Oilgate! BP and All the President's Men (Except One) Seek to Contain Truth of Leak in the Gulf

[kpete]

Oilgate! BP and All the President's Men (Except One) Seek to Contain Truth of Leak in the Gulf
Barataria, LA. -- Bonnie Schumaker slowed her souped-up Cessna 180 from 130 to 50 knots so I could hold open the window for documentary film producer Bo Bodart to shoot the grim scene below us. The oil-laced air rushed in and stung our throats and eyes.

Bay Jimmy on the northeast side of Barataria Bay was full of oil. So was Bay Baptiste, Lake Grande Ecaille, and Billet Bay. Sitting next to me was Mike Roberts, a shrimper with Louisiana Bayoukeepers, who has grown up in this area. His voice crackled over the headset as I strained to hold the window. "I've fished in all these waters - everywhere you can see. It's all oiled. This is the worst I've seen. This is a heart-break..."





...............

The official story emerging now from BP and most of the president's men - and now being echoed by some national media - is: the oil is gone; the danger is past and was exaggerated; the dispersants were effective in keeping oil from reaching the shore; the oil that does reach shore is mostly weathered and not toxic; and federal officials have found no unsafe levels of oil in air or water samples and no evidence of illness due to oil or dispersant use.

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The fact that the official story in the Gulf does not match what people are experiencing is more alarming to me than the oil disaster. How can our president hold BP accountable if he accepts - or worse is complicit in - the crime?

more:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/riki-ott/emoilgateem-bp-and-all-th_b_667709.html

[FiveGoodMen]

1. "How can our president hold BP accountable?"

He won't.

[ellenfl]

2. when did thad allen retire and become an employee of bp? eom

[anarch]

3. hmmm...but the EPA just released some statement about how the dispersant did its job

and kept the gulf and surrounding wetlands safe, made the oil less toxic, and moreover apparently Corexit makes a tasty snack if I'm correctly understanding the point of the article. So basically we should thank BP for their awesomely effective handling of this unfortunate but unavoidable incident.

And, I mean, if you can't trust the EPA, who can you trust?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38525250/

See? Everything is just fine, now everyone stop worrying about anything at all and go back to sleep. Obey. Marry and reproduce.

[nosmokes]

4. Now you're talking! Marmite and corexit sammiches for all!

With a pint of salty gulf crude to wash it down. The industrial waste black plate special of our depression.

[zipplewrath]

5. I don't know whose hyperbole to address

I haven't seen stories suggesting that the oil is "gone". I've not seen any sugggesting that no oil reached shore. I've read that 350 acres were affected, vastly less than could have been. I see the pictures you post, and realize that the size of those areas, compared to the length of gulf coastline threatened, is vastly smaller. I know large areas are being opened back up to fishing, and I know large areas are still not open. I know estimates have suggested that 40% of the oil that reached the surface evaporated, but that leaves 60% still there. I know BP is trying to project the image that they are on the verge of "fixing" the problem, when at best all they are doing is stopping the leak so that the problem will become vastly more "static". I know that disperants "changed" the nature of the problem, probably protecting acres of shore line, and suspending it in the gulf for some time to come. I know that microbe activity has increased extensive, but that the floor may be covered in some oil where microbes don't consume as much of it. I know that some folks have lost their livelihoods for the better part of a year, and some have probably lost it for good.

And I don't know if saying all that makes me part of the crowd trying to say it's all over, or part of the alarmist crowd that just wants to crucify BP.

[blindpig]

6. Whitewash, obscene and unconscionable

Kill Capitalism