Death Gyres in the Gulf? Massive BP coverup?

[Triana]

Firsthand accounts and leaked photos of a secret BP processing facility -- possibly for dead animals -- point to a massive cover-up in the Gulf. An exclusive report.

...

According to the latest count of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Daily Collection Report (PDF), only about 4,100 birds, 670 turtles, 70 sea mammals, and 1 snake have died in the Gulf since April 20 (assuming 50 percent mortality of live animals).

It's an astonishingly low number, considering that one of the largest pods of sperm whales in the U.S. resided just miles from the site of the BP Macondo well (aka Deepwater Horizon), a region home to one of the most abundant and biodiverse marine ecosystems in the world.

Compare those small numbers with the Exxon Valdez spill ... Best estimates put the toll of the far smaller oil spill in Alaska at more than 200,000 birds (including hundreds of eagles), more than 3,000 sea mammals, more than 20 whales, and billions of fish eggs. The accident permanently wiped out the herring population of this Alaskan Gulf region. And that was an accident 1/10th the size of the Deepwater Horizon.

The final tally of the BP oil spill is almost 5 million barrels of crude, compared to only about 500,000 barrels for Exxon Valdez — a 1:10 ratio. Yes the Alaska spill happened closer inland, but the oil was not fully integrated with the water column as in the BP gusher (a far more pervasive and deadly scenario) and neither were thousands of tons of highly toxic dispersants like Corexit, a chemical that has, ironically, been banned in Britain because of its impacts on wildlife and human health.

MORE...

http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/blogs/death-gyre-in-the-gulf#

[XemaSab]

1. The gulf of Alaska is a much richer ecosystem

Taking a pelagic out of Texas, day totals of 10 birds are not uncommon. Not 10 species, 10 birds.

In Alaska, you can get thousands of individuals and 20 species in a day, easily. :P

[sabrina 1]

2. It certainly does look like they are covering up quite a bit.

And have been since the beginning. But do they think people are stupid? Many fishermen are not buying the report from last week claiming most of the oil is gone or that the dispersant used is not harmful.

It's just sad that we cannot trust our own government anymore. Both Republican governors must have ordered law enforcement and the National Guard to protect BP in those two states and that is really an outrage.

[bherrera]

3. Lacks supporting facts

There is very little credibility to this type of report. I should say, when environmentalists begin to use non-supported guesses to discuss how to protect the environment, then there is a serious problem evolving, because they lack credibility with the general public. it is what in the USA they call the chicken little story, I think.

The truth is hard to know, but the best efforts can be made by showing well supported statistics to show the US government is not telling the truth. For example, the Bush government lied about the WMDs in Iraq. Anybody with common sense knows this. And it easy to show many facts to prove it, including the simple one that hundreds of thousands of US invaders control Iraq for over 7 years, and they never found any of these WMDs they could show to the world to regain a bit of credibility.

This is the type of argument you need to make, rather than some fuzzy ideas about dead whales. Why do I know this? I am not a whale, but if I am one, and I smell the water smelling bad, I move away. This is common sense. Which tells me the number of dead whales is probably very low, because whales are intelligent and they can smell.

The case is different for things like fish eggs and the animals living in the swamps covered with oil. They can not run so fast, can they? Therefore, I would believe more a story if it discussed some horrible discovery in the swamp, or showed statistics that shrimp larvae were contaminated.

[Cetacea]

8. Lack of facts is the real problem.

News stories were ran and then not followed up. The dead sperm whale found drifting, for example. We were told we'd have the autopsy results back in two weeks. The same goes for the four dolphins that were found in the early weeks of the disaster.
You write about the whales avoiding the oil. Their "smell" is their sonar, and it's a big unknown if dolphin and whale sonar can detect dispersed oil. In addition, "carpet bombing" Corexit from the air would guarantee that a good many dolphins and whales had dispersant's going into their blow holes and into their lungs.

There is also the matter of footage shot by an independent person who claims that he saw up to one hundred dolphins either dead or dying. One of the stills he offered certainly shows at least two dolphins floating belly-up:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8646017

Also, there were reports back in early June of dolphins and sharks showing up extremely close to the shorelines in large numbers in apparent attempts to escape the approaching oil slicks. Then there was absolutely no follow ups on this. Did they escape, and journalists merely forgot to mention it, or did BP prevent journalists (and scientists) into the documented areas to find out what became of them?

[dipsydoodle]

4. banned in Britain ?

Rubbish. There is no irony - the statement is untrue.

As soon as an article contains a lie then the rest may be suspect.

Restriction on use of Corexit in the UK refers to rocky shore use only. It prevents limpets etc from attaching to rocks making them prey for others and hence was classifed as harmful in that respect only. It was cleared for use at sea and not found to be harmful to marine life.

I appreciate that its concentrated form it would be harmful as would most chemicals. Would you put your hands in household bleach without diluting it ?

[Cetacea]

5. 70 "sea mammals" = 70 dolphins and whales (officially acounted for)

Dauphin Island



Aside from a few manatee that hug the panhandle coast line, the only sea mammals in the gulf are a variety of dolphins and whales, including some that are quite endangered. I continue to find it odd that sources refuse to simply refer to the only sea mammals in the gulf as the much-beloved "dolphin and whales". "Marine mammals" gives the impression of many types of animals. Besides, very large number of uninformed people still think that dolphins are "smart fish".

I am willing to bet that every press release ever released by BP regarding the gulf refers to dolphins and whales as "sea mammals", quite porpoisely.

It is also odd that photos of what appears to be a secret whale carcass processing plant recently emerged as well. But then again, maybe it isn't so odd.

on edit: a video was featured here on DU taken by an independent videographer that appeared to show a pod of dolphins with members either dying or already dead. (two of the dolphins are clearly lying on their backs) The man who shot the footage claims that he saw as many as one hundred in this sad state in just one day. Countdown was the only major media outlet that aired the footage and interviewed the man (as far as I know)

Search: "I want to piss of the world" in GD

"Crime of the Century" Thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8897473

[Chulanowa]

6. I love that so many posters seem to be certain that BP would never lie

I mean it's not like BP has a vested interest, right? :rofl:

"And one snake"
Goodness, did they check everywhere?

[dipsydoodle]

7. The problem is

that BP's lies get compounded by the fabrications of others too.

[glitch]

9. Withhold, deny or obfuscate the facts, then accuse any questioners of speculating. Same old shit,

because it works with enough of the people enough of the time.

[Karenina]

10. Bingo.