The BP Deepwater Horizon anniversary, April 20

Let's not forget this, either.

How appropriate, isn't it? that Earth Day is two days away?

There is no Planet B, folks, as we know.

Four examples of ecological nightmares for fossil fuels

click on picture for easier reading


Is this what we really want?

Here we go again

Breaking news this morning:

Oil Rig Explosion and Fire in Gulf Coast, Two Missing

An oil and gas rig off the coast of Louisiana was hit by an explosion and fire this morning, leaving crew members missing.

The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed that a Black Elk Energy Co. oil and natural gas platform had some sort of explosion occur in the gulf, sending plumes of black smoke into the sky over Louisiana.

Two people are missing and "probably overboard," according to Coast Guard spokesman Carlos Vega.

The US Coast Guard confirms that a rig explosion occurred in West Cote Blanche in the Gulf of Mexico, Nov. 16, 2012.

Four people aboard the platform were airlifted for medical treatment.

The platform was located about 20 nautical miles southeast of Grand Isle, Louisiana.

We just don't, as a nation and world, also include these additional, very real costs into the price of a barrel of oil.

This is the second oil platform explosion in recent time, as we know. This time 2 people are missing--hopefully they'll be found and in good condition--four more flown to hospitals. This, on top of the Deepwater Horizon debacle.

And then there's the pollution from drilling for oil and then it's after effects, putting pollution--dirt, really--into the air along with carbon dioxide.

The thing is, it shows, all the more, why we need, as a planet, to get closer and closer to using solar power, preferably with photovoltaic cells to heat and cool our buildings but also for transportation.

Or don't we want to also get out of the Middle East, with all its ancient wars?

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Link: http://abcnews.go.com/US/oil-rig-fire-gulf-coast-crew-members-missing/story?id=17739184

Senate Republicans keep "Big Oil's" tax cuts

Breaking news today: Senate Republicans reject Obama call to end 'big oil' tax breaks (links at bottom). In spite of the billions and billions of dollars in profits the oil industry makes and is taking in, the Republicans in the Senate today voted down taking away their tax subsidies. Get that--the oil industry makes more money than any other in the nation--and the world--yet we, the United States, give them tax subsidies. Not only that, but these Senate Republicans voted to allow them to get and keep these tax breaks. Does this make any sense to anyone? Well, except to the Senators in Congress who get "campaign contributions" from "Big Oil." Sure, it makes sense to them. Check this out, from one of the articles at the links below--"The top five oil companies in the United States have already made $5.8 billion in windfall profits from spiking gasoline prices this year." Yet we're giving them tax breaks. Is that not insanity? I thought tax breaks should be for small, upcoming industries you want to encourage, not already mature, grossly successful companies that, frankly, in this case we want to discourage since, first, it's a dirty, foul, polluting industry and second, we need to get out of the Middle East for national security purposes. Wow. We have got to stop this. Links: http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/29/politics/oil-subsidies/index.html;

Further proof: We have to get the big money out of our elections

If we don't kill "campaign contributions" and get the big, ugly, corrosive, corrupting money out of our election system and so, our government, nothing will ever change. This trailer for this coming documentary also confirms this.

Tax subsidies for oil companies?

The largest and most profitable companies--oil companies--get tax subsidies?  Exxon-Mobil is the number 2 "Fortune 500 Biggest Company" this year.  Chevron is 3 and Conoco Phillips is 4.

Does this make sense to ANYONE?

Good on you, Mr. President.  Good call.  Now let's carry through on this.

Link:  http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/112672/fortune-500-biggest-companies-2011

The Gulf's fine. BP told us so

Oh, yeah?

Officials remain baffled over source of oil slick as Louisiana coastline is oiled again

Suckers.

Link to original story:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110322/ts_yblog_thelookout/officials-remain-baffled-over-source-of-oil-slick-as-louisiana-coastline-is-oiled-again

Myths of nuclear energy

There is a terrific, if brief, column on "5 myths about nuclear energy" online right now at The Washington Post and I thought a couple of the points were particularly important to note:

3. Democrats oppose nuclear energy; Republicans favor it.

Yes, the GOP base is enthusiastic about nuclear energy, while the Democratic base is skeptical. Moreover, many Republican politicians support assistance to the industry such as loan guarantees for nuclear developers, while many Democrats oppose them. But the politics of nuclear power have changed in recent years, mainly because of climate change.

Democrats, including many supporters in the environmental movement, have become more open to nuclear power as a large-scale zero-emissions energy option. Steven Chu, President Obama’s energy secretary, has been enthusiastic about the nuclear option. When asked to compare coal and nuclear energy in 2009, Chu responded: “I’d rather be living near a nuclear power plant.”

The biggest prospective boost for nuclear power in the past two years was an initiative championed by Democrats and scorned by Republicans: cap-and-trade legislation. Cap-and-trade would have penalized polluting power sources such as coal and gas emitters, thus tilting the playing field toward nuclear power. Department of Energy simulations of the ill-fated Waxman-Markey climate bill projected that it would have increased nuclear power generation by 74 percent in 2030.

Yet although Democrats may have become more accepting of nuclear power, few became fully enthusiastic. Japan’s tragedy may make many reconsider their stance.

This one, though, was the one that, to me, seemed one of the most important and told yet another reason why we should be putting our energy eggs in solar and clean, renewable sources for the future:

4. Nuclear power is the key to energy independence.

When people talk about energy independence, they’re thinking about oil, which we mostly use in vehicles and industrial production. When they talk about nuclear, though, they’re thinking about electricity. More nuclear power means less coal, less natural gas, less hydroelectric power and less wind energy. But unless we start putting nuclear power plants in our cars and semis, more nuclear won’t mean less oil.

And this one, as we've found out yet again, but this time all over Japan seemed especially poignant:

5. Better technology can make nuclear power safe.

Technology can increase safety, but there will always be risks with nuclear power. The Japanese reactors at the center of the current crisis use old technology that increased their vulnerability. Next-generation reactors will be “passively cooled,” which means that if backup power fails like it has in Japan, meltdowns will be avoided more easily. (Passive-cooling systems vary, but their common feature is a lack of dependence on external power.) Other lower-tech improvements, such as stronger containment structures, have also mitigated risk.

But what happened in Japan reminds us that unanticipated vulnerabilities are inevitable in any highly complex system. Careful engineering can minimize the chance of disasters, but it can’t eliminate them. Operators and authorities will need to make sure that they’re prepared to deal with unanticipated failures even as they work to prevent them.

Most energy sources entail risks. In the past year, we’ve seen an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, fatal explosions at the Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia and now the crisis in Japan. The American public will need to decide whether the risks of nuclear power — compared with those of other energy sources — are too high.

Michael A. Levi , a senior fellow and director of the program on energy security and climate change at the Council on Foreign Relations, is the author of “On Nuclear Terrorism.”

When will we ever learn?  

Now would be nice.

Link to original post:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/5-myths-about-nuclear-energy/2011/03/15/AB9P3Oe_story.html

Dolphin deaths on the Gulf Coast

Scientists are doing the work now on dolphin deaths in the Gulf of Mexico--it seems 53 of them have washed up on beaches dead when the norm is far lower at 2 per year, from what I've read.

Scientists scrutinize rise in baby dolphin deaths

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Scientists are trying to figure out what killed 53 bottlenose dolphins - many of them babies - so far this year in the Gulf of Mexico, as five more of their carcasses washed up Thursday in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

It's likely to be months before they get back lab work showing what caused the spontaneous abortions, premature births, deaths shortly after birth and adult deaths said Blair Mase, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's stranding coordinator for the Gulf Coast.

Moby Solangi, director of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, said he'd never seen anything like the calf deaths, or found word of anything like it in 30 years of records from his area - Alabama, Mississippi and east Louisiana.

I have to say, however, that, given the whole oil spill ordeal and the dispersants put on the Gulf, it seems difficult to believe that there wouldn't be a correlation between these deaths and the nightmare that was the oil spill. 

No conclusion, for sure and no "presumed guilty" but it sure seems highly likely, don't you think?

For now, we'll stay tuned.

Links:  http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_DEAD_DOLPHINS?SITE=JRC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/wildlife/scientists-investigating-dolphin-deaths-in-gulf-say-bp-oil-spill-is/1153647

Things we need to remember from 2010

Sure, it's one thing to "move on" and get on with the new year and that's fine but there are things from this year just past we need to remember, in part so they're handled and the people are not forgotten.  In part, too, so people who are responsible aren't let "off the hook" for their responsibilities.

Herewith, then, are some of the biggest:

--In January of last year, the desperately poor people of Haiti were struck by a devastating earthquake, from which they are still recovering.  They deserve to not be forgotten;

--The BP oil disaster which began at the end of April.  We certainly can't forget this happened.  We can't forget the devastation, both natural and economic, at least, that it reeked on the Gulf region.  We can't forget that so many millions of barrels of oil gushed into the area and we can't forget that it's still down there, doing more harm.  We have to hold BP responsible for all the damage inflicted, and truly for years;

--We can't forget the April earthquake that struck the island Sumatra in Indonesia and the devastation that wrought.  These people need our help--the help of all of us in the world;

--We can't forget the October earthquake on that same island of Sumatra and for the same reasons as above;

--Then there was the October tsunami that struck--again--Indonesia.  These people had a rough, rough year;

--Then there was Hurricane Tomas that then struck already-hurting Haiti.  It's crucial we don't forget--and so, abandon--the Haitian people.

--We need to remember that our health care system is badly, badly broken and needs fixing.  Too many big businesses are sucking far too much money out of our personal, individual accounts and out of the national budgets.  That and too many people are either going without care or simply, worst case scenario, dying.  It's badly fixed and needs fixing and as soon as possible.  What little remedy we got this year with the Health Care Reform Act of 2010 should absolutely not be revoked and should, instead, be augmented with more stipulations, beginning with a "public option" for insurance;

--Finally, we need to remember that we're all Americans and that we're in a bit of one heckuva bad economy right now and that we need to be Americans and work together to solve our problems.  And for you and me, the "person on the street", if you will, that's all well and good but what we really need to get in this new year is representatives in government--particularly in the US House of Representatives--that want and need our government to work for all of us, the people, and not just for the representatives and not simply against the opposing political party.  We don't have enough time on our clock to waste with in-fighting between these political parties.

There is no doubt more but I thought these the "biggest of the big" and things that needed to be kept in mind, in case we can help any or all of these people in the new year.

It seems crazy that we fight all these obscene wars around the world when we should be taking all that manpower, materiel and just plain money and start just helping each other with all the natural disasters we face each year, let alone the poverty, homelessness, disease and starvation.

But that would make too much sense, right?

Let's hope it's a happy new year, indeed.

Links:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Tomas_(2010)
http://yearinreview.yahoo.com/2010/us_natural_disasters#Natural Disasters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:2010_natural_disasters
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100905151748AAONyZk
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69P0QN20101026
http://sickothemovie.com/checkup/

The Final lesson from Deepwater Horizon and the Gulf

Let's face facts, kids--BP won. While watching the news this morning, I saw one of their ads, showing a Black woman--from Louisiana herself, she said--doing her best job to make sure the oil slick mess would be cleaned up and all done right and well. Right then, I knew BP had won. Though they had soiled and spoiled hundreds of square miles of the Gulf of Mexico and Gulf coast beaches and killed untold amounts of sea life, they are successfully painting the picture on TV and in the media that they are the "good guys" in all this and that they've "done right" and good by everyone in the Gulf and America. Forget their short-sighted money saving and carelessness that caused all this pollution and killing of wildlife, they tell that they're cleaning up the Gulf and treating everyone down there "A-okay" so, gosh, what's your problem, America? So they'll get away with this debacle. Indeed, they apparently already have. And it will happen again. Maybe by BP and maybe not but it will happen again. Americans just don't learn from history. Or facts.

The price of a gallon of gas

We need to transition to clean fuel, that's all there is to it and we need to get at it as soon as possible. The country that masters this technology first, will have a significant advantage indefinitely. THAT's the kind of war--a technological one--that we need to win. Have a great weekend, y'all.

Republicans (and a lotta honkies) aren't gonna' like this

Don't look now but President Obama got some "wins" this week, folks. The oil spill in the Gulf is stopped (we're pretty sure) and BP is still handing out money and trying to clean up its image, at the same time--and that's all good for this President. Added to that, we're getting the last of our combat troops out of Iraq just now (well, except for the 50,000 Dick Cheney always wanted over there indefinitely, to secure our oil supply). And then, finally today, as if that weren't enough, as if there weren't enough things going right for this President, it's been announced this morning that Israel and the Palestinians are close to resuming peace talks, thanks to Secretary of State Clinton, this White House and administration, along with, no doubt, a lot of other people. Sure, we're still going to heck in a handbasket in a lot of ways--economically, above most all others it seems--but for a week of news, that's pretty good stuff for a President. Maybe he can even enjoy his weekend and his 10 days of "r and r" out at Martha's Vineyard. Have a great weekend, y'all. Links to posts: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_obama; http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_us_mideast

Quote of the day--on the Senate and the energy bill going through now

"This is a political commercial bill," said of the efforts on energy. "We do them too. We do political commercial amendments. This is a political commercial bill. This is 'Republicans love BP.' They won't help clean up the Gulf. They want to defend their Big Oil buddies. Blah, blah, blah, blah. And we're going to have our own oil spill bill, showing we do want to clean it up, blah, blah, blah, blah." --Senator Lindsey ("I'm not gay") Graham (R-SC)

More proof of why we need government, regulation and corporate oversight

In Monday's hearing before a joint panel from the Coast Guard and the Bureau of Ocean Energy (formerly the Minerals Management Service), Richard Godfrey, a lawyer for BP, testified that a September 2009 audit showed there was “overdue planned maintenance considered excessive—390 jobs amounting to 3,545 man hours.” Link to original post: http://www.propublica.org/blog/item/bp-attorney-rig-had-390-overdue-maintenance-items

More weak media coverage on the BP Gulf spill

The big story this Monday morning from "big media" that all the outlets seem to be repeating.. uh, covering...is that BP says their "Oil cap will be attached today." Okay, fine. But what they DON'T tell us is that it's been DISCONNECTED SINCE SATURDAY SO GUESS WHERE THE OIL IS GOING, FOLKS. Right, straight into the Gulf. LOTS more oil. LOTS more tar balls. Lots more oil slicks. Then, that's not enough, there's also this: "The BP executive was careful to keep expectations grounded, stressing that once the cap is in place, it will take days to know whether it can withstand the pressure of the erupting oil and feed it through pipes to surface ships." Then they add this: "The testing should last about 48 hours..." Right. Two days of testing. Again, keep in mind, in the meantime, GUESS WHERE THE OIL IS GOING? Lest we get overly optimistic, they add the following capper in the article: "Even if the tests show the cap is successfully holding in the oil, it will not be the final fix for the blown well. That will have to wait until one of two relief wells reaches the leaking well from underground and can inject heavy drilling mud and cement to form a permanent plug. BP expects one relief well will do the job, but it's drilling a second as a backup. Officials have offered varying estimates for when that work will be done, but mid-August is the most common timeframe. Just to be a total party-pooper and put the ultimate damper on your Monday, starting your workweek, scientists are postulating that BP's little mess down there in the Gulf may be cataclysmic for life--and humankind--in general: "...the BP oil spill could release massive amounts of methane gas and, as an end result, blow out the entire seabed, leading to “massive venting” and large fissures in the sea bottom. This, in turn, would kill us all just as other mass extinctions wiped out life on earth during similar ruptures 251 million years ago and 55 million years ago. The bottom line: BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling operation may have triggered an irreversible, cascading geological Apocalypse that will culminate with the first mass extinction of life on Earth in many millions of years. You should go to this second link, below, and read about this as it documents that some of the events are already beginning, they believe. Here's hoping the scientists are wrong. Happy Monday, folks. Link to original posts: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100712/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill http://www.helium.com/items/1882339-doomsday-how-bp-gulf-disaster-may-have-triggered-a-world-killing-event

America's addiction to oil---and our foolhardy lack of vision--and discipline

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me eight times, I must be a f**king idiot." —- Jon Stewart, on the last eight presidents vowing to end America's addiction to foreign oil.

Top 10 Dumbest Quotes About the Gulf Oil Spill

The Most Ridiculous and Delusional Statements About BP's Oil Spill Disaster

By Daniel Kurtzman, About.com Guide

1. "We're sorry for the massive disruption it's caused their lives. There's no one who wants this over more than I do. I would like my life back." —BP chief executive Tony Hayward, on the oil spill disaster that claimed 11 lives and has spewed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, May 31, 2010

2. "I think the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to have been very, very modest." —Tony Hayward, interview with Sky News television, May 18, 2010

3. "What better way to head off more oil drilling, nuclear plants, than by blowing up a rig? I'm just noting the timing, here." —Rush Limbaugh, suggesting that "environmentalist whackos" deliberately blew up the oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico in order to stop offshore drilling, April 29, 2010

4. "Extreme deep water drilling is not the preferred choice to meet our country's energy needs, but your protests and lawsuits and lies about onshore and shallow water drilling have locked up safer areas. It's catching up with you. The tragic, unprecedented deep water Gulf oil spill proves it." —Sarah Palin, blaming the Gulf oil spill disaster on "extreme environmentalists," Facebook message, June 2, 2010

5. "The ocean will take care of this on its own if it was left alone and left out there. It's natural. It's as natural as the ocean water is." —Rush Limbaugh, May 3, 2010

6. "There's a good question today if you are standing on the Gulf, and that is: Where is the oil?" —FOX News anchor Brit Hume, scoffing at the BP oil spill disaster, May 16, 2010

7. "What I don't like from the president's administration is this sort of, 'I'll put my boot heel on the throat of BP. I think that sounds really un-American in his criticism of business. I've heard nothing from BP about not paying for the spill. And I think it's part of this sort of blame-game society in the sense that it's always got to be someone's fault instead of the fact that sometimes accidents happen." —Rand Paul, the conservative Tea Party candidate who won the Republican Senate primary in Kentucky, May 21, 2010

8. "From time to time there are going to be things that occur that are acts of God that cannot be prevented." —Texas Gov. Rick Perry, May 3, 2010

9. "The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume." —Tony Hayward, May 14, 2010

10. Yeah, of course I am." —Tony Hayward, when asked if he sleeps at night, Forbes, May 18, 2010

Link to original post:
http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/stupidquotes/a/gulf-oil-spill-quotes.htm

Quote of the day--On corporations, costs and failures

"I have personally found the transition from an attitude of 'mostly working' to 'never failing' to be very intellectually challenging. Too often the critical importance of a 'never failing' attitude only becomes obvious to corporate boards and senior executives after a critical failure has occurred and earnings and stock prices have taken a hit. Not only is the corporate heart attack victim already at risk for not surviving, the corporate checkbook is wide open to attempt recovery while also doing what should have been done in the first place. Just as important, senior executive and board time will be diverted for months or even years dealing with governmental investigation and rebuilding public trust for their brand."

"On the day of the BP explosion plaques were being distributed to employees for seven years of uninterrupted safety."

Link to original post:
http://www.forbes.com/2010/05/25/oil-spill-engineering-technology-cio-network-bp.html?partner=seealso

Quote of the day

Who on earth are we?

Why are we as a species too stupid to understand even how not to annihilate ourselves, but then we turn around and still tell each other we’re geniuses? Why is that?

And why would we presume we can inflict this kind of mindless suffering without having it inflicted upon ourselves in return?


Try to enjoy your Sunday, folks.


Link to original post (a good, short read, worth reading):
http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/2010/06/june-4-2010-who-on-earth-are-we.html