U.S. EPA Enforces Antiquated Oil SPill Clean up Protocols

January 22, 2012 1 Comment

The outdated procedures cost Gulf Economy Billions in Losses

By Susan Aarde
The Real Agenda
January 23, 2012

23 Years of Denial

Much of what was being reported about in 2011 as the aftermath of the Gulf Oil Spill has not covered an important point: Oil is still leakingi from the seabed floor BP well zone and millions of barrels are still submerged and residing in the water column–HOW WILL THE TOXIC GULF BE CLEANED UP

There are many ongoing blog and media reports about the aftermath from the spill and millions being spent on studies to find out how marine life, water and other mediums have been affected.  Further, as recent as Sept 13, 2011 reports on numerous sightings of new oil slicks in the vicinity of the original BP Spill are bringing attention back to the area. Lab tests showing it to be BP oil finally forced the admittance by the responsible oil company that it was their oil.  Sadly, none of this coverage brings to light the most crucial issue; continued use of dispersants which do not remediate the oil and hence do not relieve the continued toxic stress on the ecosystem with adverse economic and health effects to Gulf Coast residents. And this cycle of new oil surfacing and repeatedly spraying Corexit to disperse it, has proven to compound environmental damage for which BP and government agencies enforcing destructive protocols should be held financially accountable.

 The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) admits there are “trade-offs” to using Corexit, however their explanation of these and why they favor its use on their website, are absurd.  (See EPA Link)

 The combined events of the BP Oil Spill and the application of this [outmoded] cleanup method (millions of gallons of Corexit(R)) resulted in high toxicity levels persisting in the GOM region until as recent as March 201lii – levels well above earlier official safety threshold standards set in 1999 which, for some unexplained reason, were raised by much higher percentiles within a few months after the beginning of the Deepwater Horizon blowout. [a means of blinding people from identifying potential public health and seafood contamination risks] .These toxicity levels are still adversely affecting human health and marine life in the region.  

EPA and other federal agency statements announcing the clean up was successful and assuring the public that seafood was safe to consume and that the environment  was safe to use  were clearly premature and misrepresentative to the public, suggesting ineffective clean-up protocols and potential negligence on the part of the EPA.  The most recent scientific data on this issue are fact-based, and those facts are now being reported inscientific literature.   

 More notably, BP had made formal requests to use bio remediation clean up technology to avoid these toxic trade-offs and initiated testing on a product called Oil Spill Eater IIiii (already approved and listed on EPA’s National Contingency Plan for Oil Spill Response) to replace Corexit.  BP’s request, along with those from gulf state officials, including Governor Jindal of Louisiana, were denied by EPA and Regional Response Team officials. The EPA denial letter cited science that erroneously grouped this ready-to-deploy, proven clean up product with “questionable” remediation products examined.  In a June 2010 EPA letter, BP’s official request was denied, (documentation relevant to this can be obtain upon request). Per Gulf Rescue Alliance sources BP’s Chief Council referenced that letter and stated in a recent meeting that their hands were tied where the use of bioremediation (OSE II ) was concerned – “BP is bound by it”—bound by the EPA mandate [to keep using Corexit]. Consequentially it is estimated that BP could have saved an estimated $36 billion in clean up costs if they had deployed the EPA approved alternative to Corexit. 

 Gulf Rescue Alliance (GRA) has voluminous documentation indicating the EPA arbitrarily blocked and continues to prevent the use of eco friendly bioremediation clean up technology in favor of Corexit despite ample science indicating it is fatally toxic to marine life and even humans. 

 Bottom line: Use of bioremediation could have saved BILLIONS in clean up costs and result in an end point to the disaster. (See Economic Comparison article) BP’s attempt to use an alternative is a significant point and the resultant damage caused by Corexit is proving to be quite concerning for escalating clean up costs. 

 We applaud Surfrider Foundation and the Center for Biological Diversity for its recent action of filing suit against the EPA over the use of dispersants reinforcing the case that EPA oil spill cleanup response protocols are wholly inadequate. 

 While the EPA, NOAA and Coast Guard remain in denial and continue to roadblock the use of Bioremediation, perhaps this suit will open the door for permitting the deployment of safe and effective cleanup methods available and ready for use right now to stop the killing in the Gulf Waters.  And if one had no regard for the marine life and saving the ecosystem, possibly the continued threat of loss in BP Stock value will incite action. 

 While allowing Nalco Holding Company, the manufacturer of Corexit, to use up their existing stockpiles in the country, the UK has banned the product from further subsequent use. 

Footnotes:

i CEO OSEI Corporation:  I have been in contact with expert economists and have received a recent document that shows the spill is causing the Gulf states to lose revenues and property values of approximately $122 billion a year; and this number is extremely conservative.  It can easily be demonstrated that the ongoing spill is costing the Gulf states $500 billion a year in lost revenue, diminishing property values, other loss to all the peripheral associated businesses that have been economically damaged, and increased drain on the public health system from all of the people who are getting sick and those who will get sick in the future from exposure to the carcinogenic, mutagenic and teratogenic elements in the dispersed oil.The economic numbers show the current loss; however, it is estimated through numerous reports that the spill has leaked approximately 2,000,000 gallons of oil a day and has never stopped. On several places on the Internet there is a video showing a third BP well where there is an enormous crater leaking oil. There are numerous ex BP oil spill responders that have stated there is a trench southwest of the well with 80 to 100 feet of oil laying in it, and, per University of Southern Florida scientists, we know there are several inches of oil laying on the Gulf’s continental shelf further endangering the U.S. Gulf state’s natural resources. What you have as of October 31, 2011 is approximately 1 billion gallons of oil spilled.  Some of the oil is going south to the trench and heading southwest towards Mexico with reports from Mexican officials of their shorelines being devastated by the ongoing DWH oil spill.  Some of the oil is coming ashore in the U.S., and enormous amounts of oil are in the water column destroying the marine life and fisheries.

iiSee Dangers of Corexit Documentation Sheet http://webzoom.freewebs.com/gulfrescuealliance/pressbriefing/DANGERS%20OF%20COREXIT%20SUMMARY.docx

iiia simple lay term description of how OSE II works “Emulating Mother Nature” should be read. The Earth Organization (TEO) (a non-profit) working on locating safe and effective clean up measures for the Gulf vetted all products on the EPA national contingency plan lists and by process of elimination using a set of precise, scientific guidelines concluded the most immediate, swift, and effective option open for cleaning up the spill–without adding further toxic effects or introducing non-indigenous microbes to the waters –was OSE II.  It was also the only company with current supplies and production capabilities to remediate a spill disaster of this magnitude.   TEO’s research and other independent science reviews such as one from the Dept of Interior conclude OSE II is capable of swiftly addressing and remediating 100% of any spill in any environment.

Susan Aarde is a contributor from the Gulf Rescue Alliance, an independent coalition comprised of concerned scientists, medical experts, attorneys, seafood and tourism industry professionals, oil industry advisors, civic and government leaders, non-profits and citizens.

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Novo “primeiro-ministro” da Líbia é um Bully da Indústria do Petróleo

November 3, 2011

Tradução Luis Miranda
Land Destroyer
02 de outubro de 2011

Associated Press relatou recentemente que o líder militante dos rebeldes da Líbia tem nomeado um “primeiro-ministro” novo esta semana. AP apresenta o mais novo representante ocidental eleito ; Abdurrahim el-Keib, como um acadêmico liberal que passou décadas na comunidade do ensino universitário na Universidade de Alabama, Estados Unidos e como um líder da comunidade muçulmana local. Mas AP apenas menciona que o “ex-patrão” do el-Keib, no entanto, é o Instituto do Petróleo, com sede em Abu Dhabi, Emirados Árabes Unidos e que este instituto é patrocinado pela British Petroleum(BP), a Shell, a petrolífera francesa Total, a Society of Petroleum Development do Japão e a National Oil Company de Abu Dhabi. el-Keiba é listado como “Professor e Presidente” em seu perfil no Instituto do Petróleo que também descreve detalhes de extensas investigaçoes conduzidas pelo Abdurrahim el-Keib, patrocinadas por vários departamentos governamentais e agências dos EUA nos últimos anos.

Foto: E assim começa a farsa que é a "democracia ocidental". Um fantoche dos poderes corporativos fascistas, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, sai; em quanto outro, Abdurrahim el-Keiba, chega. Na realidade, a OTAN e seus estados patrocinadores dirigidos pelas corporações são quem agora determinam o destino da Líbia.

Em essência, el-Keib, como seu antecessor Jalil, é líbio apenas no nome e tem vindo a trabalhar para as corporações ocidentais, governos e instituições ao longo de décadas. Como Jalil, ou o “filho do povo egípcio” Mohammed ElBaradei, el-Keib é outro agente dos interesses ocidentais passando por um líder indígena em um país estrangeiro. Sua ascensão ao poder foi pavimentada por milhares de invasões e ataques em uma operação militar liderada pela OTAN e Estados Unidos durante sete meses que custou a vida de dezenas de milhares de civis na Líbia. Isso faz com que a sua ascensão ao poder seja outro exemplo de uma profanação da soberania desse país.

Enquanto isso, o London Telegraph relata que os rebeldes apoiados pela OTAN voltaram suas armas contra si mesmos, mais uma vez, em Tripoli, com centenas de combatentes trocando tiros perto de um hospital depois que uma das facções armadas tentaram assassinar um paciente que eles mesmos tinham ferido na noite anterior. O relatório também cita uma longa lista de atrocidades cometidas pelos combatentes rebeldes antes de apontar a vitória “sem precedentes” da OTAN na Líbia.

Enquanto a mídia corporativa tenta ignorar o crescente corpo de evidências que sugere que tanto a OTAN como os rebeldes cometeram as mesmas atrocidades que Gaddafi, como pretexto para uma série de assassinatos ao longo de seis meses, tem sido bem documentada desde o começo do conflito em fevereiro, que os rebeldes, não sao combatentes pró-democracia, mas pertencem ao Grupo de Combate Islâmico Líbio (LIFG), uma afiliada da Al-Qaeda, que têm uma longa história de terrorismo e barbárie. Também tem sido documentado que os rebeldes mataram tropas dos americanas e britânicas no Iraque e no Afeganistão nos últimos 10 anos, como observou um relatório do Centro de Combate ao Terrorismo em West Point.

No entanto, representantes dos EUA, incluindo o senador John McCain, se reuniram pessoalmente com militantes do LIFG para elogia-los como heróis que “inspiram o mundo.” É alarmante que McCain faca essas declarações em Trípoli, embora os rebeldes declararam publicamente sua intenção de deliberadamente reduzir suprimentos e assistência médica à população de Sirte, para “matar seus habitantes de fome” com o apoio da OTAN- um crime de guerra graves.

Palavras não podem descrever a injustiça que ocorre na Líbia, o nível de duplicidade com que esta injustiça é feita e os saques flagrantes em que o país é submetido pelos membros da OTAN, facilitados por um personagem recém-eleito, com décadas de serviço aos interesses ocidentais que agora torna-se “primeiro-ministro interino.”

 

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Nuevo “Primer Ministro” de Libia es un Matón de la Industria Petrolera

November 3, 2011

Traducción Luis Miranda
Land Destroyer
02 de octubre 2011

Associated Press informó recientemente que el jefe de los militantes rebeldes libios han nombrado a un nuevo “primer ministro” esta semana. AP presenta al más nuevo representante occidental electo, Abdurrahim el-Keib, como un académico progresista que ha pasado décadas en la enseñanza en la Universdad de Alabama, Estados Unidos y como un líder de la comunidad musulmana local. Mencionó brevemente como un “antiguo empleador”, sin embargo, es el Instituto del Petróleo, con sede en Abu Dhabi, Emiratos Árabes Unidos y patrocinado por British Petroleum(BP), Shell, la petrolera francesa Total, la Compañía de Desarrollo del Petróleo de Japón, y la Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. Abdurrahim el-Keib está en la lista como “Profesor y Presidente” en su perfil del Instituto del Petróleo que también describe una extensa investigación llevada a cabo por él patrocinada por varias agencias y departamentos gubernamentales de EE.UU. en los últimos años.

Foto: Y así comienza la farsa que es la "democracia" occidental. Un títere de los poderes fascistas corporativos, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, sale y otro, Abdurrahim el-Keib, toma su lugar. En realidad, es la OTAN, los Estados y sus patrocinadores corporativos quienes ahora determinan el destino de Libia.

En esencia, el-Keib, al igual que su predecesor, Jalil, es libio sólo de nombre y ha estado trabajando para las corporaciones occidentales, los gobiernos y las instituciones durante décadas. Al igual que Jalil, o el “hijo del pueblo egipcio” Mohammed ElBaradei, el-Keib es otro agente de los intereses occidentales que pasa por un líder indígena en un país extranjero. Su ascenso al poder fue pavimentado por miles de incursiones y ataques de la OTAN en una operación militar de siete meses encabezada por Estados Unidos y que costó la vida de decenas de miles de civiles en Libia. Esto hace que su ascensión al poder en Libia sea otro de ejemplo de una profanación de la soberanía de ese país.

Mientras tanto, el Telegraph de Londres informa que los rebeldes apoyados por la OTAN apuntaron sus armas contra sí mismos una vez más en Trípoli, con cientos de combatientes intercambiando disparos cerca de un hospital después de que una de las facciones armadas trató de asesinar a un paciente que ellos mismos habían lesionado la noche anterior. El informe también cita una larga lista de atrocidades cometidas por los combatientes rebeldes antes de señalar la victoria “sin precedentes” de la OTAN en Libia.

Mientras que los medios de comunicación corporativos intentan ignorar el creciente cuerpo de evidencia que sugiere de hecho que tanto la OTAN como los rebeldes cometieron las mismas atrocidades que Gadafi, como pretexto para su serie de asesinatos de largo de seis meses, ha sido bien documentado desde el comienzo del conflicto en febrero que los rebeldes, lejos de ser combatientes pro-democráticos, pertenecen en realidad al Grupo Islámico Libio Combate (LIFG), un afiliado de Al-Qaeda, los cuales tienen una larga historia de terrorismo y barbarie. También se ha documentado ampliamente que los rebeldes han matado tropas de EE.UU. y británicas en Irak y Afganistán en los últimos 10 años, como lo señaló un informe del Centro de Lucha Contra el Terrorismo de West Point.

A pesar de ello, representantes de EE.UU., entre ellos el senador John McCain, se han reunido personalmente con militantes de LIFG para alabarlos como héroes que han “inspirado al mundo.” Resulta alarmante que McCain haga estas declaraciones en Trípoli aún cuando los rebeldes declararon públicamente su intención de reducir deliberadamente suministros y asistencia médica a la población de Sirte para según su propia declaración, “matar de hambre a la ciudad” con la ayuda de la OTAN – un crimen de guerra grave.

Las palabras no pueden describir la injusticia que se lleva a cabo en Libia, el nivel de duplicidad con el cual esta injusticia es realizada y el saqueo flagrante al cual el país está sometido por los miembros de la OTAN, facilitado por un personaje recientemente elegido, que es desde hace décadas un siervo de los intereses occidentales y que ahora pasa a ser “primer ministro interino.”

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New Libyan “PM” is Big-Oil Goon

November 2, 2011 1 Comment

by Tony Cartalucci
Land Destroyer
October 2, 2011

Associated Press recently reported that Libya’s rebel militants have named a new “prime minister” this week. AP depicts the latest unelected Western proxy, Abdurrahim el-Keib, as a progressive academic who has spent decades in the United States teaching at Alabama University and leading the local Muslim community. Mentioned briefly as a “former employer,” however, is the Petroleum Institute, based in Abu Dhabi, UAE and sponsored byBritish Petroleum (BP), Shell, France’s Total, the Japan Oil Development Company, and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. El-Keib is listed as a “Professor and Chairman” in his Petroleum Institute profile which also describes extensive research conducted by him sponsored by various US government agencies and departments over the years.

Photo: And so begins the farce that is Western "democracy." One corporate-fascist puppet, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, steps down, another, Abdurrahim el-Keib, takes his place. In reality, it is NATO-states and their corporate sponsors that now determine Libya's fate.

In essence, el-Keib, like his predecessor Jalil, is Libyan in name only and has been working for Western corporations, governments, and institutions for decades. Like Jalil, or Egypt’s Mohammed ElBaradei, el-Keib is yet another agent of Western interests masquerading as an indigenous leader in a foreign land. That his rise to power was paved by thousands of NATO strike sorties in a 7 month military operation spearheaded by the United States and at the cost of tens of thousands of Libyan civilians makes his ascension to power in Libya ever more a desecration of Libya’s sovereignty.

Meanwhile, the London Telegraph reports NATO-backed rebels turned their weapons on each other yet again in Tripoli, with hundreds of fighters exchanging fire near a hospital after one armed faction tried to murder a patient they had injured the night before. The report also cites a growing list of atrocities being committed by rebel fighters before noting the “unprecedented” nature of NATO’s “victory” in Libya.

While the corporate media attempts to plea ignorance over the growing body of evidence suggesting indeed both NATO and the rebels committed the very atrocities they accused Qaddafi of committing as a pretext for their half-year long murder spree, it has been well documented since fighting began in February that the rebels, far from being pro-democratic fighters, were actually Al Qaeda affiliated Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) militants with a long history of terrorism and barbarism. It has also been extensively documented that these rebels have verifably killed US and British troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan over the past 10 years, as noted by a West Point Combating Terrorism Center report.

Despite this, US representatives, including Senator John McCain, have personally met with LIFG militants praising them as heroes who have “inspired the world.” Alarmingly, McCain made his remarks in Tripoli even as rebels publicly declared their intention to purposefully cut off supplies and medical aid to the population in Sirte to admittedly “starve the city into submission” with NATO assistance – a grievous war crime.

Words cannot describe the injustice being brought upon Libya, the level of duplicity it was carried out with, and the flagrant looting the nation is now being subjected to by NATO’s member states, facilitated by the latest unelected, decades-long servant of Western interests now masquerading as the nation’s new “interim prime minister.”

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BP Not Interested In Cleaning Up Oil Spill

July 12, 2010 1 Comment

Paul Joseph Watson

Former high-level BP contractor and Army Special Operations soldier Adam Dillon told a New Orleans television station that British

A disaster like BP's oil spill is the perfect one to impose a pollution tax in order to finance a broken government. So why stop it?

Petroleum is not interested in cleaning up the oil spill because the company is run by “cutthroat individuals” who only care about money.

Dillon was fired by BP “after taking photos that he believes were related to the use of dispersants and to the cleanup of the oil.” Before his dismissal, Dillon was “confined and interrogated for almost an hour,” by BP officials.

“There are some very great, hardworking individuals in there. But the bottom line is just about money. There are some very cutthroat individuals. They’re not worried about cleaning up that spill as it is,” said Dillon, adding that he has “lost faith” in BP’s response.

Dillon was one of BP’s hired goons used to keep reporters from asking questions of cleanup workers on beaches in Houma, but turned whistleblower after he was fired for taking photos of the consequences of chemicals used by BP to clean up the spill.

“I saw something when I was out there,” he said. “I took pictures of something and I brought it to the attention of the command structure and whatever I took pictures of, 12 hours later I was gone.”

Dillon decided to speak out publicly because he placed his oath to his country over and above any loyalty to BP.

“I will never have loyalty to this company,” he said. “I will always have loyalty to my country. And my country comes first.

“What this company is doing to this country right now is just wrong.”

As we have highlighted, as one of the founding members of the cap and trade lobby, BP stands to reap a financial bounty if the Obama administration succeeds in exploiting the worsening oil spill crisis to push through a carbon tax.

The worse the situation gets, the more political capital Obama builds in his effort to impose a consumption tax on American citizens in the name of reducing dependence on foreign oil. Viewed from this perspective, BP has no real motivation in cleaning up the oil spill.

BP’s market value plunged by more than a third in the months following the oil spill debacle, but this has recovered somewhat in recent days and once the spill is finally cleared up, expect to see the price return to pre-spill levels.

If the government manages to justify a carbon tax in the eyes of lawmakers by pointing to an environmental catastrophe in the Gulf, BP can look forward to massive long-term profits from both a sustained rise in the price of oil allied to a carbon tax that will be passed on to consumers.

BP’s botched efforts to cap the leaking oil well have done nothing to alleviate the problem, while the company’s use of the chemical Corexit is worsening the damage caused by the oil spill while causing sickness amongst large numbers of cleanup workers. The Obama administration has similarly dragged its feet in responding to the oil spill, waiting for months before it accepted help offered by thirteen different countries whose sophisticated technology could have fixed the leak within weeks.

BP’s reaction to the oil spill has proved that the company is more concerned about blocking media access to information about the situation than actually cleaning up the consequences of the spill.

Watch the clip below.

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