profile. I hope it works.
The ARROGANCE of those ASSHOLES!
I can't believe it, Hoser. The bastards ought to be crawling in apology, and they just can't be bothered to give a damn about anything but profits.
Let the eco-terrorism begin. I know whose side I'LL be on.
BP seems to be planning to pay a dividend this year. It's likely to amount to more than $10bn. As the two senators noted, by moving money "off the company's books and into investors' pockets", BP "will make it much more difficult to repay the US government and American communities".
and
ExxonMobil was initially fined $5bn for the Exxon Valdez disaster, in 1989. But its record-breaking profits allowed it to pay record-breaking legal fees: after 19 years of argument it got the fine reduced to $507m. That's equivalent to the profit it made every 10 days last year
Thanks to BP, the Gulf is royally fucked. Read more here if you can stand it.
Claims of 20% to 50% of oil being captured dailyaccording to BP and BP Coastguard lackeys.
Hmmmm, seems like 20-50 percent leaves a lot of wiggle room to me.
In other news, the gummint has named an exact figure for the closure in the Gulf:
32% of the Gulf of Mexico is closed to fishing.
According to BP's website:
The cost of the response to date amounts to approximately $1,250 million, including the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid, and federal costs.
and
The company announced that underlying replacement cost profit for the fourth quarter of 2009 ... was $4.4 billion – an increase of 70 per cent on the same period in 2008. Full year replacement cost profit for 2009 was $14 billion....
Group chief executive Tony Hayward said 2009 had been a “very good” year for BP...
Hey, way to overspend on cleanup, guys.
Whoops, looks like 2010 might not be as good a year for profits, but just imagine the tax advantage!!
I didn't really like fish anyway. And just think, if I can afford fish in the years to come, I won't need oil to fry it!
Just curious -- anyone out there reading this post?
Gimme a sign, please. This is so damn depressing for me to think about. I'm so angry at the oil industry and our government I start shaking when reading the latest news. This is our WORLD they're fucking up.
Is it me, or is there an echo in here?
Hoser waves to Bluehorse from Nova Scotia where there is a moratorium on new offshore drilling. Whew! I'm so disgusted with the way this is being handled that my current position is to put my fingers in my ears and go LALALALALA real loud. But I always enjoy your posts; if not the content contained therein. Your query did remind me of a stint in college radio. I didn't think anybody was listening there either: prolly 'cause they weren't.
I am. I'm depressed.
There are more links in this thread on the Blue.
Yeah, it's really depressing.
*Waves*
Even though it's a long way from this Pacific archipelago, out guvvamunt has just sold our offshore exploration rights to the Brazilians!
Gawd 'elp us...
*waves too*
Not commenting because I really really don't know what to say that doesn't involve swearing and crying.
*waves in embarrassment from the Great White Soon-To-Be-Black North*
Business as usual up here.
*sigh*
Those fuckers!
They already own the newspapers and radio/television news. There was ONE
report in the local newspaper in the last three days, buried deep, and totally BP favorable. "They're working so hard, paying so much, caring for our world." Bullshit.
So I dug deeper today, way down the google search. Here's more shit on BP that people aren't supposed to know.
BP guilty of multiple felonies
The giant British energy company twice has been found guilty of felony violations of the Clean Air Act. BP also was assessed the largest fine in the history of the Occupational Health and Safety Administration — $87 million — for its gross negligence in a Texas oil refinery explosion that killed 15 workers in 2005. An investigation by another federal agency found “organizational and safety deficiencies at all levels” of BP in that incident.
Anybody want to bet that fine was also excused or reduced as was the Exxon fine in the Valdez incident? Wanna bet BP didn't pay a hundred and ten times that amount in PR and legal fees?
So we know for sure that BP murdered at least 26 individuals in these two incidents.
All the rights, none of the responsibilities of individuals. Capitalize the profits, socialize the debt.
'scuse me folks, I gotta go kick something.
Makes sense from their perspective, I'm sure.
Dan, you're right, a side kick would make things easier. Wanna be my side kick? We could be like Ed Abbey and the Monkey Wrench Filter gang! Ecoterrierests FTW.
BP Spills Coffee
I was actually in two minds about posting this, because it all feels too heinous to be making the humour, but still. Funny cos it's true, etc
erm, yes, just ignore that last /a. I just put it there in case anyone needed a spare. it'd be awesome if we had a preview button, wouldn't it? *walks off whistling*
Yeah, saw that. Of two minds. One: don't trivialize or reduce it to comedy. Two: funny as hell.
I'm confused.
Isn't that the point of the internet? Learn instantly about anything; then immediately start lampooning it.
assback, fellas. What's next? A cotillion?has fucked upis ruining the world BP CEO Tony Hayward keeps either shoving his foot in his mouth or outright lying. What a maroon!WhiteSoon-To-Be-Black North* Business as usual up here. *sigh*WrenchFilter gang! Ecoterrierests FTW.