BP has conned the federal government and about 93% of the American people that the exploratory oil well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico is under control.
In deed, the well was capped July 15 as a temporary stopgap. BP turned off its submersible cameras. Out of sight. Out of mind.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced the surface slick and underwater oil plumes were hundreds of miles from the Gulf’s loop currents and therefore not carry through the Florida Keys and up the Atlantic seaboard.
NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco said a strong eddy is preventing oil from reaching the current. She tempered that by cautioning that scientists will continue studying the potential effects of the subsurface crude. No one knows where those plumes will settle because an event of this gigantic size has never happened 5,000 feet below the ocean surface.
Lubchenco said scientists still don’t know the oil’s environmental effect underwater.
I might add that the toxic chemicals sprayed on the oil to disperse it into tiny particles has contributed to this mystery.
I have ranted for months that the Environmental Protection Agency has been remiss in its responsibilities and to some extent that is confirmed by Dr. Susan Shaw, a marine toxicologist and President of the Marine Environmental Research Institute. She states her concerns in this video.
The chemical company hiding behind patent secrets is as guilty for lack of transparency in the nation’s largest environmental disaster as BP for cutting off its video feed as detailed in this blog written by a former oil executive.
Coupled that with the announcement Friday by Bob Dudley, who heads BP’s oil spill recovery and will take over as CEO in October, that the highly visible cleanup efforts will be scaled back. He was referring to skimmers and workers in protective gear on the beaches and marshes. Dudley said it’s “not too soon for a scaleback” in the cleanup, especially in areas where there is no oil, but emphasized the commitment to the task will remain. Out of sight. Out of mind.
The feds announced fin fish and shrimp were safe to eat and as a result 70% of Louisiana state waters were open to commercial fishing Friday. About one quarter of federal waters remained closed along the Gulf as well as state waterways in Alabama and Mississippi.
The BP announcement of cutbacks did not meet with universal approval. St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro responded with an order forbidding removal of any cleanup equipment from staging areas in his parish. “The response is not over in St. Bernard Parish, and it would be premature to demobilize any assets at this time.”
Not only has BP attempted to contract as many scientists from Gulf state universities to testify on their behalf in the upcoming litigation battle, they have hired a “good guy” to put a credible face on their cleanup and restoration efforts.
Dudley said BP has hired former Federal Emergency Management Agency chief James Lee Witt who headed that agency during the Clinton administration and now runs his own environmental consulting business.
I don’t blame BP for engaging in a propaganda war to save its face. Nor do I fear they will skip out.
What I do object to is manipulating laws, writing and ignoring their own safety rules, buying all the experts they can dredge, cutting off transparency in every possible venue and building a legal case where we never will know how much oil gushed into the waters, shores and marshes in the Gulf of Mexico.
They call it responsibility to their shareholders.
I call it the raping of our legal, environmental, economic and ecological system in pursuit of saving a buck for the world’s fourth most profitable corporation.
The last poll I saw had only 7% of people polled listing the blowout disaster as a major concern.
Out of sight. Out of mind.
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EPILOGUE
I hope you took the time to see the video and read the blog I linked. I felt it would be a disservice to the nuances in them to try and summarize them in my own words. In covering this event, I have tried to avoid sounding as an alarmist, hammering away at the worse possible scenario. But it is extremely difficult when BP is not transparent and the federal response agencies seem duped by the enormity of what’s before them.
Cross posted on The Remmers Report
Comments are welcome. Link to my blogsite or go to my email address at [email protected] . Remmers’ varied career spans 26 years in the newspaper business. Read a more thorough resume on The Remmers Report.
Jerry Remmers worked 26 years in the newspaper business. His last 23 years was with the Evening Tribune in San Diego where assignments included reporter, assistant city editor, county and politics editor.