And so it goes.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Friday, September 3, 2010
A Second Big Bang and Dispersant
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| GERALD HERBERT/ASSOCIATED PRESS |
Another explosion. What initially sounded like deja vu from last April appears to be a minor event. Thankfully, the dozen workers on the rig escaped safely and reports now state there is no oil leaking. Time will tell if the last part is true.
At almost the same time, reports surfaced that evidence of dispersant were discovered in relatively large quantities near Horn Island off the Mississippi coast. This is odd since BP stopped using dispersant on July 19, and according to a representative of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) the dispersant has a half life of seventeen days. (Statement made at about 2:00 into this video.)
Something seems amiss. If it's been nearly one and a half months since dispersant was applied in the Gulf, and the half life data is correct, there should be less than 25% of it remaining. So why is it showing up many miles from the blown rig sight in these concentrations? Why also did it show up over in Alabama in late-August?
This story on al.com, posted August 31, reports of dispersant discovered elsewhere in the Gulf and quotes attorney Stuart Smith, who represents the Louisiana-based United Commercial Fisherman’s Association and the Louisiana Environmental Action Network who said that he saw C-130s spraying dispersant near the shore of the Florida Panhandle.
Smith clearly has a dog in this fight and one might rightly be skeptical of his report, but his is not the only one. I have heard several reports from Gulf fishermen that they've seen the same thing in Mississippi. Evidence suggests that the whole story of dispersant use is not being made public.
Another brick in the wall is this video with representatives of Orange Beach, AL who discuss dispersant levels in Cotton Bayou.
On a personal note, the vast majority of people I've spoken with recently believe that they are getting lied to about the oil spill. When I ask who's doing the lying, they say BP and the government. Since they control most of the direct information about the spill, one should not be surprised to see more stories like this in the future.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Phenomenal People
One would have to have been living under a rock not to know that it was five years ago last Sunday that Katrina roared ashore onto the Gulf Coast. The network and local media coverage showed the recovery work done over the years and stated that there still was more work to do. That's true, but they also have to deal with the BP oil spill. So one crisis has been largely handled but there's another one simmering under the Gulf waters and the fat part of the hurricane season is upon them.
What's become clear to me over the last months is that these people are fighters. They have to be because life down here isn't that easy. It isn't easy anywhere but places are few where entire communities can have their houses ripped apart in a single day. Beginning August 30, 2005 Moss Point started rebuilding. So did Waveland and Pascagoula. Biloxi, Ocean Springs, Bay St. Louis and all the coastal towns and cities started the long march back to their new normal. They had help from individuals and groups of people who came down from around the country to help them rebuild. They are Phenomenal People, and there was a week-long celebration of that recovery that lead up to the anniversary. Although at first glance it doesn't seem like there's a connection, but there is. You see these people came back from an epic nightmare. Now they face another one with the oil spill and what they all really want is a break to catch their breath.
I'm including a video piece here because it shows the kind of people that live here and that they are going to fight through the oil spill and come out the other side whole. It's a different kind of fight than Katrina, and it will take different skills and talents to do it, but the brains and the talent are here. There's another thing here too... grit. Most of these people don't know anything about giving up.
They'll need that ability now because this spill will take years to play out.
Follow the link to ExposureRoom to watch in HD.
What's become clear to me over the last months is that these people are fighters. They have to be because life down here isn't that easy. It isn't easy anywhere but places are few where entire communities can have their houses ripped apart in a single day. Beginning August 30, 2005 Moss Point started rebuilding. So did Waveland and Pascagoula. Biloxi, Ocean Springs, Bay St. Louis and all the coastal towns and cities started the long march back to their new normal. They had help from individuals and groups of people who came down from around the country to help them rebuild. They are Phenomenal People, and there was a week-long celebration of that recovery that lead up to the anniversary. Although at first glance it doesn't seem like there's a connection, but there is. You see these people came back from an epic nightmare. Now they face another one with the oil spill and what they all really want is a break to catch their breath.
I'm including a video piece here because it shows the kind of people that live here and that they are going to fight through the oil spill and come out the other side whole. It's a different kind of fight than Katrina, and it will take different skills and talents to do it, but the brains and the talent are here. There's another thing here too... grit. Most of these people don't know anything about giving up.
They'll need that ability now because this spill will take years to play out.
Follow the link to ExposureRoom to watch in HD.