Monday, December 17, 2012

17 December - Water Wars

English: The mobile offshore drilling unit Q4000 holds position directly over the damaged Deepwater Horizon blowout preventer as crews work to plug the wellhead using a technique known as "top kill," May 26, 2010. The procedure was unsuccessful in its intention to stem the flow of oil and gas and ultimately kill the well by injecting heavy drilling fluids through the blow out preventer on the seabed down into the well. The Discoverer Enterprise is in the foreground. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Blue crab Corexit experiment 07.13.2010 197 (Photo credit: lsgcp)

English: PENSACOLA, Fla. (April 30, 2010) Contract employees with BP America, Inc. prepare an oil containment boom at Naval Air Station Pensacola to assist in oil recovery efforts from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Deepwater Horizon was an ultra-deepwater oil rig that sank April 22, causing a massive oil spill threatening the U.S. Gulf Coast. (U.S. Navy photo by Patrick Nichols/Released) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Site (Photo credit: Green Fire Productions)

Poor passage planning and deviation from the plan can lead to groundings, ship damage and cargo loss. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: GULF OF MEXICO (May 16, 2010) An oil containment boom deployed by U.S. Navy Supervisor of Salvage and Diving personnel surrounds New Harbor Island, La. to mitigate environmental damage from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Deepwater Horizon was an ultra-deepwater oil rig that sank April 22, causing a massive oil spill threatening the U.S. Gulf Coast. (U.S. Navy photo/Released) 100519-N-6141B-001 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

New Orleans: "1st Procession of the Krewe of Dead Pelicans". Satirical second line parade in response to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Fishery Closure Boundary as of 6pm Eastern Time 18 May 2010 - Gulf of Mexico, Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

House has banner reading "BP = DEATH / S.O.S.", reference to the BP company's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Hollygrove section of New Orleans. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Deepwater Horizon oil spill imagined in true color on May 17 by MODIS instrument aboard NASA's TERRA satellite. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

New Orleans. "BP Oil Flood" Protest, Jackson Square. Protest against the great oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. "Take Back the Gulf". (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Platform supply vessels battle the blazing remnants of the off shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon. A Coast Guard MH-65C dolphin rescue helicopter and crew document the fire aboard the mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon, while searching for survivors. Multiple Coast Guard helicopters, planes and cutters responded to rescue the Deepwater Horizon's 126 person crew. Français : Les restes en feu de la plateforme Deepwater Horizon. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Bloomington, Minnesota, May 31, 2010 People gathered at an intersection in Bloomington to protest against the actions of the BP, the company formerly known as British Petroleum. The oil spill from a BP oil drilling operation in the Gulf of Mexico has surpassed the Exxon Valdez spill, and it continues to gush oil as of the day of this protest. http://fibonacciblue.tumblr.com Fibonacci Blue (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Bloomington, Minnesota May 31, 2010 People gathered at an intersection in Bloomington to protest against the actions of the BP, the company formerly known as British Petroleum. The oil spill from a BP oil drilling operation in the Gulf of Mexico has surpassed the Exxon Valdez spill, and it continues to gush oil as of the day of this protest. http://fibonacciblue.tumblr.com Fibonacci Blue 2010-05-31 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: A C-130 Hercules from the Air Force Reserve Command's 910th Airlift Wing at Youngstown-Warren Air Reserve Station, Ohio, drops an oil-dispersing chemical into the Gulf of Mexico May 5, 2010, as part of the Deepwater Horizon Response effort. The 910th AW specializes in aerial spray and is the Department of Defense's only large-area, fixed-wing aerial spray unit. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sign protesting use of toxic "Corexit" chemical dispersant in the BP Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, at the Bastille Day Tumble, French Quarter, New Orleans. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Corexit Dispersant Manufacturer Shielded From BP Spill Liability, Judge Rules

A federal judge presiding over litigation spawned by the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill has dismissed all claims against the manufacturer of a chemical dispersant that was used to break up crude gushing from BP's blown-out well.

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier ruled last week that federal laws shield Illinois-based Nalco Co. from liability over the government's use of Corexit after the 2010 spill.

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opit

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They need that immunity. I'm always hearing about 'what BP did' and what somebody else did. Yet Deepwater Horizon was a Gusher whose prodigious volume was always hidden. Reporters on actual events in the Gulf area have a bad habit of turning up dead. Kevin Costner's skimmers were never deployed to scoop up oil. And the 'lessons' of the Exxon Valdez might as well have instructions in how to really foul things up permanently by destabilizing and poisoning the oil. Then there is this : BP Spill Liability ...
Environment: New study shows dispersant makes oil up to 52 times ... http://summitcountyvoice.com/2012/12/01/environment-new-study-shows-dispersant-makes-oil-up-to-52-times-more-toxic-to-gulf-of-mexico-microorganisms/
Gulf of Mexico clean-up makes 2010 spill 52-times more toxic
http://phys.org/news/2012-11-gulf-mexico-clean-up-times-toxic.html
The short version : the web of life in the Gulf of Mexico has been cut at the base.
There are reports of secret continued application by the Coast Guard...and you never see notes about the cries for help with mysterious health maladies by residents of the Gulf area.

p.s. That didn't mention lack of protective gear for 'cleanup' workers, the Louisiana sinkhole, dissipation of the warm water current across the Atlantic, earthquakes caused by fracking and fracking in the bed of the Gulf...not all necessarily related...but still ongoing concerns

Federal Water Tap, December 17: The Water-Energy-Food Megatrend

EPA Water-Climate Strategy
The Environmental Protection Agency released its strategy for dealing with climate change’s effects on water resources, a comprehensive plan that includes 53 items of emphasis, including monitoring, forecasting, assessing, adapting, and collaborating with local, state and tribal partners.
The agency already has programs in place for many of its recommendations, which fall into five categories: infrastructure, watersheds and wetlands, coastal waters, water quality, and tribal relations. The document builds upon the first water-climate strategy, published in 2008.
Fracking Rule Delay
Because of the volume of comments it received, the Interior Department has delayed its rules for hydraulic fracturing on federal lands, Reuters reports. The department submitted draft rules in May that would require companies to disclose the chemical they used, but only after they have finished drilling.

Pollution Trading: Cashing Out Our Clean Air and Water

We are seeing a shift from pollution abatement measures to trading. Carbon trading values have been volatile, leading to windfall profits and outright fraud.

First Nations Members Take To Trans-Canada In Protest

Stoney Nakoda First Nation Protests Bill C-45

About 200 people blocked one lane of the Trans-Canada Highway in joining other First Nations to protest the federal government's Bill C-45.
The legislation includes changes to the Indian Act that aboriginal people claim may affect the way reserve lands are leased and the way decisions are made involving band territories.
Autumn Eaglespeaker helped organized the march.
"The First Nations people are saying no, that enough is enough, we've had a sovereignty treaty with the crown and that is the basis of the beginning of Canada," Eaglespeaker said.
Elroy Strawberryrain came from the Samson Cree First Nation in Edmonton.
"I was there for 13 years in residential schools and there is no way I will put up with the government doing this to me again — our reserve is our reserve," Starwberryrain said. "I'm 56 years old. We do everything for our kids and our grandkids so they have what we have including this land, everything around the reserves — the money, the economy all our boundaries, of all our nations."

Cancer rates downstream from oilsands to be probed - Edmonton - CBC News
A long-awaited Alberta Health study into the health of people living downstream from the oilsands, where cancer rates are higher than normal, appears to be finally ...
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2011/08/19/edm-cancer-oilsands-fort...

Why is Cancer Sweeping Tiny Fort Chipewyan? - Home | Common Dreams
A generation ago, Lake Athabasca was clear and clean enough that Fort Chipewyan residents drew their drinking water straight from it, and thought nothing about ...
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0522-05.htm

In Depth: Fort Chipewyan | Tar Sands Watch
His association represents doctors that treat patients from Fort Chipewyan. Sauvé also looked at Alberta Cancer Board’s outline for its research.
http://tarsandswatch.org/depth-fort-chipewyan

Why is Cancer Sweeping Tiny Fort Chipewyan? | Mostly Water
A rare and lethal liver cancer plagues Fort Chipewyan, a tidy hamlet of 1,200 at the southwest corner of Lake Athabasca, in numbers that should be seen only in a
http://mostlywater.org/why_is_cancer_sweeping_tiny_fort_chipewyan

Cancer Rates Downstream From Oil Sands To Be Probed
So, if you’re going to consult an authority on the widely repeated myth that the oilsands have been linked to cancer problems in Fort Chipewyan, the largely native ...
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/08/19/cancer-oilsands-link_n_931964.html

Doctors now have mandate for legal battle with province

Doctors in Alberta have been without a contract for more than 20 months.
In November, Health Minister Fred Horne imposed a new contract worth $463 million over four years, but backed down when infuriated doctors threatened job action. They ran ads in newspapers accusing the government of misleading doctors during the recent spring election.
.....
While considering the legal challenge, physicians heard from the lawyer who led a similar challenge by the Ontario Medical Association. That dispute was eventually settled out of court.
If the AMA mounts a legal challenge, it would be because their “rights to a fair negotiation process have been negated,” said Giuffre.
They would argue the actions of the government “infringed on our rights of free association, our rights for fair negotiation, our rights for an appropriate dispute resolution. If those are not present, then the Charter of Rights (and Freedoms) has been violated.”